New tag!

Hi everyone, another grey day here and one more day into Lockdown.

I've been doing a little bit of crafting.

I did some prep for some journal pages and then started this tag - just because it was there on my desk...then I remembered some challenges I wanted to do.

I coated the tag with Paper Artsy Fresco paint in Dusty Teal, one of my favourite colours.

I looked bit dark so I brightened it up with a newish stencil and some yellow ochre paint. Brighter but still a little too dark - what it needed was some Janet Klein input!

I found the two (already stamped and coloured and stored in an envelope) images.

I thought that as well as her beautiful butterfly the girl needed some thing else - a Tracy Evans flower!

The background needed more so I looked into one of my boxes - unopened stamps!!! 

I bought them before Christmas but my Mojo went on holiday so they were put away - I used pink(which turned purple) for one set and then white for the other - as you can see they are number stamps and I stamped randomly with them over the tag!

The bird seemed to overshadow the girl so I cut it so he doesn't look quite so threatening, but I think he wants that flower as a tasty snack!

I drew in some ground with a white pen. All stamps and the stencil are by Aall and Create.

I am entering at 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use a New/Unused Product

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Something New

Moving Along With the Times January challenge 126 - New

and of course,

Tag Tuesday - Numbers

Thanks for looking,  Chris

 

Paint Fun!

 Hi everybody! I decided in December that as we were likely to be indoors for quite a lot of the beginning of 2021 I would sign up for the weekly classes at Wanderlust.

The first week was a lesson by Kasia Avery (her baby was born on Monday)and involved some very free pencil marking, paint, stencils, gesso and some journaling of our feelings! 

For the main image it was suggested to use a black and white image...I hovered between a stamped image or one from a magazine and this girl gazing into the distance seemed to fit the theme - Reflections

I had lots of mop up paint so decided to carry on and make another journal page

 This time I used the same process but chose an Aall and Create favourite which I painted with blue water colour and then used some bits of one of their funky die cuts. Added some doodly bits and a Tim Holtz sticker quote, reflecting on the mess we are in! 

I can remind you here that Try It On Tuesday's new theme is 'Use an up lifting or positive quote' I think we have to believe that whenever it is we will beat Covid!

I am joining in at..

Art Journal Journey and Erika's theme'Favourite Things'

More Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes with optional colour Blue

We had a message yesterday to say that our surgery has the vaccine and they will be contacting us soon! Yay!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for......Twelfth Night ....

Hi everyone! I am still enjoying having my Christmas decorations and tree around! They will come down on Wednesday - Epiphany/Twelfth Night as usual here. All of the lights in the gardens are gone and I think most folk, having put them up early have taken them down already!        Ours didn't get fully done until around the 11th December so I am happy to have them lit for a few more days!

I finished my calendar journal pages for December but couldn't find a new book to start 2021 in! Up to now that have had black covers, but I am starting with one that has a kraft cover (I know that I will find a black one soon, but they are all Daler Rowney A4 Sketchbooks so it doesn't really matter.

Here is January ready to be filled in(actually is filled in so far) I used part of a Studio Light Christmas stamp and some punched snowflakes.

Here is December all filled in if you want to take a look! 

Apart from this and a sample for a new Try It On Tuesday challenge (here) that started this morning I haven't done much crafting! I have cleared a lot out of the way in my craft room and have used up a few scraps in a junk journal and I have a pile of lovely new Crafty Individuals stamps to play with now I have more desk space! 

We are now in Lock Down again in the UK - with suggestions that we stay at home unless going out for exercise! We may do what we did on Saturday and go out early again.

We didn't meet many folk at all - joggers mainly - and were able to keep our distance!

We walked by road to the newsagents and picked up a newspaper then back by the river!

We had a lovely view of the rising sun through the clouds

No chance of anyone reading this though

There was a man where the heron usually stands, not sure whether he was fishing though!!

The weir was calmer than last week

My hubby said this looked like a body, but it was some washed up tarpaulin...that did look like a body!!!

The playground was empty

It was good to see the island again....

...and some blue sky by the church

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth of The Altered Book Lover for T Stands For Tuesday...

..with a mug of caramel latte - we've started to have 'posh'coffees mid afternoon while the weather is cold.

I hope that the vaccination programme rolls out as fast as they are saying it should - we are patiently waiting for the call!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Be positive

Hi everyone, it's time for some positivity with our new challenge at Try It On Tuesday - whatever you make we would like you to 'Add an Uplifting or Positive quote' to it. The Design team have provided lots of encouragement so please do take a look here!

I have rewritten part of this post since last night's announcement here in the UK!

I suppose we should have expected that we would be in Lockdown again! The journal page I made was about the bird as well as having someone in mind but now it is about all those people who will once again be on their own for several weeks more!

I had a page in this large Dylusions journal where I had mopped up some paint through a stencil. The colours weren't quite right on their own so I added some blue and lilac Paper Artsy paints(excellent for covering)and added some torn book paper! I used both ends of a paintbrush to add some yellow marks.

The magazine bird image has been in a box for a while. The Nuthatch is one of my favourite birds, we used to stand and watch them for ages at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve when we had our caravan and was always thrilled when we had the occasional visitor at our feeders.

The bird here is on it's own and the quote seemed just right to add here!

I hope that you will join us over the next two weeks, we really do need to be positive and feel uplifted!

