Jeudi Journal

Oh heck, forgot all about this with all the upheaval at home - and the excitement of meeting Darnell yesterday (more on that another day).

Wendy and I had "stencils" written down on our list but then we both realised that we probably had used stencils on all of our pages.  What do we do?  Wendy then thought of using the Dylusion range that are either figures or playing cards or shapes cut out, afterall they are still stencils, just a bit different.

Being perfectly honest I already had a page with keyholes on where I had used the positive (the actual shape) over a ready inked and patterned page to define the shape by swiping black paint around it. This moved to another place until I had four keyholes.  You will notice the top left one is slightly off the page - something I like rather than uniformity.

but I think you will forgive me with all that is going on in the house and with my mouth (think I mentioned yesterday I have developed an ulcer following my extractions and it is so sore).

So I selected four eyes from Dylusion Stamps, stamped them on white cardstock and just added either a blue or green iris, then I stuck them down on the keyholes to give the idea of "someone is watching you."

Lastly I took a white pen and put a line of tiny dashes around each keyhole.  And that my dear Readers is all I had time for.  Next week I promise more work ... now what is the topic?

WOYWW 373

These weeks are flying faster and faster - seems like only a couple of days since I was doing my WOYWW post and here I am again.

Still no desk as such but I now have managed to move some stuff and get myself a little corner to craft in - to be honest it is as big as the one I usually have but I am just lacking some of my materials. Cannot find the ones I want at times but hey ho, managed to get a card made for my workman who celebrated his birthday yesterday.

Not a clue what colours he likes so went with the greens and blues as he was wearing a green t-shirt on Monday.  As he has a beard I chose the Ship's Captain from my new stamp set.  Love those Brett Weldele stamps, added a few cogs and produced this quick card before bedtime.

When he walked in Tuesday morning I ushered him out straight away as Chas had not lit the candle on his cake - and I had not finished the bunting which was a last minute idea (not on photo)  Here he is, posing for me to take a photo (note the flowers cut from the Lavatera outside - just brightening the place up a bit.

Well, we are making progress and now have the floor laid in the hallway and Max is starting on the kitchen floor today whilst big bro, Spike, gets on with the top cupboards etc,  I have a dental appointment (another card to say Thanks) to finish and I am off to Knutsford to meet up with Darnell.

You really came here to see my desk didn't you, well, here it is - not much change but at least some space for card making with whatever mediums I can find - has to be Distress, oh such a hardship!

Oops, plastic bowl in my crafting area.  As you can see I now have some room to work and have produced two cards over the past few days - real progress.  Hopefully will get some painting on the desk tomorrow, Thursday.  Then by next week I should have my craft room getting back to normal.  I say 'getting back' as there is going to be a kitchen to put in order and everything in my craft room is covered in a film of dust!!!  I will need to take every single thing down/out and dust it - and the shelves.  Oh heck!

Right, before I have an attack of the vapours (Jane Austen talk here) I suggest you get on over to see what our lovely Julia has in store for you and follow the links to find more desks and lots of interesting stuff on them.  See you later ...

Prayers and thoughts are with the people affected by the terrible attacks in Germany, France and Japan.

Jeudi Journal - Words, Words and Words

This is our second Journal Challenge and it is "Words, Words and More Words". Luckily (because of the building work going on at home, and the trip to the dentist) I had a page started which would qualify for this so here is my rendition of the topic

This was started with Dyan and anyone who has done her Art Journalling will recognise the style straight away.  I only wrote a little on the workshop so I have finished it off now and added some bits around the figure to neaten it all up.  Surprise surprise, Chas likes it!  I do, now it is finished, but where did that bit of blue come from?

Am still in pain from the dentists, doubt I will ever have an extraction again.  Roll on drilling! Drilling is so not me but now ...  (In case you missed yesterday's post I went to the dentist on Tuesday and one of my eye teeth was a bit difficult to take out.  Wish we had left it now as it was not that loose.  She said it was the longest root she had ever seen in her 20+ years of dentistry.  Ouch!)

