Junk Journal - Albert - a Happy Ending?

At last we have the final chapter of Marie's Journey.  The observant reader will notice that the train ride took an abnormally long time but I did so enjoy myself playing along with Erika's theme of Vintage or Modern at Art journal Journey.  Big thank you's to Erika for giving me the spurt I needed to do some crafting and dream up "Marie's Journey".

This also covers one of the challenges I have with Lorraine as it contains a clock in the picture.  Just a couple of torn papers also, one depicting a train and one representing a love letter that had been carried in Albert's pocket for almost a full year.  Apart from the word 'beloved' I didn't think the page needed any more as the Tim Holt figure says it all.

There are two blog posts today and there were three yesterday so you might want to scroll down to see what has happened up to now unless you were just waiting to read the 'happy' ending which is right here.

"As Marie neared the huge clock in the station she could not decide which was making the loudest noise, her knocking knees or the beating of her heart.  Then she saw him, Aldrich was there, looking so handsome in his straw boater and wearing what she imagined must be his best suit.  He was sat, directly under the huge clock, his hands casually resting on his knees and a faraway look in his eyes.  But wait ... his face lit up as he saw her and he unfurled his long frame and rushed towards her gathering her up in his big strong arms, carpet bag, hat and all.  He swung her round and round and all her butterflies disappeared, tears streaming from her eyes as she was once more reunited with her beloved."

A short ending to a love story which spanned the miles but at least it was a happy one.  Now will we find out what happens next?  You will have to wait and see.

Junk Journal - Such Joy

"It was a beautiful morning when the train pulled into its final destination in Switzerland.  Maria was so excited, would he be there at the station waiting for her, should she wear her hat, would he recognise her - after-all it had been almost a full year since they had last met.  Yes, they had poured their hearts out to one another in the many letters that had gone to and fro between them, yes she loved him with all of her heart and yes, she was certain of his love for her.  Oh the butterflies rose up in her stomach and did a can-can dance until she felt quite sickly.  'Be still my beating heart' she muttered to herself.  

Just then the Legrand family emerged from their carriage and Yvonne rushed over to wish Marie all the best for her future and Marie said that if there was ever anything she could be of assistance with Yvonne was to get in touch.  Monsieur Legrand tipped his hat and smiled as the boys gathered around him and beckoned for his grand-daughter to join them.  Celine and Celeste walked by and said 'thank you' having had such a lovely time on the train with Marie.  They had so enjoyed their many games of I-Spy.

Then it was time for them all to step from the train and so with her carpet bag in one hand and her hat in the other Marie walked quickly along the platform.  'By the clock' was the arrangement and sure enough, she could see a huge clock face above and to her left.  Knees knocking she made her way across to where her beloved would be waiting."

The observant amongst you may realise that this is virtually the same figure that I have used for Marie - the only difference being that I carefully removed her hat and she now has one hand down by her right hand side and hidden from view.  

The train picture was from a piece of scrapbook paper and the photograph shows some internees arriving at Chateau d'Oex who were given flowers and other gifts by the Swiss people.  "Britain's ambassador to Switzerland at the time, Sir Evelyn Grant Duff, went to Chateau d'Oex to welcome the British soldiers, and wrote in his diary that evening "It is difficult to write calmly about it for the simple reason that I have never before in my life seen such a welcome accorded to anyone although for 28 years I have been present at every kind of function in half the capitals of Europe.  At Lausanne some 10,000 people, at 5 am were present at the station"  

"Our men were simply astounded.  Many of them were crying like children, a few fainted from emotion.  As one private said to me: "God bless you, sir, it's like dropping right into 'eaven from 'ell"

(information taken from a BBC News Report by Imogen Foulkes - Switzerland's Forgotten Role in Saving World War One Lives)

Junk Journal - Music

For this page I wanted some pictures of the war and I came across an article about Switzerland, which, as you probably know, remained neutral during the war.  Apparently between 1916 and 1918 the country accepted 68,000 sick and injured soldiers.  When the first train carrying wounded prisoners crossed the border into Switzerland the rail tracks were lined with cheering Swiss citizens.  There was even a band at the station in Montreux and by the time the train arrived in Lausanne thousands of people were waiting and throwing flowers into the carriages.

I wanted to depict this in some way and so my page contains two photographs copied from the internet, a stamped image of a small chalet high in the mountains and a young man holding a bugle and wearing a Boy Scout type hat.  I hope you don't mind this deviation from the story.

This fits in with one of the challenges for my Junk Journal with Lorraine - "Hat" - the one the young man is wearing.

