WOYWW 591

Well my desk is pretty clean and there is nothing to show you as I had to do a couple of swaps recently so I tidied up from them and sent them off.  Hopefully they will have been received now and so I can show you my ATC coins and the little holder that they travelled in.

The actual swap was just for something "circular" and I thought of ATC coins but when I got my swap partner I did give her the chance to have a card instead,  The lady I was sending them to had never had any ATC coins so was looking forward to receiving her first ones from me.  I just hope she was not disappointed when she got mine.  Here they are with the holder I made after following a You Tube video.

As you can see I chose to use Janet Klein images and I used circles (ie the ATC coins) and each one had a different background with different types of circles on it.  The 12 x 12 paper I used was plain on one side and I used an AALL & Create stencil to mark it with circles.  In the photo above each coin fits into a pocket and then has a flap which folds over.  Then the whole thing folds up and is fastened with a piece of cord looped around a brad

the other thing I did was make a tag for a Seaside theme on another group and I made four tags which all sat on top of one another with holes in, descending in size.  Here they are fanned out

and closed together

So that is what I have been up to this week.  I was hoping to be able to show you a plaque I made at weekend on another Tracy Evans Workshop but as my back went at the beginning of the session on Saturday it is far from finished as yet.  Hopefully next week.  As this is WOYWW I should show you my desk - totally tidy - so here goes

Complete with shadow!  Well, off now to see what others in the WOYWW Club have been up to.  Why not click on the link and join me there.  See you next week.

I must apologise if I did not visit you last week but with one thing and another (see below) the week just flew by with me not achieving much.  Will try to play catch up over the next few days.  Promise.

Health Update:

Went for my first Pacemaker check yesterday morning and all was tickety boo so no worries there.  Wish I could say the same about the old back pain and the shoulder.  Both are giving me a lot of problems but until Bolton's figures come down a lot I can't see the chiropractor seeing me.  We are in the process of ordering a new mattress, shame as the one we have now cost us £650 and is not yet a year old but we won't be able to sell it on and recoup some of the money.  Still, something has to be done to try to help alleviate this chronic pain.

Have had a cold looming all week but nothing has come of it - just a runny nose and a funny throat.  By the funny throat I mean it is kind of sore at times, ok at others but my voice just starts to disappear if I chat to anyone on the phone.  Peculiar! 

Jeudi Journal - Peas

What a kerfuffle have I had this morning.  The scanner would not work for me.  First of all it scanned the picture and then it disappeared and would not come back.  I reloaded and then turned the scanner off reloaded and still nothing.  All of a sudden, (madly pressing buttons) I got a message "this scanner is in use by someone else" or words to that effect.  Off it all went and then on again and voila - it appeared ... and stayed!

So here you have my journal page for this morning "Never be too proud to serve frozen peas".  I quite often serve frozen peas as getting the pea pods here is only for a short time in the season and I hate popping the pods for all the peas that I might need.  Plus I would probably eat too many on the way.

For my background I used the same pinkish colour as last week, but this time it was the left over from that week done in advance.  Then I painted a stencil with some white paint and put it face down, tapping it with my fingers and a scrunched up ball of kitchen roll to give some texture (for Jo at Art Journal Journey).

I decided to use the "cat" family today as I haven't used them for a while in this journal so here we have Mother Cat and her three little ones, Tabitha, the baby and the twins, Tommy and Tania.  The story?

"Sophia, mother cat, wanted to be a very upmarket kind of cat, so she could stand with the other mother cats at the school gates and pretend her life was similar to that of all of them.  (I wonder how many of them were also pretending?). So she has what we know as "airs above her station" and feeding three little ones and a rather large husband, Thomas, who is out at work because it is lunchtime, becomes quite a full time job.  She is giving them fish fingers and peas, frozen ones - but wait ... the packet is visible it has not gone entirely into the bin .. oh woe betide her if anyone sees that apart from us.

The twins could not care less whether they get garden peas, marrowfat peas or frozen ones, they just want lunchtime to be over so they can go and play out with the rest of the cats from the neighbourhood.  Mother cat, Sophia, is standing, hand on hip because it makes her look sophisticated, whilst tapping with her other paw on her hip just waiting for them all to settle down and for Tania to realise she has not set the table.  After all it is her job to do just that, Tommy clears away the dishes but Tania sets the table ready for mealtimes.  It looks as if there will be a long wait for lunch to be served as Tania, with her head on one side, is pondering what on earth are they waiting for".

