Art Journal Journey - King Crow

This is a page in my Pan Pastel Journal.  To begin with I scrunched up some tissue paper, opened it up smoothing out but leaving some creases evident and then stuck down two pieces.  Next I coloured all over the page with various Pan Pastels in blue, green, yellow and pink allowing the colours to overlap in places making a secondary colour.

Then I began stamping various images - with the bird from Tim Holtz being just off centre and a crown on his head.  Clock face stamps are by Non Sequitur as is the branch which I thought, at first,  looked very much like lightening in the sky, and as are the birds.  All others are Tim Holtz stamps.

Using an eraser I made a circle in the sky to represent a sun or is it a moon?.

This is my entry into Art Journal Journey where I set the challenge "It Must Have Wings" for this month.  I do hope you can join in with something that has wings - I have given you some ideas if you check the home page of AJJ.

Art Journal Journey - Baby Owl

  I bought myself a journal from Lavinia because I loved the rag paper in it but then I found it difficult for me to stamp silhouette stamps perfectly on the rough surface so quite often I stamp on a piece of cardstock and then add it to my journal.

As the pages in my Lavinia Journal do not take to my stamping very well I made this on a piece of cardstock and then stuck it into my journal.  I never thought of there being a problem for me when I chose a rag page journal rather than a smooth one.  However if the card I use is not big enough to cover the whole page I often do some stencilling around the smaller ones.   

Owls have wings and so for this page in my Lavinia Journal for Art Journal Journey and my theme "It must have wings" I chose to use Bijou, the baby owl in the Lavinia collection.  He needed to sit upon something and so I looked at my flower collection and chose the Forest Flower so that I could incorporate some colour into the head of the flower and I chose blue for the base with orange, its complimentary colour, next to it and finishing off with lemon.  Now I know that flowers grow vertically but if Bijou was to sit upon it he needed it to be horizontal and so I used a bit of artistic licence with this one.

It is usual in my Lavinia journal pages to use both Elements and Versafine Claire inkpads and colour images ie in this case Bijou and the flower head, with Inktense pencils.  As this was only made on a smallish piece of card I tried to add some interest on the actual page surrounding it with some stencilling You can barely see it on here bute it is there I assure you).  For this I used the blue ink that was left on my number 9 stencil brush and the stencil called "Glory".  I like to work on different sized pieces and put them in my journal and then try to work out what to do to fill the page.  A favourite quick and easy way is to use a stencil randomly on the white space.

Art Journal Journey - It Must Have Wings (Introduction)

Once again I have been asked to be a Guest Host for Art Journal Journey.  I have been working on one or two ideas for my theme, which is "It must have wings" which covers my love of Lavinia stamps and the fairies that Tracy draws herself and has made into polymer stamps.  But it does not have to stop at fairies, if you think about it lots of things have wings - butterflies, dragonflies, ladybirds and other insects; birds (don't forget chickens, hens, owls etc),  angels,  what about aeroplanes, lots of things steampunk, mythical creatures and so on.  You could even think of some buildings, the White House has its West Wing, hospitals have wings and so there are lots of wings when you think of it.  I wonder what you will come up with?

I am so looking forward to seeing what you make in your journal (please read the dreaded rules which you will find at the top of the AJJ Home Page.   Remember to link your actual post and not just your blog (instructions again at the top of the AJJ home page) and I will do my best to come and see what you have done and leave a comment for you.

My first post for this theme is from my Lavinia Journal and features two fairies, Twila and Lumus, with one of the new fledglings. Although you cannot see the wings on the fledgling you can see that both fairies have beautiful wings which I coloured with my Inktense pencils and then used Wink of Stella instead of water to merge the colours together, I just wish you could see the sparkle.  

Inks used: Versafine Clair Nocturne,  Fallen Leaves, Pinecone, Shady Lane, Paradise, Warm Breeze, Morning Mist.  Elements Lime Punch, Blue Atoll.

