WOYWW 840

 Lovely weather again up north, not the heat of down south but lovely sunshine and a fair bit of breeze.  Monday we went to Morecambe and fancied a ride along the prom to the Lifeboat Station with me on my new scooter and hubby walking alongside.  About half way along he was ready to turn back as the wind was so strong so I did a couple of yards more and tuned back.  It really was a bit on the wufty side.  Then I noticed people walking towards us were quite well wrapped up with jackets buttoned or zipped up to the neck and a cap of some kind on.  Not a day for the sands or for going out onto the stone jetty.

So we made our way inland, did a bit of shopping and went home.

Tuesday saw us meeting up with friends and having a spot of lunch before heading back to ours for tea and cake.  We had made an 8 oz all-in sponge at weekend and I put them into four small cake tins and iced and butter creamed each one differently (well three of them, the fourth went in the freezer).  One was lemon, one coffee and the other just jam and buttercream.  Please do help yourself to a small slice of each.  They went down well with John but Ann is gf and so I had to buy her a small carrot cake.  I only cut small pieces so John and Chas could sample them all.

I always leave the base paper on

This is my desk - Ann and I have a challenge running between the pair of us and here is my desk followed by my two pages in the album started with Jo Rice a while ago.

Now to head over to  Sarah's Craft Shed where you can link in with all the other members  to see what they are doing.  Over we go, quickly come with me.

Jeudi Journal - Diet

 "Nina and her friend from school, Diane, were meeting for the first time in years, well, about three to be exact.  They had arranged to meet outside the gardens in town and they were going to go for a coffee after Nina had had her hair done.  It was one of those heavy oppressive days where a thunderstorm is threatening so Diane was hoping that she did not have to wait for long.

Along came Nina, right on time with one of her usual fancy hairstyles.  You never knew what she was going to do with her hair, especially in their younger days when she had worked part time shampooing for a local saloon and things hadn't changed much as they got into their thirties.

"Hi" said Nina as she hurried um to her friend, "I haven't kept you waiting have I?"

"No" replied Diane, "I had only just got here myself.  I was hoping you wouldn't be long as I am ready for a spot of lunch."

"Oh" said Nina, "I thought we were just having a coffee."

"Yes, we were," replied Diane, "but you see I am absolutely starving.  I'm on two diets - one doesn't give me enough to eat so, if it is ok with you, could we have lunch please?"

"Certainly" replied Nina with a smile on her face looking at her old friend.  Diane had certainly put on weight since she last saw her, in fact, at first she had wondered if her friend was pregnant.  She hoped it was the coat that Diane was wearing that made her look like that."

I made the thundery background with some Pan Pastels and then used some Lavinia shops to create the scene behind the two girls.  To comply with the theme at Art Journal Journey which the talented Halle has set for us which is Botanicals.  I hope my trees in the background and the flowers between the two girls will qualify for this theme.

WOYWW 839

 Gosh it has been terribly hot for all of you down south, not so up north where, I am glad to say, most days the temperature was cooler than what you had.  Usually I feel that we have been dealt with a rough deal weather wise but this time - no.  I was so glad it was cooler here, apart from a few days, but even then it wasn't the same heat.  How people coped at Wimbledon I don't know.

They say we have to get used to these temperatures as it's going to get hotter and hotter as time goes on.  That's good news for hoteliers, guest houses etc as people might choose here rather than abroad of the weather is hot.

I stayed in as much as I could, my legs were swollen with the heat so they stayed as high as possible most of the time.  Did see a nurse at the doctors, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner to be exact, but when she saw the state of the (leaking and really swollen) legs she said it was beyond her to deal with it and so needed to see a doctor.  She didn't want me seeing a junior doctor (they would have to seek advice of a fully qualified doctor just as she would) so she made me an appointment  for the 17th July.  The first time I could see someone.  That was three weeks away, still two now.  We have seven full time doctors. all partners, in the practice.  What is happening to our nhs?

So the old brain has not been working very well either and legs needed to be up as much as possible so my desk is a reflection of it all

I need to do a card for a swap.  Did one but i should have just made it two of the same instead of thinking I'd do a different one for the other person.  Now I am stuck in the thought process with all these stamps out and nowhere to go.  HELP!!!

Oh, in the top right is a gift i wrapped for my friend's grandeee.  She is so adorable and on the way from the surgery the other day I called in Morrisons.  Saw this little sunsuit, fell in love with it, and bought it for her.  Her mummy liked the birthday card I made for her so I made a tag for this parcel.

Hopefully by next week I will have sorted a card out, in the meantime I will just pop over to Sarah's and see what everyone is up to.

