Jeudi Journal - Upset (Not me)

 "I'm sorry if I upset upset you, I'll try not to be right next time" is the quote Wendy chose.  I had to paint a page black as I inadvertently put some Sharpie pen on my previous page and it bled through.  No way could I cover it all up so I painted the page black.  Could I find my stencils of the figures from Dylusions - no!  Then I found this one of children - perfect as Chris had chosen children as her theme at Art Journal Journey.  I had forgotten I had this one.

"Christabel and Damon were growing up.  No longer did they go to the "little school" they had progressed to the more grown up type school that nine year olds attend.  They had long forgotten the incident with the car and Damon had got away with it as the car had been left there for the men to break up anyway.  (see last week)

Damon was always the bossy one and he often upset Christabel with things he would do and say.  His big sister, Barbarella, was very grown up and she was developing a very sarcastic way of speaking to other people, especially her younger brother.  Consequently Damon had picked up some of the things she said that were rather 'cutting' and he didn't mind using them, it made him feel much more grown up.

One day Christabel got a lovely big balloon, from an uncle, that was filled with helium so that it floated in the air and she eagerly went to show it to her best friend.  Rather rudely Damon scoffed at her delight with this balloon and came out with some comment about them being 'common' and maybe she hadn't had one before because her parents could not afford one.  Poor Christabel was almost reduced to tears.

A few weeks later a similar thing happened with a kite her father had made her from two bamboo sticks and some newspaper.  The two of them had had great fun building it.  This time Christabel was very brave and did not flinch when he made some sarcastic remark about her family being poorer than his.  Undaunted Damon turned to her and said "I'm sorry if I upset you, I'll try not to be right next time".  This time Christabel was ready for him.  She let go of his hand, turned on her heel and gave him a kick in the shins.  

"Your turn to be upset now" she said, as she walked off with her kite.  It was hers and he did not have one so who was richer really?"

Entirely fictional this week, no incident to illustrate the saying chosen by Wendy.  The whole page looked a little bare so I decided to put a border around the whole thing and used a white Posca pen.  It kept me quiet for a while but I don't have patience like some for 'tangling' neatly.  I am loving this theme of Chris's.

WOYWW 688

 WOW, it's been warm again, and it promises to be even warmer over the next few days.  Hope everyone is ok with this heat and not suffering any effects.  

This is the dining room table with a bit of my cloth on to protect it.  I have just started to make a card but didn't get very far as I had Sean Connery on as James Bond at the same time and am afraid he took up too much of my attention.  He still is THE James Bond as far as I am concerned - how I used to wish I was Miss Moneypenny back in the day.

Top left is my file with the instructions for several cards I have downloaded from the internet, to the right is my Cream Tea Box which I use to carry bits and pieces with me.  Front left is a piece of card on top of a craft mat and opposite is a container with some ink pads in and a box of removable sellotape.  Nothing exciting - oh and my blending tools in front of the inks and a baby wipe.

I did say I would upload some more of my Thrinchies so here we have 

23 Alphabet

24 daisy

25 Quirky

26 Clocks

27 Numbers

I tried to use some of the older stamps,  be a bit more obscure and use stamps that maybe others would not choose but I am not sure I chose that wisely.  Anyway, at least I did attempt the challenge.

Well, that's it for this week.  Maybe more to show you next time as I will have had a workshop with Jo Rice whom I admire very much.  We have her coming to our club on Saturday and I am so looking forward to the day.  We are decorating a calendar so the pieces we do will be quite tiny - now what shall I have for my theme?  Wait until next week to see.

Not long to go to the Crop now, the annual meet up of WOYWW'ers takes place once more.  Got the date firmly booked in the diary.  Have you?

Jeudi Journal - My Mum

The thing I remember most about being young, which is what Chris is asking for us to journal about in Art Journal Journey this month, is my mum and how hard she worked.  I was brought up in a working class family where both mum and dad went out to work to make ends meet and I was looked after by a spinster aunt.  How mum juggled all the things she did I will never know, I wanted for nothing, within reason, and was always a happy little girl.

The story below is actually based around an incident that really did happen to me.  OK I've embroidered it a little but you should get the gist of it, and names have been changed to protect the innocent.

