Women

 Well, on Thursday we had a blog page headed "Men" and today we have one headed "Women".  I wanted to do another page for Matilde's challenge at Art Journal Journal and so came up with this one featuring women.

I've wanted to do an extra one or two during this month but my health has not allowed me to do as much as I wanted, the perils of aging.  So here I am, at the end of the month, with at least one page but there is another one complete and one in my head.

I was helped by the fact that searching for something I found some journal pages I had done quite some time ago - just background colour, so knowing Matilde's challenge was People I searched in the drawer of Tim Holtz figures and selected these three women.

I had bought an Andy Skinner stamp called Enigma a while ago and not used it so I inked it up and stamped patches of it here and there.  A favourite stamp of mine was done by someone I used to know personally, Penny.  And so I selected two of the complex creations (Mandelbrot set) which I like as patterns in their own right, and a title was born for the page.

So here is another page from me for Mathild'e's challenge at AJJ - hope you like it.  I'm close to the wire but hopefully can get at least another one in.

Art Journal Journey -Two for One

Here we are, almost the end of October and time to bring my theme to an end at Art Journal Journey.  I still have three pages I previously made to show you so will show you two today and just one tomorrow.

These are not for my square journal but will still go in my Lavinia one if I decide to put them there as they are all Lavinia stamps I used.

The top one was simply a piece of cardstock on which I used Distress Inks in various greens and yellows and then the stencil, Lavinia, was used.  I often wonder when using this stencil have I got it upside down or the right way up?

It just had a selection of Lavinia cogs, wheels and words stamped on it and then some clocks, a compass and some more gears to give it prominence for my theme at AJJ.

The bottom one was where I had made a card and then stamped some images, again from Lavinia, on it but I had smudged the card.  So in order to save it from the bin and not add to the landfill problem I cut the two hearts out using a Spellbinders die.  I decorated a piece of cardstock with purple and pink DI's and stamped time words all over randomly.  This then had the two hearts cut from its face and I slotted the previous hearts behind it.

I hope this gives you another idea on what you might do if you too spoil a card with a silly smudge or something similar.

Art Journal Journey - Zia

 Just in case you are all wondering who or what Zia is, she is the Steampunk Lady from Lavinia Stamps.  Now I obviously got this idea from one of the design team but I cannot remember who, maybe it was Emma Jo?  I do remember on the original she had the mask on her eyes, I just put goggles on her.

To colour my page I used my stencil brushes which had left over ink on them, most likely Elements inks as those are what I use with these brushes.  So it was a mixture of pink, blue and purple.

The first stamping I did was Zia but with the top of her head wiped of ink so that the top hat would fit there.  This was with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.  Then I stamped the Top Hat and finally the Goggles.  I used the Angel Wings, first of all with Nocturne, and then the ones behind with Memento London Fog.  The cogs and the words down the right hand side were both stamped with Nocturne but the words were second generation stamping.

The final thing was to give Zia some red lips and lilac shiny laces on her hat (gel pens).

Although she will most likely go in my Lavinia Journal which is roughly 9.5" x 8" she was produced on a smaller piece of cardstock (7" x 7").  When I put her in my journal she will have some work done on the page, as will all of my pieces, to tie her into the actual page.

It is nearing the end of the month of October, oh dear, one more month and we will be into Christmas with a vengeance, so there are not many more pages to show you for my theme at Art Journal Journey.  I have so enjoyed making these pages and now will enjoy adding them and extending them to include the whole of the page.  I think I will probably start with this one, it's the smallest so neds most work.

Just realised there are still two more days in October, the month has 31 days, not 30 so hopefully I can show you another two pages before my guest host stint ends.  That means there is still time for you to join in at Art Journal Journey if you so wish.  Would love to see you there.

