Jeudi Journal - My Age

Sounds familiar?  "My Age Doesn't Bother Me - It's the Side Effects".  This is the quote for this week and I did it way ahead of time - well, Tuesday.  I decided to do something similar for the background to last week but this time to cover the page.  I used three different stencils and three different colours of ink.  Kept it to blues and violet as I like that combination - reminds me of a whinberry pie with cream on it, yum yum!

I decided to use two figures, two sisters, and here they are:

"Lottie and Leonie are two sisters who meet up each week to go shopping.  Lottie, the eldest of the two, has been having a heart to heart chat on the latest shopping spree with her younger sister.  In fact she shed one or two tears as she recalled some of the things that had been happening to her recently.   

As Lottie said, they should  make a leaflet telling you what to expect as you start reaching a certain age.  Her skin had started to dry out and she was having terrible problems with patches that were very dry.  None so bad as the ones on her heels, the skin was simply coming off in sheets.  Her eyesight was worsening too, threading a needle with cotton was a real problem and when stitching a button on she ended up with as many holes in her fingers as on the fabric because she kept on missing the holes.

The thing that worried her most of all was her memory, or lack of it.  That and the fact that she kept seeing things out of the corner of her eye.  Why, only a few moments ago she could have sworn that some of the flowers in the beds had faces on them - and arms and legs.  Were they fairies or what?  Was she losing her marbles?

Leonie sympathised with her, tried her best to calm her big sister down.  It seemed strange as it was always Lottie who had looked after her.  Perhaps now was the time for a role reversal, maybe now it was time for her to look after her big sister and the first thing was to get her to see the doctor."

Now this is so strange.  I wanted to link this up to Art Journal Journey and suddenly, once the page was finished and scanned in to my blog post I realised we were in a new month and there was a new challenge over there.  Not much room for adding anything so I was hoping it was colour related.  Imagine my joy when I saw that Sheila had chosen "a single flower" as the theme for this month.  I had three flowers and three flower girls by Janet Klein on the bottom of my page.  I had just downloaded the collage sheet of these tiny figures the night before and wanted to use them so had included them in my story,  so two of the flowers had to go - and go they did!  With a bit of picking here and there three became one so here is my entry for Art Journal Journey.  See you next week - with a Single Flower.

WOYWW 613 and a Video to Watch

Here we are again, these Wednesdays come around awfully quickly, but then so do Mondays and Tuesdays DOH!  At least Wednesday's are a nice change from the rest of the week because I get to see what all my friends are up to on their desks by checking in on WOYWW with Ms Julia, the Queen of Deskers.  Why not join in with us here and find out all about it?

I might be a bit late commenting today as I have a workshop this morning with Tracy Scott, painting a gorgeous Geisha Girl.  Well, the one Tracy did is absolutely gorgeous but I doubt mine will be.  Mind you I have to see if my materials arrive in time and, as I just found out, I do not have the necessary journal to do it in so I am starting off with a trial piece/practice piece on some spare journal paper.  I thought I had all things covered and then March arrived and I was thrown by it.  Don't worry though, I promise I will try to catch up with you all in the coming days.

I am using both sides of my L-shaped desk today - the side that I am showing to you is where I am doing some stamping and colouring in my square journal.  I recently treated myself to some of the A4 stamps from AALL & Create and have had this idea in my head for quite some time.

and a close up

The second photo shows you in more detail just what I have been stamping with the actual stamps on the left hand side.  I did the man (the ship is to go on his head) and the magnifying glass, both stamps are two I have longed for for ages.  Bought in a Pick and Mix so I got them at reduced prices.

At the very left of the first photo are my Felix boxes, painted, and one is filled with toilet roll inners.  I find that a great way to store some things - good for coloured pens or pencils as you can keep them in colour families.  Nothing else except dirty baby wipes from cleaning my stamps (yes, I DO clean my stamps religiously) and the pack of babywipes at the far right.  The other side of my desk (it is a letter L) is just set up ready for my class later this morning.

Yesterday I was busy doing a couple of videos and loading them up on my You Tube Channel.  I'll show you one of them as it should have been received by now but you will have to wait until next week for the other one,  Can't give you video overload,

Hope it works - Toodle Pip!

Jeudi Journal - To Don't

And that, to put it simply, is the quote for this week!!!  Just the two words "To Don't".  I have been dreading this one coming up as I had not a clue what to do and then suddenly, last week, a light bulb moment.  The idea was born.  And so today I give you my interpretation of Dyan's quote which is plain and simply "To Don't".

To begin with, as the words were so simple and didn't really look as if they would have had any impact on the page I decided to cut back on the background.  So I decided to leave it naked/manilla/cream whatever colour you want to call it and just do a bit of reverse stencil stamping.  So I used my favourite circle stencil from AALL & Create in green and yellow.  Because of the challenge on Art Journal Journey (Valerie chose Heavy Metal) I decided to make my female a head of metal cogs.  I love this die and cut with a bronze pearlised card it really looks like metal - and heavy at that!  So .....

