We're back to say goodbye.

We're back to say goodbye, 

 the kids and their dad started off my journal adventure this month, with the theme I chose for September over at........ Art Journal Journey
A world of Fantasy

I'm sure they managed to get their  dad to enjoy some fun as well.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who  shared their amazing art this past month
and for all the support you gave me for this theme.
Also thank you to Susi and Elizabeth
and  of course Bleubeard  for having me as your guest host this past month.

This page started with a  messy background in my journal. I just splodged on  thick blobs of paint and smooshed it around a bit. Fingers are well suited to this style.


The kids wanted to frame the family photo so they could remember the fun they had., so they asked their favourite toys to create this memory page for them.
Now that's a FANTASY.


I hope you will call into Art Journal Journey
 as I will be doing  tomorrow
to find out what the  challenge theme  for October will be.

However you spend today, have a super day.

Fantasy or reality

Fantasy or Reality.

What a super month I have had hosting.... A world of fantasy... over at

 Art Journal Journey

I've had a wonderful time visiting every one and seeing all the inspirational pages you have shared,

so with one day to go, this is my page for the 29th.

Water colour wash for the background no brushes used just a scrunched up wipe. Torn up napkins and some JD ladies, these girls 'just wanna have fun'.
The times gone by images were computer generated.
I think they may have had fantasies about living in bygone days, but much prefer the reality of  'now'.





Thank you for calling in to see me today, I will be back again tomorrow to complete my Fantasy theme for September at Art journal journey.

Friday is diary day

Friday's diary day

and as you can see it is created in my usual way.

Lots of white gesso was involved in trying to cover the pre printed page. I used a variety of napkins a Jane Davenport girl and the usual stencils.
In my thoughts imagination and fantasy have a way of colliding so I will be sharing my diary spread over at
Art Journal Journey
where I  have been hosting this months theme...
A world of Fantasy

I would like to think that this group of images are having a  conversation today. What they would be talking about ......
would be a pure guess.
Thank you for calling in to see me today.
You are always most welcome here.

Great things from blobs of paint

With only three more days for my month of hosting at......

 Art Journal Journey

I've gone back to a childhood pastime today

Did you ever drop blobs of paint onto paper then fold them over?

I still remember doing this and then trying to think what the resulting shape could be.

I think I used too much paint as it took ages to dry, but my first thought was...... this has got to be a butterfly.  If I was happy with my freehand drawing I would have drawn the butterfly, but decided to take the easier option for now. One day I will get the courage to outline these pages .
So you will have guessed that the additions were made in the digital program I use.

Thank you for stopping by today, you are always welcome here.

Help

Help....... I cannot get out of my fantasy

Can you imagine being trapped in your fantasy dream and cannot get out?

I think I had gone a bit leaf  stamp happy as I was creating this page and yes the central image is a bit blurred round the outside. I thought about how sometimes we can feel trapped,  with things around us not being relevant to the moment. All we want to be is 'normal'
.So my fantasy had  me  spinning down a leafy tunnel hoping this would be a happy  memory when I woke up.
I used distress oxides for colouring. Stamps were  Tim Holtz, Dina Wakley and  my Clarity alphabet.
This is  another page for my , 'A world of Fantasy'..... theme at
  Art Journal Journey
This month has flown past and there are only four more days left to September.

In case you did wonder I felt very happy when  I woke up

Thank you for stopping by, your comments are always very much appreciated.

Welcome to the bunnies tea party

Can we live our dreams,

can fantasies come true?????

Now that's a thought to ponder as I write this blog post

So first of all I will say hello to T day friends who call in today,

we gather each Tuesday over at 

Bleubeard and Elizabeths

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

The background for this page is water colours, added using an old wipe not a brush.

Next   the wall stencil,  my paste  looked quite opaque and I decided to leave it  with no colour added .

The cut out rabbits  were in an old Daphne's Diary magazine.

 I added a few stamped images and a fussy cut fence and decided that this was where I would stop.

I am also linking up with folk at

 Art Journal Journey

 for September's  theme of a World of Fantasy, its been a  great month  and I am in awe of all the fantastic inspiration everyone is sharing there. 

