Jeudi Journal - Magic

The quote for today is "It's better to take a risk than miss a moment of magic".

To begin with I sprayed some blue and some green ink on the page but didn't like it so I used a paintbrush to spread it about.  It ended green as expected.  Then I messed about with various figures because I already had an idea in my head as to what I wanted to portray.

I came down on the side of using the girl in suspenders as she was the closest to a magician's assistant.  For the head I chose my new Crown of Roses plate and the large head from it.  Sadly the head was just that too big so I chopped a bit off - namely one strand of hair - and the outer roses got clipped a little bit.  The other figure was the dog one but I changed heads and put a plain human one on and then used the trousers I usually  choose for this jacket.  

The story behind the page is a role reversal one where the magician's assistant is firing an arrow at the apple on the magician's head and the magician is taking a risk in allowing her to do so.  Hopefully he won't be hit and therefore miss out on the magic he performs (well, we know he will be safe as the arrow is in the apple).

Both figures were coloured with Promarkers as was the arrow, apple and bow.  I used a gold 'Script' pen to colour the stars through a Dylusion stencil and then put a dab or two of 'Wink of Stella' on top of the stars, but am not sure it is working as I cannot see much twinkle.

The words are new to me and the accessories are all newly drawn so therefore I am entering this into Art Journal Journey where Jo's challenge is nearing the end and is to use something new or a new technique.

Wonder what we have for February?

WOYWW 556

Wednesday again and apologies for missing some of you last week, promise not to miss you this week (unless something happens like the computer goes kaput!).  I will be on the computer shortly to visit Julia, our head desker and then all the other WOYWW'ers here.

Still waiting for my stamps for my fairies/backgrounds but decided to do some more work in my mini Moleskin Journal for a change.  So I set to with my Distress Ink Pads and my inking tools and got several pages done for backgrounds for the future.  Have now only got three pages to fill with figures but had to come to a full stop as I have no images for them.  I have now filled the book with the few Stampotique images I have plus a few Octopode ones and finally all my Zinni's including the ones I bought in the sale (thanks Helen and Shaz).  I still have to do some doodling on the pages so will show you just a couple for now and unfold them bit by bit when I have nothing else to show.  

This little journal is really bulky now so I must apologise for the dark shadow (centre) on the picture above - the first one must have been in a better place in the book so it scanned better.

Especially for Julia and LLJ I am showing you something I bought last Wednesday evening, too late to show last week so it has been saved for today's posting.  A friend alerted me to this whilst we were messaging on the phone and following a lot of research into the various gin/teapots I could buy I settled on Asda's - because I liked the set and because the price was right.  If you check some of the teapot and teacup sets they are up in the £20-30 range and above.  This cost me £9 for the teapot, £3 for the milk jug (for tonic or whatever) and £4 for the sugar bowl (what???? - for the lemon/lime slices of course).

Now what do you think about that?  I can just see me sitting with Sue on the patio sipping our G&T's this coming summer.  Roll on sunshine!

Jeudi Journal - Ask My Kids

"Ask My Kids, they know Everything" is the latest quote chosen by me from my new plate of quotes by Dyan.  I thought it would be relatively easy to do and I started out with a painted background which got a bit messy.  I decided to use Amsterdam's Burnt Sienna with a little of Dina Wakley's  Cheddar mixed in.  It went on rather patchily and not quite as I had hoped for.  Not to worry, the leaves from the Dylusion Stencil in Amsterdam Yellowish Green helped to disguise it.

For my figures I wanted to do something not quite so obvious so I went down the road of using dogs.  Not Dylusion dogs either - to ring the changes I used the Katzelkraft ones.  I just love the expressions on these faces and felt that the little pug sat by his mother is sort of looking up at her with a kind of sad look and the little guy next to him is a bit cheekier and saying "what on earth are you on about" judging by the expression on his face, "of course we know more".  Am not sure the baby of the group, who is far busier with his cup of hot milk, really knows what is going on or is even part of this conversation.

Because I wanted it to be mum and not dad who featured I changed heads from the original Dylusion figures so we have a rather grumpy looking 'mum' standing there with her hand on her hip.

Not sure if you can tell but I have highlighted some parts of the 'family' with a little Glossy Accents - the cup of the baby dog, the bow tie and nose of the middle one, the bowler hat and the eyeballs of the pug and the nose of mother.

