Jeudi Journal - Exercise?

 "The three Amigos, namely Milly, Molly and Mandy, were having a laugh and discussing whether or not they should be going to the gym like so many of their friends.  Milly had been listening to a Podcast about losing weight and how exercise alone was not responsible but that one needed to diet as well.  Molly was in complete agreement and although the girls all had a healthy diet, because their mums were friends who attended the local Slimming World Group, and prepared meals for their families based around the beliefs of the group, she thought they should start going to the gym.

Mandy was a bit unsure.  As she put it "we all lead a healthy lifestyle, we play rounders and Netball each week, we go walks at weekends and surely all the dancing we do on a Saturday night means we do enough in a week."

"Not so sure" said Milly,  "I know some girls who go to the gym three times a week as well as doing lots of the things we do like playing team games."

Molly stood there silently, hands on hips whilst she pondered on what the other two were saying.  She was the eldest of the group and tended to be a bit of a leader.  She was usually the one the others took notice of.  "Well", she said, "I think tossing and turning at night should be considered exercise."  The other two stopped dead in their tracks, did she really say that you did exercise in bed by tossing and turning?

"Are you serious?" asked Milly, slightly bemused.  "Do you really believe that we burn up calories whilst sleeping because we toss and turn in bed?  And anyway, who is to say we toss and turn when we are sleeping?"

Molly grinned "Honestly you two, you would believe anything I said at times, no of course not.  I just thought I would throw that one in."

The girls all laughed and carried on chatting about what they should and shouldn't be doing ..... until the conversation turned to chit chat about boys!

I decided to try out a different background and used my Distress Oxides on an acrylic block, the top in Scattered Straw and the bottom in Crackling Campfire.  Then I put some Gesso through a broken diamonds stencil (Diamonds in the Rough) and used a border stamp by Dylusions around the edge of the page.  As always figures are by Dylusions and coloured in with Promarkers

Because Erika has chosen Faces as her theme for Art Journal Journey's challenge this month I have put three figures on today.  You still have a few days to join in with the challenge, why not pop over and read the rules (not many at all) and join in.

WOYWW 660

I would like to thank those of you who have given me a 'like' on Facebook or the heart on Instagram.  Some people are getting lots of hearts on Instagram, I've seen one at 135.  She must have a lot of friends.  Here is my catch up for those of you who have not seen them:

16 - 18 of my Polaroids

19 - 21 of my Polaroids

22 - 24 of my Polaroids

I had a busy day yesterday.  One of my craft group friends is not well so I had to make making her a Get Well Card a priority and I wanted to get a start on my Polaroid Book that I intended making when I first did them, then there were my ATC's for my swap with my bestie.  Of course there was the Thursday Journal page to be done so I closeted myself in my craft room for part of the day.  It gets lovely and warm in there so it's lovely to be creating.  Oh - and first thing I made a date and walnut cake.  This was an old recipe from before I went into teaching when I worked as secretary to the District Education Officer and was one that I scaled down from a recipe made by the School Meals Service.

Got all my jobs done except the Journal page so that is on the cards for today.  I need some more figures stamping for my Dylusion pages so that means a lot of stamping and fussy cutting is on the horizon for the rest of the week.  The card and the ATC's are going in the post as soon as I get myself organised and print out Royal Mail labels - gosh postage is expensive these days.

Right will leave it there and hopefully catch up with friends on WOYWW during the morning.  See you there?

Jeudi Journal - Wine

The words for today are "Of course size matters.  no-one wants a small glass of wine".  And it looks like our girl is using a tumbler!!  Oh my!  Must admit I struggled a bit with the story this week, but I think my head just isn't in the zone at the moment.  I've got a spot on my pupil and I need to see someone so I think it might be a visit to the optician today and possibly the hospital to have it removed.  I hate anything to do with my eyes so I am petrified.  How do you keep your eyes open whilst they prod at it?

Anyway to begin with I painted my page a pale turquoise and then used a stencil with some white paint to put chrysanthemum shapes randomly over it.  Then I chose the medium sized figures from Dyan Reaveley's collection and swapped heads and legs about on the two on the right to create new figures.  (For those who don't know Wendy and I have set a challenge between ourselves to make a page each week using Dylusion figures but as we have not had any new stamps for quite a while we are struggling to make new figures from what we have.). 