"Drucie had gone to work and left a list for her husband  - consisting of things that he should NOT do, rather than things he should.  She really did not want the cat letting out today,   Tinkerbell, the cat, was a little minx and once she was out through the door there was little chance of her coming home before the family went out that evening. He knew that but Drucie thought she would emphasise it by writing it down on her list.  

He was also supposed to pick their daughter up from school so that she didn't dawdle on the way home or wander off to a friends for an hour or so.  Afterall it was Parent's Evening and the three of them had various appointments booked to speak to Susie's teachers.  Peter was a good husband, just a bit forgetful, inclined to get his mind set on something and forget what needed doing and all sense of time - a bit like most men.  

Normally if Drucie was working for a full day he would have something on the stove in readiness for tea but she knew what a mess he made of the kitchen and she just could not face it with them having to leave as soon as they had eaten so she decided that tonight she would collect a "take away" for them all to share.  There were other things on the "To Don't" list and when she got home she was most annoyed - the cat was out - Susie was nowhere in sight - there was a list of shopping his mother wanted (obviously he had rung her) - and, to crown it all, the kitchen was like a bomb had exploded with jars and vegetable peelings all over the place.  

Drucie just stood there, list in her hand, wondering why on earth she bothered.  She had managed to get to the hairdressers in her lunch break and was really pleased with her new hairstyle.  She didn't want to blow her top as they had to go to the school shortly so she just walked away, set the table and counted to ten under her breath."

WOYWW 612

Well, I have actually been stamping.  Didn't think I could with the sadness of last week but after doing my post and commenting on FB I felt so much better and got on with it as I know Shaz would want us all to do.  I have been busy but can't show you because the two things I made are to be sent to someone (two peeps) and until they are I won't be disclosing them - but they are both books.  I've also made a couple of cards, four in fact, but I didn't scan them.  Doh!  I really do have a bad habit of making a card, addressing it and then sealing it up in an envelope, putting a postage stamp on and then realising I should have scanned it to show you.  Oh and I made a tag for my Stamping Club.

So as a result my desk is looking rather forlorn.  It has the remnants of some Janet Klein stamping on it (made a card yesterday with some of her figures) and some new stamps which have taken since the 5th of the month when ordered, to arrive on Monday.  I am yet to catalogue them so they are on my desk.  Must admit I did fan them out for the photo.

I have been spending this month and I bought more stamps than those above but I have put them away as they arrived on time.  As soon as I finish this last book I will do some journaling with the other new stamps.

I mentioned a tag, maybe a bit risquè for some of you but here goes, it's a very old stamp from my early days, well all three images are - it was for the theme "Romance" and I love the Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods, think both are very romantic hence:

Just black embossing on white

Did another in case this upset someone at the club

This is the only card I scanned

It put me in a real Janet Klein mood for the rest of the week but I have been watching Abs and have a yearning for some journaling now - but will I get my Gelli Plate out like he does?

That's it for now folks, see you soon at the desk of our Queen of Deskers, Ms Julia herself.  Then it will be a good snoop around to see what others have been doing.

Jeudi Journal - Drama

Nope, there is no drama going on with me on this blog today but the quote mentions the word so I thought it might tempt you to pop in for a peek.  This week the quote chosen by Wendy is "Drama Shield - Active".  My first thoughts were to make my own character dressed as a silver knight or use one of Dyan's,  as I should, but put a knight's head on the top and give it a shield.  Then I wondered how I would bring the whole thing together so instead I just did this

I first of all painted my page this lovely Aqua Green - it looked different in the tube, a bit more bluey - and then I used some of my tiny background stamps with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and then went over with my favourite circle stencil (Peeled Paint Distress ink).  I chose a couple of figures, one sitting looking sad and the other walking away, glancing over her shoulder.  I have several of these plastic umbrellas so I used one on here as I do need to use them up somehow.  So:

"Little Rose, a tiny slip of a thing who adores eye make up, called to see her big sister to discuss what they were going to do over the weekend.  Unfortunately there was a bit of a drama going on at Iris's house, the cat had stolen the meat that she had put out to cook for her boyfriend's Valentine dinner that evening.  It was not the only tragedy that had happened to Iris that day though - on top of the meat going missing she had broken one of her false nails.  Now that was a real tragedy and so she was well up for a moan to her much smaller and younger sister.

Little Rose, however, had enough problems of her own, didn't Iris realise she at least had a boyfriend whilst Little Rose was all alone for Valentine's night.  She'd only popped in to see what the two of them were doing Saturday afternoon whilst the boyfriend was playing football.  Moan, moan, moan, was all she felt Iris could do so she decided to back off and activate her drama shield.  She wanted none of the whinging and moaning.  "Drama Shield Active" she shouted over her shoulder as she took herself off to see what goodies she could buy herself - a visit to the shops was preferable to listening to big sister.  "Honestly" she said to herself, "some people are never satisfied and do not realise just how lucky they are."

