Christmas started!

I am finding a little more time to play these days and also wanted to join in with the ABC Christmas challenge with one of my favourite things to do - 'Rip It'

I have used a House Mouse stamp - I have always wanted to play with these stamps but have only recently bought any - I think I may NEED more! 
My card isn't in traditional colours but as soon as I saw this stamp I knew what I wanted to do with it! 

Ripped paper - of course and my stamps. I must say stamping these two was a dream!
I used my old Promarkers to colour my little scene

I made a tiny label and punched some stars using glittery card and drew on the gold twine.
The greetings across the top were positioned so that the main message is picked out immediately.

Some of you may remember I came late to this challenge last year too so I am hoping to at least make a start on my Christmas cards now! 

Thanks for looking, Chris 

Twins - a journal page

Elizabeth's choice of theme at Art Journal Journey  is 'Back to School' 
Having experienced school as a pupil, a teacher and a Mum I have lots in my head - wishing I had more time to take part!

This page is about having identical twins in a class - a new teachers nightmare I'm sure! When I was teaching as a supply teacher while my boys were young I once had a class with two sets of twins in - one set of girls were easy as Mum used to tie different colour ribbons in their hair. The others, boys, were much more difficult to distinguish by looks but their behaviour was very different.
I have taught quite a few twins in classes over the years - many of them non identical - much easier!

My background started as a gessoed page with a hint of green. I used my new JOFY mini girl for my twins (can you tell the difference?) 
I stamped some JOFY mini flowers and used the small circles from my new JOFY flower set, using light coloured inks. The 'ground' for the twins is the alphahabet from the girl mini.
'This is me' from one of Lindsay Mason's sets was stamped onto some mop up tissue and stuck onto the page with Matte Medium gel.

I am not sure where the UNIQUE came from but it fits very nicely into where my idea for the page came from! We are all individuals and unique - something a good teacher will recognise!

I added some random dots to my background (not enough!) then added inky circles using container tops to echo the shape of the faces.

By now you will have spotted that one of the twins has a more carefree approach to her appearance, although she will have to be careful with that untied shoe lace!!

I would like to link to Art Journal Journey - 'Back to School'
and
Paper Artsy - No 17 Making Marks

It's good to be back home again for a while! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

I don't get it - a journal page

I am so inspired by Elizabeth's choice of topic - Back to School - at Art Journal Journey - I have already started another page as well as completing this one.

I had a happy little girl the other day but now I have a little lad who feels like I used about Maths lessons. 
I once ran away from school in the middle of a Maths lesson at Junior school when we had a supply teacher called Miss Hood who used to wear a red scarf around her throat. She had black hair cut into a spiky kind of bob and I don't know whether it was her or the Maths I was running away from, but I never liked Maths lessons after that.

By the time I reached High School I really struggled with Maths, I just couldn't see how to apply certain aspects into real life, and was moved out of the mainstream Maths class to do Economics which suited me far better - we learned about bank accounts, calculating bills from electric and gas meter readings, budgeting and other practical stuff!

I was always near the top of the class in other subjects , especially English, Art, History and Biology.
Strangely, these days I really enjoy doing number and logic puzzles.

Anyhow, enough about me, here is my page

Distress inks, texture paste, crackle paste, Distress crayons, stencils and stamps with some TH rulers stamped onto card and some TH label numbers. The boy and the quote which I stamped onto tissue are Lindsay Mason's stamps.
The boy was coloured in with Distress Markers.

By the way, when I got home my Mum gave me a drink and walked the mile back to school with me, where I had to apologise to the teacher!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for……….Time travelling!!!

Last Friday we headed to Bolton Castle near Leyburn in Yorkshire.

It was a lovely journey, travelling through the Dales to get there...

…passing the Ribbleshead viaduct….

…sheep that sometimes step out into the road….

…and beautiful undulating countryside.

We visited the castle about 15 years ago but not a lot was on show to the public.

A different matter now though, they were hosting the first Mediaeval Music Festival. 
We are not musicians but do love the music of those times. The car park attendant told us that on this first day there were to be lots of things going on that were included in the normal entry fee. There were Banquets, workshops  and concerts for those taking part over the weekend and we spotted folk putting up tents in the wind and were pleased to be only there for the day!

