Spring is here!

Hi everyone! Our time has been taken up a little lately - we had hoped that after our car had been fixed we would be away to our caravan! Not so......we have been told that the repairs could cost in the region of £1,800...time for a new car we think, as if we have that repair done who knows what will happen next...it is not a young car and as many of you know it has travelled around a bit!!! 
There has been a lot of research going on on the computer!!! 

The good thing is that it does seem to have warmed up a bit(for now!!)and there are buds on the trees outside our windows!

While I have been taking part in the gelli print challenge I have had to clean off my brayer occasionally! Lots of the paint has been on a clean journal page in one of my journals and this is how this page started!

I added some extra layers using my fingers. I added more paint through a stencil then added some random text with Archival Ink.
Next came my favourite part, lots of spattering with different coloured paints.
The JoFY stamps from Paper Artsy set 54 were stamped onto card and then coloured with Prima watercolours and Inktense pencils. I cut them out with a border to add some white to the page and then added more by outlining some of the stencil circles with a white pen.
I used a green Crayola twistable crayon to draw around the image and then framed the page with the same crayon.
Finally some Tim Holtz words were added.

I would like to enter at

Mixed Media Monthly use a stencil and 3 mediums - I have used my stencil plus acrylic paint,watercolours,Inktense pencils, ink, crayon...and a white pen!

Rubber Dance March Challenge - I have used circles.


More Mixed Media Monthly - Anything Goes - optional green

and ...of course 

Rosie's Spring Theme at Art Journal Journey!

We will go and look at some of the cars we have seen via the internet but today we are staying home and catching up so I hope to visit later!

I do so appreciate your visits here, and your lovely comments always lift me, so Thank You all!
Chris

Spring flowers

We decided to risk going out in our car today - it is due back in the garage tomorrow - and we were only going as far as Styal Mill!
I wanted to see some Spring flowers just like the page I made yesterday morning before Mona's funeral, which as expected, in true Mona style had quite a few things to make us smile! She would have loved it!

This page was made with some stamps bought with a voucher I won the other week from Penny Black and More!

The flowers are from two different Woodware sets. The ones in the background were stamped and overlapped across the whole page and I used a scrap of gelli printed paper for the other two and the quote, which is part of a That's Crafty Lynne Montcrief one.
My background was paint, dabbed on with a sponge along with some gesso and a stamp from the Trish Latimer workshop goody bag! All of the flowers were coloured in with either Inktense or Prima watercolour paints.

Oh! We did get to see some Spring flowers too!

 The scent from these was wonderful - they used to be my Mum's favourites - it would have been her birthday today - the first day of Spring! They are called Cheerfulness , a variety of narcissus. 

I would like to enter my page at Art Journal Journey for Rosie's Spring theme!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands For...Treats!!

Hi everyone!
It was my 70th Birthday last December and I had a lovely surprise meal with my hubby, boys, partners and grandchildren! You may also remember the Winter Garden trip the weekend before too!
I was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers and an envelope with a pair of tickets - last Wednesday we used them! There is still voucher to use for a meal out - don't fret, I will show you when we use it!!! 
The tickets were for one of my favourite musicals...

A few years ago we visited Salzburg and I just had to go and walk around the 'Doh Ray Me" fountain in the Mirabelle Gardens

 The queue was quite short for the bag check!

 A quick photo of the interior of the Palace Theatre which I would describe as fading grandeur!

Just before switching off my phone I got a shot of the fire screen!
We really enjoyed the show, the star in my opinion was Mother Abbesse. Lucy Byrne was also fabulous in the role of Maria!

Afterwards we headed off for a coffee and to spend a 20% off voucher from Paperchase.

By this time we were wondering what to do about our evening meal - we weren't ready to go home so we headed to our favourite World Buffet only to find it closed for the evening!

We wandered around the corner and came to Zizzi's and this is where I will join Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday!

It was quite busy but we were welcomed by a lovely waitress!

 I love the shape of the water jug and the wall art behind too!