As the words are new and the Glossy Accents is a new one plus the Cheddar (gorgeous isn't it, thanks Angela for putting me onto it) I am entering this into Art Journal Journey where the theme, by Jo, is something new.

Will pop off now and see what Wendy has done.  See you next week.

WOYWW 555

Julia thinks her desk looks a mess - I think mine is too.  It's been a funny old week with a lot of back pain and a procedure to have at the hospital.  But more on that lot later, you are here to see my desk in all its glory.  Why?  Because that is what I do, each Wednesday joining in with Julia and the other deskers and baring my, ahem, desk.  Pop along to see Julia's and join in the fun.

I did say a couple of weeks ago I would show you what I did with some fairy stamps - well, still haven't done them.  Not for lack of trying as I have started but realised I needed more stamps to do the background (the ones I thought would work didn't).  So here is the start of some fairy cards.

Just to prove I started at last

turning the corner - my Vagabond

and the whole picture (below)

As you can see my desk is in a bit of a pickle.  I am trying to get my journal done for tomorrow's challenge, I have my box of white card out, my trusty old Vagabond is waiting to be put away along with the circle cutters and the sticky backed paper I use for the circles on my fairy cards.  Oh, and there's a few tiny inkpads in a tiered container that I thought I might use but didn't.  A bit further down on the left is my box of Christmas stuff (not put away yet because I cannot reach into the cupboard for fear of my back going) and a bag of dumfing which I have not been able to do - again because of my back.  My Distress Inks are in the lounge on a trolley so I can do a bit whilst resting my back.

Health Update:

Went to the chiropractor on Friday and she was thrilled I had been having such a good couple of weeks so she went even deeper.  Well, it has not been that good since.  I have had pain at the slightest movement in a morning including Monday when I had to go to the hospital for the Endoscopy Camera Capsule.

Getting into the car, ever so carefully, it went and so began the agonising journey, in rush hour, to the hospital for the 8.30 visit.  Just made it.  Luckily they let Chas stay with me and he rubbed my back for a solid half hour and got it stable.  Then I had the belt fitted, the receiver attached and I swallowed the copper pill.  Luckily for me I had the 'new' pill which meant instead of a sip of water I could have a glass and I could drink water when I got home.  At 2.15 I had a slice of bread and butter and at 5.30 I had some fish, veg and boiled potatoes.  Bliss!  At 9 pm I took the contraption off.

(T shirt tucked into my bra so you can see the size of the white belt full of those stickers and wires and the receiver attached by a tube sticking out of the bottom of the belt.)  Brilliant technology!

Next day they rang early to remind me to take the belt and receiver back but as my back was so bad it ended with Chas having to take it and me having to lie flat with a hot water bottle on my back until the neighbours and our gardener had a row!  But that is another story.

Not a good week for crafting or anything - hope it gets better so am resting for two days (if I can, I hate sitting about) in the hopes my back settles.  Can't see the chiropractor for three weeks as she is in India on a much deserved and needed holiday. 

Jeudi Journal - Smile

The last of this session is "Smile it is the key that fits the lock of everybody's heart" and it is one I had on the bottom of my list with the words "where do we put this one?" so it got forgotten about and now is in at the end.

For mine I decided that I would do an Industrial background choosing to use a Gabrielle Pollocco Stencil, 'Rivets', so I mixed black and white paint to give a steel grey (or battleship grey as the brother in law would call it) and then used a black inkpad to put the rivets of the stencil on.  Didn't work!  Holes  and lines too fine.  So I mixed some black paint with some water to make it a bit more fluid and used that - not very successful but it gave an Industrial look to the page and I told myself any smudges looked in keeping with it all.

I then started to go through the heads of my Dylusion figures to find one with a smile - do you know there are not that many and I ended up using "Survivor" and the small figure with the big head - the closest two I could find to having a smile.  I wanted to convey the message so chose a face that looked very sad for the third figure.

The whole page was quite drab with the grey and black so I decided to use my new stencils of leaves (thanks Lorraine) to represent grass and leaves growing on wasteland by this industrial area - two shades of green, very similar, were used and I was quite pleased with how they turned out.

The figures were added and then the small figure had her hands held out as if gesturing - or could it be they were holding something?  Well, that gave a cue for a key to be added and I had an old die of a lock shaped like a heart - perfect!  A few more red hearts and the page was finished.  At least it has all the elements on so I hope you like it.  

