Jeudi Journal - Some Day

I think this will probably be the last of my entries for Art Journal Journey this month.  I so enjoyed Eileen's theme of "inspired by ..." which has attracted over 140 entries.  Sadly Eileen passed before her theme was published but the team decided to go ahead with it in her memory and Erika and Chris have co-hosted throughout the month.  Thank you ladies, I have so enjoyed what I have been doing.

Today the Challenge I do with Wendy uses the quote "Some day you'll go far, and I hope you stay there" - not very nice is it?  I decided to do something quite different to what I usually do and use up some of the Dylusion figures that are difficult to match up with bodies and to use some collage papers as well.  These are from one of the Dina Wakley books that a friend once bought me and which I have not used before.  I divided my page up into three vertical strips and put some paint on the centre one and made a quick border with some scribble to decorate it.  The two sides were split up and I filled them with curved pieces using Dyan's acrylic block which has a lovely curve to it.  Then I used some Whipped Spackle through the 'Diamonds in the Rough' stencil, and the stars and the arrows ones - all Dylusions - drawing around them with a black pen.  As you can no doubt guess this page was definitely inspired by Dylusions products.

The story goes "Jane was a bit of a dreamer, a lovely girl who worked hard to better herself at every opportunity.  She had not had the best start in life but she was determined that she was going to go somewhere with her life and become someone her old school teachers would be proud of.  She had taken herself off to evening classes, after leaving school with very little in the way of qualifications, and had studied hard resulting in getting good grades in all the examinations she took.

Her friend Edwina was not ambitious like Jane and could not understand why Jane was not always ready to go out clubbing or simply hanging around with the gang.  She wasn't anything like Jane, in fact she could be quite spiteful at times.  Often their friendship suffered as Edwina could turn quite nasty if things did not go her way or if she felt that she was not number one as far as Jane was concerned.

Matters came to a head the night that they had gone out celebrating Jane having got three "A" levels, all with very good grades.  The other girls were making quite a fuss of her and everyone was laughing and joking about Jane going on to university and how she might become the Prime Minister one day.  Edwina did not like it, she wanted to be the centre of attraction not Jane.  Her eyes darkened, as they often did when she was in one of her moods and she surprised the others when she suddenly turned on Jane and shouted "Some day you'll go far and I hope you stay there".

Aghast the others turned to look at her, poor Jane put her hands up to her face and looked so sad, she had not thought her friend could ever be so mean to her, but Edwina just tilted her head on one side, put on the stare that only she could perfect and looked long and hard at them all."

Art Journal Journey - Squeezing a Circle In

We went away again for a couple of days hoping to catch some nice weather before it turned cold.  We had to come home today as we were expecting a delivery and when it turned wet on Tuesday I spent the afternoon colouring in some circles I had stamped using another of Tracy Scott's stamps for Paper Artsy.

My coloured pencils have helped me so much as when I can't do much because of this back pain I can sit on my chair with the heat pad on my back and just gently colour in.  I have so many Janet Klein and Dylusion figures already done that it has been a joy to colour something else for a change.   Art Journal Journey has made that so easy with Eileen's theme of "Inspired by ...", co-hosted by Erika and Chris because Eileen had passed before the Team had chance to put it forward but they decided to honour her memory by continuing with it in her name.

Just of late I got a little carried away with my colouring and I have definitely been inspired to fill my journal with pages where I used coloured pencils as my medium of choice.  One person who certainly inspires me to use my pencils is Miranda whom I have mentioned previously as she does the most beautiful artwork using Derwent products.  I would love to be able to use them as skilfully as she does but even so I get so much enjoyment just playing around with colour.

On Monday we went for a walk in the park and explored a part of it in more detail than we have done in the past.  We came across this tree.  I was fascinated by it's structure.  How had this trunk happened to grow like this?  My first thought was that it had been struck by lightening and divided into two but on looking around I noticed that the other trees also had divided trunks although none lying on the ground as this one was.  I have not found out what it is as yet but the cone type structures on the end of the branches might be a clue to someone - Erika?

