Rain to grow the flowers!

This is my last chance to link to Art Journal Journey where Linda's theme 'For the Record' gave me so many ideas! Unfortunately by being away then poorly I haven't used many those ideas at all.

I used to love listening to Pat Boone (I saw him on TV recently and he has aged for sure but still has that lovely smile!)

'April Love' was one of his big hits back in the 50's, he had so many though! He was also a writer and appeared in many films.

Here is my page with one of the lines from the song

I used some stamps I bought last year while in France.They were stamped and coloured in with Coloursoft pencils then painted over with Paper Artsy Pearl glaze - I love how shiny they are  now! I outlined everything with anInktense grey pencil and pulled it out with a water brush and smudged the edges.The words from the song....my attempt at hand writing! 
I am also linking to

Moo Mania and More for the theme - Floral


Posted from my phone - if we get a connection!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Calming Down!!

Have you ever stayed in waiting for a workman who doesn't arrive? Yes! Of course you have! 
Today we planned to go up to our caravan, since our phone stopped working last week we have been out and bought a new phone, however, when we tried to connect it it seems there is fault with our line so….contacted the supply company and booked someone to come today…between 8 and 12…got a text to say they would be here and that they were looking forward to seeing us!
We waited…and waited…no phone call or text…hubby packed the car so that we could be straight off…! Lunchtime came and a lot of our food was in a coolbox in the car…not to worry..we made a meal with what we did have in the fridge and cupboard..and waited! After we had eaten hubby went online ….we had an expensive number to ring and as he couldn't get the information we wanted I rang the expensive number on my mobile phone and after a whole load of automated messages managed to speak to someone and got them to ring me back! He was very sympathetic and promised that the technical team would ring us back…but he did say that the workman had been and tried to gain access!!!
The technical team did indeed ring and said that the driver had spent 25 minutes trying to gain access - I flipped dear reader, totally utterly flipped, especially when he said that the technician had no more slots today! Asked why the man had not called - we suspect he may have gone to our complex back gate - as visitors often do - something to do with Sat navs not recognising the post code, it is quite a busy exit - if he had been there for 25 minutes he could easily have asked someone!!! He said he would look into the tracker on the van and get back to me.
Within a few minutes he called back - by this time it was 3.30! Someone is on their way!! Not the original guy…just as well!!!

Anyway, in an effort to calm down I have made a very quick journal page for Moo Mania and More - the challenge is 'Floral'

Yesterday we met my youngest son in Manchester for coffee and a chat! The cafe is called 'Pot, Kettle, Black' and a pleasant place to sit for a while. 

I also had a voucher and a gift token to spend at Paperchase, a shop I have never come out of empty handed!!

I bought 3 new journals, one with black pages, a square one and this Kraft paper one. I gessoed the page randomly before I went to bed.
All I have done here is use some stencils with Blueprint Sketch and Bundled Sage DIs, a Japanese text stamp using BS and 'beautiful' from a greetings set I have had for a while.

I do feel calmer now and we MAY go to our caravan…..if the man turns up!!! 

Edit: A man, a very nice man, has just been and fixed our problem, he had to walk about a quarter of a mile to the cabin to check the line, refused a drink and apologised on behalf of the other guy.
We are going to our caravan early tomorrow!

Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 360

Wow! It does seem an age since I last joined in with Julia's Weekly desk round up at The Stamping Ground. I was all set last week before we had to go on a mission!!!!
I have been saving some photos for you of my trip to Version Scrap in Paris…and of course on my desk are the few goodies I managed to buy.

So few you might wonder….and of course there is a tale to tell…..
Hubby had a migraine on the morning my SIL and I were due to go so he stayed in the hotel while we walked with BIL to where Version Scrap was being held. As we were on the way hubby phoned to say he was feeling better, so BIL and he arranged to met at the Natural History Museum - about half a mile away from VS.
By the time we had gone through security and then to the ticket Desk to pick up our tickets,(kindly left by Sally from Paper Artsy as I had applied to PA for tickets) it was getting on and the place was PACKED!!!!
Not wanting to rush into spending our money we ambled(and fought our way through crowds!)around the area, SIL bought some distress inks and we went to join the hot dog queue. It was hot and both my cardi and coat were draped over my bag while we ate. As we were near to the loos decided to 'go'! Just as we were sorting out bags BIL appeared - asking why we weren't answering our phones…it seems that he had been trying for an hour….hubby had passed out in a lift at the museum!!! 
Now…if I had answered the call I probably would have suggested that hubby sleep it off…he was in a darkened medical room at the museum…but as BIL had rushed over, fought his way in(tight security regs and no ticket!!) felt the best thing to do was to leave…except that I hadn't bought anything and there was no pass out system available(or maybe  there was  - I just asked the wrong people)!
I knew that if I went back to hubby and and hadn't bought anything he would yell at me(sort of..he doesn't yell!!)so I gave myself 20 minutes to zoom to two stands - probably would have got more but the  queues to pay were quite long so just grabbed at stuff…as you see here!
We hot footed over to the museum to find hubby….first words…"What are you doing here?"…….
Good news is  - he felt better and we set off and found somewhere for the menfolk to eat while we enjoyed a cup of coffee!
Now for those photos..

 Of course I can see loads of things I would have liked!!!! I would have loved to see more of the demos on the stands , although we did watch for a while at PA in the morning! 

I hope I haven't rambled too much and that you enjoy these photos!

Thanks for looking, Chris

   

It WAS looking like Spring!

We have had two flurries of snow today - enough to cover the grass, although it did melt fairly quickly.
When we went out this morning, even though it was sunny, there was a nip in the air!

My journal page is celebrating a sunny Spring day - we did have quite a few of those last week!

I spritzed my page lightly before adding some sprinkles of Brushos and then spritzing again. I let it dry naturally overnight.
This morning I stamped some Woodware and Paper Artsy JOFY flowers and coloured them in using a combination of Fibralos and Derwent Coloursoft crayons. I also used a white pen and a gold pen. I then used a grey crayon around the outline of all of the flowers and stems.

The quote is a Woodware one bought a while ago but used for the first time today!

I would like to enter the following challenges

Craft Stamper - Take it, make it challenge April - Spring Flowers

Country View Challenges Blog -April challenge - Spring

Moo Mania and More - Floral challenge  

Thanks for looking, Chris

Vintage at Try It On Tuesday ….and T stands for ….the view!

Hello everyone! Our new theme at Try It On Tuesday is 'Use a Vintage Photo'. The Design team have some real vintage delights to share so I hope you will pop over for a look!

My card was made with my Granddaughter in mind but I have since had a change of mind!

The photo was cut from the front of a card I bought when a shop was closing down.

The rest of the card is mainly using up some scraps from my boxes.

The backing paper is an attempt to reduce the mountain of papers I have - can't justify buying new papers when I have so many! The book paper is from my old college text book.

I had a scrap of hessian but it looked a bit heavy so I pulled some threads - easy on such a small scrap.

An adage ticket,some little 'flags' and a bought flower balance the buttons bottom left.

I am also joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday

Three weeks ago I was on my way to Paris with a plan to meet up with Patty.

We weren't sure whether there would be transport strikes so were prepared to have a change of plan if necessary. As it turned out we met up outside the Tour Montparnasse and went through security to access the restaurant. The elevator goes up 56 floors in less than 40 seconds!!

Here we are just after meeting with the Gare Montparnasse in the background.

It was a very bright day and this was our view from the entrance door.

Jim and Tony found common ground in being photographers and craft hubbies - several looks exchanged and laughter, as Patty and I talked of saving napkins, doilies and other natural crafting behaviour!

Sacre Couer in the distance - Patty and I had a seeing double moment until we realised it was reflected in the mirrored areas separating some of the tables!!!

Les Invalides where Napoleon's tomb rests and where we visited with my in laws later that day. There is also quite a large Military Museum there too.

We saw our images reflected at the end of the restaurant - time for a selfie!

Our Venoisseries arrived in a little metal pot.
Did we get to see the travelling tea cup - you bet we did!!

Jim has done something very clever with the cup which I am sure Patty will include on her blog!
As you can imagine there was so much to talk about and the time passed all too quickly.
We exchanged gifts too, although I don't have a photo of the little memento holder I had made for Patty. I had made it small enough to fit into her purse(handbag) so I was rather embarrassed to see 
the amazing wall hanging and journal Patty gave me.

Aren't they both beautiful?
While we chatted the menfolk had fun taking photographs of the view below!

The Eiffel Tower with the Military School near the bottom of the photo and The Trocadero behind it.

The green area is the Tuileries gardens with the Petit Palais on the left and the Louvre on the right. The building with the green roof is the Opera.

Line 6 Metro is mainly overground and you get great views of the Eiffel Tower when you cross the Seine.

I hope you will join in with our new challenge at TIOT. The challenge runs for two weeks.

I am still struggling to catch up with visiting blogs as once we felt better we decided to go to our caravan where the connection has been dreadful - several comments lost before I could publish them!

Thanks once again for your good wishes, hope to visit soon!

Thanks for looking, Chris

San Francisco. ...

Hello everyone, Thank You for your kind comments recently! I am feeling so much better, we have been out for a few walks near our caravan and I am feeling revived!

My journal page is for Art Journal Journey, where Linda's theme For The Record has inspired this page.
Hoping I can get a connection while we are out today! 

Thanks for looking, Chris 

White space and more photos..

I am loving the new challenge at Paper Artsy - use white space.
I have long admired those journal pages that leave white space but it is something that has to be so carefully considered before I start! 
This time I used one of my larger journals. I had copper and verdigris on my mind so made a few random smudges with copper acrylic paint along the page and then stamped circles using any tops the were on my desk.
Once the paint had dried I washed over with a green paint

I then gathered up a few scraps lying around on around my desk from recent projects.

Wasn't entirely happy but a final addition of a little heart button and a handwritten word and I was done!

I would like to enter in the challenge at Paper Artsy - White Space

Now for some more of those Paris photos.
We went to the Promenade Plantee which we have visited a few times, it was of course, the perfect place to visit in Springtime!

The apartments along the the way take a pride in their balconies.

We walked further along the old railway garden and saw some new gardens

We think this must have been one of the stations on the old railway line and it is where we came down for a well earned cup of coffee.

I would also like to enter the Frilly and Funkie challenge - It's not Easy being Green. I used my scraps up that would have otherwise just been rubbish!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T stands for…..time for some photos!

I haven't been very productive lately apart from things I can't show you yet!(Swap pages and DT stuff)
I do have some journal pages partly completed and I have attempted to make a card with some white space for the new Paper Artsy challenge.

 Not sure whether I will link though…
What I will do is link to Bluebeard and Elizabeths blog for T stands for Tuesday though!

Our trip to Paris didn't quite end as we would have liked, we both ended up with a horrible bug which as left us feeling quite low in energy! A walk to to the newspaper shop at the end of the road was my first outing on Sunday - a week after our return and it really tired me! We have been out a couple of times since at it is getting better!
Paris though, was lovely!
Our hotel was quite close to the tram line that goes around the outskirts of the city so we took advantage of our one day travel pass on the first day to ride most of it. 

We came across a modern park near the end of one line.

It was next to the river Seine.

 Then it was back to the tram and to La Defence - modern buildings and sculptures…and shops!

Hubby spotted a FNAC store - music on his mind!

The fun Miro statues always make me smile.

We had a savoury crepe for our evening meal, with water!
This is the first time I remembered to take a photo of my food or drink and as you can see I was halfway through before I remembered this time!

I'll be back with more photos soon!

Thanks for looking, Chris

ps I have decided to link to the White Space Paper Artsy Blog Challenge!