It's a Bird at last

I am sure you were beginning to think I was never going to post a page showing a bird and with a theme like 'feathers' it seems an obvious choice.  So here is one of my bird pages using Aall & Create stamps by Tracy Evans and a design similar to one that Tracy has used as a card.

My journal pages are off white, almost cream and the background for this was done using Broken Circle, a stencil by my lovely friend Abs, with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide brushed through.  Love his stencils.

I then stamped some circles from Foliage, in Nocturne down the left hand side of the page, followed by some of my favourite numbers (Splattered Numbers),  as first and second generation in Gathered Twigs DO.  

Finally I stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn the bird from Birdsong and some flowers, from Flower Moments, which I coloured accordingly and fussy cut out.  Words also by, you guessed it,  Tracy.  

So this is my next sample page for Art Journal Journey where I am guest host and have chosen 'Fur and/or Feathers" as the theme.  I look forward to seeing something you do, it is lovely to see your work.  Remember to check the rules.

Jeudi Journal - Drink!

This is the last quote from the list supplied by Wendy and next week we start on a new set taken from Tim Holtz' Snarky Comments.   Today we have the quote "I used to drink but that was hours ago".  

"Betty and Bettina were two sisters.  Why on earth their mother had decided on two names so similar the girls never understood.  Bettina often found her friends shortening her name to 'Betti' but then it sounded just like her younger sisters name and if they were together with their friends it could become a bit confusing.  

They both liked to go for walks with their dogs and meet up.  You see, Bettina had moved into a flat with her boyfriend so the girls did not see as much of one another as they used to.  Betty had been going out a lot with her friends, to cinemas and discos - mainly discos, and it was there she had met this young guy, Marcus.  Bettina was eager to hear all about him and hoped that she might get to meet him soon.  In fact she had asked her boyfriend if he would mind if they held a little dinner for her sister and the 'new guy'.

"I was wondering, well, we were wondering, if you and Marcus would like to come around one evening for a curry or something.  You know how much I want to meet this new guy of yours." said Bettina.

"Sorry" replied Betty, "but it just isn't going to happen.  I've given him the big heave ho."

"No," said Bettina, "You've only been seeing him a few weeks, what on earth went wrong, and why didn't you tell me?"

"Well," said Betty.  "It happened a couple of times.  The first time was the week before last and then twice this last week I smelled alcohol, rather strongly, on his breath.  No girl wants to kiss a man who smells of alcohol like that and so I was a bit put off the first time.  When it happened again I hesitated from saying anything but the third time I also noticed he was a bit off balance.  He kept talking a lot and I noticed a slight wobble in his voice."

"No" said Bettina.  "What happened then?  Was he drunk?"

"No, nothing like that, he wasn't falling about or anything but I asked him outright 'have you been drinking, are you what my dad would call a 'boozer'?  And guess what he said?  He turned and said "I used to drink but that was hours ago.  Well that was it.  I didn't want any more to do with him.  I don't mind a drink or two myself but he obviously drinks a lot and to think he had been having a pint or whatever just before he came out with me.  Ooo, I was so cross."

"What happened next?" enquired Bettina.

"Oh, I just left him standing there and went and caught up to my friends and we all went to the disco.  We are planning on going to a music festival next weekend, taking tents and all that kind of thing.  I might meet a nice guy there, who knows."

The theme at Art Journal Journey this month is 'Fur and/or Feathers' and this page and story has a couple of dogs on it so I am entering this into AJJ today.  I made a background with Distress Inks: Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold.  Then I attached my figures and drew a wiggly line around the edge to create a border.  Hope to see you over at AJJ later with your journal page.

WOYWW 692

Don't know what your weather has been like but it has been a little mixed up north with some lovely warm sunny days followed by wet ones and then sunshine again.  It's a bit hit and miss at deciding what to wear so I am getting as much wear as I can from my summer wardrobe at the moment before it gets packed away again  There's a definite autumnal feel about the early mornings though.  Thankfully the leaves are not dropping around us but it won't be long now before they are.

My desk, again, is a packed up one and went from this

To this in no time at all when I wanted to serve dinner.

I've been playing with my Lavinia stamps.  Being new to them I need lot of playtime in order to get some kind of pictures like those who use them regularly can do.  I think it is going to take a while.  I did, however make this little Thinchie book with Jo  Rice recently.