WOYWW 621

 I thought I had done this in advance - obviously not as it is  Tuesday night and I am flicking the keys like crazy.  We have been away for a few days and I was certain I had done a rough draft of my blog for Wednesday and "What's on Your Workdesk".

I've just taken this photo as I am making a couple of cards in a hurry.  I've just taken a break for a welcome cuppa so thought I would get my blog done ready as in the morning I will be on a Zoom call fairly early and there will be no time for anything else but breakfast.  I made the one stood up at the back like the one I made last week but this time in shades of purple, it's fast becoming a favourite stamp of mine.

As you can see, apart from what I am working on (and with) I am managing to keep my desk fairly tidy since the mammoth cleaning up a few weeks ago).  Last week I showed you my inks which are on this photo and are all to hand when I a working on anything.  The only ones not displayed there are my Oxides as they are in a drawer directly behind me - no room on this wall for them.

The black card you can see on the left of my desk is the packet of "bits" that I save for those smaller mounting jobs, then underneath the kitchen roll is my silver mat which is simply an old table mat covered in aluminium foil which I use for heat embossing - saves the fingers getting burnt and reflects the heat so the job is done a bit quicker.

Next to my inks you can see this

My peg board.  This houses my glue (at the top in a tray), with my Gesso's and Texture Paste (the ones I am using at the moment) with my WOYWW badge, then some distress tools, scissors (how many?) and some white square pots (Ikea) which hold, pens, more glue, white charcoal pencil, Krylon pens, gas heat gun and those foam brush things for paste/Gesso etc.  Above on the elastic you can see a purple kite which was something I bought at a festival in Germany, a plaque with the Eiffel Tower on it that I once made with Ranger for a Make & Take at CHA, a cd book made with Kate Crane, a tag made in Holland and a plaque from Anne (Copper Beech Crafts).

Tomorrow I had better make a start on my atc's for the upcoming anniversary.  Anyone can join in if they just show their desks so if you aren't in the lovely group of friends on WOYWW why not pop over to Julias and find out all about it - quick!  See you there!

Below on the deck so to speak are a multitude of pots containing all sort of things plus my white carousel which I won at CHA once, and stood at the back are my Scoring Boards.  There, that's another side done in my craft room, or at least it's the end of that tidy side.

Art Journal Journey - Mandalas

Well, I have been inspired by so much this past few weeks and my blog has never been so busy in a long time.  So many different things have inspired me to join in with Art Journal Journey and Eileen's theme of "Inspired by ..." which has been co-hosted by Erika and Chris because, sadly, Eileen passed before they had chance to run the theme.

Although different things have inspired me as each page has unfurled, I think a big common factor has been that I have been enjoying my pencil crayons.  I am no colourist and would love to be able to blend and use my pencils like some people, like Miranda whom I mentioned the other day, but nevertheless I have so enjoyed working with them.  Today I am showing you some Mandalas I have just coloured in - with pencils - but this time watercolor ones.  And this time I have used a waterbrush to enhance the depth of colour.  Not strictly a watercolour technique but again I did enjoy myself.

The stamp is by PaperArtsy and is one bought for me by my bff for my birthday because I needed it for a fan I was making in a workshop.  Having only used it for that I decided I had better get more use from it and so I started on this journal page using my Inktense pencils for it.

The background is coloured with Speckled Egg Distress Ink and, as you can see, I kept to the same colours for all the Mandalas.  So, here we are, another entry for Art Journal Journey.

Art Journal Journey - Machinery?

 A few days ago I used a couple of Carabelle stamps on my Gothic Blooms page in my journal.  I so love those whimsical shapes which is why I just had to have the stamps when I first saw them.  They remind me, just a little, of the whimsical machinery drawings of Heath Robinson.

Heath Robinson was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, known mostly for his whimsical machinery drawings.  During the first world war he drew several cartoons depicting unlikely looking secret weapons used in battles.  In 1934 he produced a series of his favourite humorous machinery one of which was a "Wart Chair" which was for removing a wart form the top of someones head!  Another, which some of us might identify with was a machine for resuscitating stale scones for resale at the railway buffet.