We shared some delicious hot bread with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar.
We both really like the sound of the pasta on the specials board - goats cheese, spinach, courgettes and cherry tomatoes in a creamy garlic sauce and we weren't disappointed

Of course it does require deal of concentration!
Dessert was a shared pistachio cheesecake!

Fortunately the tram stop was just across the square and I took a quick photo before the tram arrived!

Zizzi's lights are so bright you can't read it!

As if this wasn't enough for one week - I attended a fabulous workshop with the fabulous Trish Latimer - if you read Craft Stamper magazine you will know that she has transformed the magazine!

My lovely friend Sarah drove Helen and I up to Carnforth(yes it is where we we have our caravan, and I would have met them there had we had a car!)It was very windy and snowy so a huge Thank You Sarah!

The workshop was organised by Sharon of Rowantree Crafts and there was plenty of workspace in the room she hires from the Fire Station!
We spent a lovely day, very calming and relaxing, were provided with a lovely lunch and had time to spend some money in the nearby Rowantree Craft shop afterwards! 
Sharon and Mark know how to stock a craft shop - with Carabelle Studio, AALL and Create, Paper Artsy, Indigoblu, Ranger as well as much more on the shelves!They also sell gifts too.

This is what I made,although the orange one needs more work!

 Not only did we have a great time but came away with a lovely goody bag from Trish too!
I couldn't resist buying some of Trish's whimsy girl stamps, as well as the free one I chose to work with first(the one on the right!)

I have a sad afternoon ahead - it is Mona's funeral today but I will be visiting later!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Spring comes to TIOT

I have journal page for Try It On Tuesday this time....

...and we have a beautiful collage of images to inspire you this time!

The Design Team have also been inspired by Valerie's photos and you can see them here!
The link to Valerie's blog is here.

I gessoed my page than added some pinks and purples and lots of layers of stencils. The book paper circles were watercolored, doodled onto and written around. Dina Wakley's scribbly bird, also watercolored, is standing on some of my newly gelli printed paper.
I added some Tim Holtz clippings and found the Spring quote stamp in my box - I think it is an old Elusive Images one.
I added a few spatters for good measure - love a bit of spattering!!!

You have just two weeks to enter and we are happy if you combine it with a few other challenges! There are a few rules to check out too! Our challenge closes on 2nd April.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Gelli print catch up!

Hi everyone! I have really been enjoying Brigit Koopsen's 31 Day Gelli Print challenge - it is an Instagram only challenge but I have shown the previous 10 here and here.

Day 11 was Paper tube so I used an old thread holder and some toilet roll tubes,  one squeezed, another one inside the other.

Day 12 - heart

I used one of the prints I had made that I wasn't so happy with and punched out some hearts. I doodled onto them and made a card.

Day 13
Pigment Inks
I wasn't so sure about using Distress Inks but I was quite pleased with the results

Day 14 Tissue paper - my favourite so far....

...I used some of the tissue papers I made to layer up into some pieces to use in my journals and an ATC. I am looking forward to having time to make lots more of these!

Day 15 Lines

 I used various methods to make these lines - corrugated card. wallpaper, stencils, some old mesh, drawing with a 'credit card'

Day 16 Feather
I had to die cut some feathers as my real ones are in such safe place that I can't find them!

 This was after using the gelli plate...

 I was happier once I had stamped on them too 

I use a feather stamp for these.

Birgit Koopsen has some excellent videos on the Gelli Arts blog and I really am learning so much!

A quick update on our car - they couldn't find the fault on it and want it back....next Thursday!!!!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

Make the most of it!

As some of you may know we have not been able to use our car for a while(it is at the garage today - fingers crossed it's not too serious!)
Time to stay to home you might think - hmmm, so did I.....but with the help of public transport...... on Monday we met up with my youngest for lunch, went to the cinema on Tuesday, part 1 of my birthday treat from my family was on Wednesday(I'll tell you all about it on Tuesday!!, yesterday was a Gym trip and then Gardening Committee meeting in the afternoon! 

I was ready for a break so hubby took the car in for 8.00 this morning and came back again for lunch and has now gone to town so that when the garage say the car is ready he hasn't so far to go(the garage is on the other side of town!)

I got some household chores done in record time this morning and then spent some time playing. 
I am still managing to keep up with the Gelliplate challenge - sometimes it's only a matter of 15 minutes or so but today's has taken slightly longer!

What I really wanted to do was make a journal page for Rosie's 'Spring' theme at Art Journal Journey, so here it is.

Of course we enjoyed our outings although none of them took us near the countryside (although we did manage a couple of walks from the bus stop along by the river)

 While at our meeting yesterday we mentioned that maybe in a couple of years we would be giving up our caravan, something we have been talking about for a while - yes we do love it - it is like our second home - but we are paying management fees for both places and are wondering whether its the best use of our money!!
We will make the most of it for a couple of Summers and see how we feel then. Our friends were surprised and asked were we sure....no we are not!!!
We haven't been for a few weeks and we are missing it, are the flowers blooming, what are the birds doing, are there lambs in the field(that we can now see again!)????
We intend travelling up tomorrow, I am going up with my friends Sarah and Helen anyway for a workshop at Rowan Tree Crafts so hubby will follow on later and warm up the caravan!

My page was made by spraying some ink then adding some stencilling and stamping. The flowers are Paper Artsy, Kay Carling ones and they have lovely bendy stems that stay put well on my acrylic block.
The Crafty Individuals bird stamp is coloured with Inktense pencils.
The Dylusions quote sums up what we are both feeling at the moment.

Of course, all these outings have meant that my blog, and commenting on blogs I love, have had to be put on hold but I am hoping to try and catch up some time soon!
I hope to show you the few of my Gelli printing experiments too!

Thanks for looking, Chris  

T Stands For..........taking the tram

We are still waiting for our car to go to the garage to find why the warning lights keep coming on when we start off! We used the car once to go shopping but it took us 20 minutes to get it to run without the lights coming on so we have decided to leave it until we need to take it next Friday!
The other day we decided to go by bus to the tram stop and go to Sale Water Park - one stop along.
We often travel by bus to a different line to go to town, we are very lucky to have such great transport system in Manchester.
It was a lovely calm day and when we came back I was inspired to make this page in my small journal. 

The background is Distress oxides.
I drew in the buds on the trees. My masking didn't quite work out _ I forgot to mask around the legs!
I would like to enter in Rosie's theme of Spring at Art Journal Journey
Sale Water Park is on the site of a gravel pit and was used when the nearby motorway was built and then flooded.

It is quite a hike right around the lake but we had a plan to stop for coffee so we had a 'Spring' in our steps too!!!

It was great to see buds bursting!
We started off on quite a muddy path but we had decent walking footwear on so we were fine!

 The Heron thought we couldn't see him!!

This water skier was up and down the lake

We could see where we were headed for coffee on the other side !

 This was the biggest laugh we had - the black dog kept rolling in the mud - the owner said it's his 'thing'!! He reminded me of Timmy,  a dog we owned when I was a child!

The swan didn't seem to mind the waterskier at all

 Time now to join Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T stand For Tuesday!

We called in to Deckers which is usually very busy at weekends but on Friday was quiet, with only two other tables occupied by coffee drinkers, although as we left more folk were coming in, 

Hubby has his patient smile look....but not here!

This is his 'amuse the grandchildren' look!He makes me smile too!!

On the way out we spotted the menu! We might time another visit to fit in with the lunch time!!!
On with our walk back to the tram now..

 Quite a few pairs of geese around, and gulls of course!

 We shall soon have a path to walk on as they are making it wheelchair friendly from the car park.

I wish I had taken my camera, as my phone camera couldn't quite pick up the Buzzard that landed in the tree in front of the visitor centre, which sadly was shuttered up.
We didn't have long to wait for a tram either!

We hadn't been to this place for a while, but are looking forward to seeing it change through the seasons.

It would be great to see you over at Elizabeth's blog if you have a drink related post - it doesn't have to be TEA!!

Thanks for looking, Chris