Art Journal Journey - Tik Tok

Another page inspired by my lovely friend, Jo Rice,  who is head of the Design Team at lavinia Stamps, and again featuring the playful little mice.  I think Jo has a soft spot for them as I do. They work for so many of the Lavinia designs that the team put out on social media for us all to see.  Many of them also do tutorials so you can join in with them.  (The Design Team not the mice)

Again I have used the top hat as well as the mice for my page and as it is for the theme at Art Journal Journey you will find there are some gears on it.  They make fabulous wheels for things and therefore provide some humorous pictures for cards and journal pages alike.

For this journal page (in my 8" x 8" journal) I first of all stamped the clock in the bottom left corner, just a tiny bit off the page.  Then I carefully stamped the compass on top of it, balancing the "S" for south as closely as I could to the edge of the clock.

Next came an assortment of cogs and wheels in the opposite corner.  Some of these are quite tiny and as there are three sets I have them all mounted on one piece of acrylic.  As you can imagine they are quite easy to lose so it is better to stamp, clean, and return to the carrier sheet straight away.

Then came the mice.  Tilly is the one on the left balancing on the "N" for north on the compass which in turn is balancing on Tick, the clock stamp.  Her friend, Minni, is doing her best to keep upright whilst balancing on two cogs which are in turn balancing on more cogs and wheels.  Oh what fun those two are having.  Somehow I think they are both 'in gear' today.  Apart from the mice who were stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne everything else was stamped in Pinecone.

I just used Elements Lime Punch ink brushed lightly around the edge of my page, leaving the centre white where I  included the two sets of words (words of steam) stamped on cardstock and lightly brushed with Elements Truffle ink.

I hopw you have enjoyed seeing the little mice again. They are too cute not to include in my theme for Art Journal Journey.  If you would like to join in please be sure to read the dreaded rules here first of all.  

Artful Journal Journey - Monocled Man

This morning I have another page for my theme over at Art Journal Journey.  Again featuring an old stamp - but one I have never used before.  I decided that this Monocled Man could fit well into the theme I am guest hosting at Artful Journal Journey.  I have no idea who makes this stamp, and the gears that you can see at the base of the page, as they came on the same sheet along with the words I used.

To begin with I used a stencil from Lavinia, using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then I stamped the gears and things on the bottom of the page with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.  The gears were diecuts.

I stamped the monocled man and the words on a piece of white cardstock and cut them both out but as the man had 'unruly hair' I also stamped him direct on the page so that I would get the strands of hair showing even though he was an overlay.  Lastly I decided to use some Glossy Accents for his monocle.  When dry his face was stuck over the stamped image.  You may notice his eyebrows are very wonky. I sat for a few seconds trying my best to get mine like that, I had the most peculiar expressions in doing so but never achieved his look.

I am glad I found this unused image as I think it can be used again, especially for a male card even though he is quite big.  He would probably work with a travel theme, using the suitcases as shown in one of my previous pages this month.

Have you any NBUS stamps (never before used stamps) as my friend, Darnell, often talks about?  I wonder if you could find one like I did and use it for this theme in some way?  Why not pop along to Art Journal Journey and join in.  Before you do you must read the dreaded rules here to make sure your entry is accepted (not cards, ATC's etc).  The moderators and I would love to see you and your journal page.

Art Journal Journey - Women

 I found these two women in my Steampunk tin of rubber stamps - both by Deep Red- and so I decided to pair them up along with Janet Klein's "Gear Up".   They are "Lady Cyclist" and "Lady Captain".

     

I simply stamped them with Versafine Clair Nocturne on cardstock that had been edged with black ink and then covered the images with clear embossing powder.  I liked the look of them with the stamping all shiny and so I decided to leave them without any colour.  I was going to fussy cut them up but looking at all the small detail I decided against it.

those dangly bits 

and feathers on both ladies

The stencil I used was Replenish by Lavinia and I pounced Distress Oxides in Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet through with a stencil brush.  I felt it needed just the subtlest hint of colour,  It still needed something so I added a few gears in the bottom corner and finally I was happy with my page.

So here we have another page for my theme at Art Journal Journey - In Gear!  This is obviously a page with a lot of gears as both ladies have them somewhere on their person but there are ways you can produce a page without actual gears on.  Lots of machinery has 'gears' so including some would work, as would a mode of transport.  You just need to get your head 'in gear' as they say, and you will find lots of things you can do for this theme.  Hope to see you at AJJ soon.

