Jeudi Journal - Masks

Gosh these weeks seem to come around a lot quicker than the mail man.  Another Thursday and time for another journal page.  It's about the only thing that makes me keep crafting each week for my blog - must get some cards done and shown soon.  Anyway, back to journalling with Duylusions.

This week the theme is "Masks" and the colours are black and red.  The black was easy as I had a page that was spoiled by some Copic pen work coming through from the reverse.  Nothing for it but some black paint spread all over it.  The red was a bit more of a problem as I quickly realised that black paint did not cover very well and so my red is not very bright - Could have done it in white paint to begin with but I did not have the time.  Still, it is red, just not a vibrant one but then ....

Obvious to me was to do a Venetian theme with masks on faces but when my friend Paul came around he showed me a kind of weird way to cover a face so it looked as if it had a mask on (which I was going to do) but then mentioned just a simple eye mask.  The light bulb went on at this last idea and so my masks became the kind that highwaymen wear.

What figures to use - why two cats (cat burglars??) and so 'Dick Turpin' put in an appearance under the guise of a cat - or two!

Gosh, better go before I make a complete fool of myself with 'cats' and 'burglars' - see you next week - now what is it I need to do???

WOYWW 485

Here we are on the biggest blog hop - well it has lasted longer than any other I would think.  Who is responsible for it?  Why Ms Julia nonetheless.  Pop along here and join in the fun, see lots of other desks, get some tips maybe, and best of all 'make friends'.  Only last week we had the annual crop where 14 of us met up for the day.

Well my desk for the week shows very little so I doubt it would excite anyone but I am sure other desks are able to do so.  I have little to show you but here goes:

My square black journal from the other week when I did the Doodling workshop with Dyan is lying on top of my journal that I do with Wendy on a Thursday.  That is mainly full of Dylusion figures and only incorporates others when I am stuck and haven't got a clue which Dylusion figure to use.  On the pink mat you can see a large selection of white pens that are constantly being used.  Molotow, Posca and Dylusion being my favourite white pens.  In front is my 'Dyalog' which is now my travel companion as all I need is a white pen and the book to keep me happy for a short holiday or a trip somewhere.  Pity I am not going to America this coming January, it would have been very useful on the flight over.  Still I can take it with me to the weekend workshops, give me something to do in my hotel room when I am on my own.

It's all stencilled and ruled up ready for use as I have a workshop and short holiday coming up - mind you I might just be glad of my bed and pillow after a day of crafting.

Now to see what others have in store.  Am sure some of them have lots of goodies to show me/us. 

TTFN!

Jeudi Journal

This week we are in Wonderland.  I chose this title because I love Alice in Wonderland but never gave a thought to what I would do with Dylusion figures and the 'Adventures of Alice in Wonderland'.  I think I chose the colours pink and blue and realised my mistake afterwards thinking of Alice being dressed in blue and fading into the background.

Well, I had an upset tummy and so not much in the mood for doing anything.  Luckily I had a page with some blue paint brayered on, a bit more volume and a thicker layer than I wanted but hey ho, some pink and it was done.  I was going to use my favourite "Diamonds in the Rough" stencil but then remembered I had these playing card shapes and so I drew around them on black card, cut some figures out with a die in white and here it is.

I changed my mind several times about the words but when I was little I had long blonde hair like Alice so maybe when she grew up she liked gin, my tipple when I do drink which is not often.  If I have to see anyone in the medical profession and they ask me what the amount of alcohol is for a month I usually say 'about a teaspoonful'.

Thanks Wendy for the new means of taking photos - no mess scanning and can do the double page spread too.

WOYWW 484

Once more it is that time of the week when we all bare our desks to the world courtesy of WOYWW hosted by the lovely Julia nine years ago and still going strong.

Well ...

"Didn't we have a Lovely Time, the day we went to Llandudno" (sang to the tune of "Didn't we have a Lovely Time the Day we went to Bangor").  Before I forget, ladies from the Crop- the ATC folder is, as I thought, from Amazon and it is a 

"Vault X 4 pocket ATC folder" so if you put that in your search engine it should turn up.  