WOYWW 372

Am scheduling this post Tuesday as I am off to the dentist (petrified) for some extractions and tomorrow might not feel like posting.  Keep telling myself I would not be as worked up if it was straight forward but with being a Warfarin taker I am a little worried about the bleeding aspect afterwards.

Kitchen has begun.  Plastering finished last Thursday lunch time so it was all drying out time then on. Chas managed to get two coats on before we left for Harrogate on Saturday morning.  It was good for the two of us to get away from all the dust and mess.  The booking for my workshops had been done before  I knew of the timing for the kitchen and not wanting to miss a single Tracy Scott workshop I was determined to go.

I did a double spread in my Journal rather than two separate ones but as I wanted to paint my butterflies with some more colours I didn't stick them down - they still are not done!!  Typical?  Here it is

It was a New Tracey technique so I won't say anything about it except it was using Dyan's spray inks in a different way and it is very textured. Nice - now she is hooked on it so expect to see more.  I won't upload the next page we did but I will show you my UNFINISHED face from Sunday.  Had to dash as we wanted to get home to put more paint on the walls before the 'Dream Team' came back on Monday.

I want to build up more colour on her face, give her some hair and do her eyes - wonder if I can level her face out too.  I just don't seem to be able to do symmetry!

Anyhow, as our glorious leader is back (Congrats on recovery so far Julia) I had better show you my desk.  It is exactly the same as last week so here is my working area in another room.

a peek in my tote

and my books that are by the side rather than having been put back in the tote (naughty of me I know).  

You can see my clear pencil case at the bottom left and my other one bottom right.  The clear one had a small selection of things for the weekend in it, the other is full of coloured pencils which I didn't use in the end.

Before I leave you I will show you progress on the kitchen

above - looking towards the utility, and below - looking towards the archway leading into the hall which is the next painting job.

Rightio - now head off to see our Julia but be gentle with her, love you Julia - and then off to see Jan who did such an admirable job whilst Julia was in hospital and for the first few weeks of her return home. Jan, we salute and love you too, and all before we head on out to all the links to see what is happening the world over.

Wednesday:  Had extractions, last one was horrible.  Dentist said she had never, in 20 years, seen teeth with such long roots.  I think she had a struggle to get that one out.  Now it hurts and is still bleeding a little so I could have done this post properly as I am up and about.

Jeudi Journal

My friend Wendy suggested that we get together and do something. Well, she lives about 150 miles away and as it is a bit of a journey to go and play for a day we are doing a kind of challenge, just with one another, and we are making journal pages.  Both of us went on Dyan's Journalling weekend last year and neither of us had done much in our large journals so the last time I was down at hers for a few days I took some paints I wanted to use up and we both set to - simply colouring pages.

The other week we were on the phone and we decided to come up with a list of topics to set the 'challenge' and the first one is to include "stars".  Yesterday Wendy rang to see how the kitchen was going and to see if I was ready - gosh, was it the agreed date, the 14th already?  I had not done mine.

Haven't been sleeping well, too warm at night, so I got up in the wee small hours and found a page with some stars on, crept around the house, avoiding building 'tackle' and got my bits together.  This is what I came up with:

It's a page towards the back of the journal so it is a bit curved in the photograph.  My lettering needs working on but hadn't time to look at any samples (truth: not a clue where they are, or my books). She has gold stars stuck over her eyes from those peel offs that say "Merry Christmas" - hence the "Stars in her Eyes".

Wonder what Wendy will think?  Now to make a start on one for next week.

WOYWW 371 Chaos!

Well, here we are, mid July and I am wearing my padded winter trousers inside the house.  OK so I could put the central heating on but the house is undergoing change and the workmen would be sweating like blazes if I had the heating on.

This is now my craft room

and if you don't think that is bad try walking out of the bedroom into the hallway and turning left into this room to brew up and cook. Then you have to go back and into the bathroom to wash up the beakers etc.  Taking shoes on and off so you don't mess up the carpets.

This is the study, way down the other end of the bungalow and where most stuff is stored

of course, there is some stuff in the spare bedroom, some in our bedroom, some in the porch, and furniture in the garage.  Phew! Those are my rubber stamps by the way in the tall containers so everything is mixed up and everything will be full of dust for weeks, won't it?  Tell me it will all be fine, please.

