New pieces

Art prompts galore...

31. blue and green/ SCAVENGER : something that starts with k, lace, peach colour, something with wings,something summery, random element from your stash, 5 round things, lines created with ink (ie: using corregated cardboard to stamp)/random splatters of black or white paint

So I've got knot lace, peach panel, something with wings, something summery (lady in a het), random element (punched border), 5 buttons, lines created with ink (faint!), 

Journal 52 Holding on // letting go

It's been 53 weeks since I last saw my dad alive, he'd been visiting us at the chalet for the Tour de France....

Every inchie Monday....sheep

These are done using a free stamp & shrink plastic 

We had thunder & heavy rain Saturday night but a very nice day, by evening we were back to thunder/ lightning & some seriously heavy rain/hail....all blown over again now so I'm hoping for an undisturbed sleep tonight & a sunny visit to Barcelonette tomorrow....night!

Late

Yes! Late with my colour me positive page, its the one from 2 weeks ago.

Some prepped stencilled background using worn lipstick/ stormy sky / scattered straw / shabby shutters and assorted bits from my stash to represent the arts of painting- poetry- music - fashion to accompany the quote all who are creative, in whatever way, are doing something very important to the well being of the world (Sandra Chantry) 

Sparkle

The colour me positive prompt for this week is every day life begins to sparkle when we realise our friends are the glitter. 

I've had a picture in my stash for ages in the knowledge that one day the occasion to use it would come about and this week I finally get to use it:-)

I did some stencilled backgrounds before coming away ( peacock feathers/ picked raspberry/ spiced marmalade/ mustard seed) added a border diecut from some happy mail and all I had to do was add the picture and Marilyn Monroe's famous words!

ATC time

2 birthday cards went out today with ATCs enclosed - here are 2 of the 4 sent.....

No crafting today....loads of reading in the sun :-)

A journey....

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step by Lao-Tzu is our quote at colour me positive 

I did 1199miles to reach this marvel of nature....the gorges du Verdon, and we drove both the south & the north banks pausing to watch mad fools hurl themselves of the Pont de l'Artuby, enjoy a mid morning coffee at Aiguines where we saw the beautiful chateau with its glazed tile turrets, pedalos/ electric motor boats, paddle boards at the entrance to the gorge from the lac de Ste Croix, lunched in Moustiers Ste Marie and a well earned cold drink + ice cream at La Palud sur verdon. Every one of those miles was worth it!

Rain stops play....not!

After a week of fabulous weather...we have now had 2 days of mountain summer storms, temperatures drop, rain pours, thunder and lightning then the sun comes out again! This means I've done some catching up on my journal pages 

Art prompts galore

SOFT / Scavenger : dark blue, silver, legs, diamond shapes, bling, rub ons or stickers (3), 3 pieces of book pages, foil or metallic paper, envelope window, letters cut from magazine or newspaper

 STARTS WITH B//SCAVENGER :Three things that start with A, pale blue, dark green, a mode of transportation, 5 random letters, texture , paint through a stencil, spray with paint or ink, coffee stain ,a feather (drawn, cut out, painted or real) 

Journal 52

28. Summer nights // dog days

29. Camp out / pow wow. 

I needed to do something after the atrocities on the Promenade des Anglais so I went off at a bit of a tangent with this one!

30. Mirth // reverence 

DLP 

Use a stencil

Start with a dark base

These all called for a degree of improvisation as I'm still on holiday!

My inchie ....underground off the back of my very ancient London A-Z!

 Thanks for looking & have a good week :-)

Holiday snaps

Bamburgh castle great hall...

View from the beach

I just had to have this one taken at Lindisfarne!

The place was closed for maintenance sadly but we had a nice walk.

Warkworth castle 

And Bailey got to share an adventure! He was like a little kid, going up every staircase & peering through most openings!!!!

Inside the main tower...

The craft pods at Amble...

And for those of you who wondered where my chateau was....

I will be back again soon....

Wow

Well, I've just had the best week! A tour of Northumberland where Bailey, my golden retriever, got to visit a ruined castle....it was like having a child with us he was so excited....those photos have yet to be downloaded but I'll share once this has been done. We arrived at our chalet Friday late afternoon to discover they had had some snow o the mountains that night!!!!!

I know, crazy! This was so not what I was expecting but it had mostly melted by the time we arrived.

Saturday, my birthday, we set off for a stay in a fancy hotel....10th century castle. Oh but this was amazing, I first saw the hotel back in 1975 (yes I am that old) and have always wanted to visit and this birthday was finally the right time to go.

Bedroom:

Private terrace:

Dining room

Sitting room below the dining area

It was a total ruin after the French Revolution, bought privately in1961 and partially restored then sold again a decade later and finally finished. It is now the younger generation of those second owners that own the hotel. I'm very seriously thinking that Bill's 75th next year would be a perfect excuse to return!...

Not managed to be creative this week as we've been on the road and indeed our visit to the Gorges du Verdon which took place today will feature in my next post....France's answer to the Grand Canyon!