Art Journal Journey - Mousey Antics

Here is another Journal Page for the challenge at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host for this month,  This one features the mice again and the top hat from the Steampunk range at Lavinia stamps.  It looks as if the naughty little mice are having a great time with those top hats.  Again it was inspired by the work of the lovely talented Jo Rice who heads the team at Lavinia Stamps.

I think someone is going to have a tumble if he is not careful and if the other one blows his penny whistle hard I think he could 'become a cropper' too.  Just look how precariously the hats are balanced and on gears as well.

Again I took inspiration from one of Jo Rice's designs, with her permission, but made one or two slight adjustments from her brilliant idea,  My background was lightly coloured with Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink through the Red Brick stencil and all the images were stamped with Versafine Nocturne ink,  The butterfly and the steampunk roses were coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils and the laces in the top hats were coloured with a red and a gold Posca pen.  I used brown and grey pastel pencils to colour the hats very lightly.

All the stamps and the stencil are from the Lavinia range.  I think it is Moo who is hanging on to the brim of the hat and I am sure that is Bibi who is playing the penny whistle, the pocket watch is called Tock.  

I do hope you like the little mice along with the birds and the spider who seem to be having a great time rolling along on the gears and the pocket watch and it inspires you to join us at AJJ.  Please check the rules before you join us.

Art Journal Journey - Birdie

This is one that I did as an extra and decided to publish today rather than wait a couple of days for the next one for my theme at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host.

It is an image by Stampendous and reminds me of a wooden bird I once did with Tim Holtz years ago at CHA.  I am afraid my wooden bird has lost lots of his bits and only seems to have a little propellor and a measure stuck to his tail left.  Maybe now is the time to resurrect him.  Here is the page:

He is a Stampendous image, as I said, and he was coloured in using Inktense watercolour crayons.  I tried to get as close to a rust colour as possible and went with grey and some other orangey colours as well.  I don't know where the words came from but I thought they were quite apt.  The cogs were a diecut cut in a beige coloured cardstock and the stencil is from Lavinia, again a second image where the stencil had been used and the ink left on, was spritzed and placed ink side down on the card.

Maybe I should find some feathers for my Tim Holtz bird, I'll certainly be looking at some of my wooden gears to place on him now I have got him down and dusted him off.

Would love you to join us at AJJ with your 'In Gear' creations.

WOYWW 749

The days are drawing in and it gets dark quite soon here in the north of England, that seems to make my days so much shorter and therefore they seem to pass even more quickly.  Saturday was dry and quite warm where we were and we went for a walk in the park and enjoyed seeing all the families out with the children enjoying themselves.  I guess the kiddie train had stopped running when October came in but the trampolining was still there for them to enjoy as was the crazy golf.  I hope the latter stays open, I fancy a game myself.

I started sticking some of my work in my Lavinia Journal but I spent too much time hesitating as to what to put on the blank part of each page.  That to me is more daunting than a whole white page.  I just need some ideas to link up the rectangular images so they don't look as if they have just been 'plonked' there.  I managed two pages that is all but both still need some work on them.

I did promise you I would show you the pages I have been uploading for my theme at Art Journal Journey although it seems a bit silly as you could just scroll down to them.  Anyway, here are the two from the last week

I did intend making a good start on my "C" cards, especially if the weather kept us in a bit, but the internet was non existent and so I couldn't find anything to inspire me and my own inspiration was lacking.  (So bad was the internet that we had to go to sit outside the 'bins' which are close to reception to get on the internet so I could link my posts for Art Journal Journey and do my commenting.  We got some funny looks from people emptying their rubbish.)

When I got home I stamped some hats for the two "C" cards I had done whilst away.  I thought the Santa hat looked fine on these cards but had to try a dickie bow and a straw boater.  There's also a top hat and a witches one to play with, courtesy of Crazy Birds.

