Pretty Papers at TIOT

I can hardly believe that two weeks have flown by so quickly and we're at Try It On Tuesday with a new topic. This time we would like to see your 'Pretty Papers' - what you use them for is up to you.

The Design Team have been using some beautiful papers.

I remembered that I had some freebie magazine papers so decided to make a journal page.

The heart flowers and the flowery background were in one set and the yellow and pink background were in another - I also cut out a little bird to sit on the line at the top from another magazine paper. I added some watercolour pencil to the edges of the hearts, leaves and the Tim Holtz Smalltalk quote sticker. 

I hope you can find lots of Pretty Papers and join us this time at TIOT, I would love to see what you have in your stash!

I am also entering at Art Journal Journey and Alison's 'Come Fly With Me' theme

Thanks for looking, Chris

Not always flying at Styal

Hi everyone, I have another page for Alison's 'Come Fly With Me' theme at Art Journal Journey.

We had a lovely day out at Styal Mill gardens yesterday, the weather was kind to us and we took a packed lunch. The gardens looked great and the birds were perched on branches enjoying the sun too!

I used two stencils overlaid to make the background - the mesh and a script one and used Faded Denim Distress Ink. I stamped one of my favourite birds from Crafty Individuals and used Derwent Inktense pencils to colour it in and then used my water brush to blend.

The quote is a Paper Artsy one by Lin Brown.

Here are some photos of Styal

The scent of this pink Sweet pea is wonderful

There was a bird of prey flying around but couldn't get a shot as it disappeared over the trees

Thanks for looking, Chris

Dragonfly

Hi everyone  I have another page for Alison's Art Journal Journey theme - 'Come fly With Me'.

I love visiting places near water that have dragonflies around them.

This page was on the back of a page where the colour had shown through and I thought it made a good enough background for this Paper Artsy stamp designed by Sarah Naumann, which I stamped in turquoise I added other stamps from the same set and some text from another stamp. The quote is a Tim Holtz smalltalk sticker.

I am still on catch up but hope to visit everyone soon. 

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for Ten Years and a few photos

Hi everyone, it's time to celebrate - 10 years of T Stands For Tuesday over at The Altered Book Lover where Bleubeard and Elizabeth have been hosting for 10 Years!

I have an angular version of a 10 made with sugar packets from our France trip.

I was paired with Jan of Crafty Scorpio blog and, as well as the fabulous ATC, I received a fabulous postcard of the Murcia region where Jan lives

Along with these came some really lovely die cuts and images - you will see some coming up soon. 

Thanks so much Jan.

This was the design used for my ATCs this time, slightly different from the one I sent to Jan

Congratulations to Bleubeard and Elizabeth for hosting every week for 10 whole years - I joined in September 2014 so haven't been here all of the time but over the years have made so many friends, shared ups and downs...and lots of different drinks - Thank you!

Here is the drink we had at a cafe on our last day in France. I had an Orangina and hubby had café crème. The Orangina bottle is a traditional shape for the drink. 

I had intended continuing with our journey through France but I'm celebrating today with Hydrangeas (known as Hortensias in France)

In the area of Brittany that we stayed in there were so many different colours I just couldn't stop taking photos. Some of these may well appear again later! 

Thanks for looking, Chris

Time To Watch The World Go By

Hi everyone, I am at last able to get some things done for myself. I had a lovely afternoon out with my friend Sarah yesterday which involved a little bit of crafty spending and cake!

I had had a very stressful time trying to get one of my pills, my local pharmacy didn't have them in, neither did the other pharmacy in the village  - I was told that there was shortage generally and was advised to ring 111, who couldn't help, and the medical practice we attend could only give me an appointment for 7th August - I had 3 pills left. I decided to ring around some other pharmacies and fortunately found someone who said she was hopeful of getting an order and told me to ring back in the morning - by 11.00am yesterday I had them in my hand!

Sarah had been having a tough time so we decided to go to the makers market and see one of our favourite makers Kay, who make fabulous journals and sells beautiful washi tapes. Here is what I bought..

Kay gifted us with a tiny journal that she had made - she had a few to choose from so I chose a matching green one - you can see how small it is.

I thought my two mini journals were small but this is tiny - and I love it!

While were in one of our favourite places for coffee we decided to make a journal stack of our journals

The smaller ones kept sliding off.

Afterwards we both agreed that the afternoon had been a success - we both felt a lot less stressed, especially after making a journal page while we had our coffee and cake (Oh! and an extra coffee for me and tea for Sarah)

Speaking of journal pages - here is my latest for Alison's Art Journal Journey theme - 'Come Fly With Me'

I made this while in France in what I used to call my mini journal - I used scraps I took with me as well as stickers, washi tape and watercolours.

The cockerel is there as the gîte we stayed at was called Chanticoq and we were awakened every morning by the singing cockerel! 

Thanks for looking,Chris