Last week, despite the bad back/neck I made ten meals for the freezer.  Only five really as I doubled up on the quantities.  Did some baking too - have to keep the workers happy.  On the bad neck/back - I am pleased to say it is much better.  I was in so much pain I went to the osteopath and he said I was completely seized up.  He couldn't free me in one session so I had to go back the day after.  Now I have to go again tomorrow and am hoping that is the last visit for some time.  At £105 each time it is expensive but if it gives relief it has to be worth every penny.  If I don't do anything it is fine, washing up, cooking - anything with arms operating and being on the computer all still take a toll on the body. But hey, I should not moan, there are lots of people who suffer and lots far worse than me.

Yesterday the guys moved in, four of them, and began ripping our kitchen out.  Boy oh boy, did they work hard.  Took the tiles off the walls, the cupboards were soon out, the carpet up in the dining area, my beautiful Amtico Flooring ripped up (sob sob - see below), carpet in hallway up and floor covering in utility room up also.  What a smashing bunch they were, I called them The Dream Team, which was probably taken from Sue Tucker's naming of her helpers on her weekends.  They even cleaned up, dusted furniture before storing it in the garage and swept the floor.

Bob, the electrician

tiles are going and that dreadful hood

Chas watching Spike (main man) on the floor and Chris

hall carpet coming up

taken from the bedroom door - craft room is to the left so that might give you some idea of why the shoes go on and off as the hallway is dusty

as it was ready for plastering on Tuesday

So, apart from sloshing a bit of paint on a page with a baby wipe last night I haven't done any crafting.  Am hoping to remedy that soon and have a workshop booked with Tracy Scott at weekend so I need to have a go at drawing whimsical faces before I set off.  Just wish I could draw and paint like she does.

Right, wittered long enough, Julia will have my 'guts for garters' at the length of this and I guess most have switched off ages ago.  Pop along to see both Jan and Julia - Jan's the girl with the list so you can hop about on lots of blogs and see things far more interesting than the above.

Hope you enjoyed my last few posts.  Amazing how I kept going.

Wish It Was Still Last Weekend (Continued ...)

Sunday - another beautiful day (in more ways than one) saw the Four Amigos doing the Andy Skinner Workshop, photos of what I did here.

I had a photo taken with Tracy ON HER OWN but SOMEONE SNEAKED IN!  What's the face for Andy?

So Sunday saw us in the other classroom with Andy Skinner.  Now the evening before he had told me what they were doing and guess what? A million to one chance that someone would have been to his class at CHA would be attending Dare to Create LIVE - but I was that one. Bless!  Andy gave me other things to decorate my book with and I came up with 

Now I wish I had used a rust effect on the cogs but as I have plenty left over (and I bought some a while ago) I can do rusty ones on something else.

We are at the far end of the first table

and here's Lorraine and me painting our books

and Tracy with Cassie (with my apron on inside out)

After yet another hearty lunch (and a dib in the dried figs outside the classroom) it was time to do the collaboration - never done before but by golly it worked.  Tracy and Andy swapped about doing bits of the next workshop and we had a brilliant time.  

Not sure what Tracy was doing here

The only trouble was that with being so many of us the stencil I wanted was in use and so I had to wait for it for ages and now I want to do something else to my picture and give it more texture. Not had chance as yet but am working on making a slot in my timetable.  

That is me stood at the back by the screen - and Lorraine is in a red apron with a stripey top to the right of me.

Wonder what I was asking?

Nice photo of Lorraine - but me!!

When I got home I did add the 'eye' to it - I love Andy's eye with the little hand crawling out.  It now says "I (eye) Love (heart) ART" get it? Or is it better without it?  Not stuck yet so I'll see what others think first.

Now for some samples that were on display in the shop.  Not a clue who had done them but they were lovely to look at.