Lavinia Stamps used: Twila, Lumus (lge), Tree of Courage, Tree of Hope, Fairy Path, Gate & Fence, Bluebell, Woodland Fern, Silhouette Foliage, Orchard Grass and Slender Mushroom Mini.

As it is Thursday I have my page to do for the challenge between Wendy and myself.  Today the quote Wendy sent to me is "We are not Old People, we are Recycled Teenagers" and here is my page using Dylusion figures.

Diane and Sue had been friends since primary school, neither had married and so they had been very close to one another for a number of years.  Both had been teachers in a High School working with teenagers and both were involved in the Girl Guides.  Diane was a Guide Leader whilst Sue had the older girls in her Ranger Unit.

It was a cold day and the two were returning home after a Parent Evening which had gone on until quite late in the evening.

"Don't know about you" said Diane, "but I am really tired, beginning to feel my age these days after a full day of teaching and then facing a whole load of questions from parents."

"I know exactly what you mean" replied Sue, "fancy a chippy supper, we haven't eaten since lunchtime?  I don't think I could face a sandwich and I certainly cannot cook anything now.  Are we getting too old for this game?"

"Come on Sue, it's just been a tiring day for us both.  We are not old people, we are recycled teenagers and after a good night's sleep we will both feel different.  Especially at weekend when we go to the jamboree at Hay Hall.  It will be fun to let our hair down and be camping again with the others.  I can't wait to go on the zip line again, it was such fun last year."

And the two went in the chip shop and ate a big bag of chips on the way home.  

chips in the UK are known as fries over the water. but I think you are all familiar with that.

WOYWW 830

 That's a nice number.  Just like the weather.  It's been glorious again hasn't it and we have been promised it  continuing to cover Bank Holiday Monday haven't we. That will be nice for those of you who are planning on doing something over the next weekend.  I think it might just be the patio at home for us as neither of us like busy roads and hold ups with traffic.

Well, I've got another online workshop on Saturday so hopefully there will be some cards to show you, or maybe I will just leave them as toppers and mount them up as and when I need them.  That way I can choose the ones best suited to the recipient and just add the greeting later.  Anyway, as I have nothing to show you again I guess my desk will have to suffice for this week.

I took this photo from the other side because it is on the table but when I turned it around it looked sort of squashed and my eyes felt a bit funny so I am sorry, it's upside down.  I was having a bit of a try out with some of the new stamps but I think I am too tired as I ended up with two attempts both going wrong.  And I am blaming the sun!  I don't think I need to explain anything as most things are self explanatory.

Well, will have to leave it there and see what next week brings.  Better pop over to Sarah's Craft Shed and see what everyone has been up to.  Have a lovely BH weekend.

Jeudi Journal - Shoes

 "You can never have too many shoes or friends" is the quote Wendy sent to use this week.  All I could think of was having a party in my Journal - lots of people and lots of shoes. In reality I searched through my images of the legs I use at various times.  There are more female looking legs than male and so I found lots of legs, in fact I didn't use them all.  This is  linked to Art Journal Journey where Erika has got Spring Birds as her challenge this month.

I had a page in my Pan Pastel book that was already coloured and had some flower heads stamped on it with Versamark and then the colour put on with a sponge.  At the top left corner was a piece of tissue paper with letters of the alphabet stamped on it, what the reasoning for this page I have no idea but I decided to make a flower out of the legs.  However, people have grown used to reading a story with my Dylusion pages and so I had to make one up quite quickly.

"Helen was chatting on the phone to her friend Sara and they were talking about some of their other friends who seemed to have lots of money for lots of things such as exotic holidays abroad, weekends at Spa Centres and who had flash cars to drive around in.  

Now both Helen and Sara worked hard, had well paid jobs or so they thought, but neither could afford to live like their other friends.

"Mel has so much money she doesn't know how to spend it.  The other day she was on about getting turkey teeth." said Helen.

