Tough week

II start the week with a funeral for a crafting friend....only 72 & about to become a grandmother!

I get news from my stepson that he & his daughter may well be coming to visit next month which would be nice as we have not seen them since June 2015!

On the art front I got a spread done for art journal journey: its week 4 already!

Image: ice or snow word ghost. prompt: describe your favourite thing about winter. technique: use something sparkly on your page. Quote: dream big, sparkle more, shine bright.

I really can't face more snow or ice, Im dreaming about summer warmth! So as a result I went with some sparkling critters that have been trying to escape from the stash bag for quite some time lol.

The quote is stamped with silver pigment ink and the I've used silver embossing powder to give some shine.

Art prompts galore 

JAN 22-28: THREE COLOURS//SCAVENGER: RED, ORANGE, LINES, SOME SORT OF FORM OR OFFICE PAPER, BINGO DAUBER MARKS OR SOMETHING SIMILAR, MAGAZINE IMAGE, BLACK INK OR PAINT, PUNCH OUTS FROM HOLE PUNCH

POSTAGE STAMP

This one was done on Wednesday in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that my dog was spending the day at the vet referral centre for more biopsy samples to be taken & also undergo CT scans of the chest & abdomen , poor dog ended up having to stay the night.

Now we wait 7-10 days for the results!

Friday saw us bid a final farewell to another friend and his son gave the most amazing eulogy that was applauded through the church....the minister asked if he would like a new career in the church as he had been so well received! Hopefully that will be the last one we have to attend in a good while.

Then it was time to move onto another spread and this one is forColour me positive 

Week 4: orangey yellow border, image: silhouette of a man and a guitar. Quote: life loves to be taken by the lapel and told,  I'm with you kid, let's go. Maya Angelou.

I had a prepped background so I just stamped the quote and added some subtle shading with a Derwent pastel pencil ( I got some a number of years ago from their factory outlet in the Lake District)

Art journal journey has not been posted yet....

Life documented 

Theme:  New beginnings - vintage paper/drawings. Prompt: To bring in elements that jump into your mind when you are creating. Technique: Transfers with goof off/turpentine/nail polish remover and laser ink printed images. Quote: “I put on the canvas whatever comes into my mind.” Frida Kahlo

An opportune post-it image of Frida Kahlo & a ready made background... I just added the quote!

Every inchie Monday and this week our country is Vietnam and my immediate thought is of the war that raged for years, friends of my father flew helicopters for the US airforce at the time and we never knew if they would return or not, which prompts the memories of Jane Fonda protesting! Ho chi min, "good morning Vietnam" and its star Robin Williams who used to come up to Scotland every August to visit his friend Billy Connolly so that he could run in the hill race at the Lonach Gathering. A part of the world that I have never been to, Asia has never really attracted me. I had no postage stamps small enough for this country so I raided my encyclopaedia and here is the map & the flag instead!

Onward

Art prompts galore 

JAN 15-21:Pockets, tags and texture//Scavenger List: Pink, Orange, stripes, circles,

a piece of a book page, image of a person, stamping with random household object,

use a Sharpie or similar to make marks, scraps from your scrap bin, something you received in the mail.

Orange book page stripes, pink book page circles, random stamping of elastic bands around an acrylic block, Dyan Reaveley image of a person, a scrap lady in a hat from my stash and a female Image received in happy mail, Sharpie doodling in orange and black on the pink book paper circles.

Every inchie Monday 

India is the country we travel to this week it is also the birthplace of my mother in law and her sisters! A country that brings to mind the splendours of the Maharajah, painted elephants, colourful saris & spicy curries, the Indian mutiny and the horrors that happened in places like Cawnpore, Madras & Calico fabrics that originated here, the Taj Mahal, the palaces & forts of Jaipur, the Indus , Varanasi, Buddha and all the many many Indian gods like Kali, Ganesh etc, Gandhi and Mother Teresa....I never got there when we lived in the Middle East & now , I fear, I just couldn't cope with the begging! So this week I've chosen to use more of my dad's stamps

And also an elephant 

Colour me positive 

Pink frame, image: jellyfish, quote: remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. Margaret Mead

I just went with the quote this time as I had a lovely orchid image that I've had for ages that seemed to be perfect on the background I had in front of me,

I have stamped the quote with Wendy Vecchi archival ink (hydrangea) and added a little colour with an aging felt pen!

Life documented 

Theme:  New beginnings - vintage paper/drawings

Prompt:  To overcome the blank page.

Technique:  To incorporate papers, scraps, doodles and scribbles into your page.

Quote:  “Be uniquely you. Stand out. Shine. Be colorful. The world needs your prismatic soul!” ― Amy Leigh Mercree

A lot of Scotland seems to have got snow this week but we have remained without....no complaints here! We took Bailey across to the vet referral centre and we are awaiting biopsy results now....but he will need surgery to remove the lumps whatever by the sound of things so my fingers are crossed!

Further news next week.......

