Turkey Trot

Hi everyone, I hope my final entry for Rike's 'The Colour Yellow' theme at Art Journal Journey will make you smile!
We have had three days of running around - and on Tuesday walking around as our car had to go for a service - the garage is not on a transport route and we walked....a very long way there and back! My daily steps target was doubled and then some!!!
I was just a little bit achey yesterday, still, it's good training for Paris in a few weeks time! Of course in Paris we have stops for refreshments or exploring and taking photos and although I will exceed my step target it will not be quite so under pressure!!
This page just about sums up how I feel at the moment!

We have had such a busy time that now we need some rest, so you can probably guess where we are now....
This page was made with NeocolourIIs, a little bit of stamping, doodles, scraps and precut Paper Artsy Elena Zinski and Carabelle Studio Birgit Koopsen images.

Thank you Rike for my new love of using yellow - such a cheery colour which sometimes matched the weather this month, although we are back to grey today! 
This has been such a fun challenge!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for ....Tick......

....or do I mean Check? I have noticed that this another of those words that may confuse others, especially you are in the USA!
Anyway, I have been ticking a couple of things off my Bucket List..not that it is written anywhere but I have some ideas in my head!!
First though, a journal page for Art Journal Journey, with two days to go of Rike's 'The Colour Yellow theme.
I used up some bits and pieces to make this A6 page!

It was inspired by the sunset we saw in Morecambe on Saturday - I have wanted to be in Morecambe for a sunset over the sea for a while. We have seen sunsets but have always been in the 'wrong' place and the view has always had buildings in the way!

 These were taken as we walked along to the Rotunda.

I came outside again to take this last shot before our drinks came and of course this is where I am dropping by at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's Altered Book Lover blog for T Stands For Tuesday..... 

.....not what you were expecting? 
Then neither will this be...

My lovely granddaughter caught having a quick biscuit dunk!!!
It was Hot Chocolates for most and a Cappuccino for me! The nice thing about the Rotunda is that biscuits come with your hot drink!

Now I can tell you about another of the items on my Bucket list and why we needed warming up. 

As some of you may know I spent my childhood in Lincoln in East Anglia but although I had been to Lincoln's football(soccer) ground I had never seen the team play.
The only other professional match I have seen was a World cup qualifying match at Wembley - I have been thinking for a while that I should see my home town team play!

My son and grandson both support a Premier league team but whenever they have had the chance they have been to watch Lincoln play(I have to add here that my home town team have just reached the top of League 2 which is the fourth tier in English football.)
On Saturday they were playing against Morecambe who are close to the bottom of that league.
As you can see the pitch is not so green and I can tell you that the seats at the top of the stand were not very comfortable! 
As the afternoon wore on it turned cooler too!

 A bit of a set to...but no one was really hurt!!!

So, 'my' team won by 2 goals to Nil and I have ticked this off my list too!!

I have lots more photos to show you from an outing hubby and I had..but that will be for another day!!!
Here's a little clue!

Thanks for looking. Chris

Bright...and beautiful...

...and a lot of fun to make! I love Carabelle Studio stamps - they have some great designers! This time I have used some fun flowers by Azoline!

I also love having time to play - I covered a page with book paper and then added lace, turmeric tea bag and some Grunge paste through a stencil to add more texture! 
Everything had a coat of Fresco paint - Cheesecake - I then added more paint through a stencil and stamped some lettering and text with Versaclair ink.

Azoloine's large stamp was stamped onto some quite sturdy rice paper and partially coloured with Distress markers before cutting off part of the image. I also cut out some random 'flowers' but left them black and white.
The images were added and my attempt to get a decent stamping of the quote failed so I stamped it onto Deli paper and added it over the top of where I had stamped! 

This page was made for Rike's 'The Colour Yellow' theme at Art Journal Journey!

Thanks for looking, Chris  

Cheese trees

A quick post..... last year I bought some Parmesan Grissini....because of the box!
At last I found a way to use it for Rike's  Yellow' at Art Journal Journey.

I added lots of bits and pieces, including a piece of gelli print and part of a concert programme - the Snarky small talk sticker seemed appropriate!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx 

Sparkle!

Hi everyone! I have another journal page all ready for joining Rike at Art Journal Journey for her 'The Colour Yellow' theme.
You may remember a few weeks ago I bought some collage sheets from instagrammer Arttealife - her Etsy shop is here- I have used some of the fussy cut images in my planner but today I have a new page in my square journal.

I painted the page with shades of yellow Fresco paints to cover up a started page that lost it's way!! and then sprinkled with Golden Sands Infusions and spritzed with water! I added some random stamping with a crackle stamp and then added some paper circle strengtheners which I coloured with paint and doodled around. I created my lady giving her some sparkly lips and hat using Stickles. My sentiment is one I received in a swap with another IGer - Lisa. I mounted it on a square piece of scrap paper I had doodled some faux sewing on. The stars were part of a Christmas hat(worn once for a very short time!!!)

I used a blue Stabilo All pencil to outline the image and the page - slightly damped with a water brush!

I would also like to join in at Moo Mania and More where the theme is 'Women'

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

T Stands for .........trips and other things!

Hi everyone, I am only 21 hours later than I intended writing this post....nothing untoward just got in front of the TV last night and forgot!!! 
You will be pleased to know that the light is fixed! The electrician gave us a time which was OK but we asked him if he could come a little later if possible...he said he couldn't, so we assumed he would come at the time he said...we waited and waited but had to go out and shop, knowing that he wouldn't come at the time he said he couldn't! I left a message on his phone and texted the next day...nothing...soooo...we looked it up on the internet - found a step by step video and did it ourselves!! I did ring one of my sons first just to check that we had got it right and although he said he would try to pop in this week we decided to go ahead!

As for the trips in the title they took place after Messy Day where the group made some lovely cards....

  ...and got messy with Distress and Distress Oxide Inks!
I need to get thinking about the next time now!!

On Thursday we had to meet our Minister to go to the bank with her.
We went for coffee afterwards but I forgot to take photos...so...I took this at lunch in Gino's where hubby and I went after a little bit of shopping!
I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for Tea Stands For Tuesday

Hubby thought he had a better choice of drink (with a fancy name ) than my Americano, but I doubt it as Gino's coffee is very tasty!
I had a flat bread with roasted vegetables and goats cheese, Hubby had a chicken, pesto and tomato Genovese focaccia sandwich.

On Friday we went to Styall Mill.
I took around 200 photos so I will show you a few here but will prepare another post if you wish to see more!

Styall(also known as Quarrybank) is a working mill and if you saw the TV series 'The Mill' back in 2013/14 you will have seen it in a starring role as many of the scenes were filmed in the mill and the village built for the workers.
The cloth they make is sold in the shop, either as lengths of cloth or as tea towels etc.(didn't take photos - but I will!!

 "Very noisy in here isn't it??!!!"

The mill is powered by a huge water wheel which is connected to the whole system.

 It was late enough in the day to see the moon rising!

 Lots of Winter flowers around

 Here is the mill from the upper part of the garden

As well as this visit to the mill we went for a woodland walk at Dunham Massey after shopping on Saturday - the electrician didn't stop us fitting that in, although it was late in the day and very cold so my hands stayed in my pockets!

On Sunday we met up with family at Speke Hall In Liverpool...but this is one of only two photos I took....too busy chatting!!

I will get around to visiting soon!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Powder Your.....at TIOT!

Hi everyone! Our new challenge at Try It On Tuesday involves using powders in your entry - it can be Embossing powder, Mica powder, any powder you can spritz with water, hence the title - 'Powder Your...'!
Please let us know which powders you used.

The Design Team have been throwing powder all over the place to create some fabulous example for your delight!

I used Paper Artsy Infusions and Brushos to create my journal page.

I started my page by sprinkling it with Infusion powder - Golden Sands - some partly through a stencil - I wasn't too concerned how random it was as I knew a lot of it would be covered up.

I also added the infusions to a Pears Cyclopaedia page and through  a stencil on a sheet of plain paper.

I also used some yellow Brusho powder on another piece of plain paper and chose part of it to attempt to draw an Alex Clark style bird.

I forgot to take any more photos so here you see the book paper, Tracy Evans AALLandCreate flowers and the vase which is cut from a shape on part of the stencil.

The bird is walking on some ripped 'Infusions' paper to which I added gold pen marks.

I wrote the main title and then added some words found on three separate pages in my King Arthur Tales book(that I rescued from hubby's charity shop pile a few years ago!)

I hope you won't let the dust settle and will join us at Try it On Tuesday for this challenge - you have a chance of being chosen as one of our Top Five or even as our Guest Designer.

I would like to enter this at Art Journal Journey too, where Rike's theme is 'The Colour Yellow'.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Yellow Bird!

Hi everyone,I have had a journal page page to share for a couple of days now but haven't got around to posting it!

 I added yellow to my page with a yellow Distress Crayon - Scattered Straw I think - blended with a dampened finger. I stamped my favourite Crafty Individuals background (CI340)- deliberately upside down and stamped it first in another journal to lighten the ink. I wanted the text on the right- as it is slanted script I don't think it's a problem!
Next I stamped Maria Katano's lovely bird (CI505)and used a Pitt Pen to extend the branch and to transform the berries into flowers.The bird was coloured in using a yellow Inktense water colour pencil.
I masked off the black flowers on CI493 - (Wild flowers and ferns) and stamped down the side of the page. Finally I added a sentiment that has long been separated from it's sheet so I'm afraid I can't tell you where it is from.I wish I could recreate this style of mixed fonts.

The page is of course of Rike's 'The Colour Yellow' theme at Art Journal Journey but I would also like to enter at..

Country View Challenges - February - Black and White plus One

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge  Black, White and one Other Color

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Typography

Craft Stamper Take It - Make It challenge - February

Oh! The reason I haven't posted before is because we have been out during the daytime and this is the light I have been using when on the computer...

...our light above the computer started flickering the other night so hubby went to change the bulb and the metal connector fell out - we have contacted an electrician who will 'fit us in as soon as he can'!!!!
Working by this light was giving me headaches - I have now moved a table lamp and the combined light is much better.

Thanks for looking, Chris

  

T Stands For Time Out!

We have had some busy times lately so last Friday decided (despite a  weather warning) to head to our caravan! 

The sky had a bright horizon which looked even better before I got my phone out to take a pic!!

Hmmmm....slight mistake there...the wind howled and rain fell for most of the night, which in a caravan sounds quite loud!!! We didn't sleep much! We decided to take it easy for the day. A short shopping trip for papers and supplies and back for a light lunch. 
The wind dropped and we ventured to Leighton Moss Bird reserve...I wanted to buy some bird food anyway and there was a chance of seeing a murmuration of starlings.

 I love this red fungi.

 The hides were unusually empty - but there was nothing much to see!
When we asked where the starlings were coming in we were told that they were mainly to be seen on the road that we take to go home, so off we went.
We could see the starlings in the distance and lots of cars parked, but we pulled into an almost empty lay-by. A couple of folk had just started to walk down the road when suddenly we saw (and heard) this. As they were flying around right over the lay-by the other people came back and we were treated to a fantastic display! 

 I had spotted the peregrine flying into a tree as we parked and here is the moment he flew up into the murmuration - top right - and separated a couple of starlings - he missed and the display continued as he kept trying to get in!!! I was so busy watching I didn't get any more with him in!!

We could see in the distance in both directions more starlings flying around too - the is the moment where they all headed in the same direction! A real treat for sure!!
After a much calmer night we awoke refreshed and decided to treat ourselves to lunch at one of our favourite garden centres(OK ...I haven't visited a garden centre I don't like!!)

It is here where I will join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday.

 I chose from this selection...

 ..and hubby chose from this one...can you guess what we chose?

Hubby had a Tuna Mayo Jacket Potato - I had the Vegetarian Ploughman's - it was delicious! We had water to drink of course!

After lunch we went for a walk at Sizergh castle but as I took 200 plus photos and I want some room for my latest page for Art Journal Journey and Rike's theme of 'The Colour Yellow' I will show you those in another post soon!

I used an old tag, (some of you may have seen this before) and coloured a paper doll.

I added it to page made with AALLandcreate stamps and stencils by Tracy Evans and Olga Heldwein along with a cut out word and torn scrap and some doodles

I would also like to remind you that our 'Romance' theme at Try It On Tuesday continues for another week - there's still time to get romantic - I wonder if my young lady is dreaming of receiving a Valentine's card?

I have been busy today prepping for another Messy day tomorrow with a group of folk at our retirement complex!!

Thanks for looking and Happy T Day, Chris