We also decided to enter our pages into the challenges at Art Journal Journey wherever we can and so, as the lovely Erika has chosen "faces" for the challenge this month we are managing quite easily to have a face on our page.  This is my entry this week.  So ...

"Pat had just got ready to go out with her friends Lynne and Gill, off to the local disco in town.  The two friends had just arrived and were rather surprised to find Pat with a large tumbler of wine on the table.  As they had a taxi waiting for them outside, which the two girls had arrived in, they were in rather a hurry to get off so that the driver would not be charging them too much 'idling time'.

"Come on" said Lynne, "we can't keep the taxi waiting whilst you finish off that wine.  And anyway, why on earth are you drinking wine from a tumbler?  You'll be putting weight on drinking like that, especially since all the Christmas Fayre you have eaten over the holiday period."

"Don't be silly" replied Pat, "Of course I have wine glasses, you bought me a set for Christmas and I didn't put them out at the party in case they got broken.  There's very little chance I will put any weight on, you know me, petite and slim at all times I can afford to put a bit of weight on."

"Too many a true word" butted in Gill, "Don't you think being so small size doesn't matter?"

"Of course size matters" said Pat laughingly as she drained the glass, "No-one wants a small wine."

"Uh ho, I can see we are in for a fun night with this one" shrugged Gill as she made her way to the door.  "Come on you two before she pours herself another."

WOYWW 659

One or two of you asked about the Polaroid Challenge last week, was it a Polaroid I had to take of something or what?  Well, it's a mock up of a Polaroid photograph.  You have one piece of white card measuring 4.2" x 3.8" and another which you work on measuring 3 1/8"square.  

I've never heard of doing Polaroids before, but in papercrafting there are lots of things that we do - inchies, twinchies, ATC's (and circular ATC's known as ATC Coins), tags etc but I am enjoying doing them and here are my first ones: (apologies to those who have seen them on Facebook or Instagram)

1 - 3 Sitting Down; Wings for Things; Head Swap

For these I used

1 - 479 Be Confident; Wild Honey, Dried Marigold DI's; Stencils 38 Cracked Walls, 95 Sunrise; Vintage Photo DI

2 - 416 Be Beautiful; Broken China, Shaded Lilac DI's; Stencil 112 Heapza Hexagonz; Wild Honey DI

3 - 422 Fly Free (Head); 425 The Captain (Body & Case); Background was a Mop Up

4-6 Birds; Animal, Mineral, Vegetable; Friendship

For these I used

4 - 407 Chicken Dance; 409 Home; 342 Windows; Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon DO's

5 - 526 Serengeti; 522 Dinos; Tumbled Glass, Salvaged Patina, Crushed Olive, Lucky Clover DO's, Stencil 112 Heapza Hexagonz

6 - Lil Abs; Lil Tracy; Lil Leoni (Ltd Ed); Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw DO's Washi tape #1

7-9 How Does Your Garden Grow Monochrome, Famous Face

For these I used

7 - 426 The Gardener; 510 Grow; Speckled Egg, Twisted Citron DO's; Stencil Dandelion Field, Sunrise

8 - 428 Charlie; all stamping was embossed in Black; Stencil 126 478 Lotza Starz

9 - 488 Salvador; Stormy Sky, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo DI's (to represent the background of his painting 'The Persistence of Memory'); Washi tape #4

10-12 Hats Off, Holiday, Read a Good Book

For these I used

10 - 478 Choose Happy; 516 Peekaboo; 284 Hat Drama; Peeled Paint, Cracked Pistachio DO's; Stencil 113 Lotza Squares

11 - 422 Fly Free; 516 Peekaboo; Map for Background

12 - 415 Good Book; 423 Seaside (glasses); 461 Have a Seat (Teddy Bear); 409 Home (Books); Wild Honey, Dried Marigold DI's; Stencil 126 Lotza Starz

13-15 Good to be Home; Wonderland, off to see the Wizard;  Birthday Celebration

For these I used

13 - 461 Have a Seat; 342 Windows; 414 Bear Hugs (lamp); 296 All Good Things (dog); Washi - Horticultural Layers; Background was a mop up and used Lotza Dotz stencil.