The good news is of course, they are already getting on well with the vaccination programme - let's focus on that to see us through these weeks and use our time wisely - we will soon be able get out and about!

I am also sharing this at Art Journal Journey for Erika's 'Favourite Things' theme as not only is the Nuthatch a favourite but I also enjoy playing with paint! 

Thanks for looking, Chris   

Favourites!

Hi everyone and Happy New Year, and let's hope it brings bit more cheer than last year did!

There's a new host at Art Journal Journey and that means a new topic! 

Erika has chosen 'Favourite Things' as the theme this month and I'm looking forward to getting going.

I think a lot of you know that I love visiting gardens.

One of the things I love most about gardens is listening to the birds and indeed watching them

  I started my page by picking up blue, turquoise and green paint on a brayer. I brayered the top half of the page then flipped my journal and brayered the bottom half using a little less paint and pressure.

I used some tubes on my desk to stamp on some painty circles, picking up pink from the heart cut from some Dina Wakley media collage paper. I stamped some text randomly and added some white pen marks, pink paint marks, some hearts just cut freehand from some gelli printed paper. I also used some deli printed paper to stamp the Dina birds and stuck them onto stamped versions of the birds. I used the leftover bits of paper to cut circles and more hearts and added some of Tracy Evans's Aall and Create washi tape.

Finally I added some paper ground for the birds and the quote from the Scribbly Bird stamp set.

I hope that with the days getting longer and hopefully some bright frosty days that I will feel more like crafting than I did in December!

Looking forward to seeing your Favourite Things.

Thanks for looking, Chris

  

WOYWW 604

 Hi everyone! I'm a little late getting here but I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year, even though we will be celebrating on our own.

 Come the Summer, with vaccines now available in large amounts we should be able to meet safely and HUG!!!! 

I'm joining in 'What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday' over at Julia's 'The Stamping Ground' blog showing my desk..

...to the left a pile of new (top secret, but very lovely Crafty Individuals stamps to play with) - to the left the start of a journal page which turned out like the one below! 

Still lots of glues in sight here, many are getting emptier!

Poor Maisie put on a special mistletoe hat for Christmas but is still waiting for her kiss. Like a lot of us she didn't have any visitors, perhaps she should have listened to the news and she wouldn't have been so disappointed!

She won't be seeing anyone over New Year either, so all she can do is look cute!

This will be my last entry at Art Journal Journey and Tracey's 'The Meaning Of' theme and I wish that my mojo hadn't been in hiding for so long! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for ....This Christmas

Hi everyone, I'm trying and to catch up with everyone by taking breaks every so often when I am on the computer! It's taking longer than I had hoped!

This Christmas has been different for us all this year, whether it was in the way we bought our food, who we shared it with or how we celebrated the day. With reminders here in the UK about the rise in cases of Covid or the last minute plans for our leaving the EU even watching the news this year has been different - not so many items on folk decorating their houses or the queues for the after Christmas sales!

After our traumatic visit to the shopping mall we haven't ventured out - it has been wet and grey and we have been happy to do our jigsaw puzzle(coming along nicely)read, watch TV or cook!

Mind you, our Christmas Day cooking almost came to an end just as everything was almost cooked! 

I decided to steam the Christmas pudding rather than use the Microwave so put it on the back of the hob ready to turn on later. Hubby being helpful said he would put it on, then the news came on and we stopped to watch an item together. I could smell the food cooking, but there was something else...I looked into the kitchen to see billowing steam...except ...it wasn't steam but smoke! Hubby had left an oven glove on the front of the hob and then turned on what he thought was the pudding and the oven glove singed - quite badly, I grabbed it and fortunately there was some water in the sink so threw it in there. Unfortunately...I leaned across to open the window and inhaled some of the smoke, coughing I went to the front door...meanwhile our excellent smoke detector set off the alarm...in every apartment in the complex (this is normal - and a safety issue we are used to) I had to try to get a message through to the duty manager who actually contacted us through our intercom system and I had to admit to a false alarm!

In the end our meal turned out beautifully and we enjoyed it.

As you can see hubby here raising his glass to you.

I am joining in over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog with T Stands For Tuesday with his glass of Rosé. 

He still has to clean the burnt on oven glove off the hob ring. I didn't take any photos as he's been through enough!!!

update - he ordered a hob scraper which arrived and he has almost cleaned it all off

On Christmas morning I had a few presents to open, one of my favourites was this from my eldest son and daughter in law....

 It really is beautiful and will be put on display with my others.

Another gift from my friend Sarah came in the most beautiful wrapping.

It had been lovely to see her when she came so that we could swap gifts. It was very cold out on the landing but we were able to have a quick chat!

Inside was a fabulous stamp set.

Now for a bit of a sad story...

My Poinsettia doesn't like our apartment!

I haven't over watered it, it's in a warm place but ...nope!!!

This morning we woke up to SNOW! We hardly had any last year so, after taking a few photos from the windows....

...we went out after breakfast as it looked as though the thaw was starting.

We decided on a round trip by the river and back up the nearest road.

We looked back at the old inn! I really hope that they don't plan on knocking it down.

The water was rushing over the weir.

In one direction very calm...

then it rushes over the weir...

..and the little island is disappearing..

The heron oversees all.

I could resist walking on some clean snow in the little car park and came across more foot prints!

A little garden outside a house....and then I went for a little walk in the garden here.

We have only been out four times in December but a walk in the snow (and cold) today really cheered me up!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx