Let the light shine from within

My last page for
  Art Journal Journey
this month where Valerie's theme is Light and Darkness. 

These words by Maya Angelou got me thinking of our troubled world. 

Lets hope that in the coming year,  those that live in fear, strife and darkness,

 will find the hope and peace that they all deserve.

I am also just in time to  join  the folk over  at
Take a Word
where the theme this week is..... Lights

Happy New Year wishes everyone, I hope 2017 will be kind for  you all.

Made using Mischief Circus,

 Oscraps kits and my own elements.

Tea, cake and a candle to light the way.

Hello to all  friends who call in to see me today.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Holiday.

I have a couple of photos to share, this first one is for

  Art Journal Journey

where there is only a few more days left to join Valerie's theme of 

Light and Darkness

This has been work in progress for a couple of days, starting off with a painted base layer of my own then added digital images. Snatched' me'  time,  was last on the list,  with the family staying.

Over the Christmas holidays there has been much laughter in the house

 and of course lots of food consumed.

So before it all gets eaten here is a slice of my cake rich fruit cake, that I showed you last week, while I was adding the marzipan and icing..

Happy T day to all my friends to stop by, to visit from

Bleubeard and Elizabeths 

to share Tea this Tuesday.

I have so enjoyed your company and I hope that the coming year will be good for you all.

Christmas wishes

 To all my blog friends and followers.

I wish you all a Happy Festive Holiday and hope that the coming

New Year will be a good one for you all.

  

Yvonne xx

Tread softly for AJJ

Taking time out again from the preparations for the Festive weekend.

Not that I am thinking about doing  much more,

house tidy,  shopping done,  gifts  wrapped,  think you get the idea.

Why get stressed out and forget about the real meaning of Christmas.

I could not believe how busy and frantic folk were,  doing their grocery  shopping today.

Our stores only close for one Day and yet I think they were buying food for a month.

Anyway, back to the journal page, I have always enjoyed reading poems, 

  last night a poem by Yeats came to mind. 

 I thought how  I could maybe use it on a  page   for 

Art Journal Journey 

and Valerie's theme of Light and Darkness.

Thank you for calling in, your visit is always appreciated.

TioT's spotlight post.

There is no new challenge this week at Try it on Tuesdays. 

instead we wanted to showcase some  of  your  fantastic entries

that  we have had to our challenges this past year.

We hope you will pop over to take a look,. 

This is another of my hybrid journal pages.

Starting off with this card ,  made with sprayed Brusho powders and stamped with

 a Tim Holtz image. 

 My own base layer and digital additions.

Thank you for calling in here to see me today, 

we would be thrilled if you would

 visit TioT's  as well.

If you have called in for Tea this Tuesday, please scroll down to my earlier post.

Tea and cakes

Hello  everyone and thank you for stopping by to see me today.

Christmas is fast approaching and everyone seems to be in a rush.

Welcome to friends who call in from

  Bleubeard and Elizabeths.

Where we get to share a drink related post and are made to feel very much at home 

by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

At the back end of last week,

I decided to have some  'me'  time.

Relax with cup of my favourite brew and do some colouring   and for sure it worked.

The page was from the Colouring Studio Magazine/Book .

I didn't finish it all in one session, it did take a couple of days including finishing the page in my digital program.

So after relaxing I felt I must tackle icing the Christmas cake. First up,  the  marzipan rolled, 

the cake painted in jam so it would stick.

Iced in the traditional  way for my family, with a thick layer of Royal icing  flicked up

 to look like snow .

It will have a few decorations added when I find them, they are currently stored in a safe place from last year.

Yes we use the same ones, fir trees and a snowman.

Only a few more days now until  Christmas is celebrated, if you are busy .

I hope you take a little time out for yourself, relax, I can really recommend it.

Christmas wishes to you all friends who call in today

Happy T day.  

The magic of winter

Sharing a digital, hybrid, journal page with you this evening.

I made this for Art Journal Journey 

and Valerie's theme for this month of 

Light and Darkness

Then I remembered seeing that  the theme at 

Moo Mania and More

was '' Trees''- for this fortnight, it seems so long since I was able to make something for this lovely Challenge blog, that I hope this page will be acceptable there as well.

As a starting point I used this lovely Christmas card  as a base. This is my way of recycling this pretty scene.[ it is signed on the back as being the work of Sue Fenlon]. I think I may be using some of the other lovely scenes that have been landing in my post box  recently,

 in a similar way.

The Digital additions are from

 Mischief Circus Kits.

 I have no idea who  the quote is by.

Thank you for stopping by to see me today, you are most welcome and your comments are always appreciated.

Star of night for AJJ

A digital journal page for Valerie's theme over at

 Art Journal Journey

which is Light and darkness.

For many years this hand made ceramic  Nativity is displayed  at Christmas time

 in my sitting room.

Very plain and faces with no features, but it means a lot and is special to my family.

One year we added straw for it to stand on, that didn't last for very long and we went back to plain, to let the story speak for itself..

I took a few photos and used one of them

 for my page.[ click photo to see a larger picture]

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

 and your comments are always appreciated.

Digital additions from

Mischief Circus kits 

and my own backgrounds.

A Christmas market, Tea with Rudolph and a journal page.

Hello to all friends and the  folk who are calling in  today from,,,,,.

Bleubeard and Elizabeths

where we are all made most welcome, with a drinks related post.

A trip to the  Christmas market at the weekend.
Not a big one like friends over on the Continent have, but it has something for everyone.

