WOYWW 497

Well, a big change from yesterday on my desk.  Yesterday I had some of my work from the weekends workshops with Abs as I was continuing with one of my watercolour exercises.  The weekend was great - good accommodation in The Royal Station Hotel in Carnforth (Carnforth of Brief Encounter fame), and the two workshops with Abs were both good and we learned a lot of new techniques.

Here you can see the stamp I was painting with watercolours on Sunday but the Journal cover I made on Saturday is going on Instagram rather than on here.

I hadn't taken my Inktense pencils so when I got home they came into good use along with one of my tiny watercolour palette and the compact one I got from Mary.  I am trying to come to terms with water pens but must admit I still prefer to work with a pot of water and a brush.  On the left are some tags which we did on the final afternoon showing all the different techniques we had used.

Now my desk today!  What a mess it is.  I hope I have done enough Christmas cards as my craft room is out of action for at least a day.  The electrician is coming and will need the loft ladder down and he is going to put me a new socket in my craft room.  Hurrah!

So you see, no room to craft but as I am going out tonight I will be spending the biggest part of the day trying to find something to wear.  It might be in the bath!  My clothes are everywhere and now, two weeks down the line I have not a clue where what I would like to wear is.  Ah well, Christmas is around the corner and theres a lot to do by then.

Hope you all are a bit more ready for the big day than I am - let's go and see what is going on around the desks of the exclusive deskers.

Jeudi Journal - Being Fabulous

"Mostly I just sit around all day being fabulous".  In my head `I was going to use a seated figure but then I ended up with this small standing one as I quite fancied her being in a mini skirt.  I tried three pairs of legs and eventually settled on these although I did slim them down a bit when I cut them out.

As you can see I used my Brusho paints.  This time just two of them and I tried to do the blue on its own just around the edges.  Then I put Gamboge in the centre as it was the yellow that seemed to have most other colours in its mix up.

Still look at this and think it needs something adding but cannot think what - am still struggling with this latest idea of coming up with a quote and making a picture to fit.  Ah well, onwards and upwards - a challenge is a challenge.

WOYWW 496

Well, it had to happen didn't it - I have made some Christmas Cards.  On Monday the guys moved in and began taking the old bedroom furniture out so that meant I was relegated to my craft room so between making cups of tea I set to with my Christmas card making and now have over 30 cards ready and waiting to have envelopes addressed and sent off.

It was a batch making process, never before have I made so many all the same but there is a reason for that although I am not making any more in that design.  When I get bored and make several then the year after I don't know who has received what so this time I will have a fair idea.

Here's my desk amid batch making:

Now to decide what I am going to make to send to my son.  Bless him, he said not to bother as life was so hectic here but I can't not make them a Christmas card.  Today is his birthday but the card is a commercial one as he prefers the funny ones so it seems the correct day to make his other card.  What the heck will I do?

Perhaps I can gain some inspiration from the blog hop that takes place every Wednesday with Ms Julia and her happy band of crafters.  Think I will pop on over and see what I can glean.  Toodle Pip!

Junk Journal - Albert - a Happy Ending?

At last we have the final chapter of Marie's Journey.  The observant reader will notice that the train ride took an abnormally long time but I did so enjoy myself playing along with Erika's theme of Vintage or Modern at Art journal Journey.  Big thank you's to Erika for giving me the spurt I needed to do some crafting and dream up "Marie's Journey".

This also covers one of the challenges I have with Lorraine as it contains a clock in the picture.  Just a couple of torn papers also, one depicting a train and one representing a love letter that had been carried in Albert's pocket for almost a full year.  Apart from the word 'beloved' I didn't think the page needed any more as the Tim Holt figure says it all.

There are two blog posts today and there were three yesterday so you might want to scroll down to see what has happened up to now unless you were just waiting to read the 'happy' ending which is right here.

"As Marie neared the huge clock in the station she could not decide which was making the loudest noise, her knocking knees or the beating of her heart.  Then she saw him, Aldrich was there, looking so handsome in his straw boater and wearing what she imagined must be his best suit.  He was sat, directly under the huge clock, his hands casually resting on his knees and a faraway look in his eyes.  But wait ... his face lit up as he saw her and he unfurled his long frame and rushed towards her gathering her up in his big strong arms, carpet bag, hat and all.  He swung her round and round and all her butterflies disappeared, tears streaming from her eyes as she was once more reunited with her beloved."

A short ending to a love story which spanned the miles but at least it was a happy one.  Now will we find out what happens next?  You will have to wait and see.

