Jeudi Journal - Sparkle

First of all may I welcome Avril and Sheila my new followers, hope you enjoy my blog.

Wondering how to incorporate "Lines" for Chris's challenge over on Art Journal Journey I remembered I had a super stencil by Tim Holtz which was composed of nothing but lines.   Eventually I found it, it now resides with my other favourite most used stencils, and got out the texture paste and had a lovely time putting it at the top - well just over half, of the page.  Whilst trying to work out a seamless continuation down the remainder of the page I realised I would not be able to do the writing if I carried on with the lines so I abandoned it and left the bottom bit empty.  That solved a problem!

Next was the painting and I decided to use just a Buff shade of paint which went on next.  Background finished, now to the characters, and so the story begins:

"Henora and Hermione, two very close friends, were off to a party and Hermione had made herself a new dress of which she was very proud.  Big sister Henora was not that taken with it and felt that her younger sister looked a bit "over the top" and rather like a Christmas Tree and so she told her how she was feeling.  Hermione was not at all put off because, as she said, "when going to a party you should NEVER FORGET YOUR SPARKLE".

That made Henora think and so she went and put on her new sparkly blue shoes which she was actually saving for a big date later in the year.  And so the two girls set off for the party, both wondering how the night would go.  Hermione thinking about her 'grand entrance' and how everyone would admire the new dress she had made and Henora just wondering what on earth her friends would think of younger sisters idea of a party outfit."

The outfit Hermione is wearing was made up from one of Dyan's Christmas Tree images and was something I tried out ages ago - at last I got to use the figure.  All the red berries (lights) have sparkle on them as do both pairs of shoes the girls are wearing.  Thank goodness for 'Wink of Stella'.

And so the page was finished and ready for scanning.  Oh dear, the lines did not really show and that was the whole point of entering into the challenge at AJJ.  Thinking cap on I decided to go with a bit of wax rubbing over the lines.  They look fine and are quite prominent when you see it in real life but on a scan?

A bit of pink and a bit of purple wax - back to the scanner - does it look any different - no, not really.  Ah well, I am sure the ladies will take my word for it.  Off to join in AJJ now.

WOYWW 592

Well, it took me all week to finish my canvas started in a workshop with Tracy Evans because my back went just as the workshop started on the Saturday and again after about 15 minutes on the Sunday, but here it is finally done:

Because I used my new hexagon stencil in the background I chose to add a bee and some subtle diecut hexagons to represent honeycomb.

We used clay for the 'wellybobs' and the plant pot - and the piece at the back where the flowers are.  I used chain for the top of the plant pot and to represent the stalk of the lotus flower.  Did you notice Brian the snail at the bottom of the plant pot?  He is harmless and will not damage my flowers.

It now sits with my other canvasses on the walls of my craftroom.  I have a wall with my Tracy Evans work on, one with my Andy Skinner work on and most of my Finnabair work is in the hallway.  I'll have to take a photo of the walls one day to show you.  In the meantime here is my desk as it was left Tuesday evening.

My drawer which has my Distress Oxides in - I have not got many, decided that as I don't use ALL of my District Inks I would not go down the road of buying the complete sets.  In some ways now I wish I had as it is an expensive way of buying them in ones and twos.  You can see I do not have many by the chart on the top.  At the back of my desk you can see some Graphic 45 images cut out from some paper I had for a tag I was doing - which I didn't use in the end.  Another idea that went down the pan!  Below them are some TH ephemera images that i used for my plaque, well they are the ones I didn't use and to the right, on the pink cutting mat, is a picture of the plaque Tracy did which I used for reference.

Turning to the right you can see my desk at the side of me which has my trusty Vagabond on it.  I love my Vagabond.  When I was cutting some honeycomb I wanted to do some patterned bits so I have left it out until I can get around to cutting the pieces out I want - I just cannot find the right paper.

