Never stop learning for AJJ

This will be my last  page for the current theme over at

Art Journal Journey

where Bluebeard and Elizabeth chose a super theme for the month of ....

Back to School..

I am a firm believer that you are never to old to learn something new.

I did join night classes over the years, they were real fun,
 especially as I had chosen the ones related to cooking
 e.g.... Indian...Cake Decoration...Hostess cookery

I have been lucky to have  had two careers in my working years,
  Radiography  came first,  then a second- retraining to work with children
 who had special educational needs .
It was a big issue to keep these children in mainstream schools  where possible.

 This second one gave me the most work satisfaction.

The training for this was ongoing over the years,

as new ideas and the children's needs changed.

. Some children  had health  or physical issues
  others struggled with the basic of language and numbers,
there was laughter as well as sadness, but each day was a joy.

So thank you Elizabeth for this months theme,
 I wish I could have made more pages
 but I have enjoyed my personal trip down memory lane with this subject after seeing all your fantastic pages and those from the other folk at AJJ.

Thank you for calling in to see me today.

I really appreciate your visit.

Digital images from

Mischief Circus kits.

Sun/ Moon/ Stars at TioT's

Plenty of choice for the new  challenge  starting over at

  Try it on Tuesday's today.

The theme is.......
 Sun  / moon/  stars.

and we can choose any combination,   all,   or just one of these choices.

As always the formats, style and mediums use use is up to yourselves.

I've made a digital page and used the Moon and the Stars as my choices.

I wonder where my couple of dancers are, they are certainly enjoying the music as they dance in the moonlight with the sky full of stars.

Thank you for calling in to see me today.

I do hope you will pop over to TioT's to see what we have all been making.

My own background.

with images from

Mischief Circus kits.

If you called in for T day, please scroll down to my earlier post.

Colouring in on a rainy day

Another journal page for

  Art Journal Journey

 and Elizabeth's theme of ,,,,

Back to school.

A fun digital page,  remembering one of the phrases I often said to my boys when they went off to infants school, all those years ago..... be sure you listen to the teacher and be good.

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We are still in the caravan and have some internet today, so am able to add this post,

My crafting stash for this journey was the Lap top computer, colouring book,  pencils and pens.

Just enough to go in a small drawer, not one of the larger cupboards I usually take over.

 Location....Strid Wood.... site near Bolton Abbey....Yorkshire.

We had a neighbour over the weekend. 

who liked to feed the birds.

 This duck had us laughing. at its efforts

 to land on the bird table for the bread and grain.

Even Meg barking at it, didn't get it to move off.

The greedy thing could hardly fly as it ate everything that was in sight.

So as its been a wet day  out with the colouring book and pens and of course the cuppa.

I hope I will be able to link up with friends for 

T stands for Tuesday's over at

  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's

I took the colouring pages out of the book [The colouring studio]  to make them easier to handle .

This page in the book was by Dyan Reaveley

A few more words and a background added digitally.

Thank you for calling in to see me today you are all very welcome.

my scheduled post for the new challenge theme over at try it on Tuesdays will follow soon.

A little bird song.

A short scheduled post today, to share with you this hybrid page.

I have coloured a  page  from one of Stampinton 

Magazines--The Colouring Studio.

I have to say this is a super colouring book and the paper is a good thickness. After the photo was loaded into the computer, I added some digital additions and a base layer.

Thank you for your visit today you are always welcome.

We are away in the caravan and internet is not always available. I will visit and catch up with you 

all soon as I can..

I left a well stocked larder for my sons,

 who are  house sitting,

no doubt it will need replenishing on our return

School Rules and a welcome tea break .

I am really enjoying this months  theme  over at....

 Art Journal Journey

this is journal page is  created  using new technology

  not even thought about when I was at  school.

No it wasn't back in Victorian times,

 although I do remember how strict it was in class.

No talking, respect, punctuality, hand up to answer questions and no calling out. etc. etc. 

 I think you will be able to add many more of your own to this list.   I can.

So, here I am with the trusty tea close by, enjoying a session on the computer.

Some of the images I used were from an internet search for free to use items. The background is one of my own.

A close up photo of the current Tea mug.

I have to smile at the state of that woman, she looks tired out poor thing.

I am popping over to say hello  and visit with the folk at

Bluebeard and Elizabeths

Where T stands for Tuesday and all are welcome

to add a Tea related post.

Thank you for calling in to see me today,

Happy Tea Day everyone.

I am having some internet issues at the moment, I will get to visit with you all as soon as I can.

Art Class for AJJ

Art..

Art is one of my very forgettable  lessons  when at school.

I had no idea of how to produce anything like my art teacher was expecting.

and  had a thoroughly horrible year with that subject at High School.

This journal spread was made with the current theme at

Art Journal Journey  

with  Bleubeard and Elizabeths popular theme of ''Back to School'' in mind.

Back then I perhaps  would have been happy to produce something like this page on the left.

