WOYWW 791

Before I forget, some of you had asked for the link for my You Tube channel and those books I mentioned last week - here it is:    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e_gxwhxsGE&t=46s                      

Well, we have had some lovely sunny days but I guess there is going to be a change - tonight?  Just hope the weather forecasters have it wrong and it's not up north that gets the rain, maybe some tiny uninhabited island off the coast of somewhere.

Of course the lovely week was marred by the dreadful news of the stabbing in Southport on Monday  Just down the coast from where I was staying and a seaside town that I have visited on many occasions all through my life.  I've even taken pupils from school on a day trip there at end of term during my teaching career.  One cannot begin to ascertain what the people of that small seaside town are going through - and especially the families involved.  It's just heartbreaking.  Sending prayers.

Thought I would share my stash, when I am away - so obviously not in my craftroom but in a spare bedroom

All nicely packed away in the old nappy boxes that some of us older crafters began with years ago before the posh craft bags came into being.  And my old Cuttlebug made its way there too.  But, not content with three bags of crafting items I have to take my (more up to date) craftbag with me, packed to the hilt with goodies that I think I might use

Well, I haven't done much crafting with the weather being so nice but I suddenly remembered last night that I had better make a start on my blog for tomorrow and get a post done for AJJ which is the only challenge I enter these days.  Then I remembered that the challenge will change as Thursday is the first of a new month and I won't know until some time on Thursday what the theme is.  Eek!  A new month- summer is almost over!  It's August tomorrow.  So here is my desk

That's it folks!  See you over at Sarah's.

Jeudi Journal - I Will

"Eden and her boyfriend, Colin, had been saving like crazy to get enough money together to buy their first home together.  Finally it happened and they had got the keys to a lovely small apartment in the suburbs and had spent most of their spare time redecorating and buying things to decorate their first home with.  Eden had loved going around town, buying cushions, rugs, fabric to sew curtains etc with which to make it their very own whilst Colin was busy at work and it was her day off.

One day Colin came home to find Eden in the kitchen where she had been busy hanging a sign on the wall.

"What's that for?" he enquired.

"It's kind of my mantra" Eden replied.  "I've never told you but years ago, when I was at school, the teachers said I was unable to settle to learn anything, would not make anything of myself, I would not get decent grades in the exams and therefore would not secure a place at college or a decent job.  Well, they were right.  I didn't get good grades, the only thing I passed was my home economics but I was determined to prove them wrong and so I got myself a job, first of all cleaning and then in the kitchens of a local hotel.  You know, the Royal down the road.  

Well I may have started cleaning and simply washing up but then I showed them I wanted more and they took a risk and allowed me to work in the kitchen doing the vegetables and assisting wherever I could in food prep.  I took myself off to evening classes and did my best to study so that I could get a better job.  

Business Studies proved to be the way ahead for me and so eventually three years later I got my Diploma and went to find  a more office type position, still in a hotel.  That's when I met you at The Towers.  I always remember that first day, you showed me how to do the bookings and eventually we shared an office doing the admin between us - where we fell in love."

"How come you never told me this before?" Colin asked.

"It never occurred to me to tell you but when I saw this in town it just reminded me of my years at school, what the teachers thought of me and how I set out to prove them wrong.  I wish I had been strong enough to tell them "I can, I will ... watch me".  You're not angry are you Col?"

"No, of course not, I love you as who you are and what you have done.  Besides which this just proves to me that you will do your best to make our life together a happy one."

And with that Colin went across to her, put his arms around her and gave her a big hug."

This is again in my small Pink Pig Journal but I am back to using Dylusion images after last week's error.  I hope you enjoyed my story which linked Halle's theme "I've got a notion" at Art Journal Journey with the quote Wendy chose for this week - I am and I will ... watch me.

Not like me to put a funny on here but I loved this.  Hope you enjoy it.

WOYWW 790

It's been a mixed week weather-wise up north.  We have had a couple of lovely warm sunny days, hot in fact, so we had a couple of days by the coast.  I have done some stamping but unfortunately cannot show it to you as it is either a birthday card for an upcoming birthday or cards for a swap.

