Jeudi Journal - Sorry

Remember last week? ...

"Janice really regretted the phone call she had had with her friend Barbara when she had told her that her boyfriend had been rushed into hospital.  It was only later that night that Janice realised she had not been fair.   Downright selfish in fact.  Yes, the trip was great and it was a once in a lifetime journey across the Atlantic Ocean for her, it might never happen again. But what about poor Brad?  If it had been the other way around he would have not hesitated to ring her and reassure her that she would be fine once the operation was over.  What had she done?

Not only had she risked her friendship with Barbara but also Brad might not want to see her again, that is if Barbara had told him the whole story.  It was too late to ring now, there was the time difference between where she was and home to consider.  Brad would have most likely have had his operation now and probably still be sleeping, and Barbara, well, she would still be asleep and no doubt rushing about later to get herself ready for work.  What could she do?

After a fitful sleep, and looking dreadful from crying part of the night, Janice took a shower and washed her face over again, in cold water, to try to look human.  It was 7 am where she was, that meant it was about five in the evening at home.  If she skipped breakfast she could ring Barbara and apologise.

She went over and over that conversation they had had.  Would Barbara still be angry with her?  She had put the phone down on her so she must have been a bit cross.  Did she go to the hospital to see Brad?  Did she tell him that his girlfriend preferred a night out to ringing to see how he was?  So many questions were whirling around and around in her head.  What should she do?

Well, there was only one way to find out and so she rang Barbara.  The phone seemed to ring and ring, was she not there, was she visiting Brad, Janice was just about to put the phone down when Barbar answered.

"It's me, Janice, I am so sorry about last night.  Sorry for the mean hurtful things I said to you.  Are you angry with me, is Brad ok, did the operation go well?"

Barbara took a moment or two to answer, "No, I am not angry with you.  I realise how difficult it must be when you are so far away and maybe I should not have rung you, well, at least until the operation was over.  Or maybe I should have said nothing and let Brad ring you."

"No Barbara, you did the right thing in letting me know, it's me, I don't know what it is that is wrong with me.  I've just been enjoying myself far too much and I forgot about you all at home.  Is he alright?"

"Yes, he is fine, I went to see him last night with his mother.  He was a bit groggy but it was a small operation, keyhole I believe.  In fact he came home late today so you can ring him."

"Yes, I will" said Janice, looking at the clock.  "In fact if I am quick I can ring him now before I have to go to the office.  You don't mind if I go right away?"  And with that Janice said a hasty goodbye promising to ring later.  "Well, it looks as if I will have to miss breakfast altogether, but that serves me right for being so selfish" she said to herself, and with that she began ringing Brad's number."

I thought about using some of my affirmation cards and collage bits to make a border like I have done in the past, in the style of Teesha Moore.  This should fit in perfectly with Elizabeth and Bleubeard's  theme at Art Journal Journey which is 'Recycle Reuse, Repurpose'.  This is probably going to be my last attempt at this theme as it is close to month end so I wanted it to be one of my better ones for them.  Choosing the various items for the border I decided then to go around the edge with a black marker to separate the border from the main image.  So here you have, as continuation in a way of last week's blog post and another entry for AJJ.

I love these little cards which I used and and am so pleased I have now have found a way to keep them in my journal.  I wish I had scanned them before I used them as now my figure sits on part of them.

"Life is like an ever shifting kaleidoscope.  A slight change and all patterns alter."  Sharon Salzburg

"Art is there to wash the everyday dust off our souls."  Picasso

and my favourite - I imagine from the mouth of a child  

"First I think, then I draw my think"

WOYWW 725

Why is it that Wednesdays come around so quickly.  No sooner have I had one Wednesday than I am having another.  A bit like chocolates!  I only compare it to chocolate because Wednesday's are a day to enjoy.  Why you ask?  Because we get to see one another's desks by joining in with Ms Julia and her merry band of crafters who bare their desks for all to see.  It's WOYWW day!  Hip Hip Hooray!

Now what do I have for you today?  A desk that was like this on Monday and remains like this until the end of today when I return from an overnight trip to Cheltenham to see my bil.  As you can see I have been playing about with the Gelli Plate yet again.  Not too many prints from the plates as I decided I did not want too many hanging about waiting for decoration to turn them into finished cards or whatever.