On the way home we went for our jabs to a walk in centre as our GP surgery is lacking in sorting them out for us.  I've been a bit more wary of being in a crowded place as the news tells us that hospitals are getting full of Covid patients once more.  A stern letter is on its way to my GP asking why I had not had mine as yet.  Yesterday morning I woke feeling a bit like a cold was starting and then the pharmacist who did the jabs warned us that we may feel like we have a cold for the next couple of days.  Ah well!

So it's Toodle Pip for now, see you over at Ms Julia's for the linking to all the WOYWW desks.

Art Journal Journey - Going On a Journey

My large Dylusion Journal is almost full so I have been working in my smaller square one which is just slightly larger than 8" square and I have been working mainly on cardstock 8" x 8" and then sticking them into my Journal.  This is another of those pieces.  This one is almost a copy of a canvas I once made and taught down South some 10 or 12 years ago.  Some of the rubber stamps I could not find and so have substituted others which means that the layout is slightly different too.   This is for the theme at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host for the month and chose "In Gear".

I began colouring the background with Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink I stamped the man with the watch and the luggage, both old Tim Holtz type rubber stamps.  I have quite a few of these men (I think they were drawn by Brett Wilder but I may be wrong) in different poses/costume etc and I remember at the time I became rather addicted to purchasing them.  They have been useful over the years and still are, especially for male cards etc.

Next, using a piece of sequin waste and Vintage Photo DI I stencilled some dots over the page.  Again using various rubber stamps I built up the background with advertisements and ticket images.  

I wanted to stamp three moustaches, as on my original canvas, in the top corner but I could not find the stamp so I used another one and stamped it three times.  Guess what?  I found, later, that I had originally used a diecut for the moustaches, and I still had it.  The story of my life.

I continued building up images on the background and I coloured some cardstock with various DI's so that I could diecut some gears to give an injection of colour.  I also stamped some tickets and things and cut out some butterflies.

The next thing I added was a gold key.  No idea why.  I had included one on my original canvas and liked it.  Finally the letters spelling out 'journey' were diecut because he looks as if he is certainly setting out on one with all those cases.  I wonder where he is going? 

Are you going to join us with this theme in your journal?  I do hope so but please read the dreaded rules here before you begin.

Addendum:  We have been away for a few days so I have been without internet and have had to drive elsewhere to link in to comment and to publish my posts.  Apologies for being late commenting but tried to get to you each day.  Thanks so much for joining in with the theme.  (I was sat outside the rubbish bins on the site at the time I linked LOL)

Art Journal Journey - Goggles

 Today I have another page for Art Journal Journey's challenge "In Gear" .  This one is featuring some of my older stamps which I have had for some years, mainly from the time when I was heavily into Steampunk.

 I started this on a sheet of 8" x 8" buff coloured cardstock which I then cut down slightly so that I could stick it into my 8" square Journal.  Using a selection of Victorian advertisement rubber stamps I covered the whole sheet using both Versafine Clair Pinecone and Acorn inks, first and second generation to give it an "old" appearance.  Next I stamped a couple of images using Nocturne ink including the image of the Steampunk guy wearing goggles on a separate piece of white card which I fussy cut out.

I decided I wanted to add a little colour into this page and so I used Elements Pinecone ink to lightly colour a small piece of card onto which I stamped the baggage check image.  Finally I added some cogs and wheels that I had die cut in black cardstock.

I hope some of you will be joining us at Art Journal Journey this month but please read the 'dreaded rules' at the top of their page firstly.