"What?  What on earth are turkey teeth?" asked Sara. A minute later the penny dropped.  "Oh you mean Turkey with a capital T as in the country" she said.  "I thought you meant teeth like the bird, a turkey, for a minute."  Both girls collapsed into fits of giggles.

"I know Mel got a lot of money left to her by her grandfather" said Helen, "That's why she had that lavish twenty first birthday party.  I didn't have wealthy grandparents and mum keeps doing the lottery but never wins anything.  Guess we weren't born to be rich."

"Hold on," said Sara, 'we have far more than she has, than that whole rich lot have.  You can never have too many friends or shoes.  We both have those in abundance, and I have my Tilly, my little bird.  And our friends are sincere and our shoes, well, some may be from the local charity shop, but we do have lots of them.  Mum was only saying the other day I had to get rid of some of them to make room for other things.  I told her I am a shoe addict."

Both girls laughed before switching their phones off, but not before they had arranged to meet down the road after lunch to show off their latest pair of shoes to one another."

WOYWW 829

Well, there's nothing to show you despite my being been really busy this week.   I've been starting some crafting but not finishing it if you follow.  There's a lot going on but nothing finished at the moment.  A bit like three steps forward and two back this week.  So much so that I have even contemplated getting the knitting needles out.  Did try the crochet hooks Lynn but my right thumb is ready for another injection and it was a bit too much for it.

In fact my desk is a bit of a muddle and I've had enough so I've just left it that way for the night (it's Tuesday night)  and sat in my new chair watching TV and having a natter with my other half.  It's not often I leave my desk in a mess, preferring to tidy up at night so it's nice to go into the next morning but to be honest things went so wrong  with my stamping that I just had to close the door on it today.  So here is what it looks like:

I've been using my Pan Pastels but got myself so covered in them, especially when I used a charcoal grey one that I abandoned all thoughts of them and put them away.  You can see my box of newly washed sponges on my table.  The clear box by the water pot is full of my newest Lavinia stamps as shown to you last week, would you believe it, I have not done anything with them as yet so I think that tomorrow I will do a Journal page using those cute mice with the bulbs.  That might give me the nudge I need to get doing something at last.

Guess that's what you came for, to see my desk, so see you next week hopefully.

Jeudi Journal - Grumpy

 "Sometimes I wake up grumpy ... sometimes I let him sleep" is the quote for this week and I had to smile when I read it as I imagined lots of women out there agreeing with this.  Not so me as my other half wakes up fine, just snores at night which is annoying.  I was wondering how many of you have grumpy morning husbands, or one that snores?  If you don't have a husband I wondered if you have a dog that snores as mine used to snore like crazy - thinking of Elizabeth do cats snore?  Remember Milly and Molly from last week?  Well they have moved on from the parrot house and are now in the aviary looking at birds from other countries.

"Milly and Molly had really enjoyed the parrot house and now they continued into the aviary.  This one had species of birds which the twins had never seen before and they enjoyed reading the notices which identified the birds and where they came from.

"Oh, look at that one" shouted an excited Milly, "it looks just like Richard when he has just woken up."

What's he like?" asked Molly, "is he a Mr Grumpy when he wakens, like his twin can be if he hasn't had at least eight hours sleep?"

"Oh no," answered Milly, "he's usually alright, it's when the kids come home he gets a bit grumpy in a morning but mainly because they won't get up until lunchtime.  You know what these teenagers are like when they've left home and got into Uni life.  Are you saying Rupert is a Mr Grumpy in a morning?"

"Well, most mornings he is rushing to catch the train to the city but at weekends it's a different story.   Sometimes I wake up grumpy ... sometimes I let him sleep.  It's much better that way."  

Both girls had a fit of the giggles at the thought of Rupert being like the bird.

"We'd better not mention this aviary, or at least the grumpy looking bird, just talk about the pretty one up there with the blue plumage."

And with that the two of them made their way out of the aviary and off to the cafe for a cream cake and a coffee.