At last, my WOYWW friends, I have done the video of the Watercolour Books I made with Jo Rice in one of her online workshops that I have been promising to upload for weeks.  Jo does excellent workshops online and I love doing them - this is an older workshop which I have only just done but it is still available.  It makes a book out of a sheet of A4 paper and, as you can see, you can take it wherever you want.  Unfortunately I cannot upload it to here as it is too big (6 minutes) so here is a photo as a taster (my You Tube channel is A C Hickson if you want to see the video and listen to the story for the last book) 

Link is here:  https://youtu.be/6e_gxwhxsGE

I started out doing the one with Jo and went on, with her suggestion, to do a black and white one, then I did a Kraft one and two coloured ones - the last one turned into a story.  You can see this on You Tube Excuse the voice but it was first thing this morning and I guess I was in need of a cuppa.

So that is it for this week.  Lots to see if you can spend time watching the video.  See you at Sarah's later on and hopefully next week with more paper-crafting.

Jeudi Journal - Never Too Late

 "It's Never Too Late to Make things Worse"  is the quote for today.  This has somehow got to be married to Halle's theme "I've got a notion" which is over on Art Journal Journey for this month.  Halle explains it is a bit 'tongue in cheek' and that she loves sewing so anything to do with the sewing room is acceptable, things such as buttons, lace, sewing patterns, hooks etc will do.

Now I have a problem this week.  Having gone away I thought I had covered all eventualities and packed everything I would need until I opened my bag and found my Thursday Journal stuff was on the table at home.  No Dylusion stuff means I cannot marry it fully but I can try something else.  As I am the only crafter here there is nothing I can borrow to fix the problem either.  So Wendy, it is my turn to apologise and I can assure you this was not intentional because you did the wrong quote last week.  Just brain fog!

"It was a sunny morning when Lori and Lola, two little hares, went bobbing along through the forest, and came across two little fairies sitting by the twin trees, known as Hope and Courage.

"Hello" said Lori to the little fairy sitting sifting petals through her finger tips.  "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for some petals to stitch onto the flowers that my friend is trying to mend" she replied.  "You see, we have been given the task today of finding all the flowers in this part of the woodland that have lost a petal.  It is important the for humans to have lots of lovely flowers to look at as they walk along the pathways.  My friend over there is busy stitching them back.  It takes an awful lot of skill to get them just right."

"I can see that" shouted Lola who was watching the other fairy stitching petals back onto the flowers.  "It must be hard not to make a mistake."

"Oh yes' said the fairy, 'we have to be very careful indeed.  It is so easy to not get the correct petal for the flower, besides which it's never too late to make things worse."

"It's like life in general" spoke up the other fairy, "it's so easy to keep on trying but you can always make things worse if you are not careful."

"Well" Lori said, "We had better get going on our way home, Mother will be wondering where we are.  Thanks for the chat, I feel we have learned quite a lot from that." and with that the two little hares went bounding across the grass heading for home with a story to tell their Mother."

Sorry but that is the best I can do for this week.  I hope you can imagine the two little fairies having needles and cotton in their hands as they sew the petals on the flowers.  I am sure there is one at the top of the page and there is a tape measure at the base (surely they have to measure the petals before they attach them).  Please delete if it will not suffice.

WOYWW 789

 It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW where we all met up with Sarah in her Craft Shed (not literally) to share our desks, tidy or untidy, nobody cares it's all about sharing.  Well, I've been in some groups here and there, both physically and on the internet and this is one of the nicest ones you could wish to join in with.  All you have to do is show your desk!  Simples!  They are such a lovely sharing, caring group of crafters, always there when you need them.  Cannot speak highly enough of them.  So if you are tempted I can assure you a warm welcome awaits you later today (or tomorrow or .... or .....  next week)

Well, I have been promising for the past three or four weeks to show something I made and still I have not got around to videoing it (hangs head in shame) but I do have a workshop I did online which I will happily share with you all today.  Hope that will make up for the lack of a video.  It was a Mono workshop with the lovely Jo Rice:

Sorry about the shadow from the phone

Below we have a boo boo on the left (Wink of Stella Clear came out yellow despite the fact I had last used it on one of the earlier blue cards on the lamp) so I had to do another one, and a mop up from cleaning the stencil on the right.  Isn't that hummingbird adorable.