Well, what a lovely day it was, once again meeting up with the wowy'ers (and other halves) and many many thanks to Margaret (glitter and glue) for all the hard work she puts in to making sure our tums are full of lovely food and for getting us that super big hall to spend the day in - full of fun and friendship.

My desk, today is staged I am afraid.  I knew you would want to see what goodies I brought back so here it is

You can see my lovely selection of atc's (+ one tag in lieu) and my work I had taken down - didn't get  much done as usual, too busy going around talking to everyone, and having cuddles with the mystery guest who I once met before.  (Donna, if you are here - it was a reunion from 2012 with a visitor from down under).  Then there is the notebook at the front right - that is from Julia who could not be with us as she had another engagement which unfortunately clashed with this last Saturday.  She was with us in spirit if not in the flesh.  At the very back is my book made with Abs a while ago which housed my black doodle journal.  The only crafting I took was this book and a white pen.  Finished this page off (more or less) on Sunday.  So in a way I have included my crafting.

Starting top left with Christine (bishopsmate) with her Vera Lane image (yes, been on and ordered Christine); coming down we have Chris (pearshaped chris) and a lovely Parisian image on her green background (btw she is not pearshaped at all); then we have the clever Jo (Twiglet) with her two lovely children - stitched!!! - amazeballs; back to the top we have the balloon tag from Sarah (sarahs craft shed); below that yet another Christine (Mrs D) with her triple layered atc (must have taken ages); back up again lovely autumn leaves from Margaret (glitter and glue) our lovely hostess; below that and very cleverly thought out we have Llandudno Pier in 1851 from Heather (Heather's Crafty Retreat) and last but not least we have Shaz (silverwolf) with her Brusho background and diecut butterfly.

Now you may also notice that there is a little furry fella sat there and he came all the way from Oz with our mystery guest.  Below him is a pen from down under too.  Afraid the chocolate got eaten.  To the right of Kevin (the Koala, who now lives with his big sister Katie from last time we met up) is the book I got from Julia which I will use as a small pocket journal - the perfect size to carry around and play with.

We all got a large present, and a smaller one from Julia - I have shown you my small one but my biggie was so special.  I have always intended to buy something from Tilly TeaDance.  In fact the first thing I said when I saw Jo was how annoyed I was with myself for not asking her to bring a 'sheep brooch' with her.  Imagine my surprise when I got this in the "gifts for all" section of the day.

It was meant to be, it had sat there waiting for me to choose it and I am so chuffed.  Now been on her website and ordered a couple of brooches - not going to forget this time.  I just love those sheepies.

Now, I have not included the tissue holder from the lovely Jan, who was master of ceremonies in the absence of Julia (and did a super job) as it was in my handbag ready for my going out somewhere.  Also my little blue bear from Annie (Wipso) missed out because he was sitting next to his little sister the yellow bear from a visit to Shropshire some time ago, on my cupboard.  Love those glasses Annie.  So here they are along with the teabag which came a long way to be drunk in splendour whilst crafting - by the two bears.

So you can see, what a fab group of people - so caring and sharing and just plain "lovely" were there - as I know all wowy'ers are.  Happy days, cannot wait until the next one.   TTFN!

ps - just for Elizabeth and Bluebeard

 

The two Shaz's and lovely Doug (who gave me hugs - ooh!  Lovely)

Little Shaz, Me and LLJ

Jeudi Journal

Made a complete hash of posting this - I had this page ready and thought it was scheduled but it wasn't so it went up too early.  Panic!  Then tried to change the date but it still stayed on my blog.  In the end I had to delete it and so I am writing it all over again. 

Right, the colours are green and rust and the topic is "On Safari".  I already had some pink on a page and so I decided to cover this with the required colours but allowing some of the base colour to show through.  Then I stamped some leaves (Dylusion) around the top edge and down the sides and outlined them with a white pen as they didn't show up very much and the page was looking rather dull.

The figures were to be the main focus and so as Travelling Travis was the only one I could find that looked 'male' that was my choice of figure.  I chopped the bottom bit off and put a pair of legs with trousers on him.  Let's call him "Peter".  The female figure was brightly dressed in her yellow tights and she was named "Wendy" to give my co-host a smile when she saw the page.