Junk Journal - Yvonne

"Marie was still intrigued by the old gentleman who had boarded the train at Villefranche sur Saône but no-one seemed to know much about him.  

Leaving the young girls with the sisters she made her way along the train, peeking in each of the compartments as she went along.  Imagine her face when she saw that not only was the old gentleman in one with the four boys but that there were also two others and an older girl.  The whole compartment was full!  Curiosity got the better of her and she stood towards the end of the carriages wondering what on earth was happening.  She did not think there was anything amiss but she could not understand why there was not a female companion with them.

Suddenly the door to the compartment opened and who should come out but the young girl.   This was her opportunity to see what was going on. "Excusè M'amselle" said Marie and then taking the bull by the horns asked if they were all travelling to Switzerland with their Grand Papa.  

They stood in the corridor and chatted at some length whist the young girl told her that Monsieur  Legrand was indeed a benevolent philanthropist who, since his wife had become ill and was in a sanitarium in Geneva, had dedicated much of his life to rescuing young children from the streets of Paris and taking them to a better life in various parts of Switzerland and she was his grand-daughter, Yvonne.  Normally she stayed behind in their home town to be close to her grandmother but as he had a large group to escort through France he had requested that she go with him this time.  

He did not believe in splitting siblings and so the two brothers she was escorting were to go to a rich clockmakers in Lucerne, whilst the two brothers who had boarded the train with him were off to Berne and the other two were to stay around Geneva.  He had placed over forty children up to now and hoped to go on for a few years yet although he did realise that he was tiring with all the travel.  Maybe that was why he wanted the oldest of the boys to stay near to him so he could take over the journeys back and forth as he was certainly street wise having lived on his wits around the barges on the Seine for a number of years."

Well, that is going on a bit but I hope it has kept you amused and I promise I will be bringing the story to an end tomorrow but there is one bit more to the story today from an interesting fact I found out about Switzerland.

Junk Journal - The Dressmaker

For this page I found a copy of an old "Woman's Weekly" magazine that they brought out for some anniversary they had.  How fortunate that the date coincided with the period I had my Vintage pages set in.  I had a great time reading through some of the articles and particularly liked the one featured at the top of this page, especially the promise of a new sewing pattern (see box).  I had some wrapping paper, or is it craft paper, in my big box and I tore a piece off to use on the bottom of this page.

Originally this page was yellow with orange circles on so I had gone over it with Gesso and hen with Tea Dye Distress Ink followed by Gathered Twigs.  Lesson learned - it rubbed off despite trying to heat set the ink.

I found two ladies who had long dresses on and decided that they could be sisters for the purpose of my story:

"Marie and the two little girls, Celine and Celeste, decided to spend the day looking out on the countryside and having the occasional little game of 'I Spy' to help pass the time.  At one point they were joined in the viewing carriage by two young women.  Sisters Germaine and Madeleine Martin who were quite well travelled having spent some time in England where Germaine had learned her trade, dressmaking.  In fact she had held quite a prestigious job in one of the larger stores in London where her younger sister had joined her some three years previously. 

They now were hoping to set up their own shop just outside Paris but first wanted to travel to Switzerland to see what Geneva had to offer in the way of fashion.  Marie and the little ones were delighted when they were shown some of the latest fashion magazines from England and, although they could not read the articles, Germaine and Madeleine took great pleasure in informing them what the magazines were saying - of course, the pictures were self explanatory.

The little ones thought it quite rude to discuss 'Chemise and Knickers' and it brought about a fit of giggles from both of them."

Tomorrow we have to begin rounding the story up as it must end on Friday - will Marie meet her own true love and will they live happily ever after?

Now to enter this into Art Journal Journey once more, if only I had found this challenge earlier.

Jeudi Journal - Hole in the Bag

"You may not have lost all your marbles, but there's definitely a hole in the bag" - Wendy's choice this week.  My fault it followed so soon on from the last journal page about a "bag" as I am the one who puts the subjects in some kind of order.

I decided to use my Brusho's for the background for the next couple of Journal pages and this one was my first but was using Ken Oliver's products rather than the Brusho's.  I wasn't too sure about them and thought they didn't split into quite as many colours as the original Brusho ones do.  There was, however, a 'Platinum' wet bottle and I tried that but you cannot see it here.  It gives a kind of shimmer so I guess it would be better being used in larger quantities - or maybe a 'squirt' giving a line.

The two figures seemed obvious for my page and I decided the eyeballs could represent marbles for this page.  I added some "splotches" from a stencil with white paint but it hardly showed up.  Then a found that a white pen would not work on top of the product so I outlined the splotches with a black pen.

