WOYWW 521

Here I am fighting fit and ready for the crop!Actually that is a lie....I was initially given just 3 days worth of antibiotics, they hadn't started working and the Bank Holiday was coming up so last Friday I had trip to see the Doc!! Given a 'stronger' antibiotic...
only to be told 4 days later, when I rang another GP for lab results, that there was no way they were going to cure my ills!!!Sooo...I am back on the original specific antibiotics, but now for a further 7 days! First two taken and waiting for them to decide to work!!

The pain is getting me down a bit, so lots of distractions in my craft room required and I have been quite productive with lots of water and pottering around in between!

I WILL be at the Crop...and may be grumbling a bit!!!

Uh! Oh!!Rambling, sorry Julia....I know I should be brief at What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday over at your Stamping Ground blog!

Now my desk today is really an 'our desk'!
I had arranged to have a Messy Day with some of the ladies here and determined not to let them down!

Thank Goodness for Wendy my HKA and my lovely friend Helen(in the centre)! Whenever I dropped something (I seem to have become more clumsy) or needed something lower down they were there! Two ladies are missing from this photo having arrived slightly later!
We had a lot of fun doing image transfers and making a petroleum jelly resist canvas...and I mean a LOT of fun!

Here are the canvases we made!

No-one was given guidance as to landscape or portrait so it was good to see the mix as well as the way they used the colours and stencils! Some used their birds as they came from my old bird ID book, some painted their birds!

Thank you ladies for an uplifting day!!

I am not going to promise to visit before the weekend but I will do my best, the computer chair is not the most comfortable! 

I am looking forward to seeing folk at the Crop - 3 more sleeps!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Make a Mark at TIOT

Hi everyone! Our new theme at Try It On Tuesday invites you to make marks on your page, be they large or small, angular or curved!
The Design Team have had fun with this and we hope you do too!

Although it's not a competition to see how many shapes and marks can be made I do seem to have an abundance here!! 

I started with different coloured distress inks rubbed on to the page over a mop up from a stencil. I used a few stencils, some stamps, bottle tops and a little bit of doodling! 
My main flower is a Paper Artsy Tracy Scott stamp which I stamped onto the page and then stamped onto paper and fussy cut!
I extended the stem with a black pen.

The words are by Tim Holtz and Art by Marlene.
I added some bees too (Indigoblu I think)

I hope you are able to join us this time - as usual your entry an be in any form you wish - card, mixed Media, textile - just have fun with mark making!!!

I am also joining Erika At Art Journal Journey and her 'In The Sky/In The Air theme'!

Thanks for looking, Chris 

T Stands for....this and that!

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the kind words last week! I am still waiting for lab results but I am on stronger antibiotics and I do feel just a little bit better today so hopefully I am on the mend!!!

I have been distracting myself in my craft room!
Today I decided to clean off my plastic lid palette...

...it hasn't been cleaned for a while and I usually do it by lifting off the paint on clear tape to use in my journals...with the paint build up it caused the paint to lift and peel!
I spotted that the larger piece looked like cliffs...so I made a journal page!

I stamped some Crafty Individual trees across the page and then added the peel, along with some saved tape and some bits from the edges! I tore the tape to make sea at the bottom of the 'cliffs'.
Birds were added and a quote from part of a Tim Holtz phrase seemed to fit perfectly
I am going to add this to Art Journal Journey and Erika's theme 'In The Sky/In The Air'

My balcony plants have been going crazy!

This one flowered at Christmas and is now producing more flowers although some leaves have fallen off!

This one has been producing flowers since the end of November and has always had at least one flower since then...

...although they are dying off now!

The Kalanchoe flowered and after I had picked off the dead heads has gone on to produce far more!!

I haven't been out much lately - apart from going to my son's to feed and play with his cat! I realised I haven't taken any photos yet! My eldest is now the proud owner of a small manor in France and has gone out to do some work on it!

Before I really started to be in constant pain with this UTI hubby and I had coffee at Booths in Carnforth, so I will make this my opportunity to join Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For 

Tuesday!

Mine is an Americano, no sugar, and his is a Cappuccino which I would have loved but I am having to watch my sugar levels! 

Thanks for looking, I'll be here shortly with my piece for TIOT's new theme!

I can also announce that the Crafty Individuals shows with some really lovely new stamps will be on Hochanda TV next Monday and Tuesday...sneaky peeks coming soon!!!

 See you soon! Chris

Fun on Sunday

Hi everyone! Still battling on here, having had another trip to the GP and a change of meds!
I have been having short bursts of crafting, some for some scheduled posts and one for current challenges!

First I had bit of painty stencil play in my A5 Journal!
You may remember I made a similar page a while ago!

I wiped on some yellow and blue paints and blended them in the middle of the page! I dabbed a variety of paint colours through stencils by Indigoblu, That's Crafty and Paper Artsy and then added some small flowers (Crafty Individuals and some freebie ones)by stamping them with paint. The quote is a very old one from The Stamp Man.

I would like to enter this at:-
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use Stencils
Stamping Sensations - In an English Country Garden

I also made a tag for Tag Tuesday! I seem to have missed out on a few challenges this year but when I saw the theme was 'Gardening' I made sure I have at least one entry!

I used some of my stashed papers for this along with a postage stamp, a Tim Holtz Paper Doll holding the flowers she has picked for Maman! I also added a Paper Box Die cut flower and some spatters of ink. 
Of course some of you know that I love the Parks of Paris and usually manage to walk in one or two when we visit!

This leads on to my journal page, also with a Paris connection..

...it's in my A6 Journal and started with some inky smooshing!
I added some Crafty Individuals text, some French book paper and part of a napkin and a postmark stamp. I stamped some AAllandcreate clouds, painted them white and drew some birds in the sky.
Finally I wrote the Audrey Hepburn quote and doodled a border.
This page is for Erika's theme 'In The Sky/In The Air' at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for looking,  Chris

Up and away...

Hi everyone! Thanks for your Get Well wishes, as yet I am still waiting for the meds to do their stuff! We intended going to our caravan today but as well as hubby thinking we should stay close to our Medical Centre, I really don't think I could have withstood the journey!

I have been distracting myself today, reading, pottering around, watching TV and...making a journal page for Erika's 'In the Sky/In the Air' theme at Art Journal Journey. 

I'm sure we have all seen children letting go of their balloons and seeing their reactions. My little AALLandcreate Fiona Paltridge girlie had a whole handful of them when the wind whisked them out her hands and up into the air! Being such a good little girl she just sighed, although there were tears in her eyes!

I made this page using a few AALLandcreate stencils and stamps and a Tim Holtz snarky comment!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

WOYWW 10th Anniversary! 520th post!

Way hey!! This is a reason to celebrate too (take look here if you can't guess what I mean)!!! 

This Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday's day today and huge THANKS to Julia for being so nosy interested to see our desks all those years ago!! 
Little did you know what you were starting dear Julia!
I have only been here since 2012 but have made so many friends over those years - I can't imagine not knowing them now as some have become very good friends!

Okay, I'm late today having been for Physio on my knee! I also have a solution to my aching back - it seems I have a UTI and, as from lunchtime, now on Anti-biotics! I guess the long wait on Friday didn't help!

Here is my desk....

...not too much mess! At either side are stamps that I bought at Paris Version Scrap - un-inked until today..I've been a little busy!
To the right ....Oh dear!!

A wobbly pile of Crafty Individuals stamps - waiting to be put in boxes. Some are new of course but you won't see any clues here, the Hochanda shows are on the 3rd and 4th of June! What I will say is they are right up my street and I have loved using them!
Also, in front of my sewing machine are stamps I bought at Happy Stampers.

I am busy making ATCs now, one for today and quite a handful for the Crop (I am so looking forward to it!)

I will do my best to visit soon, but can't sit for too long at the moment! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for........the trip...

...that wasn't!

Friday had a lovely sunny start to the day and we were looking forward to our trip to Alston!

We set off from our caravan at around 10.40 and headed up the M6, intending stopping off for a coffee in Penrith before heading East!

We saw a sign saying that the road was closed after the junction we were going to come off at and carried on hoping it would be open before we got there!

 I was more interested in the clouds as we came up to the start of what was then just slow traffic..

 ...and this beautiful tree...and indeed had just remarked how beautiful this area is!

Even when the traffic stopped we weren't too concerned and there were more clouds to see! 
We never suspected that 6 miles before the junction the traffic would be at a standstill!

People were getting out of cars, walking dogs,chatting, looking over the embankment, even having a picnic! 
We got out to stretch our legs but as a rescue truck headed up the hard shoulder got back in again!
Someone came up to us and told us that they had read that the motorway wasn't going to open for another two hours! 
We waited a while before having some water and a biscuit - I usually have a packet of two in my bag!

Cutting this story short, we finally got off at our junction at just after 2.45! By then we had realised that even if we drove straight to Alston the shop we were going to visit would be about to close AND we would be going straight to another hold up!!
As it was we both needed a toilet and food...in that order!!!
We drove in the opposite direction to the Rheged Centre - a short distance from the M6!

From here things seemed slightly better!
Comfort first then...

We both chose chicken burgers, which came with a lovely salad! I didn't eat many chips and removed the top of my burger!

It was then we noticed the time...

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

As far as we know the drivers of two lorries were uninjured and a car driver involved was taken to hospital by air ambulance.

I realised that there was a small textiles exhibition on so we decided to make the most of our visit!!

Could this be our new PM soon???

 These were my favourites.

The end of the exhibition comes back to the art shop!!
As the stock reflected the nature of the exhibition there weren't many paper related items this time...but I was able to get a new A5 Pink Pig book which made me happy..Oh!...and we both bought some new pens....it's the law isn't it???

All's well that ends well!!!Almost!
I am still experiencing some back pain (which I didn't really help by pulling up some nettles on Saturday)

Thanks for looking, Chris   

Distractions!!

Hi everyone, the post title refers to a distraction while on our trip yesterday and some distractions from the pain I am in at the moment!
All will be explained at TSFT on Tuesday!

I hope you like this page. It's for Art Journal Journey and Erika's 'In the Sky/In the air' theme

I used a Lavinia stamp I bought last week at Happy Stampers and a set of stamps I have here at our caravan. I used another of my inky backgrounds in my square journal this time!
I drew in some seed heads floating up in the air and then doodle wrote 'flying without wings' around the edge of the page.

The distraction yesterday was blowing a Dandelion clock, today I made this page and yesterday we had this beautiful sight....

Thanks for looking, please excuse me for not spending long on the laptop! Chris

Beneath the open sky?!!!

Well, that's part of the words I chose to go on my page but rest assured this is for Erika's 'In The Sky/In The Air' theme at Art Journal Journey!

It's a simply made page as we are as usual in a bit of a rush!!

I had an inky page in my journal that was perfect(ish) for a sky!
I added part of a tissue, torn and overlapped, to the bottom of the page then stamped Crafty Individuals butterflies using different Versa Clair inks. I stamped part of an alphabet from the edge of a CI stamp too. The words are a mixture of Tim Holtz sticker words.

We have an outing planned for tomorrow, and today we are are on our way up North to our caravan!

Have a great weekend!
Thanks for looking, Chris

ps Take a look at Erika's page today .....ooooooh!!!!

WOYWW - number 519!

I'm creeping in and hoping that you still remember me.....
It's been a while since I joined in at Julia's Stamping Ground and as it's almost Crop time I thought I'd better pitch in and do what I oughta!!

I met up with some lovely WOYWWers at Happy Stampers last Saturday!

Sarah, Shaz Silverwolf and me....obvious who is the big spender here!!
I also met Neet later in today but no photos - silly me, she was with Cath, one of my teams from TIOT so a total missed chance!!

Now, my desk..first there was this..

 I've been playing with some new alcohol ink colours!
Then there was this ....
I have been making efforts recently to clean way anything I have used and won't use again next session

Some new goodies...bought at HS!

I do hope I can get around to visit - my phone has been stopping me from commenting so if I don't visit today I may have to wait until Sunday!!!

Thanks for dropping by, Chris

T Stands for......taking a walk...

..at Styall Mill (also known as Quarry Bank. Last week we had to shop on Friday (as I was going to Happy Stampers on Saturday!) As we were going to pass Styall we decided to set out earlier and call in for a walk in the gardens!
You may remember we had intended visiting the gardens on Mothers Day but instead took the long walk that really hurt my knee!

May blossom always reminds me of my walks home from school past huge Hawthorn hedges

Elizabeth showed her Irises last week which made me want to visit Styall. Only the mauve and pink were blooming so we will be going back next week!

The bee was enjoying buzzing around this flower

Lilies of the Valley remind me of my Gran!

From here we took a different route to avoid the steps so I got to see these Bluebells...

...and there are few different views.

Back to the usual route in the lower garden

The Rhododendrons are looking magnificent!

The Azaleas too!

Not sure what these are - a variety of Orchid maybe?

Finally a Germander Speedwell Blue - I remember singing - 'Daisies are our Diamonds' when was at school and one verse ended with 'and the Speedwell Blue'
Now, its time to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday.

My eldest son was 40 last week and his wife had organised a party!
She had made up some milk cartons with facts about my son.
He is a big drinker of milk so this made us laugh!

He also has strong views about how a pie should be made - I do agree with him.. a pie should have a full pastry case - meat in a dish with a crust on is not a pie!!! What do you think?

Here is the Birthday boy himself, with the cake made by his youngest brother - I didn't know but this is a good representation of the throne from Game of Thrones I understand!

He very kindly bent down for his height impaired Mother!

I hope to be back for WOYWW tomorrow so do pop by to see my desk and the goodies I bought at Happy Stampers.

Meanwhile, Thanks for looking and Happy T day! Chris