Much of his machinery was heated by candles or kettles, a spirit lamp or steam boilers which was kept running by a bald headed man in spectacles and overalls.  The machinery often included pulleys and knotted string to keep it working and so improbable rickety machinery became known as a "Heath Robinson"

Whilst the Carabelle stamped images are not depicting machinery in any way they do make me cast my mind back to the work of Heath Robinson.  When I asked my other half if he could see it he could not, so maybe it is just me and you will not see it either.

However, a nice afternoon sat in the sunshine yesterday, coloured pencils by my side and an already stamped page in my journal resulted in this - which I like very much and which gave me a lovely restful afternoon.  So I would like to include this in the challenge set by Eileen at Art Journal Journey.  Although Eileen did not see her theme come into practice I am sure she is looking down and thanking the team for honouring her by continuing with her theme, especially Erika and Chris who are co-hosting it this month.  Thanks also to Carabelle from me for giving me such pleasure with their stamps (and Heath Robinson who did inspire me to use them in my journal.)

I am still convinced they are drawings of machinery - I would love them in my garden, whirling round and round in the gentle breeze.

Jeudi Journal - It's You

I am back with another Journal page featuring Dylusions figures in the main, along with my co-pilot Wendy.  Just something we decided upon as we had a mutual liking for Dyan and her work quite some time ago.  Both of us now try to link our pages to Art Journal Journey and this month the theme over there is "Inspired By .." which was the theme chosen by Eileen who has since passed.  Erika and Chris have taken over the hosting of the theme in honour of her and so today's page is once more inspired by Dyan, the creator of these weird figures because it is a continuation of the story from the week before last.

Do you remember Jessica and Roy from a couple of weeks back - Roy was the one who was always letting Jessica down and he let her down the day of her birthday but turned up to still go out in the evening?  Well things have progressed from there.  

"Jessica went out with her girl friends that evening to celebrate her birthday and realised that there was more to life than being tied to a boy, namely Roy, at such a young age and so she decided - as her friends put it "to give him the flick".  She was going to start enjoying life - and going out with the girls was a laugh, there were so many places they went to and so many things to do that it was like a new world had opened for Jessica.  She was actually thinking of taking horse riding lessons some time in the future.  Yes, Jessica who was a real 'stay at home and stay safe' person was going to go hang gliding, in fact her first lesson was already booked for next week.

The only fly in the ointment was Roy.  He was still on the scene and she had tried to let him down lightly by making excuses that she was busy some evenings but he had not taken the hint.  She thought he would just give up!  "A Persistent Pest" was how her friends labelled him.  So that evening she decided it was time to lay her cards on the table.    

Roy argued that she had changed since she had started going out with the girls and was no long his little "sugar bush" (a term which she had always detested) it was all the fault of those girls she hung around with.  In the end Jessica told him it was over, that she had grown tired of the way he had behaved with her putting his friends before her and now she was going to do the same - her friends were coming first and he was going to have to go.  Yes, she had changed but as she put it "It's not me, it's you" and with that she walked indoors and closed the door on him."

Again a pinkish background, this time using Titan Buff with a bit of red mixed in and then some Whipped Spackle pushed through my Diamonds in the Rough stencil.  I decided to give it a border and so I used  one of Dyan's border stamps but it still looked quite plain so I added some flowers and a broken heart in the bottom corner.

WOYWW 620

Nothing to show on my desk as I am keeping it still as tidy as it was last week when I gave you several shots of how I had been working on dusting and tidying things up.  I have a photograph of my ink wall though which is directly in front of me when I craft.  It is basically the same as last week but in a bit more detail.

At the top left we have some Ancient Page ink pads and some ColorBox ones - all the small ones.  Across are my Adirondacks with my Distress pots and some Liquid/Dimensional Pearls.  Next down left we have more of the Adirondacks with a tiny bear sat alongside, and then opposite are my Distress Inks and a lovely little felted bunny that my friend in America made for me (the inks used to be in the window sill) - these continue directly underneath with Puss in Boots keeping guard.  To the left of him  are my Versafine Clair inkpads with my Cricut fella that I once got at CHA.