Next week I will give the real Brusho paints a try to see if they are any different.

Junk Journal - The Old Man

"It was late that evening, rain falling steadily, when the train made a stop at Villefranche sur Saône and an old gentleman boarded.  He was very well dressed and sporting the most magnificent moustache but what was strange about him was the fact that he had four young boys with him, all quite differently dressed.  Two of the boys, the youngest ones in fact, were obviously brothers as they were dressed identically but the other two were - misfits!

One of them, the eldest of the four, was much more poorly dressed and he seemed quite protective of the youngest of the two brothers as he constantly had his arm about him whilst the fourth young boy obviously came from a more genteel family.  He had the saddest of faces and looked quite close to tears.  Marie was fascinated and wanted to find out more about these five latest passengers."

For this page I chose to just use a coat of Gesso lightly over the black card and used a stamp all over to imitate rain.  I was trying to make the page look a little sombre.  Luckily I found a page from an atlas which fit in quite nicely and chose Villefranche sur Saône as the place for my stop simply because I liked the sound of it.  

Now where on earth is this story taking me?  To be honest I am not quite sure but I am enjoying myself and cannot wait to upload it and join in, once again, with Art Journal Journey - how I wish I had found this blog challenge at the beginning of the month.

WOYWW 495

Another Wednesday another WOYWW with Julia.  Head on over and see what is afoot!

Well, "C" cards got held up, I have done four, I think, and then there are the few I found from goodness knows when.  Still think the charity cards might come out before too long (out of the shop that is).  Bless my son, he says not to worry, much as they like my Christmas Cards ("because you always pull out the stops and make one you know we will like").  I have not to worry if I don't get time.

We are so busy emptying the bedroom of the few final things - the house is in complete disarray and I keep doing a five or ten minute Junk Journal because I am enjoying doing it.  Silly I know but when you see my desk you will understand.  Plus one has to unwind!

Please don't ask me to say what is on my desk because I haven't a clue what is in those boxes, I think the top one (Brown) has the finished or half finished 'C' cards in it.  The grey vase is one I brought back by car, from Venice many many years ago for my Mum.  It is very fine glass and I am scared of it being broken so it has been moved from the en suite for safety whilst the bedroom is being fitted.  In the foreground to the left is my Junk Journal and I have only three more days to finish my story so that is why I need to do a page each day if possible.  As I only spend a short time on each it is doable.  

Have a lovely week - work starts on Monday - not a clue what I will be doing or feeling over the next few weeks - is it really almost Christmas?

Junk Journal - Breakfast

Continuing with our Junk Journal Lorraine and I were now ready for our second challenge which is to include a tag.  I took a manilla tag and covered it with bits of paper from a dictionary (read the story, the writing is supposed to signify the newspapers arriving on the train) and then went over it with some blue and some green Distress Inks.  Actually what was left on the Ink Tools was enough to just give it that little touch of colour needed to take the starkness away from the Gesso I had used.  I found some cut out Sunflowers in my drawer and added some beads for the centres giving them a thick coat of Glossy Accents to make sure they stayed well on.  A sprig with some leaves and a couple of figures from Tim Holt and we were ready to continue with our story of Marie and once more enter it into Art Journal Journey where Erika has chosen 'Vintage or Modern'.

"Marie woke feeling restless that first morning on the train having spent part of the night tossing and turning whilst she thought of her dear sister Emmeline.  She began to feel guilty that she was escaping the brunt of the war whilst those she held dearly were suffering.  Still it had been Emmeline's choice to do what she was doing but there were other members of her family that she would worry about for years to come.

Mamma had persuaded her to make the journey to safety because of her heart condition which made her a little on the delicate side, and Papa had promised he would take care of her mother until his dying breath.  She could only hope that the love she had with her intended was going to be as strong as that of her parents.

She made her way to the breakfast car, not glancing in any of the other carriages for fear of whom she might see.  On arrival in the buffet section she was seated across the aisle from a delightful family, the Bertholet's, who had the most enchanting two young daughters, Celine and Celeste.  It was lovely to have someone to chat with and after breakfast she and the two young girls watched through the window as the beautiful countryside with its bright yellow sunflowers sped by.

What was the future going to hold for those dear young girls wondered Marie.  She only hoped that they would all reach safety before too long.  News of what was happening in the war was reaching them via the newspapers that were collected at the various stations as they travelled on and it was not good news."