A firm favourite was this by Sue

(sorry about the hand and camera)

Here we all are with our works of art stood outside in the sunshine

I'm third from the left behind the lady in pink and next to Marc

So that was it - the weekend was over, sadly.  Time to pack up and go and make sure there were no last minute purchases you wanted in the shop.  Luckily Lorraine and I were staying over one more night but our choice of eatery was not good and we wish afterwards we had walked out.  Think if I hadn't paid £25 on entering for the two of us I would have thought about it. Here is Lorraine with her pudding though

and me trying to make her laugh

Next morning really was sad as we said goodbye or 'au revoir' to Tracy and Andy in readiness for Tracy to make her way to the airport. Well, Tracy looks sad but Andy looks delighted (only joking).

I'll leave you with a picture of the Dream Team - Sue and her helpers and then a picture of Sue with Bianca.

Whacked out - thank you all of you - you worked so darned hard to help the weekend go so smoothly - what a team.

the lady responsible for it all with Bianca

BIG THANK YOU's to Sue - She is Amazing!

Wish It was Still Last Weekend - Loads of Pictures

Last weekend, as I mentioned on Wednesday last, I went on one of Sue Tucker's "Retreats".  Well, to be honest it was her first but Sue is no stranger to arranging fantastic weekends as she has been doing workshops in the north of England prior to this, but this was her first Retreat.  Not that you would have known.  It was first class.

Arrived at The Holiday Inn, Coventry on Friday late afternoon having been driven down by my buddy, Lorraine.  Sorted ourselves out, registered in our rooms, saw the rabbits from my window ...

How many can you spot - I counted six one time

Here they are in close up (taken as the weekend progressed)

Then went up and joined everyone else.  I went and got us a couple of drinks from the bar and then in came Tracy (Scott, who does those fantastic whimsical faces - featured in Craft Stamper) so she joined us for a while.  Whilst sat down I thought I recognised one of the ladies in a large circle so we exchanged "I know you's" and found out that we had met last year at an AftH workshop with Dyan. Cassie and I became good friends over the weekend so along with Tracy and Lorraine - we were a bit like the Four Amigos!  (Yes, I uploaded this before but it sort of sets the scene).  Left to Right we have:
Tracy, Cassie, Lorraine and Me.

One of the Rooms we worked in

Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we went and met Tracy Weinzapfel for our first workshop. You can see what we ended up with here.  It was a technique showing how to layer up paint to get the effect that everyone loved.  We used some paper on it at one time which has given it a lovely texture, used some stencils (Tornado I think I used and I WANT IT) and, on the little squares, some of Tracy's stamps (had to get the two sets I loved most of all).  Here is a close up of the texture from the paper

Halfway through we broke for lunch and it was unbelievable what Sue had arranged for us.  Feeling rather full in the tummy department, and wondering if 'eyes had been bigger than belly' as far as the desserts were concerned, we returned to complete our painting.

At some point during the day we were all given a hat to wear. Apparently Tracy is always patting her painting and saying "is it dry yet" so Andy had enough hats made for all of her Saturday class to wear.  He also hid eight, yes 8, pink alarm clocks in her room to go off at some time ridiculously early Saturday morning.  

Cassie

Me (not a clue what I am laughing at)

Tracy

Me, Lorraine, Katy, Leonie and Marc

and below is Bernadette who I also met a while ago at AftH and reconnected with not long ago at Daisy's.

You can see just how many paints we had - between two people - and all DecoArt - so good stuff! Sue always makes sure you are never short on materials.  Plus the bottles of water kept coming and coming (Sparkling and Still).

Here are some of Tracy's samples (not sure if they all are hers but I think so).

Lorraine and I fell in love with this square one (above) with the sloping sides

and I loved this big one but I think it was maybe done by Debbie

All too soon the day was over and it was time to pack up but I am sure most people, if not all, had managed to walk away with a complete piece of artwork.  Thanks Tracy, we had a blast and learned a lot.

It was well worth the backache I started to experience, despite the tablets, but by early evening I had to forgo something to eat (had eaten my way through the day anyhow) and go to bed with a hot water bottle and a couple more tablets.  Lorraine had already arranged to have a meal with her sister and family so sadly I had to excuse myself from eating with Tracy and Cassie.

Think I will leave Sunday for another blog post ...