Jeudi Journal - Last Minute

I must say that the quote for this week's Jeudi Journal tempted me to do something about my blogging as I am always at the last minute but I turned over a new leaf this week and did this one early.  maybe it was because I love anything to do with "Time".  If there is a challenge for "Time" I am always ready to join in, it really inspires me to do something with clocks, or time pieces.

So it was perfect this week for me to link my journal page challenge with Wendy to Art Journal Journey where Eileen had chosen "Inspired By .." as her topic.  Sadly Eileen is no longer with us so this is another entry in memory of a lovely lady.  I also chose to paint my page Blue which tends to be a 'go to' colour of mine when choosing clothes in particular which is rather surprising as the Grammar School uniform was Navy Blue.  Maybe, because it was so many many years ago I have got over the aversion to my school uniform.  

Anyway, my story this week is about two brothers.  "Joe and Jed were two brothers, often mistaken for twins because they looked so much alike except that Jed was considerably taller than his younger brother Joe.  They owned their own business, a small engineering firm, where Jed was the businessman and Joe was the one with the ideas and the skill and dexterity to get things done.

However, Joe was often late in producing the blueprints for the next piece of machinery they were making.  Production was being held up and Jed was getting a tad annoyed, it was always happening, in fact he had just about had enough and he told Joe so.  He went on to say that he thought they should employ another designer to help keep production up and the men in work the whole time.  

This angered Joe who wanted to be the only one responsible for what they produced, after all the company name was "Grimes and Grimes" and he didn't want some fresh young guy from university with his new fangled ideas coming in and stealing his thunder.  He liked it when he went to the business dinners and he could show off how good his designs were and how the company was thriving, because of his work.

What he didn't realise was that Jed played an equal part in this business by juggling jobs around for the workforce and making sure that the business was always coming out on top.  Without his knowhow the business would fail but then as Joe said "nothing makes me more productive than the last minute" sadly Jed could not argue as that was what always happened."

As I said, I painted the whole page blue, I used a clock stencil down one side of the page (no mean feat when the journal is at the end almost and the pages are buckling with the thickness of what has gone before - you all know what I mean) and a burgundy paint to ensure good coverage.  I also had a large clock face from Tando which I have not used and saw that there were two smaller ones in so I settled on the middle one and used it as a stencil to draw the numbers around the sides of the circle.  That meant I could place the smaller figure with hands outstretched to represent the hands of the clock - it fitted in perfectly.

So here you have it, my entry for Art Journal Journey in my Jeudi Journal.  Hope you enjoyed the story which was a bit different this week.

WOYWW 619

Another snoop day via WOYWW with Ms Julia and friends.  It's all good natured and above board but we do get a chance to get inspired by how someone works or has their workplace.  This is my work desk today:

As you can see from the photo I am in the midst of preparing my blog page for tomorrow.  You have got a good view of my wall today and that is because I have been tidying this side of the craft room all last week and up to yesterday.  I did show you a few weeks ago how I had arranged all my ink pads in the little cubby holes (Ikea drawers stood on their sides) but I still had my Distress Inks in the window sill - well now they are on this side as well.  In fact apart from my Oxides (in a drawer) all my ink pads are now together.  And guess what?  I found I had lots of duplicates so they will be making their way to a caravan for use up there.  I am not going to tell you everything that is on show because I am going to show you my window wall as well.

As you can see I do not have daylight in my room as it overlooks what was originally a porch.  That is the garage wall you can see opposite.  I had it turned into a little sun room by having patio doors put on the front which makes it much more useable and you can get into the garage without getting wet when it rains.  

The window sill now holds all my reinkers, the foam thingies for the DI's and my little koalas that Shaz from Oz gave to me the two times when I met her.  Monkee is holding the big flag I begged when at a trade show.  The white wooden stand is my holder for my heat gun and you can see one or two pictures on the wall and a load of stuff below.

This is the tail end of that side and the beginning of the other side.  I've decided to leave my camera holder and lights out the whole time rather than putting them away and they are out of the way now hooked up high.  The big white boxes contain ribbons, lace and trimmings and you can just see a trio of my pictures done with Tracy Evans on various workshops.  Not done one for ages, must remedy that.

So that is me for this week.  Was going to show you some "makes" but they will save for another week, there's enough here to keep you quiet for a week or so.  Now to visit some desks and see what they have by going here.

ps I only showed you around my room because I have tidied it up -  it was a bit dusty before I began.

Jeudi Journal - No Thanks!

"Jessica had been seeing Roy for about six months now and things had been lovely and rosy at the beginning but then little niggles started to set in.  She felt she was giving 100% to the relationship but he wanted a girlfriend but also wanted to go 'out with the boys' whenever the opportunity arose.  It wasn't the first time he had left her sitting in on her own over the weekend when all her friends were going out enjoying themselves.  She could hardly join them could she?  She was totally loyal to him and it would not have been right to have gone to the local disco with her friends just because he had a football match he wanted to be at.  Besides which, her friends asked her, who plays football in the dark?