Then we have some books I have made with Tracy Evans during lockdown and my little Spencer Bear sitting in his deckchair with a tiny pig torch in front of him,  Underneath are the last of my inkpads.  Starting left we have Opalites, Versamagic and Memento coloured pads.  Next cubby hole has an assortment of black inkpads and the various Archival ones I own.  Next we have sets of The Ton inkpads, some Adirondack Pigments and a whole host of Stazon colours.  Then there is a wide variety of Brilliance, remember those, they were all the rage once of a time but I hardly use them these days but I still like them for things like fairies etc.  The last cubby hole has my Chalk inkpads, a few ColorBox chalks and three of Catherine Poolers in Orange, Lime and Blue.  This might seem like a lot of inkpads but there were more but where they were duplicated they went to a good home last week.

I have been working in my journal over the past few days but the last two posts have already gone out showing what I have been doing as I wanted to enter them into Art Journal Journey, a lovely group of artists who are very welcoming and so whom I want to support.  I did, however, say I would show you a card I made for a friend using AALL & Create stamps way back at the end of March:

I also made her a little book

Cover

First half of concertina book

Second half of book

Think I had better call it a day before I get too much on my blog post.  Why not join me and a few others over at Julia's desk for a WOYWW snoop and then you can see lots more by following the links.

ps I might be a bit late with my comments this week as I am going to have a much needed haircut at 9.30 this morning.  These are my "lockdown locks" before I left (actually taken a month ago) all I could do was wear it in a bun - a bit like a ballerina.  Helen, you thought yours was in need of a cut!

Art Journal Journey - Gothic Blooms

At weekend I went away taking just my pencils and my square journal with me.  I had a page ready stamped so Friday afternoon saw me sitting in the sun on the patio with the birds singing whilst I coloured the various shapes that made up my page.  I love sitting quietly, colouring in the various images I stamp, and it has been a real use of my time when I have been in too much pain to do anything else.  A distraction.

I often look at the work by one of my Dutch friends, Miranda van den Bosch, whose work with Derwent pencils is absolutely brilliant.  So is it Miranda who inspires me or the coloured pencils?  I know I can never draw and colour like she does but I can still enjoy what I do and after all, what is art but a medium to love and enjoy.

So here is another page for Art Journal Journey and the theme of "Inspired by .." but what is it I am inspired by here?  I think it is both the medium and my friend Miranda, the artist.

I once again used Tracy Scott's little figures, this time they are called  George and Bella .  The other stamps are Tracy's for PaperArtsy and the ones down the right hand side are from the French company, Carabelle.  Pencils used are Prismacolour.

It is a lovely theme on Art Journal Journey and one that has been taken up by quite a few people this month.  It was chosen by Eileen who sadly passed before it was presented but Erika and Chris have taken the mantle and are joint hosts for the month.  There is some lovely artwork being put forward by different people so it would be lovely if you could join and show who or what inspires you.

Art Journal Journey - Lola

I have another page done which I can enter into Art Journal Journey and the challenge chosen by Eileen, who sadly has passed.  The ladies who run the challenge decided to go ahead with it in honour of her memory, so Chris and Erika have taken on joint hosting for the month.  The topic is "Inspired by ..." and there are so many things which inspire each of us in our artwork that it was easy to choose "colour" as my topic for this page.  Afterall colour is something that influences us in so many ways, our mood, our dress sense, just to name two.  

I have not got an eye for colour and so this page in my square journal has lots of colour about it, some complimentary colours and some that create quite a discord.  Central to it is a little character called Lola, a Stampotique rubber stamp, one of Tracy Scott's first ever stamps and some circle stamps also designed by Tracy but this time for PaperArtsy.  I used acrylic paints for the page and some white Gesso for the diamonds, through a stencil, to draw the eye around the page and create some texture.