"It was a typical Sunday afternoon.  Christabel had been to Sunday School and was now allowed to play out with her friends.  She had on a new skirt that mum had saved up for and she loved how it twirled as she danced around.  Damon, lived next door and he was her very best friend, people often took them for brother and sister, twins even, because they both had the same blonde hair and chubby cheeks.

They had got tired of the games they had been playing and then Damon said "Let's go over to father's allotment and play over there.  There is an old van that he has just left there and we can pretend we are going on a trip somewhere.  Where do you want to go?"

"Blackpool please." said Christabel, "We always go to Morecambe, or Scotland for our big holiday, and I have always wanted to go to Blackpool."

The pair set off and were joined by Madge, an older girl who lived close by them.  "Where are you two going?" she asked.

"Off to my dad's allotment want to come?" asked Damon, and the three of them went down the avenue, crossed the road and into the allotment which was across the road from the local school.

Damon and Christabel soon settled into the front seats of the van.  It was a run down old thing, made of wood but it was exciting to the youngsters.  Margaret soon got bored and decided that they should have a concert, the other two were not so sure as they were enjoying pretending to drive along the road to Blackpool.

Madge decided that there was not really enough room for her in the back to do any of her dancing, she had aspirations to become a dancer, and so she climbed up onto the roof and began twirling about and before long she was trying to do the can can like she had seen on TV.

All of a sudden there was an almighty crash and Madge came flying through the roof of the car.  Splinters of wood flew everywhere and Madge ended up in a heap behind the other two.  

"Your leg is bleeding" said Damon, "Quick, mop it up with that old coat that is hanging there."  What a mess!  A hole in the roof and blood on the coat, what were they going to do?

Suddenly Damon shouted "Run, run as quick as you can."  Two men were approaching and it was then that Damon told them it was not his father's car at all but it belonged to the two men coming down the road.  

The trio shot off, sprinting across the road, climbing over the railings of the local school in an attempt to escape.  It was then that disaster struck.  Christabel got her new skirt stuck on the top of the railings, she was hanging - unable to move.  So Damon took hold of her hand and yanked her down.  Oh No!  The pointed end of the railings went through the lovely new skirt.  It wasn't lovely any more.  How was she going to explain this to her mother?  

On returning home mum was her busy self trying to make a lovely Sunday tea for the family after spending most of the day cleaning.  Imagine her horror when she saw the state of the new skirt her darling daughter was wearing.  

"Well, that will have to be patched" she said.  There's nothing much else I can do with it, it's just another job for me and I am so busy today.  Your father's at the station picking aunty up and the cousins will be arriving soon too.  So much to do, so little people to do it for me."  And, with that, mum sat down and decided it was time to have a cup of tea before she tackled anything else.  That skirt needed repairing before anyone came.  She was exhausted!"

This was the only way I could think of linking my journal page to AJJ this week.  As I said, it is a true story, the skirt was a tartan one in real life, only the ending has been changed.  I think we kids hid out for a while before we dare surface and thankfully there was no-one but the family for tea that day.  But I did wear my lovely tartan skirt patched after that.

The page was one I had inked through a stencil previously.  It was so garish that I tried to take it down a little with some watered down Gesso and I just drew with a pen to give it a border.  I just wish I had more figures to use with my Dylusion pages, it's so difficult with some of the outlandish heads that have been introduced lately.  Apologies, the scan has missed the left hand border off.

Now what is the quote from Wendy for next week?  She loves to challenge me!

WOYWW 687

 Another week has flown by, why do the days pass so quickly now that I am getting old - I am sure there were more hours in the days when I was younger and went out to work?  Perhaps I have little moments of 'nodding off' that I am unaware of and that is where some of the time goes, or perhaps it is just that doing anything takes twice as long as it used to.  Result - only half the jobs done these days, it's always time to get in my PJ's and climb into bed.