I gave Mother cat a crown on her head to indicate just how much she is thinking she is something she is not and I used masking tape for the crown to give more texture for the challenge over on AJJ as well as the stencil work.  Then I decided to make her an apron.  Well I drew and cut one out much earlier and now I cannot find it so in a hunt for some lace (more texture) I found a white paper doily and cut another one from that.  I left it partly unglued to give the appearance of the lace lifting a little but I guess the scanner has put paid to that one.

All finished I realised I had made a 'chalkboard mistake' - those who are teachers will understand how easy it is to make a mistake when writing something out on a board for the class.  Well, it used to be when one used chalk and a board.  I had written "too proud too serve" when the second "too" should have been "to".  Thankfully it was at the end of a line so, like all crafters at some time, I managed to obliterate the mistake and stuck a picture on the wall.

That is it - all my errors declared and running ever so late.  See you next week when there will be a new challenge on Art Journal Journey, guess I will be late with that one too as the new challenge will only be declared that day.

Can I just say a big welcome to my newest follower Linda, hope you find my blog interesting in weeks to follow.

WOYWW 590

 Well, what glorious weather we experienced at the beginning of September (up north where we do not normally get as good weather as people down south).

Let me begin by saying "Welcome" to my new follower 'MC Inspirations' - I  have not a clue who it is so cannot go and look at his/her blog so if I get a 'shout out' I will pop along.  Thanks!

Well, finally back at home - and with a bit of a tan from the sunshine - I really enjoyed myself just lounging around and I slept like crazy.  I did a bit of crafting in the evenings but not as much as I intended.  If only it had rained!  I did take quite a bit of crafting stuff so there was the opportunity to do lots of different things.  This was the single bed with my craft stuff piled on it

and the coffee table with a bit more on.  As you can see I was working with my Janet Klein figures which were already cut out and coloured.  The pencil case  below my cutter holds all bits and bobs such as scissors, pokey tool, pens and pencils, tweezers, and that kind of thing.  The skull pencil case had a selection of Promarkers in along with my small tin of Caran d'Ache watercolours.  Then there are some acrylic blocks and my glue in front - that is a wooden coaster with my initials on that a friend's husband made me once (he has since passed so it is treasured)

I did a few pages on my Janet Klein book but I still have some more to do before I show you it.

The main thing I did was sit and play with my strips, cutting lots and enjoying placing the different colours together.  Sunday I decided to use up all the pieces I had been using and had left over so there are lots that look similar.  When we got home last night I just emptied the big box of stuff I had taken and here is my desk today -

These are all the Scrappy Strip technique things I did whilst away - now I just have to make them into cards - maybe in a bit I will have enough to send to a lot of my friends - I just need to decorate them up.  The original idea came from Bruno Bertucci in Oz who was inspired by a piece of Australian Art and wanted to recreate it

So that is it for this week - two desks - one from the holiday and one just as I got back home and set things out ready to start making into cards.  So for now I will head over to see what my WOYWW friends have been up to.  Toodle Pip!

 

Jeudi Journal - Cats

No, not the West End Show, but my blog page this week which features a cat.  That is because the quote from Dyan this week is "Only My Cat Understands Me."

To begin with I tried Valerie's technique which I had admired for a while where she used some Gesso and two colours of paint which she then brayered on her page.  I used a red and a yellow paint but did not have enough on the mat so only managed to do the technique on half the page (the right if you look at it) but I did enjoy doing it and will do it again but next time use more of the mediums.  

To make some texture on the left hand side I brayered some white paint on my Lotza Dotz Stencil (AALL & Create) and placed it paint down on the page and rubbed it over with a dry paper towel to transfer the paint.  It doesn't show up very much but you can feel the texture.  Finally I used a stamp with a pattern on randomly over the page just to create interest.