Lola and her little cat

I might just do another page with some more of Tracy's little Stampotique characters but it won't be paint I use for colour, I will have to use pencils.  But as I have used all of these paint colours and Chris (Pearshapedcrafting) mentioned it, I am entering this into Try it on Tuesday with their lovely theme of 'Make a Rainbow'.  Hope I can successfully load Mr Linky!

Jeudi Journal - Last Minute

I must say that the quote for this week's Jeudi Journal tempted me to do something about my blogging as I am always at the last minute but I turned over a new leaf this week and did this one early.  maybe it was because I love anything to do with "Time".  If there is a challenge for "Time" I am always ready to join in, it really inspires me to do something with clocks, or time pieces.

So it was perfect this week for me to link my journal page challenge with Wendy to Art Journal Journey where Eileen had chosen "Inspired By .." as her topic.  Sadly Eileen is no longer with us so this is another entry in memory of a lovely lady.  I also chose to paint my page Blue which tends to be a 'go to' colour of mine when choosing clothes in particular which is rather surprising as the Grammar School uniform was Navy Blue.  Maybe, because it was so many many years ago I have got over the aversion to my school uniform.  

Anyway, my story this week is about two brothers.  "Joe and Jed were two brothers, often mistaken for twins because they looked so much alike except that Jed was considerably taller than his younger brother Joe.  They owned their own business, a small engineering firm, where Jed was the businessman and Joe was the one with the ideas and the skill and dexterity to get things done.

However, Joe was often late in producing the blueprints for the next piece of machinery they were making.  Production was being held up and Jed was getting a tad annoyed, it was always happening, in fact he had just about had enough and he told Joe so.  He went on to say that he thought they should employ another designer to help keep production up and the men in work the whole time.  

This angered Joe who wanted to be the only one responsible for what they produced, after all the company name was "Grimes and Grimes" and he didn't want some fresh young guy from university with his new fangled ideas coming in and stealing his thunder.  He liked it when he went to the business dinners and he could show off how good his designs were and how the company was thriving, because of his work.

What he didn't realise was that Jed played an equal part in this business by juggling jobs around for the workforce and making sure that the business was always coming out on top.  Without his knowhow the business would fail but then as Joe said "nothing makes me more productive than the last minute" sadly Jed could not argue as that was what always happened."

As I said, I painted the whole page blue, I used a clock stencil down one side of the page (no mean feat when the journal is at the end almost and the pages are buckling with the thickness of what has gone before - you all know what I mean) and a burgundy paint to ensure good coverage.  I also had a large clock face from Tando which I have not used and saw that there were two smaller ones in so I settled on the middle one and used it as a stencil to draw the numbers around the sides of the circle.  That meant I could place the smaller figure with hands outstretched to represent the hands of the clock - it fitted in perfectly.

So here you have it, my entry for Art Journal Journey in my Jeudi Journal.  Hope you enjoyed the story which was a bit different this week.

WOYWW 619

Another snoop day via WOYWW with Ms Julia and friends.  It's all good natured and above board but we do get a chance to get inspired by how someone works or has their workplace.  This is my work desk today:

As you can see from the photo I am in the midst of preparing my blog page for tomorrow.  You have got a good view of my wall today and that is because I have been tidying this side of the craft room all last week and up to yesterday.  I did show you a few weeks ago how I had arranged all my ink pads in the little cubby holes (Ikea drawers stood on their sides) but I still had my Distress Inks in the window sill - well now they are on this side as well.  In fact apart from my Oxides (in a drawer) all my ink pads are now together.  And guess what?  I found I had lots of duplicates so they will be making their way to a caravan for use up there.  I am not going to tell you everything that is on show because I am going to show you my window wall as well.

As you can see I do not have daylight in my room as it overlooks what was originally a porch.  That is the garage wall you can see opposite.  I had it turned into a little sun room by having patio doors put on the front which makes it much more useable and you can get into the garage without getting wet when it rains.  

The window sill now holds all my reinkers, the foam thingies for the DI's and my little koalas that Shaz from Oz gave to me the two times when I met her.  Monkee is holding the big flag I begged when at a trade show.  The white wooden stand is my holder for my heat gun and you can see one or two pictures on the wall and a load of stuff below.

