Come walk with me!

I have another page for Art Journal Journey. Erika(Bioartgal) wants us to 'Tell a story'. I am inviting you to take a walk with me, my page shows you the way will walk.

These flowers are from my new set of Paper Artsy Elenazinskiart stamps! I love her little monsters as you know, but this time I have a set of flowers and a little bird!

On this page I have combined them with some of Darcy's flowers(also Paper Artsy)I stamped the main flowers onto card and book paper and cut them out.They are coloured with Fibralos. The others were stamped directly on to the page I made using a Dina Wakley heart stencil and some other random stencilling and stamping

When my stamps first arrived I had to attend the first of many directors meetings we have had here at our retirement complex, one of which was walking around the carpark on a cold morning trying to find a solution to the parking problems we have. I think what we eventually came up with is going to be quite expensive!! 

I was dying to play with my goodies but only had time to grab a previously inked tag and stamp away before we had to go and look after our GD! I added some fabric that I dabbed with distress inks. I stamped the bird and then stamped him onto some card and cut out the main body which I added some foam tape to lift him off the background slightly!

I am sorry to be absent from the computer for a little while but we have also been having a few problems (hopefully sorted now) with the internet connection which was quite scary when it cut out just after I had pressed 'pay now' on an order! Fortunately it went through as I had a confirmation e-mail when it came back on again! The connection does seem to be better after having a telephone conversation with a nice young man! 

Thanks for still visiting me, your support is always welcome and I will try to visit soon! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 398

It's Wednesday and Julia at The Stamping Ground has an open invitation to join her and show your desk for Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday! Usually my desk is shown in all it's glory but I must confess to a little staging - that is - I pulled off a layer of my under paper and I moved the smaller storage box into sight! Ignore the little black tag - I have for 2 days now!!

 As you can see I have at last covered the cereal box that held my stencils - I covered a smaller one too as I got fed up of digging in amongst the larger stencils to find my small ones!
Here they are after I had done them.

I also did some journal covers if you care to scroll back on my blog.
All this was done to rid me of my pile of scraps - and I am happy to say I now how 3 empty boxes (ready to fill again?….Noooo!)

While I am here I have a couple of films to tell you about 
'A Monster calls', which I really enjoyed especially for the wonderful artwork.

The other film is 'La La Land' - We went to see this yesterday - I didn't have high expectations as sometimes films that win awards don't always live up to their promise! I must say that from the first scene through to the end I was enthralled! It was like an old fashioned musical only better, hubby quite enjoyed it too and he isn't a great one for musicals!!

Thanked for looking, Chris

Anything but a Square at Try It On Tuesday!

Our new theme Anything But Square at Try It On Tuesday is about anything you care to make but it mustn't be square (any one my age may remember the saying "Be there or be square" so we hope you will be there!)We are hoping to see lots of different shapes!
I love making Journal pages, I find it relaxing to make something just for me. A lot of my journal pages make it onto my blog but some are just because I enjoy playing and there are so many of them.
This time I have made a tip in journal page, I only had a small journal with me so I used a page from a sketch book I had at our caravan.

I blended pink and lilac Distress inks on my page and then sprinkled some water over the page and dryed it immediately with a paper towel.
I added some stencilling with some mini stencils as I did this at our caravan and only had a few things with me. I had taken Paper Artsy's Elenazinskiart's Monster ZA01 set and a little Zini - I mixed them up a bit to give the girl long legs and removed a hat so that the monster looked more like a pet! I also had some JOFY stamps there too! I doodled in some stars and added some small nail art stars.
I love these stamps and I'm waiting for the postman to bring me one of Elena's new sets!
The words came from a few different book pages - inspired this time by Julie Kirk , although as you know I have always loved using words from book pages!

Hope to see you at TIOT


I would like to enter in 

Country View Challenges - Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Chill Out (having a pet definitely used to make me chill out)
Craft Stamper Challenge - Take It, Make It - Anything Goes
Artistic Stamper Creative Team Challenge - Anything Goes 

Thanks for looking, Chris

T stands for …tidy time!

If you saw the post before this one you will have some idea about what I am doing at the moment!
Today was more of the same and I have covered a rather large journal front cover with yet more scraps! I have a very bad habit of tearing illustrations from magazines or flyers of things that catch my eye and then they sit in a box covered up by even more, as well as stamped images and other bits paper leftover from projects!It had got to the point where I could no longer leave them as one box overspilled to three or four of varying sizes!
I decided that one way I would see them would be if I covered boxes(more of those on Wednesday)or journal covers - at least with some of them! 

I have also started a planner (I haven't stopped making my calendar journal for what actually happened - just forgot to post before I start to fill it in!)I am not being very rigid, but I found a planner I was happy with from Muji and it has served it's purpose so far as it stays on the coffee table where I can see it every day and if I feel like doodling or sticking stuff in I can do! 

We have a couple of trips already planned, and for those of you who had a guess at Paris as one of them you are correct! For once not my idea but hubby's - you may remember he was taken ill while I was at Version Scrap, the Paris craft show, although he was fine after having been taken care of by Paramedics he has suggested that I might like to try again - I may keep him with me though! It is also his birthday while we are away so I have a little treat planned for him!! (it's also someone else bEARTHday while we are away!)

