Jeudi Journal - Exercise

"I ate healthily and exercised today ... I better frikken wake up skinny" is the quote from Dyan's stamps today.  

I had the idea of making it a dream sequence but then the size of the page sent that one 'through the window' but I still kept on with the idea in some way.  I was particularly pleased when I saw that the lounging lady (centre one) can look as if she is doing that "bicycle" exercise that I used to be happy to do ..... a few years ago!

To begin with I painted my page, using a roller, in a light blue and then, using the same colour, went all over with a swirl stencil.  Ugh!  Didn't like it.  So I tried a bit of Iced Spruce, worse than ever, next came some Broken China all over - better but not happy yet.  Did a bit of circle stamping in Blueprint Sketch, no no no, blot it all out with the Blueprint Sketch all over - Better!  So my background ended up much darker than intended but by this time I had had enough.

I looked for the chubbiest figure I could find and it had to be the one in the coat and with a scarf around her neck.  I had to cut the house from the top of her head (and subsequent heads) as it does nothing for me.  Next came the chubbiest legs I could find with an umbrella for her hat,  just a bit of fruit from a magazine and we had the main figure who 'ate healthily'. 

Next came my tiny figure who is doing her 'exercise today' and her hat is one of those bits of a building that has fallen off, like a bit of plaster or something.  Not that she is bothered, as far as she is concerned it is a stylish hat with two bobbles on.

The third figure is all the first one wants.  A slim, lithe body (notice the change between no 1 and no 3) in her keep fit gear plus a little fancy hat perched on the top of her head.  You may have noticed I used the same face for all three figures - that is because it is supposed to be the same person all the way through the three stages.

I really enjoyed doing this one and think a lot of my enjoyment came from finding that the lounging lady can also be one doing exercises.  Ooh, I do enjoy my Dylusion figures when I can mix and match body parts.

See you next week with a new one but in the meantime I am entering this into Art Journal Journey where the theme is "Eyes" - I have three pairs of them on here. 

WOYWW 533

Well, here we are, another Wednesday and not much to show for a full week of crafting time.  I did however send a card to a friend a couple of weeks ago which I forgot to post on here so this is/was it:

It flew all the way to Renate in Switzerland and was accompanied by another one (two friends sharing the birthday month and both living in that beautiful country) but for some reason the scan on the second one shows the word "text" all over it so I cannot show it to you.  I can, however, show you a card I received from Nikki, the other friend, to say she is thinking of me.  Isn't it lovely and bright and cheery?  Just the ticket for me at the moment.

Well, you came here to see my desk so I will show you my alternative desk in the spare room which is, at the moment, doubling as another desk for me.  This is my rag book, still not finished, back cover to do, words to put on and then it all to stitch together.

So that is it for this week, now to hop over to see Julia and what the other WOYWW'ers have been up to.  Pop along here and maybe join in, or just have a nosey.

If you want to read on please do but this is just a giant whinge about my health:

Health:

The news last Wednesday was not good.  I had pinned all my hopes on this meeting and really thought they were going to come up with something to free this muscle, nerve or whatever it is but oh no.  I went to see the Spinal guy, after waiting seven weeks, on the 12th July, came out full of hope with the option of choosing pain management and physio.  He did not explain to me that I will have this chronic pain for the rest of my life, but this is what I was met with on Wednesday.

I just sat there in agony whilst this female told me there was nothing they could do to help get rid of the pain as it has gone on too long.  The only thing they can do is teach me how to manage the pain.  It was as if my whole world had collapsed around me and I think I cried for two days.  Still cannot talk about it without the tears coming.

In the meantime I am going to a chiropractor this afternoon where I have three sessions booked, the osteopath I used to see has offered to examine me free of charge to let me know whether he can try to do something for me.  So I just have to pluck up my brave and believe that there are other avenues to explore and maybe one of them will come up trumps.

No fun in getting old!

Jeudi Journal - Always Right

"I Don't Want to Seem Like I think I'm Always Right, But I am and That's Why it Comes Across That Way" is the next quote I chose. 

Again I had a masked background already stamped up but with no colour on it.  Looking at it I decided that with the figure and the dog it could quite easily be used for this quote.  She does have rather a snooty face doesn't she?  Of course, once again I could not use my Promarkers so out came the Arteza's.  

Not sure what I think of these pens but I do think the bristles, though soft, are quite long and therefore I find it quite difficult to keep within the lines when colouring.  Perhaps with more practice my colouring with them will improve.  On the other hand maybe they are designed that way for water-colouring.

As you can see the background was left plain as I felt there was enough going on on the page without the addition of anything else in the way of rubber stamping or a stencil effect.

I am once again entering this into Art Journal Journey which has "Eyes" as the theme.  She has eyes, added on ones by the look of it, and doesn't that little dog have strange ones - like buttons?  Oops!  And the little bug has eyes too.

WOYWW 532

Sorry, did not get around to any of the rag book I was doing.  It still lies naked on my trolley.  It is waiting for me to get around to adding some paint to the pages but I have not had the inclination to start as yet.  I want to ... but I keep worrying as to 'will I manage'.  

So today you are seeing my "real" desk.  Looks very staged but honestly it isn't.  This is how it was on Monday and how it will remain for a couple more days.  I purchased two more Laurel Burch stamps and had a super time stamping the images to make into cards.  The idea was to keep me busy colouring in with my Promarkers and produce a stash of cards suitable for sending out for birthdays etc.  My desk is the "tidy up version" ie where I put all of my images - coloured and awaiting colouring but as it is laid out like this it was when I wanted to know which colours I had used for the various butterflies.