This is the tail end of that side and the beginning of the other side.  I've decided to leave my camera holder and lights out the whole time rather than putting them away and they are out of the way now hooked up high.  The big white boxes contain ribbons, lace and trimmings and you can just see a trio of my pictures done with Tracy Evans on various workshops.  Not done one for ages, must remedy that.

So that is me for this week.  Was going to show you some "makes" but they will save for another week, there's enough here to keep you quiet for a week or so.  Now to visit some desks and see what they have by going here.

ps I only showed you around my room because I have tidied it up -  it was a bit dusty before I began.

Jeudi Journal - No Thanks!

"Jessica had been seeing Roy for about six months now and things had been lovely and rosy at the beginning but then little niggles started to set in.  She felt she was giving 100% to the relationship but he wanted a girlfriend but also wanted to go 'out with the boys' whenever the opportunity arose.  It wasn't the first time he had left her sitting in on her own over the weekend when all her friends were going out enjoying themselves.  She could hardly join them could she?  She was totally loyal to him and it would not have been right to have gone to the local disco with her friends just because he had a football match he wanted to be at.  Besides which, her friends asked her, who plays football in the dark?

The final straw had been her birthday.  She had received the most beautiful card from him, all hearts and flowers, plus the biggest box of chocolates you could ever imagine.  Not only that but he had promised to spend the entire afternoon together and then go out for a lovely romantic meal for two at the local pizzeria.  She was over the moon.

Two o'clock came and there was no sign of him.  Two thirty, three o'clock and then the phone call. "Sweetie, sorry but I have been delayed.  Pete couldn't get his car started so he asked me if I could help him fix it.  You don't mind do you?  I'll still see you tonight and we'll go out for that meal we planned, and guess what - there might be another little surprise for you."

Jessica did not answer, she could not bring herself to say a word for fear of completely losing her temper.  She had had enough now.  Letting her down so badly on her birthday was the final straw so she picked the phone up and rang her best friend.

That night Roy turned up with a pretty little silver chain on which dangled a tiny heart for her to wear when they went out to the restaurant.  Jessica had made an effort,  She wore a tiny skirt showing off her long legs and a top with a very low back.  Her bracelets matched her Louboutin shoes and she looked so pretty - but as he walked over to her, holding out the tiny jewellery box, and uttering his apologies she said "Let me file that under No Thanks", and off she flounced to meet her friends and go to the local disco."

Well, that is my story for this week and the quote from Dyan "Let me file that under No Thanks".  I haven't a clue where these stories come from, when I begin these pages I have no idea what I am going to say.  I guess I am inspired by Dyan's figures and the way in which I can chop them up and make new ones.  Today the figure of Roy had the handset on his head, his hair came down in two peaks either side of his head and there was the base of a telephone at his feet which went part way up his trousers.  Jessica was dressed in a swimsuit so I had to reshape her legs and rear, use a skit from another figure and disguise the fact that she was wearing elbow length gloves by turning the lines where they ended into bracelets.  Then came the story ...

And so I am entering this into Art Journal Journey's challenge where the theme is "Inspired By" as set bsy Eileen who sadly passed away. However the team decided to honour her by continuing with the theme which is now being co-hosted by Christine and Erika.  What has inspired me with this page - why Dyan Reaveley and her drawings of these weird figures.

WOYWW 618

It's almost Wednesday as I am writing this.  Forgot all about doing a post until just now.  Like most folks I normally do it on a Tuesday evening but tonight I got side tracked and went off kilter.  Not much to show either - in the way of crafting, but I have a new toy.  So for all you WOYWW'ers out there here is my new toy - a gift from a lovely young friend.

Some of you will know what this black spidery thing is and others will maybe wonder.  Some of you may even have one - it is for holding my mobile phone (the lower black arm) and it has two lights (the two circles which have three settings from dim to bright.  I cannot wait to get using it but first I have to have something to video.

