Jeudi Journal

"Have you ever been in love?  I mean really deeply in love?  So much in love that it hurts?  Well poor Bertie is going through the most awful pain of being in love at the moment.  You see he is in love with Susie down the road and she doesn't seem to know he exists.  She has the biggest and most adorable eyes anyone could have - in fact when he is in her company he just disappears into those dark deep pools (ie her eyes).  He's got it bad!

It was a wet kind of day when Bertie saw Susie down the street, her hair was wetter than usual which made her big eyes look even larger than normal, in fact it was raining bones that day.  Dog bones!  The kind dogs love to chew on -  there were one or two grey clouds hovering above.  He had put his best bowler hat on in case he saw her, he really wanted her to notice him.  His friend  and confidante, Billy Bulldog had told him "What you believe in becomes true.  Believe in something absurd" and so Bertie sat there and believed, with all of his heart that he was a big tall figure of a dog, dressed smartly like that big guy, Prince, who was so darned handsome all the lady dogs in the district fell in love with him and swooned as he walked past.

He squeezed and squeezed his eyes until they hurt saying over and over to himself that he believed he was big and strong and could walk on his two hind legs and stand tall.  Pretending that he was wearing a jacket slung nonchalantly over his shoulders, his waistcoat of the finest check and sporting the most wonderful bow tie he felt good and powerful.  

He opened his eyes and there was Susie, sat beside him.  Did she just glance over her shoulder at him?  Yes, it had worked, what you believe in really does come true sometimes, as how absurd it is.

From that moment on Bertie and Susie became firm friends and now Bertie is believing that one day they will walk up the doggy aisle together.  I hope he continues to believe it."

I think I might give that 'believing in something absurd' a try one of these days.  In the meantime I will leave you with lots of happy thoughts and dash over to Art Journal Journey to see what wonderful weather pictures there are - because that is what Chris has chosen for her theme this month - All Kinds of Weather.

WOYWW 649

Another week, another WOYWW and my "C" Card tally is now at 24 so I am quite pleased and I spent a day making a card for a very good friend which could have been made much quicker had I not kept looking at several You Tube videos for different ideas.

Last week I failed to tell you that I had a message from a double jabbed, boosted friend to say she had Covid.  Then, just shortly after, a phone call from another friend to say she, her husband and son had all been laid low for a week with covid.  She sounded dreadful with a wracking cough but that was not the worse of her symptoms.  She had hurt in all her bones, could not bare to touch her skin, had a headache, the cough, no smell or taste, and her chest felt as if she had been running a marathon.  It hurt so much.    She said she would not wish it on her worse enemy.

Now friend number one above, got it from her husband who caught it from work - apparently there have been a few at his work with it but the other friend and her family all went to a wedding on the Saturday as they started on the Tuesday.  No masks!  Makes one think how easy it is to get this dreaded disease and how bad it can be.  Jayne sounded terrible on the phone but from what she told me she had obviously been much worse.  Thankfully her son had had very little wrong so was able to help look after his parents plus she has a daughter who had it a while ago.  Her husband is in bed at the moment as he went a lot worse than he was a few days ago.

Then another friend on FB said she had had it and it was dreadful.  So it seems quite rife at the moment - PLEASE be careful.

Anyway, you came to see my desk so here it is:

My little Excalibur which I was using to cut out lots of circles.  But what for?  All will be revealed some time soon but not now, sorry.  You can see all the dies I was using and all the bits of masking tape on top of my machine which is my trusty little cutter that sits in my room, unlike the other machines I have who all sit on a trolley elsewhere.  I have too many!

Now I must get on with those Christmas Cards, they won't make themselves.

Toodle Pip - see you over at WOYWW.

Jeudi Journal - Wings

For this month at Art Journal Journey my friend Chris has chosen "All Kinds of Weather" as her topic for the month.  I am going to enjoy this and hope I can marry it to the quotes for the Dyan inspired pages Wendy and I do each Thursday.  Today the quote I am using is "Until you spread your wings you have no idea how far you'll fly" and my page is set in a farmyard where two members of the fowl family are having a chatter.  Not sure I am happy with either the page or the story this week - sorry folks.

To begin with I used my Distress Oxides as watercolours, Rusty Hinge and Carved Pumpkin for the ground and Tumbled Glass and Broken China for the sky area.  I then stamped, with Momento's London Fog (grey), a Farmhouse and a couple of trees to represent them being in the distance.  Figures were coloured, as usual, with Promarkers and I did the writing with a Posca Pen.