(I am no historian and my geography is weak so this is purely the ramblings of a Junk Journaller and not to be taken too seriously - Enjoy.)

Junk Journal - The Sister

Well I got a bit carried away with this and did another page - nothing to do with the list of what to include with Lorraine.  I just had a moment (sleepless one) the other night when I could fit it in quite nicely and so here we have Marie's thoughts.

The train she is on is a 'sleeper' and that first night, after embracing the 'glow' of the thought of being reunited with her love she began to think of those she had left behind.  Especially her sister Emmeline.  It had been heartbreaking leaving her family not knowing how her big sister, who was a nurse on the battlefields of Flanders, was.  

And so the story goes on and I am once again entering this into Art Journal Journey where Erika has chosen "Vintage or Modern" as the topic for November.  Just a week to go so I had better think of another page reasonably quickly for this to progress.

Jeudi Journal

"I have heels higher than your standards" although I think I must have chopped off the first word "Honey" at some time before sticking it in.  As it is a quote that Wendy stamped for me, because it was her choice for this week,  I don't have another one.

I began with a background that was kind of partly done.  In red!  Went over with various of other colours, too vivid - slap some white on to quieten it down - a bit of stencilling - some sequin waste used as a stencil.  No better - who said she was looking forward to making backgrounds?

The 'never fail bottle tops, credit card and bulldog clip' techniques gave it a bit more life but by then I had had enough and so the figures went on.  So here you have it- the tiny figure is saying that she has heels higher than the lazy girls standards - well that is my interpretation anyway.

What will next week bring?

WOYWW 494

Gosh, in 6 more weeks we will be at the 500 mark!  What an occasion to celebrate - halfway to a thousand.  And by my reckoning that will be the first post of the New Year!  Well I had better get my skates on and start making some "C" cards or else ...  I did find these hanging around in a box when I took the other boxes out of storage (ie the depths of the cupboard).

an overhead shot

Left to right we have my silver tin with my striped box on top - both full of "C" stamps (where the others are I do not know) then some new green cardstock with a couple of new stamps on top of some Inkylicious brushes.  Did toy with the idea of looking for my old brushes but gave up and bought these as I have seen a card by Emma which I adore and would love to replicate.  If only I could do them as good and as quickly as she does them.  To the right in glorious colour are some "C cards which I must have made in a previous life - wonder if anyone recognises the top one?  Now who did I do that with?

At the back are my black and white journals for my doodling which is going to have to take a back seat for the time being and to the left of them is a bag of bits which is going to be used for my new Junk Journal Challenge with my friend Lorraine.  Bless her, she has been so patient with putting the start off because I have not been well but I think the time has come to 'ull my big girl panties up' and get cracking.

So what are you up to?  Think it is time for a quick whizz around the WOYWW World and see what my friends are up to.  Why not join me over at Julia's and then carry on and bare your desk like us.  See you there.

Junk Journal (JayJay) - with Lorraine

In an attempt to get us both motivated Lorraine and I have decided to do a "Junk Journal" - neither of us having done one of these before. We decided to use the Eileen Hull die to make our Journal cover but as mine is not yet finished (ahem ... started really) I began by making my signatures and doing my very first page.

How lucky that it just fits in with the sizing for "Art Journal Journey" as each page (single side) is 4 1/4" x 8".  Really good to see that Erika chose to do "Vintage or modern" which fits in really well with our requirement for our first page which had to include some lace.  So many of my friends have been enjoying entering and telling me about this blog challenge that I just knew I had to join in, albeit a bit late.

So here we have Marie wearing her best hat and gloves as she prepares to journey from Paris to her beloved who is waiting for her to join him.  

I was really pleased because this page has allowed me to use a piece of lace from a tag that my dear friend Mary once made me.  Now I can keep it safe in my 'JayJay' and have a constant reminder of someone I miss so very much.  As time goes on I hope I can keep many of my memories in this way.

Jeudi Journal - Who Left the Bag of Idiots Open

Back to Wendy's choice again with "Who left the bag of idiots open" and once more, no magical background from me.  Instead I had a page that had been ruined by my using Promarkers to colour in and it had bled through to the other side and so I decided to use it with just black paint.  Nothing covers like Dylusion black paint.

I remembered I had put a small bag away in my 'collage' box only the other day and I thought it was brown on the inside so I went in search of it.  Thank goodness I had put it away.  A bit of clipping to give it a bit of shape and then to fill it with ???  I went through a medley of figures and finally came up with the dogs plus some 'hats' from my Crazy Birds.  A bit of border to use as streamers to fill in with the party mood and then a big bulldog with slippers on - dicky bow, glasses and ladies hat?  The idea here is "Who looks the daftest"?