Now for a question before I end this post... Are you ready for Christmas?

Last week in a Garden Center... Ambleside [Lake District/Cumbria]

the displays were being set up for Christmas.

This one appealed to me, the others were still work in progress.

Unfortunately we live to far away to return and see them completed.

However you spend today I hope it will be a good one for you and yours.

Is it all fantasy?

Today's....A world of Fantasy  page  for....

 Art Journal Journey

is all digital, well apart from one of my own base layers.

On the left is a photo of a few of my starter layers.   I was thinking about the feelings that we get when reading a book and how the love of reading started for me  very young. We had no TV back then, just the radio. So it was the books that played an important part  in my childhood.
Fantasy  and the  world of make believe, through the written world is something very special.
As an adult reading was and is, all about learning,  as well as   an escape  from reality.
Where would our fantasies take us without books.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the  comments you leave for me here.

Where is this world?

Where is this world? because it looks like a fantasy that I would like to share.

I had alot of fun creating this page and  was sorry I didn't take many photos.

A water colour base, some raised stencil areas, a bit of random stamping, rice paper images in opposite corners, all ending up with a TH found relative taking  a fantasy  under the sea trip.


There is only another week left  for me  hosting September's theme at
  Art Journal Journey
A world of fantasy.
This month has passed by so quickly.
I hope you all have a great day and thank you for calling in to see me.

Mrs Duck

Mrs Duck is enjoying her outing, dressed   in her best hat and feathered scarf..
Today's Fantasy thought is.... what if ducks and other animals wore clothes??

From the photo you can see that Mrs Duck  was a cross stitch piece that I sewed many years ago and  that's as far as it went, she sat in a drawer for  a long while till I found her while looking for something else..
I added some shading  to the page but decided that  this would be a hybrid page as I wanted to keep the sewing to make into a birthday gift .

I will share my page with the folk at
 Art Journal Journey
 and the theme I chose of.....
A World of Fantasy

On the left she is ready for the frame, which I have yet to  purchase.
In the meanwhile she has been made into a digital card.
So Mrs Duck  you are dressed for an outing and I hope you have a great time.

Thank you for calling in today, you are most welcome here.

Friday is diary day

Friday's diary......

Believe in your dreams ......

As I was creating this page I realised that we are  nearly three quarters of the way through the year.

Now that's a scary thought.

 These stamps I have had a while and I cannot remember  who created them. I stamped and coloured them on rice paper as I had an already rather colourful pre printed  background to use.

Next up came the stencils shaded with distress oxides.

One of the tales my gran used to tell me was that there was a man who lived in the moon and when shutting the curtains we had to say goodnight.

Well that would not be correct these days as equally it could lave been a lady.

Who ever lived there  in my childhood fantasies has  been proved to be  untrue  over the years .

But.... we can all still dream.

I will be adding this spread to the theme at

  Art Journal Journal,

where I happy to be hosting this month's theme.

A world of fantasy

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

Story Time

Are you sitting comfortably.... then I will begin....

Once upon a time there was a little elfin  boy who dreamed  about travelling  the world.

His brothers told him this was a silly idea and that it would never happen because he was to small.

Three travelers saw him crying  and told him that if he believed ,  his wish would someday come true.

No guessing I have entered  

A world of Fantasy in the creating of this page and will be adding this to my theme at

 Art Journal Journey

This journal page began with a page from my colouring book [see left]

All the other additions were created in the digital program I use on my computer [notes in my sidebar]

It  can take just as long or even more time to add digital layers than with hands on  journaling, I remembered to take a copy/photo  of the page  so you can see the earlier stages.

Thank you for calling in today,

 I am up to day 20 with my art journal posts and am enjoying creating every one.

I also want to say thankyou to  all who are joining in the fantasy fun at AJJ this month 

 your pages are inspirational.

My messy fantasy

'In my fantasy world

Art doesn't have to be perfect',

and as you can see this is another fun and messy  page.

Fantasy  can be unclear, no defined beginning or end. Often a blur, as well as being a mixture of dreams, ideas, images, colours and thoughts.

Hence this fun page for

 Art Journal Journey

and the theme I chose for the month of......A world of fantasy.

