Jeudi Journal - Don't Care

 This week the quote from Dyan is "I don't care that you don't care" which seems a nice simple quote until you start to do a journal page using it - and include either a pocket or a tag so you can join in with Art Journal Journey and the great challenge set by Alison.

I had a problem doing the background, in fact I started another page as a result.  The first one was using two shades of Distress Inks and then a stencil over the top but it looked so "in your face" that I went over it with Gesso, a favourite trick of mine.  Then paint in three coats and I just gave up - I could not get it to resemble anything I liked.  Now all of this took some considerable time because my back has been terrible these past few days and I can't get to the chiropractor for a few weeks yet on account of the operation I just had.   It was 'do a bit' go back to sitting down with the hot gel bottle, 'do a bit', 'sit down' and so on.  In the end I had had enough!

So a different page and a quick smoosh of Peeled Paint and a bit of Tumbled Glass above and the Distress Inks did it again for me.  Then I took one of Dyan's stencils and popped some leaves down one side and across the top, fading them out as they progressed.

I like using several figures so I chose to put three boys and a girl on this week plus one of the dogs and I stole a rabbit from Janet Klein just because it was hanging around.  All of these were ready fussy cut and coloured in with Promarkers.  You will see that one of the boys is really the same figure but one with a different head and one with different legs to make the two of them different.

Story: The youngsters were having a great time playing out but then suddenly there were words and Priscilla decided she was going to go home and take the animals with her.  The boys were a bit disappointed as they had enjoyed playing with both the dog and the rabbit.  Sadly they were Priscilla's animals and she decided to take them home.  Jeremy was most upset and he began to cry which rather angered his big brother, Jim, who then used some rather heated words with Priscilla because he is so protective of his younger brother.  But, who held the ace in the pack?  She did of course, so as she flounced off with her pets in her trolley Jim shouted after her "I don't care that you don't care".

The trolley is a pocket so that it conforms to the challenge at AJJ and the pets are moveable and therefore could be changed into other animals.  Imagine a giraffe!

WOYWW 586

Another week has gone by, these days are going quicker than ever.  So it is back on the merry-go-round that goes under the name of WOYWW, the merriest blog hop that has been going for years and years, brainchild of the lovely Julia who will explain it all to you here.

I did say I would show you my last batch of iCads - to the end of July - so I am a bit behind with them you might say.  This time you will see I had a bit of help from AALL & Create by using some figures from Janet Klein and some bits I did whilst creating my tag book, shown last week.

But what is on my workdesk?  Well, haven't tried any stamping yet as I am trying to not put my arm through too much but I decided to do a bit of knitting.

Yes, not exciting knitting is it?  It is simply a rectangle to make a patch for my cardigan.  you know how children have "comfort blankets" well I have a "comfort cardigan".  It all began with the bad back, I would use the cardigan so that the hot gel bottle (or water bottle), with its own cover I might add,  did not burn me.  Only trouble is it became a favourite and I wore it every time I wanted some comfort from the pain so it got a good massaging across the back.  Either from poor Chas rubbing my back or the upright heater in the bedroom doing the job.  Eventually it wore thin and came into holes.  Being the type of person I am I could not part with it  as it had done me so much service so I decided to knit a patch for it.  Not the same colour but near enough.  After all it is only worn in the house when there are only the two of us.  Now the cardigan has a new lease of life, or will have when I cast off and press it before stitching it to the holes in the back.

A friend of mine sent for some fairy accessory stamps but when they came she was disappointed as they were smaller than anticipated so she passed them on to me.  They are now awaiting me stamping them onto the pieces of paper in these folders before putting them away.

Health Update:

Last Saturday I had to take the dressing off the wound and I was not looking forward to seeing what was underneath.  The clear sticky part of the dressing was very sticky and so I had about three goes, peeling a little at a time until the whole thing came off later afternoon.  It looked awful.  Bruised and swollen it is a bit of a mangled mess but I am confident the swelling will go down and it will be as neat as the original one.