Addendum: I know my theme is "In Gear" and not 'Steampunk" but as the two are closely related I thought I would give you this link which I just came across yesterday in Pinterest.  I haven't read it myself as yet but it might be useful to some of you.

https://einatkessler.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-make-a-steampunk-project/

Art Journal Journey - Mice in the Library

My favourite designer at the moment, when I want to make a card, is Jo Rice who is Head of the Design Team at Lavinia Stamps.  Jo is a lovely lady and when I asked if I could use her ideas as a basis for some of my journal pages she was quite happy for me to do so.  So with Jo's permission I give you my rendition of the little mice playing in the Steampunk Library:

My background was a second run from the Ornate stencil I had used elsewhere.  I love to do this technique for backgrounds and it means you get two for the price of one in a way.  I had used my stencil with some Distress Oxides and rather than wash it up I spritzed it with water and placed it ink side down on my cardstock.  Left it for a minute or so and then pressed a piece of kitchen roll on top.  Lifting it up you get a lovely muted impression of the stencil.

Next, using the Hill Mask and Graphite Elements ink I made some ground for the mice to stand on.  Then I used the various stamps, (Moo and Tilly, Wizardry, Topper, Goggles, Cog Set 1-3, Words of Steam, and Rose Set), stamping with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and coloured the images with Inktense watercolour pencils.

This started life on a piece of 8 x 8 cardstock and is is now in my Lavinia Journal.  I sometimes like to work this way so that I don't spoil my actual journal pages with any mistakes I might make and not be able to cover up.  Much easier to work on a piece of card and then stick it in my journal.

I hope this has shown you something a little different than the first page for my "In Gear" challenge at Art Journal Journey and I hope you will join in with us.  Just make sure you read the dreaded rules first of all which you can find at the top of the AJJ page.

I love Eva's entry (8) for this theme but cannot find how to comment, Can someone please let me know how to leave a comment on her blog.

Art Journal Journey - In Gear

Are you ready for the ‘off’?  Better get your art stuff  'in gear’ then because that is the title of the next challenge for the month of October over at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host for this coming month.

So just what has gears - clocks have gears, lots of them unless they are of the digi kind.  Lots of Mixed Media Artists have little boxes full of gears that they use - all from old clocks and watches.  I am sure all modes of transport have gears in them somewhere and bicycles have gear levers on them so they must have gears too,

I must have wanted to do some Steampunking again when I chose this for my  challenge, I still remember having quite a crush on 'all things Steampunk' and even decorated a top hat for myself.  But … it doesn’t stop there - as I said above, all kinds of machinery has gears, so you could include different modes of transport  - sometimes we tell people to ‘get your brain in gear’ and if you think about it, especially if you live over in the UK people sometimes refer to what they are wearing as ‘their gear’ (eg "I used to wear trendy gear when I was much younger").  So I hope that has given you some ideas where you might go with this challenge and I hope you can think of lots of other things where you can be ‘in gear’.  See you over at Art Journal Journey?

Here is my first page:

The little figures and words are from Janet Klein's digi images which allowed me to make them any size I wanted.  I coloured them in with Promarkers.  The gears are die cut.

This was a relatively quick and simple page to start the challenge off so I hope this has inspired you all  to 'get in gear' and show us your creations over at Art Journal Journey.  Be sure to read the 'dreaded rules' before you make your entry.  See you there?  

Jeudi Journal - Tomorrow

 "Well, here we are, with two sisters, who are planning their holiday to Scotland.  The weather reports have been off-putting about going abroad with so many countries in Europe suffering from Forest Fires and some parts of America being flooded that the girls decided it was best to stay nearer home.  Ok the weather was not so good but as they intended doing lots of sight seeing it didn't matter.  Besides which they knew of some lovely beaches just outside Edinburgh, their mother had talked about her younger days spent in a place called Portobello and walking up to Musselburgh with her father when she was small.  So if they decided they wanted a beach day there was always there.  And if they went further afield St Andrews was another place mother remembered.

It was the night before the planned trip, several places had been marked out on the map, a book with mileage/directions in it was packed and the girls felt ready.

"What are you wearing to travel in?" enquired Bernadette.

"I didn't see anyone today so I'm wearing this again tomorrow" came Rachel's reply.

"You can't travel all day in something you wore today" 

"Why not?  I didn't get up until well gone past lunch time and I'm going to get in my pyjamas shortly."

"Oh I give up" said Bernadette, adjusting her glasses which had slid down her nose.  "At least I hope you are putting new tights on"

"Of course" replied Rachel, and I will wear more suitable footwear for driving, never could get on with the pedals in my car and my Doc Martins."