These are spoiled ones from the books I was making (awaiting videoing) so in a way it's a sneak peek for you as way of an apology.

Oops!  I almost forgot my workspace.  

I'm off to a crop with a friend - see you!

Jeudi Journal - Upgrade

 "You live, you learn, you upgrade" is the quote we are working with today and we have to include something to do with stitching - well, the title of the challenge set by Halle at Art Journal Journey is "I've Got a Notion".

"Nina loved sewing.  Her mother had been an accomplished seamstress making Nina beautiful dresses when she was small but Nina was not into that kind of sewing preferring to do things that were far more arty and incorporating lots of different materials into her work, such as plastics, gems and seashells.  Embroidery was also a big thing with her and so her sewing often turned into pictures, many very artistic - enough to land in the local art gallery.  Indeed she almost always had a piece or two on show in the local library.

That is not to say that Nina could not make clothes, in fact she clothed her daughter when she was young, made curtains and duvet covers/pillowcases for the entire house thereby saving lots of money for other things such as holidays for the family. 

 Nina had been a member of the sewing group for quite a number of years.  She had put her heart and soul into making it a success and always always wanted the best for them.  So many times she had worked hard to encourage members to enter into a nationwide sewing display and they had done well, receiving the Silver Cup one year.  Not one member ever went without a birthday card made by Nina on her sewing machine but sadly this was rarely reciprocated.

Poor Nina, one day had an accident and broke her leg.  That meant she could not do her sewing on her lovely pink machine and therefore did not attend the group meetings where they all made things.  A couple of weeks went by and she heard that someone in the group had been spreading malicious lies about her.  Poor Nina did not know what to do and so she sent a message to the group defending herself with proof that these were indeed lies.

Next thing Nina knew most of the group stopped contacting her to see how she was, only a handful remained asking how things were.  Several hurtful things became known to her via the two loyal friends she had.  Poor Nina then made the decision.  She would not go to the group any more.  They would miss her eventually,  it would happen to someone else and then they would regret the way they had treated her.  As she said to her little dog "You live, you learn, you upgrade" and with that she put her thinking cap on, held her head high and started a new group of stitchers quite close to her own home.  No more travel, no more back biting - just happy times ahead.  And lots more awards for the new group. That would show them!"

WOYWW 788

 It's Wednesday again, another wet day yesterday here in the north, but two glorious days before.  Why does it change so much and so quickly.  In fact yesterday it looked like the middle of winter, the trees in the garden were blowing like mad and it was absolutely pouring down - and we were off to a funeral in south Manchester.  What a journey!  But I won't bore you with that.  Instead I will show you some photos from Ruthin, well Lavinia to be exact.  What a fabulous shop it is.  Have I shown you before?  Hope not  - so for those who have never been.

The first photo is to show you the ceiling,  It hangs with all mystical foliage and things creating a magical atmosphere.  You can just see one of the demo's through the door

The second and third photos show you some of the wonderful home decor you can buy in that part of the shop.  Isn't it beautiful?

Well, I didn't buy anything from here, spent up in the craft side of the shop.  No, I did not buy the entire new collection - bought a fair bit of it but there were other things that I really wanted and had to buy.  Silly old me forgot to take a photo of my stash but I was so eager to put it al away and catalogue it that I just got stuck in.

As you can see on my desk I bought the bumble bees.  They are truly adorable.  They come as a mini colony or two on their own, "Bumble and Hum"!  I just had to start stamping some and cutting them out to put in a tin as I know I will be adding these to many things in the future.  Instead of a butterfly covering an error it will probably be a bee.