WOYWW 493

Another week has gone by and at last the carpet has been cleaned so we should be able to get back to some (and I do emphasise the word "some") semblance of normality.  At least the furniture can go back into the lounge now but then we have to get the bedroom emptied and ourselves moved into the spare room for the main bedroom to be fitted and a new floor to be laid.  Despite not making any Christmas cards I cannot wait for the season to be here - we should be living in a normal home by then.

Here is my desk today:

OK still no "C" word cards as yet but I did get two birthday cards made.  I just fell in love with this stamp a while ago (January in America to be honest) - it tickled my sense of humour and so two lucky (??) people got these cards for their birthdays on the 10th and 11th November.  Both were delivered by me to the Vicky Stampers but unfortunately I still did not feel well enough to stay - I had packed my bag ready and even put a sandwich up.  Felt so bad letting my bff down as she had saved me a seat next to her but by the time I got there I was feeling sickly again.

You can also see a couple of stamps out that I intend to use some time in my journal for the Thursday challenge I have with Wendy.  There is the list below showing all the topic names for the coming weeks.

Hope I can make it on Sunday to Leigh Show as I have planned on this being my last - retirement at last from demo'ing.  Getting a bit long in the tooth for keeping bubbling and enthusing for a full day with an early start.  I will miss folks but hopefully will be able to go and have a look around and a chat to my favourite vendors.

In the meantime I am linking to Julia and going for a nose to see what other deskers have been up to.

Hugs for now, and BTW, the missing gift?  I ordered something else for my friend and half the order came, the other half is still outstanding.  Not to be put off or too disappointed I wrapped the 'half' a gift up ready to go next day.  Then I asked Chas to get my tote out of the garage (remember so much has been put away because of the lounge) and on opening it there it was - her proper gift!!!  I had put it in there in readiness for packing for the club.  Relief and annoyance took a swipe at one another - I am so annoyed I did not think to look in there before - but I am sure I did!!!

Jeudi Journal

Another already done Journal page background where I have just used a figure and the words for today - "Out of My Way ... I have my Sassy Britches on!" - this time my choice.  I was a bit upset that I used a Kate Crane page for my rendition but it was already done and I did not feel like painting and I was unsure what I would do with it anyhow.  You might recognise Kate's style here.

Hopefully this coming week will see me making a background myself in the journal and then I can get back into the swing of doing these journal pages although when I am going to even think "Christmas" I just don't know as yet.  We have still got furniture piled up in all the rooms of the house as the carpet has to be cleaned and treated first.  Roll on January!

WOYWW 492

Here we are again - another Wednesday and, for me, another empty desk.  Feeling much better but still no crafting done as such and certainly no "C" Cards yet.  Beginning to doubt there ever will be this year.  We now have had the lounge ceiling re-plastered, painted and are awaiting the carpet being cleaned before furniture can be moved back and the house returned to some kind of normality.  As it stands we are in a "pickle" and cannot find anything.  The hardest thing is that I have put a birthday present away for my bff and have not a clue where.  We have looked and looked but nothing turns up.  Help!  I need to give it to her on Saturday!

Anyway, as I can only show you an empty desk again I decided to take some photos of my wall art in the craft room.  Have to have something interesting to show you:

This is just as you come in through the doorway - the cat is a calendar and not my artwork - if only....

This is above the window which is where my space is for my usual working - just below the window.

This is kind of behind the doorway ... and below is my actual desk today.  Now someone may recognise what is on show.  I have been sticking two pages together in this little notebook to make the pages a bit stronger to take pen and ink drawing.  The writing is what accompanied the book and I intend to reduce it to the size of the book and paste it inside the front cover as a constant reminder of where the book came from.  

As Bugs Bunny used to say "That's All Folks" and so it is over to Julia and her desk to see what she and other WOYWWers have been up to.  Wonder how much "C" Card production has been in swing up and down the world?

Jeudi Journal

This is the start of a new kind of topic for Wendy and myself.  We are taking a quote from Dyan in her Dylusional range and working to that with the picture.  No theme, no colours etc

Sounded good in essence where I could spend my time on the backgrounds which I hadn't been able to previously with the journal challenge as it was.  Then it came to it.  Wendy likes to work her picture to the words so she will probably find it easy but I am floundering.

Not being up to doing any brayer work I chose to use an already completed background page and just chose a couple of figures (again already coloured in and cut out) to place on the page.  So here it is: