Jeudi Journal - Sense

 "Making sense is just not your things is it" is todays quote to work with alongside Chris' challenge at Art Journal Journey which is Hot Summer (Days and Nights) for Wendy and myself who decided to merge our own challenge (just between the two of us) and the monthly challenge over at Art Journal Journey.  Our own part of the challenge is that we must use Dylusion figures which can be a problem at times.

Today I am using a page in my Dylusion Journal which had some yellow and orange ink splodged about it so I went over the whole lot with Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide to try to bring the page into a nice orange like my page a couple of weeks ago.  This didn't work and you still see the kind of mess in the middle but it does look better than it was.

I've been trying to sit with my feet up as much as possible as instructed by the nurse to get my oedema down and to help my ankle heal so it is a rushed page and story.  But I have been cutting lots of figures out that I had already stamped ready.

"Sally was in her favourite position, lounging on the living room floor, when Anna called to see her.  Anna had recently bought a little puppy and she couldn't take it out for the moment - until it had had its next inoculations.  She had popped to see Sally, who had three dogs of her own, and ask her some questions about raising her new baby,  little Bobby,   He was gorgeous, just a ball of fluff and so funny and a wee bit mischievous.  

Sally loved being consulted about looking after and training dogs and so she went off full mode into giving Anna all the knowledge she could.  The only problem was that Sally could get carried away when speaking about something she really knew about and so her advice became a bit too much for Anna.

"I don't understand you, I have no idea what you are talking about half the time" she said, shaking her head.  "Making sense is just not your thing is it?"

"What do you mean? asked Sally.  "You came asking for my advice and I gave it to you and now you say that about me."

"Sorry I did not mean to insult you, please don't get angry.  I just mean you know so much about dogs and how to look after them, train them etc but you use words that I don't understand.  Remember you have had dogs for a good few years and are used to this language but I am new to the game. I know it should come naturally to me but I want to do it properly and give Bobby the best home possible."

"And so you will, well, as good as my three have. I will help you all I can but let's do it in stages rather than all at once.  If we start again and you tell me what it is you want help with right now I will do my best to help."

WOYWW 847

 Oh Gosh, another nice week but oh how we are suffering with the reservoirs running dry and the moorland fires in north Yorkshire.  I think they said on television that the fires had been raging for three days and the people in the neighbouring areas had been warned to stay in because of the smoke.  We moan when we have rainy summers but now we are suffering  for the hot summer we have had this year.

I just thought about the wild life running away, not knowing which way to turn from the wildfires.  The plants which will take a while to grow again and the poor firefighters and others risking their lives to put. these fires out. On a brighter note here is my desk.  Nothing craftwise has been done, sorry, but I did buy a calendar to start doing for next year and three stamps which I hadn't bought when I got some other things.  Oh and Angela, this is my cloud stencil.  You can see it is tiny so you can decide whether you want one or not. And you can see a card which I received last week from a friend who felt I needed a little pick up.  Get it?  A little pick up?  Love it, it's a great idea.

The ankle is much the same and the oedema definitely no better but hey ho, am sure they will get to it shortly. That's the reason there isn't any crafting being done as I have to sit with my feet up most of the time and I do as I want them to go down.  I am having an ultrasound on Friday - a bit muddled in my head with it as it is from Cora Health in Nottingham and one letter offered me a choice of four clinics down there.  Luckily that came after I had chosen my own doctor's surgery here for it to take place.

Jeudi Journal - Break

 "Phoebe had been going through a rough time at home, her husband had been worried about his job as there had been several redundancies in his department and they owed quite a lot of money here and there.  In short they had been living beyond their means.

His mood had changed and he had started sitting in the sun lounge rather than anywhere she was.  Each time she suggested they went away on holiday to somewhere romantic and the children went off to summer school he walked away and out of the house.  She didn't know what to do.  She bought him a new state of the art camera but he had thrown it in a corner of the bedroom and refused to pick it up.

