Jeudi Journal - Shhhh No One Cares

"It was a lovely crisp night early in December when Hilary and her best friend Sophie went out to the Christmas Markets in and around their local town.  The two girls had both had a busy day at work and met up when they finished for the day to have some fun, and buy some presents, at the Market. 

All around them was lit up, the stalls were suitably decorated with little winter scenes on the tops of them and the things they were selling were adorable.  Little glass baubles to decorate the trees, lovely tiny scenes painted on tea light holders, nutcrackers in their various military like uniforms, even pans to bake Christmas shaped cakes and cookies in were hanging from some of the stalls.  It really was a 'winter wonderland' as the girls walked around.

Despite it being night time with all the various Christmas lights and the lights from the stalls it wasn't dark at all.  A lovely starry evening for all to enjoy.  Of course there were also the stalls selling food and that had been the first place the girls had gone to.  They were hungry after the days work and so the traditional German Fayre was on hand for all.  

Along the way Sophie bought lots of decorations for their new tree at home.  She wanted to decorate it in the traditional German toys that one saw on the internet, and Hilary decided to buy some lovely little tea light things and some huge stars to hang from the ceiling.  Ooh, it was going to be a very special Christmas, the first one in their new flat since leaving home.

Oh dear, the Bratwurst smelled lovely.  They had not eaten and so the two of them had to have a Bratwurst with lashings of mustard, or ketchup in Sophie's case.  Needing something to drink they decided to try the Gluhwein.  Neither girl had had it but had heard so much about it.

And so the evening went on.  A mixture of shopping, eating and drinking that hot mulled wine, what fun they were having.  Suddenly Sophie turned to her friend and said "I feel a bit tipsy".

"Don't be silly" said Hilary, "you've only had two glasses".

"No, seriously I do", replied Sophie and her legs did seem to be buckling a bit as she walked.  "What will people think?" she asked.  "They will think I am drunk.  What if someone from work sees me?  They will all be talking about me tomorrow."

"Shhhh .. No one cares" said Hilary, "let's get you home, it's obvious you are not made for alcohol and maybe that second one was too much on an empty stomach.  It's never happened before so that's probably it."  

And with that the two girls made their way home with all manner of Christmas goodies.  

This was a quickie!  I got up early to see if the new theme at Art Journal Journey was yet up and ready.  What a lovely scene greeted me as I saw Jo's 'Snowy Scene'.  Quickly I grabbed a starry stencil (Aall & Create) and rubbed some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink through to resemble the stars that were in the sky and on the various stalls in the Christmas Market.  A quick search through my Dylusion ladies and I came up with these two and whilst colouring them in I thought about the bare bones of my story.  It was to be Christmas Markets, I had only been talking about them the day before with a friend.  I used to love visiting the various ones in Germany, Dusseldorf being my first and therefore favourite.

And so you have it - a quick story and journal page for Art Journal Journey.  Sorry the whole border was not caught in the scan.  Why not pop along and join in.  Oh, the snarky comment from Tim Holtz stickers this week was "Shhhh ... no one cares". Did you spot it?

WOYWW 704

 Got up at silly o'clock to do this blog post.  Yes, I had forgotten all about what day it was - that is yesterday.  I had so much on my mind and had been busy doing my Make & Take for the club and the Christmas Party.  I just hadn't been able to think what to do and so I had done three tags (sort of Finnabair style) but my head had not been in the right place and so they had not gone according to plan.  The grey board was not really thick enough so they had a tendency to warp when paint was applied.  The whole plan was thrown out of the window.

So it was back to square one when I suddenly found something and I was away.  I had been given some air pods.  Really good ones, (air pod Pro?) and it was great because I was able to have a whole conversation on the phone whilst chopping the card up.  Even go and make a cuppa.  (Me and technology - talk about granny gets updated!)  So basically I am nearly there, well on the way but, me being me, I had tidied everything as I went. along and my desk was empty.  Nothing!  Nada! Zilch|!

In an attempt to foil you I hurriedly put my Christmas cards and my box of bits, in case I want to make more (still to make the 'specials"), on my table.  They just want inners and then that is it - the 'overseas' ones have gone, hurrah! Here then is my table:

and here are my top two shelves on a cupboard

At the top left are some boxes I made at a workshop, then one I was going to do years ago for a workshop, not a clue about the big white box, the ''world' showing where Flat Susan visited and my eyelet box. Underneath on the actual shelves are my colouring mediums, pens, brushes, sprays etc.  The brown thing next to the silver tin is my spray booth.  Had it years, bought for about £5 at cha once.  The box with all colours on it is where my Promarkers are stored - two Felix boxes decorated up.  The top has obviously been used to test out pens at some time.

Below is where my journals are stored.  The trays on the left have some small ones on, then there are others stood up (and many more behind).  That's another Felix box, the only one I have left and ready to decorate/paint.  They make great storage boxes.  The white box that used to have a Cornish Cream Tea inside is what I travel with, fill it with goodies to take away with me to stop the boredom.