It's been an end to the Thrinchies challenge.  I have done all of them so that is one thing I can put to bed.  Now to the Journal pages I keep doing along with my Thursday Journal (Jeudi Journal) and then I have an exciting workshop to attend, but before that I have to plan a birthday treat for my other half.  Here's catch up with the thrinchies:

17 Love

18 Critters

19 Colour

20 Containers

21 Leaf

And that is where I will leave it for this week.  (Or should I say 'leaf' it - sorry).  Here's my desk

I think you can more or less name everything - the jar to the left of my brushes (make up type for those not papercrafters) contains watered down Gesso, the stamps are some new ones I just bought after seeing them on TV.  Oh my, did I really spend so much money on these stamps?  OUCH!  A new designer for Aall & Create and I thought they would go well with the fairies in my journals.  Not that I have really got the hang of using the fairy stamps yet.  Far right is the birthday card for my other half.  He loves pens, not the dip type granted but it was the best I could come up with for his birthday card this year.

This is a photograph of the huge stamps I bought, apologies for the shine, hadn't realised until just now.  Such a lot of detail in them.  I've turned one over so you can see the size of the image - the brown bit is a three inch square (thrinchie that never got used) to give you an idea of the size of the stamps..

Can't wait to get using them but it will be a while yet as I am too busy at the moment.  So I'll leave it there for this week and go for my "fix" snooping at desks with my WOYWW friends.  See you over there.

Apologies to anyone who visited me but did not get a return visit.  We were away and the internet connection was non existent since they put a new system in.  Have complained and complained  in the past about it but this last week it was worse than ever - we had nothing!  So sorry, if you were latish in getting to me I didn't get chance to visit you in return.  Hopefully I can make it up to you this week.

Jeudi Journal - Smarter?

Here we are again with another Journal page featuring Dylusion figures and a quote from Wendy.   Todays story features Lottie, a little girl and her mum, Heidi.  Lottie can be naughty at times and, despite her mum dressing her in pretty clothes, she is a bit of a tom-boy.  If there is a tree to be climbed you can bet Lottie is the first one to attempt to shin up it.

Dad was working away.  A Project Manager he was often having to work out of town and that meant mum had a lot on her hands with running her own business, keeping the house straight, and watching what Lottie was doing.  Sometimes poor Heidi felt she needed eyes in the top of her head as well as the back of it. 

It had been a lovely sunny day and Heidi had managed to take the whole afternoon off from work allocating several duties to her assistant.  She had decided to tackle the bedrooms whilst hubby was away and Lottie was out with her friends.  There had been lots to do, sorting wardrobes, doing the washing and getting it out in the garden whilst the weather was so nice.  She'd actually got lots of it dry and ironed  before 3 o'clock and after putting it away she decided to sit down in her favourite armchair and have a well earned cuppa.  

Heidi was tired and with the lovely warm day and the hot cup of coffee she had dozed off.  All of a sudden there was a loud 'crash' which woke her and made her jump up.  Oh dear, the window in the door was smashed.  What on earth had caused that she wondered.

Two minutes later, in walked Lottie.  "It wasn't me" she said.  "Someone came up and kicked my ball and it went straight through the window, honest mum it wasn't me."

"And who would do such a thing?" asked Heidi.

"It was a complete stranger," replied Lottie.  "He was ever so tall and had long ginger hair and a beard that went down to his knees.  I've never seen him before mum, honestly."

"Now don't tell fibs" said Heidi, as she stood, hands on hips looking down at her daughter.  "There was no such man was there?"  And she fixed Lottie with a very stern look.

"Err, no mum: said Lottie, "it was Billy from down the road who. did it - and he told me to tell you it was a strange man.  I didn't want to get him into trouble so I just made that man up.  Sorry mum"

"Now Lottie, you cannot keep telling lies like this.  Have you forgotten Billy is away at his cousins for the next few days so it could not have been him who did it.  Whatever you have to say can wait until you're smarter."  And with that mum took hold of Lottie and marched her off to her nice tidy bedroom.  "You can just sit here young lady until your father comes home later tonight and then we will have the truth about the broken glass.  In the meantime I had better get someone to fix it.  There will be no spends for you this weekend when your father finds out."

I am linking this to Art Journal Journey where Wendy has 'doors' as her challenge.