Next week we begin our new set of quotes so more challenges lie ahead and some are rather difficult!  Ooer!

As this has my new dies on I can enter it into Art Journal Journey again where Jo chose to have some reference to 'Something New' on it.  Hurray, I can enter this one now.  Thanks Jo and the Team.

Australia - I Want to Help NOW - Do You?

I have, as some of you know, spent time with my friend in America in the past following the devastating fires they have had in California.  In fact the house I used to stay in burnt down one year and when we went to visit what was left was like a scene from "War of the Worlds", horrible to see what people had gone through.  Pictures and the news is not quite the same as reality.  This past year her daughter, with whom I have become great friends, went through fires in her area but thankfully her home was left unscathed although they were evacuated at one time.

My little sister (younger and smaller) lives in NSW, Australia and my cousin is in Ballarat so I have a vested interest you might say for wanting to keep up to date about the fires in Oz.  Also there is my dear friend Shaz who posts on WOYWW and whom I met one day when she came over to Manchester to stay with relatives and then a few years later when she made the trip again.

So you can, as no doubt guess, any news on the fires in Australia is foremost in my mind and through the media I have picked up on one or two things that have left me in tears.  How far can we trust what we read in the media.  We know how they can manipulate words so that we question what we are reading - truth or fiction?  We can only read what we see and follow this up with real life stories whatever and whenever possible.  

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/05/paradise-lost-locals-flee-eden-as-australia-bushfires-race-towards-them

Last weekend when we spoke my sister said she is lucky in the fact that Goulburn has not been ravaged by fire - as yet.  But fires rage all around them and every morning when they get up there is a layer of white ash over all the window sills and furniture.  She told me they estimate that one billion animals and birds have died to date, she has been reduced to tears to see, for example, burnt out land littered with charred bodies of animals caught by the fire on TV.  The news does not always relate reality like that ATM machines are not working and people are running out of money, supermarket tills are not working and whilst Australia has dealt with bush fires before they have been able to go to another state for provisions and/or money - now every state is being affected and in the same boat.  People who have fled their homes are now saying "pack as much food, tinned, as you can when you leave your homes".

My cousin in Ballarat wrote that a day before she could see the trees at the back of the houses across the street and that was it, that day she could see a little further.  The fires are 4-500 kilometres away but she could still smell the smoke and that there was a real sense of sadness and gloom around the place.

Those on WOYWW may recall Shaz in Oz telling us about two firefighters who had lost their lives just before Christmas when a tree hit their truck following a call out - you can read about volunteer firefighters here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-50887982

Harrowing pictures have emerged of people living on the beaches, of animals burnt and receiving treatment or running away from the fire.  These are the pictures that tug at our heart strings and make us ask "What can I do to help?"  I did, originally have a whole host of pictures I had picked from the internet to show on my blog but then I thought that some of them may be too upsetting to most, and if you want you can search in Google for things that you want to know and see.

An article - a set of Tweets, by a guy raised in Australia but now living in Germany set me off on the trail of looking into the fires and wanting to help, can be read here on the Bored Panda site
https://www.boredpanda.com/australian-wildfires-new-south-wales/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

There are, as well, a few handfuls of conspiracy theorists insisting that this is all fake news.  But they're being drowned out by Australians thankful for the support, and non-Australians enthusiastically looking for the best way to make a difference.

A wallaby licking its burnt paw

So if you have stayed with me, followed the links and read the words of Bodie Ashton you will no doubt now feel that you want to do something and join in with the hundreds and thousands of complete strangers around the world who are putting their hands up saying I WANT TO HELP.

Remember seeing it on tv that Serena Williams had donated her prize money to the fire relief?Australian comedian Celeste Barber has raised more than 26 million dollars in under a week to help fight the deadly bushfires, Chris Hemsworth pledged one million dollars to bushfire relief charities and Kylie Minogue, Selena Gomez and Nicole Kidman have donated large individual sums.  No doubt there are others - this is BIG!

There are lots of places you can donate to, depending on where you want to help maybe, but this country is going to take a long time to recover and I personally feel they need as much help as they can get.  The broader picture takes us into what we are going to do in the future to help save our plant but for the moment here are one or two places you can make donations to.  Thanks!

