Wk 15 and Hussif...

 Wk 15 challenge for Documented Life was "Monochromatic: use shades tints and hues of one colour." I took the opportunity to try out the die I bought at the Big Stamp show at Ally Pally.

The word hussif keeps cropping up and it reminded me I made one for my daughter way back in 2006  this was the inside.

and  the original inspiration was this article in CQ Mag Online .

I have reluctantly decided to abandon the Craft Barn Q&L Challenge,I missed the deadline last time. Time is a bit of an issue at the moment and it is not really in the spirit of the thing if you can't get round to the other  posts. I found having two words to chose from a bit muddling unlike the Alphabet Challenge last rear which really  focused my mind. 

All behind.........

I am really chasing my tail this week. My computer was due in for it's annual hoover and in addition needed a bit more ooomph and changing from Windows XP so it was away for a few days, add two sunny days gardening (bliss), a haircut, Maylands Textile group and a visit to Excel for Creative Stitches and all challenges went into the background, So in an effort to get back on track ....
WK 13 Documented Life was "Ask someone to draw on your page -finish it."
This was the drawing my friend produced.

and this is how I finished it!

"

 for the Craft Barn Challenge the words were Flower or Travel.  Flower chose me as I started singing a very silly song.  "In the Flower Garden of  My Heart" is a Rogers and Hart song from the show "Pal Joey".  The scene is the "rehearsal" of a Follies Type number,my daughter was in the Bristol Old Vic production in the early days of her career and I have never forgotten it. Gelli print background and collaged flowers cut from magazines and put through my Sizzix,

If you click on the picture you should be able to read the lyrics ,if not you can read them here (No 10), they really are silly(and clever)
ADDENDUM - I was too late for the challenge.  Sorry I didn't get round  everyone else.
I bought this at Creative stitches yesterday, very relaxing to do, just need to think of some applications for it.

Onward....still have my runner to do.
I

Road......

For the Craft Barn challenge the choice was "art" and "road".  My first thought was   "Into the Woods" by Stephen Sondheim, only to find I have been singing the wrong words to this for years and also to many othr songs which I thought contained the word "road" and turned out to be "way" "path" "trail" etc....so I was becoming a little desparate when I remembered this from my schooldays. Funny how you can remember songs you learned then but can't remember what you put on the shopping list you left at home. I offer you the Uist Tramping song which I guarantee you will have on the brain for days.

My painting style hasn't changed much  in the last 60 odd years.
Here's a very jolly version

Craft Barn..Marriage

Catching up with the Craft Barn Q&L challenge.  The words were Marriage and Age, immediately   I started singing "Love and Marriage......etc", so here is my take. c

Although it is a dying institution it has been around for a long time so I chose this stamp of a couple from Pompeii and added one of my favourite photographs from my own wedding.  Gelli print background, stamp onto handmade paper and other stamps on deli paper.
and this is Frank Sinatra's version.


  My apologies if  this gets on your brain for the next fortnight.

Miss......

"Strong and Miss" were the two words in the Craft Barn Q&L Challenge.  Nothing came to mind for "Strong" but my brain immediately started singing "Have You met Miss Jones?" and it wouldn't stop.  I love the songs Richard Rodgers wrote with Lorenz Hart better than the later ones with Oscar Hammerstein, take a look at this list, I bet you start singing one of them. Some time I was given a beautiful cabinet card by a friend, she looks like Miss Jones to me.  As it was Valentine's week and there were hearts everywhere they had to be part of the design but I didn't want red ones. So I used red card as the background and dug out all my heart stamps, stamped them with grey achival ink and die cut some Memory Box butterflies. So here she is.

and here is a version by the old smoothie Frank Sinatra.

Silence and Dazzle...........

..second challenge Q&L  prompt from the Craft Barn.,   I thought of "Give'em the Old Razzle Dazzle"  from "Chicago" but who remembers this gem.

Ah, those were the days!
But the song that stuck in my mind was "I loved you one in silence" from "Camelot".  I saw the original production of this at Drury Lane. It was a beautiful production and years later I drew heavily on my memories when I was wardrobe mistress for our amateur production.  I can't remember how many cloaks I made and working out which bit of armour went where.
But I digress, my first thoughts were to do something medieval and romantic but my lack of artistic skills prevented that and then I had a very silly thought.
 I thought of the wonderfully ridiculous shoes which are about at the moment.  I would love to own a pair but I at my age I know the pain they would cause.My slippers is where I'm at. So it remains an unrequited love affair.   Tenuous I know but if did let me make this dazzling shoe.

If you don't know the song this is Julie Andrews's vesion. Audio only.

Q & L.....

the new challenge from the Craft Barn. Although I had really enjoyed the Alphabet Challenge and  because I had already given myself two challenges, I wasn't going to take part in this one.  However......the Q and L stands for Quotes and Lyrics and two words are given as prompts.  First ones Smile and Up.....after four days of not being able to get this song out of my head I decided the only way to do it was to put something on paper. So here it is..my take on "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" from the musical "Annie"

 I have chosen a smaller format this time. Gellie print and a mask I made from a magazine picture. I have printed the full lyrics and the creators names for future reference.   In distant historical times I played Grace Mr Warbuck's Secretary in an amateur production of Annie, I must have some photographs somewhere. When the children were little we used to play a car game where they gave me a word and I had to find a song, so I don't know why I hesitated in the first place. By the way, Up, Up and Away in my Beautiful Balloon was the other song which kept creeping into my head.   Off to see what everyone else is up to.