14 - 524 Follow the Rainbow; White Rabbit; Dorothy; Toto; Signs; Broken China, Peeled Paint DO's.

15 - 379 Party with Me (words & bunting); 542 Sparks of Nature (balloons); 316 Oh Boy (bone); 296 All Good Things (dog); 417 Coffee Time (dog bowl - bottom half of cup); 373 Rescue Puppies; Die 22 Check Figures, Salty ocean, Broken China DO's.

That is half the month done.  I'll show you the remainder as and when I do them.  I have an idea that I will turn them into a book when I have finished but I am not disclosing how as it is a technique I learned with Tracy Evans a long time ago when we did a book similar with tags.

Guess I had better show you my desk now that I have done all of this or Miss Julia, Queen of Deskers, who is in charge of all of us WOYWW'ers, will have my "guts for garters" with the length of this post.  I did leave it until the last minute for this one but typed the above earlier.  Here goes:

My Felix box of small Janet Klein's, My heat gun, my plastic A4 box full of ready cut images and my box with all sorts of bits in that I might need for the Polaroids.  Now I had better get on with my ATC swaps.  And to finish off here is the sunset from Tuesday night - over our back garden fence:

Jeudi Journal - Denim?

I don't know about you but I tend to live in jeans.  The stretchy kind of denim and usually straight leg although I must admit I love my flares.  M&S is my 'go to' shop and they used to have a lovely light grey but of late I have had problems getting them, especially in the long length which I need as I am quite tall.  Anyway, I digress but the quote for this week is "It's all fun and games until your jeans don't fit" and I can so relate to that since Christmas.  So my story revolves around that quote although I must assure you I am not one of the characters.

"Wanda had been out shopping and called in on her friend, Ella, who was lounging on the floor in her bedroom.  The two girls had been friends for quite some time, having been to school together since they were in nursery.  Very rarely a cross word was said by one to the other, it was a lovely friendship.

Wanda was a little out of breath probably because she had kept her mask on as she had been shopping  (it was now mandatory again because of the pandemic to wear a mask) and she had forgotten she was still wearing it.  She flung her coat over the bed and the two of them began talking about Christmas which had just gone by.  They reminisced about all the good times they had had, the parties they had been to and the lovely presents they had received.  Then Wanda got a bit downhearted and her friend asked what was the matter.

"Well, you know how I love my chocolate, and the mince pies and fruit cake", said Wanda.

"Yes we both do" replied Ella, "but why has that got you so sad?"

"Look at me" cried Wanda, "I am wearing a blouse and sweater belonging to my mum and this is a skirt that my sister no longer wears.  It's all the fault of Christmas!  It's all fun and games until your jeans don't fit."

Ella laughed.  "It's not Christmas that's at fault, it's us.  We eat too much of the stuff that puts the inches on.  Remember that saying about a moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips?

"Yes" replied Wanda.  "That is so true but look at you, you are still as slim as you were before all of the festivities started.  How do you do it?

"Ah" replied Ella, you must remember I have a much larger family than you have.  As an only one you had complete access to all the chocolate and goodies that your family had.  With three brothers it was always the case that the chocolate and other things got eaten much faster than I could even get to them.  Don't worry about a bit of weight, we can soon get rid of that.  Let's start now by going for a walk and discussing the next step into the Wanda Weight Week we are going to have."

"And with that Wanda cheered up a little, pulled her mask back up over her mouth, grabbed her coat and the two friends went off into the local park talking about all the ways they were going to get fit over the next couple of months and how Wanda was going to lose some weight along the way."

Because the lovely Erika has chosen Faces as her theme for this month at Art Journal Journey and my page has two faces on it I am entering this into the challenge for January.  I am sure you could easily do a page in your journal with a face on it - why not pop over and see the rules and join in.  It's ever such a friendly bunch and you will be made most welcome.  Hope to see you there.

WOYWW 658

 I have been really busy this week catching up on the Aall & Crete Challenge which is to do images as a polaroid photo.  This is day 12 and there are 31 prompts to be done by, not the end of the month thank goodness, but by the end of March. So if you have some Janet Klein stamps you might want to take a look and do it yourself.