The final straw had been her birthday.  She had received the most beautiful card from him, all hearts and flowers, plus the biggest box of chocolates you could ever imagine.  Not only that but he had promised to spend the entire afternoon together and then go out for a lovely romantic meal for two at the local pizzeria.  She was over the moon.

Two o'clock came and there was no sign of him.  Two thirty, three o'clock and then the phone call. "Sweetie, sorry but I have been delayed.  Pete couldn't get his car started so he asked me if I could help him fix it.  You don't mind do you?  I'll still see you tonight and we'll go out for that meal we planned, and guess what - there might be another little surprise for you."

Jessica did not answer, she could not bring herself to say a word for fear of completely losing her temper.  She had had enough now.  Letting her down so badly on her birthday was the final straw so she picked the phone up and rang her best friend.

That night Roy turned up with a pretty little silver chain on which dangled a tiny heart for her to wear when they went out to the restaurant.  Jessica had made an effort,  She wore a tiny skirt showing off her long legs and a top with a very low back.  Her bracelets matched her Louboutin shoes and she looked so pretty - but as he walked over to her, holding out the tiny jewellery box, and uttering his apologies she said "Let me file that under No Thanks", and off she flounced to meet her friends and go to the local disco."

Well, that is my story for this week and the quote from Dyan "Let me file that under No Thanks".  I haven't a clue where these stories come from, when I begin these pages I have no idea what I am going to say.  I guess I am inspired by Dyan's figures and the way in which I can chop them up and make new ones.  Today the figure of Roy had the handset on his head, his hair came down in two peaks either side of his head and there was the base of a telephone at his feet which went part way up his trousers.  Jessica was dressed in a swimsuit so I had to reshape her legs and rear, use a skit from another figure and disguise the fact that she was wearing elbow length gloves by turning the lines where they ended into bracelets.  Then came the story ...

And so I am entering this into Art Journal Journey's challenge where the theme is "Inspired By" as set bsy Eileen who sadly passed away. However the team decided to honour her by continuing with the theme which is now being co-hosted by Christine and Erika.  What has inspired me with this page - why Dyan Reaveley and her drawings of these weird figures.

WOYWW 618

It's almost Wednesday as I am writing this.  Forgot all about doing a post until just now.  Like most folks I normally do it on a Tuesday evening but tonight I got side tracked and went off kilter.  Not much to show either - in the way of crafting, but I have a new toy.  So for all you WOYWW'ers out there here is my new toy - a gift from a lovely young friend.

Some of you will know what this black spidery thing is and others will maybe wonder.  Some of you may even have one - it is for holding my mobile phone (the lower black arm) and it has two lights (the two circles which have three settings from dim to bright.  I cannot wait to get using it but first I have to have something to video.

The nice thing was that it came with a note saying it was for "A Happy Birthday and Mother's Day" and came with love from Jayne and her family.  Jayne is a lovely young friend whom I am very fond of and she rings me up quite regularly for a chat.  She knew that Chas has to hold the mobile phone for me whilst I do my videos for You Tube and so it is a gift in a way for both of us.  Isn't that a lovely thing to do?

I said there was nothing on my craft desk of note - I have been busy cataloguing my Janet Klein little figures and you can see the fruits of my labour on the right of the photo below.

Why my Misti is there I have not a clue but the orange card is left over from die-cutting some letters to welcome a new neighbor.  Beneath it is my newish border acrylic block from Aall & Create and to the right my cataloguing sheets for my JK figures.  I've just ordered another - 'Lil Leonie became available as an add on so I had to buy some new acrylic blocks so that I could get it.  An expensive small stamp but I do like those blocks and will use them.  I only want one really so will see if I can sell the other to a friend.

The green box at the back you have seen many times before, it is a council bin for recycling kitchen waste - we got a spare for some reason, probably because we have a long bungalow with two doors on the frontage.   I painted it and stuck pictures all over it of Parisian things.  

Well that is it for this week, I need to get some sleep.  See you when I have my weekly snoop.

Jeudi Journal - the Wrong Decision

I always try to link my 'Thursday Journal' to Art Journal Journey and so my spread today is, as always on a Thursday, inspired by the words and art of  Dyan Reaveley.  I am fortunate to live quite close to Dyan and so have taken many workshops, given by her and her team of tutors, in the delightful town of Harrogate.  I have known her for many many years from when we were on the circuit together, when her hair was cropped short and she wore black - and Doc Martin boots - a total contrast to the retro dressing red haired Dyan most of you know.

Dyan has, since those days, become a Designer for Ranger in America and brings her quirky designs to the world of art and crafters everywhere.  She still has her store in Harrogate, still runs the occasional workshop when she is in this country, albeit at the moment via You Tube because of the pandemic, and is a very successful business woman, and, the reason I began art journaling.

As today Art Journal Journey are honouring Eileen, a member of their team who has sadly recently passed, by continuing with the theme that she was going to host which is "Influenced By" I am joining in with my page which is influenced by Dyan Reaveley who taught me some of the different ways to do an art journal.

RIP Eileen

How many times in your life have you felt like "Getting out of bed is always the wrong decision"?  That is the quote from Dyan this week.  Well, not exactly Dyan, it was Wendy's choice from one of Dyan's plates.  So what have we this week?