So that is it for this week.  I am working on my knee at the moment doing DO backgrounds but it is not very successful so I won't be doing them much longer.  I just want to get on with the Janet Klein book I was making a couple of weeks ago - unfortunately my back is playing up and I can't craft in my room.  I have another weekend workshop booked too - maybe once again it will be a 'sit and watch one'.

Off now to see what others have been up to in the WOYWW Gang.  I just love my Wednesday nose's about - and I can do that from the comfort of my chair.  See you over at Julias!

Jeudi Journal - List

Welcome to my latest follower, Sheila, if you let me know what your blog is I will return the favour.  Nice to see you here. 

"To Do List ... Not That" is the quote for today from Dyan.  So I chose two sitting figures for this one as I wanted to use the larger females for a change and by seating them I could just about manage, with a little chopping here and there, to fit them on my page landscape style.

The Story: - "Here we have two friends Sam and Adele enjoying an afternoon doing absolutely nothing but chattering about going out dancing, make up, clothes, boys and all things that girls of their ages discuss.  Sam has a "To Do" list in her hand.  Mum has had enough of her hanging around at home, not putting her clothes away, leaving glasses etc in her bedroom and generally being bone idle (Mum's words exactly).  So mum has given her a list of things she has to do starting with making lunch for herself and her friend Adele.

Sam, being the lazy girl she is, got Adele to wash her undies so she could tick that off the list whilst she made them a sandwich for lunch but now she comes to the third item and sees mum has said she has to get a weekend job.  She has no intention of working she wants an easy life where she can meet up with her friends and do girlie chatter.  She has added 'a new dress' and to 'ring Stacey' to the list herself and is perfectly happy to do both of those but find a job - oh no that is not on the agenda for her.  She soon put a red line through that one."

In order to link this with Art Journal Journey where Chris had chosen the theme of "hold the line" I began by swiping my Distress Ink Pad in Milled Lavender from top to bottom, dried it, and then added Shaded Lilac in the same way to give the appearance of lines on the page.  I then added some washi tape in a glorious metallic pink colour, actually three different shades of pink leaning towards the purple - figuring this would make the background a bit more girly.

I hope this complies with the rules for Art Journal Journey and Chris's theme of "Hold that Line".

WOYWW 591

Well my desk is pretty clean and there is nothing to show you as I had to do a couple of swaps recently so I tidied up from them and sent them off.  Hopefully they will have been received now and so I can show you my ATC coins and the little holder that they travelled in.

The actual swap was just for something "circular" and I thought of ATC coins but when I got my swap partner I did give her the chance to have a card instead,  The lady I was sending them to had never had any ATC coins so was looking forward to receiving her first ones from me.  I just hope she was not disappointed when she got mine.  Here they are with the holder I made after following a You Tube video.

As you can see I chose to use Janet Klein images and I used circles (ie the ATC coins) and each one had a different background with different types of circles on it.  The 12 x 12 paper I used was plain on one side and I used an AALL & Create stencil to mark it with circles.  In the photo above each coin fits into a pocket and then has a flap which folds over.  Then the whole thing folds up and is fastened with a piece of cord looped around a brad

the other thing I did was make a tag for a Seaside theme on another group and I made four tags which all sat on top of one another with holes in, descending in size.  Here they are fanned out

and closed together

So that is what I have been up to this week.  I was hoping to be able to show you a plaque I made at weekend on another Tracy Evans Workshop but as my back went at the beginning of the session on Saturday it is far from finished as yet.  Hopefully next week.  As this is WOYWW I should show you my desk - totally tidy - so here goes

Complete with shadow!  Well, off now to see what others in the WOYWW Club have been up to.  Why not click on the link and join me there.  See you next week.

I must apologise if I did not visit you last week but with one thing and another (see below) the week just flew by with me not achieving much.  Will try to play catch up over the next few days.  Promise.

Health Update:

Went for my first Pacemaker check yesterday morning and all was tickety boo so no worries there.  Wish I could say the same about the old back pain and the shoulder.  Both are giving me a lot of problems but until Bolton's figures come down a lot I can't see the chiropractor seeing me.  We are in the process of ordering a new mattress, shame as the one we have now cost us £650 and is not yet a year old but we won't be able to sell it on and recoup some of the money.  Still, something has to be done to try to help alleviate this chronic pain.