I do have the current inchie all made and ready to share...spirals and a section of a Paper Artsy stamp.

See you all again soon and thanks for all your comments :-)

July 14th

How did what started out as a happy day celebrating Bill's birthday

Become yet another day of tragedy? France suffers yet another blow.... 

New pages

I managed to get this done last week but missed linking in!

Dictionary page with a W....for wheelbarrow 

And as it's Monday it's also inchie day...Rain is the order of the day and we have hardly seen any!

But I'm presenting my apologies to my fellow inchie pals....I may be slow in commenting as we are now on vacation and also the hotel where we are today & tomorrow has a dreadful Internet connection so I will catch you as & when I can!

Last minute

...is what the post is about! 

I'm off on my hols, the bags are mostly packed but I've managed to do art prompts galore :

Garden // SCAVENGER bright yellow, arrows, washi tape, something round (not a cut out circle),a bird, a butterfly, 3 words cut from a magazine or book, dictionary text, 3 - 1 inch squares cut from some patterned paper,gesso or something similar.

No gesso or arrows but the rest is there!

Garden* bright yellow* arrows(no) washi tape * circle but not a cutout one (fountain & topiary trees & circular stitch stamping)* bird* butterfly* 3 words*(bird, butterfly & garden) dictionary text *(fountain & trees) 3x 1" squares of patterned paper*

A closeup of the circular "stitching'

Colour me positive: never regret anything that made you smile 

Ihad not used any gesso on the paper so last weeks stamping shines through in places....the disadvantage of a Moleskine book! Never mind, I'm living with it!

And here's a closer look at the echo stitched effect on the background- I used the die as a guide...

Will I get journal 52 & DLP done before I have to sling my supplies in the car???????

The themes are due out tonight & tomorrow lunchtime.....watch this space for more.....

July

Well I'm still waiting for the weather to improve now the month has changed....still waiting.....yes, I'm thinking its NOT going to happen any time soon so I'll stop holding my breath!

The upside is I can be indoors keeping my various journals up to date....

Colour me positive gave us a quote that inspires Carolyn Dube....and a request to try to use a bright colour- well, I certainly practice most days and this one has plenty of imperfections due to the previous works giving me a bumpy surface to attempt to stamp on! I've used Paper Artsy stamps with versamark & gold EP, black calligraphy pen & assorted highlighters on a page that's been coloured with chalk pastels.

Art Prompts Galore  where the theme is Holiday or Scavenger:Red,piece of travel ephemera,paint rubbed through a stencil, paint chip, pocket,clothing price tag or brand id tag,chunky embellishment,2 pieces from your stash, something metallic,words cut from newspaper or magazine,

There is paint through a stencil shining through the page from last week! Travel ephemera from my stash & some of it includes red! An Orvis clothing price tag from when I hit the sale on Saturday morning & 3 quotes cut from a magazine....calling this one done as a mishmash of both options lol.

Journal 52: first kiss or fireworks 

Well obviously I was SO NOT going to share my first kiss!

However, as it's a holiday weekend in the USA (4th July), coming up Bastille day in France where we shall be celebrating Bill's birthday ( yeah I know... I've still got his card done!) and it's also coming up my birthday 2 days later....I just had to go with fireworks and, as luck would have it, I found an image that I had saved in my stash whilst I was pulling out bits & bobs for the scavenger page! I added some stamped fireworks (versamark & clear + glitter EP) a wash of distress ink over the top of those and some writing.....

DLP- it's a new month so a new theme....Saying yes to new experiences

I'm not running the same format as most of the girls so no monthly divider here, just the PAC where we have to add texture...any kind of texture!

I happened to have a rather nice piece that was in my saved ATC/PAC folder that was just destined to be used on this one! 

First I masked off some of the stripes on a stencil....created stripes in broken china, cracked pistachio & mermaid lagoon DI going in vertical & horizontal lines across my page ( something new in this journal)

And added my felted wool/threads, machine stitched PAC, you can just pick the works JUST SAY YES in JULY written in the pattern to the left

I also made a card this week! What a shock to the system that was....I've not made any for ages...

A very good friend turns 40 on the 17th...she's my all time favourite redhead and I've know her since she was 6 or 7.

Some lettering ATCs for an upcoming challenge

The latest Mixed Media Morsels.....create your own washi tape.....I borrowed heavily from Jo Firth Young on this one ( brown paper tape/ blue black & white )

And last but not least....inchie time!

Computer.....thought this would be a problem but luck was on my side again, looking for something in the encyclopaedia....I stumbled across some blurb that just happened to have a whole series of little computers on it....yeay- happy dance! I didn't fancy trying to draw one or even give unsolicited publicity to any computer company.

 

So there you have my roundup of the art created this week, I also managed to get a little ahead with my inchies in anticipation of my upcoming holiday and it's a case of fingers crossed for the journal requirements whilst I'm away! See you all sometime soon