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We are now into October, a month full of rich colours as the leaves turn and fall to the ground.  Oh heck - that means raking leaves up and boy oh boy do we have a lot in our gardens.  I wish we could put giant hairnets on all our trees so that the leaves would not be there for poor Chas to rake up.  Apart from that I love October and the colours it conjures up.

I did promise you that I would show you what I had been making but the three birthday cards for members of our club are all the same and actually copies of what I have done previously.  I just hadn't time to think up anything different.

Good job nobody from the club ever comes on my blog - I can get away with showing you the cards quite easily.

I also said I would show you my blog pages once they had been published, so, to save you going back to the pages here they are

1st October and below the 3rd

This last one is taken from a design by Jo Rice, Head of the Design Team at Lavinia.  Jo did give me permission to use her original design.  I tweaked it a little bit.  More pages next week as we catch up.

Now here is my desk, obviously making a journal page for Thursday when Wendy and I challenge one another to make something with a snarky comment from Tim Holtz' book and use Dylusion figures.  Now you can see how I have been using the bags of heads, legs and bodies these past weeks.

That's last weeks Thursday journal page stood at the back, this one I am doing here is in my square journal, or will be when I stick it in.

That is it for this week folks so head on over to Ms Julia at WOYWW and see what everyone has in store for you.  See you next week hopefully.

Art Journal Journey - Mice in the Library

My favourite designer at the moment, when I want to make a card, is Jo Rice who is Head of the Design Team at Lavinia Stamps.  Jo is a lovely lady and when I asked if I could use her ideas as a basis for some of my journal pages she was quite happy for me to do so.  So with Jo's permission I give you my rendition of the little mice playing in the Steampunk Library:

My background was a second run from the Ornate stencil I had used elsewhere.  I love to do this technique for backgrounds and it means you get two for the price of one in a way.  I had used my stencil with some Distress Oxides and rather than wash it up I spritzed it with water and placed it ink side down on my cardstock.  Left it for a minute or so and then pressed a piece of kitchen roll on top.  Lifting it up you get a lovely muted impression of the stencil.

Next, using the Hill Mask and Graphite Elements ink I made some ground for the mice to stand on.  Then I used the various stamps, (Moo and Tilly, Wizardry, Topper, Goggles, Cog Set 1-3, Words of Steam, and Rose Set), stamping with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and coloured the images with Inktense watercolour pencils.

This started life on a piece of 8 x 8 cardstock and is is now in my Lavinia Journal.  I sometimes like to work this way so that I don't spoil my actual journal pages with any mistakes I might make and not be able to cover up.  Much easier to work on a piece of card and then stick it in my journal.

I hope this has shown you something a little different than the first page for my "In Gear" challenge at Art Journal Journey and I hope you will join in with us.  Just make sure you read the dreaded rules first of all which you can find at the top of the AJJ page.

I love Eva's entry (8) for this theme but cannot find how to comment, Can someone please let me know how to leave a comment on her blog.

Art Journal Journey - In Gear

Are you ready for the ‘off’?  Better get your art stuff  'in gear’ then because that is the title of the next challenge for the month of October over at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host for this coming month.

So just what has gears - clocks have gears, lots of them unless they are of the digi kind.  Lots of Mixed Media Artists have little boxes full of gears that they use - all from old clocks and watches.  I am sure all modes of transport have gears in them somewhere and bicycles have gear levers on them so they must have gears too,

I must have wanted to do some Steampunking again when I chose this for my  challenge, I still remember having quite a crush on 'all things Steampunk' and even decorated a top hat for myself.  But … it doesn’t stop there - as I said above, all kinds of machinery has gears, so you could include different modes of transport  - sometimes we tell people to ‘get your brain in gear’ and if you think about it, especially if you live over in the UK people sometimes refer to what they are wearing as ‘their gear’ (eg "I used to wear trendy gear when I was much younger").  So I hope that has given you some ideas where you might go with this challenge and I hope you can think of lots of other things where you can be ‘in gear’.  See you over at Art Journal Journey?

Here is my first page:

The little figures and words are from Janet Klein's digi images which allowed me to make them any size I wanted.  I coloured them in with Promarkers.  The gears are die cut.

This was a relatively quick and simple page to start the challenge off so I hope this has inspired you all  to 'get in gear' and show us your creations over at Art Journal Journey.  Be sure to read the 'dreaded rules' before you make your entry.  See you there?  

Art Journal Journey - Wrinkled

 "Wrinkled was not what I wanted to be when I grew up" is the Snarky comment from Tim Holtz this week for Wendy and I to work with alongside Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey which is "Books, Cats, Tea".   But, if you want to submit a journal page you only have until Saturday to do it because we are almost into October when the challenge changes.

For my page I used Mustard Seed Distress Ink for the wallpaper with Rusty Hinge patted through a stencil (Texture Flourish)  to give a hint of pattern to the wallpaper.  Then I used  Pumice Stone Distress Ink for the carpet with an unknown stencil on top.

"Melandra had had a busy day shopping, not much had gone according to her careful planning and she had skipped lunch because she could not find a suitable gift for her best friend.  

"People say men are difficult to buy for" she muttered to herself, "but buying for friends is just as bad'"  Half the trouble was that her best friend had rather a good job so she earned a lot more than Melandra and if she wanted something she just had to go and buy it.  She had a lovely apartment in the best part of town, drove a lovely little car and was lavish with her gifts to her friends.  She really was a lovely person but Melandra wanted to buy her a present she would like, and unfortunately they always came with a large price tag.

