Jeudi Journal - Cross

"It was a cold and windy morning when Beyonce took her little dog, Rufus, for a walk in the fields.  Beyonce had wrapped up with her big cape on and a scarf and hat along with her lovely big warm red boots.  Rufus was wearing his nice new knitted coat that aunty Jan had made for him and Beyonce was particularly thrilled with the way the two of them looked on such a cold windy day.

They had taken the usual route through the park and onto the meadowland that stretched out onto the hills around the little village where Beyonce lived with her mother and father.  It had been a bit of an uphill struggle for the two of them, Rufus only had little short legs and Beyonce was a bit unfit due mainly to the lack of exercise and the increase of chocolate in her diet of late.  The wind was blowing and leaves were whirling around and around making it even more difficult to walk uphill.

As they neared the top of the hill Beyonce realised that she was not quite as fit as she used to be and she began talking to Rufus about her friend Gemma who was a bit of a keep fit fanatic.  "If only I could be like Gemma" she said, standing still regaining her breath and hoping nobody was around to see her puffing and panting.  Gemma was her best friend, a friendly girl with a lovely slim figure and legs that people used to joke 'went up to her armpits'.  Even though the two of them spent a lot of time together when they were not working Gemma was the one who went to the gym three times a week.  Squats, Pull-ups, Jumps and Lunges were an everyday thing with her but Beyonce could not get interested in such strenuous exercise. 

As she said, with a smile on her face, to Rufus, "I'm really into crossfit.  I cross my fingers and hope I can fit in my jeans".  Rufus looked at her and wondered if "crossfit" was a new type of biscuit she was thinking of buying for him.  He remembered the Hot Cross Buns from ages ago, he wasn't supposed to eat them but Beyonce had let him have one or two bits from hers when mum wasn't looking.  She'd not given him any with butter on though.  And he loved butter.

They continued on with their walk and came across a hedgehog scurrying through the undergrowth and a little later they saw a red squirrel.  Beyonce was so annoyed that she did not have her camera with her, her father would never believe her that there were red squirrels on the hillside.

"Come on" she said to Rufus, race you to the bottom of the hill.  And with that they both set off at run for home ..... and a chocolate?"

Now to link to Art Journal Journey where Chris's topic is "All Kinds of Weather" - you have one week left to enter something of your own, go on, you know you want to.

Just returned from a trip to The Lakes and on Friday we went into Bowness on Windermere (my previous post refers to my reporting that a Canadian Goose was limping badly, I am worried now that they will have put him to sleep as he is a wild bird.  Trouble is there is Avian Flu up there and whilst he looked healthy enough they may decide it is the best course of action.  I hate to think I may have been his demise).  Anyway, here are a few photos:

It was late afternoon when I took these, hence the light

I loved these rosehips by the car

and look at this garden

I got Chas to stop the car so I could see the lake from this end (near Newby Bridge) and when I popped my head over the wall I saw this beautiful garden.  Imagine living there!   

Had to include this photo taken through the windscreen, the sky was lovely shades of blue and pink which inspired me to paint my journal page this week.

WOYWW 651

 Not a profitable week Christmas wise as we have been away again.  Profitable for the shops though as I took advantage and did a bit of Christmas shopping.  So not much eye candy for you to see - I am hoping other desks will display plenty.

On Friday we had the day in Bowness, and no trip to The Lakes would be complete without a mooch around  Booths and Lakeland.  We bought some gorgeous mini pork pies from Booths and ate them down by the lake later in the afternoon but the best buy was from Lakeland - I got a new mixer.  Nothing posh, (I have a big Kenwood) but I wanted a small one as mine burnt out a couple of years ago and I have missed having it for the little jobs.  This one comes with a whisk and dough hooks so I will probably use it even more.