"I can see this is going to be a great holiday if you are not taking that many changes of clothing"

"No, I will change daily, it's just I like this dress and wish I had not worn it today so I thought I could get away with it tomorrow.  Besides which mother will be pleased, less washing"

And with that Rachel pranced off to their bedroom to get into her PJ's.  Tomorrow was going to be super - a holiday without parents!"

As you can see I tore a map page up (the only one I could find) to make my background and laid it down with gaps between various parts to indicate some of the roads the girls might take on their holiday.  Having just had a few days in Scotland I really enjoyed thinking of these two off for a trip - and without grown ups!  This now enables me to enter into Art Journal Journey's challenge, set by Chris, which is "Where in the World".

The snarky comment was "I didn't see anyone today so I'm wearing this again tomorrow."

WOYWW 741

Another Wednesday and we all meet up again at Julia's to show our desks and generally natter.  Now, for weeks I have been going on about my class at the Club, well it turned into two consecutive classes.  We were let down at the last minute last month and luckily I was ready so stepped in with my decorated tins, Sarah Anderson, style.

Last Saturday was part two of my class (which would have been done in the afternoon last month) when we did something else in the style of Sarah.  I must add that I had approached Sarah for her to do the class originally but she couldn't and she did not mind my taking it and doing her 'thing'.  (Sarah and I go back way over 30 years when we both tutored at Paddy's Place in Whitefield, Manchester.)

I did show you two tins I had decorated in my post of the 12th July but here are some of the other samples (not stuck to tins so use your imagination please) plus a tiny tin I found in my stash and some toppers for it.  Which shall I use?

This one was extended for this last Saturday and had a little Journal Clip inside it which had a little book inside.  Now these Journal Pins (bottom right with a tag sticking out - little book at the top fits in the top of the Journal Clip) are to attach to your journal pages and there is further room for journaling on tags or in the little books that some have tucked in the top.

Here are some more samples - these are like Sarah made

And on researching the internet I found other people doing them - differently again:

This is one using Aall & Create Images - I just had to make this book to go in the top.

So there we are minus the 19 that I gave out to club members.  At last all is revealed and I hope I can stop making them now as I did get carried away.  If you want to know how to make them just drop me a line and we'll work something out.

Just ever so briefly - the birthday last week ended on the Thursday when we took ourselves off to Bowness in Windermere for another Afternoon Tea.

This was very busy with people enjoying the AT but I must admit I did prefer the one at the Lancaster House Hotel.  Sorry WBI.  This one had roasted red pepper soup served in little enamel mugs, fish and chips (my favourite), crispy chicken, pigs in blankets, mini beef sliders, smoked salmon and pickled cucumber, scones with ja and cream, chocolate brownies and lemon meringue pies.  It was served with an alcoholic drink - I had Prosecco and Chas had a bat of beers.  I presume because of the alcohol it was £10 per head more expensive and they did the 10% service charge automatic.  The cakes came home we could not fit them in our full tums.

Now to diet ...

ps I have had to drive down to reception to get internet access as I am at the caravan again - what we do for our blogs!

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 - Subscription

 The quote chosen this week from Tim Holtz and his Snarky Quotes - "Please cancel my subscription to your issues".  So, working with that and Elle's lovely theme at Art Journal Journey "Fairytales, Folklore and Fables" I wondered what to do.  Elle gave some fantastic prompts as well as explaining her title excellently so if you pop along to Art Journal Journey I am sure you will want to join in.

This is my page today and my story will follow:

"Christine is a singer in a local amateur operatic society, always the understudy for the main role and never the principal character, that is until one day ...  when she is kidnapped by a masked man called Erik.  He has heard her singing and is enthralled by her beautiful voice and cannot understand why she is never given the main role in the various productions.

Erik keeps Christine locked up for himself and in an attempt to escape she tears off his mask and discovers he has the head of a skeleton.  Horrified but trying not to show it Christine agrees that if he let her go she will wear his ring as a sign she is faithful to him and him alone.