"It was a lovely day in the farmyard when Dilys found young Sara in tears by the old tree.  Sara was the smallest of the chickens in Mr Swift's farmyard, the youngest too and a rather timid little thing.  She preferred to hang around the chicken coop and sit with the hens. rather than go off with the other chickens having adventures  The older hens loved having her with them for company and they would sit and applaud her as she danced around and did little somersaults in the sand on the floor for them.

She was such a good help too and when the shavings and straw were changed in the coop she would help her mum spread them about just as the others liked them.  Sometimes there would be some bits of hay in with the straw and Sara knew that it was not good for chickens to be lying in it so she would pick it up in her little beak and move it outside where one of the bigger animals would collect it and take it over it to their corner of the yard.

Sara was liked by most of the other chickens but there were one or two of them jealous of her popularity with the older hens and they would pick on her.  Flo and Agnes, a couple of Leghorns, were two much older chickens and they thought they were the best looking of all the fowl there.  This was despite Sophie, a Silkie, being undoubtedly a very attractive chick much admired by all and the pride of Farmer Swift's flock.

Dilys was one of the kindest hens, a Rhode island Red, and she asked Sara what on earth was the matter.  It turned out that Flo and Agnes had been teasing her because she did not wander around the farmyard like some of the others did, she had never been up by the apple trees, or seen the horses galloping in the field and had certainly not ventured anywhere near the cowshed.  They said she was a 'cowardy custard' and they laughed every time she went past them, calling her names.

Dilys sat her down and told her all about the farmyard, what the different areas were like, which were safe and which she should not go anywhere near.  Which, of the other animals she could play with, and which she should avoid, not that they would harm her but because they were so much bigger than she was they might just not see a little chicken as they lumbered across the cobbles.  "Until you spread your wings you have no idea how far you'll fly" she said.

"But I don't want to fly", said Sara, "I like it here with mum and the other hens".

"Yes", said Dilys, but there is a big world out there and it is waiting for you to explore it, You know how you watch the other chickens at play, well, don't you want to join in with their games sometimes?"

"Yes", said Sara, her little beak trembling.

"Well then, off you go, spread your wings and before you know it you will be flying high"

I can tell you that Sara did listen to Dilys and take her advice and before long she was laughing and playing with the other chickens, much to the delight of the older hens who certainly missed her but were happy she had at last found her wings and flown."

WOYWW 648 - A New Month

A new month and a step nearer to Christmas.  What is happening to "Time" - it seems to be gathering speed at an unbelievable rate of knots and now that the clocks have been altered the days are drawing in much faster and because of the terrible weather the mornings are not any lighter.  Daylight seems so small!

I did manage to get my Halloween decorations down (ugh, the dust) and now they are safely back on top of the cupboard in the utility room.  I am afraid I just put things out rather than did a proper display.  It was more to get them down and dusted than anything. Wanda the Witch from Prague did not make an appearance on the window display this year, she got forgotten and carried on with her evil cackling in the utility room.  Here is my display:

the dining room - I made the box and the pop up card years ago

the lounge (split in two - large window)

I made the arch in the top picture from the lounge and the square framed thingie too.  No trick or treaters again this year, not had any for about five years but who can blame parents for stopping the children doing it on their own! Plus now there is Covid to consider too.

Last week I got some new stamps from AAll & Create (via Country View Crafts, I've given up on The Craft Store) - Tracy's new release (sorry for the flash)

and straight away I had to use one for a friend who needed a hug from me.  Tracy had done a You Tube on my favourite of the stamps so I used that tutorial but changed the shape (because of the envelopes I had) and the colour (because it was more appropriate to the occasion and her favourite colours anyway).

Afraid I have still not got around to doing any videos not done any more in my Open Spine Journal either and crafting has had to go on hold because I needed to bake as we are having the hedges cut and the two men will be working in all kinds of weather so I thought they could have a nice biscuit or two with their cuppa.  The only other crafting has been my Thursday Journal page - I blame these dark nights and mornings.  Anyway, here is my desk which is what you all came to see - tidy once more.  Hopefully won't last!  (the Circus stuff is something I have had for years - got it out hoping it might inspire me to put it together)

ps Shaz in Oz - hope your card arrives in Gambia

Jeudi Journal - Dreams

Another 'fingers crossed' that Wendy and I are on the same quote, I think we should be - and today it is "A life without dreams would be just a life".  For this one I started with a plain cream page and then, using my hand carved leaf stamp (which most of you could not see last week) I stamped a border down one side and lightly across the top.  I used second generation stamping throughout and a mixture of Distress Oxides in  Scattered Straw, Carved Pumpkin, Crackling Campfire, Candied Apple, Ripe Persimmon. Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry and Rustic Wilderness.  I also used the first three mentioned to colour in my mushrooms at the base of the page and enjoyed painting them so much I stamped an extra set, cut them out and affixed them with foam stickies.