I decided to use only one main  colour,  sprayed an  inky background,  used  stencils, including the hands.

Also a few stamps images. I didn't know what I was trying to  create and  maybe my hands told me when to stop and look, so I did and decided that I would stick at this stage.

This truly had to be a fantasy page as  I would never in real life stay still

 with a bee crawling on my hand.

I am not sure if I will get internet access for a few days,
 so forgive me if I am late calling in to see you.

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

Slap it on

Cats, what would they say if they could talk?

This is my journal page for the new
  Try it on Tuesdays challenge theme....
Slap it on.
A fun theme where we can have fun, slap on the paint, ink , layer the papers etc..
Please pop over  for the details and to see what we have all been making

The page began with a water colour wash and a raised wall stencil.

I added  a bit more paint using a damp baby wipe, it covers a larger area quicker  than using a brush.
Let it dry, before layering on  the pieces of torn napkin. I love these sweet cats.
Extra shading with some oxide inks ,  then some leafy  foliage stamps when it had all dried out.
Adding layers  like this I have learnt that drying time is just as important as having fun.
The final addition was the computer generated wording.



I will also be adding this page to
  Art Journal Journey
where I am hosting this month's theme
A world of fantasy....
now wouldn't it be good if we could look at the world through the eyes of our family pets and see what they see and have  them  able  to tell us how it looks to them.......
..................................
...........................................
I am off now to visit with friends over at
Bleubeard and Elizabeths
where each Tuesday we are always made very welcome with a drinks related post

There is my cuppa for today, sat close by as I was adding the words to my journal page.
While I was there  I made a fantasy  digital page, using some Alice in Wonderland images, tea cups and cakes of course had to be added as well as an invitation to join me for  a cuppa.

Ooops nearly forgot to share a photo of my Washi tape collection.   Last week  Eileen and Halli shared photos of their collections and wow they do have an  amazing  variety of  tapes. I think this hoarding bug hasn't hit me yet, but that's not saying it won't in the future.



Thank you for calling in to see me  and I hope you have a great day.

Up, up and away

I am having a quiet and leisurely look at the  world today.

My fantasy  would be to take a ride in a hot air balloon.

It would have to be a warm, sunny day. 

My wish  would be to overcome my fear of flying so I could at least think of travelling this way. 

My page began by using this page in my colouring book as my starting point.

I blended it onto one of my base journal pages in the digital program I use, then added the other images and words.

I will be sharing this at

 Art Journal Journey

where  I am happy to be hosting this month's theme

A world of Fantasy.

Thank you for visiting me, your comments are always very much appreciated.

A bad hair day

I'm having a 'bad hair day'  today.

I never had the courage to have all my hair dyed. Highlights yes.

Bright colours never.

I can just about imagine the words my family would have had to say .

 When my friend dyed her hair pink in her late 50's we all thought good for her.

Me..... I'll stick to my fantasy

The page is in my mixed media journal and the face is a JD tissue.

I found a box of coloured feathers at the back of the shelf and they came in very handy to create the hair. It was easier to add the stencils later for this page as I could tuck the edges under the feathers.

These fabric pages curl up quite a bit when glue and colours are used, so I used a few clips when I took the photos to try and keep the material flat.

Thank you for stopping by to see what I have been creating

I am adding my page to

  Art Journal Journey

 where I am enjoying my time as host this month and seeing all the fabulous inspiration and entries you are sharing there.

Meet Alice, Mary and Marigold

This page  has given me all kinds of fun  stories to  think about.

Are Alice and Mary the  sheep hoping to find a beau?

Have Tweedledum and Tweedledee got lost in the field?

Has  Marigold the highland cow declared herself Queen for the day?

Maybe the cake and flowers are gifts for the boys.?

Such is the world of fantasies.

On the right is the starting point of my page.

A watercolour background, stamped and coloured images. Of course distress oxides to colour and some stencils.

The words were computer generated.

I will be adding this page to 

Art Journal Journey

where I am hosting this months theme of....

A world of Fantasy

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

Diary Day week 37... Paris

Dairy  Day......... and I am  taking a trip to Paris.