You will see, however, that I have also used my stencils to make pages in my journal for decoration at a later date.  Well, why waste perfectly good ink and wash it down the sink?  I do hope that last week I inspired some of you to get out your Gelli plates and give them a try with ink as it seemed one or two of you were put off, like me, with the washing up and mess of using acrylic paint.  This is so much easier and cleaner.

I did turn a couple into cards though

I haven't got the hang of doing even shading as can be seen in the first one.  I did some spatters of water to try to draw the eye away but it didn't work.  However, I am sure if I stamp some words randomly over the top it will make all the difference.  I refuse to throw it away.  The last one looks better and it is meant to be darker in the actual corners.

Well, that is it for another week.  Must get on with some workshop prep and my ATC's as I don't like the ideas I had so they have ended up as card toppers.  See you all next week.

Jeudi Journal - Don't Care

 Well, this week it is not a particularly happy story as the words I had to work with were "Words cannot express how much I just don't care".  The background, in the hopes it will do for Elizabeth and Bleubeard's challenge, is wallpaper.  I saw it a year or so ago in a local DIY shop and just had to have a piece, I knew it would come in one day and so it has left a big gap in my paper collection (it is quite thick wallpaper).  Isn't it fabulous?  I would love a feature wall with this wallpaper on it, the gold is fantastic and shows up so well on the black.

"Janice had recently been promoted at work and as such she got the chance to travel to their sister company in America.  She just loved it over there.  The bright lights, the fast moving traffic, all the glitz and glamour that she wasn't used to in her own little village in the north of England.

She had so enjoyed the long haul flight over the Atlantic, business class was something she never dreamed of ever experiencing but as her boss was also travelling with her she had got to travel in style.  Not only that but they had been met at the airport by a limo!  Her eyes had been like to huge saucers as she climbed in.  Then the hotel - her friends would never believe her so she had taken lots and lots of photographs at every opportunity.

Of course there had been all the meetings she had had to attend, but everyone had loved her.  Her northern accent enchanted most of the Americans and she was a huge success being taken out in the evenings by a group of young women, eager to show her the sights and sounds.

Everything was going swimmingly until she got that phone call.

"Janice, your boyfriend has been rushed into hospital, suspected appendicitis", it was Barbara, her best friend at home.  "He really was in so much pain and I am sure if you could just give him a call he would feel so much better, he really has missed you whilst you've been away."

"Words cannot express how much I just don't care" said Janice, rather rudely.  "I'm out with the girls and I really cannot expect them to take me back to the hotel just to ring him.  You do realise I am thousands of miles away, across the world in fact.  Why don't you ring him if you are so concerned?"

"Oh, I just thought you would want to know but if that's your attitude, goodbye" and with that Barbara clicked her phone off.

"Something the matter?" asked Kim, one of the girls.

"No, just a friend wanting to know if I was having a good time" replied Janice.  And with that she carried on enjoying the night out with the girls.  Would she regret it the next day?  Or when she got home?

WOYWW 724

 What is on my workdesk?  Not a lot spending too much time watching You Tube videos and tv at the moment.  But ...

I went to a workshop last Saturday and made some lovely prints with a Gelli Plate.  The workshop was in Ruthin so we went down on Friday and had an overnight stay so I didn't have to be up too early the next day, plus when we booked this we thought we could have a nice day on the Friday in the lovely countryside around there.  Not so - it rained - and rained!

Anyway, the workshop was great, and I don't have a fear of getting my Gelli plate out now and making something with it.  We used inks and I honestly think it is paint that put me off.  Using ink on the plates is nowhere near as messy and the cleaning up is done so easily, no trips to a sink to wash brayers and stencils up.

The class was with the lovely Jo Rice and she had purposely kept the numbers low so that everyone got individual attention if they needed it.  If you have ever taken a class with her you will know what a good tutor she is and how she cares about her students.

Here are a couple of my prints, stamped up and glittered, well you have to have sparkle don't you.  They just want finishing off and then making into cards.  (Truthfully I have always been a "Non Sparkler" but lately I am getting addicted.)

This is my worktop full of the other prints

(excuse the shadow)

And my desk ready to do some more prints - this time ovals (Olipsical). Maybe later today.