So there you have it, Wendy and Peter off on Safari but not quite got there, still in the hotel.  I can feel there is going to be some retaliation at some time in the future.

TTFN!

WOYWW 483

Another week has flown by and we are here again visiting one another's desks in the name of WOYWW courtesy of Ms Julia but ... come the weekend we are MEETING UP with some of the Deskers.  I am - and I know there are lots of others plus a Special Mystery Guest! It's going to be a real exciting Saturday when we all meet up.

We do a voluntary ATC swap, or should I say trade, and that is what is on my desk.  I have made enough, I hope, ATC's to be able to trade but I will also be taking some ATC coins in case anyone would rather have one of them instead of the more traditional cards, or, indeed, if anyone has made them in preference to the original trading cards.

MyATC's are in the other room ready and waiting for me to pack them up with a few other bits and pieces I a taking down with me.  You can see our map from the Bees in the City, my Thursday Journal with some wipe ups on the pages (not the colour for this week), my backs for the ATC coins and the die that cuts a circle to 2.5", my Coin book and the pencil case that has the fine pens in it plus a couple of images I took to Chas's dentists to colour or/and cut out.

It is a while since I made any trading cards but I so enjoyed them and I must take care that they do not take over from my journalling which reminds me, I need to get on with my Thursday Journal in readiness for it being published in the morning which is why it is out on the desk - a reminder.

I will leave it there as I have several things to do before I go to Llandudno for the meet up on Saturday and since I went on a little tour of Manchester yesterday in search of some of the Bees I am feeling rather tired.  There is only about three weeks to go to see them so if you are planning on it I suggest you get there soon.  Here is a little taster for you (sorry but for any ex Girl Guides, as I am, the one called "Agnes Bee-Den Powell" just sported an empty plinth.  I now want to know what has happened to it as I particularly wanted to see that one.  Enjoy these though:

This is one of my favourites

and Steampunk is another favourite

with wonderful portraits like this

and this

Some of these were on different days and not today. The first and last were today and the middle ones last time we visited.  I hope we can get one more visit in before the display finishes.  As well as the Bees today I saw this wall painting on the side of a house?

one day I am going to search Manchester for Wall Art

but I found this sand to play in

plus this fab sandcastle in Northern Square

and I just loved this campervan

Think I had better stop there before ms Julia has me in detention on Saturday.  See you next week with more photos ... of the Crop!

Jeudi Journal

Another week has flown by - this time Wendy and her husband Peter have been spending a few days with us.  That meant that this journal entry had to be done quickly and I so regretted the choice of "Face".  It is ages since I painted any faces, and I found it so difficult to remember what to do with regards to getting the various features on.  I can remember how to draw a face and where the eyes, nose and mouth go but it is the colouring.  Never was a strong point but a year on .....

Anyway, here is my Face with its background of cerise and turquoise.  A task in itself - this is the third background I did for it - the first was horrendous and sadly I cannot tear the page out of the book the second not much better but at least it can be covered in black paint.  It was one of those times when everything goes wrong.

I eventually put the cerise paint on with a baby wipe so that it was not 'too much in your face'.  Then I used the turquoise paint with my favourite "Diamonds in the Rough" stencil in patches here and there.  A bit of white pen work here and there and some circles stamped in gold paint with lines over some of them, then a few black larger circles completed the background for me.

The face was done with green gold eyes and magenta lips.  I first began the turban with a dark blue but it didn't seem to come right so it had a covering of pale blue put over, still not right so a light coat of green turquoise as opposed to the blue turquoise in the background.  That felt better.  The ties at the side did not seem to be large enough so I cut the whole face out and then added some more ties behind with another piece of paper.  You can probably see some touches of green in the turban - just because I felt like it - I thought they rather 'added' to the overall look of fabric.

Today would have been my dad's birthday, wonder what he would have thought of my face painting. I am sure he would have loved it, anything I  did was always 'top notch' in his eyes.  I was a real Daddy's Girl.  (Mum too would have loved it - I was blessed with those two)

Now to see how Wendy got on because she would be as rushed as me.