Pure Fantasy  and dreams on my part, 

but this is a  city I have visited in the past and the memories   are still with me now.

Again stencils feature on my pages and I reach for my favourite Distress ink pads for colouring. 

The stamps are mainly AA&Create, but I am unsure where the cyclist  came from

The original base page colour was grey

I think dreams and fantasy collide in many of us so, I will be popping over to 

Art Journal Journey

 to add this journal diary spread there.

I am so thrilled that folk are enjoying the theme..A world of Fantasy.. I chose for the month.

The inspiration  from  everyone is awesome.

Thank you for visiting me today, you are always most welcome here.

Who is in your head?

I think you can maybe guess this is my next daily page for

 Art Journal Journey

where I am hosting this months theme....

A world of Fantasy

I think all fantasies begin with  an idea buzzing in your head, you may have time to indulge yourself and dream of what may happen if you followed the path.

Or, think hang on, this is a silly idea and turn off that trend of thought.

So where did  I get to today, another right messy  and inky  one to begin with.

A painted base to the page, lots of stencils and random stamping.  The  face on the  right , is I think is a Stencil Girl product. 

 I had been gifted in the past with some Dylusions canvas toppers, this one one, had just the words that I wanted to use. However they didn't show up so well, nor did the wording on the  stamp with the hands. 

 Cue help from the computer after I had finished the page, I also added a bit of faux stitching.

 So  what was in my head, I have no idea..... today  was about having crafting fun and going where my fantasy wanted to take me.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you all have a good day today.

Mount Fuji

Today  my fantasy is taking me to Japan to see....... Mount  Fuji

A dream destination of mine as well as New York  that I can only visit in ......

A World of Fantasy......my theme for this month at

Art Journal Journey

The page began using one of my own background pages  from my journal.

A  picture of my dream destination

 and cut out Japanese ladies. 

The other additions were added in the digital programs I use [notes in my sidebar].

 So tea close by as usual  I was was about to begin this next AJJ adventure.

I wonder where your fantasy

 destinations would be?

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

I'm learning to Fly.......

Hello everyone who calls in to see me today

My Journal pages  have been made  with  my theme...... A  world of Fantasy...... at

  Art Journal Journey in mind

I am not good with travelling in air planes, it is many years since I did

 and I have no intention of repeating the experience,

 but I  often think that the birds must get a wonderful view as the fly over the land

Even birds, though born to fly,  have to learn the skills when they leave the nest.

I have added a couple of photos to show how this first page   began. I had a think where I wanted to add some paper snippets, grabbed a couple of stencils, some paint

and the messy fun could begin. I didn't use a brush for the paint, just some dried out wipes and kitchen roll.

The papers and washi tape were added next and finally  I stamped the birds and birdhouse. I am not good at hand writing so this was computer generated.

Mrs Henny Penny kept me company and I did actually get to drink my cup of tea  while the paint was drying.

So as its Tuesday

 and its T Day over at Bleubeard and Elizabeths

where we are always made very welcome with a drinks related post

Just for fun and fantasy

 I have  created a digital page

with this cute bird celebrating with a fruity drink. She has earned her wings, she believed she could fly  and she did.

Her fantasy came true

Thank you for calling in and however you spend today I hope it is a good one for you.

Logic and Imagination

An experiment journal spread for the theme I am hosting this month at

Art Journal Journey.

'A world of Fantasy'.

The photo on the left was the starting point. For a while I have wanted to try a technique/experiment  I had seen out there in blogland.

  Ink a piece of string, place it on  to one side of a folded piece of paper

 [ I did this directly into my journal].

Close the paper, remember to leave a little string dangling.

Press down firmly, I remembered my wrist and used a heavy book on top of the journal.

Then pull out the string.

Let your imagination go wild.... what can you see.

I saw two people talking to each other and added the faces in the digital program I use.

I was tempted to try drawing the faces myself, but took the easy option.

I added a stamped quote and some random stamping   in the white spaces.

The more I look at the pages, I now see  the two women wearing witches hats.

I hope you may try this way of making art, it really is good fun.

Thank you for calling in, I hope you have a great day.