Be yourself!

As promised here is the journal page I made inspired by the Pride parade in Manchester last weekend.

 I was lucky enough to acquire a copy of Vogue magazine - there are some fabulous photos in it and I intend using some for image transfers, but this one made me think back to the parade! There were some very glamorous outfits and I don't know (and don't need to) what gender the wearers were!
I started off with a plain background - watered down Fresco paint smoothed on with a sponge.

 I added stencils and stamping until I was happy with the coverage.
I used my set of little flowers that I bought in the Orsay Museum in Paris last year.

As you can see I also added some home made tape...

I picked up some dried paint from my plastic lid 'paint palette'with some clear tape and added it straight to the page.

I attempted to stamp the sentiment onto the page but the ink just wasn't going to dry on that tape!! I stamped onto a piece of paper that I covered in the same Bora Bora paint that I used on the page and cut it out.

I added a fussy cut butterfly that I had inked and added white pen to as I though all those flowers would surely attract brighter butterflies than those I had stamped on the page.

I am entering the 'Count Your Blessings' chosen by Elizabeth at Art Journal Journey. We are blessed that more countries in our World are  becoming accepting to the LBGT community and certainly in my adopted  home town of Manchester!

I would also like to enter at 
More Mixed Media - Anything Goes - optional 'Brights'

Rubber Dance challenge Colour theme and/or Nature as this will be the last time I can enter this challenge (they are moving to face Book which sadly I will not be joining)

I must apologise to anyone I haven't made a comment to recently but  using the keyboard or my phone is quite painful - a temporary situation hopefully!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands For....the Pride Parade!

Last Saturday we set off on the tram for Manchester city centre!
One of my sons was going to be on a float and we wanted to show our support to the parade! Although we had set out early we were surprised to see that all the barriers had loads of people already standing waiting.
We headed off for a coffee and then chose a spot with a reasonable view (not all of the time though!!)

The carnival theme was 'Circus of Acceptance'!

The line dancers kept going through their routines

 Now, here comes the float my son is on...

 ...and here it is.... gone past! I was so busy looking for him I forgot to take a photo and we only spotted him after it had passed as he was over the other side!!! 

We watched for a while longer..the parade was far longer than the last time we saw one - I think it must have at least trebled the number of floats! It was still going strong after two and a half hours - although that included several stops for the trams to get through - right by where we were!

Our legs began to ache from standing still and we were hungry so we walked around 200 yards back to a restaurant we had spotted on our way.

Of course Bleubeard and Elizabeth are waiting to see what drink we have this week for T Stands For Tuesday.

 As you can see we chose water to go with our fishy lunches.

 Hubby had a fish pie which because of the prawns I couldn't have!I had a fish finger sandwich, well almost, I couldn't eat all of the bread or the chips(fries) because when we got in I began to feel a little faint so I asked the waiter for some sweet potato fries - I think it was low sugar as I soon perked up!!

One of the best things was, the restaurant being called the Anthologist, the bill came inside this old book!

We will be going back as the food was delicious and the menu was wide enough to please the whole family.

Elizabeth wrote a brilliant post the other day titled 'What is LOVE?' Definitely worth a look.

Today I made a journal page inspired by all the fabulous outfits but I'll save that for later - too many pics here already!

Thanks for looking and Happy T day! Chris

Small pleasures

I am in the middle of sorting out my craft room -yes again!It's little bit like painting a large building, you get to the finish and before you know it it's time to start again!!!
We are also making preparations for our holiday!
As well as doing that we have been out(just a little bit!) and I have had some birthday cards to make.

I did finish off this journal page though!
It is in my A6 journal and I had stencilled through a Brigit Koopsen favourite.

I added some more stencilling, some stamping and some flowers I had punched out of some scraps. I used some of my new Jane Davenport tapes too and then added a Kim Dellow quote stamp that I hadn't returned to it's box - it seemed to sum everything up! Finally some spatter!!!