You know those stickers they put on your legs and chest?  Well I had them on my left leg and right arm and when they removed them they have come up in perfect circular bruises.  Must be because of the blood thinners I take but they don't half look funny being perfect circles.  I am looking forward to washing my hair and having a proper shower as I am only showering from the rib cage downwards at the moment - the rest is a stand up wash job.  Good job I don't suffer with greasy hair.

See you all next week.

Jeudi Journal - Old

 A short quote this time "Old is the New Black" had me thinking immediately of a black page for the background with bright figures on it .. but then ... What?  My brain ceased working.  Next I thought of an old woman dressed in a mini skirt, hence a head with grey hair being on my page.  My third idea is the one I ran with so here goes.

I began with Tea Dye DI direct to paper and then smooshed with the blending tool followed by a stencil placed over and I took a bit of the colour out in parts using a baby wipe to give the appearance of old wallpaper, much as you would find in a charity shop.  Then I used Rusty Hinge DI for the floor and used another stencil to give it a bit of pattern, again went for the faded look.  

It is supposed to be the inside of a Charity Shop with clothes hanging on the rails, coats, dresses and trousers.  Then there is a Bargain Box full of shoes and boots and it looks as if something else has got in as well.  The story, well ...

"Bridget and her friend Martha have gone along to the local Charity Shop (I think it is a Goodwill Store in America) because high fashion at the moment is something a bit more vintage and this is the place to buy your clothes from nowadays.  In fact "Old is the New Black".  Especially as the prices are way below those of the shops on the high Street.

Martha has not been here before and is a little dubious so she is standing way down from Bridget and trying to make her mind up whether she wants to be seen in here or not.  After all she is more of a Goth than a high fashion dresser, and certainly not convinced about vintage clothing.  Bridget, on the other hand, has shopped here before, isn't that dress similar to the skirt she is wearing?  Oh dear, she is not very happy about that but rather fancies herself in the cute little number in blue, with her long legs she should look rather good in a short dress like that, probably from the 60's"

So there we have the scene for this week.  In order to join in with Alison and her challenge at Art Journal Journey I stuck the Bargain Bin on the base and sides only so it forms a pocket for the piles of shoes, and that yellow thing, and then I put tiny tags on the various bits of clothing that are hanging on the rails.  I hope you like the little coat hangers I used on the dresses, I think they are a TH thing from way back.  I knew I had them somewhere so a search on Saturday revealed them and they became part of the blogpost.

I am doing this blog post in advance and hopefully will get something started for the week after too.  Will have to see what tomorrow brings.

Stay safe and well folks.

WOYWW 585

Here is the finished book from my workshop with Tracy Evans the weekend before last.  Completed before I went in hospital so I could show you.

The last two pages (above) are the front and back covers on Greyboard which was Gesso'ed about three times and painted white twice before I could do anything.

The little book on the third photograph down opens up to reveal this

and here is the book stood up, angled so you can see how it is put together

I have never used these 'hot' colours before but I really like the combo so Red, Orange and Lemon will be coming out again in my craftroom.  I did a bit of brayering off on some cards, index cards amongst others, so you will be seeing this colour combo again and again.  

In fact my last batch of Index Cards took me to the end of the challenge and you will see I was playing 'catch up' on a few occasions.  Maybe next week I will show you them.  You can rest assured I will be chomping at the bit to get going again.  In the meantime here is my clean and tidy desk for all of you on WOYWW the longest running blog hop I know of here.

Health Update:

Most of you know I had a Pacemaker replaced on Monday, it was eight years old and had reached the end of its life.  I cannot praise the staff, Dr Little, Helen from the Pacemaker Team, and the nurses Sara, Karmen and Vicky for the way they looked after me.  Also the Royal Bolton Hospital for the care it has taken to keep patients safe, as I am sure many other hospitals have.  

I was more worried about the Covid test, in fact the operation did not faze me at all but I can honestly say, I got worked up for nothing.  No, it wasn't particularly pleasant but it was not bad and over in less than a minute thanks to Karen the lovely lady who did it at then Winifred Kettle Centre.  So please, if you have not had a test, but some time have to, don't get too worried.

Jeudi Journal - Men!

