Art Journal Journey - Going to the Beach - again!

Well, here is page two of my pain journal for the month of July.  For this one I am still using the freebie stamps I got with the magazine and this time I went for a favourite of mine - Beach Huts!  There is something about them that just takes me back in time and I almost imagine some Victorian lady with her bathing suit and cap stepping out of the door.  I think they were a little different then but that is the picture that comes to mind.

I thought I was going bright with my colours but now looking at it on here it looks rather dull.  It is much brighter in real life I promise.  Love the little windows.

At the top you can see I chose a young lady resting on her elbows whilst sitting on the beach with her wrap draped around her bag and some seagulls in the distance which prompted the use of "Spread Your Wings" part way down the page.

So, as you can see we are "Going to" the Beach again and therefore this is another entry into Chris' challenge on Art Journal Journey.  "We're all/going" is the challenge and it opens up a lot of ideas in my head, it is just the challenge of getting them down on paper.  I think I had better get 'going' into my craft room.  Hope to see you soon.  Just realised I did not link up yesterday - hope that is ok that I am a day late with the linking.

ps is it my eyes are is this a bit wonky?

Art Journal Journey

Well, it is Chris' turn to choose the challenge this month over at Art Journal Journey and she has given us lots to play around with with her  "We're All/Going" theme - lots of scope there Chris thanks for such a great bundle, my head is full of ideas.  As always I like to start off with my Pain Calendar Pages.  Hard to do with this back problem but so much easier to fill in when it is done and the days seem dark.

This month was particularly enjoyable as I had bought a magazine when up at the hospital and it had a set of lovely beach themed stamps free with it.  Oodles of stamps which I know I will use as I love anything to do with the beach.

Here is my first page:

I chose cream card for my background and decided to leave it plain with the two deck chairs and the parasol at the top, great free reign with the colours for this one.  I loved how the green and yellow worked out on the parasol.  There was even room for the word "Relax" but I chose to put it on its side as I thought it more aesthetically pleasing that way.

The rocks and the lighthouse were next to be added in the bottom opposite corner - not much colour about this one but then after the addition of Rusty Hinge Distress Ink along the edges of the squares and the deep burnt orange of the lettering it still looked a colourful page.  Can see I will feel better about myself as I fill this one in.

Words to Live By - Art Journal Journey

This is my second diary page for Art Journal Journey and Halle's "Words to Live By".  I had done both pages together as far as spraying was concerned, and the squares were cut and ready for inking.

This time I used stamps from the same collection but chose 'The Taj Mahal' and 'The Kremlin'.  I love those stamps and was so glad I got the opportunity to use them at last.  As before I just stamped them with Black Versafine ink and then put clear embossing powder over the top.  I love the shiny look you get when you heat it - it's a magical moment isn't it?

The words once again came from Inkylicious "It is not the journey but the destination that matters".  So here it is - the second page of my June pain diary.

Looks like I got a bit close when cropping the photo - oops!

Words to Live By - Art Journal Journey

This month on Art Journal Journey the lovely Halle has chosen "Words to Live By" as the theme.  Funnily enough I had bought some words, from Inkylicious" which appealed to me only a couple of weeks ago and they had not been out away as yet so out they came.

My Pain Journal is usually the first thing I do each month when I know what the theme is and so out came my pieces of cardstock and I set to with spraying inks for my background.  I decided on a bright, hot colour and so orange came out, made even deeper with a bit of red added to it.  Next I did my little squares edging them with blue Distress Ink which is opposite to orange on the colour wheel.  The month was then diecut from a piece of card coloured again with the Distress Ink.

Searching in my "Travel" stamps I chose The Statue of Liberty and Sydney Harbour Bridge as my stamped pictures and used part of a map of the world which I rather liked from a napkin. I don't know who makes the stamps but I do know I bought them from my friend in America once, just because I liked them.  This is their first outing|!

My squares are placed better than they look in the scan, I must have had it a bit "skewift" on the scanner bed - sorry.

For the words on here I chose "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a colourful trail".  Now to get on with the second half of the month and enter it again into Art Journal Journey.

WOYWW 518 and Art Journal Journey

Another week closer to the crop - for details check WOYWW here.  Not too late to join us either.

Once again my desk is full of lace, still messing about with the teabags.  The idea I had does not seem to be working and I am back to square one.  I think the back pain has a lot to do with it and I cannot spend too long without a break, also I don't work as quickly as I normally would in order to try out different ways of putting them together.  Production is slow.  Only a week to go, oh heck!

There is something different I can show you which I did almost a week ago.  I like entering a challenge now and then and have been entering one in particular on a fairly regular basis.  I always do two sheets of A4 card and stick little squares on so that I can do some journalling.  Unfortunately this is my 'pain journal' which makes sure I do enter up daily (well almost, might miss one or two and have to play catch up) what my day has been like.  

This month the topic is "In the Air"/"In the Sky" and was set by the lovely Erika at Art Journal Journey.  So mine has to do with birds and has a bird nest on it, plus feathers in the background which are mostly covered up by the squares - but I did enjoy colouring them in with my Inktense pencils.

In the Sky or In the Air

That is the title of the challenge on Art Journal Journey set by the lovely Erika for this month.

I always seem to do my pain journal pages for the first thing in this challenge and so this morning I set to and thought about "birds", seeking out my bird stamps.  First of all I sprayed two sheets of cardstock because it was the quickest way I could think of to create a background and then I got stamping.