I am joining Elizabeth at Art Journal Journey for her 'Count Your Blessings' theme.
I am counting the little things that make our life great!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Being taken for a ride.....

Hi everyone,I'm referring to the new theme at Try It On Tuesday which is 'Take A Ride'! The Design Team have been travelling on all sorts of things and would love you to take a look! 

My mode of travel is rather unusual but reminds me of a time when I was still teaching and had been late leaving after some training. It was late January and dark and I had about 18 miles to travel via the Motorway. I had almost reached the end of the motorway when my engine suddenly cut out - fortunately I could coast onto the hard shoulder - if it had been quarter of a mile earlier I would have been in the middle of the motorway as we were near a junction!

It was cold and raining and I stood up on the bank between the motorway and the slip road at the junction waiting, fortunately not for long.

I started my journal page with some random stamping.

I added the truck(7 Gypsies) on some corrugated card and a piece of rusty looking paper I have been saving for a while - made with lots of metallic sprays.
The words came from part of some Tim Holtz snarky words and three sheets of book paper I have at our caravan.

I could hardly believe that I found all of the words that sum up my story, which as you can see ended up with my car being brought the last couple of miles home and me riding in the cab.

I added some rusty looking spatter which shows better here

Our challenge runs for the next two weeks and the rules are here! I'm looking forward to seeing where you Take A Ride, especially as many of you have been on holiday!

I am entering the Count Your Blessings theme that has been chosen by Elizabeth this month at Art Journal Journey!

On that day I was counting my blessings that we belonged to the AA(Automobile Association)and that I had a mobile (cell)phone on which to call them! Thanks for reminding me indirectly Elizabeth!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for....the fun at Messy Day!

Hi there! As promised today is all about the Messy Day I ran here at our retirement complex last Wednesday.

There were 11 ladies, including my house keeping assistant who is normally in my flat on Wednesday mornings. She is a crafter herself and has already used Brushos so she was able to help too.

I set up the room and welcomed everyone and did a short demo.

We soon got into the first activity - testing the colours of both Brushos and Infusions. We were to use these pieces of paper later.There were lots of Ooh!s and Aaah!s as the colours reacted with the water! There were one or two giggles as some ladies sprayed themselves in the face. (note to self - do not use Dylusions sprays with this group!!!)

 We moved on to the different types of papers I had cut to fit some cards.

It was soon lunchtime and here I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday.

We get very good value meals provided by John our chef - we opted for a light lunch of the most delicious chicken soup....

....followed by a wonderful pear tart.

As you can see we also had water to drink, followed by a leisurely coffee, although I went off to change under papers before the afternoon session.
The manager said she had never heard such a lively bunch at lunch time.

 We stamped...

...and glued...

...and everyone had cards, bookmarks and a little concertina book to take home and they have asked can we have another Messy Day soon!!

Wendy and I packed everything away and that night I slept very well!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Playtime!

We came back from the caravan yesterday, quite late, instead of today as we haven't been to church for a while! 
I was pleased we did as it was an uplifting service.

I am still trying to get back to some crafting for fun, the first three days of last week were all about Messy Day!(more soon!)and then we decided to go away for a couple of days even though we hadn't planned to.

This afternoon I decided to make some preparations for our holiday in September. My travel journal needed tidying up, French items removed...for now, and some more papers added!

I decided to make some master boards for ripping, cutting,and punching....to add to some I had made a few weeks ago

 ...and from here I went on to attempt a five minute page...it went over mainly because all of my glues were clogged up, and actually went to around six and a half minutes.
I am still quite happy with it though as I could use my 'new' papers.

Some spattered paper, stamping and as you can see I cut out some Brigit Koopsen leaves to become trees! I drew in some ground for them and stamped the words (from a stand at Version Scrap)

I 'count my blessings' for Elizabeth's theme at Art Journal Journey for encouraging words and time to play!

I am also entering this at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Sprinkles and Spatters

Thanks for looking, Chris