NSW RFS: https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/

Port Macquarie Koala Hospital: https://www.koalahospital.org.au/

Givit Queensland: http://www.givit.org.au/disasters

Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery: 

St. Vincent de Paul NSW:https://donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-nsw/vinnies-nsw-bushfire-appeal-nsw

Koalas in Care: Koalas in Care

The Rescue Collective: The Rescue Collective

WIRES Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service NSWWIRES Wildlife Inforation Rescue & Education Service NSW

Victorian CFA Victorian Country Fire Authority

Findabed (for temporarily housing people displaced by the fires) https://www.findabed.info/

Adelaide Koala Rescue: Adelaide Koala Rescue

South Australia Veterinary Emergency Management (SAVEM), which enters fire zones to rescue and tend to native wildlife, pets, and livestock: https://www.savem.org.au/

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth

Find a Bed  Find a Bed

WOYWW 554

Alas the fairies did not come out of the packet.

As you can see they remain where they were lat week.  Perhaps this next week?

Instead on my desk you can see I have been doing my art journal in readiness for tomorrow and you are getting a sneak peek which I have never done before.  No excuses, I have had a very lazy week and all I have done craft wise is my art journal - but I have done two weeks so that I have one for next week as well just in case I do't feel up to it.

Next Monday I go in hospital to swallow a camera and have to sit and do nothing all day - mind you that includes not eating and I have to go from midnight the night before until about 11 am before I can even have a drink of water.  So thinking I might not be up to much Monday/Tuesday I got two pages done this week.  

You never know  might surprise you all and do a fairy picture too.

Still haven't done my post about Australia either but I intend to get that done later today and hopefully get it published on here.  The good news is my sister had her op and despite having a bad chest with the smoke everything went well so I have been busy texting her and visiting my cousin who is in a nursing home - am I forgiven for not doing the fairies?

Leaving it there for now and hopping over to WOYWW to see what Julia has for us all and then have a snoop at one or two desks - always good to have a snoop on a Wednesday.  See you over there!

Jeudi Journal - Don't Know How

"I don't know how to put this nicely so I won't" is the quote for this week.  I felt it needed a "But" after it and an explanation which could have been lots of different things.  So mine would have to be something to do with a scaredy cat - not sure who is the most scared - the two boys holding hands or the cat sitting on the wall.  The little Miss certainly looks like she is saying something over her shoulder - and has no qualms about it.

I painted the background with my Amsterdam paint in Naples Yellow Red and then put the brick wall at the bottom of the page via one of the brown Distress Inks.  I used Forest Green DI to stencil the leaves down one side and across the top.  

As you can see I once again used my new stamp from Christmas but this time used it with a smaller head.  I think this is a great plate from Dyan as the body is fine with both smaller and larger heads.  I almost used my new Zinnis but in the end chose to use the two boys and was delighted when I found that they can appear to be holding hands.  You can just imagine, if they were the types to be afraid of cats they would have those silly expressions on their faces and hold hands.

I think the cat I chose from Tim Holtz' Crazy Cats looks a bit perplexed with its crossed eyes - or is it scared of the boys?

Next week is the end of our quotes last chosen so at the moment we are coming up with a different set.  Lucky for me Wendy keeps a check of what we have done, many a time I would have done a duplicated quote had she not been there to wag her finger at me.  So I am off to find some and add them in a mix with hers.

I am pushing my luck and entering this again into Art Journal Journey's challenge.  I am using the body of the new stamp that I used last week but I figure it is still new and hopefully eligible, especially with a new head.

WOYWW 553

We are already one week into 2020 and today I went to see my cardiologist for the annual MOT and came home with an appointment for 2021!  Plus this is my second WOYWW this year.  Can you believe it!

I have been doing a lot of reading into the fires in Australia and I feel very strongly that I want to do something to help.  There are lots of organisations we can donate to and so I wrote a long post about the fires ending with a list of places that you could donate to.  Then my computer went silly on me and the whole post looked like it was on a piece of 'ticker tape'.  (Like a white strip with black writing on it, made for uncomfortable reading).  So I am going to set to and rewrite it but in the meantime please join me in praying for rain - lots of it for them.

As for crafting, well, I haven't done much.  I did stamp all those Zinis I showed you last week, cut them out and coloured them ready for my small Moleskin Journal.  Now I need to do backgrounds.  I don't make resolutions, because they never last with me, but I am going to go back to drawing and painting portraits like I was taught by Tracey (Scott) and I want to try to make cards a bit like those I see others do with Lavinia stamps.  Now I do not get on with Lavinia stamps but I managed perfectly well with Cardio silhouettes at Christmas so I bought a couple of silhouettes of fairies.

