Ring out the old….

I wanted to make one last entry for Art Journal Journey - Valerie had a great theme of Light and Darkness but I don't seem to have joined in much this time!
My page began with some old encyclopaedia pages torn up and stuck down. They had a sprinkle and spritz with a combination of Brushos and Infusions. 
I used a stencil or two and some stamps before adding the magazine pictures of some Christmas decoration houses.

I wrote out the words onto tissue paper and added them with matte gel glue.

Wishing you a wonderful New Years Eve celebration - however you choose to bring in the New Year - I'll be ringing in the new tomorrow!

Thanks for looking, Chris  

Still playing!

I have been playing in between some more serious stuff! I bought some Paper Artsy Elenazinskiart stamps way back in October and although I have made some cards and journal pages I realised I had never had a chance to show you one.

This is the most recent - although even it sat for a while waiting to be completed!

 I blended some Dina Wakely paints over the page and used some Seth Apter stencils and a new Stampotique (Kate Crane's colour wheel) stamp, the stars are also part of a Stampotique stamp.
After I had added some eyes using other parts of Elena's set I drew in some eyes into the stencils and added some doodling. The arrow is one of my own carved stamps
I added the little figure(coloured using Distress crayons) and used a Visible Image quote!

I hope it makes you smile too!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Playtime!

I seem to have been crafting in short sharp bursts in between outings lately! This morning I went out with my friend Sarah for coffee (oh! alright…and cake!!) 
Afterwards we went to the Creative Recycling gallery in Charlton - such inspiration - in  between the galleries is a beautiful garden.

I'll show you more on T day!

I had made a journal page which I thought was finished….

…..I had been a bit heavy handed with the Fresco paints as I scraped it onto my page and it had gone a bit muddy…. after todays outing I came back and (as well as completing another page in another journal) I brightened it up with some Crayola twistable slick stix.

I have also been having fun doing some stamp carving - more another day! 

I would like to thank you all for your lovely comments, I know I still have to catch up with some blog commenting so hope to visit soon! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands For……….the tree and other things...

We have been here there and everywhere over the Christmas holidays so I just thought I'd give you a few photos of our Christmas! 
First the tree...

For a change this year I decorated the tree using silver, glass and white, although my fairy always wears white anyway - I bought her naked - a rather Ruebenesque shape that made us laugh. I made her dress etc and she has been on the top of our tree for the last 10 years or so!

We went to my middle son's house for Christmas lunch having been to visit hubby's sisters on the way!

My GD had the most beautiful jacket..

…she wasn't too keen on my taking a photo though!

Home again and I realised that I needed some decorated envelopes for putting vouchers in…

…followed by a cup a of coffee…in my Christmas mug...

…behind the mug you can see my tidy boxes - everything that lies around gets thrown in them to sort out ….some time!!! 
Of course - the main reason for being here today is to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands for Tuesday.

Next week will be too late to show this mug as we will be 3 days into the New Year!

Yesterday my eldest son hosted our annual family get together - we save our gift giving until then. 
On the way the sunset was beautiful.

I took photos of my sons…

 ..eldest son with Deisel the dog - surely the most laid back dog in the World!
Next is number two son …

…with tolerant look on his face...

 …the same look matched by Number three son!!!
We played a silly game which involved putting mouth stretchers in and saying well known phrases to everyone else ….fortunately not enough for everyone!!!!
A LOT of laughing went on!!!

Youngest GS with GD, eldest GD's legs in the background!

After the game I had a wander around my sons lovely home - he collects random objects (just like his mother!)and makes lovely things with them…

This ceiling light is made from a cross section of a tree and is hug with different light bulbs.

I couldn't get a photo of the whole wall but it's full of different frames with most of the photos taken by either my son or my DIL.
One of their latest interests is Steampunk and he made this holster from all sorts of different things.

His latest make is for my DIL to hang her jewellery from (it will be mounted on to the wall in the bedroom after Christmas - without the sword)

The sword was made for my GS.

Today has been a quieter day for us! A little trip out to collect an item that was on order and a stop for coffee! Did we go to the sales? No Thank You! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

Definitely not 'Baah Humbug!!'

I have quite a few Christmas cards that I haven't shown on my blog - this is one I made for a friend.
You may remember that a few weeks ago we went up to Keswick for a breadmaking workshop with Peter Sidwell.
We didn't want to get up too early and travel up from our caravan so we booked a B and B not far away.
Then it snowed (justifying the need to book a stay over!)As we left the B and B on Saturday morning the sheep wandered over to our car and I took a few quick snaps.
I decided that one of them had to be a Christmas card - I added some  Christmas hats and snow by using Printshop on my Mac.

I added some Artemio holly and a die cut sentiment. 

I have made quite a few cards using this photo!

We have a quiet Christmas planned, lunch at Son number two's house on Christmas Day and then our annual family get together on Boxing Day afternoon at Son number one's house (although this'll be a lively affair I'm sure!)