Plenty colour with  freedom to play and create.

Using crayons and a wet tissue,

with a word stencil.

Go with the flow and see what happens.

You can see the mess, but it is my mess

and I had something in mind about how it would eventually look.

At school we had to sit in orderly rows with a blank sheet of paper  and were not encouraged to add paint until the art teacher was satisfied with the drawn outline.

Needless to say hardly any paint got as far as my paper.

Now I am happy when a background turns out like this one.

Using a quantity and variety of thick Pebeo paints.

It may take a couple of days to dry, but it leaves an acceptable textured look..

I have yet to use this base in a conventional crafty way.

The photo of it, was used for my hybrid  journal page.

Digital additions were added to both pages for my journal spread.

These days my concept and enjoyment of  Art  is  totally different from my school days.

Like this quote... by Degas.

Art is not what you see,

but what you make others see.

My teacher certainly  isn't standing over me these days to shout...' Mess'  and 'could do better.'

this leads to the second quote...

With imagination comes knowledge.

Thank you for stopping by to see me today,

you are very welcome here.

Digital additions from 

Mischief Circus kits.

St Trinians for AJJ

I have altered one of my scrapbook pages  from the 1990's  to share with you today.

The school I worked in  always encouraged the children to raise funds for good causes.

These are some of  photos that  were taken on  one such day, 

 raising money on    ''Comic Relief's-- Red Nose Day''.

I cannot show you any photos  with the children who wore fancy dress,

 as it was and is against

 the school's guidelines.

So the staff wore school uniform and at lunch time had lots of fun with the children.

Showing them some of the games  we played,  when we had been in school.

I have altered the photos and given the girls some new eyes,[I'm in there as well wearing my glasses.] perhaps they don't want to be reminded of the football match that ended with many exhausted,

skipping and getting tangles in the ropes,

or like me being stood in the corner of the dining hall

for being disruptive at the table.

 All because I took a jam jar of  pond creepy crawlies into lunch.

My argument was that it did have a lid and they couldn't escape

Moral of story never argue with your teachers they are always right.

 My own escapade will give you some idea of the minor incidents we set up for the children to enjoy .

Good fun was had by all and I am happy to say the children settled back  in class after lunch as if it was just any day of the week.

Another school memory from me for 

Art Journal Journey

 and Elizabeths'  theme of Back to School

at Art Journal Journey

Thank you for stopping by, your visit and comments are always appreciated.

Meet Coffee and Cream at TioT's

Coffee and Cream

 is the new challenge theme for

 Try it on Tuesdays.

 We will accept your choice of any  two colour shades  for this theme,

Remember you can use any style of crafting/art,  medium etc.

Please pop over for all the details and see what we all made.

I chose to use shades of cream and browns for this card. A cream card base , a layer of deep chocolate brown and then cream card for the top.

I used stencils with Vintage Photo distress ink.

An alphabet stamp, and two fussy cut Stampers  Anonymous dogs, which were coloured in watercolour and distress inks.

In case you wonder, Coffee would have been rather ill,  if I hadn't  painted his tongue. pink.

Thank you for calling in to see me today, you are always welcome.

If you have stopped by to share a cuppa, please scroll down to my earlier post.

Sea air, fish and a cuppa.

Where the River Tyne meets the North Sea.

 We often visit North Shields for a day out

to visit the Fish Quay .

Today I am sharing a cuppa with friends over at

 Bleubeard and Elizabeths

and the brew that was very welcome on our return home.

In the distance on the left is the headland at  Tynemouth.

It was a dull day, but still a few folk were enjoying the sands.

This was looking back towards North Shields.

Now to the buy some fish for tea, just around the corner from the Smokehouse.

What to buy????

Back home , with the brew close to hand it was time to consult the books for ideas,

we had bought Sea Bream.

A treat and not something I usually buy, like cod or haddock.

You have my word it was delicious,

 but taking a photo when it was shouting out, ''eat me'',

was the last thing on my mind at the time.

Thank you for calling in today you are most welcome.

Happy Tea day everyone.

My post for Try it on Tuesdays will be posted soon.

Knowledge for AJJ

I have always loved reading  and books of all kinds appeal to me.

We didn't have TV when I was young, so my earliest encounters with books

 were the stories that were read to me.

I am joining the folk again at 

Art Journal Journey
where  Elizabeth's  theme for this month is 

Back to School

This side of the journal spread  is  all about Fairy Tales.   Hidden meanings never  came to mind back then, just the magic,  make believe and  hopefully a happy ending to the tale.

The background was scribbled crayons, which I blended with a wet wipe and sprinkled with a little Brusho powder.

The cut outs  are papers sent me by a friend. Graphics 45 I think.

Butterflies are stamped and fussy cut and left over from another project.

This page was made in  a digital program.

Growing older,  the magic  disappears, with the need to gather knowledge.