"The story concerns a young girl, Janice, who is a self confessed daydreamer, has been all her young adult life.  Sometimes it would get her into trouble at school, usually in math lessons when her mind would wander to other things much more interesting than geometry or algebra.  She was a good girl though, and always in the upper half of the class when it came to exam time.

It was a lovely autumn day, the sun was shining, the leaves were turning and falling from the trees and Janice had taken her little dog out for a walk.  She let him off the lead so he could run about, sniffing at all the different things on the woodland floor and she sat herself down on a piece of wood by the side of some toadstools.  It wasn't long before her mind wandered to her upcoming 17th birthday and she wondered what her parents would buy her - and would they let her have a party.  Just a few friends, maybe even better still, a sleepover with Pat and Lynda - now that would be ideal.  Yes, that would be what she would ask mum if she could have, just her two best friends over, something a bit sophisticated for them to eat, but still there would be balloons and presents and oh it would be fun.  

Shouting for Toby her little dog, she got up and began walking quickly back home, she needed to talk to mum and tell her what she really really wanted for her birthday,  No expensive presents, just a sleepover and it really would not cost much, she was sure mum would cook a lovely meal for them.  Maybe they would go Italian and have pizza, or Chinese with some Chow Mein and maybe dad would let them have a bottle of something fizzy, that looks a bit like champagne,

Bursting in the door she ran in to her mother and straight away began telling her what she would really like for her birthday, it was her dream to have a sleepover and a nice grown up meal for her and her friends.

Mum looked at her, smiled that knowing smile that mums often have and said "You've been dreaming again haven't you?"  She knew her daughter  was a dreamer but she also knew that a life without dreams would be just a life and where was the fun in that?"

I am entering this page in Tracy's challenge at Art Journal Journey where the challenge is 'my favourite colour is October' - I think my leaves and mushrooms will qualify it for an entry.

WOYWW 647

Another WOYWW day and I do have something to show you.  Been busy doing Christmas Cards again but had to sneak a couple of other cards in between.

This was a birthday card for a horse crazy young girl the daughter of a friend I used to work with.  I made a horsey card last year and I have another image ready for next year.  Hope at 15 she is not too old for these cards.

And this one, below, was for my niece who is one of the loveliest young mums you could ever wish to meet, she is a real sweetie.  It is much nicer in real life.  The two flowers at the top are very delicate, made with Parchment, stamped in white and embossed.  It's all very pale pink and sadly  I don't know how to darken the photo so you can see it better.

The third one is one I made for a Mingle with a Papercraft group that I am in.  We lost one of our longest serving members.  She was a lovely lady, bags of fun and so we were asked to make a humorous card in her memory.  This was mine to a lady called Wendy - I almost changed the wording to some of my own until I found out what its background was.  Let's just say the ladies are drinking tea and the recipients husband used to be a vicar.

Well, you came here to see my desk and here it is in all its glory.  I was near to the end of putting "ladies" in my Open Spine Journal so I took a couple of photographs for you:

Far left you can see a silver tin which has several small journals inside, it normally sits on a shelf.  Then there are my Caran D'Ache crayons and above it a picture I am colouring for my Journal.  The grey thing behind is a three pen set and then two of my paint boxes and some tiny paint brushes.  That is my Open Spine Journal in the front and my scalpel.  Still haven't got around to videoing my Journal so here are a couple of shots where I am at now - just one page to go

Above is the cover, at the moment just a sheet of paper and the lace hinges.  No idea what I am going to put on the front of it as yet.

Four of the pages - as you can see one is blank at the moment

I am not sure whether I will decorate the pages more than they are - maybe it will be a bit too much with the heavily patterned paper on some of the pages and I did put some borders and things on anyway.  There are a few left blank for writing on but, as in the one above with the lady in red, it does look a bit plain.  Maybe when I have something on all of the pages and do a video you can advise as to whether to leave or carry on decorating.

