WOYWW 563

Wednesday means only one thing here WOYWW time is here and I am joining Julia and her little band of cfrafters showing what is on their desks.  Last week I tried to comment on Ali's blog but it kept coming up saying I was "blocked as a suspected bot" no idea what I was doing wrong, tried three times but still the same message.  What is a bot"?  Others had posted - what did I do wrong?

Well, I suppose the topic on most people's minds will be the Coronavirus.  After Boris and his talk about families losing a loved one on Thursday and the papers being full of the quote I don't really want to dwell on it but I do hope that you all are ok.  It upset me so much and still does if I think of it.  Is the man thoughtless?  Sorry, but it did and I had to say it.

Then tonight on the BBC they were offering advice where people had rung in.  One thing was a query about shopping and did you need to wipe it down?  The answer was that really you should wash everything in soap and water.  I felt like some chocolate tonight but after washing it in hot soapy water it had shrunk to almost nothing, my hands were a mess - and I only sang "Happy Birthday Twice" whilst doing it.

I am thinking of you all, and wondering about those in Spain (craftyani in particular) who I don't recall having heard from for a week or two.  I just hope you are all well and safe and you post on WOYWW even if you have nothing to show so that we know you are ok.  Please.

Nothing much to show you on my desk except my new pencils - all 72 of them - from China!  Being paranoid I wiped the package, got rid of it all safely and put the pencils in this box.  Not touched them since but only because I have had no need to.  Then there is my journal but I can't show you inside as it is due to be on my blog tomorrow.   As you don't visit on a Thursday I can show you an older page - this is from three weeks or so ago, just so you know I do something each week:

She had umbrellas for her skirt

Was going to show you my birthday cards but as they are still in the window sill I have not got around to scanning them.  Hopefully next week. 

Health Update:
My chiropractic has closed because of the coronavirus so I am hoping and praying my back will be ok enough with the heat, ice and Chas rubbing it until she reopens.  I did buy a hand massager (special one at £50) in the hopes that I can use it, if desperately needed, despite having my Pacemaker.
Got a sore throat, prickly eyes and runny nose but do not think it is anything to worry about, fingers crossed.

Stay safe Everyone!

Jeudi Journal - Need a Drink

"You look like I need a Drink" is the quote for today's journal page and for this I had to use a page that backed on to another one where I had used a Black Sharpie which had bled through the paper so this one ended up with a border around it in black and white (exactly like the one on the page before it).  After carefully inking the outer edge on three sides a pale pink I then used Citron Distress Ink all over the page with Peeled Paint stars dotted here and there.  This is supposed to be an outdoor scene but I didn't want to include trees all over, or flowers in the background, so I just chose to use green which happens to be the colour in the challenge at Art Journal Journey, chosen by Eileen this month, in two shades of green with the stars being added.

I have been looking at my sets of coloured pencils and trying them out to see which blend the best so it was an obvious choice to stamp some Dylusion flowers at the base and use my pencils to try them all out.  I still do not know which I prefer, perhaps my Polychromos.  Anyway, I had a great time colouring them all in.

Confession time - I got a smudge of ink on one of my stampings.  You know, when some ink gets on the very edge of the rubber stamp.  Well, like all good crafters I am well practised in the art of covering up and a cute little caterpillar came to my rescue.  He fits perfectly over the smudge.

Because I was using the page landscape style I had to make sure the figures were not too tall to overlap the border and so I chose one sitting down.  She normally has an owl attached to her leg but I chose to cut it off and I honestly don't think you would know had I not told you.  She is looking quite wistful so I thought she would be the one uttering the quote - but to whom?  Who could make someone look like she needed a drink.  Why, Mr Skull of course.  (Or would the liquid squirt through all the holes in his head, like eye sockets etc.)

If he came walking into my garden I would certainly need a G&T or something.  So I used the skeleton head with a top hat, chose the body that normally has a telephone head, and one to stand on, and chopped off the bottom part of the trousers to make them into shorts.  A nice pair of boots and socks cover his stripy legs to finish the whole thing off.  So that's my page for this week done.  Now to the next one.