Left is a box lid which has all my stamped images in awaiting colouring,  then my Misti is under the pile of Laurel Burch stamps.  My Misti has been invaluable as it has allowed me to stamp on my knee with comparative ease.  No effort required like when I stamp using an acrylic block, without it I cannot see me doing any stamping and I used it for my rag book too.  Next there are some cats cut out ready for colouring, the butterflies laid out in various colour combinations and then the cats that have been cut out ready.  Surprising how much you can get done each day when you are just sitting there.

So today you get a twofer - another photo but this time showing my animals who sit with me when I am crafting in my room.  Monkey came from a certain brand of tea, then Kevin (in the blue top) came via Shaz in Oz the other year.  He has made best friends with Monkey and clings to his dressing gown all the time.  Next to him is Katy Koala who came with Shaz on her first visit to England a few years ago now.  Up a tier we have Ronnie Rabbit, made for me by my friend Mary's darling daughter, Cindee.  You may remember Mary was my friend in America who we used to stay with, year after year until she passed - over a year ago now.  Still miss her, always will.  Cindee made the rabbit when she learned how to dumf!  He has such a cute pink nose.  Then, last but by no means least, is my companion of old, Spencer the Bear, wearing his WOYWW badge.  Gosh that little fella has travelled all over the world with me.  He has so many photos and a whole suitcase of clothes including a Mexican Sombrero.  Note the flag!!

Well, it is Tuesday night, this is a scheduled post because I am at the PMR clinic Wednesday morning, early doors!  Fingers crossed I get a good physician to deal with me.  Why not pop along with me to the stamping ground and see what Julia has to offer this week.  Should be fun!

Jeudi Journal - I Hoped

The yellow background was made with Distress Inks but because I know lots of people do not like yellow (I am warming to it)  I decided to add some orange type ink and chose Rusty Hinge which is one of my favourite colours.

I used a TH stencil to provide some pattern on the otherwise plain page, another favourite of mine when used in patches like this, and a chicken wire stamp to fill in some of the gaps in the same colour.  The words "I haven't seen you since that time I hoped I'd never see you again" were my choice and I began to wonder what I had had in my mind at the time as I was finding this a bit difficult.  The cat lady had her hand on her hip which gave her a bit of an attitude but I didn't want to use the cat so I chopped off the head and replaced it with the one where she looks to have rollers in her hair.  The other figure was chosen because to my mind she looks to be holding herself in such a way that she has a stiff upper lip with her hands clasped together in front of her, or is she looking rather pensive?

Her head normally has a row of houses on the top so as that had no significance for the words I decided to chop them off and I tried several other things on top, eventually settling on a couple of leaves.  I think she rather suits them, don't you?

That is it for this week, now to look at next week's words - wonder what they are?

Susi reminded me that I could add this to "Eyes" which is the topic over on Art Journal Journey - I hadn't thought of that but they do have eyes and they both have those "add on" eyes too.  So here goes, I am now adding this to Gill's theme of "Eyes" and there will be more to come as I love eyes.  Thanks Susi!

WOYWW 531

Wednesday, my other half's birthday and Tracy Easson's too, a great Wednesday as it is also WOYWW for some of us and even more special because we share our desks on WOYWW here.  Join in with us if you want - you have the chance to make lots of friends as well as having a good snoop.

So what's on my desk today?

My new lap tray.  I have liked this and admired it for a few weeks so when I couldn't make it to the workshop Chas had to go to the local garden centre for our eggs and he came back with this.  A kind of consolation present.  Nice one eh!

In front you can see a card which is for my niece's little boy's birthday which is next week.  It shows Morty Bottoms one of Tracy's little characters from her latest collection.  On the back of the stamps it tells you a little bit about Morty - "What is Morty's favourite thing to do in the whole wide world?  Why to scramble up to the highest peak in Scotland when the night sky is full to bursting with treasure.  Forever looking upwards at the magic and mystery through his trusty telescope always dreaming, shooting for the stars of course."  Each one of her little characters has something written about them on the back of the plate of stamps.

I might show you more of the characters next week, maybe even a page or two from my cloth/rag book but I doubt I will have got around to sewing it as I find it hard to sit upright at the sewing machine.

The next card is for my dear other half whose birthday it is today.  Pity I could not think of him enjoying one of the mouse family as I could easily have stamped that one but instead I chose to do some embossing but kept it monochromatic.  I used the stamps that came free from a magazine (the same one that I got the beach scene ones from - see 1st July blogpost) depicting things to do with a 'gentleman'.

Well, that's it from me for this week.  Next Wednesday I have an appointment with the Pain Relief Clinic so hopefully will get somewhere at long last.  The week after it is the chiropractor and I am banking on some relief coming from somewhere in the not too distant future.  See you then, then!

Jeudi Journal - I'm Exhausted

No, not me, that is the next funny quote from Dyan - "I'm Exhausted By How Stupid Everyone is Getting".  I decided that this lent itself to a figure that was reclining in some way or another but then changed my mind when I saw this page that had already been started. I think the lady on here is rather stern faced - don't you?  I can just imagine her saying to someone off page  that she is exhausted by stupid people.  I think the bulldog is just sitting there and taking it all in - through one ear and out of the other.

This was a pre-stamped and masked page done at a workshop with Dyan way way back.   We were meant to colour them at our own leisure but, of course, mine got left.  Until now that is.  I decided to use Broken China Distress Ink to fill in the background and then used my Arteza Real Brush Pens to colour in the various figures.  I would have preferred to use my Promarkers but they tend to bleed through the page and I couldn't do with that.  Still, there are some lovely colours in the Arteza Range which I coupled with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens that my wonderful friend friend Mary once bought me.  I thought there was enough on the page so didn't do anything else to the background.

So there we are, my next page for Jeudi Journal, once of my choices.