Week one was an experiment as was week two and probably will find what is easier for me as I go along…

 The only real outings we have had have been cinema trips the first one was a 2 for 1 day and the other was a Silver Screen day.
I loved 'A Street Cat Named Bob' as I read the book and loved it - the film did not disappoint and although some parts of the book were changed slightly or omitted it is still a delightful true story of how an animal can change someone's life. I don't know whether you will be able to see this film outside of the UK but I do hope you can!
I will 'review' 'A Monster Calls' on Wednesday when I show my (hopefully) clean desk!
As I am here for T Stands for Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth…

…...and I haven't taken any photos of any drinks I will go back to November when we went to Keswick.

As you can see hubby had afternoon tea with a cup of tea and a scone with jam AND cream, I had coffee with a toasted cheese scone.
We went to Bryson's a lovely old fashioned tea room

There was some lovely art work on the walls but the photos didn't turn out well. The scones were delicious though!

I will be back in the morning with our new theme at Try It On Tuesday.

Thanks for looking, Chrisx 

The moral of the tale!!

This post is all about a silly old lady who just couldn't throw things away - sometimes not even the tiniest scrap of paper! Her craft room got smaller and smaller and her desk shrunk so much she could hardly find a space to enjoy her favourite hobby! One day the big old giant she lived with tried to reach the window and do you know what? He just couldn't! He tried to get closer but because the old lady had started to use the floor for storage space he was afraid he might tread on something(so was she as he had very big feet!)Something had to be done!
 Aah! But not straight away, the old lady carried on crafting and she tried and tried to ignore the mutterings of the big old giant she lived with, and for a while she did, but then came the awful day when she couldn't find what she was looking for…it WAS in her craft room SOMEWHERE, all she had to do was move a few things, but where to? She had already secreted a few things to where she sat to watch TV and she so enjoyed having a clear dining table(which she hadn't had in her old house)There was only one thing for it - she would have to throw something away! Now there are lots of goodies in the old lady's craft room, journals, stamps, paints, inks, buttons, beads and all sorts of other things in boxes, things she had made, things friends had made for her…..they just had to stay! 
 She began to look around her, and what did she see….can you believe it - all sorts of boxes and bags full of leftover bits of paper and fabric, things she had bought and regretted buying, projects started and never finished - basically load of old tat!!
 She started to look in some of the boxes, it wasn't ALL tat! She looked at her journals, she had always had the idea that one day she would decorate the covers.So…that's what she did, in fact she was so keen to get started that when the big old giant that she lived with came looking for her he was surprised to find that she hadn't even put any music on - she nearly always crafted to music - and being the kind giant that he was he put some on for her!
Okay! You've probably guessed by now that I have written about myself! 
Art Journal Journey's theme Tell me a Story (chosen by Erika)was my inspiration!
Here is what I have been up to this morning!

My collage was so random as I was just taking things from the box on my desk and either sticking it onto my cover, putting them into a small bag on my knee or throwing things into bin at my feet!

I am pleased to say that the bin has been emptied twice and I started on a third box as well as separating some colours to cover more journals.
As you can see I found just the quote to stick onto one of the covers. The newspaper supplement has these little quotes in each week and I had quite a few stashed away!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Thinking ahead!

Have you noticed how at this time of year the newspaper advertisements are full of ideas for planning your Summer Garden or Summer holidays?
We already have two breaks planned for the Spring - where? I think I'll keep you guessing!(One of them is somewhere we went last year!)

I don't buy a great deal for our caravan garden so those adverts are usually overlooked - this time though I have been looking for some seeds that will provide some colour in June and July as that is the time when there is mostly just greenery(very nice, but I do like flowers)

I had some gold acrylic paint leftover from another project so I spritzed it and dragged my page through it making a lovely fern like pattern. I stamped a favourite Paper Artsy Hot Picks 1602 stamp and added one of my own carved leaf stamps. The JOFY quote stamp tells of my reasons for planting anything in our garden.

I hope this will be a suitable story for Art Journal Journey's theme chosen by Erika(bioartgal)- Tell me a story

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

Keep dancing'!

I have a very bad habit, so my boys used to think, of dancing along with a supermarket trolley…even worse if I break into song too! 
I am not musical at all in that I never learnt to play an instrument but I do love music. I am not the sort of person who crafts in silence either! When there is music playing I can't keep my feet still and used to love dancing years ago (not these days as hubby does not enjoy dancing - I still try to get him to dance but we just end up with the giggles!)
My page for today is about that habit!

The background was made in one of my favourite ways, ink added to an acrylic block, spritzed and pressed down onto my page. I then drew a frame.
The monster is one of Elenazinskiart's from Paper Artsy (she has new ones out soon and I confess to being just a little excited!) 
I used some of the doodle stamps from her set and added some of my own along with a Kaisercraft one.
I would like to add this to Erika's choice of Tell A Story at Art Journal Journey 

I would also like to enter the challenges at 

Simon Says Monday Challenge where the theme is 'Be Square'
Craft Stamper's 'Anything Goes' theme
Country View Crafts 'Anything Goes' theme

Thanks for looking, Chris