We went down to the lake itself

We watched the birds being fed by people and I was upset to see one of the Canadian Geese had a very pronounced limp.  He looked as if he was heaving his whole body up to one side in order to to be able to walk.  It looked really hard work for him to keep up with the rest of them.  So I tried to ring the RSPCA but they were busy and in the end I contacted the Westmorland Wild Life People who could not go out to him because of Avian Flu.  They took details and passed my message on to the RSPCA who then contacted me.  What a palaver!  I had to tell them where the goose was (not easy when you don't know the area) but Chas found out it was Glebe Road so I told them it was by the entrance of the car park.  Not good enough.  Three emails later they established where I meant (?) and said they would send an Inspector out to investigate.  I hope they can help the poor goose and not put him to sleep or I will feel dreadful.  This is one instance where I do not want to know the outcome.

Saw this place and immediately thought of Julia and Jan - had to have a photo taken even though I hate photos of me.  Didn't go in as I had my rhubarb gin back at the ranch and preferred that in my own glass.  Here's to the gin girls!  (Dig the mask, only removed to stop me looking like a robber)

Guess I had better get my desk loaded up as that is what you came for.  Recently each week I have been doing my Thursday journal page late on a Wednesday night so this week I am being prepared.  What you cannot see is that the background is done and I am nearly there with the figures I am using - no last minute this week.

Tracy Evans stamps on the left (waiting to be used for my next Christmas Card), my journal turned over so you can only see old pages, scissors, ink pads and paper with the titles of the blog pages coming up written on it.  But I did get some new stamps through the letterbox this morning - Susan from Country View Crafts did her magic speedy delivery again.  Can recommend her for fast efficient service.

Three of Janet's stamps from Aall & Create - a bit late for Christmas now but I will be making a start for next year early January and these will give me such pleasure in colouring etc.  Now what will I do with them?

See you around at Julia's in a short while, WOYWW awaits us.

Jeudi Journal - Yarn?

 Well, when I saw what the quote was for the post today I almost curled up and cried.  How on earth was I supposed to do that?  A hasty call to Wendy, in the hope she was struggling too and we could change it lead to fits of laughter from the other end of the phone as she knew exactly what I was going to say.  What did she say?  "Well, you chose it!"  And so I did - I just wrote a list of sayings from a funny verse catalogue and thought they would be fine.  Second one in and I was struggling.

So several ideas later (I had been making Christmas cards most of the day so my brain was in a fog) such as two boys telling funny stories to one another, I ended up with "Cats".  Three cats in fact, who had met up on a late summer's day when the weather was just about to threaten with rain.  Well, two really as one was a little kitten.

"Tabitha and Molly were sisters, very much alike but with totally different lives.  Tabitha was married with a little girl kitten but her sister Molly was single and very carefree.  They would meet up each week for a chat, even during the school holidays when Tabitha had to take her little kitten along.  They were very careful as to what they talked about when kitten was around, (we all know what little ones are like, they listen in to adult conversations and then repeat them to all and sundry).  

Tabitha had been particularly busy that day getting some bits for the family outing her husband, Tomas, had planned.  He thought it about time they all went away somewhere nice for a day, he was sure the 'who-mans' would not panic too much if they all were out together a bit longer than usual.  They were, afterall, a nice family that they lived with.

Molly, on the other hand, was a bit of a joker and sometimes her behaviour and the things she came out with made poor Tabitha blush.  In fact only that day she had told Tabitha a bit of a tall story.  Kitten had listened intently and thought it rather strange, so much so that she had remembered what her aunt had said, word for word.

Suddenly they noticed that the sky was darkening and it looked as if rain was threatening, "so much for the picnic Tomas had planned for them" thought Tabitha as she said her goodbyes to her sister and made a hasty retreat for home, dragging poor kitten with her.

Just as they got to the door, they noticed Tomas was looking particularly pleased with himself and so they went inside but before he could tell them what he had planned for the change in the weather. young kitten blurted out "Did you hear about the cat that swallowed a ball of yarn?  She had mittens."  Poor Tabitha did not know where to look.  Tomas's face changed.  "You've been with that sister of yours again" he said.  "I've told you before she is not a good influence where young kitten is."  And so the planned picnic was cancelled, Dad's alternative plan was never revealed as he went off to the local dustbin to hang around with his mates instead, leaving Tabitha to reflect on what she was going to say to Molly next time she met up with her."

OK it is a silly story but I really could not think of anything better.  Should I link it to Art Journal Journey as usual or not?  I am sure they will allow me another bit of nonsense this week.  Why not join in with your interpretation of "All Kinds of Weather" as suggested by my friend Chris.

WOYWW 650

Another Wednesday, these days are on wheels, they are going so fast it's getting ridiculous!  There's just not enough time to do all that I want to do.  Christmas Card making got really slowed down - here's my desk at the moment:

My little Vagabond has been in use again, I only use it for small things as it has a small platform and I was trying out some Christmas dies to use on my three big cards.  They've taken ages to do and now I am not sure if they are worth all the effort ..... and the card (lots).  They will have to be hand delivered ones as they are quite thick and I don't want them damaging in the mail.  Those are the original plates (doubt I could get replacements now) and the white one has had some 'hammer' with cutting on it.  There are just the dies I have been using on the desk and the little black thing is a wallet that my ATC swap came in.

Here are the atc's the blue ones are the swaps from my friend Lorraine which I delivered along with her birthday card (I cannot find the photo of it but am sure I took one), and gifts and the coloured ones are mine - I suggested we do two sets so we have one to remind us what we sent ourselves.

I was a bit naughty and did 4 instead of 3

Her birthday card was Alice themed too as she loves Alice in Wonderland, as do I.  In fact I know she has bought me something "Alice" themed for Christmas.  I am so annoyed about the photo not being on my camera.  Wonder if she will take one for me in the morning (when it is her birthday).  Anyway, it was like these Christmas Cards:

The one on the right is still unfinished

As you can see I have made three but only two are decorated at the moment.  It is difficult finding what fits for the bottom centre for them to fold up.  I really had no idea how to decorate them at all then came across the idea of putting NOEL on four faces so I tried out various alphabets I have.  I then found the snowflake dies and the Merry Christmas.  I cut out quite a few different things but they just didn't fit.  The candles on the top one had to have various bits snipped off to make it fit but luckily the deer family just scrapes in, without a border.  I am still struggling for the third one.  It might end up with a stamped scene.  The black one is my favourite but it started life as a birthday card (intention was) with a Mardi Gras theme but then it didn't get finished in time so I abandoned it and sent a pretty cut out card I made a while ago.  I decided cream and gold was to be my colours for Christmas but now I like the black one.  Now who of my three recipients will get my favourite?

That's it folks, still not done any videos but I guess there is lots for you to see above so I will say cheerio for this week.  Off to see Miss Julia and what she is up to at the moment and then a trip around the group.

Jeudi Journal

"Have you ever been in love?  I mean really deeply in love?  So much in love that it hurts?  Well poor Bertie is going through the most awful pain of being in love at the moment.  You see he is in love with Susie down the road and she doesn't seem to know he exists.  She has the biggest and most adorable eyes anyone could have - in fact when he is in her company he just disappears into those dark deep pools (ie her eyes).  He's got it bad!

It was a wet kind of day when Bertie saw Susie down the street, her hair was wetter than usual which made her big eyes look even larger than normal, in fact it was raining bones that day.  Dog bones!  The kind dogs love to chew on -  there were one or two grey clouds hovering above.  He had put his best bowler hat on in case he saw her, he really wanted her to notice him.  His friend  and confidante, Billy Bulldog had told him "What you believe in becomes true.  Believe in something absurd" and so Bertie sat there and believed, with all of his heart that he was a big tall figure of a dog, dressed smartly like that big guy, Prince, who was so darned handsome all the lady dogs in the district fell in love with him and swooned as he walked past.