Going back home she meets her childhood friend, Raoul, and tells him all about Erik.  They decide to run away together to somewhere that Erik will never find her.  Unknown to them Erik has overheard their conversation and once again, he abducts Christine.  

This time he forces her to marry him but just before she does she lifts her veil and kisses him.  This is the first time Erik has ever been kissed and he begins to cry, Christine is reduced to tears herself and he decides to let her go from his life.  As she leaves she turns and says "Please cancel my subscription to your issues" and escapes through the door of the cellar where he had her locked away."

Alright, this is not sticking to the true story of the Phantom of the Opera but it is my version for Elle at Art Journal Journey - maybe it will become a West End hit in its time if they change the names of the characters.  I hope the final sentence of the story made you smile.

Art Journal Journey - Puffin

 The background for this page was made using Blueprint Sketch and Wilted Violet Distress Oxides smooched on an acrylic block and then with an image from Aall & Create (Numerator) stamped over the top and embossed in white ep.  The fact that the image is not fully stamped is intentional, a partial image often looks much better, especially when used as a background, than a complete one in my opinion.  I assure you it was no mistake.

Next I drew three circles with my White Posca Pen and then went over them with a Blue Gel Pen.  I stamped Reckoner Digits and a script stamp in various places over the background but not too much on the plain uninked part.  This was reserved for the man himself - the Puffin.

The idea for this came from something Tracy Evans of Aall & Create had done but as I do not have her puffins (I have no idea why) but I did have a puffin from another company and so I used that one, stamped, coloured in with Polychromos, fussy cut and then adhered to the page.

You will notice there are some small black and white circles at the base of the page - these are from a piece of Aall & Create washi tape which I used to ground the puffin and kind of finish the page off.  I am entering this into Fur and/or Feathers at Art Journal Journey.

Art Journal Journey - Fractured Face

The stamp I used is from Aall & Create and is number 7 but does not appear to have a name.  I chose to call it 'fractured face'.  It was designed by Bipasha, one of my favourite artists from A&C and I just love the simplicity of this beautiful girl's face behind the quartered mask and the swirls.  I also chose it because of the numerous feathers on the small plate which I used alongside the face.

There are so many things I liked about this face, the shape of the actual face, the lips, the spectacles she wears and the mosaic effect down the top left hand side.  I like the fact that she is a free spirit too and, of course, she has feathers framing her.  

  

To fit in with her fractured face I chose to simply stamp my favourite crackle stamp in three of the corners and to add the tiny birds close by.  The words of positivity seemed to be perfect in the top left hand corner as do the bulbs below also by Bipasha but from stamp number 23.

Minimal colouring is how I chose to leave this page, which has a lovely cream colour to it naturally, and I hope it has a message for you as it did for me when I chose these stamps.  I would love you to join me at Art Journal Journey with the theme Fur and/or Feathers.

Art Journal Journey - Feathers

The title says it all - this should have been an earlier post for Art Journal Journey and my suggestion of Fur and/or Feathers as the theme.  I think the feather rubber stamp is from Chocolate Baroque and I stamped them both more or less central on my page in my journal.  That was after I had coloured the page with three different acrylic paints - New Grass (Eco Green Crafts) and Pistachio and Sea Breeze from Kaisercolour.

I blocked the feathers off and left a space at the bottom to do some writing and then used a stencil, with my black Posca pen, which did not turn out as expected but instead left me with lots of little irregular triangles dotted all over the page.  I had expected more of a shattered glass look from it.

I got my cake icing book out and tried to copy some of the lettering it showed - I just about managed to fit it on to avoid the punching at the top of the page.  

Finally I used my Polychromos to add one or two additional bits of shading to the feathers, mainly the shapes shown within some of them.

I hope this has shown that you can just take the theme literally and add some feathers.  I would have liked to have drawn a quill pen and ink pot but don't think I have the time now.  Maybe I will carry on within this journal and add it at a later date.