 Boy is it warm at the moment.  We are at last, in the north of England, having some hot weather and already I am wishing it was not quite so hot.  "Never satisfied" springs to mind.

For our journal page today we have the saying "Boys will be boys, and so will some middle aged men" so I did have a bit of a ponder, especially as I wanted to include a pocket or a tag to be able to enter my page in Art Journal Journey where Alison has chosen just that for the challenge this month.

I decided it had to be an outdoor scene and so I began swiping my Distress Ink Peacock Feathers across the top of the page, blending it with one of the tools as I went along.  I then tore some paper so that I could colour from the torn edge to give the appearance of a landscape and finished it off with Peeled Paint underneath for the grassy area.  Now to the figures.

Obviously I wanted some boys but I couldn't think of any men to use unless I changed it completely and used the stencil figures that Dyan has produced.  I didn't really want to use them so I used the most masculine figure I had and added a moustache to make it appear a little older.  I like things in threes or at least odd numbers so both boys came out and a dog to accompany them on their afternoon out.  Then another dog made it a total of five figures so I was quite happy.  I even managed to get one of the figures to look as if he is stroking the dog's head.

This week I wanted a pocket, so I thought about this and came up with the idea of flying kites and so the kite became my pocket, but so that you know it is a pocket I have put a smiling sunshine in it.

So the story goes that Henry and Percy have gone out with their dad and taken the two dogs, Biffo and Fifi, with them.  As it is a lovely windy day they asked dad if they could take a kite and fly it.  Oh, it promised to be good fun, running about the grass with the kite blowing in the wind, seeing who could keep it up the longest, and the dogs would enjoy it too as they would be chasing the tails on the kite.  

But ... did it work out that way?  Oh no.  Once dad got his hands on the kite "I'll just get it up in the air for you son" that was it.  He became master pilot and thought he was flying his plane to far off lands, lost in his dreams and oblivious to the shouts of the boys who wanted to fly it themselves.  Middle Aged men!

So that is my page and my story for this week.  If I get chance to do my next week's page I will do but I go in hospital on Monday (only found out Tuesday whilst we were away) for my new pacemaker to be fitted, so am unsure as to how I will be for journalling straight after.  So much to do, including going for a Covid test, before Sunday evening is here and I am ready to go in.  So if I am missing you will know why but I do hope to get something done beforehand.

Stay safe and well in these difficult times folks ... and keep crafting!

WOYWW 584

Doing this early and away from home.  Sitting on the patio enjoying the sunshine on a Monday afternoon.  No idea when I will finish it as I have to head back home tomorrow (Tuesday) for a Podiatry appointment but I do know that my desk will not change from what it was when I left it on Sunday.

Over the weekend I was on a workshop with Tracy Evans (and Soojay was there, and Cindy) doing a Tag Book.  I just left my desk as it was at lunchtime and headed out for a bit of R&R which Chas needed more than me.  So this is how my workdesk looks at the moment and will stay like that until the end of the week when I finish the tag book, hopefully.  Why am I showing you this?  Because I am joining in with Julia and the gang at WOYWW - if you don't know what it is click here and find out all about it.

(above) Just an assortment of things I was using, and

bits waiting to be worked on above.

Later:  Tuesday morning - had one heck of a storm last night.  It went on for ages too.  Never experienced thunder and lightening like it.  We are staying in a caravan and the whole thing shook at one time with one clap of thunder or sheet of lightening.  Hard to tell as they were more or less together.  I was scared!

So what are you up to at the moment?  Anything exciting?

Health Update:

On my way home, Tuesday, for the appointment with Podiatry I got a phone call from Helen at the hospital.  I am going in on Monday!  Help!  Monday!  Just glad really I did not have too much notice to worry about it.  The reason for the delay is that I wanted Dr Little (he is lovely) and he has been on annual leave for three weeks.  So glad Helen signed me up with him, as requested,  she is an absolute love!  No idea why I am worried apart from Covid etc but I have to go somewhere on Saturday for a Covid test.  One of those drive in centres.  Awaiting instructions re that.

