Jeudi Journal - Christmas Spirit

The quote for today is "I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit but I can't get the flaming top off the bottle".  It was one of my choices that we put to one side until nearer the Christmas period - can't get much closer than this!

I had forgotten all about it until Wendy reminded me and so I then had to get my thinking cap on in good time to do it, so it is the day before Christmas Eve, and I have finished it.  A scheduled post which will be going out shortly on what we Brits know as  *"Boxing Day".

I chose a page I had already stamped some things on that I was not happy with and so I painted it all over black.  Decided to put a load of bottles on the floor and put a figure kneeling on them with one between her knees.  That's the one she is struggling with but there is one on the floor she has abandoned.  

As it is Christmas and to make it appear a bit more festive I put a Dylusion Christmas tree to one side, its small so hopefully gives the appearance of being in the distance.  The best head for this figure didn't have a top on so I used some bits from other figures to give her a Christmas hat.  A garland of silver and gold metallic stars finished it off and made the page all sparkly but it doesn't show in the scan.  

So here it is - my page for Christmas:

Bet those bottles are uncomfortable beneath her knees but once she gets into the Christmas spirit she will soon not care.  

I am entering this into Art Journal Journey, did hope to get more done this month but life got busy and took over.  Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! 

*Boxing Day is celebrated on the day after Christmas, December 26th each year in various countries around the world, generally those that were settled by the British Commonwealth. It is believed that Boxing Day originated because the servants of wealthy families typically had to work on Christmas Day. For their services they were usually presented with gift boxes at the end of Christmas Day, and they were allowed to take the next day off work to spend with their own families. Another theory of the origin of Boxing Day is that churches opened donation boxes in December 26th and distributed the contents to the poor. In the church, December 26th is also the Feast of St. Stephen.

WOYWW 551 - The Christmas Day Edition

Well, as no doubt some of you will do if you are posting today, this is a scheduled post.  My second to be precise.  Yep, I had just finished the whole post when it suddenly went off, the wrong time for it to happen too as I have this darned back pain right now.  Pass me a gin as I need a bit of Christmas cheer!  Rhubarb if you have it please.

I did promise you I would show you my hand made cards this week so I got Chas to scan them for me (scan too low for me) and here they all are:

Annie & Jo (the WOYWW sisters)

Shaz (silverwolf) & Darnell (in her American Playhouse)

Sylvia (a friend from KC) & Janice (cousin in Oz)

Thommo (a friend from RSS) & Jacqui (a friend from Vicky Stampers)

Margaret (WOYWW) & Hazel (a friend from KC)

Another Margaret (friend) & Julia (Head lady/friend WOYWW)

Janet (friend from KC & RSS)

Hazel (friend from KC)

Shirley (a print from one of her fabric pieces)

(ex colleague from teaching days)

Wendy (friend)

Lorraine (friend)

Cindee (my lovely friend in America)

Me trying to show you the fold in Cindee's card.  The King at the front of the procession stands proud of the card giving it the appearance of 3D.  Look at how she has cut out around the word "Believe".

Liz (friend from RSS)

I wanted you to see how this is constructed.  The words are free standing, swinging from the top of the card. The buildings are in two rows giving them the appearance of a 3D card.

I do hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have.  When you open cards it is a delight to see the different choices people have made when buying them and it goes without saying that you appreciate the hours someone has put into making a handmade one for you.  

All that remains now is for me to wish you a Very Happy Christmas whether you are spending it with friends and/or family or simply on your own like we two, and to wish you a Joyous, Healthy and Happy Year Ahead.

Now tuck into that turkey!

(RSS - Ready Steady Stamp - Internet Group)
(KC - Katy's Corner - Internet Group_
(VS - Victoria Stampers [Vicky Stampers) - Internet Group)

Jeudi Journal - Naughty? Or Nice?

Once again this was a last minute page but due to me having gone out for the day (forgotten all about this needing doing) and then having a bad back.    I had painted the page blue though!

The words, chosen by me way way back were "I'm the reason Santa has a naughty list" - not that you would know it by the look of my page, it is not at all Christmassy.  Just blue all over.  Hopefully when I get some time I will put some colour on it.

Anyhow, I decided to stamp 25 all over the page, as it was Christmas themed, for part of the background and then I needed some words - but guess what?  I had an old stamp that said "Naughty or nice" - an old one of Dyans.  That went all around the page - what next?  The figure.

