Jeudi Journal - Understand

'It was a lovely Autumnal day when Sheila went walking in the woods and met up with her friend Brenda.  Brenda was wearing the most peculiar clothes and looked as if she was about to take a train ride somewhere as she had lots of suitcases with her.  But the most peculiar thing was that she had a can of cider in her hand.  

Now that might not seem strange to you but Brenda was known to be totally tee-total.  She never let a drop of alcohol pass her lips.  She had been known to refuse communion at church if she found it actually gave wine out, preferring the "more decent drink of Blackcurrant".  To Brenda anything alcoholic was "the drink of the devil himself".

So you can imagine Sheila's face when she saw her with the cider.

"What on earth are you doing?", she asked, "surely you are not going to drink that, that cider?"

"Of course I am" replied Brenda, "I am dreadfully upset and have done it at last, I have turned to drink."

Sheila smiled and told her friend that one can of cider did not make her a drinker, in fact the particular cider she was drinking was not even of a very low alcohol content, it was alcohol free and it was basically only like drinking a soda.  But she added "But why?"

"If you met my family you would understand" said Brenda, "you have no idea what they are like and what they are doing."

"Oh dear," said Sheila, "Come on, let's sit down on that log over there and you can tell me all about it.  Maybe we can even share that can of cider," and the two of them walked over to the log and sat down.'

The words for this week from Tim's snarky comments are "If you met my family you would understand" and the theme at Art Journal Journey, chosen by the lovely Elizabeth and the handsome Bleubeard, is "Collage Fodder, Food and Drink".  

So my page began life with my using several yellow shades of Distress Oxide Inks and then a couple of the orange ones and more yellow on top.  My new favourite stencil was used with a couple of the shades of orange as I do like tone on tone.  To finish off I put some ivy across the bottom of the page through a stencil and then drew a squiggly border on the other three sides.

I do hope this is acceptable to AJJ (and particularly Bleubeard whom I admire so much) and so this is my page for this week.  I included some Collage in the form of the two cut out figures and the can of Toffee Apple Cider, alcohol free of course.  That is using something from both Elizabeth and Bleubeard's choice of items for the theme.

I do hope you can join in with this theme during November, there are lots of things you can do with that title.  But, as Elizabeth points out, it must be a blog page - I suggest you read the rules carefully and enjoy creating.

WOYWW 700

Well, what do you know it's the 700th Edition of of WOYWW.  What a milestone!  Well done Julia for giving birth to what must be the longest running blog in existence (well, I imagine it is - apologies if this is not so).  700 weeks of blogging! Well done.

On Monday it was Halloween and the witches were out and about but none came knocking on our door.  I guess most parents are just too worried these days to let children out for a bit of Trick or Treating and the tradition has not been going that long here in the UK.  

I have noticed, however, that there are more and more houses with a bit of decoration, or a lot, and I passed a yard where something exciting was obviously going on on Saturday.  I would have loved to have stopped and nosied around.  

This is as far as we got - my Halloween display has grown and grown and now, this year, has the pretty picture I did with Jo Rice in a workshop as centre stage.

Here is our window sill in all its scary glory

I am hoping you can enlarge it - it is so dark and small but it is a big display and not easy to photograph.

Prior to Halloween, I went to the Hellaganza at Lavinia's in Ruthin.  Imagine my surprise when I was walking across the car park and I heard my name being called.  I turned and wondered who on earth was shouting - then I spotted someone getting out of a car and it was Angela (Crafting with Jack).  Angela had never been before and so she discovered her only vocabulary for the first few minutes was "Wow".

If you have never been you don''t know what you are missing as far as a shop's interior is concerned.  It is beautifully decorated, every room is a real pleasure, it really is like a journey through an enchanted forest.  And it even smells lovely.  I'll leave Angela to tell you about it.

There were lots of demonstrations going on and I managed to sit in on one of Jo's and she passed me one of her demo tags - so it is in my journal now and I just need to do some decoration around it.  I also went to see Sarah and she was doing the cutest little folders using lots of papers she was making with a stencil and some spray.  I'll make one and show you.

In the meantime - here is my desk - and all the goodies I bought on Saturday.  Rather a big spend on stamps but oh those hares!  (LLJ watch out)

Spent all morning (it's Tuesday here) sorting and cleaning one tiny bit of my craft room.  Well, it was a bit more than just morning.  Intended throwing lots of things out, filled a bin up but only with junk papers etc.

See you next week.

Jeudi Journal - Adulthood

My story this week is based on Peter Pan, the little boy who lived in Neverland and did not want to grow up.   That is because today's quote Wendy and I had to use  is "Where's the unsubscribe button on adulthood?" and we are trying to link our journal page (with the help of a story) to Art Journal Journey.  The lovely Elle has chosen 'Fairytales, Folklore and Fables' as her theme which is why, along with the quote, I thought of Peter Pan and Wendy - and not forgetting Tinkerbell.