January

Art prompts galore 

JAN. 8-14: HOME//SCAVENGER: Yellow, Green, magazine image, something abstract (an image of a wall, a nondescript item), Something from the grocery store, Scrap paper, A die cut or punch out, Piece of a book page, Ink , Lace or trim

Every inchie Monday 

France: the land of liberty, égalité, fraternité and les "Frogs"! - Paris & the Eiffel Tower, Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhône & côtés de Provence wine, Calvados, pastis,Champagne. Provence, Dordogne, the alps. Fine foods like pâté and cheese, cassoulet, snails & frogs legs...Louis XIV & Versailles palace, the 1789 revolution & its guillotine, the beautiful Loire valley chateaux, the Cathar castles and the persecution of their people, the knights Templar, Napoleon, This also happens to be my second home and indeed the place that my parents & brother made their home! I could write so much more .....

Art journal journey week 3

image: scarf/hat/ gloves. word: protect.  prompt: write a poem or journal entry inspired by what you can't see. technique: collage. Quote: The best protection any woman can have is courage

Life documented 

Theme:  New beginnings - vintage paper/drawings. Prompt:  Use a mix of acrylic paints to create your own little piece of heaven.  Technique:  Serendipity - Search for the Light. Quote: You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way, can illuminate the world.

Colour me positive 

Blue frame, glasses, quote: vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. Jonathan Swift

Other news this week....Bill has now had his second cataract operation done so all that remains to be done there is to get some new reading glasses in about a month but on a sad note we discovered a lump inside Bailey 's upper jowl & also another in his neck....our vet suspects lymphoma so we are off to see a dog oncologist on Thursday! Watch this space....

Week 2

Life documented 

Week 1:

Theme: Vintage paper/draw

Prompt: Choose a word for the year

Technique: Make a dashboard, card, divider or page with your word on it.

Quote: Every man should be born again on the first day of January.  Start with a fresh page. -Henry Ward Beecher

Art prompts galore 

JAN 1-7: CONNECTIONS// Scavenger: Two of your favourite colours. texture. an image of an animal. 3 words. washi tape. some scraps of paper. some stamping with ink. paint through a stencil. dots

Colour me positive 

Purple framed, crowd scene, quote: I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring. David Bowie

Art journal journey 

Image: Snowflake, word: intricate, prompt: list your activities, technique: use lace somewhere on your page, quote: 1 we are like a snowflake all different in our own beautiful way 2 snowflake is a winters butterfly

And just to keep things unchanged from previous years here is my inchie and this week our country is America so what do I think of the USA ....Christopher Columbus, the mayflower, the pilgrim fathers, the war of independence/ 4th of July the stars & stripes of old glory, New York the big Apple & the Statue of Liberty, Washington, Texas, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, the Great Plains, Miami's Art Deco, New Orleans, the Golden Gate Bridge,cowboys and Indians & wagon trains, burgers, diners, the Mississippi, the Keys, Disney, Micky Mouse, Popeye, marvel comics, grits, PBJ, blue jays & red cardinals, football Sunday, popcorn, root beer, Elvis, Memphis, Nashville, Dolly Parton.....and last but not least my stepchildren and their families because they both married Americans! I've chosen to use some more of dad's stamps and in this case it's the Bald Eagle with the stars & stripes,the liberty bell of Philadelphia and president George Washington 

2018

It's a new day and it's a new year and I have news....despite being a very small group of 8-10 members the Every Inchie Monday group lives on! 

It was a last minute thing but 2 of the girls have decided to take up the challenge and we have a list of countries this year.

Our first is the Netherlands and what this represents for us. Well, that's an interesting one as it is a country that I love to visit but no longer get to as often as I used to. So when this country is mentioned I have multiple thoughts & depending on the context depends what comes to mind so here is a wee insight...

Bicycles, windmills, clogs, delftware, Edam, tulips, licorice, genever gin, Amsterdam, canals, Frisian cows, and then there are the good friends Sheila whom I met in Libya way back in 1961, Henk who was a neighbour here in Scotland & who always referred to his countrymen as "cloggies ", Jan & Toos and  Corrie & George the fun couples we met in our local ski resort about 10-12 years ago, Cora the wife of our tame french Osteopath.... obviously some of these ideas are easier to interpret on an inchie than others and as yet I'm not firmly fixed on what the common thread might be, a flag is easy but not very exciting but might be the answer for one of the more obscure countries on the list, postage stamps might also be an option and then some weeks I might even do several!

For this week I've gone with an old postage stamp from my dad's collection that depicts queen Juliana who was on the throne at the time I met Sheila in Libya and also a button that's been sitting in my stash for a fair few years that is a tulip. This year I'm going to put them in the back of my Colour me positive journal that has some spare space!

We got our challenge for Documented Life on the 30th and I did a quick page for the following prompt: Let the year go - use bits of your stash wild on your first page in your NEW  2018 journal! Technique:  Use your skills to build your page - sew, stick, stamp, stencil.....Quote:  It's time to shine!

We also got the Art Journal Journey one: Image: ladder/stairs. Word ascend. prompt: write about past, present or future goals. Technique: use colour pencils . Quote: nothing worth having is easy- and again I kept it simple

Here's looking forward to seeing some splendid art in the blogs I follow.....happy New Year everyone.