He squeezed and squeezed his eyes until they hurt saying over and over to himself that he believed he was big and strong and could walk on his two hind legs and stand tall.  Pretending that he was wearing a jacket slung nonchalantly over his shoulders, his waistcoat of the finest check and sporting the most wonderful bow tie he felt good and powerful.  

He opened his eyes and there was Susie, sat beside him.  Did she just glance over her shoulder at him?  Yes, it had worked, what you believe in really does come true sometimes, as how absurd it is.

From that moment on Bertie and Susie became firm friends and now Bertie is believing that one day they will walk up the doggy aisle together.  I hope he continues to believe it."

I think I might give that 'believing in something absurd' a try one of these days.  In the meantime I will leave you with lots of happy thoughts and dash over to Art Journal Journey to see what wonderful weather pictures there are - because that is what Chris has chosen for her theme this month - All Kinds of Weather.

WOYWW 649

Another week, another WOYWW and my "C" Card tally is now at 24 so I am quite pleased and I spent a day making a card for a very good friend which could have been made much quicker had I not kept looking at several You Tube videos for different ideas.

Last week I failed to tell you that I had a message from a double jabbed, boosted friend to say she had Covid.  Then, just shortly after, a phone call from another friend to say she, her husband and son had all been laid low for a week with covid.  She sounded dreadful with a wracking cough but that was not the worse of her symptoms.  She had hurt in all her bones, could not bare to touch her skin, had a headache, the cough, no smell or taste, and her chest felt as if she had been running a marathon.  It hurt so much.    She said she would not wish it on her worse enemy.

Now friend number one above, got it from her husband who caught it from work - apparently there have been a few at his work with it but the other friend and her family all went to a wedding on the Saturday as they started on the Tuesday.  No masks!  Makes one think how easy it is to get this dreaded disease and how bad it can be.  Jayne sounded terrible on the phone but from what she told me she had obviously been much worse.  Thankfully her son had had very little wrong so was able to help look after his parents plus she has a daughter who had it a while ago.  Her husband is in bed at the moment as he went a lot worse than he was a few days ago.

Then another friend on FB said she had had it and it was dreadful.  So it seems quite rife at the moment - PLEASE be careful.

Anyway, you came to see my desk so here it is:

My little Excalibur which I was using to cut out lots of circles.  But what for?  All will be revealed some time soon but not now, sorry.  You can see all the dies I was using and all the bits of masking tape on top of my machine which is my trusty little cutter that sits in my room, unlike the other machines I have who all sit on a trolley elsewhere.  I have too many!

Now I must get on with those Christmas Cards, they won't make themselves.

Toodle Pip - see you over at WOYWW.

Jeudi Journal - Wings

For this month at Art Journal Journey my friend Chris has chosen "All Kinds of Weather" as her topic for the month.  I am going to enjoy this and hope I can marry it to the quotes for the Dyan inspired pages Wendy and I do each Thursday.  Today the quote I am using is "Until you spread your wings you have no idea how far you'll fly" and my page is set in a farmyard where two members of the fowl family are having a chatter.  Not sure I am happy with either the page or the story this week - sorry folks.

To begin with I used my Distress Oxides as watercolours, Rusty Hinge and Carved Pumpkin for the ground and Tumbled Glass and Broken China for the sky area.  I then stamped, with Momento's London Fog (grey), a Farmhouse and a couple of trees to represent them being in the distance.  Figures were coloured, as usual, with Promarkers and I did the writing with a Posca Pen.

"It was a lovely day in the farmyard when Dilys found young Sara in tears by the old tree.  Sara was the smallest of the chickens in Mr Swift's farmyard, the youngest too and a rather timid little thing.  She preferred to hang around the chicken coop and sit with the hens. rather than go off with the other chickens having adventures  The older hens loved having her with them for company and they would sit and applaud her as she danced around and did little somersaults in the sand on the floor for them.

