Playday

Today was a fun day:) 

My friend Sarah...who I hadn't seen in ages....came over and we played with gelli plates....we had fun:) 

So, after playing with the plates for a couple of hours and accumulating a pile of printed papers, tags and journal pages we decided to stop and actually make something with some of them!

Here are the results!

 These pages are quite different for me....but as Sarah very kindly said and I hope it's true, they still look like I made them! 

Used pieces of the gelli printed papers  with addded stamping..... on the pages, left some empty space.....that is really hard for me:).....and added a few extra pieces to enhance it.

 the gelli printed piece on this page was printed onto a book page.....the squares were stickers on a sheet that was printed onto.....liked this idea!

 And finally this page which I think is my favourite:) Drew through an Andy Skinner stencil and then added more of my fav umbelliferous flowers.......the flower heads are the gelli-printed bits on this page.....the little circle stickers were printed while they were still on the sheet....this works great as they end up co-ordinated!

He is just so nonchalantly amphibious:)

Stencil, stencil, stencil

I really liked the layered stencil images on my journal page a couple of posts ago so decided to have another play:) This is on the inside cover of an A4 journal.

 The fabulous skull stencil is by Andy Skinner.

1 day, 3 galleries

Today a friend and I went on a gallery crawl! 

Another friend had done the same trip a couple of weeks ago and so we were inspired to copy her!

 First stop was UNIT TWELVE near Stafford.......a lovely place tucked away on a farm in the beautiful Staffs countryside. There were some lovely things on display.....lots of inspiration......here are a few of them

 Next stop was SHIRE HALL GALLERY in the centre of Stafford where the current exhibition is called MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN by Lauren Van Helmond.....very quirky mixed media pieces

 the cafe at the Shire Hall is set on a balcony overlooking the exhibition space and has this lovely wood and stained glass doorway

now I did say we went to three galleries.....and so we did, the third one was GALLERY at 12 in Eccleshall......for some reason I had stopped taking pics at this point so have none of this place.....not sure why and it's very unlike me.....but it was very nice and well worth a visit!

There are umbells in my iferous

Bit of a strange title but Sid something similar in his comment on my last post and it struck a cord with me and made me smile.......so thanks Sid!

As the garden starts to come to life my mind turns to flowers.....I got some new stencils this week and wanted to have a play with them......I also really enjoyed making the umbelliferous paper flowers in my previous post and wanted to make some more......I did both with this page.

Sunday saw a friend and I visit the first open garden (and nursery) of the year. A pity the garden was behind by about 2/3 weeks because it's been so cold but it was still nice to see.

 This is the leaflet from the garden in my out & about journal......

I used one of the new stencils to fill in the page

Umbelliferous

I love umbelliferous plants in my garden! And I love the way these came out in my journal!

 The page started with some circles and cup shapes cut from old book pages

 a swipe of gesso across each one....not staying in the shapes.....just to knock the text back a little

 then the details added with a black Stabillo All pencil.....these are new for me and I LOVE them......and a black fine pen

 I was even inspired to write on this page......a very rare occurence for me:)

 the green colour is another Stabillo All pencil.....they run with water......even better:)

Catch up

I've been playing catch up with my out and about journal today......I had 4 pages I wanted to do so thought I better get on with it!

 Ratlinghope church....burial place of the last sin-eater in England!

 Stokesay Castle......medieval fortified manor house......postcards inside a flap made from a leaflet.......pics cut out of the guide book....Pogo printer pics

 St Winefrides's Well, Holywell......pilgrimage site

 leaflet and pics from Pogo printer

 tickets clipped inside the leaflet...............and postcards inside the bag they came in

 and finally......talk at Embroiderers Guild by Priscilla Jones

 leaflet and postcards......one trimmed to fit

I'm enjoying this journal.....I like buying postcards and picking up leaflets and this gives me a place to keep them and reminds me of nice days out!

100% recyclable

 that is what it said on the piece of card in the bottom of this bag........so I decided to take it at its word and recycled it........

........into two more duct tape books!

 I used the piece of card in the bottom of the bag as the covers for the bigger book and then cut the rest of the bag up to make the pages for that book and the covers of the smaller one

 there was even enough to make a couple of tags that are tucked into a folded up edge.....used a bit of washi tape to hold the flap in place

 the smaller book has watercolour paper for pages....held in place with a rubber band

 the handles of the bag were a heavy fabric ribbon, that was recycled into ties for the books.