I chose a figure that had tears on her face but then I used the big spectacles so that her tears were spilling from underneath the lens.  The figure was too long for the page so I had to do a bit of creative snipping here and there to allow her to have feet on the page. The cat is not one of Dyans, it is a Tim Holtz one from his "Crazy" range - am sure Dyan would not mind at all.  To create a bit more texture I stamped the ball of wool but then put a piece of red wool (real wool) going up the page on the right hand side in a wiggly line.  Did you notice the fish bones on the bottom of the page?

The story goes:  "Deirdre has had an argument with her boyfriend.  He wanted to go to the football match but she explained that she was not dressed for such an occasion and if he was supposed to be taking her out then he should take her somewhere she wanted to go - and not somewhere HE wanted to go.  To make matters worse she had bought herself a new hat to go with the skirt she had so skilfully made from ties she had collected from the local charity shops.

Harry had stormed off so Deirdre had gone into the lounge to her mother who was busy knitting another waistcoat for her her other daughter but mum had not understood at all.  She had said that Deirdre should have been grateful that Harry had given his Saturday afternoon up for her when most young men of his age would have been out with their mates.  Poor Deirdre took herself off to her bedroom, still wearing her hat and new skirt.  Puss was sat there having been playing with a ball of mother's wool which was now across the floor and halfway up the wall.  Deirdre then related the story to Puss who looked so sorrowful for her making Deirdre say "only my cat understands me" - which for that precise moment seemed perfectly true."

What is this obsession I seem to have of late with texture?  Well, the delightful Jo has chosen to have us use texture in our journal pages over at Art Journal Journey this month and I love joining in the challenges with them.  I am sure you would too so why not pop over here and see what you need to do and then join in.

WOYWW 589

Well, I started off by telling you how annoyed I was that I could no longer fully justify my writing - but having problems loading pictures I pressed something and suddenly got the option for a fully justified post.  Not a clue where I found it but I did.  will I find it next week?  That remains to be seen.

Anyway, I am here to show you my desk.  It is not my usual desk as I am not at home so here is the kitchen counter at my hideaway.  So fed up with the Covid figures for Bolton we have taken ourselves off for a couple of days and are hiding in a lovely caravan somewhere on the edge of The Lakes.  I did manage to gather together some goodies to take with me and so I have been able to craft a bit.

You can see I brought some of my Oxides with me, mainly because I can do backgrounds with them and also because they stamp perfectly as well.  Here are three pages of my little book I am making with some Janet Klein figures.  You can just about see a sneaky view of the other colours I am using in the book, and my new stencils (which arrived just as we were about to set off).  There is also a bag of baby wipes and the grey knitted object in the top left is my cover for my trusty hot water bottle for my back.  I never am far away from it, in fact it is at my back as I type this.

Back at home my desk has three cards on it and I brought some more cardstock to make more of those cards in case I got time.  Do you remember "Core Card" from way way back?  It came in packs of the most gorgeous colours and I have loads that has never been used - well now it will be.  It was my turn to do a virtual workshop for Vicky Stampers last weekend and so quickly I put together these three cards and am hoping to make lots of variations of these over the next few days.

The pinkish one is waiting to be decorated - it has some Designer Paper incorporated in it and I wanted the group to see one that was 'unfinished' so chose to use that one.  It's the Scrappy Strip Technique and I first saw it on Maxine's Blog in New Zealand.  Seems to be a newish and popular technique over there and I think it is very effective.  I certainly enjoyed doing it - thanks Maxine!  That's birthday cards taken care of for the coming year.  (Mmmm... will have to try one with some Christmas themed papers I don't use).

Well, I will leave it there for this week and pop over to see what Julia has been up to and link in with some of my blogger friends for a sneaky peek at their desks on WOYWW.  See you next week with more of those stripey cards.

Health Update:

The swelling has gone down considerably from the operation but it still looks like the mouth of one of those Grandparent dolls with no teeth and there is still a lot of glue left on the wound.  Tempting to pick at it but I won't because I was told not to and I do try to do as I am told - sometimes.

Back is suffering because I cannot go to the chiropractor.  I will not put her in the position of having to say "no" to me because of the dreadful Covid figures in Bolton which I guess you have all seen on the news.  The only thing we could be "top" for is something as horrid as this.

Unfortunately my shoulder is getting worse with having no treatment also and now I seem to be having a bicep problem in my left arm.  