Oh dash!  I had stamped the numbers the wrong way around for the figure I was planning on using.  My page was landscape and not portrait!  Oh heck, my plans would not work so in the end I just stamped some numbers the right way around and so it became a hotch potch of numbers.  A couple of holly leaves and it had to be it!

I could use my original figure - the naughtiest one I could find.  So it was the one scantily clad, almost indecent!  She looked a bit lonely on the page - I needed a Father Christmas (or Santa as the words call him).  Apart from some 'heads only' and a few smallish ones I was stuck - then I had the brainwave to look at the cards we had received for Christmas and there he was - Father Christmas and some presents.  Thank goodness my lovely cousin Ken had saved the day - well, evening.  Perhaps very unethical but in an emergency and only for my own use I did a hasty copy, cut him out and put him on the page.  Shame he didn't have a list in his hand (I have seen either a card or a rubber stamp where he has, but obviously not today).  So here she is - the reason Santa has a naughty list!

Now to start on next week's page, I cannot get in such a pickle again.  I am entering this into Art Journal Journey's challenge which is 'words and numbers', chosen by Yvonne this month, because it contains both in abundance.

Oh, and a Merry Christmas to you all.

WOYWW 550

Well, now all the cards are sent, presents wrapped and most delivered and I have even put marzipan on the Christmas cake. I did suffer afterwards but at least it is done.  

I have received some beautiful hand made cards as well as lots of lovely commercial ones but am saving showing them to you until next week which will be Christmas Day itself.  So a BIG THANK YOU to all those who have sent me a Christmas card this year.

As my desk is boring here are some characters I share my craft room with

My Monkey from the tea bags, two koala bears from Shaz in Oz, a Green Cricut from CHA one year and a rabbit made (felted) by my dear friend Cindee in America.

There is another character over the other side of the room, he has lived here for almost two years now, since my last visit to LA

From the Chinese New Year in LA

and finally my desk

My tin full of next year's stamps for the Christmas Cards, my pencil case and some pieces of cardstock all waiting to be put away or to good use.  I had this kit ready to take with me to the Club Christmas party/workshop on Saturday but was too ill to go.  Ah well, not to worry.

Well, for a change, short and sweet.  Pop over to see Julia and the rest of the gang here to see what else is going on and what it is all about.

Health Update:

Just the same as last week.  My chiropractor seems to think that my back is trying to get back into its usual position after she has moved something which is why I am getting so much pain the first week after treatment.  Fingers crossed that next week it settles down for the Christmas period.

Chas is testing his BP regularly and it is a lot less than it was when they cancelled his little op.  Mind you, living with me would send anyone's BP up, be honest!

Jeudi Journal - No Dramatic Gestures

This week must be Wendy's choice as I don't have the words for this one and the ones I chose were the ones I had words for.

"You made no dramatic gestures, gave no solemn lectures, you simply made the tea and fetched the biscuit tin" - phew!  That was my original thought!! "Phew, what the heck can I do for this one?"  Then this morning (yes, it was a VERY last minute journal page) I set to.

Last night I had been out for a meal which went on a bit longer than normal so all I had time to do was paint the page blue.  This morning I got to thinking about it and:

• decorated the background with a stencil and Scattered Straw Distress Ink to represent the wallpaper (plus put some numbers down the side for AJJ)
• found two figures, not the ones I had originally thought about, but then the one I had wanted was one I only used last week, and hastily coloured the bits in that had not already been done
• researched some plaster flying ducks (thought it would create a bit of humour to have those ducks flying on the wall - visions of Coronation Street and Hilda Ogden)
• Found a picture of some biscuits (don't you just love those ginger biscuits with the dark chocolate on?), a teapot and a table.

It was finished and I did enjoy creating this one.  Hope Wendy did too.

I have been very lax because of one thing after another and not been entering into Art Journal Journey but as it is words or numbers I am entering this one.  Blame Christmas prep and health issues.

WOYWW 549

Well, I thought I had taken a picture of all my Christmas cards made this year but the one I made for my crafting friends is the one I forgot to take a picture of.  Silly me.  This year, for the first time, I got my 'foreign' cards off well before the final date and quickly followed with a lot of my inland cards.

Then things slowed down such a lot and I was making cards right up until last night and I still have a couple to make - one for Ireland which is going to get in just on the final posting date!