Have had a cold looming all week but nothing has come of it - just a runny nose and a funny throat.  By the funny throat I mean it is kind of sore at times, ok at others but my voice just starts to disappear if I chat to anyone on the phone.  Peculiar! 

Jeudi Journal - Peas

What a kerfuffle have I had this morning.  The scanner would not work for me.  First of all it scanned the picture and then it disappeared and would not come back.  I reloaded and then turned the scanner off reloaded and still nothing.  All of a sudden, (madly pressing buttons) I got a message "this scanner is in use by someone else" or words to that effect.  Off it all went and then on again and voila - it appeared ... and stayed!

So here you have my journal page for this morning "Never be too proud to serve frozen peas".  I quite often serve frozen peas as getting the pea pods here is only for a short time in the season and I hate popping the pods for all the peas that I might need.  Plus I would probably eat too many on the way.

For my background I used the same pinkish colour as last week, but this time it was the left over from that week done in advance.  Then I painted a stencil with some white paint and put it face down, tapping it with my fingers and a scrunched up ball of kitchen roll to give some texture (for Jo at Art Journal Journey).

I decided to use the "cat" family today as I haven't used them for a while in this journal so here we have Mother Cat and her three little ones, Tabitha, the baby and the twins, Tommy and Tania.  The story?

"Sophia, mother cat, wanted to be a very upmarket kind of cat, so she could stand with the other mother cats at the school gates and pretend her life was similar to that of all of them.  (I wonder how many of them were also pretending?). So she has what we know as "airs above her station" and feeding three little ones and a rather large husband, Thomas, who is out at work because it is lunchtime, becomes quite a full time job.  She is giving them fish fingers and peas, frozen ones - but wait ... the packet is visible it has not gone entirely into the bin .. oh woe betide her if anyone sees that apart from us.

The twins could not care less whether they get garden peas, marrowfat peas or frozen ones, they just want lunchtime to be over so they can go and play out with the rest of the cats from the neighbourhood.  Mother cat, Sophia, is standing, hand on hip because it makes her look sophisticated, whilst tapping with her other paw on her hip just waiting for them all to settle down and for Tania to realise she has not set the table.  After all it is her job to do just that, Tommy clears away the dishes but Tania sets the table ready for mealtimes.  It looks as if there will be a long wait for lunch to be served as Tania, with her head on one side, is pondering what on earth are they waiting for".

I gave Mother cat a crown on her head to indicate just how much she is thinking she is something she is not and I used masking tape for the crown to give more texture for the challenge over on AJJ as well as the stencil work.  Then I decided to make her an apron.  Well I drew and cut one out much earlier and now I cannot find it so in a hunt for some lace (more texture) I found a white paper doily and cut another one from that.  I left it partly unglued to give the appearance of the lace lifting a little but I guess the scanner has put paid to that one.

All finished I realised I had made a 'chalkboard mistake' - those who are teachers will understand how easy it is to make a mistake when writing something out on a board for the class.  Well, it used to be when one used chalk and a board.  I had written "too proud too serve" when the second "too" should have been "to".  Thankfully it was at the end of a line so, like all crafters at some time, I managed to obliterate the mistake and stuck a picture on the wall.

That is it - all my errors declared and running ever so late.  See you next week when there will be a new challenge on Art Journal Journey, guess I will be late with that one too as the new challenge will only be declared that day.

Can I just say a big welcome to my newest follower Linda, hope you find my blog interesting in weeks to follow.

WOYWW 590

 Well, what glorious weather we experienced at the beginning of September (up north where we do not normally get as good weather as people down south).

Let me begin by saying "Welcome" to my new follower 'MC Inspirations' - I  have not a clue who it is so cannot go and look at his/her blog so if I get a 'shout out' I will pop along.  Thanks!