Junk Journal - Such Joy

"It was a beautiful morning when the train pulled into its final destination in Switzerland.  Maria was so excited, would he be there at the station waiting for her, should she wear her hat, would he recognise her - after-all it had been almost a full year since they had last met.  Yes, they had poured their hearts out to one another in the many letters that had gone to and fro between them, yes she loved him with all of her heart and yes, she was certain of his love for her.  Oh the butterflies rose up in her stomach and did a can-can dance until she felt quite sickly.  'Be still my beating heart' she muttered to herself.  

Just then the Legrand family emerged from their carriage and Yvonne rushed over to wish Marie all the best for her future and Marie said that if there was ever anything she could be of assistance with Yvonne was to get in touch.  Monsieur Legrand tipped his hat and smiled as the boys gathered around him and beckoned for his grand-daughter to join them.  Celine and Celeste walked by and said 'thank you' having had such a lovely time on the train with Marie.  They had so enjoyed their many games of I-Spy.

Then it was time for them all to step from the train and so with her carpet bag in one hand and her hat in the other Marie walked quickly along the platform.  'By the clock' was the arrangement and sure enough, she could see a huge clock face above and to her left.  Knees knocking she made her way across to where her beloved would be waiting."

The observant amongst you may realise that this is virtually the same figure that I have used for Marie - the only difference being that I carefully removed her hat and she now has one hand down by her right hand side and hidden from view.  

The train picture was from a piece of scrapbook paper and the photograph shows some internees arriving at Chateau d'Oex who were given flowers and other gifts by the Swiss people.  "Britain's ambassador to Switzerland at the time, Sir Evelyn Grant Duff, went to Chateau d'Oex to welcome the British soldiers, and wrote in his diary that evening "It is difficult to write calmly about it for the simple reason that I have never before in my life seen such a welcome accorded to anyone although for 28 years I have been present at every kind of function in half the capitals of Europe.  At Lausanne some 10,000 people, at 5 am were present at the station"  

"Our men were simply astounded.  Many of them were crying like children, a few fainted from emotion.  As one private said to me: "God bless you, sir, it's like dropping right into 'eaven from 'ell"

(information taken from a BBC News Report by Imogen Foulkes - Switzerland's Forgotten Role in Saving World War One Lives)

Junk Journal - Music

For this page I wanted some pictures of the war and I came across an article about Switzerland, which, as you probably know, remained neutral during the war.  Apparently between 1916 and 1918 the country accepted 68,000 sick and injured soldiers.  When the first train carrying wounded prisoners crossed the border into Switzerland the rail tracks were lined with cheering Swiss citizens.  There was even a band at the station in Montreux and by the time the train arrived in Lausanne thousands of people were waiting and throwing flowers into the carriages.

I wanted to depict this in some way and so my page contains two photographs copied from the internet, a stamped image of a small chalet high in the mountains and a young man holding a bugle and wearing a Boy Scout type hat.  I hope you don't mind this deviation from the story.

This fits in with one of the challenges for my Junk Journal with Lorraine - "Hat" - the one the young man is wearing.

Junk Journal - Yvonne

"Marie was still intrigued by the old gentleman who had boarded the train at Villefranche sur Saône but no-one seemed to know much about him.  

Leaving the young girls with the sisters she made her way along the train, peeking in each of the compartments as she went along.  Imagine her face when she saw that not only was the old gentleman in one with the four boys but that there were also two others and an older girl.  The whole compartment was full!  Curiosity got the better of her and she stood towards the end of the carriages wondering what on earth was happening.  She did not think there was anything amiss but she could not understand why there was not a female companion with them.

Suddenly the door to the compartment opened and who should come out but the young girl.   This was her opportunity to see what was going on. "Excusè M'amselle" said Marie and then taking the bull by the horns asked if they were all travelling to Switzerland with their Grand Papa.  

They stood in the corridor and chatted at some length whist the young girl told her that Monsieur  Legrand was indeed a benevolent philanthropist who, since his wife had become ill and was in a sanitarium in Geneva, had dedicated much of his life to rescuing young children from the streets of Paris and taking them to a better life in various parts of Switzerland and she was his grand-daughter, Yvonne.  Normally she stayed behind in their home town to be close to her grandmother but as he had a large group to escort through France he had requested that she go with him this time.  

He did not believe in splitting siblings and so the two brothers she was escorting were to go to a rich clockmakers in Lucerne, whilst the two brothers who had boarded the train with him were off to Berne and the other two were to stay around Geneva.  He had placed over forty children up to now and hoped to go on for a few years yet although he did realise that he was tiring with all the travel.  Maybe that was why he wanted the oldest of the boys to stay near to him so he could take over the journeys back and forth as he was certainly street wise having lived on his wits around the barges on the Seine for a number of years."

Well, that is going on a bit but I hope it has kept you amused and I promise I will be bringing the story to an end tomorrow but there is one bit more to the story today from an interesting fact I found out about Switzerland.