Jeudi Journal

Holidays and Blue and Green are the order of the day with this journal page.  Blue and Green nice and refreshing after all this heat of the past few weeks but I hope it is not going to be rainy for anyone on holiday.

This time I painted the page with Cut Grass and used the Lush Lime to make chevrons down one side and then introduced a little London Blue with the same stencil on the opposite side.  A bit of stamping in green and it was time for the figures to be put on.  

It was Travelling Travis that I used as she (or is it a he?) is made up of suitcases so sounds like a holiday type person and then I used one of my little monster boys and the sausage dog.  These two have not got away yet, they are now on the way to the airport and "oops" Brutus the dog appears to be going with them.  Not so as he is now being sent back home, presumably with his tail between his legs.

WOYWW 474

Another week, another Wednesday and sadly hill fires breaking out in the NW (sorry don't know of others in the country) and there is some talk of the Winter Hill ones as being 'deliberate'.  Prayers for the wonderful firefighters who are toiling in this heat plus the heat from the fire and the smoke.  Also for all the wildlife that must have been affected (deer, foxes, rabbits; birds such as hawks, kestrels, kingfishers not to mention all the species of plants and insects) and for Rivington's "Lost Gardens" where the Rivington Heritage Trust members are working to fell trees to provide a break from the fire.  (Was told that this is the place where there are hares that turn white (for camouflage) in winter snow - a rare thing to happen.)

For once I want us to have a few days of the solid northern rain we are so used to - it will help put out the fires and give those involved a rest from their toils although I should imagine there will be a lot of work still to be done when it is all over.

Last week I think I told you I had made a couple of cards.  Well, they have now been received and so I can show you them - the theme was Fun and Friendship - the B&W one I thought very appropriate for the receiver but the other was just for fun

Sunday saw me sitting at a table all day and doing my bit demonstrating various products at the Leigh Show.  It went quiet for the last 45 minutes and so I asked Margot to show me how she makes 'silk' flowers.  Tracey (the boss) was having none of it and she soon had me sat down with my own set of flowers watching step by step as Margot made one - and I did!!!  Thanks Margot, thanks Tracey.  Needless to say I came away with a big hole in my earnings but enough 'silk' to make some more flowers.  Now where did I put all those stamens from my cake icing days?

Football seems to have taken over at our house and I have taken myself off to my craft room to have a play.  Hope you are taking advantage of it if you are not footie fans (I can get excited like I did on Monday at some of the silly pretend "fouls" I saw, yukky acting) and enjoying your crafting.  In the meantime pop along to see what Julia has on offer and then follow some of her 'linkers' and see what they are doing.

Happy 4th July to all our American friends!

Jeudi Journal

Grey and Orange - and ... Elephant!!!  Obviously Wendy who has lots of Indian styled stamps and things chose this one.  Me?  Oh Em Gee!  Thinking cap!!

Found this teeny stamp of an elephant but hardly big enough for a Dylusion girl to ride so what to do with it?  Am sure I heard a song with something to do with Elephants flying - ah that is it, Dumbo!  Now how can I make this elephant look as if it is flying - with those big ears it doesn't need wings.

Did a couple of Dylusion figures, changed the heads and legs on bodies to make new ones and decided that they could be contemplating flying elephants, wondered if I could find one on Google?  Yes, much more suitable so the page is done.  Words changed a bit and ready for uploading.

Can't wait to see Wendy's.

WOYWW 473

Here we are again, the BIG Blog Hop run by Ms Julia and joined by many.  Not as many as we used to have but some Bloggers still remain and it would be nice to welcome back some old faces and welcome new ones too.

It is usual to show what is on our desks and for once you almost got to see some cards I had made but I mailed one before scanning and the other two only went in the mail today so cannot show them as yet.  However I went on a workshop run by Kate Crane for Art from the Heart at weekend.  Friday we played around with the Gelli Plate and made some little books, a paper bag and a card.  Below are the bits I have yet to play with.

The three strips on the left are just waste bits that I have been playing around with (son and dil bought me a coaster that says "Make-Do and Mend" ages ago because they think I save everything to make something with it) and now I think they look better on the blue card and so I might, just might, make a card with them.  Next to that is my scrap paper that I used to clean my brayer and my stencils on so it is a bit like oilcloth by now.  Then there is a pile of assorted sized bits and on the red mat three books lined up, each with three signatures in, that I am going to bind into one book like the one we did with Kate.  Not sure where that one is but not in the picture for certain, must be with the bag and the card somewhere.

I really enjoyed the class and felt I learned a lot - not mud as previous GelliPlate experiences -  but I gate-crashed!!!  I had it on our calendar, in my calendar on my cell phone, in my head and so I got up at 6 AM (!) and left for Harrogate at 7.15 (Friday, notorious on the motorway so expect jams - plain sailing as it happened and there well in time) so I decided to make a cuppa in the kitchen whist waiting.  Suddenly Ben said "Neet, you do know you are not booked in today, but are booked in for Sunday".  Oops!  "Guts for Garters" sprang to mind as I thought of Chas being up so early for me.