See you next week with more???

Jeudi Journal - Act Your Age

 This week the theme we are working to over at Art Journal Journey with Elizabeth and Bleubeard is "Recycle, reuse, repurpose". The Snarky comment I have to use with Wendy is from Tim Holtz again and is "age".  

The background was done with various inks and some bits of torn pages from both an atlas and from a very old book.  It went from yellow and pink to red and then to orange with a bit of toning down with white acrylic paint.  Eventually I got spraying and we ended up with what you see.   Again I have used my cut off bits of cardstock to stamp my figures on so this is a good challenge for me as my stash is going down nicely.

"Even though she was now seventeen Laila loved to play with her two younger brothers, Eric and George.  They were having so much fun with the dog, Rufus, and a cricket ball that she simply had to join in.

Both boys thought it rather funny that their big sister should play outside in the park with them.  They tittered to one another as they made fun of her wondering what on earth she would do if one of her "fancy friends" happened to walk by.

Eric, the younger and chubbier one of the two boys, thought that even Rufus the dog looked bemused at the antics of Laila.  You see, Laila was a pretty girl, always way ahead with fashion.  She had a regular manicure and the hairstylist at the local salon was always ready with some up and coming style for her.  So you see, although playing in the garden at home was the norm, to behave like this for Laila seemed a little strange and out of character.

On the other hand 'she could see no good reason to act her age' as where she was.  After all, if one of her friends wondered why she was playing cricket, or even just playing with her two younger brothers in the park she would tell them that exercise like that helped her keep her trim figure and besides which, the boys kept her young at heart and she loved them."

WOYWW 723

 What a mixed Easter we had.  Good Friday the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny.  Saturday was very much the same, lovely and warm, at last we are having a lovely Spring day and it is leading us into Summer.  Or so I thought!  Woke up Sunday morning to sunshine so a quick breakfast and off we set for a walk.

Thank goodness we had put our coats in the car, it was a very cold wind that greeted us as we walked down the promenade.  How I wished I had taken a woolly hat with me, my poor ears were so cold.  My hands frozen.  So the day out, the picnic lunch all appeared to be needing putting on hold.  So much for a day at the seaside.

Easter Monday was a wash out in more ways than one, as it rained on and off and so it became a day for crafting.  Well, the afternoon did and so, to my desk which was the table.  Yes, we weren't at home so my supplies were all packed up and they travelled with me.  A lovely day getting my ATC's done.  Here we are before I show you anything I don't want you to see yet:

Tuesday evening brought terrible storms.  A bit scary at times with high winds and a rocking caravan.  Well, maybe not rocking like a rocking chair but certainly it got caught in the gusts.  That and a very poor internet reception did not make for ease in blogging but I've managed this far and so I'll leave it there for now and do some editing when I get home after lunch.

In the meantime I will do my best to link up with the other WOYWW'ers and join in the search to see what others have done.  See you over at WOYWW.

Jeudi Journal - All Together

This week the Tim Holtz Snarky Comment is "I've got it all together but I forgot where I put it" and I really wanted to change one or two of the words but have stuck with what Sir Tim said.  My story is a bit long but you know me, once I get going I could write a novel.  I really could not make it any shorter as I do like to set the scene.  So sit back, have a cuppa and let me know what you think.

This month at Art Journal Journey it is Elizabeth and Bleubeard who have chosen the challenge theme for the month - Recycle,  Reuse, Repurpose - and for my journal page I have used two figures stamped and cut from some left over scraps of paper.  That is why I have chosen small figures for my page this time.  I have also used some images from Janet Klein which I had stamped and cut out previously for a card but not used and similarly I used some presents, balloons and a hat left over from a previous card making session with Tim Holtz and his Crazy Birds.  It is good to get your stash of things down in this way.  Thanks Elizabeth and Bleubeard.  Now to my story:

Sandy was the perfect sister, aunty, cousin, best friend.  She always put herself out for everyone around her and sadly, she got put on.  Not that she noticed, she just thought that if a job needed doing, as who wanted it doing they only had to ask and she would go out of her way to accommodate them.