Art Journal Journey

 Scraping in on the last day of June (where has it gone?) to join Matilde at Art Journal Journey with her fabulous theme - People.  I jut haven't done enough pages and so rushed in at the end with three in succession.

Today we have two aspiring  (note not inspiring) girls dressed in their frilly tutu's dancing in the local ballet school production of Swan Lake.  Just imagine how proud their parents must have been as they watched the twins on stage.

Little did they know, but Meghan had a strong desire to be the White Swan and so she had made an attachment for her head-dress so that she felt like that is who she was.  Obviously she had little knowledge of the story, maybe if she had she would not have wanted to be the White Swan.

Another page which I found already sprayed up.  All I have done is stamp some swans on it to represent the ballet (looks as if Meghan is riding on the back of one of them), and cut out a white swan which is peeking out                  of the top of her head-dress.  Meghan obviously thinks she looks "the part".

Art Journal Journey

I almost gave this a title as it shows the young boy waiting on the wall for his girlfriend.   What a shame she turned up with her younger sister.  Perhaps her mother had done it on purpose, made her look after her younger sister, or maybe it was just a coincidence.  I wonder what happened next?

I decided to join in with Matilde at Art Journal Journey who has People as her theme this moth,  I meant to post this one yesterday but had a bit of a problem  and so it is getting close to the wire, or should that be July 1st?

Like Friday's post the background was one I found in a drawer on which I stamped some brick walls, added a couple of strips of masking tape, some script and a splat!  I had obviously covered the card with some Gesso to begin with and then I think I had used sprays to give some colour.  They do have a lovely sheen to them.

There is only tomorrow left to join in so I am hoping to do another page but there is no telling what will happen.

Women

 Well, on Thursday we had a blog page headed "Men" and today we have one headed "Women".  I wanted to do another page for Matilde's challenge at Art Journal Journal and so came up with this one featuring women.

I've wanted to do an extra one or two during this month but my health has not allowed me to do as much as I wanted, the perils of aging.  So here I am, at the end of the month, with at least one page but there is another one complete and one in my head.

I was helped by the fact that searching for something I found some journal pages I had done quite some time ago - just background colour, so knowing Matilde's challenge was People I searched in the drawer of Tim Holtz figures and selected these three women.

I had bought an Andy Skinner stamp called Enigma a while ago and not used it so I inked it up and stamped patches of it here and there.  A favourite stamp of mine was done by someone I used to know personally, Penny.  And so I selected two of the complex creations (Mandelbrot set) which I like as patterns in their own right, and a title was born for the page.

So here is another page from me for Mathild'e's challenge at AJJ - hope you like it.  I'm close to the wire but hopefully can get at least another one in.

Jeudi Journal - Men!

 Have you ever wondered, as the two on my journal page today obviously have, about men and science?  The quote I am using today is "If we can put one man on the moon, why can't we put them all there?"  No, well does this quote make you start to think?  Or does your other half/brother/son or whatever male is in your life not annoy you enough to think like that?

"Eden and Lacey were two good friends, both married with one child - Lacey had a little girl, Eden a little boy.  The children had been born just a month apart and so the two girls spent a lot of time together.  This day they had gone a walk together whilst both children were in Nursery.  It was lovely to hae time to themselves without the children, although they loved them dearly.  

They had wandered to the edge of town where the woodland started and they stopped by the old ramshackle house that used to be quite pretty in its day.

"Oh, it's so good to get out in the fresh air" said Lacey, "just what I needed after the morning I had."

"What's the matter?" asked Eden, "Robert annoying you or is it Darcey, she seemed ok this morning when you dropped her off and I never noticed anything between the two of you?"

"Oh it's Robert, as if you wouldn't know.  He is so annoying.  At times I think he wears those darned head phones just to block out my voice.  I have to ask him something at least three times, the third time shouting so he can hear me.  I get quite worn out repeating myself over and over again and finally shouting at the top of my voice.  He really is so annoying.  If we can put one man on the moon, why can't we put them all there?"

"Erm, I can see what you mean and I fully understand why you feel the way you do but all men aren't the same.  Paul is a gem and I have no desire for him to be banished to the moon."

"Not today you can't but just wait until he annoys you and you will see my point.  I'm think of getting a dog and teaching it to chew plastic things like his ear phones."

Eden looked at her friend smiling as she did so and she did understand, it wasn't the first time Lacey had mentioned how Robert was permanently attached to his computer.  She knew she would hate for Paul to be like that.  She also knew Lacey's mood would change in a tick when she saw her beautiful daughter again.  She did look so much like her daddy that she couldn't be mad at him for long.