Winter blues!

I must apologise for being so lax at visiting and commenting on my favourite blogs of late - there has been quite a lot going on here - appointments, school run duties, visitors and on top of that I have 'the tidy bug', brought about, I think, by my imminent surgery!
I have also had a few commitments to prepare for so have spent very little time visiting!

I did however want to make one last journal page for Chrissie's fabulous theme at Art Journal Journey - Winter Wonderland. I have so enjoyed this theme and seeing the inspiring pages from others.

My page started out as some new DecoArt Multi Media Fluid paints streaked across the page - sorry forgot to take a photo….
…before I added some stencilling and stamping…

I almost used this for something else but had something in mind that I had seen on the internet - not sure, I think by Donna Downey but could have been Traci Bautista 
I cut out some circles and laid them onto the surface before painting over with my new favourite colour - DecoArt Ultramarine blue!

I couldn't find my low tack glue so tried to keep them down with fold masking tape - what a mistake to make - of course some of the paint seeped underneath! I did try to neaten it up but decided to embrace the imperfection!!
The next part was easy, posca pens, stamps,ink, white signoball, black pitt pen…..

….quite a lot of doodling, some stamping and a lot of fun!

I hope I can get some visiting done over the weekend, just bear with me please!

I would also like to enter:-

the fab challenge at Stamps and Stencils chosen by Cec - Oh So Blue
and 
another entry for Anything but Cute - Ring Out the Old, Bring in the New chosen by Anne

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for……TEA!!….and reminder….

Yes, you have read that correctly! I am not a tea drinker - it makes me sick - must be the tannin, coffee is fine! 
I did see something I wanted to try though! More of that later!

I would like to remind you that you still have a week left to enter our latest challenge at Try it on Tuesday - Silhouettes
Unfortunately I have a very bad example to show you as this started to as being a silhouette but the paint soaked up the black and my grey birds needed some eyes as they looked a bit ghost like. I know that you won't do anything so silly though!!!

I used some snowflake stencils and some bits of packaging to make the snow. The branches are from the same PA set I used for my card last week.
I am linking this to Art Journal Journey where Chrissie's fantastic theme of Winter Wonderland still has a few more days to go

Now, it's time to join Bluebeard and Elizabeth(and Squiggles) at The Altered Booklover for T Stands For Tuesday.

We were shopping at Booths near the caravan and saw this on offer -

 I could do with a good nights sleep so bought it…..it's going to take some getting used to - I could only drink half a cup!!

It doesn't contain sugar but tasted very sweet! Not unpleasant but so different to what I am used to (usually decaf instant in the evening)

Would you like to see some photos? You can skip these if you wish!

A few weeks ago we decided to have a walk around the park that used to be just across the road from where we used to live! They had received a lottery grant to restore it to it's Victorian splendour! We knew that there had been a big Hoo Ha about an avenue of trees being cut down as they weren't on the original plan, but when we went, now that all the work is completed, we had a pleasant surprise!

 The have re-routed the lakeside path a little but children can still get close enough to feed the ducks,swans geese etc 

  The water looked cleaner than it used to.

 At the end of the lake is a cafe and pavilion - these buildings had fallen into a really bad state. When we went in it was full so we decided to head home, but we may well go back one day - the food smells wonderful!

 This swan was hiding from the other two, they had been hassling it earlier on the other side of the lake - we think she is a female!

We will definitely be visiting again in the Spring.

That's it for now. I won't be here next Tuesday (got a date with a surgeon!)but I will be around this week and hopefully in two weeks time for T stands for…..

Thanks for looking, Chris

Lace and more….

It seems an age since I entered a Crafty Individuals challenge and when I saw the theme was Lace, buttons, bits and bobs I was delighted, as I have a lot of these lying around on my craft desk!

I decided that Kraft card was to be my base and stamped it randomly with the background stamp(CI430)that is definitely my favourite(I do believe you may have seen it a few times already this year)

I used some wavy corrugated card from the croissants we buy occasionally on top of that and then stamped some script and linen effect stamps over a piece of scrap paper - also lurking on the outer reaches of my desk!

The image which has the lovely title - 'Dancing till 1 o'clock'(CI346) was stamped onto some card and mounted onto more of the card stamped again with the background stamp(CI430)

I added a corner from a set from The Works and some lace and a bit of pearly lace. The flowers were cut down a bit and the labels are from a stamping session I had over Christmas when I just wanted to DO something!

A little bit of added stamping, a little bit of silky scarf and I was done!

Thanks for looking, Chris

SNOW!

Yes, we saw snow this weekend and it inspired me to make another journal page for Chrissie's theme, 'Winter Wonderland' at Art Journal Journey.

This photo was taken in daylight

This photo was taken under my craft room light - you can see more of the sparkle.

I used tinted texture paste through a stencil for the top left corner, then over the page I used paint spread on with a baby wipe. The tree was stamped onto a piece of muslin and the tree branches extended onto the page before I stuck it down using grey and white ink. More texture paste was added through a stripy stencil and then smudged and painted. Everything had a good coating of Stickles!

I used to be am a huge Harpers Bizarre fan. I also love Randy Newman, who wrote these words. The song leads on to sadder lyrics so I stopped at just the first line!

A reminder of seeing the fields fill with snow at the weekend and a few photos to show you.

As it became dark the lights over on the A6 looked quite magical!

The next morning there had been more snow

 The birds were pleased we had put some food out

I would also like to enter the Stamps and Stencils Challenge, where Cec has chosen the 'Oh So Blue' theme

Thank You for looking, Chris

Silhouettes at TIOT and T stands for Tripping!

Our new theme at Try It On Tuesday is Silhouettes and the team have created some fabulous examples, so I do hope you will pop over for a look.

I have used a couple of Paper Artsy stamps that I bought on our trip to Edinburgh - with a plan to use them at Christmas but I think they fit in well as a Sympathy card or just a plain Thinking of You card.

I cut the shape and added distress ink. I stamped the plain branch across the card and the one with the bird onto the shape. 

I used quite thin pads to stick it onto the card and then used a black pen to extend the branches.

Now, if you are thinking I may have a had a fall - stop worrying!

It is time to join Bluebeard and Elizabeth at the Altered Book Lover for T stands for Tuesday and we have been out and about!

We decided that despite the weather forecast predicting cold weather we would go up to our caravan. We have central heating and an electric fire…and I also have a hot water bottle and bedsocks so I knew it would be warm inside.

It was quite sunny when we went too, so the sun had taken the chill off. 

On Friday we decided to go to Settle - one of our favourite places to visit and somewhere we did consider buying a caravan before we found our ideal spot!

As we drove closer we could see that the tops of the mountains had snow at the very top - the first we have seen this Winter.

We went to the Naked Man Cafe for lunch. The cafe has extended in recent years, the bakery is in the original cafe to the left.

Potato and leek soup and a toasted cheese, tomato and onion sandwich…and my water.

It was quite full when we arrived but there was still a steady stream of new customers.

It started to snow just as we finished our meal so we decide to head back. 

 As we got closer to Kirby Lonsdale there was no snow so we stopped for a walk.(I showed you pics here of our Autumn walk)

The Bridge looks so different without the greenery

Then we actually did head back to our caravan. As it started to rain the sun shone through. 

I hope you enjoyed your trip with us.

I look forward to seeing some of you at TIOT over the next two weeks.

I will also be on my way to visit the T group over at Elizabeth's blog.

Thanks for looking, Chris

The camera loved her!

One of my favourite film actresses was Audrey Hepburn - I still love to watch her films when I can. My own favourite is 'Charade' which also stars another of my favourite film actors - Cary Grant.
There is a new theme at Moo Mania and More - Famous People and I decided to make a tribute page to Audrey. 
I also want to enter at Anything but Cute - Ring out the old, bring in the new and I was keen to start using my new Moleskine journal, I also used some stamps that I bought while in France last year - until now they have remained uninked!

 I scribbled with some Inktense blocks and then spritzed and used a thick brush to blend the colours.
A selection of background and text stamps over the top came next.
I stamped the film strip twice and added the clapperboard and then stamped the tickets onto some mop up paper, before I stuck them down I decided that they might show up more if I stamped directly onto the page too.
Audrey was stamped onto the edge of the mop up paper as it was a bit paler, and I also stamped the letter blocks - I don't think I have ever used these either and I have had them ages!! 
These were both mounted on to a piece of Christmas Cracker card.

Audrey's circles being cut with a punch and a die. 
The stars were also from the cracker, cut with a punch.

Do you have favourite Audrey film?

Finally - I love my new camera! I have been asked what hubby bought me. After a bit of research we went for this one.

I am not very technically minded and this is simple enough for me to use the settings without needing to remember figures! 

We are not sure whether to go away for a break at the caravan - sunny, cold weather is forecast - just right for walks…and photos….so maybe!!

Thanks for looking, Chris