My desk shows my portrait journal, the two new sets of fairy stamps and my new journal which I found in the cupboard.  Brand spanking new!  I only have about six pages left in my current Thursday Journal so I was delighted to find two brand new ones - the other has all black pages so was not really suitable for what I want at the moment.

Now I am going to go to You Tube and watch a few videos to see how they do those lovely fairy cards I see.   See you next week - will it be fairies or faces?

Health Update:

Yesterday was not good, neither was Monday when I went to see a friend and walked up and down all the time nursing my back but Sunday was a totally pain free day.  I could not believe it!  Having had a visit to the chiropractor on Friday, first in three weeks due to the holidays, I did not expect a full day like that so it was lovely to reflect on it.  But on the whole I think there is a marked improvement and I keep telling myself there are folks out there far worse off than me.

Cardiologist gave me a thumbs up and as I said at the beginning I have an appointment for my next one - in 2021!

Jeudi Journal - Easy

No, I am not saying it was an easy page to do - it was actually a carry on from last week.  Remember last week's Journal page said "I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit but I can't get the flaming top off the bottle" - well this week a cheeky little miss has done it and is saying "Easy when you know how, isn't it?"

Love this little figure, she has such a cheeky face don't you think?  I thought she was perfect for this week and as she was a Christmas present from my friend, Lorraine, it worked in nicely that she had "the look" for this quote.

Eager to get going I stamped three of these figures on one sheet of cardstock and coloured them all in differently when my back was hurting yesterday.  I then played about on an already black background and settled on the oranges and browns one.  A bottle with the top flying off and a few stars (there were so many flying about the sky last night weren't there - fireworks I mean) soon had me making a page for the New Year so I decided to go along with "Happy New Year" in coloured letters.  The words are meant to represent streamers along the top.

So there we have the first page for 2020.  Nearly at the end of the last lot of quotes we chose so I think it's a 'heads together' moment so we can come up with more for the coming weeks.  Hope you like my page.

Ooh, just gone along to Art Journal Journey to see what the new theme is and I think my page will fit the bill - I have "New Year" on it and a new stamp has been used so here we are joining in with the fun at Art Journal Journey.  Thanks Jo, a great theme again.

WOYWW 552 Happy New Year!

Cor Blimey!   Christmas has been and gone and here I am wishing you all a Very Happy New Year - may it be a good one for you all and bring you Love and Good Health in abundance.  

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and got some nice crafting goodies in your stocking/sack.  I got a new Dylusion figure to stamp with from my bff and yesterday some Zinis arrived courtesy of someone on WOYWW who had picked up on the fact that I had missed the PaperArtsy sale earlier.  Thank you - you know who you are, you wonderful enabler you.  

My Dylusion stamp has come in useful already and she will be making her first appearance on here tomorrow when I have to do a journal page for my challenge with one of my crafting friends.  I stamped her several times and enjoyed colouring them all in whilst nursing my back on Monday and yesterday I decided which one I would use but have left the page naked until today when I will be completing it and no doubt stamping those little Zinis so I can play with them in my Moleskin.

My desk (ok, set up)

On the left is what was really on my desk - my journal page painted ready for decoration - and to the right at the top are the new stamps that I will be using, courtesy of Father Christmas (aka my bff, Lorraine).  Below are my Zinis and my one JOFY bought in the sale at Country View Crafts.  In case you are wondering about the green and red at the back - it is a little bag like a pair of legs and feet for a Christmas Elf.  You can't see but there are some striped braces at the top of them.  These belonged to my friend Mary in America and I loved them so much she gave them to me one year.  Christmas without them to remember my lovely friend wouldn't be Christmas.

To finish off I must show you my surprise present to myself.  Was browsing the internet when I saw a friend of mine, from my polymer clay days, had an Etsy Shop and she was showing a brooch she had made - I knew straight away it was me and so I got in touch with her and said I wanted to buy it but could she make some ear rings.  I expected just some white ones with dots on but what a surprise when all these ear rings came through the post.  I really wanted a pendant and so I asked if it was possible for her to make me one - it arrived yesterday.  Now I have all these to dress up in.  I am so lucky to have Irene as a friend.  She is so talented and I have lots of her jewellery pieces (mainly cane work) that she has made over the years, but for the moment these are my new favourites.

Happy New Year again Everyone!