Maybe we will go down another layer next week but for now that is it.  I am off back to bed so I will see you some time later in the morning over at Julia's for our weekly desk snoop.  CU Later! xx

Jeudi Journal - Nosey

 "Excuse me - here is your nose ... I found it in my business." is the quote being used today along with the thee at Art Journal Journey chosen by Elizabeth and Bleubeard "Collage Fodder, Food and Drink, or Both."  I think it is a lovely quote and one which I am sure lots of us have wanted to use in the past with someone who is always poking around in our affairs.

"Emma Parker was aptly named - she knew everybody's business and if she didn't, she made certain she would find out.  As you can no doubt guess she was known as Nosy Parker by al the neighbours, especially when they saw her lace curtains twitching and her nose peering out.

It was a sunny autumnal day when Sally was out walking her dog and she saw Emma peering through her curtains.   She decided to give her a wave and let her know she had seen her.  And so, without a further ado Sally waved and mouthed "Morning" to Emma.

Now Emma was a bit put out to say the least and she went to the door, opened it and went out into the road to have a word with this 'rude' neighbour of hers.  "I hope you have got a doggy bag with you, I don't want your dog fouling my pavement" she said brusquely to Sally who had stopped to let Brutus sniff at something.  "There's too many dog walkers thinking they have the right to walk past my house leaving dirty parcels for me to clean up."

Sally went bright red.  She wished now that she had just ignored the nosey parker and gone on walking.  "I beg your pardon," said Sally, "but my dog has never fouled your pavement, besides which it is on a main road and therefore the road does not belong to you, it is actually council property.  And what is furthermore I DO have a poo bag with me in case of an incident."

"You are all the same, you dog walkers" went on Emma, "why you have a dog I will never know, you have three kids and I would have thought that was enough for anyone.  Heavens knows what state your own house and garden is in.  I hope I never know."

Well, that was a bit too much for Sally, but being the polite young woman she was she simply replied "Excuse me, here is your nose - I found it in my business" and with that she calmly walked on."

I am enjoying these borders, Teesha Moore style, and so I have done one again.  It covers Elizabeth and Bleubeard's  "Collage Fodder, Food and Drink, or both" so easily.  I have tried to include lots of food and drink in my border and then counted my fussy cut figures as collage too.  There's still plenty of time to join in, why don't you pop over to AJJ and give it a try.

WOYWW 703

Another Wednesday, late in November, December is just around the corner and that means I am way way behind with things that need doing before that little man in the red suit comes a calling.  I do have my blog done for tomorrow as I did it last week, have been working a week in advance but can't do it for next week as next Thursday is (EEK) 1st December.

I have 23 Christmas cards done.  Some were started last year and have had a bit of a finishing touch put to them, some were done at card club and some were done during the week whilst nursing this cold.  Yes, it's still with me - and not very nice as it is now going on my chest.  Thank goodness the tests for covid come back negative.

Here is my table, the one I have been working on

You can see which was the last stamp I used.  I had been having trouble getting a pure black image so had tried it out on some scratch paper.  Resorted to the Misti in the end and now they are fine.  I wont say 'perfect' in case you spot a mistake or two when I eventually show them.

This is the counter behind which has the other stamps I have been using on and the remnants of another project ie the Sizzix die and the applicators with the green foams on them.  Don't think you need an explanation of what is on show.

underneath is another bit of storage carrying on from last week

This is just a board ;mounted on the wall, covered in paper and then with some inners from Ikea boxes stood up as mini open cupboards.  In all the cd cases are "Stampin' Up stamps" as given to me by my friend every time I went to see her in America.  The spidery thing is for my cellphone for when I do a video and the lights which are covered in little bags.  This was a gift from a friend to encourage me to do more videos - so far have done two more only.  I really need to gt my act together.  The other cubby holes hold all manner of tall things like sticky stuff remover, spray webbing (do you remember it?) and spray adhesive etc.  Nothing madly interesting.

Well I had better get on more Christmas cards to make and get the ones for abroad off in the mail.  I didn't tell you but I had my first Christmas card last Wednesday - cousin Janice in Oz, she is always so organised.

Now to make a few visits to WOYWW'ers myself, I'm redoing my will this afternoon, have put it off for months but need to make changes, so need to have a clear head as serious decisions need to be made.  Take care and I'll hopefully see your desk shortly.

Jeudi Journal - A Nap

 That is what I have been having each day - a nap, because I am full of a cold and feeling dreadful at the moment.  Not to worry, thank goodness I did this page last week.  Just the story to do.

Tim's words today are "I plan my whole day around the possibility of a nap" and one again I have done a Teesha border around the page to comply with the "collage fodder" and collaged my figure and the cupboard full of food in the bottom right hand corner to fit in with Elizabeth and Bleubeard's theme at Art Journal Journey.

Tia is finding everything a bit tiring these days.  Maybe she needs a few early nights as they do say an hour before midnight is worth two after it.  

She had her new ear pods in and was talking to a friend of hers on the phone and was taking advantage of doing simply nothing.  She closed her eyes and just talked and listened to what her friend Bettina had to say.  Bettina was not one bit like Tia, she was always on the go, plenty of hobbies and lots of friends to go out with.  In fact she had just been telling Tia about her plans for the weekend.