WOYWW 562

Another Wednesday means another WOYWW day - want to know about it?  Click here and see what Julia has to say about her blog hop.  Then think seriously about joining in and making new friends on the internet - and personally if you go to the crop later in the year.  Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes yesterday, made my day extra special.  

What's on my desk today?  Well at last I got around to decorating a couple of those pages I Distress Inked last week.

Want to see my desk?  Well, it's a bit set up in a way because I have been sitting in my chair in the lounge and watching TV most of today but up to Monday night (and it's not changed since) I had been working on ... my trolley, my stool, the coffee table and the arm of the settee.  But my desk has been the receiving station for my work as it has been done.

As you can see, on the left, I have been stamping, cutting out and colouring some new images from Dylusions, followed by my Distress Inked pages as you can see two of them have been stamped and a third started.  I am not sure the bottom right one (and above) is complete as it needs something at the top and I can't quite find anything that fits the bill.  Might have to buy! [wink wink]*

Behind you can see one of my little 'cubby holes' with some Fast Tak, my little glue bottle (thanks Shaz),  some rubbing alcohol and PVC cleaner and a block of hard rubber which I use when I am piercing something.

There are two sheets of paper stood up behind - the largest one is a colour chart (without colour - doh!) of my Distress Inks and in front a piece of paper with notes on what I used on each of my fairy pages.  I think there is another DI page stood behind that and then a cardboard roll with all my mop up paper towels inside which I intend to use some day in my collages.  Next is a jar with a couple of paint brushes in that need a good clean and a stencil waiting to be cleaned, full of black paint, but every time I give it a scrub with a dry paper towel it seems to set my back off so it is "in progress".

To  finish off there is a peek at my carousel full of all sorts and the blue is a pair of rubber gloves sat next to an old red towel which I use for cleaning paint off things with. 

So that's it for another week.  Hope you are all safe and sound and not sitting surrounded by loo rolls.  Hope to see your desk shortly.

* update - have ordered some stuff to finish off my fairy pictures.  Well, my lovely other half put some money in my account.  Mwah mwah!

Jeudi Journal - Don't Talk to Me

"Don't talk to me after coffee either" is the quote this week.

For this journal page I coloured the page light green at the top with a faint blue stencilled pattern over it.  This was to represent wallpaper in the house so I purposely let it hit in some places and also changed the depth of ink I was putting through the stencil to get light and dark shades.

Next I hunted through some magazines to find something to do with 'coffee'.  I cut out a platter of buns, found a milk jug and sugar bowl and put these on the page so that they rested on the light brown bit at the bottom, coloured and stencilled to represent floor covering.  

I did feel that the lounging girl really was saying, with her body language, that she did not want anyone to talk to her - even when she had finished the coffee in her hand.  The other figure who has just called in to see her is looking a little confused with a turn of her head.

Happily I can now include this page in my journal in Art Journal Journey where the challenge is to use "Green" in your work - wallpaper and clothing feature quite a lot of different shades of green, hurray!

WOYWW 561

Another day, another week, another WOYWW post!  What am I on about?  Go here to find out.

Well I had a good morning on Monday and managed to get into my craft room and do a bit of Distress Oxide Inking.  Now I am ready to start playing with some fairy stamps that my friend Mo loaned to me because I don't have that many and wanted to make another of those little books with fairies in this time.  Certainly don't have any background stamps that are suitable.  This will form another sample for my class at our stamping club in July when I get around to stamping the figures on it.

To the very left is my drawer where I keep all my Oxides and there on my worktop are the ones I was using, followed by three of those round applicators and finally some of my pages with different techniques on them.  The little circle and aperture at the front are what I used for my "moon" but I don't know where I put the pages when I took the photo.  Because the colours looked strong I decided to do some pages using brushes so I had to use my Duster Brushes but I was not happy with the results - will have to try again when I get the brushes I ordered (thanks Shaz B).

