Jeudi Journal - Wine?

This week the quote for the Journal is "Thou Shalt Not Whine" which immediately made me think of "Wine".  Fortunately I had a page already coloured and it was a colour I would have described as 'wine'.  Not a clue what paints I used to get there.  Funny how things work out and how the mind works.

Well, that certainly contributed to my thinking of "wine" and in my mind I saw a girl sitting in a wine glass.  For some reason it was more of a champagne glass, the wide type that I pictured and I was sure one of the sitting figures of Dyans would fit nicely into such a glass.

Once I had the glass, the figure ready, and the background also done I put it all together loosely but felt there was something missing.  It was all too plain.

Lightbulb moment - one of my favourite BIG stamps was the one from AALL & Create by Bipasha, not that it had a wine bottle on but it did have a rather glorious bottle on.  So I thought that would create some interest for the background, and with the addition of a tiny bunch of grapes from Honey Doo Crafts, I made, what I considered, a suitable background.  

So there you have it - my Jeudi Journal for this week.  One which fell into place so easily.  I like it,  wonder if  you will?

Winter Outside but Spring in my Junk Journal

Oh dear, "the weather outside is frightful" but inside it is not the fire that is delightful but my journalling bits are and today I decided to make a Spring page for Art Journal Journey to cheer me up on a blustery March day and get some of those bits used.

I have been avoiding using the paper that is at the top right but plucking up my brave I tore it in half, sort of corner to corner, and made that my first 'stick down' bit.  Then I had some pink tissue on one of my birthday gifts so a tiny bit of that and some other pink paper saw the most of the page covered.  

One of my friends had bought me a little pin (a kind of Skull Russian Doll) and it was fixed to the little rectangle with the oval aperture that I have put the Tim Holtz Petite Doll on.   A little rose  patterned paper, a Wildflower (cut from another birthday present) and a postage stamp from Oz which was on my birthday card sent by my little sister.

So there we are, another entry for Spring at Art Journal Journey.  have you joined in yet?

WOYWW 510

Back again for another round of the longest running blog hop I know of.  It's all down to our Julia and her merry band of followers.  Sounds a bit like Robin Hood and his Merry Men!  Well, we are a happy crew, why not join us and bare your desk.

Not been much on my desk of late and today isn't that much better but there are a couple of bits you might not have seen before.  I have been crafting but it is mainly crafting on a trolley from my comfortable chair whilst my back has been bad.

On the left are some bits of paper which I had been sifting through and then there is my Junk Journal which has kept me going through the last few weeks.  There are some Tim Holtz Wildflowers cut out on my glass mat - a birthday present from a friend, and below them is my little Moleskin Journal which I do from time to time with cute figures in.  Most of them are from PaperArtsy Zinnis or Stampotique figures with backgrounds similar to what I once did with Kate Crane.

Need some more of those backgrounds doing but I am worried it might set my back off again and at the moment I am feeling pretty good about it.

Was hoping to show you my lovely array of handmade birthday cards today but as I was out most of the day (CT scan) yesterday I didn't get around to it.  Next week be ready - they will be scanned and waiting.  See you then then.

Junk Journal meets Art Journal Journey - Spring

Couldn't wait to see what I could do in my Junk Journal for the challenge over at Art Journal Journey.  This month it is "Spring" as chosen by Jo and I immediately thought of the little Junk Journal I have that has people in it.  It was about time I added to that.

My page (something in my head to be honest) wanted me to do something along the lines of "Springtime in Paris" and so I sifted through my yellow stash of papers left over from the month before's challenge settling on a floral one and a gingham one.  Then it was a case of gathering some bits and pieces to decorate with.  I chose a lovely ticket for a show but after I stuck it in found it said 'December' and so it had to be covered up.  Luckily I had some small replica French postage stamps and, as that was the next topic on my Junk Journal list, it worked fine.

A bit more ephemera, two lovely young ladies and the page was finished bar the wording.  I was sure I had a rubber stamp suitable but could not find a single one so it was off to the computer for a bit of assistance.

Hope you like my entry:

Jeudi Journal

This week's quote is "If you promise to go away, I promise to stop ignoring you" and the only thing I could think of was to use a figure facing one way and one facing the opposite way - unfortunately I don't have any.  So I chose the sitting down girl who looked, to me, as if she was ignoring someone, ie the figure next to her.

The background was already done from a previous mopping up type session and with a bit of stencilling on top.  I felt it was busy enough to warrant being left as it was rather than adding any other stencilling or stamping.

In order to give you, the viewer, a clue as to who was doing the ignoring I added a couple of arrows pointing from the girl sitting down to say she was ignoring the other, although by her face I would say it is pretty evident who is the ignorer.  I chose to leave these without any colour at all as I felt it gave it more impact.  After-all the background and figures were both very colourful.

So here it is.  Got an idea for next week but we will have to wait and see if I can execute it.

WOYWW 509

In so many ways these weeks fly by and in others they are dragging a bit.  Still, it comes as a shock when I realise that it is Tuesday and time to look at my desk for Ms Julia and her weekly blog hop.

Another week where I have not been very productive on the crafting front, I do hope that in a short time I will be up and running producing lots of artwork.  I look back at some of the artwork (Mixed Media) stuff I have produced in the past and think how much I would love to be working on a piece right now.

My desk is getting a bit of a mess, the 'shove to the left' technique is getting a bit out of hand as I don't want to be lifting and stretching to put lots of things back on the shelves which means I have to move some other stuff first as things sit behind other things.  Those wide shelves, which seemed a good idea at the time, can be a bit of a pain - I should have asked for elastic sides on my room instead of shelving.

Anyway, I have managed to do something - my March pain diary is ready.  There's not a great deal to it but I thought that March heralded Spring so it had to have a spring-like quality about it - what better than daffodils and crocus.  So here it is, my March Diary (blogged yesterday but still hanging around my desk as you can see).

I stamped some Hyacinths in the bottom corner of the first page, the second page has Daffodils and Crocus in two opposite corners, you can just see a Daffodil peeking at the top.  These were coloured in using my coloured pencils for a change from Promarkers.  I really enjoyed playing with them and think I might examine the value of this medium a little bit more.  

The two pages are on my glass mat which still has not been cleaned off from my Jeudi Journal exploits of the past weeks and those pieces of craft mat material are my page protectors, useful when I am painting a background in my journal.  

Well, that is it for this week.  Why not join me over at Ms Julia's for a spot of blog hopping, better known as 'desk nosing' - it's good fun I promise.

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!