Jeudi Journal - Mouth (help please with labels)

A big welcome to Sirkka who is my latest follower.  Hope you enjoy my blog in the future.

This did not turn out as planned!  The quote for today from Dyan is "If you ran like your mouth you'd be in great shape".  I had this idea of a jogger but did any of Dyan's figures fit the category - no!  The only one resembling a jogger was this tall one with a pair of shorts on but she did have big boots on too.  Ah well, the shorts outweighed the boots (although strictly speaking I would think the boots weighed considerably more than the shorts LOL).

The search was on, now I had the shorts I needed a face with a fairly prominent mouth and so I came upon this one and had to give her some hair as she comes without.  Next was to find a figure that would work alongside her - ie the one who was uttering the quote.  I found this fairly tall slim figure and decided she would do, now to find a head that did not look as if the whole body was doing a contortionist act.  I think I managed to find one, turning to the jogger but still in keeping with the body facing the opposite way.  So we have the story:

"Sarky (as in sarcastic) Sue was out for a walk in the fields with her little dog, which had run off chasing rabbits somewhere, when along came her old enemy from school days Penelope Pit-Stop.  Penny, as she is known these days, was out jogging in her new outfit of spotted shorts with a top that had matching sleeves.  Well, a girl has to look her best whether out in town or jogging in the countryside, afterall you never know who you are going to bump into.  Oh ho, oh no, was that Sarky Sue ahead?  Yes, it was, and Sarky Sue was known for never missing an opportunity.  The two of them had clashed many a time whilst at school and things had not got any better as they had grown up.

Penny was all for jogging on past but suddenly she heard Sue shout out "If you ran like your mouth you'd be in great shape".  This annoyed Penny so much that she had to stop and compose herself before carrying on with the run.  A deep breath or two and she was composed enough to continue on her way, much to the annoyance of Sarky Sue.  Better not to get into another of those school day slanging matches!"

As I wanted to enter my page into Art Journal Journey where the lovely Jo has set the challenge for us to use "Texture" on our pages I decided to use some heavy gesso down the left hand side of my page and I chose one of my favourite stencils of a border of leaves.  It came out really well but I should have painted the page first as you may not see the great texture on a scan.  So I outlined the leaves in white pen where they were on the green grassy area.  With hindsight I should have left them as they were as the Gesso really did a good job on its own and the leaves are quite prominent without any markings.  Ah well, we live and learn.

Once again I cannot put any labels on my post.  Yes, the block is there down the right hand side saying "labels", then telling me to "separate labels with com..." and underneath "No matching suggestions".  The problem is it will not let me add anything, nothing shows as it did last week with a list and a tick box alongside each label.  Anyone else had this problem and if so any ideas how to resolve it please?

WOYWW 588

Gosh this Wednesday came around much quicker than I had hoped but then we went away for a few days and I forgot half of my craft stuff - resulting in nothing being able to be done - ZILCH!  Ooh, I was cross with myself for forgetting the Distress Brushes and the background stamps.  Still, thinks I, I can get caught up with typing my notes up, I had my laptop and my notebook - but who (he who is in charge of such things, self appointed Master of) had forgotten to take my lead up so it could be charged?

A total disaster!  And the weather was not particularly kind, like it rained most of the days so going out did not happen that much.  And I am not one for too much TV and that!  So here I am back home and not a thing to show you on my workdesk.  Did collect some leaves to press ready for another of my painting sessions as in the tag book done with Tracy Evans recently and on one of the walks I found a couple of feathers in the grass which looked particularly colourful.

One day we went a walk along the prom and I spied a walkway down to the beach which looked to be full of small pebbles - when we got down to them they crunched like crazy under our feet - this was the floor

Can you guess where we were by what is on the floor?  It's in the north and not too far for me to travel to.  We saw a rainbow too

So what is on my desk?  That is what you are here for

I had taken the white card up with me and the figures at the back, all cut and coloured, ready for making into a book of sorts with the Janet Klein figures.  So here they are, all laid out ready for me to do the next colour on the main card and then I can get going on the stamping and finally putting the figures on.

Maybe next week I will have something to show you.  Fingers crossed.  Now to dash off to WOYWW and see what Julia and the others have been up to.  Join me here?