I noticed on some of my cards, as I was doing them, that they had bits stuck to them.  These did not always pick off but my Oxide pads seem to be shedding!  Has anyone else had this happen and does anyone know what it is?  I did wonder if it was my cardstock but it is what I always use and it doesn't happen with the Distress Inks, only the Oxides.  Here's a photo of one of my inkpads to show you:

If you click on it you will see the bits on the actual pad

Well, not being entirely happy with the Distress Oxides I decided to do some with my Pan Pastels.  Mainly because I had received a beautiful card from Margaret Rose in a Mingle swap I had been in.  The background is gorgeous (as is the card) and when I asked what she used she said "Pastels".  Mine are not as lovely as hers but I can do them sat in my chair (yes, my back went Tuesday after lunch).  I'll show you her card rather than my backgrounds.

I did watch the re-run of of Hochanda simply because I saw that Di from Tando was on.  Shame I didn't see the actual show.  I would have loved those templates for the pages for books - she did an amazing job and to say it was a sell-out is an under statement - I think they had about three, if not four, extended dates on the templates and extended dates on other things too.  Wonder if any of you got them?  Would love to see what you make with them, I just love handmade books.  It's got me thinking of making another journal/folio type book myself so I am hoping to have a good day or two so I can get cutting.  There's so much I want to do.

Jeudi Journal - Change

Another pre ink sprayed page but this time I had added some Gesso through my Diamond stencil - it picked up the colour from the ink beneath and turned pink.  I was happy with it - a happy accident.  The quote is "Change for no-one and believe in who you are".  Another bit of a teaser!

I did have a couple of ideas but they didn't work out so in the end I went with a flamboyantly dressed woman and just "dressed" her up a bit.

To start off with I used the woman in a kind of swimsuit but with stockings on to which I added a few squiggles at the top in the hopes they would look a bit more risque.  Next I took two umbrellas, opened of course, and made them into her mini skirt.

Her head was next, it didn't really matter which one I chose as I was going to put a huge head dress on her, or is it an elaborate hairstyle?  I chose one of the many Dylusion flowers I already had cut out and only just realised now, as I did the write up, it was composed of hearts.  Ideal for Art journal Journey with Elizabeth's theme of hearts, but before I realised I cut the hearts from her original hairstyle and put them up the back of her swimsuit to make it more dress-like.

Still needing more I decided to give her a large pair of sunglasses and then, to be utterly outrageous a pair of wings.  Well I had found lots of these wings in my drawer and needed to get using them.  I was now happy with her and felt she worked well for the quote.

For the background I used a small border stamp, some flowers in the bottom right hand corner and then some leaves on the left, kind of half way up the page in order to balance the flowers at the bottom.

So here is it - full of hearts to celebrate nearing the end of Elizabeth's challenge too.

WOYWW 560

Back with Julia and her happy band of crafters on WOYWW.  Pop along here and find out all about it - then join in with us.  You'll make lots of new friends and have an excuse to show your desk every week on your blog - regardless of whether it is busy, tidy or totally messed up.

(Added later: have been stopped from commenting on Shoshi's blog which is so annoying as I had written lots to her and now it has all gone.  Just a warning to others - copy your comment before sending in case it happens to you.)

My desk this week shows you the fact that I have been crayoning.  See those flowers on the bottom of the journal, they were all coloured in with my Prismacolours.  I so enjoyed doing them and was able to do it sat in my chair with the journal propped up on my trolley. I had to cover the rest of the page up so used the birthday cards I have been making.  They just want sentiments putting on them and then they can go away.  

The other page is blank but that is my folder of Prismacolours on it and to the left of the whole lot you can just see the fairy stamps peeking out from the folder that holds my overspill Dylusion stamps.

The next bit of my desk is littered with two die cutting machines, just as last week, not done any die cutting.

My eBosser, Paris box full to bursting with Dylusion stamps and my Vagabond, my trusty lovely Vagabond.  Don't ask me to describe what is behind, there is just so much stuff!

As I don't have anything much to show you thought I would take a photograph of my wall behind the door.  This holds Ministry of Mixology canvases.  Well, not all of them but some.

So there we are - see you next week!