Well, the heatwave did not last long in the north of England where I am and I for one was grateful for it.  The poor gardens were longing for some rain and luckily we have had some.  Whether it was the combination of the terrific heat and the rain or what I don't know but we have had some beautiful roses to show.  I never ceases to surprise me when I see the roses bloom as they are coming out of concrete at the side of the garden in front of the house.  They were there when we moved in and this year has been the best show ever.  Here are just three of them - one had six flowers on it all beautiful.

All taken on the same day - can't choose a favourite

WOYWW 686

"Here we are again - all good friends and jolly good company" - would have continued with "never mind the weather" but I think it's only us who are getting the rain, and even then it does brighten up in the afternoon so no grumbling from me.  Better than the heat of the other week.  Friendship is the name of the game as far as WOYWW is concerned and we have a crop coming up in October where we get to meet up again.  Hurrah!  It's that time of the week that we all get together and look at what one another has been up to over the past week and/or what we are about to do in the next few days.  So let's see what I have been up to.

First of all I cannot show you my journal pages as they are for  a GD spot which I thought was for next month so now it is panic over and I have quite a few done.  "Relaxay voo!"  I do, however, have my Thrinchies from the Aall & Create Challenge to show you.  Now where were we up to?  Vintage was the last one so we start with number 9 Happiness which, for me, was a watering can - I am happy when watering my garden, especially when it has been warm and the flowers are asking for a nice long drink.

10 Hexagons

11 Sewing

12 Botanicals

13 Woodland

14 Heartfelt

15 Squares

16 Bloom

I'll leave it there for this week.  I am up to, and including, number 30.  Just the last one to do now and I can kiss them goodbye.  I haven't found the subjects as easy to do as the JK ones I did previously and I was disappointed with the way they have scanned.  No way could I get the colours right, they are in fact much brighter than shown.

I have been much sleepier than usual and seem to come around at night time so most of my stamping is done in the early evening at the moment.  Last night it was back to the journal for September as I want it out of the way so I can concentrate on other things I want to do but I must get a birthday card done for the other half and I haven't a clue what to do.  Think that is why I am enjoying the journaling - stalling when I can't think of a subject.  So here is my little table - I do enjoy crafting on here and using my worktop for all the bits I need.

Just a couple of Oxides I used on a journal page, the blending tools and my Nocturne ink pad.  The two pages, lilac and turquoise, are waiting for the images to go on but I need some background stamping first  - the cream page is the actual journal.  I made this specifically for the theme and I used my Rollabind to hold the pages together.  Haven't used it in years but I did enjoy how quick and easy it is to use and it's ideal for adding pages at a later date.

So that's it for this week, see you around.

Jeudi Journal - Dentist

Today I have used one of Dylusions stencils to make arches down the two long sides so that I can enter my page into Wendy's theme at Art Journal Journey - Arches. 

Wendy chose the quote "My dentist told me "I need a crown - I was like, I know, right?" for this week with our Jeudi Journal and my page shows two friends who met up for a coffee at The Arches coffee shop in town.

"Sonia met up with her friend Lorrie, as usual at The Arches, a little coffee shop, as they had planned to go on a shopping trip that morning.  Both girls wanted something new to wear for the School Prom so it was going to be a long long day of shopping.  There had to be the perfect dress to begin with, and then shoes and they both had to book an appointment at the hairdressers to get them ready on the day.  Sonia hoped that they also did makeup and that there would be a nail technician there.  The Prom was so important to them both and going to cost their poor parents a pretty penny.

As usual the talk turned to who would be crowned Prom Queen and both girls thought it would most likely be Priscilla Oates and her boyfriend would be the Prom King.  It was then that Lorrie told her friend about her recent visit to the dentist.  

"I had to have a filling and then my dentist told me I need a crown.  I was like, I know, right?  Well I was thinking about the Prom at the time and how lovely it would be if it was me and not Priscilla who got crowned Prom Queen.  It was like an omen - a crown!  Wouldn't it be wonderful?"

"Oh it would indeed" said Sonia, "it would put her nose right out of joint if you, or anyone else was crowned.  Especially if her boyfriend was the Prom King and the two of you had to sit together on the stage."  Lorrie started giggling, the thought of "Prissy Cilla's"face was so funny.  The giggling was infectious and the two of them ended up laughing really loudly before they set off for the day of shopping that was so important to both of them.  Was it an omen afterall?"