WOYWW 730

 Another week, and another ATC to show you from the great big swap.  It was just too late to include in last week's post but here is my ATC from my Pif, Kyla:

Thanks Kyla!

I still haven't done mine but rest assured, all you who sent one to me, I will be doing them shortly.  The pain is nowhere near as severe and I am doing all I have been told to do plus steaming twice a day (something my mum would have had me doing had she been here).  Years ago my son turned up with some menthol crystals, must have had a cough at the time, and I have been using them, but only a tiny piece (gosh they are strong).At last I have been able to lie down in bed so hip hip hooray..(this is for me to look back on, not for sympathy, honestly).

Well what a lot of excitement there has been on WOYWW bloggers pages.  Some gorgeous ATC's on display showing what a talented bunch you all are.  You should all be proud of yourselves, it has been lovely to look through the posts and see what a variety there is out there.

WOYWW 729

 What a lovely week for mail we all had.  Despite not having done my ATC's as yet I still got some lovely snail mail.  I expect this week will be a show and tell session with us all showing the lovely ATC's we have received.

Well, sadly as I said above I have not done my ATC's as yet and I cannot see me doing them for a couple of weeks at least, but I promise I will send them out to those who sent them to me.  Please understand.  I think most of you know I was very poorly for just over three weeks and last Thursday I was happy as I thought I was finally on the right side.  Then in bed, that night, I coughed and tore my intercostal muscles and am now in a great deal of pain.  Because of things that are wrong with me I cannot have ibuprofen which would be the normal medication. I'll just leave it there.

Anyway, here are my lovely ATC's, once again on my footstool.  Thank you ladies, they are wonderful, as were the various little envelopes and cards that accompanied them.

Top middle - Angela (Felix), then starting left and going across LLJ, Annie, Jo, Diana, Julia, Lynne, Christine, Cindy, Tracy.

These will all be put in a book as soon as I can get in my craft room but for the moment they just sit close to me and remind me of some of the lovely friends that WOYWW has forged.

See you next week.

Jeudi Journal - Grammar

 "I am silently correcting your grammar" is this week's quote from Sir Tim (Holtz) that we have to work with alongside Aimeslee's theme for the month at Art Journal Journey - Flowers.  That and figures from Dylusions range by Dyan Reaveley completes the parameters we have to work with.

I was very lucky in that I had not got anything prepared but whilst leafing through a National Trust magazine I saw an article on Sissingham Gardens, Kent.  A full page and a half page of a floral garden.  Perfect for the background to my page.  So with a bit of trimming and putting together the two pages made a full one which was perfect for Aimeslee's theme.  That solved the problem of a background.

I chose to use two tiny figures from the Dylusion range and I decided to leave them without colour.  The background was so colourful that I felt it would have made them fade into it had I added colour.

"The story is simple.  It's a week since Billy and Sam were at the Gardens and Sam had been asked on his return to school to write all about what he had done over the weekend.  Sam was, of course, excited about his morning out with his older brother and so he had written about that in great detail.

Although quite a bright young man for his age Sam had a failing, his grammar was not good.  He often got his tenses muddled and as for 'split infinity', well!

It was later in the week that two of his teachers were walking in the same Gardens and Sam came up in conversation.  Both agreed what a lovely young man he was and how well he was doing in school.  In fact they were discussing whether or not he should win the math prize that year for brightest young student.

Miss Bennett was unaware of his prowess in English but was soon put right by Miss Heslop who told her she had had to tell him "I am silently correcting your grammar" only a few days ago.  Yes, he definitely deserved the math prize, but he was not really a contender for the English one."

WOYWW 728

 Happy Anniversary!  Congratulations Julia on an idea that started 14 years ago and is still working.  I wonder how many friendships have been forged by WOYWW, how many hands across the sea have been woven together from its early beginnings.  I still remember years ago when I used to go to CHA the thrill of actually meeting up with WOYWW friends from other parts of the world.

Well, yesterday I got some lovely ATC's in the post but sadly I have not been able to do mine as yet.  I PROMISE I will do them asap so thanks ladies for trusting me to get them to you some time soon.  I still have terrible shakes so my colouring skills etc are severely tested.  I know it's no excuse, I should have done them earlier.

Here are my lovely ATC's, not on my desk but on my stool at the side of me.  Thank you Lynn, LLJ, Jo, Annie

I sincerely hope all of you are having a lovely celebration of the friendships that have been made over the years with WOYWW.

Jeudi Journal - Want

Thankfully today we have yet another  Journal Page for Art Journal Journey's theme as set by Aimeslee.  I am glad I was working a week or two in advance.  A lovely theme for the month of May because it is "Flowers" and what could be better as our gardens and the countryside are becoming a hive of colour.

So what do I need?  A Tim Holtz Snarky Comment, some Dylusion figures, flowers, maybe a stencil or two ... and colour of some description.  Oh, and a story to illustrate it all.  Like this page?

Esme was at the same Gardens as Billy and Sam.  In fact she was in the same class at school as young Sam.  That was about as far as the similarities went with the two youngsters.  Where Sam was kind and a thoughtful little boy Esme was a bit of a spoiled young madam.

In fact we find her just as she was being naughty.  With total disregard for the beautiful flowers in the garden she was to be seen pulling flowers up and scattering their petals on the ground.  "He loves me, he loves me not" she was chanting as she destroyed the pretty flowers.

Billy saw her and was rather taken aback to see what she was doing and so he shouted over to her.

