A Song for Art Journal Journey

Isn't the weather lovely at the moment?  I think it is probably warmer down south but here in the north of England it is lovely and sunny and if you like it fairly hot it is just fine for sitting out for a short while.  That is what I did yesterday - and I did manage to colour another background page in my Dylusion Journal using three colours of Distress Inks with Aged Mahogany providing some brickwork at the base for my figures to stand on as well as the music between the two figures.  Strange I used these colours when I am not a pink person at all.  Guess I just love the name 'Pickled Raspberry' (I know it is 'Picked' really but lots of folks say 'Pickled' and it does make me smile).

I had these two blue ladies already cut and coloured so it was an easy job to put the page together this morning.  I even managed to put some white pen work on the background.

I have lots of lovely friends and so it was an easy choice to use the words "A friend is someone who knows the song of your soul and sings it back to you when you've forgotten the words".  I think they are definitely 'words to live by' so I am entering it into Art Journal Journey and Halle's Challenge.

Jeudi Journal - Trust

"The Only Person I Trust is Me and Even that's Iffy" is another of Wendy's chosen quotes and another one on which I pondered for a while.  

Having done a background in yellows and oranges (Distress Inks again) - because they are easiest - I was stuck and that is probably why the background got left and nothing was added.  Yes, I know there are some leaves stencilled down one side but they came just before the figures were added out of sheer desperation.

Eventually I decided to use one of the bigger heads that I find it impossible to use with a body because it has hands somewhere near the face, with a few of the smallest figures I have surrounding it but how to show that the central figure does not trust others?  Oh heck, some of these quotes are difficult to use.  In the end I thought of using the word "Trust" above the main head and saying "no" by the other figures - ie 'Trust' is the topic and 'no' by each figure means 'no trust'.

Guess what?  I actually have the words for this journal page - at last, I have some words to fit a page and don't have to type them out myself.  Hooray, it was a definite bonus for me.

Happiness is a Butterfly

"Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may light upon you." are the words chosen for my entry to Art Journal Journey today.  I did say, in my entry of the 21st, that I would try to squeeze another one in and I made it with this page which is a continuation of the previous entry here.

Another green page done with my Distress Inks but this time no Oxides which caused the paper to rub a little so it is just a shade darker but I continued with a few of the hollyhocks and masked some of them between a Dylusion rubber stamp of ferns and such.  This time I used watercolour pens to colour in the ferns and hollyhocks because Promarkers bleed through to the other side.  It didn't matter on the earlier page but this one backed onto a yellow background which I did not want to spoil.  If you look closely you can see the cross hatching stamp from paperArtsy has again been used in the background.  

I chose one of the larger figures for this page and cut the dog off her hat replacing it with a butterfly (PaperArtsy again).  It must be a slightly cooler day because she is more wrapped up than the reclining figure of the previous entry.

Four more days to go before the end of the month.  No shortage of 'Words to Live By' which is Halle's choice for this month but have I time to do another complete page?  I'd like to - will I make it?

WOYWW 525

Another Wednesday, another week - gosh, time is flying by.  No wonder some of the bloggers have christened it Whizzday.  What am I talking about, go visit here and find out all about it from our glorious head desker, Ms Julia.

If you look through my blog you will see I have been busy journalling with an extra one thrown in last week for a challenge on Art Journal Journey.  I have also made two birthday cards but forgot to put them on my blog, and am in the throes of making another two from a journal page that went wrong.  It had so many layers of paint on it that when I heated something on the reverse page it all bubbled up.  So it got ripped out of the journal and sliced up on my super duper cutter and is now half-way there to being two cards.  Whether they make it or not we will have to see, could end up in the bin.

So my desk today

is all about journalling.  The chest on the left is what contains my Dylusion stamps.  Then there is my journal with the start of a green page opposite a page that was blogged last week.  Surrounding the journal are my already cut out and partially coloured Dylusion figures.  I sit and cut them out and colour them when my back is hurting - just so I can have something to do.  Then on the far right is my drawer which holds all the polythene bags full of these figures.

My desk, as some of you know, is an L-shaped one and so as we journey around we arrive here

After the drawer that contains all the Dylusion figures we have a blue and white box that has my Distress Ink reinkers in, then there is the frame with one of my lace teabags inside, my heatgun (all the AI's have worn off over the years), a mug with bits of pens and things in and just sneaking in is the corner of another box of reinkers.  