This is held in the old market square in Hexham, lasts for two days

 and spills over into the streets around the Abbey 

where apart from access, the roads are closed to traffic

It is somewhere we like to visit each year and is only about  a 20 minute drive from our home.

We like to get there early before it gets busy.

Interesting stalls

Fresh produce stalls

These two were with their human dad, posing for the people while their human  mom

 was selling, things she made with their wool.

This would be an unusual gift idea to be able to spend some time with these beautiful birds.

It was all too much for this owl, who just wanted  to snooze.

Sneugal was a right poser and just beautiful to see.

A couple of views  from the Abbey garden.

Well I did have lots of photos but many had folk crossing infront of the camera, but I think you will have seen enough photos by now.

Now  for my crafting photos and a cuppa.

 

Remember this dull page from last week, well it had some  texture crackle paste added and an extra watercolour wash   and off it went for some digital additions again.

One day it will be completed in my journal, but for now, its still work in progress.

My Rudolph  cuppa  went with me,

 I have to admit I always seem to have a cup of something close by, often quite cold by the time I remember it

So at the end of the post is my hybrid  page which I will add to

Art Journal Journey

and Valerie's theme of Light and Darkness.

Thank you for stopping by to visit with me today, you are all very welcome.

Happy T day.

Digital additions from

Mischief Circus and Oscraps kits

 as well as some of my own.

Gray days for AJJ

Another digital journal page for Valerie's theme of 

Light and darkness over at

Art Journal Journey.

It is a multi layered background using a few images,blended together in the digital program I use.

I am still thinking of the dark gray days we get here in the N.E. of the UK,
 with  the glimmer of a street light and  flurries of snow casting  their own magical light.

My carefree young couple are weaving their own magic , 

where the grayness of the day won't stop their dreams.

Thank you for calling in to see me, you are all most welcome

 and I always appreciate your comments.

The rabbit and the Snowman

A hybrid journal page for

 Art Journal Journey

where Valerie's theme for the month is 

Light and Darkness.

This is how the page began,

I used printed tissue as my base layer, which does look a dirty grey colour  in real life. I think it was because the brush I  used to stick it down with,  hadn't been washed properly. But this happy accident made me think of a fun, winter, scenario, with a dull evening  after a fall of bright, white snow.. The rabbit  was the front of a card I received from a friend. I always save cards to re use and a non crafting friend also passes hers to me.  

 I have made a note to myself to use them  more often.

The result has digital additions from Mischief Circus and Oscrap kits.

Can you just imagine a conversation on a frosty  night, between a snowman and a rabbit. With the rabbit accusing him of using one of his carrots for a nose.

Way back when. my boys always used a carrot for their snowman's nose and coal for his eyes.

I will also join in ....The Dreamers Challenge this week over at

Digital Whisper

where the theme is........... Snowman.

Thank you for stopping by to see me today, you are very welcome

 and your comments are always appreciated.

Celebrations at TioT's

Celebrations

 is the last challenge for 2016  over at Try it on Tuesdays.

We do hope you will join us, please   pop over to see what and  how we are all Celebrating.

From me this time is a simply layered up card , raggy edges created with the old blunt scissors.

A layer sprayed using brusho powder and a music stamp..

The stamps used have been well used over the years, they are on wooden blocks and the makers name is not clear  for me to give you.

I hope you are organised for the festive season as it is rapidly approaching us.

Thank you for taking time to call in, you are very welcome.

If you've called in for T day. please scroll down to my earlier post.

Birds of a Feather drink tea together.

Its Tuesday again and time for me to call in at 

Bleubeard and Elizabeths and share my cuppa  on

T day 

We have had some very frosty then dull  days here this past week.

So decided that writing the Christmas cards for posting should be one of my first tasks.

I found my posting size guide. very necessary as the stamp price, is relevant to the size, thickness and weight of the card.

 Notice Mr Robin  was to hand to keep me happy in the task. 

Oh dear,  what I expected, happened, I really need to make a few more.......

Did I make get on making them. no chance, I needed to get back to some semblance of what can be called normal for an hour or so. 

I began this   journal page for
  Valerie's

theme at

  Art Journal  Journey

''Light and Darkness''.

As  I have two birds enjoying a cuppa and discussing how they like their tea served.

Will it be dark and strong the way I like it. or light coloured, with milk in it.

Did I go back to making the cards....NO...

  the next day, we went off to the Farm shop  to do a bit of shopping.

It looked quite festive with the fresh fir trees outside and the lights twinkling

It has a few artisan shops , in the converted barns as well

The sheep  outside, were not for sale.

Of course I didn't forget to get a photo of the plastic, life size cows just inside the entrance..

Its good to see the look on people's faces as they drive past to the car park, I wonder how many of them, at first, think they are real.

Update on the card making, they are all written and ready to post.
Hooray!

Thank you for calling in to visit with me today,

you are very welcome here.

My post for Try it on Tuesdays will follow on soon.

Let the light guide you home for AJJ

This is the second of the pages I thought about when I saw Valerie's  new them
 for the month over at

Art Journal Journey

Light and Darkness.

Another hybrid page , with digital additions onto my own base layer.
When I was young, my grandmother always left her curtains open in the evenings
 when any of the family were late out  at night.
She said,  it was for us to see the light  shining , to get us home safely.
We did,  back then, live where there were no street lights,
 it was surprising how much natural  light there was.
When my grandparents  moved to a smaller house as they got older,
the area was well lit but,
 she never stopped leaving the curtain open.

Thank you for stopping by to see me today, your are most welcome
 and your comments are always appreciated.

Digital additions from

Mischief Circus and

Oscraps kits