Good job the spots on the umbrella were metallic and the handle too - that meant I could link up to Art Journal Journey for Valerie's challenge of Heavy metal - it would have been so much more obvious had I had the knight and his shield.

WOYWW 611

I don't know what to write today.  I've been a bit in limbo for the past few days as far as crafting is concerned as we lost someone very dear to us crafters and it knocked me for a bit of a six.  My desk just has unfinished things on it, or things that went wrong when I tried to do them (ie the journal closed up so you don't see the mess I made of a simple workshop), the two unfinished books.

Our lovely Queen of Enabling, Shaz, left this mortal world on Saturday, after fighting so hard to remain with her beloved husband, Doug.  She was one heck of a tough cookie and had suffered so much, but guess her mind was that much stronger than her body and she had eventually to let go.  If ever two people were meant for one another it was Doug N' Shaz.  Doug has asked that wer write, on their Facebook age, how we met and attach, if we can, any photos we have.  Up to now I have not been able to do it, but maybe now I can.  

As for photos there is this one from the Crop in 2018 - I have yet to see a photo of Shaz not smiling, that I must use.

Shaz, me and Shaz in Oz

It is from WOYWW that I first knew Shaz but I got to meet her and Doug several extra times at Port Sunny when they came up to the shows.  I love this photograph of them both.

Has there ever been a photograph of Shaz where she is not smiling?  Even when not well she had a smile for you.  She certainly was willing to pass on her knowledge of how to do things and I well remember how she used to bring all of her dies (and she had a helluva collection) just for us to use as we wished at the Crops.  One thing I particularly remember is when she started colouring in figures with pencil crayons.  I could not believe the perfection she got using them.  But she was not satisfied that day at the Crop and she went on to perfect and perfect her technique.  

She was amazing in all that she did.  She shared anything and everything, techniques she tried out, short cuts in crafting, her immense knowledge of products and her enabling.  I think there are many WOYWW'ers who have bought something because they knew they could trust the product because it had been tried and tested by Shaz.

And so today I mourn the loss of a wonderful lady, but am thankful that, as her husband Doug said, she passed peacefully in her sleep.  I only hope Doug will keep in touch with us all through the land of blogging and when we can once more meet up again at a Crop, that he will be there as one of us.

Shaz and I shared a love of Steampunk and Dragons in particular.  I had this bought for me at a Steampunk Exhibition I went to and intended wearing it at the next Crop (which didn't happen) to show to my friend Shaz Silverwolf.

I will wear it with honour and remember Shaz, our friend and her lovely husband Doug on a special day.

She will be missed by so many, a true legend amongst us crafters.

Jeudi Journal - Madness!

 I so enjoyed my 'cover up' border last week that I did another one this week although there really was no need to do it, guess it is just a border this week.  I chose a heart one as it is so close to Valentines Day.  It would not have looked correct to carry it on across the top or bottom so I just did the sides.  I had used Distress Inks and an applicator to colour the page so I used a slightly darker Oxide to stamp some greenery in the bottom of the page between the feet of the two girls.  In order to qualify for Erika's Heavy Metal challenge on Art Journal Journey I painted some of the hearts with some gold paint, the first tube did not show so I went with my new paints and they worked, squeezed too much paint out so one girl ended with gold shoes.  And the story goes

"Christabel has always been the pretty one in the class, everyone is in love with her, she has the most expressive eyes and her crowning glory is her hair.  It looks like spun gold shining in the sunshine with streaks of red metallic ribbon running through it.  She is also lovely and slim, quite tall at 5'9" and has the sweetest nature possible.  The boys adore her, the girls either want to be her or envy her and her teachers are so very proud of her academic achievements, as are her parents.

As you would expect she has lots of friends but a particular one is Bernadette O'Reilly.  They have been friends since Junior School with a friendship everyone thinks is unbreakable.  Bernadette is pretty too, has a sweet disposition, is just above average when it comes to her studies and she is crazy about animals, birds - and insects.  Naturally Biology is her favourite subject (a bit like Erika's teaching life) Some of the classmates think she is a bit weird as she often wears a tiny veil, similar to an eye patch, with a spider on it - imitation of course!

Being such a sweet hearted girl Christabel, although she is not crazy about, "creepy crawlies" as she calls them, admires how Bernadette is so knowledgeable about the various insects she seems to attract and love.  Why even the day they went out in the countryside for a walk and Bernadette squatted down to look at a flower she attracted the most cute little bumble bee.  "How lucky" she thought, "am I to have such a gentle and loving friend."  Turning to her friend Christabel asked her how on earth she did it, what was it about her that made insects and animals trust her so much?  "What is your method she asked?"

Bernadette just looked at her friend, head tilted to one side and she said "I really have no method, just madness" and Christabel wished with all her heart that she too had that madness."

So there you have it, my story today which explains literally the reason for one beautiful, talented girl not having the same "madness" as her friend - but maybe secretly desiring it.  A much different illustration to the one that comes straight to my head which is rather about my spending my money on craft materials - I definitely have no method - just madness when it comes to that!