In order to be able to access my stamps easily I took them from the drawer they sit in and put them in a Felix box.  Much easier to flick through now but there are still the larger stamps in the drawer but the majority are in the box and I do have an idea which are the larger sets.  So, today my desk reflects what I have been doing.

Starting left - my Arteza pens (just started using them, had them a couple of years), jewellery holder behind waiting to be repaired, A4 box with Janet Klein images in cut out and ready - list on top of the prompts and the rules.  Promarkers (in Felix boxes, made this years ago), my Polaroid for day 2 Wings, scissors, white pen, snowman pencil from Valetta in America, flesh Promarkers box with cut out cards ready and goodness knows what is in the layers underneath.

The reason for "Wings" being on the desk is that I forgot the white touch in the eyes - all my other Polaroids are in the window sill.  Sorry I am not showing them today as I did say I would show you the Handmade Christmas cards received.  Maybe next week.

Handmade Christmas Cards (you've seen Cindee's previously so it's not here)

I am so lucky to have so many talented crafty friends.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as we did when we had them on display.  The commercial cards this year were so beautiful too and have now gone to a friend who makes them into cards for a care home, where her brother was, to sell.

Well, that's it for this week, now to get ahead with the Polaroid making, or maybe I should get my Journal page done for tomorrow.  Yes, that's next on the agenda.  For now it's over to Julia and WOYWW - CU!

Take care, keep the masks on when needed.

Jeudi Journal - Cat hair

Back to normal now and it's Journal time with Wendy and with Art Journal Journey where the lovely Erika has chosen "Let's Face It' as her theme for the month.  Faces it is then, which is easy for Wendy and I to include a face/faces on our Journal pages with Dylusion stamps.  The quote for this week is "No outfit is complete without cat hairs" and is something anyone with pets can equate to.  

"Diane has a lovely big cat called Snowball which she adores.  The feeling is pretty mutual and Snowball loves nothing better than to sit on Diane's knee.  The only problem is that Snowball, as her name suggests, is white and she does tend to shed her hair a lot.

One day Diane's two friends, Shirley and Netta had called around to collect Diane for a party they had been invited to attend.  As always Diane was sat with Snowball on her knee, the latter enjoying being stroked so much that she had partially stood up, tail in the hair to show how much she was enjoying the petting.  Diane was wearing her best slate grey jacket and her blue trousers whilst sitting on the floor with her cat.

"Oh dear," said Shirley, "you are going to be covered in white cat hairs if you are not careful."

"Wish you wouldn't let the cat sit on your knee like that" said Netta.  "You know it is not a good look to be covered in cat hairs, and ugh!  Imagine if they got in your mouth."

"Oh don't be so dramatic" said Diane, "No outfit is complete without cat hairs."  With that she gave Snowball a great big cuddle and sat her on the carpet whilst she got up and purposely did not wipe her jacket or her trousers but proceeded to go out to the party.  "Coming you two, or not?" she asked."

So may I take this opportunity to Wish You All a Happy New Year.  May it be a Peaceful, Healthy and Blessed one for You All.  Now I must pop over to Art Journal Journey and see what else there is to look at.  See you there.

WOYWW 657

Back to normal after all the festivities but tomorrow is 'taking all the decorations down day' which I do not particularly enjoy.  It's also cardiology day for me as I am having my consultation over the phone with the lovely Dr Little.  And it's  WOYWW day too which means I have to bare my desk.  Busy Wednesday!

As you can see to the left a couple of stockings have been dropped off on my desk.  These two were hanging in our bedroom, at the foot of the bed (on the cupboard facing).  I took them down yesterday so that they would not get forgotten.  Nothing much has been changed from last week apart from the bits of card on the green mat and the ink pads.  The only crafting I have done this year and as you can see, it's not much.

I did hope to show you the lovely handmade cards I received this year but I haven't taken them down as yet so hopefully next week I will have a lot of lovely treats for you to feast your eyes on.  So I will leave it there this week, will try to get on with commenting when I have spoken with the Doc and undressed the tree.  See you next week.