"Hey, you mustn't pick the flowers, they are here for all to see and enjoy.  What do you think you are doing?" 

Esme turned, and looked in the direction of Billy, not a look of remorse or anything at having been caught destroying flowers.  Haughtily she shouted back at him "I do this thing called what I want" and carried on picking at the petals of the daisy in her hand.

"Well", said Billy to Sam, "I think you might have a word with teacher on Monday and tell her just what we saw today.  In fact you can write it up in your school diary for the whole class to see."

Samjust grinned.

WOYWW 727

 Yes, another Wednesday, and nothing to show on my desk, sorry.

The weather has been lovely up in the north of England, well, my north anyway, I hope it has been the same in other places in the country too.

Television was all geared up for the celebrations at the weekend when we saw King Charles III  being crowned at the Abbey.  It was a joyous occasion and I am sure all who watched or took part in any way, had a thoroughly wonderful day.  I wonder how many of you went to a street party, or had family around to help with the celebrations.  We two simply had an all day buffet that we could dip into as and when we wanted something - and top up as plates became empty.  

Yes, I am still suffering but am now on another set of steroids and antibiotics so all is pointing the right way.  Sadly I am not up to crafting at the moment, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, so I will show you something you (most of you) have not seen before.  I know one WOYWW'er will recognise my little crafting project from a long time ago.  It was forged in Carnforth, some of the pieces I believe were made in the wee small hours to give us all lots to decorate and it was all the brainchild of our wee Tracy.  There's a much larger heart somewhere else but at this moment I cannot find it.

I am sure nobody looking at this needs to be told who is behind the whole idea of these three pretty maidens that have adorned my craft room for a long time now.

Well, that is it for this week, hopefully some crafting to show next time - certainly the ATC's should be done, need to be done!

Lastly, thanks so much to Lynne for the link, it really has helped.

Jeudi Journal - Right

"One of us is right, the other one is you" is the Tim Holtz Snarky Comment we are working with today.  "We" being Wendy and myself who also have to use Dylusion figures wherever possible.  I have used the two boys today plus some of Dyan's flowers (many of which were too large so I had to cut them down considerably), and a couple of little Dyan bugs.

My background was done with Oxides smooched on an acrylic block. spritzed with water and then squished all over.  First was the Lime, then the Cracked Pistachio and lastly the Mustard Seed.  I wanted the background to be light and summery to set off Aimeslee's new theme at Art Journal Journey.  I do hope Aimeslee gets lots of entries for this lovely theme, no reason why she shouldn't as it is a great one to go with.

I have a very severe chest infection, saw the doctor yesterday and got steroids and antibiotics to take.  She was in two minds whether to send me to hospital so I have promised if I go any worse I will ring for an ambulance.  So, my colouring is not up to its usual standard, I found working with the markers very restrictive in that they made me short of breath.  That is a major problem for me at the moment, shortness of breath.  Anyway, enough of me, I am fine really.

"Billy had taken his younger brother, Sam, to a well known garden attraction in town.  Little Sam was keen on knowing the names of various flowers that there were likely to be and so he recited several as they went along.

"Agapanthus, Geranium, Sunflower, Lilac, Rose, Orchid, Carnation, Gardenia, Hydrangea, Peony and Stephanotis." he shouted in a sing song voice as they walked along to the entrance.

"You know all of these Sam?" asked Billy.

"Most of them" Sam replied, "and I know lots more.  Bet I know more than you do Billy."

"You probably do"  his big brother said, smiling, as he handed over the money mother had given him to take his young brother out for the morning,  There was enough for a glass of milk and a sticky bun for them to have afterwards too.  It was going to be a lovely morning, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the gardens did not appear to be that busy.

"Oh look" shouted Billy, "there is your favourite bush, a hydrangea.  It's in your favourite blue colour too."  

Sam was delighted to see the big cabbage sized heads on his favourite bush.  "Wonder if we can see mum's favourite whilst we are here?"

Off the two boys went in search of mum's favourite.  Surely there was bound to be a rose garden.  And to be sure, they noticed a sign for the Rose Garden.  Both boys walked through the gate and were met with a wonderful display of roses of various colours and hues not to mention the different species.

Mum had always liked the Peace Rose and the boys began looking, surely there would be one here.

"How many roses is it romantic to give to a girl?" suddenly asked Sam.

"Twelve I think" replied Billy, They say buy a dozen red roses for love."

"Wrong" shouted Sam, excitedly jumping up and down on the pathway.  "You are wrong.  The answer is nine.  One of us is right, and the other one is you." and he did a funny little dance on the spot, spinning around and around on one foot.  "I read on my computer before we came out this morning that nine roses are a symbol of eternal love and you would often give nine roses to the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.  You can check on your phone if you like.  Wonder if dad gave mum nine Peace roses when they got married?"

Billy just smiled and decided to check on his phone ... but later, when Sam was not around.  He wanted the little guy to have a lovely morning with his big brother so it was all up to him."

WOYWW 726

Nothing at all to show you, my fellow WOYWW'ers, on my desk today.  I unpacked my little box that I had taken with me to Cheltenham last week and set it all out on the desk in readiness for me to continue with what I had hoped to do whilst away.  I hadn't done much at all in the hotel and so I needed to get on with things.

Unfortunately I was struck down with a very severe chest infection and still am suffering.  Not as much as the last few days of last week.  As it is I am taking paracetamol and steaming myself four times a day in the hope that I will start to feel a bit better.  

So here is my desk in all its glory:

That's it folks - see you next week