The two images not stuck down are for the front and back.  The one on the left was using Brusho's and the one on the right was watercolouring.  Both were still drying out when I took the photo.

On Monday we had a little trip out.  Unfortunately my Rollator got damaged because someone who shall be nameless took it down some steps for me, came back to help me down (the handrail was very rickety) but did not put the brake on my Rollator.  Suddenly it started moving towards the edge of the prom and fell down about 8' onto a stony beach (stones not pebbles).  It still works but no longer will it fold down nicely to fit in the car.  When we got back he checked to see how much it would cost to replace - £497 - OUCH!  I think I will try to get it fixed.

Anyway, we visited the little church on the headland, so beautiful and with a lovely man looking after it and then walked back through the village to the car.  On the way back I saw these little pigs (they are sitting on the wall)

and this huge plaque in the heart of the village

This is a beachside cafe - unfortunately it was not open but Alice fans might like to see it exists

and one of the many carefully tended gardens by the roadside which had this birdbox and plaques

I now wish I had taken some photos of the beautiful cottage gardens.  As it was such a lovely day most of them had their doors open and to do so would have felt like I was intruding so I didn't but they were so picturesque I guess they are used to being photographed.  Maybe next time ... with a new Rollator (only kidding).

So has anyone any idea of where I was?  The large plaque is entitled "The Spirit of XXX" so someone might know.

Will leave it there for this week and I just hope I can link to Julia and WOYWW as the internet is not good where I am.  I have been having to comment on Art Journal Journey where I am guest host for the month each day and so I have been up at 6 in a morning in order to get a signal.  Maybe I will be lucky this morning and able to link in to you all.  Should I not get to visit you for a day or so don't worry, I will be there as I should be home shortly.

Toodle Pip!

For those who knew Jo (Pritchard) her youngest daughter Claire, has been in touch and we have renewed our friendship and I think we'll be keeping in touch in the future again.  Jo was cremated on Monday. RIP 

Art Journal Journey - Foxy

 

Definitely fur today.  A fox who has the accompanying words "Walk on the Wild Side".  This is an image from Aall & Create drawn by the lovely Bipasha.  If you look carefully you will see that the fox has a pair of spectacles on but for some reason I cannot get a very good image.

To begin with I put some torn pieces of paper on the page and then gave it a wash of blue and white paint, resulting in a mottled effect with the blue going lighter in the main and some areas of white showing.  Again I used my small background stamps randomly over the page, some stamped as second generation to give a lighter effect giving the appearance of  depth to the page.  

The flowers were coloured with Inktense pencils used as watercolour.

Again I hope this page provides some inspiration for you to work with and look forward to seeing you at Art Journal Journey soon.

Art Journal Journey - The Twenties?

Before I begin I would like to extend a welcome to my latest follower Bonnie.  I hope you will enjoy myk blog today and in the future.  As soon as I reach civilisation I will try to find your blog and pay you a visit.   Thank you for being my newest follower.

I decided to stick with the one figure on a page again today and show you "Fur" and "Feathers" both worn at the same time with this Roaring Twenties lady which is what I am featuring today on Art Journal Journey.  She has a lovely feather in her hair and a fur stole around her shoulders.

I love the fashion of this era and have quite a collection of stamps depicting ladies wearing outfits such as this, in fact I have a large collection of Erté images because I admired him a great deal.  But as this is not an Erté design I will leave that for another date.

For the background of the main image I used Squeezed Lemonade and Peeled Paint Distress Ink and some of my small background stamps and a bottle cap.  I placed a potted fern (Non Sequitur) behind my lady who is an "Urban" image.

I then mounted her on a lilac page on which I stencilled some Fern-like shapes using a Lavinia stencil and Tumbled Glass Oxide ink.

I hope this inspires you to look in your stash and maybe bring the Roaring Twenties back to life if you like that era as I do.

Art Journal Journey - Angel

Today I thought I would concentrate on "Feathers" for my post on Art Journal Journey, and rather than doing a bird I have given you an Angel.  Once again this is a full page in my journal made especially for this theme of "Fur and/or Feathers".  I remember seeing and falling in love with this stamp and I have used it in several ways since I bought it.

I had a large letter "A" in my stash and decided that it had lain there long enough and it was about time it was used, similarly the wings that are diecuts obtained from a workshop somewhere.  I remember there being two different shapes of wings both of which embossed beautifully.  Because the letter was in green I went along with my favourite colour scheme of blues and greens - ie turquoise/teal shades.  The background is Distress Oxide Peacock Feathers and the stencil used on the background is from Aall & Create - Enchanted Garden.

The Angel's dress and wings are coloured in with blue and turquoise Promarkers and the frame around is simply hand drawn with a Posca pen. Sorry, I cannot remember who the verse is by.

I hope this has given you another idea of how feathers can be used other than with a bird.

Fur and/or Feathers

Another month, where is time going?  It seems to be passing so quickly and this month I am hosting at Art Journal Journey and have chosen "Fur and/or Feathers" as my theme.  I was so pleased when they asked me to host again and looking at my stamps I found I had lots of animals and birds that I rarely used so I decided to bring them out and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

Saying that my first page is actually the cover of my journal and features both "Fur" and "Feathers" both of which were small copies of posters I had in my stash.  I had to check whether dogs had fur or hair and read that most of them have a fine layer of fur at the base of their coats which protects them from the cold.  There are lots of interesting facts out there about 'fur' if you want to pursue it.

I couldn't find anything out about my second picture which features a bird, looks like a robin to me, but maybe it was an American advertisement and someone will know a bit more about it.

My background was done with Oxides blended together and then an assortment of my tiny background stamps randomly placed over using Memento London Fog which is a nice grey ink, not quite as harsh as black.  I also used a transparent Gesso through a stencil in parts which actually catch the light in real life and also provide a bit of texture to the page.

This will be the cover of my journal, as mentioned above, as I created a series of pages and then used my Rollabind to hold them together.  I chose this method rather than a ring binder so that pages could be added to as and when I felt like it.  

You can see the punchings here

I do hope I see you over at Art Journal Journey during September with your pictures of "Fur and/or Feathers" - see you later - but in the meantime it is Jeudi Journal time too and Wendy has a quote which I need to use.

As you can see, the quote is "I thought I couldn't love you less - you proved me wrong".  The background was done with Pistachio and Birch acrylic paint, some tiny pieces of book page were stuck on and then 'Diamonds in the Rough' was the Dylusions stencil used with white Gesso.

Mr and Mrs Cadog (cat and dog together) had been having a bit of an acrimonious time of it lately.  One thing lead to another and the situation between them was tense most days.  Tabby was one of those people who liked a quiet life.  She always tried to give of her best to the whole family even though it sometimes led her into hot water.  The kids all had little household jobs to do and she was a stickler for trying to make sure they stuck to their chores.  And that included Jem, her husband.  He had his chores too.

The two of them were just about speaking when Tabby saw an advertisement in the local newspaper for something she thought Jem would love. He was a bit of a collector and had an impressive display of binoculars/monoculars in the spare room.  There staring her straight in the face was the most beautiful pair of antique binoculars Tabby had ever seen.  Straight away she thought Jem would love them, they were quite pricey but he didn't mind paying over the odds for something that he loved and there was no way she could afford to buy them for him so she took a photograph with her cell phone and sent it to him at work,

She didn't quite expect the reply she got, "I'm busy at the moment, got my hands full as Rex is off ill this week.  Stop messaging me."

"A simple 'thanks' would have been sufficient" she said out loud to herself and then sent him a text telling him just that.  She wasn't expecting a reply but Jem certainly did feel like replying,

"I was only being polite and letting you know I was busy at the time.  A simple "how is Rex, nothing serious I hope", would have been fine.  I find you rude and selfish.  Now don't message me again when I am at work."

That was a red rag to a bull for Tabby and she made her mind up that tonight's dinner would be done in batches, one for Jem and one for the rest of the family.  It was to be curry tonight and Jem would need lots of water with his.  His would be hot, mega hot, and if he said anything she would tell him straight - 'I thought I couldn't love you less - you proved me wrong'.  And I hope you will think about this next time you reply to one of my messages."  

And with that she gave his curry just one more shake of chilli powder, she'd show hm he was wrong to upset her."

Don't know about you, but I would not cross a cat, black or tabby, or any other kind,