Behind, back at the left is my carousel with lots of things in, my babywipes and behind there on the window sill we have my Distress Oxides in my container made from Felix cat food boxes.  Sitting on top are Katie Koala, Kat Koala, Monkey and Ricky Rabbit.  Then there are my Mini-Misters, my Distress Tools on my carousel.  The globe is one left over from the exploits of Flat Susan (see my other blog).

There are other bits and pieces but I think I need to show this area another day when I can go into full detail.  For now I need to leave this as it is getting a bit long to say the least.

Art Journal Journey

This month it is Halle's choice on Art Journal Journey "Words to Live By" and I chose to make my journal page with lots of PaperArtsy Flowers on it.  I think these are hollyhocks - someone will put me right if I am wrong.

First of all I used Distress Oxides on the page, two yellows (Scattered Straw and Squeezed Lemonade) - didn't like.  So I spritzed with water - even worse.  Right, yellow and blue make green and I love Broken China so that went on next - oh heck, sprayed more water, stop!  Dry it quickly.  Now the top of the paper is rubbing off.

Stamped and masked some of the flowers from PaperArtsy (Kay Carley) and coloured them in with Promarkers in a deep blue, Cyan.  Didn't show much - not having much luck with this page.  Did a bit of Distress stamping with a background stamp from the same set as the words (JOFY).  Hurrah, something I like at last - subtle but there.  

A couple of figures to brighten the page up, a bit of white pen on the flower heads and ... the words

"to be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is the most delectable form of delight".  Saw these words and liked them, do you?

The female on the left is more or less showing signs of being overcome by this delightful perfume as she lies in a very relaxed state.  Good job I didn't choose poppies!

Now to see what other words I have as there's time for another entry before the end of the month.

Jeudi Journal - Absurd

"What You Believe in Becomes True - Believe in Something Absurd" is another of Wendy's choices.  And another one which I felt difficult.  If it had nothing to do with "Absurd" maybe I would have found it a bit easier but it completely flummoxed me!  I dillied and dallied putting extra bits on the background, dumming it down as usual with my Titan Buff and putting some diamonds  on it.

I chose one of my pre-coloured figures which I love, all in shades of blue with a little lilac (Promarkers), because I thought she looked a bit pensive.  I just love her blue lips and the hat she is wearing.  Then I was stuck and left it.

In sheer desperation I decided to do some birds with human heads.  Is that absurd in the world of Dylusions?  Are they absurd or what?  Luckily I had some small heads left over from my Dylusions Diary Days (had to use upper case for the word 'days', it looked good in my eyes) and so I began chopping some heads off the birds and getting rid of their legs.  Only room for a couple flying but there was a big bird and I decided it could have legs on and be standing on the floor.  Just enough room.

To put in the tree or what?  OK so it got stamped in but I am not sure it works, do I add colour or just leave it as an outline?  Well it has got left but I might colour it in at a later date.  (and then regret not colouring it in for this blog post.)

Well, I wonder what Wendy has chosen for her absurd page this week?

WOYWW 524

Just got my desk tidied up last night in time for WOYWW for today.  Couldn't leave it as it was or it would have given away the Journal post for Thursday.  

So what is on it at the moment?  A small mirror at the  bottom left is something I made with Tim Holtz years ago at CHA.  One of the objects had fallen off and got mislaid so yesterday I stuck that pink 'thing' on at the top middle which had come off a photo frame.  It was drying overnight so should be ok to move at some time this morning.  Next to it is a piece of paper I took out of my Journal - I love this paper and wish I had taken more of it out before now as this is the only page I can move.  

Further right you can see my favourite big brush for painting the paper with a basic colour and my large Titan Buff which will get used today.  Then there is my 'bee' cup with the lovely mat Annie made for us all as a gift at the Crop.

This is a close up of the mirror - made of rectangles of plastic (cannot remember what they were called) and of greyboard.  As far as I can remember we were given a selection of things that we had to use/could use and this is what I came up with.

and finally ...

My little bear, Spencer, sitting in the deckchair with his badge on that Caro so kindly made for us especially for the tenth Anniversary, and next to him a canvas with the butterfly on that I once made with Tracy Scott.  The other two pieces are made at workshops with  Maremis Cafe.

So that's my desk for this week.  What am I on about?  Visit ms Julia over here and read all about it. Think about joining in another week.