Stay warm and party.

This will  be my last page this month for Chris's theme of

101 Ways to Keep Warm

over at Art Journal Journey.

The animals are having a party today.

They  just need yummy things to eat. perhaps a drink, although they would prefer a glass of water.  

But best of all, they   feel a warm glow inside as they spend happy times in each others company.

On the left is how the page looked in its early stages.

The  base is water coloured. The animals were fussy  cut from an old calendar.

 I also added a few areas of stencilling.

 The dog did have the glass balanced on its head and I thought it would be fun to have ' Bird-cake'   trying to get a sip of the wine..... 'Duck-cup', 

 was not at all impressed with this  and was happy with the cream cake.

I added the party hats, bunting and words in the digital program I use. [notes in my sidebar].

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

Book Marks and a Tuesday cuppa.

I am about to share a bit of a saga with you today.

A while ago I signed up for a  workshop at  the Library in the  next village to us.

Its only open part time and they try to get folk through the door.

It was to be Book Binding........whoopee I thought and waited for the day to arrive.

The week before the said workshop was our   Reading Group........ and imagine  a few of us being disappointed when we saw, that this workshop would now be  to make Book marks.

I thought, as we are trying to keep the library open   I would still go and on the day only 6 out of 10  folk turned up.

It was a two hour session  and the girl leading the workshop was really pleasant  and gave a good demonstration.  

 It was a messy session, we all had a laugh.

Now.... a  big...........  ' However/But   ..... from me'.

on the left you can see the result of the  two hours  session.

It was card,  glued and wrapped in a paper towel, then painted.

This is a good starting point, but what would we add next???

I used to teach this type of thing to the youngsters in school, back in my working life,  everyone has to start somewhere. and its good to get youngsters interested in creating  with everyday items easily found in the home. Find the spark of creating early and it is a gift for the future.
I won't tell you the average age of the group, but we are all retired.

These were  considered to be  our  completed book marks. Like myself most were interested in creating things and  I think  we would have liked to pretty them up a bit.l

I did say that when I got home , I would be changing them to suit my style  of crafting.
The star is reposing at the bottom of the bits box and I think will be eventually thrown out.

On the right , you can see how the additions began , just some scraps of napkins, glued to both sides. I didn't want to add any thickness as  they were already deeper than I would have liked.

Gilding wax and the bit of random stamping you can see in the first photo.

I fixed a couple of charms on to a ribbon at the front of the bookmark,  pulled the ribbon through to the back , simply knotting the strands together.

You can see how it marks the page of the current book. Simply pull the charms over the cover of the book.

I am quite happy with to share with you all today, my finished book marks, much more my style than the ones I brought home.

Now as its Tuesday I will be calling in to see friends over at
Bleaubeard and Elizabeths.
where its T stands for Tuesday and  we are always made welcome with a drinks related post

As I was writing this blog post  I remembered to get a photo of my mug of the day, as always close to hand.
In case you wonder the book is a good one, I am about a third of the way through reading it  and know that it is a book  I would recommend.


I  am adding a reminder for the current challenge theme over at Try it on Tuesdays
'Colourful',  information can be found here


Thank you for calling in to see me, I hope you are all having a good day.

Don't stand still and keep warm for AJJ

Another  journal page for Chris's theme of

101 ways to keep warm....over at

Art Journal Journey.

On the left is a couple of photos

 of how the page began.

I found the picture of the children walking through the snow in an old magazine. Yes I do have a large pile of old papers and magazines, that I really should recycle, but the hoarder in me just lets the pile grow taller.

I stuck the torn picture into my journal on a watercoloured base layer.

Then I added  a thick coating of crackle paste and let it dry to see what happened. 

The last stage was in the computer program I use [notes in my sidebar].

I hope you are all keeping warm today, its very cold here in the UK .

Thank you for stopping by, 

you are always welcome here.

Comfort food for cold days

A mixed media /hybrid page today for Chris's theme of

101 ways to keep warm over at 

Art Journal Journey

This page is in my 8x8 inch journal.

Water colour base, a fussy cut picture from a magazine with  a girl in her thick winter jumper warming her hands on a mug of soup.

I have to admit I love a mug of soup on cold winter days. There were some scraps of music paper added , next an  embossed stencil area , which  when it dried out  I smeared it  with gilding wax.

I added the snowflakes and the words  in the computer program I use. [notes in my sidebar].

I know its still supposed to be autumn, but forgive me for using a winter quote, it seemed just right for this page.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends who are celebrating  today, I hope you have a special and happy day.