Has anyone else found that "labels" has disappeared?

Jeudi Journal - Men

A new challenge over on Art Journal Journey by the lovely Jo which is "Texture".  Now that is sweet music to me as I love texture and I had the perfect page to start off with.  Remember last week when I had a page that just would not behave?  It refused to take paint or even Gesso - well I stuck some Art Deco Paper Perfect on it in an attempt to provide some coverage.  I was not sure whether it would stay on the page or come off - luckily it stayed on and allowed me to slap some paint on today.

I think it is really a product that you put on a sheet of polythene and it peels off when dry to make you a sheet of paper to use in your artwork, but it does mention using it on hard surfaces as well, not sure what for apart from to give texture maybe.

Anyway, my page - if you look at my blogpost yesterday you will see the ArtDeco stuff on my page and it is a creamy yellow colour.  I did not put it completely over every inch of the page but it got good coverage.  Imagine my delight when I saw that Jo was asking for texture - my page was oozing with texture and I decided not to put any stencil work on as well as there seemed to be enough.  I had decided on an outdoor scene so it was an obvious choice to paint the top of the page blue and the base green.  It wasn't easy to get complete coverage and so there are bits of yellow showing through but i decided that this just added to the texture for the challenge on AJJ.  My Story this week?

"Four friends, rather militant types, definite feminists, had all decided to go to a rally for "Women's Rights".  There was a huge banner there but the girls had taken their own sign which said "The More I See of Men, The More I Like Animals", funnily enough that is the quote from Dyan that we have chosen to use this week.  Simone, the French girl had decided to take a kite along with her and had tied a notice of her own to the string of the kite (another texture) which read "Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars".  She knew she had the saying the wrong way around but wanted to emphasise "Women" in her own little protest.  Rather a novel way of getting people to see one aspect of the protest and she had climbed the hill to be able to fly her kite as high as possible."

I hope there is enough texture for Jo on here, I can assure her that the figures are all coloured and fussy cut, to give texture in a way, the main sign is mounted on a double sticky tab so it really does stand out, and the page is very textural with the paste. 

Now how can I introduce texture next week?

WOYWW 587

 I am certainly not grumbling but these Wednesdays seem to come around quicker than I like them to - but not because of WOYWW and my blogging.  I like the fact because then I get to see what lots of my friends have been up to by visiting Julia and following the links where we all show our desks, kind of "bare all" craft wise of course!

This is my desk as it stands at the moment

I am waiting for the page on the left to dry.  It was my 'giant error page' from last week's "Jeudi Journal" challenge that I do with my friend, Wendy.  I think I mentioned last week I had tried several layers because I could not get it right and now it has a layer of Perfect Paper by Decoart.  Not a clue what is going to happen, I have had this tub of stuff for ages and never used it.  It might end up scraping off for all I know.  Has anyone out there used it?  It takes 12 - 24 hours to dry apparently.

It is surrounded by all my packets of images that I have ready fussy cut and often coloured for my Jeudi Journal which will be out tomorrow.  The drawer on the left is where I store them and the ones left in are the ones I know I will not be choosing images from. At the moment I have not a clue what I will use.  The page you see on the right was last weeks.  Hope this stuff dries ok and I can get this page finished for tomorrow.

In the absence of anything worth looking at on my desk here are a couple of cards I have received recently from lovely friends

Darlene (from America)

Jan (she wouldn't say that now if she saw my lockdown hair)

Cath (wish I could show you that background for real, it is beautiful)

Nicki (from Switzerland and another fab background)

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did when I opened the mail.

Oops, almost forgot, here's my patch on my comfort cardigan:

Blanket stitched around the edges and some cross stitch to hold it down where it meets cardigan - this is the wrong side that shows the thin and hole areas.

Health Update:

Will be glad when I can put my arm up and wash my hair with ease.  Did manage sitting in the shower with a ton of polythene on the wound but not ideal.  It is doing nicely though and the swelling is coming down and the bruising has all but gone.

Wish the Covid results were better for Bolton. We were being eased from the partial lockdown but an escalation of cases has sent us way up in the tables and now the Mayor of Gtr Manchester is asking the government NOT to ease the lockdown on us.  We are now the second highest number of cases per 100,000 in the UK.  Not good news!