Sadly I have not finished all my books I promised you on WOYWW ages ago.  Four are completely finished but the final one (and my favourite) is taking a while to dry where I stamped on Designer Paper.  Surely next week I will have them done and on video.  So my desk, and my bees plus a couple of the new stamps

Have a Good Week!

Jeudi Journal - Exhaust You

 I was in a bit of a rush this morning but am so late in posting my Journal page for Halle's "Ive Got a Notion" at Art Journal Journey because I had an early doctor's appointment.  8 am believe it or not when I joined the queue outside the surgery waiting for it to open.  That set me all of a "flunter" for the remainder of the morning and I have only just got around to doing something,

My sore thumb holds me up a bit, I never knew how much a thumb on the non dominant hand could be a problem.  Trying to find something to do with sewing, ie rummaging through boxes, was out of the question but in the end I managed to do a bit of cross stitch on a piece of cardstock.

"Marnie was known as the Glitter Queen amongst her family and friends, but what not many knew was that her house also fell under the spell of being a little eccentric,  Her friend Mae knew only too well that Marnie loved anything a bit different.  Take yesterday for instance ...

Mae had called to see if her friend wanted to go out shopping, or even wanted some shopping doing only to be told "No" and to "Call around tomorrow".  So being a good friend and not wanting to upset Marnie Mae went around the next day and found Marnie had been waiting in for a new piece of furniture yesterday.

There it was, a white armoire.  Not just any white armoire but a padded one with glittery cross stitching along the side and front panels, and perched on top was - a fawn!  No, it wasn't a real one, it was a plush velvet, life sized toy, beige in colour with light brown spots and a leaf which it looked as if it had been munching on.  

Marnie had placed it up to the wall and put her favourite ornament next to it - a large glass specimen jar in which she kept her pet caterpillar, Harry.

"What on earth have you been buying now" asked Mae.

"It's a white armoire but I had them embroider some glittery stitches on it, you know how I love my glitter."

"Ans what's that thing on top" Mae asked.

"That, my dear friend, is Fenella, my lovely little fawn.  I have always wanted a real one but nobody would sell one to me that was house trained so I had to settle for this little beauty.  Isn't she gorgeous?"

Mae looked over the top of her glasses, "I'll never figure you out" she said.

"Don't try and figure me out, it will only exhaust you." was Marnie's reply.

"I know" said Mae, "I've said it so many times and given up.  You are what you are, a Glitter Queen, but I love you."

And with that the two best friends had a little hug and it was time to put the kettle on."

I hope my little attempt at cross stitching will be ok with Halle and hopefully next week my thumb will be so much better and I will have time to find my sewing stuff or something.  In the meantime, thanks Halle for a lovely challenge for July.

WOYWW 787

Another Wednesday, another month, another WOYWW day and another wet one up north.  Honestly we get two or three days of sunshine and that seems to be it for summer up here.  And here am I talking of moving further up north than we are.  Thank goodness it's all a pipe dream with me.

Last week I showed you the beginnings of a book I was making - well, I am still making it - but the fifth one.  I have managed to do some simple stamping, nothing too elaborate but it has given me lots of enjoyable hours so that is what it is all about.

The thumb is ok, not too bad at all, just very bruised on the fleshy bit but the nail seems to be saved and only affected at the top half.  Who knows, next week you might get a little bit of a video but for the time being here is a sneak peek at what is on my desk

and a bit more interesting and a sneak peek at my stamping (my counter top):

I did some stamping on Kraft and embossing in white, some monochrome, the original watercolours, a painted one and an underwater one.  At the far right you can maybe make them out, the books that these pictures will stick to.  I cannot get the hang of this technique - Jo made hers look like lovely pale blue fencing - mine looks like ticking from the old fashioned bed thingies that grandparents had.

Not entirely happy but it will do and I still have three more to do but some will be plain coloured card and maybe some will be designer paper.  Time will tell.  And time is telling me I need to stop typing and get moving.  See you next week.  Take care.