Colourful at TioT's

The new challenge theme over at

 Try it on Tuesdays is........

Colourful

We are asking you to use colour with hardly any or no white area.

There are fantastic examples from the team, please pop over to take a look.

To help myself with this challenge I decided to use kraft card base.

It was easy to add a bit of colour through a stencil.

I had a new Steampunk cat stamp that needed to be inked.

Stamped onto white card, then fussy cut and coloured.

The die cut cogs were cut from a piece of dark  packaging,

I smeared them with some gilding wax and stopped as i thought they looked quite rusty at this stage.

So I have a card made in advance for a fun loving male family friend.

I just wish a fairy would wave a wand and make me some Christmas cards.

Thank you for calling in today, your comments are always appreciated.

Shetland......Up Helly Aa..... and of course a brew.

For Chris's theme of 101 ways to keep warm over at

At Journal Journey

My page today is taking you to a very warm destination 

a Fire Festival

held each year,  a celebration I would like to see, but like many others watch it on TV.

Can you just imagine the heat..............

,

This is a link if you want to find out more.

 The pictures I used for this page were cut from magazines.

I had a cuppa as usual on my craft desk, the hen does make me smile when I use this cup. 

So I will say hello to friends who call in  today

 Its T stands for Tuesday at

Bleubeard and Elizabeths 

where we are always made welcome to share a drinks related post.

 I found a lot more photos from an internet search.  The official  Up Helly Aa site has many more information links.

'Up Helly Aa'  is a spectacular fire festival that takes place on   Shetland,  on the last Tuesday of January. After a parade around the town, with the participants  carrying  torches,  the event culminates with flaming torches being thrown into a Viking Galley!

As you can see on the with this last photo , I had a play with my original page, in the computer program I use.

Thank you for calling in to see me,  I hope you all have a warm and cosy day

Dance to the music.

The new challenge theme over at

Tag Tuesday 

is......Music

The tag was water coloured,

 then embossed with texture paste.

Finished with a little gilding wax.

All the other additions were made in the

 digital computer program I use. [notes in my side bar].

Thank you for stopping by today, your visit here is always welcome.

Out of the cold and into the warm

This is a hybrid/mixed media journal page for 

Chris's 

theme.......... 101 Ways to Keep Warm....  over at

Art Journal Journey

The base was coloured with white gesso, and water colours, there is a magazine page first of all, but this ended up being completely covered.

Some stencils came next and after they dried out I rubbed on a little gilding wax.

Over to the digital program I used 

I started adding  a winter scene and remembered to save you a peek at this stage. 

Its been so frosty here in the mornings , clean and crisp to get out and enjoy a walk.  But best of all. it  made me think of the pleasurable feeling you get when you actually turn around and go back home to the warm.

Thank you for calling in today, you are always welcome here

 and the comments you leave for me are always appreciated.

Hot Chocolate and Soup

I am starting off with another page for Chris's theme over at

  Art Journal Journey

101 ways to keep warm.

I  used  a variety of stencils  on this background .

The words down the left of the page are stamped.

Which brings me to the pictures, these were torn from an old magazine , they instantly gave me the idea for this page .

How comforting to have  a cup of hot chocolate  after a walk .   I added some faux stitching and the words were computer generated.

As its Tuesday, I am also off to visit with friends at

Bleubeard and Elizabeths

where we are always made to feel welcome with a drinks related post.

Last Thursday we went to Corbridge  a very  small country town/ or large village,
  I think how its described,  depends, on where your own home is. It is for sure a larger village than where we live   and has a number of independent shops.
.It  is about a 20 minute journey for us  in the car.
There is a very good farm shop close by that  I wanted to call in to and we needed    to  visit  the  hardware store in the village for some wood  paint.

It was quite a dull day , but if you can enlarge the photo you will see the Corbridge in the distance.  It  attracts many visitors especially from folk visiting Hadrians Wall.

We spent more time in Corbridge,  than we intended and ended up having    lunch   in the  Cyclists cafe.


Home made thick carrot soup  with a chicken  and avocado wrap.
No posh milk jugs here, the milk is served in small bottles.
 Oh and proper infused tea, not a tea bags  to be seen


Cyclists , adults, children , babies and dogs  are all welcomed there.
The dogs are served a bowl of water  by their owners table. A real gem of a place.


Thank you for stopping by to visit with me today
and Happy T day wishes everyone

Love will keep us warm

I am sharing a hybrid journal page for Chris's theme of

"101 ways to stay warm",  at......