Once again I used my reverse stencilling for the background.  Actually this was a mop up from last week as I used the left over bits on the stencil to put on this page but to make it a bit more defined I added some darker blue to the squared stencil and used that over the top.  Then i drew in one or two of the squares with a marker pen and a gelly roll one.  Today we have two friends, Sophie and Tina ...

"Tina has arrived at Sophie's house to go out to meet up with some friends for a socially distanced get together.  This is the first time they have been able to meet outside in a small group of six so obviously all the girls have been making a real effort to dress up rather nicely.

Sophie felt she had made a real effort, especially with her hair which she had streaked herself and she was so pleased with how it looked.  She felt she had a reasonable figure so she had chosen her dress rather carefully so that it accentuated her tiny waist and showed off her legs rather well.  It was a new dress, one she had ordered over the internet because clothes shopping had been out of reach with all the rules for this pandemic that was going on all over.  Her new boots were lovely and shiny and she was really on quite a high.  That was until she saw Tina.

Tina had also streaked her hair, not quite as good as Sophies, or so Sophie thought, but her outfit!  That was another story.  She was wearing the most adorable dress, the one that Sophie had wanted with the beautiful magenta frill running around the hip.  It had been the frill that had sold it on the screen to Sophie but it was no longer available in her size.  Tina must have bought the last one!

Poor Sophie, her face fell, and she looked so sad.  The whole day was turning into a disaster.  "Getting out of bed is always the wrong decision" she thought as she put on a brave face and walked out of the door to meet up with the others."

Here I am with Dyan, being silly at CHA in 2016 (it was her idea to pose like this)

617 WOYWW

Have had a bad week with spam comments.  I cannot believe how many I have had in a week - 401 to date since last Wednesday.  I have now found out how to delete them as a block but in the attempt to do this I hope I have not taken someone else out.  I have also reported it to Blogger but not heard anything as yet.  Anyone else having this problem or is it just me who has annoyed someone enough to do this to me? 

Anyway, to heck with Spam comments - isn't this weather gorgeous?  We actually went out yesterday, did not meet a soul so stayed well within our boundaries but look at this glorious fungi I saw

and a lonely spike of it

Well, you really came on here to see my desk but as it is perfectly clean and tidy I will show you how it was a short while ago when I was making a card.  This is my Misti (love my Misti) and the card is placed on it and look at how many magnets I have put on it!  And these are strong magnets.  Well when I lifted the stamp side up the bottom right magnet flipped underneath the card and the others all slid over to the left a bit.  That is just how strong and sticky the Aall & Create stamps are.  I know a lot of 'red rubber fans' do not like polymer but honestly these are such good quality as this proves, not at all flimsy.  

Anyway, here is the finished card.

The guy it is for is an ardent walker and so I wanted some boots for hbis card.  My lovely friend Cath sent me the boots and footprint images in black, in brown and embossed.  So I stamped and embossed the Aall & Create image and then put the boots on with sticky pads and another pair of boots and footprints on the inside to finish it off.  

My nieces little one has his third birthday coming up so I made him a card the same day.  Decided to do a K-card and then wished I hadn't started as there was so much in it, it was almost like making three cards in one with all the decorating - but he is worth it.

the cover above - and the inside below

The back shows a little boy (Theo) and his dog in the middle of a field with two little bumble bees holding a banner saying "Happy Birthday".  The aperture bit has birds in the sky, flowers and a bunny below (plus another little bird) and two cheeky chickens are hanging onto the sides of the oval aperture.  Took me ages cutting and colouring all these images.  What do I do when it is his big brother's birthday in August (he is featured on the cover going to the party)?

Should have been having my second jab today but as I got the message on the answer phone (we have only ever been out in a full year for medical appointments apart from Tuesday - honestly - Girl Guide's Honour) yesterday when we got back from our trip out, it was too late when I rang the doctors back.  Now I have to wait for the next batch!

So it's not been my week has it?  Not to worry, I can now go and visit my lovely friends on WO\YWW and see what kind of week they have had - why not join in with us - you get a real good old snoop into the bargain.  Click here and join in with us all.

A Single Flower

Just nipping in with another Journal Page for Art Journal Journey and Sheila's lovely challenge which finishes tomorrow - "A Single Flower".   I usually just post a journal page on a Thursday when I do my Dylusion Journal page but I wanted to do one a little bit different this time and so here it is - my Single Flower for Sheila:

I had a brayered page in my square journal and so I thought I would use one of my new Aall & Create stamps by Tracy Evans.  This is one of my favourite stamps from the new collection and I simply stamped it in black and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The butterfly was coloured with a blue Inktense pencil and then I stamped and cut another one out and attached it with the body only so that the wings stood up a little.

I coloured the hibiscus with Inktense pencils also and then cut it out and put that to one side of the circle stamps, painting two of the circles in a green shade.  Finally I added the word "Hibiscus" at the base of the page.

I really enjoyed making this page and wish there was more time to do more pages of single flowers.