By next Wednesday it will be all over and I will be heaving a sigh of relief and hopefully firing on all cylinders.

Jeudi Journal - New Beginning

Well, I couldn't find where to put my header?  Oh dear, this new learning curve is not friendly enough for me.  Yesterday's post had photos so large it was unbelievable but then I found the plus and minus signs so I learned one little thing.  Just found out about headings thanks to today's post.

Anyway, today's Journal page is one I found rather difficult "What appears to be the end is usually the start of a new beginning".  A nice enough quote but how the Dickens do you illustrate that one.  Bang goes the story I thought! And I wanted to add a tag to join in with AJJ's challenge by the lovely Alison.

Well, I was stuck with the quote and my other half suggested (probably because the page next to it was a jungle one) that I had someone coming out of the dark into the light.  So that is what I tried.

First of all a darkish green DI was swiped over half the page and then a yellow one on the other half.  I had to blend them in a bit with my Distress Tool and then I went to my drawer for some leaves.  Not a one left!  Right, stamps.  Could I find those leaves?  No!  I hadn't time to turn the place upside down so I drew some - and some fantasy flowers and 'shrooms for the other side.  I did decide to put an arrow to show the way the figure was going - from dark to light.

I already knew which figure I was going to use and so the body came out but which head would fit on a page this way round?  Only one - so that was it.  By the time everything was stuck down I could not see enough room to do my writing so the tag problem was solved.  I typed the quote on a piece of orange card, edged it in black, stuck a paper ribbon on the top and voila!  My page was done.  My story?

"Agatha had been feeling particularly low, her novels had not been accepted by the publisher of late.  Was it a bad patch she was going through she asked herself, afterall her first novel had been a big hit.  True, she had not been feeling very well and so she had not spent as much time reading the newspaper as she usually did, her knitting had taken precedence over everything else as she sat there in her little cottage.  She had, however, made one more attempt at getting her latest novel published, a particularly gruesome one that had lots of twists and turns in it.

It was the morning of the 6th August and she heard the letterbox go.  Could it be?  Surely not.  It was all in her mind, she could not be successful again, surely.  She walked with small timid steps to behind the door to see what the post man had brought and sure enough there was a brown envelope addressed to her in an almost familiar script.  It did not necessarily mean it was good news but she bent and picked it up and as she opened the envelope she saw that it was indeed, from her publisher.  Yes, the story had been accepted and was to be published and she was to attend a book signing in the nearby city.  Oh what a wonderful feeling the young Agatha experienced - and suddenly the sun began to shine.  

What appeared to be the end was certainly the start of a new beginning as we all know - for Agatha."

So hopefully, you my dear reader, will love doing journalling, making tags and including pockets in your journal.  You do?  Great!  Then join in with Alison's challenge over at Art Journal Journey.  See you there.

WOYWW 583

It's another Wednesday and time again to join Julia and the Merry Band at the longest blog hop I know of, here.  Why not join in and make new friends, show what you are up to and how tidy your desk is.

I forgot to show you my Bee Book the other week so here it is

Each page was decorated showcasing Tracy Evans' stamps because that was the nature of the challenge

There was no selection process, each name went into a random selector and I won!  Yes me!  I won some of Tracy's stamps and here they are - fab prize what!

Now to my desk for the reveal as to what is on it

  

Once again I am making birthday cards for members of the club I used to go to (we are virtual at the moment) so you can see I am making a different card to last year's but still with Laurel Burch stamps.  Not sure everyone will get a pop up one like this one I made for Gill.  However it did give me something to do, cutting and colouring, whilst my back was bad as I needed lots of cats for the coming year.

Health Update:

Still nothing from the hospital but it will have to be this month or I will run out of battery and I know they won't let that happen.  A bit worrying with the way figures are rising in the NW for Covid 19 but I am assured by everyone that every care will be taken to ensure I am safe.  I just keep remembering poor Alan and our dear Elizabeth and what they went through!

Another old health problem seems to have arisen but until this heart thing is sorted there is not much I can do about it.  It is a worry and not something I cope with very well so have gone into my shell a little but will come out of it shortly.