You would think, at her age, things like that would not bother her but she was the type of person who always wanted to please everyone.  She had met up with another friend whilst out shopping and the two of them had a bit of a chin wag about buying gifts for other people.  Lottie, the friend she met up with, had been a friend since schooldays and now that the two of them were in their early 40's it was always good to bump into one another when they went into the city.  Lottie did not let things bother her to that extent and she told Melandra that she should stop worrying.  

"Worrying only gives you frown lines, so try not to worry about an expensive gift, just give her something pretty that's within your price range and she will love it I am sure" and with that Lottie went on her way.

Poor Melandra still wanted something that looked expensive but didn't cost the earth and so she made her way to the station and caught the train back home.  With nothing for her best friend.

Feeling quite miserable she let herself in the front door of her modest town house, almost fell over the cat who was standing on the pile of books she had left on the floor when she went out that morning, and as she looked up she caught sight of a portrait of herself painted some years ago.

"Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up" she said, to no-one but the cat.  "I used to have a skin so fair it was almost like porcelain they used to say."

Marmaduke the cat turned his head and looked at her rather strangely.  It was not like Melandra to be so down in the mouth, perhaps her day out had not gone to plan.  Not to worry, as soon as she sat down with a cup of tea he would jump on her lap and give her some kitty love."

WOYWW 747

Still another week before I can show you one of the pages I did for my journal so I am once again sat with an fairly tidy desk.  Not that I have been idle.   Been ever so busy around the house cleaning up after the windows had been fitted and doing as much as my back would permit, the rest of the time was spent with a hot bottle on it. 

Here's my desk:

Getting ready for my journal tomorrow

Headless bodies, bodyless heads, legs, monsters and boys, birds, cats & dogs and an old journal page where I was trying my layout for tomorrow.

Thanks for the prayers last Friday when we went to the funeral.  The firm he worked for in Preston had closed for the day so that they could go to Geoff's funeral.  He must have been well thought of.  Not many get that.  Of course seeing and knowing that brought another tear or two so it turned into a very wet day in more ways than one.  

So on that note I will leave you to go and visit Julia and WOYWW so that you can visit more interesting desks than mine.  See you next week which will be October - and I WILL have something to show you, promise.

Jeudi Journal - Directions

"Mrs Cat and Mr Dog and their twins, Puddy and Poochy, had set off on a day's outing with Mrs Cat at the wheel.  Much to the frustration of Mr Dog I must add.  She had insisted she drove that day and as she always held the threat of not providing dinner he gave in and let her take the wheel.  

Being of the male species he knew that he was the better driver of the two but she, being of the female species, felt she was far far better than he was.  In fact she felt she was better at most things than he was but she let him have the glory of some things most of the time - but not ''driving' today.

"Can we go down Cat Alley" asked the twins.  It was a favourite place of theirs with lots of games to play all under the one roof.  They knew that they might meet up with some of their friends as school was on holiday and all pups and kitties loved to congregate there.

"Not today" said Mrs Cat, "today we are going to go to the seaside.  Your father and I agreed on that before we set off and you will find there are some games in the box on the floor for you to play with whilst on the journey."

And so the pleasant journey began.  Mr Dog knew the way so he was able to direct Mrs Cat as they drove along and answer the questions the twins put to him whilst they tried to solve a crossword.

All of a sudden Mrs Cat found herself coming to a full stop.  The area they were in did not look a bit like anywhere she knew.  Of course it was Mr Dog's fault.  So they all got out of the car and had a quick look around.  Puddy hid behind her mother's skirt as she knew what was coming.  Mrs Cat was not in a good mood!

"It's your fault" she said, looking Mr Dog in the eye, "When I ask for directions please do not use words like 'East'.  I understand 'left' and 'right' much better.  Why you cannot say 'left' or 'right' I do not know."

And with that she flounced back in the car, shouting to the twins "get back in the car and be quiet, this is all your father's fault and we will have less time at the seaside now through him."  So they all got back into the car and continued the journey in complete silence.

I am pleased to say, however, that Mrs Cat forgot all about her stroppy moment when Mr Dog got her a big candy floss (cotton candy)."

To help set the scene of absolute chaos I made a smoochy background in chaotic purples and pinks with a little lime green thrown in around the edges and some random stamping here and there using Versafine Clair - Nocturne, Shady Lane and Warm Breeze (my favourite).  This is my entry for Elle's challenge at Art Journal Journey which is "Books, Cats and Tea".  Why not pop along and join in yourself - remember though, it has to be a journal page - check out the rules here.

WOYWW 746

 Another week has flown by and I am sorry but despite being busy I cannot show you what I have been up to.  

Thursday we are having new windows (ten of them) put in the bungalow so today is going to be a busy day taking all the curtains/blinds down and moving what is left of the bits and pieces that sit in the window sill.  So I had better get on - I am shutting myself in my craft room on Thursday  so hopefully there will be something to show next week.  In the meantime:

So, I will see you WOYWW'ers next week and hope you all have a good one.  Until then, cheerio! xx

Friday it is Geoff's funeral so can I please ask for your prayers for Norman, his dad; John, his brother and a few for me as I am struggling too.  Thanks.