Over the wall were display tents.

Much of the castle is ruins but there are parts that still have furniture in and there is a shop and cafe too.

This view is from the back of the castle where we watched a hawk flying display.

Buzzard

Barn Owl

This Eagle Owl made us laugh as he went digging for worms.He had a waddly walk

The gardens are small….but... 

...there is a maze too….

…...and a vineyard..

It was rather surreal though coming around a corner in the castle and meeting people dressed up in Mediaeval clothing

There were lots of stalls selling all sorts of Mediaeval instruments.It was great to hear them being played.

On the way back to the caravan we stopped off at Bainbridge to see the river and the hydro pump

 A little farther on was Hawes where we visited the other week with our grandchildren and son(I took you on a visit back in June - here)
It was now time for some refreshments - after all we are here for Bluebeard and Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday.

As there was banquet being prepared at the castle the tea room closed early. We didn't think we would have much chance of finding anywhere just serving coffee, tea and cake but in Hawes we found the Wensleydale Pantry up some stairs on the main street - delicious Coffee and Walnut cake for me with a cappuccino and for hubby - a huge slice of Lemon Meringue Pie AND ice-cream, with tea of course!
I figured that with all the steps I had climbed and a veggie tea I could take a chance with my Diabetes!!!

I may be scheduling some posts for a couple of days so may be asking some linking favours if I can't manage on my phone!
Hoping to get lots of walking done near the caravan with some finer weather forecast!  

Thanks for looking, Chris

First Day at 'Big' School

I have made a journal page for Elizabeth's fabulous theme of 'Back to School' at Art Journal Journey.

I started by using a TH stencil and Distress Inks. I added some stamping, a small stamp from my new JOFY set, and some using a couple of pen lids. I then added some PA Infusions - which sort of washed out the  stamping so I went over it again in parts.

My little girl(one of Lindsay Mason's stamps)has finished with Nursery School (sorry I don't know the equivalent US grade but she has just turned 5 years old)and is now ready for her Primary Education to start.
She has been told by her Mum that she will still be able to play with the friends she made at Nursery - but we all know that playing is one of the best ways to learn!

I used (Paper Artsy) Sarah Nauman's 'Play' and 'discover' stamps along with a small talk quote and a dictionary extract.
I coloured the girl in with Colorsoft pencils and added some Snowflake Fresco Paint to the page where she was going to stand (on the edge of leafy stamp). Finally a little shadow with a Stabilo Allpencil.

I have all sorts of ideas buzzing around my head on this topic so I expect I will be making a few more pages!

Thanks for looking, Chris

   

Second on the 2nd

I love revisiting posts on this day - organised by Bluebeard and Elizabeth at The Altered Book Lover.
A lot of the blogs are ones I didn't know at the time of their posts and it's good to be directed to something they might likes to see!

My post is only from two years ago but shows a favourite page in one of my journals.

This post is from 1st September 2014 
I've been having some journal fun again with my new Paper Artsy stamps by Darcy Wilkinson - Eclectica EDY10! This page started out as a bit of a mop up which then……oh! you know how one thing leads to another! If you saw my post last Wednesday you will see that I was going to cover some of it with torn paper but decided in the end to use PA Fresco paint -Inky Pool. The latest addition was using some Artemio Flowers and text from Darcy's Eclectica EDY10 and Archival Black ink.

The flowers were stamped onto white card and coloured with a water brush using the two colours I used to stamp them - Adirondak Wild Plum and Stream.
I stamped an extra flower and then 'fussy' cut them all out before intertwining the stems. Since this was such a joy to do I couldn't resist adding the Joy stamp(Lost Coast Designs)

I am scheduling this post so fingers crossed that it works!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

My calendar journal pages

A very quick post here as we are OFF….again! Morecambe Vintage by Sea festival is on over the weekend.
Hubby is also hoping to go to a Mediaeval Music event if the weather is nice!

So, my calendar - only finished this morning….

Sprayed with Dylusions then some random stamping. Down the side another of my JOFY minis which I will sit and colour over the month(and may add some doodling!
August is all filled in….no wonder the year seems to be dashing on by…

I hope that while we are out and about I can see your blogs and get around to catching up a bit!

Thanks for looking, Chris