Art Journal Journey

This is how the page began, with a simple water colour wash base.

  I fussy cut some stamped paper Artsy houses. The sweet knitted bears having a cosy cuddle, were cut from an old magazine.  After I had added these images I  added a bit more paint before the photo was taken. Then it was off to the computer to have a  play.  No inky fingers for this  next stage.

I am adding a reminder for the current Try it on Tuesdays challenge theme.... Home Sweet Home....  you  get the information here.

I wonder which of these houses my bears live in?

Thank you for calling in to see me today, your comments and visit are always appreciated.

Time to remember

Remembrance Day.

Time to remember

the men and women  from all the countries of our world.

Who throughout the years past and  present,

 served their countries

 and gave  their lives

for the freedom and safety of others.

Going home

A hybrid journal page for

Art Journal Journey

and Chris's  theme this month.....

101 ways to stay warm.

You can wear layers of warm clothes on a cold  blustery day,

perhaps take a brisk walk to blow away the cobwebs and take some fresh air.....

but..... nothing can replace the feeling when you turn around and start your journey home.

That for sure would be the warmest place to be.

It was one of my own base layers, but the other additions are all digital.

Thank you for calling in, I always appreciate the comments you leave for me.

Digital information  can be

found in my sidebar.

Home sweet home at TioT's

Home Sweet Home

 is the new challenge theme at Try it on Tuesdays
There are lots of ideas for the theme at TioT's ,
 please pop over and see what we all have been making.

The base layer for my card had a water colour wash and then I used stencils for the background detail, the foliage  and grass clumps were stamped.
The other images are Paper artsy stamps,  I did stamp the images on the card, then re-stamped them,  coloured and then fussy cut.


I also had a play on my computer  and made this page  for my digital journal.


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


If you have called in on T day, please scroll down to my earlier post

Cosy and Warm and Tea with friends.

It is for sure sweater weather here, frosty mornings, very cold, I think winter will soon be here ,

 when autumn has just left us.

I have made another, but easy to create  page for Chris's theme

of..... 101 ways to keep warm..... this month at 

Art Journal Journey.

The page I used as my background was torn from a magazine

 called Landscape where I also  I found the girl wearing this cozy sweater . To add a little texture I used a stencil, which I coloured a little after the paste had dried.

The words were computer generated.

In case you wonder about the spelling of ,  'cosy',

this is the English version, but my computer spell check insists it should be, 'cozy', so take your pick. I'll stick to the way I have spelled it  for many a year.

Now its time to visit with friends over at

  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's

where we are always made welcome with a drinks related post on Tuesdays

I hope you have a cuppa handy as here are the promised photos from our  visit to the coast last week.

Souter Lighthouse

I have added a link [above the photo] if you were interested in the history of this Lighthouse.

 It is now owned by the National Trust .

This is  the engine house. It was the first lighthouse to be built specifically to use alternating current electricity.

This was a display  in the machine room to show how  the light dome  actually looked, one of the glass panels was open  to show the inside.

This is the  keepers cottage ,

the yard for washing and drying the clothes was surrounded by the building complex.. Two of the other cottages are now holiday homes. The front of one can be seen   in my first photo from the path leading to the buildings.

The rooms were very small,  but I imagine they  were quite comfortable in their day.

 







The cottage had two bedrooms and the Lighthouse Keepers jacket hung proudly from the wardrobe door.

Two of the notices that caught my eye were  about the number of shipwrecks on the coast between the Rivers Tyne and Tees and the one on the right about  Distress signals









It was now time to stop by the cafe for a bowl of soup, even though it was sunny, it was cold outside and  inside the building.  We do  like to use the National Trust Cafe's as well and have found the food  to be very wholesome and tasty.

My choice today was a Vegetarian Chilli pot
and of course the pot of tea.

.

We also visited the  National Glass Centre, which is further down the coast.

It was once a thriving area for ship building on the River Tees.
 The front of the building was very modern and as you can see the views were good..

I have to say I was rather disappointed with the exhibitions inside.
I think I was expecting to see more as its a National gallery.

.

 

The bear was full size and in the main entrance area.
The other photos show some glass  pieces that interested me for their  detail and colour.

 Some of the more interesting items for sale in the shop.......
very expensive

I  was really taken with these   plates, I am still looking for  information as to how and who made them. They have a childlike naive quality and were all extremely interesting.  There were quite a number on the walls, but these were the best photos I managed to get.




Thank you all for calling in to see me today.
Happy T day everyone..