Well, finally back at home - and with a bit of a tan from the sunshine - I really enjoyed myself just lounging around and I slept like crazy.  I did a bit of crafting in the evenings but not as much as I intended.  If only it had rained!  I did take quite a bit of crafting stuff so there was the opportunity to do lots of different things.  This was the single bed with my craft stuff piled on it

and the coffee table with a bit more on.  As you can see I was working with my Janet Klein figures which were already cut out and coloured.  The pencil case  below my cutter holds all bits and bobs such as scissors, pokey tool, pens and pencils, tweezers, and that kind of thing.  The skull pencil case had a selection of Promarkers in along with my small tin of Caran d'Ache watercolours.  Then there are some acrylic blocks and my glue in front - that is a wooden coaster with my initials on that a friend's husband made me once (he has since passed so it is treasured)

I did a few pages on my Janet Klein book but I still have some more to do before I show you it.

The main thing I did was sit and play with my strips, cutting lots and enjoying placing the different colours together.  Sunday I decided to use up all the pieces I had been using and had left over so there are lots that look similar.  When we got home last night I just emptied the big box of stuff I had taken and here is my desk today -

These are all the Scrappy Strip technique things I did whilst away - now I just have to make them into cards - maybe in a bit I will have enough to send to a lot of my friends - I just need to decorate them up.  The original idea came from Bruno Bertucci in Oz who was inspired by a piece of Australian Art and wanted to recreate it

So that is it for this week - two desks - one from the holiday and one just as I got back home and set things out ready to start making into cards.  So for now I will head over to see what my WOYWW friends have been up to.  Toodle Pip!

 

Jeudi Journal - Cats

No, not the West End Show, but my blog page this week which features a cat.  That is because the quote from Dyan this week is "Only My Cat Understands Me."

To begin with I tried Valerie's technique which I had admired for a while where she used some Gesso and two colours of paint which she then brayered on her page.  I used a red and a yellow paint but did not have enough on the mat so only managed to do the technique on half the page (the right if you look at it) but I did enjoy doing it and will do it again but next time use more of the mediums.  

To make some texture on the left hand side I brayered some white paint on my Lotza Dotz Stencil (AALL & Create) and placed it paint down on the page and rubbed it over with a dry paper towel to transfer the paint.  It doesn't show up very much but you can feel the texture.  Finally I used a stamp with a pattern on randomly over the page just to create interest.

I chose a figure that had tears on her face but then I used the big spectacles so that her tears were spilling from underneath the lens.  The figure was too long for the page so I had to do a bit of creative snipping here and there to allow her to have feet on the page. The cat is not one of Dyans, it is a Tim Holtz one from his "Crazy" range - am sure Dyan would not mind at all.  To create a bit more texture I stamped the ball of wool but then put a piece of red wool (real wool) going up the page on the right hand side in a wiggly line.  Did you notice the fish bones on the bottom of the page?

The story goes:  "Deirdre has had an argument with her boyfriend.  He wanted to go to the football match but she explained that she was not dressed for such an occasion and if he was supposed to be taking her out then he should take her somewhere she wanted to go - and not somewhere HE wanted to go.  To make matters worse she had bought herself a new hat to go with the skirt she had so skilfully made from ties she had collected from the local charity shops.

Harry had stormed off so Deirdre had gone into the lounge to her mother who was busy knitting another waistcoat for her her other daughter but mum had not understood at all.  She had said that Deirdre should have been grateful that Harry had given his Saturday afternoon up for her when most young men of his age would have been out with their mates.  Poor Deirdre took herself off to her bedroom, still wearing her hat and new skirt.  Puss was sat there having been playing with a ball of mother's wool which was now across the floor and halfway up the wall.  Deirdre then related the story to Puss who looked so sorrowful for her making Deirdre say "only my cat understands me" - which for that precise moment seemed perfectly true."

What is this obsession I seem to have of late with texture?  Well, the delightful Jo has chosen to have us use texture in our journal pages over at Art Journal Journey this month and I love joining in the challenges with them.  I am sure you would too so why not pop over here and see what you need to do and then join in.