The nice thing was that it came with a note saying it was for "A Happy Birthday and Mother's Day" and came with love from Jayne and her family.  Jayne is a lovely young friend whom I am very fond of and she rings me up quite regularly for a chat.  She knew that Chas has to hold the mobile phone for me whilst I do my videos for You Tube and so it is a gift in a way for both of us.  Isn't that a lovely thing to do?

I said there was nothing on my craft desk of note - I have been busy cataloguing my Janet Klein little figures and you can see the fruits of my labour on the right of the photo below.

Why my Misti is there I have not a clue but the orange card is left over from die-cutting some letters to welcome a new neighbor.  Beneath it is my newish border acrylic block from Aall & Create and to the right my cataloguing sheets for my JK figures.  I've just ordered another - 'Lil Leonie became available as an add on so I had to buy some new acrylic blocks so that I could get it.  An expensive small stamp but I do like those blocks and will use them.  I only want one really so will see if I can sell the other to a friend.

The green box at the back you have seen many times before, it is a council bin for recycling kitchen waste - we got a spare for some reason, probably because we have a long bungalow with two doors on the frontage.   I painted it and stuck pictures all over it of Parisian things.  

Well that is it for this week, I need to get some sleep.  See you when I have my weekly snoop.

Jeudi Journal - the Wrong Decision

I always try to link my 'Thursday Journal' to Art Journal Journey and so my spread today is, as always on a Thursday, inspired by the words and art of  Dyan Reaveley.  I am fortunate to live quite close to Dyan and so have taken many workshops, given by her and her team of tutors, in the delightful town of Harrogate.  I have known her for many many years from when we were on the circuit together, when her hair was cropped short and she wore black - and Doc Martin boots - a total contrast to the retro dressing red haired Dyan most of you know.

Dyan has, since those days, become a Designer for Ranger in America and brings her quirky designs to the world of art and crafters everywhere.  She still has her store in Harrogate, still runs the occasional workshop when she is in this country, albeit at the moment via You Tube because of the pandemic, and is a very successful business woman, and, the reason I began art journaling.

As today Art Journal Journey are honouring Eileen, a member of their team who has sadly recently passed, by continuing with the theme that she was going to host which is "Influenced By" I am joining in with my page which is influenced by Dyan Reaveley who taught me some of the different ways to do an art journal.

RIP Eileen

How many times in your life have you felt like "Getting out of bed is always the wrong decision"?  That is the quote from Dyan this week.  Well, not exactly Dyan, it was Wendy's choice from one of Dyan's plates.  So what have we this week?

Once again I used my reverse stencilling for the background.  Actually this was a mop up from last week as I used the left over bits on the stencil to put on this page but to make it a bit more defined I added some darker blue to the squared stencil and used that over the top.  Then i drew in one or two of the squares with a marker pen and a gelly roll one.  Today we have two friends, Sophie and Tina ...

"Tina has arrived at Sophie's house to go out to meet up with some friends for a socially distanced get together.  This is the first time they have been able to meet outside in a small group of six so obviously all the girls have been making a real effort to dress up rather nicely.

Sophie felt she had made a real effort, especially with her hair which she had streaked herself and she was so pleased with how it looked.  She felt she had a reasonable figure so she had chosen her dress rather carefully so that it accentuated her tiny waist and showed off her legs rather well.  It was a new dress, one she had ordered over the internet because clothes shopping had been out of reach with all the rules for this pandemic that was going on all over.  Her new boots were lovely and shiny and she was really on quite a high.  That was until she saw Tina.

Tina had also streaked her hair, not quite as good as Sophies, or so Sophie thought, but her outfit!  That was another story.  She was wearing the most adorable dress, the one that Sophie had wanted with the beautiful magenta frill running around the hip.  It had been the frill that had sold it on the screen to Sophie but it was no longer available in her size.  Tina must have bought the last one!

Poor Sophie, her face fell, and she looked so sad.  The whole day was turning into a disaster.  "Getting out of bed is always the wrong decision" she thought as she put on a brave face and walked out of the door to meet up with the others."

Here I am with Dyan, being silly at CHA in 2016 (it was her idea to pose like this)