Books are for information, aids to learning, filling your head with facts,  maybe at the time, they are of no interest to you. But,  they have to be learned in detail, in order to pass exams.

School days pass, gathering speed and  when we  leave  and go out into the world.... How much do we truly remember.  I would say quite a lot stays,  its there stored for the day we may be asked a question, that would jog our memory and hopefully we would  be able to recall the relevant  facts.

Thank you for stopping by to see me today,

you are very welcome and your comments are always appreciated.

Digital additions

are images from

Mischief Circus kits.

Spelling tests for AJJ

A digital page for

  Art Journal Journey,

where Elizabeth's theme of  ' Back to School', is really jogging everyone's memories.

Today's memory of mine is from  Infants school [ 5 - 7 years old].
then later Junior School [7- 11years old]
.... when  we had to learn how a spell a list of words   over the weekend.
 with the words obviously getting harder to spell as the weeks went by.

Then the dreaded spelling test was always before first lesson on Monday.
The writing always had to be neat and tidy.
If you got any wrong you had to copy them out 10 times each in the back of your spelling book.
Schools these days may not be as strict , but I have to say we did learn.
It may be seen as hard to today's children with access to, '' spell checks'' etc, but
it certainly worked for me back then.
We all knew what to expect,  if we didn't try to do our best.


I will also be showing this page  at
 Moo Mania and More
where there new Theme is'' Alphabet''.
Without our alphabets we wouldn't be able to spell.
Now that's a question worth asking later.

I used my own base layer.

with stored, found and

Mischief Circus images

Thank you for calling in to visit today, you are very welcome

Play days and spicy buns

Some days you just need to play

.

 Remember when  playing was fun.

 In the absence of an audience there  was always the family pet or a row of dolls and teddies.

Those were the days....

This is a digital page made as a reminder for the current challenge theme over at TioT's.

 Play days are still fun for me,..... an excuse...not that I need one.... to get

 into the craft room and start creating.

......................................

Speaking of that well loved place a blog friend and I were talking on the phone  the other day,
 about our messy craft rooms, this was the photo I shared with her of my abode at that time.
Well as you can see it was  in desperate need of a good tidy up.

For sure not far away would  be my mug of tea.

So I will pop over and say hello
  to the Tea gang at,
Bleubeard and Elizabeths 

where T stands for Tuesday

 Doing a Supermarket shop  has its own bakery,
 had me smelling  a tempting  spicy aroma.
Spicy buns are somewhat of a favourite around Easter time in our home.
But Hey its September....
and they are still marking the buns with the Easter Cross.
Needless to say a few went into my basket
 and take my word for it they were................. delicious

Selling  these all year round, doesn't seem to make them special anymore.
My Gran used to make these buns all year,
 but the cross only appeared on them for the Easter baking.
I wonder if this sort of thing occurs in other countries besides the UK.

If you wonder about the   ''Mess '' I  did clear a space on the table ,
but have to report its back to normal.
But it is still on my list of things to do.

Hope you all have a happy T day and thank you for calling in to see me.

First Lessons in ''art'--' for AJJ

Well I am still in the early years of  school, with this next  hybrid journal spread for 

Art Journal Journey

where Elizabeth's super theme for this month is

Back to School.

I would have loved to have shown you a photo of my hands at this stage, but I'm afraid I may have  messed up the camera big style.

As you can guess, I had a ball with the hand painting.

The background is sprayed water

colour  and its   acrylic paint  for the hand.

I have never passed this stage of being messy, its an art in itself to be free with paint, and creativity should be encouraged from an early age.

Much more fun than watching a TV.

The younger children at school found it much more fun when there was a wall [always covered with paper] where they could draw,  paint, splash and splodge colour.

Yes they had a piece of paper and a table, but hey, would you not like a wall to paint  on, I would. have done. Maybe I would been more confident to draw freely now,

  if I had been encouraged while young.

In my teenage years, my art teacher told me I was wasting her time and mine, so I swapped subjects at the end of the year.

 Rant over, Elizabeth you have  brought up memories

 long forgotten with this  great theme choice.

Thank you for stopping by, you are very welcome here

 and I always appreciate your comments.

Digital additions found

when looking for free to

use images on the internet.

An apple for the teacher at AJJ

I'm back to school again today and making sure there is an apple

 for the teacher in my school bag.

This spread is for

  Art Journal Journey

and Bleubeard and Elizabeths theme of........... Back to School

This is the beginnings of  one of the pages. 

Spray inks, Stencils.

Cut out counters and a little background number stamping.

After the photo was taken

 I added some extra digital additions.

I think you may guess from these basic pages , that early years education is very special to me.

I did spend many years working with  children .

who needed extra help with their learning.

 Visual methods , when  counting, helped them a lot.

The other side of the page is mostly digital using 

free to use images found with a Google search., but it is my own photograph of a textured, coloured, background.

Thank you for calling into see me today, you are very welcome.