Sssshhh and other pages

 I've been working in my pairs swap journal.........the theme of my journal is ALPHABETIKA....which means any sort of wording/lettering/alphabets/any language......tjhe theme is quite loose.........so, I made this page with printed tissue in the background

 added the figure who has his finger to his mouth and it just made me think he was saying........

To this next page I added a pocket on the left page (made with a printed paper bag) and then coloured the opposite page before adding just a couple of quote bits

 in our lasdt exchange Sam sent me some note pages that said "note to self" and "pro and con"......I used them to make an extra little journal that sits inside the pocket......

 Stapled alphabet tabs to the pages........

 Finally I added some braille paper to a double page spread and added a quick layer of gesso..............over to you Sam to add to it

Texture, texture, texture

After the workshop with Andy Skinner last SAturday I decided to have another play with some of the ideas and techniques that I learnt.

I decided to work on the cover of a journal.......this didn't turn out quite how I thought it would but that's OK, I am happy to go with the flow when things aren't exactly how I thought they'd be! And I did like the end result eventually!

 I love these metal octopus!

 

 When working I have a large pad of paper underneath and it often ends up looking quite interesting............that was the case with this and rather than waste it I used it as end papers for the journal.

Ribbet!

 This page is in my pairs swap journal........I got it back from my partner last week and this page was in there waiting for me to add stuff...............

so I added stuff and it now looks like this......

 I added a frog....mmmmm......something seems to have happened to his eye!

 Also added this.......

and this...........

 and this....................

and this!

 Still room for more additions!

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Yesterday I took a workshop....

Rock your Book.... given by Andy Skinner at The Stamp Attic.

 It was a great day, Andy was a great teacher and a fun bloke......looking forward to the next one in October.

 My book started out like this..................

  looked like this for a while...............

 and ended up like this.....I love it!

It was a fun day, learnt new stuff,  met new people and caught up with old friends.

Pairs journal swap

Today I got my ALPHABETIKA journal back from my pairs journal swap partner Sam.....see here to see what it started out like

The swap is hosted at COLLABOR-ART

 

  Sam added extra colour and Washi tape to my Alice page......I still feel it needs "something" more yet........need to let it sink in a bit and see how it feels!

 Sam made this Egyptian themed page......

and this page....I already have thoughts on what I am going to add to this page

 and just look what she did to this page.....I had coloured it pink and orange, Sam added the rest......I LOVE this page.

So.....onto Sams journal where the theme is

 "round and round"

 Sam made this page and told me she added the black inky circle to make me feel at home.....I added some doll heads to the circle so I feel even more at home now!

 I started this page...........................

 and this one.....it's actually 3 pages, I was aiming for a tunnel effect...........

and this one which is hard to see....it's paper doilies stuck to the page

And finally this one which ended up more finished than I first intended!

Be true to you

 Saturday was the stamp show at Port Sunlight.........last week I was finding stuff from the last Port Sunlight show that I had never used so this time I am determined I will use what I bought......I bought this poppy stencil!

 This page is very simple for me but I have to say that I LOVE it!

One of the reasons it's simple is that I didn't want to cover over the background.......I'm really happy with the way it came out.............it's just torn strips of masking tape overlapping each other all down the page then rubbed with Pan Pastels.....the edges go darker.....simples!

 Now, I'm not one for inspirational quotes......Facebook is full of them and they drive me nuts......but this one says a lot to me. 

Having spent lots of years working where I couldn't really be true to me it is still a revelation to be able to do 

WHAT I LIKE! So, 

BE TRUE TO YOU!

Bits and pieces and this and that

This little piece of nonsense was made with leftovers and bits sitting about on my desk! 

It's a daft little thing that means nothing in a diddy little journal:)

Today I was working in another journal and the paper in the background of this was a piece I was using to protect the rest of the pages in that journal...........I liked the circle effect I got so used it here

 

I seem to have spent lots of time rooting about in drawers and cupboards recently and as a result I've come across all sorts of bits and pieces, one of these is several roles of old fashioned film that have not been used so I have them sitting around to be used.......I like the effect of them

 

 Tomorrow is Port Sunlight show......while looking for an image to use on this page I came across stamps I bought at the last Port Sunlight show that I haven't used so I thought I better use one.....this is a funny little bod that I quite like:)

The other bits and pieces that I used on this page are a strip of spotty Washi tape, strips of thin red Washi tape and some rub-ons that I found in a drawer.

It's good to use up what has been sitting around!

Childhood and imagination

It was announced on Tuesday that American author and illustrator of childrens books Maurice Sendak had died, he is most famous for 

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

the story of Max, a small boy sent to his room as punishment, and how he creates his own world peopled with imaginary creatures.

I don't actually remember this book from my own childhood but I do remember reading it my son. Mine was filled with other stories......I DESPERATELY wanted to be George in Enid Blytons Famous Five books (I grew up with 3 brothers) and later to be Nancy Drew!

The story of Max being sent to his room as punishment makes me smile......my Mum used to say that she could never send me to my room as punishment as that is where my books were kept and I was MORE than happy to be there.........she often said that I lived in a world of my own! 

 

I also used to have imaginary friends as a child........one in particular comes to mind that lived in a lamp post at the end of the road and when we went out I had to go collect it and then take it back at the end of the day (it had a name but that's secret)...it's something my sister teases me about when it's mentioned ......my answer to her always is "it's called having an imagination!"

 I like to think I still have that:)

I decided to make a journal page in tribute to imagination and imaginary worlds.......I found pics online, printed and cut them out........then used quite a few leafy/planty stamps to create the background before adding the characters and words on top. 

Michael deMeng wrote an interesting blog post on Where the Wild Things Are and it's influence on him.........CLICK HERE TO GO READ IT.

When I do something he considers weird or strange.....which apparently is quite often.....my son will ask me "what planet do you live on???".........I like to think and hope that it's

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Red Blackbird

After the handmade tape strips of the last post I had a play with some

 bought Washi tape.

 The edges looked a bit stark and bare so I added some inky lines!

 I did this in my map journal where I only use red, white and black.....I also try and keep some of the map showing................I actually find working in this journal quite hard! In my "normal" journals if I do something I don't like or it doesn't work out I can just paint or gesso over it.....in this one as I want to keep the map showing this is not so easy!

 I was talking to some friends the other day about that left brain/right brain thing where you say the colour the word is written in rather than the actual word........so here is my version....BLACKbird written in red!! 

Apparently it's called a Stroop Test

 I even wrote in my own hand on this page ......I STILL find that hard to do!