She was going for a massage on Saturday morning and then off on a hill walking adventure with her local youth group in the afternoon.  They would probably end up in a local pub early evening and have something to eat and a good old chat about this and that.

Sunday was all planned out too but Tia switched off at this point as she said to her friend "I plan my whole day around the possibility of a nap" and her eyelids drooped and she almost fell asleep there and then.  "The only thing I have planned to do tomorrow is make dinner for myself and that is going to be something simple like a tin of tuna and some pasta.  I think that is more or less what is in the pantry at the moment and I cannot even be bothered to go and shop."

Bettina sensed her friend did not want to talk but just simply wanted to be left alone to snooze and so she rang off.  She was a bit concerned about her friend Tia, "she should have more energy at her age" she said out loud to herself, resolving to have a word with Tia's mum at some time early next week.

Now to get my head around next week's journal page.

WOYWW 702

It's another week and time for WOYWW hosted by Ms Julia and it is where we all show our desks.  This is my small table in my craft room which I had been working on up to getting this horrid cold.  At the club on Saturday Carol filled in for a member who had come down with Covid and we made these little pockets.  Here on my table today is another one as Carol kindly gave me a spare set of tags to work on:

As you can see they feature Janet Klein's Miss Dee figures.  This is the first set that came out.  I did the background in green because that is Abs favourite colour.  (Abs is the owner of Aall & Create and one of  the  loveliest men you could wish to meet).  They still need something on the bottom sections and I have pondered over them but think I will simply do some more stencilling.  

The two inks used are Oxides, Twisted Citron and Bundled Sage and the upside down ink pad is my Versafine Claire Nocturne.  To the right are my pieces of card and pens awaiting the start of my main Christmas cards.  I ordered the stamps I wanted for them on the 5th November from Crafty Flair, never again.  The promised delivery has now gone way way over - 11 days and I have written but still not received.  This is the second time this has happened, they may give discount but is it worth it when you wait ages for the goods?  They took my money on the 5th November though!!

I think I will be doing some more Miss Dee's but at the club I did some different Janet figures, and now I have the long legged girls I want to use them too but this coming Thursday there are some new characters coming out and I love the look of them.  Can see me putting in another order.  Oh heck!

The one at the club was actually two and I joined them together to make one long one

Here they are split in two so you can see better

Last week I showed you my ink storage and said I would show you something else this week.  This is my peg board which gets all manner of things stuck on it.  I won't go through everything, just leave it to you to spot:

just not sure about my Lavinia brushes being there

C U Next Week xx

ps for those who wanted to see the Aall & Create reveal from last week (ie birthday gifts) the link is (I hope)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PClyu9b_IzE

Latest News:  Just heard my parcel should be with me by the end of the week - obviously not first class then despite my complaints!

Jeudi Journal - Penny

"Collage Fodder, Food and Drink, or Both" is the theme to work to for Art Journal Journey this month, hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.  I did link in last week, I distinctly remember seeing which number I was - and I followed one of Valerie's links.  Somehow that disappeared so I am hoping that this week this post stays on.  This week I have used collage to make a frame around my page - Teesha Moore style - as taught on a Dylusion workshop with Dyan herself.  That was many many moons ago but I think it, and the basket of food, covers collage and food for me.  Hope so. Really the figures are also collaged I guess as I stamp them, fussy cut and colour them before sticking them down in my journal.

The Tim Holtz snarky comment this week is "a penny for your thoughts seems a little pricey" and so the story goes:

Patsy and her friend, Sally, had bumped into one another in the supermarket and were now walking home through the local park.   Sally, as always, was busy chatting away, talking about Graham, her husband and the two kids and what they had all been up to recently.  Her whole life revolved around her family and she loved to talk about them.

Graham had recently been promoted at work and had a lovely new car as a result.  She was always talking about it and all the little gadgets that come with a top of the range vehicle.  Her son was very bright and it looked as if he might go on to university when he reached sixth form and her daughter really was one of the prettiest girls around.  So, you see, Sally had lots to talk about when it came to family.

She had been talking for about five minutes or so when she noticed her friend, Patsy, was awfully quiet.

"Penny for them?" she said.

Sally looked at her,   "You really don't get it do you?  You are wrapped up in your little world and nothing ever goes wrong. Graham has got that lovely new job with all its perks, Simon is Mr Brains himself and as for Petra!  Nothing goes wrong in Sally's little world whilst the rest of us have problem after problem.  You know darned well that Fred was made redundant last week yet you prattle on and on.  We are struggling  day to day and all you can talk about is your precious family.  What do you expect me to say?"

Patsy was aghast.  Never had her friend spoken to her like this and she had no idea about  Fred having been made redundant.  "I'm so sorry, I honestly did not know" she said, "A penny for your thoughts seems a little pricey."

Sally started to cry, it really had been a struggle this past couple of weeks and  she hadn't meant to snap but some people seemed to have all the luck and she felt they had none.

Patsy put her arm around her friend's shoulder and said "Come on, let's go back to mine and have a cuppa and then we can look at how we can help one another."

And with that the two friends made their way slowly to Patsy's house to put the kettle on."