Anyhow, Ben put an extra table in and I joined the class, but I doubt I will live it down as Kate kept mentioning 'gate crashers' all day long.  Went and bought a larger Gelliplate on the Sunday as I got hooked, at last, and played on Saturday night at home with good results on my little one- well I liked them.  

Then she had to put up with me again on Sunday - but this time I WAS booked in.  I'll have to show you my Journal pages another time as I didn't have them out on my desk at the time of writing.

OK, places to go, people to see, so see you all later - Wednesday's are always busy days for me but I will pop by your blog if you joined in - see you if you are a regular and hope to see you if you are new.  Toodle Oo!

Jeudi Journal

Think this is Wendy's choice, but then it could be mine - I don't think either of us know half the time who chose what.  Anyhow, it is Art Deco and the colours are Red and Black.

I didn't know what to do for this and began by thinking about the sun ray design so popular with this era but then went on to doing another design which I thought was going to be easier, but turned out not so in order to try to get straight lines.

I painted the background Red because this page already had some red on it and then using the same red and a stencil from Dylusions I did a design in the background which I thought echoed the sun rays a little.  Next I painted my black sections and then went around them with my white Molotow pen.  I had a little bit of a diecut in black floating around my desk and so I tried it and lo and behold it fit at the top almost perfectly.

Next was the figure, I drew a kind of Charleston lady to fit under the square arch and began looking for a Dylusion head to fit onto it.  Trying several I ended up with a bouffant hairdo which I cut down to represent a turban type hat.  Was going to add feathers but time did not allow as I was off on my travels to Amsterdam the following morning so it had to stay as was.  (When I asked Chas what he thought he said it looked "Indian" - should I have agreed or been insulted?)

Anyway, here it is, no time to try to replicate Art Deco lettering - it just had to be.  Must say I did not enjoy this one as much as the week before but it was ok - not looking forward to next week at all.

OK so her head is a little large for the body but with an attitude like hers what can you expect?

WOYWW 472

Well, nothing much to show.  My workshop at the club didn't go down too well but then I must confess I did do a lot of 'nattering' with Pat, our Chairwoman.

See the card with the flower and the fern in yellow?  Well that was supposed to have the flower bleached out with using just water.  Didn't work with Adirondack Inks (had just been told to take Dye inks) so mine remained the colour of the background.  In front of that is a pink flower, that was done on Vellum and coloured on the back with reinkers - it looks fine but I now want to use my ball tools and do some work from the back on it like Parchment Crafters do.  My other card was a total disaster as my inks did not dry on the pearlescent card - not my fault I might add.  The fourth card I didn't even get around to starting LOL.

Behind those cards are still the charms for the round journal I showed you last week and there is a super duper little paint palette that I once bought from my friend *Mary which has lots of colours all stacked up on top of one another.  Must open it another week and show you.

To the right is a book I once did with Julia Andress (I think that was her name) which I ever finished but am going to because I know just the person to give it to.  I will say no more in case she comes on here and read this blog post.

Well that is it.  This is a scheduled post because I won't be home until late Tuesday night and could be quite 'cream crackered' after my four days in Amsterdam.  Can't miss out on WOYWW can I?

* Heard last night that they are having a Memorial Service for her in July and her niece in law is going to take her iPad with her so I can link in and be part of the Service.  I was so pleased and am certain to cry a lot but at least I will feel as if I am there.

Jeudi Journal

'Jigsaw Pieces' and Blue and Copper were the parameters for this week.  Luckily inspiration struck and I remembered I had some large jigsaw pieces somewhere, the question was "where?"  I did, luckily, find them and so set to drawing around them so they would not be so bulky in my journal.

The pieces were then coloured using various Oxides and a bit of stamping in black was done on each one to create a kind of background for the figures I planned to use.  The small Dylusion figures were each stamped, coloured and cut out before I set to on the page background colour which I had decided was to be the prescribed blue.

I used Dyan's London Blue which is quite deep as I had some black marker showing through on one of the pages from a previous post and I used my favourite "Diamonds in the Rough" stencil with some Copper paint I had from my teaching days.  Being honest I didn't like what I had done and so I hastily stencilled a border in a Turquoise paint - better but still not happy - so more diamonds went on the page again in the Turquoise.  I was happier.

and close ups

Next, with bated breath, the figures were added to the jigsaw pieces as I did not know whether or not they would work as the pieces did not really fit together.  Phew!  It was ok and so the page was complete as soon as I had outlined the bits of jigsaw in black to separate them from the blue background..  

I kept having the word "discombobulated" running around in my head and so that had to be part of it.  Hope you like my page and think it is fun!  Another one I thoroughly enjoyed making.