I straight away thought of the Christmas Elf that Dyan brought out a couple of years ago and then when I went to it, you must remember it hasn't seen light of day for a year or so, I found out he only has a head and legs.  So I quickly gave him some kind of body, cut off the bell on his hat and replaced it with a feather.  My story deals with the part where ...

'Wendy was getting annoyed with Peter and all the silly things he kept getting up to to stop her and the boys leaving the island.  Even Tinkerbell was losing her patience with him and shaking fairy dust all over the place.  They had had adventures with Mermaids, Native Americans and Pirates - the most frightening being with Captain Hook and a crocodile and a clock!

But in order to stay a child Peter must forget about the adventures after they have happened along with what he learns about the outside world when he pays it a visit periodically.  He is able to fly and when he visits the 'darling family in the beginning of the story he teaches the children to fly by getting them to think "lovely wonderful things" plus some fairy dust.

It had been a lovely warm day and as the sun set it cast a lovely pink glow over the land which should have made them all happy but Wendy was missing home and thought it about time the boys returned to their real mother.

"I'm sorry Peter," she said, as they walked through the enchanted forest with all the beautiful magic toadstools around, "I really think it is time we went home to mother."

"But you're the mother" said Peter.  "I made you the mother of all the children in Neverland.  You can't leave, not yet."

"Oh Peter" said Wendy, "you always say something to try to make me stay but this time I have to go.  Our real mother in London will be wondering where we are and getting ever so worried and the boys need to go to a proper school."

Tinkerbell, who was resting on the tallest toadstool in the field shook her head, she agreed with Wendy, she wanted them all to go and leave her and Peter alone again with the Lost Boys.

"For goodness sake, grow up will you" Wendy shouted.

Peter looked crestfallen and he looked down on the ground.  "Where's the unsubscribe button on adulthood?" he said rather loudly, his feather standing straight up in his hat.

Poor Tinkerbell took off in a flurry of fairy dust and Wendy adjusted her spectacles and carried on down the pathway.  Wendy knew it was the end of the road for her and the boys and they must return home.  Perhaps Peter would go with them?

Do you know whether he did or not?'

This is my last journal page for Elle's lovely theme and I would like to thank her for making me think outside the box this month.  I have thoroughly enjoyed trying to marry a Tim Holtz Snarky Sticker to her theme at Art Journal Journey.

WOYWW 699

Next week is another Magic Number - we reach 700 posts - well some do - thanks to Ms Julia the inventor of WOYWW.  I wonder how many regular WOYWW'ers were here at the beginning?  Gosh, they've notched up a lot of paragraphs if they were here from day one.

Well, crafting has taken a back step this week, no reason, but I am going to have to pull out the stops if I am going to get a couple of special cards made this week.  I only made three last week and two of those were the same as cards made in the past so the third one was for my friend's daughter who is horse mad and is another of those Thelwell type images (not him but a similar copy)

This is the last of the three images on the stamp plate so I will have to think of something else for next year - guess it will have to be a horse of some kind.  This time I coloured the images with my watercolour crayons.

A bit more interesting than my desk which is just containing a couple of bags full of crafting goodies.  Now am I coming or going?  That is the question.

Both are full of crafting goodies, but where are they going?  What are they in bags for?  Notice the bags, both Ranger ones and the one with four panels has been signed on each panel by the artist who created it.  Still a treasure and one I will not part with for a long time to come.

Apart from the two bags you can see, in the background, my Oxide inks, now all labeled up and there, in splendid view, my lovely coaster, a beautiful gift from Jo via her talented daughter Maxine (aka Tilly).  Too nice to use, I jut don't want to put a cup on it and hide the beautiful image.

Well, this makes a change from me, short for once.  Hopefully some crafting by next week but don't hold your breath.

Jeudi Journal - Train Wreck

 Today we find ourselves down a back alley with the Alley Cats.  There are two gangs down there, one made up of the Spoddy's  and the other the Chex family  There is great rivalry between them and each have their own patch down town.

One day young Sally Chex went wandering down the Alley and found a great big dustbin full of left over goodies. There was a great big bag full of fishy bits and she knew those would go down a treat with the rest of the family back home.  So without a thought about anything else Sally began grabbing what she could from the bin and piling it up ready to take home.

"Hey, train wreck, this isn't your station?" came a very loud shout.  

Turning her head to one side Sally saw two of the members of the Spoddy family standing just a bit lower down the alley than she was.

"This is our patch" said Butch, the one with the largest head, and mouth to go with it.  "You'd better scarper before we come over there.  And leave that stuff you've put on one side as it belongs to us, not you.  Remember what we threatened to do to your Max when he came on our patch."

Sally well remembered her brother Max coming home after a run in with the Spoddy lot, his fur had been ruffled well and truly that day.

"Hey, train wreck, this isn't your station" shouted Freddie, repeating what his brother had said earlier.  He wasn't known as Freddie the Fearless for nothing and he was scared of no-one, even if his brain didn't always work as well as it should.  "Get off home and tell that lot of yours not to come sniffing around here anymore, or else."

Poor Sally put back the bag of goodies she had been collecting, looked enviously at the fish heads lying on the floor and slowly slinked off.  "One of these days" she thought, "they will get their comeuppance."

The  quote we had to work with today was "Hey train wreck, this isn't your station" and we wanted to tie it in with Elle's lovely theme at Art Journal Journey.  I thought of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a fairy tale I was told as a child and which has been told countless times everywhere.  So I tried to write my story around that theme and hope you can see the connection.  Why not join in with Elle at AJJ and see what story you can come up with.

WOYWW 698

 Gosh this week seems to have flown by - October is fast disappearing.

My desk is completely empty so:

Last Saturday was our Card Club and the Interim meeting where we were discussing the Christmas Party - ouch!  It will be on us before we know.  Karen was our tutor this month and she had brought some acetate cards for us to have a go at making.  So - ta da .... my first C Cards are ready:

I like the two at the back best of all because the acetate really works and makes them look quite dimensional - must admit that I came home and carried on making, didn't get so many done in the one session following the business meeting.

Since then I have finished two more practise pieces like the one I showed you last week in my black journal.  These have been stuck on the MDF piece bought for this project so it now has a front and back view, exactly the same in a way, so if it goes in the window it still has a picture showing that side.

This, above, was my second attempt at getting the blending right but it was worse than the first (the one now in the black journal) and so I did another, below, but now I do't think the blending is dark enough.  Gave up in the end!

I am now trying to sort my room out as it has got into a bit of a mess recently with one thing and another and I really need to get it tidy before I do any more crafting - hence no desk picture.  The cards were on my desk last Saturday.  Now it's off to WOYWW to see what other crafters have been doing.

Jeudi Journal - Mouth

 You have all heard of the tale of Pinocchio - well this is about Peter, a little boy who was very similar to Pinocchio in that he was brilliant at telling lies.  The story has to fit in with Elle's brilliant theme at Art Journal Journey, which is centred around fairytales and with the snarky comment from Tim Holtz that was chosen for this week - "I've got a good heart, but this mouth ..." and so I thought of Pinocchio the little wooden puppet who eventually became a real little boy.  Pinocchio was a Walt Disney film based on an Italian novel of 1883 which did not do well when it first came out in the cinema but that was mainly due to the outbreak of WWII.  When it was relaunched in 1945 it was hugely successful and became one of the best animated films ever made.  I always loved the Walt Disney film.  So ...

'Peter always wanted to be the most popular boy at school and especially with the girls in the playground, and so he 'romanced' a little about his life before he came to live in the little village in Sconbury.

"One night, when I lived in Italy with my grandfather, I fell asleep and when I woke up I found I had been kidnapped and was now living in a  travelling circus" he told his friends. "I was a lion tamer, but not just an ordinary lion tamer, no, I did it with my lions on a tightrope.  We were thirty feet in the air and I did lots of different tricks with them.  One time I even had them swinging from a trapeze high above the ground in the Big Top."

The girls were suitably impressed and followed Peter around fluttering their eyelashes at him in wonder.  "But, how come you ended up living here?" enquired Camilla.

"Ah well, you see" said Peter.  "I missed my grandpa so much that I decided I wanted to go back to live with him, he would be fretting and wondering where I was.  And so I decided to run away, but the ringmaster caught me and locked me up in a cage like one of my lions."

"What happened next?" asked Camilla.

"Oh I got one of my lions to chew through the bars and I broke through and ran away to an island just along the coast.  But it was a terrible island, full of bad men ... and it was cursed!  They actually turned me into a donkey at one time."

"Oh no, what did you do?" asked Meghan.

At that point the bell rang and the children all had to return to the classroom.  Peter's story remained untold, a secret as to how he got back home and eventually to the little village of Sconbury.

Later that night Peter's mother got a telephone call from Camilla's mother who was most perturbed.  It seemed Camilla had gone home and refused to go to bed on her own.  She kept muttering something about lions and a cursed island.  It was all something Peter had said to her in the playground and she was frightened she might be kidnapped and taken away.

Peter's mother was unable to say anything, he had never been to Italy in his life and she could not believe he had told these stories to the other children,  So angrily she stormed up to Peter's room and woke him.

"What have you been saying at school?" she demanded of him.  "It sounds just like the story of Pinocchio and you know what happened to him - his nose just grew and grew and there is no such thing as fairies so nobody is going to come and save you from having a nose that grows and grows with your silly stories.  You are a naughty boy and I want an explanation before your father comes home.  Right now!"

"I'm sorry mummy," he said, "I just wanted to impress the others.  I've got a good heart, but this mouth ...  I really am sorry and I promise I won't tell any more porkies, honestly."  And with that a little tear fell from his eyes and he snuggled down to sleep to dream of .......'