She was such a good help too and when the shavings and straw were changed in the coop she would help her mum spread them about just as the others liked them.  Sometimes there would be some bits of hay in with the straw and Sara knew that it was not good for chickens to be lying in it so she would pick it up in her little beak and move it outside where one of the bigger animals would collect it and take it over it to their corner of the yard.

Sara was liked by most of the other chickens but there were one or two of them jealous of her popularity with the older hens and they would pick on her.  Flo and Agnes, a couple of Leghorns, were two much older chickens and they thought they were the best looking of all the fowl there.  This was despite Sophie, a Silkie, being undoubtedly a very attractive chick much admired by all and the pride of Farmer Swift's flock.

Dilys was one of the kindest hens, a Rhode island Red, and she asked Sara what on earth was the matter.  It turned out that Flo and Agnes had been teasing her because she did not wander around the farmyard like some of the others did, she had never been up by the apple trees, or seen the horses galloping in the field and had certainly not ventured anywhere near the cowshed.  They said she was a 'cowardy custard' and they laughed every time she went past them, calling her names.

Dilys sat her down and told her all about the farmyard, what the different areas were like, which were safe and which she should not go anywhere near.  Which, of the other animals she could play with, and which she should avoid, not that they would harm her but because they were so much bigger than she was they might just not see a little chicken as they lumbered across the cobbles.  "Until you spread your wings you have no idea how far you'll fly" she said.

"But I don't want to fly", said Sara, "I like it here with mum and the other hens".

"Yes", said Dilys, but there is a big world out there and it is waiting for you to explore it, You know how you watch the other chickens at play, well, don't you want to join in with their games sometimes?"

"Yes", said Sara, her little beak trembling.

"Well then, off you go, spread your wings and before you know it you will be flying high"

I can tell you that Sara did listen to Dilys and take her advice and before long she was laughing and playing with the other chickens, much to the delight of the older hens who certainly missed her but were happy she had at last found her wings and flown."

WOYWW 648 - A New Month

A new month and a step nearer to Christmas.  What is happening to "Time" - it seems to be gathering speed at an unbelievable rate of knots and now that the clocks have been altered the days are drawing in much faster and because of the terrible weather the mornings are not any lighter.  Daylight seems so small!

I did manage to get my Halloween decorations down (ugh, the dust) and now they are safely back on top of the cupboard in the utility room.  I am afraid I just put things out rather than did a proper display.  It was more to get them down and dusted than anything. Wanda the Witch from Prague did not make an appearance on the window display this year, she got forgotten and carried on with her evil cackling in the utility room.  Here is my display:

the dining room - I made the box and the pop up card years ago

the lounge (split in two - large window)

I made the arch in the top picture from the lounge and the square framed thingie too.  No trick or treaters again this year, not had any for about five years but who can blame parents for stopping the children doing it on their own! Plus now there is Covid to consider too.

Last week I got some new stamps from AAll & Create (via Country View Crafts, I've given up on The Craft Store) - Tracy's new release (sorry for the flash)

and straight away I had to use one for a friend who needed a hug from me.  Tracy had done a You Tube on my favourite of the stamps so I used that tutorial but changed the shape (because of the envelopes I had) and the colour (because it was more appropriate to the occasion and her favourite colours anyway).

Afraid I have still not got around to doing any videos not done any more in my Open Spine Journal either and crafting has had to go on hold because I needed to bake as we are having the hedges cut and the two men will be working in all kinds of weather so I thought they could have a nice biscuit or two with their cuppa.  The only other crafting has been my Thursday Journal page - I blame these dark nights and mornings.  Anyway, here is my desk which is what you all came to see - tidy once more.  Hopefully won't last!  (the Circus stuff is something I have had for years - got it out hoping it might inspire me to put it together)

ps Shaz in Oz - hope your card arrives in Gambia