WOYWW - The Dark Side ...

Hi hope you WOYWW's are all well ?
Just a few art journalling things going on on the desk this week - not much time for anything else what with work & an Amy MacDonald concert in Cardiff on Sunday !

The only thing other than journalling is some poppy stamping I am preparing to decorate the November page of my Book of  Days - to commemorate Remembrance day ..

I have just finished a page to enter in the House of Bears literature inspired challenge- this month is inspired by Dracula - with the challenge of using red and or bats !

I blended this red colour to match a leaf from my acer tree ... and the page is about why these spooky stories appeal to our Dark Side ....

Those of you who have visited me before may know that my lovely husband has a number of serious health problems - and last week, having been experiencing shortness of breath, he has been having tests .. the doctor now wants to send him for more tests in case he has a heart murmur ...

I am so sorry for him - with the possibility of yet another health issue to deal with ... as I was lying awake worrying about it all - this phrase came into my mind & I felt the need to create a page ...

It's a bit personal but I hope you don't mind me sharing it with you ?

WOYWW - From My Autumn Painty Playdate !

Very late posting this week - have just got back from the big Food Trade Fair in Paris - so more than a bit weary !

On my work-desk this week is the start of an altered book cum journal - its going to be about how I feel about Autumn.

Last Saturday, whilst the menfolk were off watching "The Swans" play football, my friend Lynda & I had a lovely afternoon getting all messy & painty - I recently suggested she try art journalling & now she seems to be really enjoying it - and has created some lovely pages already !

We decided to have a go at altering books - so raided the Charity shops in Carmarthen and found some suitable candidates !


We camped out in the conservatory - great light to work in ! And moved down my stash of paints so we could choose what we wanted to create with

Then we set to .. getting creative & messy in equal part ! Here's Lynda  working on her journal ...

And me gesso-ing over a page in my book .. I had started at one end but then we decided the book would work much better upside-down - so I had to gesso it all out again !

My book started as a child's jigsaw board book ...

 
and got a good smothering of gesso and I discovered a new textured effect completely by accident - as I was gesso-ing the later pages the initial ones were sticking together.

When I pulled them apart they left an amazing crackled textured effect - it wasn't planned but it looked really good !

So I went with it and it will get incorporated it into the look of the book !

So next it working up each page with colours & images ... hopefully not quite so messy !!

Anyway - have a brilliant crafty week ! Ali x

WOYWW - Glimmer Frenzy !

Hi WOYWWers !
A few bits & bobs going on this week on my workdesk !

As I mentioned in previous posts I was inspired by the lovely work of Polish scrapper & artist Finnabair (check out her blog on http://tworzysko.blogspot.co.uk/ ) to create a page in her beautiful style.

So a frenzy of die cutting & a few litres of Glimmer Mist later here's my attempt !

The photo is one my friend Lynda took of me when we went out for a fun photo shoot on a rare sunny day last spring - we had a great laugh taking silly pictures of each other !

The tags are recycled from some shirts my husband bought - and I used up loads of bits & bobs I had tucked in my die cuts & scraps drawer !
And got to use some of the die cut borders & flourishes my friend Jan cut for me too ! 

I had a few bits left over from the layout - so they made it into my journal with a stamped phrase I had been wanted to use for ages.

Not sure it's totally finished yet - but thought I would show you anyway !

And one last thing I made tonight - a card for a one of my team who had a heart operation yesterday - all went well & we just wanted to tell him how pleased we are to hear that !
So its going into work with me tomorrow for the team to sign !

Well have a great crafty week & looking forward to seeing your desks this week !
Ali x

WOYWW - Back to Reality !

So here we are back in rainy Wales - is it just me or is Autumn really early this year ?
Its only the start of October and so many of the leaves are already glowing with their Autumn colours and falling steadily !
And here we are getting up in the dark, leaving for work in the dark & dark so early at night too - and months of this lying ahead of us !!

Anyway - to happier crafty stuff - but not much actually going on since we got home - as it was arrive home & straight back to work !

So I still have my box of shimmer misted things ready to scrap - and in the middle is a draft of a new project - it's going to be a roadmap of my life inspired by the "Personal Geographies" book I have been reading. I am going to work it up onto a background and add pictures etc - its a bit raw & personal at the moment so I'm not ready to share a close up !

My Mum & Dad sent me some birthday money which I spent on stash - I got myself some Radiant Rains shimmer pigments in a half price sale - here are three of them ! I am really looking forward to playing with these !

I have a new Lilac stamp from Sheena Douglass and a new flower embossing folder

Also my friend Jan in Spain gave me some lovely die cut pieces that she had cut for me - these will be fun to work into projects !

My Sister & I share out sending cards for our family - and we have a host of cousins with birthdays this month - so the only thing I have found time to do is whip up a couple of cards - I do love these Wellington Bear card making elements !!

Anyway - must dash ! Have a great crafty week !
Ali x

WOYWW - Journalling in the Garden !

So here I am still enjoying the sunshine out in Spain !

Well, all except my birthday last Friday when we had flash flooding & storms - so that washed out our stay at the hotel converted from a monastery - no evening drinks on the terrace looking at the mountains for us this time ! It also put paid to our plans to drive into the Sierra Espuna  mountains on the Friday for lunch  - to a little restaurant we know there tucked away in the middle of no-where!
So then as Plan B - we headed for Cartegena to do some indoor shopping - but the whole city was shut !
A festival day apparently ! So we trudged back over the mountains in the pouring rain heading homewards & the day only cheered up when our friends came over for supper !
Still despite our floods here we were lucky & in other parts of Spain people died & lost their homes - so I do count my blessings !

And the sun has come back out for our last week here - so we are very grateful for that too !

On my desk this week are some of the things I have been playing with ... water for me as well as my Inktense Pencils as the weather is lovely ! My journals & drawing books etc
Plus my Kindle for when I just want to flop on a lounger in the sun !
And a fly whipper for if the flies get too annoying !

I have been having a happy time whiling away an hour or two on the terrace - I have finished my Tick Tock challenge page - really enjoyed this challenge - so thanks to my friend Lynda !

Then I tried a bit more drawing & watercolour practice - trying to draw the only orange on one of the citrus bushes we inherited in the garden here - we hadn't been sure what type of citrus plant it was as it hadn't fruited before.
Sadly the skin had split all down one side whilst still on the bush - so it wasn't edible but I wanted to record it anyway - its not exactly an everyday event in wet rainy Wales to have an orange from the garden - so it was a novelty to celebrate here ! !

Then I have a page in progress in my large Journal - and I am still getting to grips with working this large !
This journal (a Strathmore Visual Journal) is twice the size of my normal journal & spiral bound up the middle - so it is also out of the comfort zone of my previous habit of working straight across double pages !

This is a new Heidi Swapp mask of Hibiscus flowers (we have a Hibiscus bush in the garden here too so it seemed appropriate !) & the page is going to be about having these stolen Summer Days we are enjoying out here. Hence all the warm summery colours !
At home the Autumn is already well set in ....so we are treasuring every moment we have left this week !
I need to add outlining to the masked image on the right hand page & add the journalling but it has been fun if a bit challenging working on something this size ! How real artists work on great big canvasses amazes me - I wouldn't know where to start !

Anyway do enjoy your crafty week & looking forward to seeing your projects later !
Ali x