I would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas/Hanuka with lots of what makes you happy! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

  

Light of the World

I started a journal page a while ago - I knew what I wanted to do with it but until today hadn't found time to complete it!
The Christingle service is one of my favourites as it is one for children to enjoy!I used to love making the Christingles with the children when I was teaching.
My page is in a large black paged journal.
I used a flame shaped stamp to make some gold and bronze flames.
The fussycut Christingle is an image I found on the internet and the explanation is partly mine - partly from the internet.

I stamped 'Shine' (a Visible Image stamp) onto white card and fussy cut it.
'Christingle' is written with a Uni-ball bronze pen.

I would like to enter at Art Journal Journey for Valerie's choice of theme - Light and Darkness.

Are your presents all wrapped? Have you done all of your shopping?
 Hubby and I met up with my Brother and Sister in law yesterday so I  had to have some presents wrapped and carried on to wrap most of the others! As we met at a large shopping centre (Meadowhall) I was able to finish off the last of the gift buying too! It was a lovely day with almost equal amounts of chatting, drinking/eating and shopping!

It also included a tram trip to Hobbycraft!

I have still to brave the shops to get some food in for us!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

T Stands for…..the Christmas Market...

and more!
A bit of a mixed bag today for T Stands for Tuesday!
First - my birthday present from hubby - he had overheard me enquiring about these in a shop and then ordered them online for me - such a lovely surprise when I opened them!

Last week we met up with youngest son - he had been working 12 hour days/7 days a week and when I spoke to him at the beginning of the week I was quite concerned about his health. After he had spoken to people he works for and other managers he was able to have that situation changed and managed to get some shorter hours and a day off! 
We met at Moose in Manchester and I was pleased to see a much cheerier son!

Yes - he has two drinks - one was a free Caramel Latte! The other some sort of Peanut Butter milkshake. He is wearing the Christmas Jumper his staff bought him!
I think this alone deserves to be the picture to represent a drink at 

However, we did all have delicious food and drinks

Hubby had a Tuna Sandwich, mine was a pulled pork on Brioche and son had salt beef bagel.

My drink was a sugar free skinny latte.

Our intention was to visit the Christmas Market but we only whizzed through as we had presents to buy so knew where we were heading!

I also had some vouchers to spend so the day went very quickly and we headed back home just before the rush hour.

Yesterday we went in to finish our shopping and have a  proper look around although I didn't take many photos!

This windmill has a bar and cafe underneath.

Naff Santa is still above the door on the beautiful Town Hall(there is surely something better than this?)

The only other photo I took! 

Manchester Christmas Market is huge for sure but there are so many repeats of stalls in different areas although I was pleased to see more local craftsmen/women had stalls this year.

On Sunday we met up with middle son, grandson and granddaughter for lunch and then a walk around the lake at Chorlton Water Park.

I had decided not to take any photos but to walk and talk but near the end of our walk we saw this…

It wasn't very light but we were mystified to see these dolls climbing the tree. I don't know how long they have been there but we walk in this area quite often and have never seen them, a couple passing by said there seems to be a new one each year!!

With my phone camera still in my hand we realised that the sun had appeared very low on the horizon!

The sun then turned various shades of pink and blue...

Finally may I wish you a happy, peaceful Christmas.

Thanks for looking, Chris 

….and into the light!

Phew! At last some time to spend in my craft room! I feel so much better for it too! Apologies to all for not visiting - I hope to have a big catch up (in instalments I think)and hope to see what you have been up to soon! 

I went to my new favourite size journal to make this(it's 8" x 8")
and added distress inks through a stencil then more distress inks randomly over the top. I then used the circle stencil and rubbed a baby wipe over it to remove some colour.
I use three different tree stamps to create the forest with a combination of different inks!

I added a word through a stencil but it didn't show up so out with the white marker! The ART stencil also failed so I added some different colour ink to make it show up!

The Light behind the trees is so that I can join in with Valerie's theme of Light and Darkness at Art Journal Journey and the forest means I am can also join in with Moo Mania and More where the theme is Trees

Thanks for looking! Chris

T stands for……..taking a break….

yes, another one!
We went off for a few days to our caravan last week! The weather wasn't too brilliant but we had a lovely time!
On Thursday we had to go and pay bill so we took a detour via Arnside - a place we love at any time of the year!

The sun came out and the mist slowly rose from the hill tops

 We only stopped long enough for a quick walk and a coffee (I felt too embarrassed to take a photo as the table next to us was very close!)
As we left a look down the bay was looking interesting!

We drove around the corner and along to Sandside where the clouds and reflections were even more atmospheric so of course we had to stop!

This next one is hubby's photo…

This poor seagull was being dive bombed by a couple of others and kept ducking down as they flew at him!

Don't be deceived by the sand in these views - there are quick sands all around!
The blue sky in the distance was the direction we were headed next.
By the time we were almost there the clouds were not looking good!

But they passed over quickly and we had some time to buy some Christmas presents in Kendal and bargain new raincoats for us both!

Of course - it being Tuesday(only just here)I am joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday

We went for lunch at one of our favourite places to eat - Baba Ganoush….

….and hubby turned the tables on me - I thought he was just checking his shots from earlier! As you can see he had tea and I had water with a slice of lemon.
The meal?

Delicious! Tuna for hubby, veggie burger for me!

Thanks for looking! I can see that I am going to have to catch up with some of you tomorrow! Chris