Her older sister was a prime example, always relying on Sandy to do the odd baby sitting job at the drop of a hat, or in her case, at the press of the buttons on her cell phone.  She would just ring Sandy and expect her to come running.  Didn't matter if Sandy was already going out, her social life mattered more than Sandy's.  After all, Sandy was single and had all the time in the world whereas she was stuck at home all day with two little ones and a house to run so if a girl friend rang she needed to go out, she deserved it.

Her best friend, Laurie, was just as bad.  They had always done everything together but suddenly Laurie's cousin had moved to the area and now Sandy was left out of a lot of things, that was until the cousin couldn't make it to go somewhere and then Sandy was expected to fill the gap - and she did, time after time.

Things, however, came to a head one day.  Her sister had wanted a party for her twins.  Now Peter and Petra were adorable, Sandy loved them to bits and would do anything for them so the prospect of helping her sister organise a party was just perfect.  She had even enlisted the help of Laurie who was always top of the class when it came to Art and so seemed to be the best person to have on board.

Laurie had been asked to make a banner with drawings of tiny woodland creatures on it, the twins would love it.  Her sister, Kate, the mother of the twins, was making a birthday cake and some fancy cupcakes and half the neighbourhood had been invited.  Every time the phone rang it was Kate telling Sandy there were at least another two children attending the party.

Sandy had spent an age doing shopping for various bits of party food that would delight the children and she had booked a children's entertainer for part of the afternoon.  Party games were organised, it was all going  smoothly, maybe too smoothly.

The phone started ringing and it was Kate on the other end, "can you pick a birthday cake up on your way to ours?" she asked, "I've had a total disaster with this one and it simply will not do so it's in the bin."  "Oh, and do you know of any other entertainers, I've just heard that the one you booked has had an accident and broken his leg.  You will sort something out won't you.  Bye, must dash, lots to do."

"Brring, Brring", the phone started ringing again.  This time it was Laurie, "Sorry, the banner won't do, next door's dog came and ran off with it when it was drying on the back lawn and I haven't time to do anything else, besides which my cousin has come over and she needs to talk.  Sorry." and she put the phone down.

Poor Sandy just stood there.  She still needed to put some food in the oven to bake, the jellies were in the pantry cooling, there were soft drinks to buy yet, and some sweets for the party bags which still needed putting together and now she had to go and find a birthday cake suitable for the twins.  What else?  The party games and, oh yes, the entertainer.  Where on earth would she find one at this late hour?  Where was that book of contacts, including clowns and magicians?  Where did she put the party games?

Poor Sandy sat down on the stool in the kitchen and began to cry.  "I've got it all together, but I forgot where I put it" she cried.  Everything had suddenly gone wrong.  The twins' party was turning into a disaster and it was her fault.

Just then the door opened and mum walked in.  "What on earth is the matter" she asked,  "come here, it can't be that bad surely, let's see what we can do to dry those tears first of all."  And with that mum, as always, went and put her arms around her youngest daughter and dried her tears.  

Mum's always sort things out don't they!

WOYWW 722

 Glorious sunshine but a tad chilly out of the sun.  Tuesday I was at the chiropractor in Preston and it felt lovely as we drove along with the sunshine warming me up, beautiful to get out at the other end and feel the sun on my face, but oh, how chilly when I turned the corner and found myself in the shade.  Not quite bikini weather yet, not in the UK anyway.  (and not that you will see me in one anyhow, not at my age and with my extra bits.)

Well, once again my desk is clear of crafting, simply because I had to act as Chair and Secretary at the AGM on Saturday.  I was foolish, I realise now I should have asked for a volunteer from the floor to take the Minutes as I have spent the best of two days typing them up from my rough notes and getting friends to check them.  There were other things needed amending too so it wasn't just Minutes.

We had a lovely class after the meeting though and I started a card which I completed and sent off yesterday to my niece for her little one who is five today.  I have no idea what the latest trend is, these youngsters change their minds so quickly so he ended up with a cowboy card.  Here it is

There is a pocket on the back with his name on and some money inside.  Of course mummy will have to buy him a book with it, he loves reading.

I have another of these cards almost finished but I want to put some sunflowers on the front and I have no idea what I have done with them since I made them.  Bet they turn up too late to include in this blog post.  I need to get a birthday card made for a friend too so I must get on.

Happy Easter to you all, have a lovely long weekend and I do hope the sun shines for all of you.