It was Phoebe's fault, she had wanted to keep up with the Jones's as the saying goes.  She wanted the fancy house on the fancy close where all houses were designed by a different architect and to the owners taste and although they could not afford it Andrew, her husband, had given into her because he loved her so much.  She had wanted an electric car as soon as they became available, her kitchen was the envy of most of her friends and the twins went to the most expensive school in the vicinity.  The only thing she did not get her way on was a private yacht.

As Andrew said, what was the point in having one when neither of them particularly liked sailing.

It was a hot day in summer when Phoebe began to lose it.  She was out with her friend Sybil, the sun was shining and all she had to protect her was a head full of golden curls.  As Sybil said, she should have worn a hat in that heat.  Sybil had made sure her arms were well covered from the sun and she had worn a white straw hat herself.

All of a sudden Phoebe began behaving erratically and muttering about butterflies and numbers buzzing around her.  She began flapping her arms about and the shouting was growing louder and louder. 

"What on earth is the matter?" asked  Sybil.

"It's nearly time for my psychotic break" muttered Phoebe.

"What on earth are you talking about. What's a psychotic break?"

"I just keep having hallucinations, seeing and hearing things that are not there.  It's ok I am seeing a private doctor and talking these things through with him.  It's all Andrew's fault, he is obviously holding back on something.  It's helping now, just talking to you."

"Would it help it we went home, or called in a little cafe for a drink of tea.?" queried Sybil.

"I think I had better go home and ring Dr Smith and talk it over with him.  if only these butterflies would disappear."

And so the two young women started heading for home.  Sybil wondering if her husband, Peter, could shed some light on the situation.  After all he was friends with Andrew and she guessed they talked as openly to one another as women do."

I was lucky in finding this background already done, so with the addition of a couple of Aall & Create stencils (sun, letters and butterflies) I had it completed to work with the story and also provide a hot summer's  day for Chris' challenge at AJJ.

WOYWW 846

 Thank goodness it is a bit cooler around here and we are able to sleep better at night time than we could before.  Hope it is cooler where you are too.  

Forgot to show you the photo of DH blowing his candle out on his Victoria Sandwich cake which I had made for him last week.  Then we went out for a meal afterwards to a pub up the road which held special memories for me although the landlady had long been gone. Nevertheless the food was delicious and he had a lamb shank whilst I had their famous three cheese and onion pie.

I had to have a doggy bag and ate it up next day

Back to this week - I actually got two swaps done yesterday with one of the stamps I bought at the show in Leigh a week last Sunday.  It was my Andy Skinner stamp, "New Friends" featuring three of his bots sitting on a wall.  Here is my desk so you can see the stamp

Back left is my new folder, I had seen one used by a friend and just had to have it.  It is on top of my Inktense pencils and next to that are some painting brushes plus the red rubber stamp upside down, then my inkpad, baby wipes, glue, bits of paper.  Bottom left my new papers which I adore, the colourful one looks like peeled paint on wood, then the stamp index and my ruler.  Oh I missed out my pencil with a little man on top.

I don't think Ann will come on my blog so I will show you my two swaps.  The red one is for Val and the blue one for Ann (Everton supporter, sorry Helen).

Had an awful time lining the images up despite using Perfect Rulers - maybe the cards I bought are wonky?  Spent far too long messing about with them.

Well, that is far too long making cards now I must get on with my blog post for tomorrow.  Hopefully see you next week after I've been to Sarah's Craft Shed today.

Jeudi Journal - People

 "The older you get the more you realise why you can't stand people" is the Dyan quote for this week and

 "it is a boiling hot day again in the north of England where we find Lottie and her favourite oldish aunt, Esther. 

Both were inside escaping most of the heat the best way they could by having the curtains closed  and eating ice cream.  Esther had said they would be cooler if they didn't have the TV on as televisions caused a heat of their own and so the two of them decided to play scrabble for a while.  Even that did not help with the heat and so Lottie suggested that they go for a walk down by the beach.  Surely the temperature would not be as high as it was elsewhere with the gentle breeze off the ocean.