This was my desk yesterday with what I had thought of as my final three cards (some hope)

This is one of my Nativity Cards

and the cards sent to family

Here we are again, two weeks to Christmas and sharing our Christmas goodies with all our WOYWW friends.  Pop along here to see what others are up to.

Such a silly old thing for forgetting to take a photo of my Robin cards which were made using the Crazy Birds from Tim Holtz.  These are the ones I thought I had probably sent to one or two people last year and I made 18 this year thinking it would be quick and easy to do.  No....... t'wasn't!

The white card with the poinsettias was for family and people like my doctor, podiatrist and hairdresser.  Yesterday when I went to podiatry I also took one for the guy who used to be my podiatrist (it's his premises that my current one works from since he retired) and she informed me that he loves my cards and brings them out each year and puts them up with all the new cards he gets.  I took that as a lovely compliment - just hope he is not disappointed this year as it wasn't as labour intensive as the others have been in the past.  Mind you it took me a long time to do all seven of them.

I got some new stamps and they are only tiny and too late to use on cards so as we had no tags and the weather was awful I decided to make them this year - here they are - last night's efforts (more to do today)

My alternative desk - the one for when my pain is bad - a tray with one of those polystyrene ball bags underneath and some crafting fabric on top.  It works well when the pain has reduced and I can sit upright with my hot water bottle and just colour in.

Health Update:

A mixed bag - two wonderful days with no pain until evening time but the rest of the time a bit 'come and go', some worse than others.  Sunday was horrendous and I was in tears.  Chas could not believe it as he hasn't seen me so bad in ages (his words) which has rather upset me (read on).  

Chas was to go to hospital on Monday to have a cyst removed from his lower lid.  It was to be a day job and we expected him to be in and out quite quickly - but not as quick as it was.  His blood pressure was sky high and they could not do the minor operation.  (200 over 108)  It was something to do with the local anaesthetic which has adrenaline in which would have increased his BP even more so it was dangerous to continue.

Now I am worried about him and thinking that maybe seeing me in the state I was in on Sunday had caused stress to make his BP so high.  Especially as he had it taken again last night at the hospital and it has gone down to 144 over 89.  Now he has to have a blood test and see his own GP.  Fingers crossed for a stress free Christmas (Chas is so laid back, he never gets stressed but I know seeing me in so much pain upsets him an awful lot).

Jeudi Journal - Squirrels?

Well, today the quote chosen by Wendy is "I do not have ducks in a row.  I have squirrels and they're at a rave."  Oh Wendy, you excelled yourself choosing this one!  What on earth do I do for this?  I was in a real quandary.  Must admit I was tempted to put some little yellow ducks in a row but then life got in the way and I found myself at the very last minute doing this page - thanks to a bit of help from cyber space.

(Apologies for the picture being a bit skewwy)

So, as you can see, the ducks stayed at home but the squirrels came out for a rave.  I had the page painted ready and had done a stencilled border around it so it was easy to put the squirrels across the top and one of my ready coloured figures lounging at the bottom.  Don't look too closely at my squirrels, some of them look a bit more like foxes.

I chose that head for my figure as I felt she really looked to be saying that she did not have ducks in a row but had squirrels who had gone to a rave.  Hope you agree.

(The stamped words actually said "ducks ON a row" so I used my pen and a bit of white paint - think I got it right)

WOYWW 548

Another week closer to Christmas and some cards finished - well quite a few actually.  

So it is also another week gone by since the last WOYWW posting - here goes with the next one.  If you don't know what I am on about you must be new to this blogging lark so you had better call over here and read all about it - and please join in.  I can't wait to see what my friends have been buying and making so I am off there right away.

Here's one of my Christmas Cards - already sent and received so it's ok to show it now

It was for a Mingle on one of my card groups.  And many thanks to Margaret in Wales for her lovely Christmas card - it was our first one!

And here is my desk shot - it's a different part of my desk as the one I normally show has some gifts on that I don't want to show on my blog as yet - someone might see what I got him for Christmas.

Just a tin full of my current stamps (ones I intend to use in readiness for next year - yes, you heard right), a Moleskin journal (new), a half finished card (the other six are complete but I was one holly short so this one is bare), my old towel for dirty hands and my Laurel Burch images left over from goodness knows when.

Well, that is it from me, a bit shorter than normal and no health update as it is more or less the same although the last two days have seen a lot of back pain.  Ugh!  See you next week I hope.