Got my booster on Friday - not through my GP, I feel they have let me down so I have booked through the NHS who sent me a letter instructing me how to go about it.  Chas had his on Monday so hopefully in two weeks we will both be fully covered again.  

Nothing else on the horizon so I guess I will leave it there for now and hopefully see you next Wednesday here at WOYWW.

Jeudi Journal - Adventure

 Now I might find that Wendy and I are doing different pages this week.  I have got myself in a muddle as to what we agreed and didn't.  I sent a list to her and then found another list and I had an email saying she was happy with the first four so here goes - "The journey is the start of the adventure" a Dyan quote again.

For the background I used Crackling Campfire and Wild Honey DO smooched all over an already coloured and stencilled page which I did not like.  (It was in pinks and yellows - very summer, not autumnal at all).  When dry I used an Aall & Create Stencil with Platinum Crackle Paste through it to give me a compass with eight points showing.  In order to fit more into Tracey's theme at Art Journal Journey I added some leaves around the edge with my home made stamp (yes Alison, this is the one and only I carved ).  Then I chose to have three figures for my story this week:

You all know stories by Enid Blyton featuring 'the Famous Five' and 'the Secret Seven' - well this features 'the Thrill Seeking Three' (ok you find a suitable word for me that begins with 'th' - I should have stuck with two figures and they could have been the "Troublesome Two") who are friends all living close to one another.  

"One day Georgina, George to her friends, decided that they needed to go out and have an adventure.  This time they were to go orienteering.  She didn't really know what it entailed but big brother Fred had been orienteering with the Scouts recently and it sounded fun.  So armed with map and compass off the trio set on the journey of a lifetime.  Peter never was much good with maps and things and so he said he would just go along with whatever the girls said and he would "bring up the rear" and carry the little knapsack along with the bottle of liquorice water and chocolate bar Celine brought.  His contribution to the whole adventure had been his catapult, after all there could be wild animals where they were going, you never knew what was going to be around each corner.

And so the intrepid explorers orienteers set off, heading for the woods, George carrying the map and with her *ticketed hat on to show she meant business.  She was the leader of the group and she was not just 'in charge' but totally responsible for the safety and well being of the others.  It was dark in the woods, a little bit spooky and ever so quiet apart from the rustling of the leaves beneath their feet.  George called a "reccie" and explained the rules of orienteering (the ones she made up on the spot) as they got to the edge of the woodland.  It all sounded very exciting indeed, a little scary and ever so difficult, Peter had no idea they had to collect things on the way and Biology had not been his strongest subject at school so he didn't know the difference between a beechnut and an acorn, he was more interested in finding a wolf and saving them all from it with his trusty catapult.

And so the journey began, George led the way and Celine made sure she did not stray far from any of her friends, she wasn't that keen on being on their own in the woods like this.  Any other person would have found this to be a most interesting walk as they made their way through picking up leaves that had turned rust and ruby red and orange.  Peter actually found an acorn or two and some lovely little fir cones, the tiniest he had ever seen all growing on one tiny sprig.  He knew his mother would be delighted with these, if George allowed him to keep them, as she was into papercrafting and they would be perfect for one of her Christmas cards.

Before the three of them knew it they had come out of the wooded area and were on the other side which opened out into a lovely big meadow with cows grazing and various birds flying overhead.  It was only a short walk down the lane to home now and so the three of them shared out the goodies they had collected, Celine took her little knapsack and they made their ways to their individual houses.

Fred was in the garden raking up some leaves for his mother when Georgina arrived home and he asked where she had been.  She told him they had been orienteering and explained all about the trip.  Fred smiled, there was a bit more to orienteering than what his little sister had experienced, maybe one day he would tell her, and as he said to their Mother, "George just went for a walk through the wooded area of the local park thinking she was orienteering.  I had to hide a smile when she told me about it but at the end of the day 'the journey is the start of an adventure' whether just a walk or orienteering".

*You know how fishermen sometimes wear hats, with lots of flies that they have tied, stuck in, well, George had written out, on separate cards, a list of the various meetings the Thrill Seeking Three had had over the past few months since they were formed, and most importantly one of the cards contained the names and addresses of the three of them - just in case they got captured by someone when on an adventure.

I will use this leaf stamp again next week as you can hardly see it in the picture above