So the two of them set off for a gentle walk down by the water's edge but it soon became obvious that everyone else had the same thought and aunt Esther was not at all happy.  You see, despite wearing her straw hat, the sun had given her a headache and she did not want to disappoint Lottie by letting her know that she didn't really want to go out, lying down on the bed would have been her idea of heaven that day.

There were lots of young people playing music, little ones becoming fractious with the heat and crying because they could not have yet another ice cream, mums and dads getting all het up because of the little ones and it all became a bit too much for aunt Esther.

"|I think I am going to have to go home" she eventually said to Lottie, "You see, the older you get the more you realise why you cannot stand people."

"Oh auntie" said Lottie, "I had no idea you felt like that.  I always thought you enjoyed being part of a crowd."

"Yes, most days my dear, but not today.  I think the heat has got to me and I feel quite sickly and certainly not my usual self.  Do you mind if we go home?"

"Of course not" said Lottie, and the two of them turned around and started heading back to aunties house where she could rest on the bed.  "Would you like me to stay with you a while or should I leave you and go home?"

"Oh sweetie, this is not at all like me and I think I would like you to stay a while but only if you do not have something else to do.  Perhaps give your mum a ring and see if she will pick you up on her way home from work."

And so the day ended on a rather sad note with auntie not feeling well and Lottie having to stay and wait for her mum when she would have loved to join her friends down by the water."

As  you can see I have used my big journal for this one so I could use a figure that suggests an older person who is rather tall.  The young girl used to be my favourite of the heads from Dyan until I got the stamps I used last week.  To begin with I used Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide through a Dylusion stencil  here and there on the page with the border on the same stencil around the edges.  Figures are coloured using Promarkers simply because I find them easier to use on something like this than any other media.

So that is my journal page for Chris's challenge at Art Journal Journey which is Hot Summer (Days and Nights) hence the hot colour for the background.  Funnily enough although I chose Rusty Hinge which suggests a brownish colour it it a lovely shade for a hot day which seems to be 'the norm' for most of us as where we live at the moment.

WOYWW 845

 It's WOYWW day, another WOYWW day and another hot day.  Hope you are surviving in this heat.  To join in with WOYWW pop along to Sarah's Craft Shed and follow the links to other blogs.  So what have you been up to in the past week?

Apart from some more work on my journal challenge with my friend Ann I cannot say I have done much during the week, apart from a Never Ending Card for my Niece's son.  If you have ever done one you will know they can be difficult when it comes to putting pictures on, some end up as half pictures, some upside down, as you turn it.  So it took some doing with pictures from the internet as I didn't have enough suitable football pictures.  The photos show the different turns:

This last one shows how it stands up

The weekend saw us off to Leigh Show.  It was a glorious warm Sunday when we arrived at Leigh Sports Village and as my dh got out of the car his chin almost hit the ground.  He had left my rollator at home.  Now honesty, I cannot walk without it at the moment (got a bad case of oedema in my legs plus this ulcer on my ankle).  So he offered to go home to get the rollator but for the length of time I would be there it wasn't worth it, plus I could sit with the organisers and maybe be useful to them.  (They are good friends)

We had arranged to meet up with some friends once there and they walked in straight behind us.  Everyone agreed it was a shame i could not go around the show so Graham (the organiser) went to see if the Sports Centre had any wheelchairs.  No!  But our friend, John, ever the resourceful. took himself off to Morrisons across the road and asked if he could borrow one of theirs and they agreed. 

So I spent the morning being wheeled about:

From the left at the back we have (the Knight in Shining Armour) John, my dh and my friend Ann

Not to be outdone Graham, the show organiser, who was busy taking the photo, did a selfie for me which reminded me of one of the CHA trips we had done with them years ago when he did a selfie to make me laugh when I was watching Tim Holtz.  (incidentally Graham's last name is Holt and his son Tim [Tim Holt] was at the show on Sunday along with his wife Tracey).

I didn't buy much, what I wanted from Lavinia they had sold out of but I did buy some Honey Doo stamps and I found an Andy Skinner Bot stamp which  I love.  Wish I had bought more, I love Andy's work.  Show you some images next week.