Spent a nice time sitting in my high backed chair with my Promarkers and my Derwent Inktense Pencils colouring in the images.  I always seem to do two images per page with them in opposite corners for my main images and then do some smaller bits scattered around the page which is going to be covered in squares for my journalling anyhow.

I went along with 'feathers' and had a lovely time using the pencils to colour them and create some nice blending - shame you can only see bits.  Perhaps I need to think out my strategy before next month.

So here it is - my "In the Sky" page for Erika at Art Journal Journey.

Art Journal journey - Still Having Fun

Here I am with page 2 for the Art Journal Journey challenge.  Had some fun doing this second page because outside the weather is terrible.  So cold again today, with a blustery biting wind which does not make you want to leave the house.  Perfect time for crafting.  What better images to cheer one up than using these ladies from Art Impressions yet again.  Oh what fun they seem to have and today they are being very energetic doing a spell of keeping fit and ballet.  Not sure they are rehearsing for Swan Lake as they don't appear very swan like.

Having done this page I got to thinking about a group of friends and how we used to have fun going to the various stamping shows.  One that stands out is Stempel Mekka in Germany which we attended for a few years.  I well remember one trip -  it absolutely poured down with rain and we all looked like drowned rats as we sat in the ice cream parlour sampling the various huge concoctions they made which were oh so delicious.  What fun we used to have on those trips.

Anyway enough reminiscing, here's to my second page

Art Journal Journey - Having Fun

This month it is Wendy's choice of "Having Fun" which is the theme at Art Journal Journey.  I had to do my pain diary again for another month and so that became the focus of my choice which is below.  What better fun is there than spending time with friends and what a wonderful time these ladies are having together.

Not sure I would want to get in the bath with a load of girlfriends but I think this is maybe a substitute for a hot tub, especially as they seem to be on the wine as well.  They are certainly enjoying themselves anyhow.

I have only managed to do one page at the moment and the other day I found an alphabet set of stamps which to me said "Fun" with a capital "F".  They became my choice for this page and when I used my Promarkers on them I really felt they were the ideal thing to use.  So here it is - my "Having Fun" page - now to get on with page 2

It's Spring at Art Journal Journey

This month they are celebrating 'Spring' with Jo at Art Journal Journey so I need to get my sunny face on and join in with them.  There's so many ways we can think of Spring and I hope I can come up with some Junk Journal pages before long but for the time being I am showing you my Diary pages for March.

I had intended doing this last month and entering it for "Yellow" on Art Journal Journey so I was particularly happy to see Jo had chosen "Spring" as her topic for March because I wanted to use some Spring flower stamps.

I just used some yellow cardstock as my base and stamped Hyacinths, Daffodils and Crocus - all flowers which are coming up in my garden or have been over the past few weeks.  These were then coloured in with coloured pencils and the edges of the squares were touched with Distress Ink in Mustard Seed.  I did try them with a green DI but preferred the yellow even though it was to go against a yellow background.

Why not do something Spring inspired and join in yourself!

Monthly Diary

I almost forgot to post this - in fact I had started writing it up and then left it to play 'catch up' at a later day, which is going to be today.  It is important I keep up with this as it is a pain diary for the physio who is encouraging me to craft a bit each day.

Decided to use black cardstock so I didn't have to bother with a background and as it was February thought I could get away with just using some hearts in red.  Easy to cut out different sized hearts using the Vagabond - a simple press of the button and away it went.  I have a hand held punch that cuts out hearts and so Chas got busy with that for me - in fact I have so many tiny hearts I could make a few Valentines if I felt inclined to do so.

I remembered a Non Sequitur stamp of a man and a lady (Gibson Girl I think they call that style) which could go on and so I stamped and embossed them, cutting them out later, and edged my ready cut out squares in red.  Finally it was the month that needed to be cut out on the Vagabond and the whole thing arranged "artistically?".  

Now to fill in for yesterday and write up that I was up at 6.50 this morning.

Back in the Saddle

Not been crafting over the holiday period due to a bad back which is still troubling me but sometimes one has to just go for it.  I decided it was about time I documented my back pain in readiness for the GP appointment in two weeks time (I will have waited a month for this appointment) and so it gave me the perfect opportunity to make a calendar.

I have always wanted to do one of those "page a month" arty ones that you see and when Chris (Pearshaped) did one for the Art Journal Journey it spurred me on.  So thank you Chris.

I set about using Spray Inks, most of them either would not spray or 'blobbed' a lot but I found the Prima ones the best and so I used two of them (Glistening Waves and Deep Teal) to give me my background colour.  I cut out some rectangles, circles and triangles and put them on the card, weighted them down with coins and sprayed before carefully removing both coins and shapes with tweezers.  I then stamped some ferns and a grass type image randomly across both pages.

The removed shapes with the circles from the coins

Adding some one and a half inch squares and the letters forming "January" I had my pages finished.  I did play about a bit with the placement of the squares and decided I wanted the circle to show on the second page to fit in with the theme at Art Journal Journey.  If you look very closely you might see the triangle and one of the rectangles as well.

So there you have it, my calendar ready for documenting on and my entry for Alison's Geometric Shapes theme with Art Journal Journey.  

(Thanks must go to my other half who helped out with the die-cutting as that was a bit too much to chance for me.)