All too soon it was lunch time and we had to dash off to a cheese and wine party we had had arranged for ages with some friends,  It was up at the edge of the Lakes which was ironic as our friends John and Ann had come down from there and we had to leave them for us to travel up.  Traffic was a nightmare on the motorway and so we arrived with ten minutes to spare for me to get changed into a dress and some bling.  We had a lovely time, sorry no photos and Monday was spent travelling back down to home.

Yesterday was District Nurse time for a Doppler test and to have my ankle re-dressed.  Don't think the nurse is happy about it.  

So here is my desk in full glory doing some more pages in my challenge book which I started before I went down to the clinic.

So that's it for this week, it's Jackson's birthday today so "Happy Birthday to you Jackson" and to the rest of you "have a lovely week and a fabulous weekend, especially if you are working."

Jeudi Journal - Crazy

The quote from Wendy is "You can exercise all you want.  You're never going to burn that crazy off" for this week and the new theme at Art Journal Journey which is set by the lovely Chris from Pearshaped Crafting - "Hot Summer (Days & Nights)".  Chris and I have known one another for quite some time although we haven't seen much of one another since we had lunch together a year or more ago after a visit to Lavinia in Ruthin.  We don't live too far away from one another and we share several mutual friends.

To begin my journal page I covered it with Distress Oxide Crackling Campfire.  I was hoping to use my new figures from Dyan at Art from the Heart but they are too wintry in what they wear so I had to revert to some of my old figures because of the "hot" theme.  Not to worry, the dresses will be useful later but I did manage to make use of the heads which I was pleased about.  I think they are so cute!  I am hoping Wendy will buy Dinky Dolls 3 (I bought DD 4) and then we can share images with one another increasing our library.

"Petra had called to see her friend Lottie who was lounging on the floor.

"What are you doing down there, you look chilled or whacked out, can't make my mind up which?" said Petra as she walked in the lounge having been told by Lottie's mum that she was in there 'doing her thing'.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe how much I ache," replied. Lottie, "I did an hour at the gym this morning and I haven't lost an inch.  I need to lose some weight by weekend so I will have to go each morning.  Sorry, won't be available for anything else this week."

"What on earth has got into you, there is nothing wrong with the way that you look."

"I've told her that over and over" came a voice from the kitchen, it was Lottie's mum who had already given her daughter a pep talk about too much exercise and diets etc.  "See if you can talk some sense into her will you love.  She might listen to you.  Want a cuppa?"

"Yes please Mrs Smith" called Petra.  "Can I be cheeky and ask if you have any of that lemon drizzle you made left over?"

"I have, and that's not cheeky, you know I've known you since you were in a pram.  Your mum and I used to go to the park with you two all the time.  You're like a second daughter to me.  There's apiece here in the kitchen for you, just come and get it."

"Thanks Mrs Smith" said Petra as she picked up her cake and cuppa.

"Hmph" came a sound from the floor.  "I sometimes think mum wishes you were me."

"That's nonsense' said Petra her hands on her hips by this time.  You know your mum, and your dad both worship you.  Mine wouldn't let me die my hair purple for starters.  Anyway, back to this exercising you are keen on.  Why suddenly do you want to lose more weight, you look great?"

"Well Robbie Nelson is going to be there this weekend and I am sure he likes me. a little.  If I could get a bit more off my waist I could get that dress in Pauldens' window, you know, the one with the big gold belt and the swishy skirt."

"Oh I knew there would be a boy somewhere in the picture.  You can exercise all you want.  You're never going to burn that crazy off.  Why can't you just enjoy your time with me and the girls, why does there always have to be a boy on the scene somewhere?  We've plenty of time for that, for goodness sake we are only just gone seventeen.  I'm going to finish my cake and be off, let me know later in the week what you are doing regarding Saturday's party."

And with that Petra took her cup and plate into the kitchen, said thanks to Mrs Smith and left via the back door."