Witches Brew for.... Diary Day

Oh it is Friday again  and slowly getting closer to Halloween night.

I used gesso and home mixed colours  for the base of the page, added some stencils and some random stamping.  The witch and her cat are   a fantastic die cut  that  Avril  kindly  sent  me.

I will be joining the folk over at 

Art Journal Journey

and Linda's theme of Creature Comforts.

Look under the mushrooms and  you will see a creature lurking there.
and joining in over at.....
Thats Crafty Challenge Blog   for the ' Spookilicious' theme
and
Stamps and Stencils  for their Spooky Fun with an Autumnal Twist

I am also  adding a reminder for the current Try it on Tuesdays 

challenge theme.... Trick or Treat ..... there is still a few more days  for you to join us .

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

Now for something really different from me

I have a small Kraft card journal, bought in a well known bargain shop here in the UK.  the page size is  nearly 6 inches square.    After my efforts with the black last week I decided to give it an outing.

I used the gesso as a wash stamped a flower on some teabag paper  added some scrap material and word stamps[ Lynne's Affirmation. Stamps and ALL&Create] . 

  Lynne's blog is inspiring.

 The additional colours were distress oxides.  I think I will be trying

 this kind of page again soon.

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

Flying Creatures and a bit of History.

Its getting close to Halloween, those creatures will be about and flying around soon..

This page isn't quite how I wanted it to look  the uneven surface of this journal pad doesn't give a crisp image, but  I decided to share it with you
 as we all have these kind of days when nothing goes to plan.
It is an inky background and I used a variety of stamped images as well as some stencils.
Well the bats are flying around and the owl is looking rather sinister so I will join the folk again at
Art  Journal Journey
 and Linda's theme of
Creature Comforts

Now I will call in to
 Bleubeard and Elizabeths
where we are always very welcome each Tuesday if we share a drinks related post.

One of our trips our recently was to visit Durham Cathedral.
This is a link if you are interested in its history, it is a  UNESCO World Heritage site

There is renovation work going on and one of the towers was all wrapped up
Taking photos inside were not allowed.

The green outside the Cathedral looked beautiful on this autumn day,
These photos will give you an idea of how it looked.

The main door, shows a replica of the Sanctuary knocker.
The photo I took of its history isn't so clear so I have added another link.

The last two living floral displays,
  represented the badge of the Durham Light Infantry.

At long last I am including photos of my drink of the day

In Durham's indoor market there is a very nice cafe,

 set up a flight of stairs at the back of the hall, in the roof space   and looks down onto the  stalls.

Its always busy and the food, wholesome and delicious.

I had vegetarian quiche and my usual pot of tea..

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you all have a super day. 

Happy days are........

Happy Days..... are play days.

I made this tag for  the theme over at

 Tag Tuesday 

the theme is.....Bunting or Flags

It is a random stamped and mop up base. 

The faces are   Jane Davenport's, the bunting is  from an  All&Create set. 

The leaf trimmings are computer generated.

So what else have I been up to?

Into my comfort zone and getting messy is the answer to that question.

A mop up background page, lots of stencils I did use some modelling paste for texture,  

stamps old and new[ All&Create].

I did stamp this image onto rice paper as there was to much uneven surface

 underneath to stamp direct.

 I was in my comfort zone  lots of colour  and of course coloured fingers added to the fun.

I will join in again at....

 Art Journal Journey

 and Linda's  theme  of

Creature Comforts.

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

Something wicked for... Diary Day and a bit of a mess.

Its Friday  and Diary day, these weeks seem to be flying by.

I'm in Halloween mode again with these wonderful creatures in bottles [Paper Artsy]

The background is as usual stencils, coloured with oxide inks.

I coloured my creatures with water colours.

I will be sharing this at ...

Art Journal Journey

 and Linda's theme of Creature Comforts.

I have also  managed to have time to  'play'  in my craft room today  using  a journal

 with black pages.

I thought it was a good idea to have  black pages, but soon realised  that for me to use them it would involve a lot of white gesso. I might try stamping with white paint sometime as well.

I didn't want to cover all the page and I still wanted to use stencils and some random stamping.

Oxide inks seemed to work, by this time I was in a happy mess and about to tear out the pages as  I had managed to get a hole in the page on the right, when  I tried to blend some colours with my fingers.

I stamped an image to  cover  it over  using washi tape to keep it in place, 

 even she is not guaranteed to remain  on this page.

This is still very much work in progress, but for now I did have an option

 and that was to go to the computer

and complete a  spread that I am happy with,  in the digital program I use..

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

Trick or Treat at TioT's

Trick or Treat

Its Halloween time at...

 Try it on Tuesdays.

We hope you will join in our Halloween fun.

Please pop over to see all the details and what we have been making for this theme.

I have made a Halloween card using stamps  that I cannot name,  as the packaging has long been discarded. The background  is simply shaded with distress oxide inks and sprayed with a home   made colour spray.

I wouldn't want to meet this gal on a dark evening would you?

I will be joining the Challenges over at

Thats Crafty--Spookalicious
Stamps and Stencils- Spooky/Autumn colours

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

A tea day post, pages and pies.

Autumn  is a lovely season, but  some days it is not

the right light to take photographs.

I  have been using my newest mixed media  journal book and no two pages  are the same material

I decided to use my favourite leaf stamps on both sides, adding some script stamps as well.

The stamped [Aall&create] and layered image on the right side was stamped onto a piece of mop up rice paper then onto card so I could fussy cut the dragonfly.

. I also added a few extra scraps  that were lying around the desk,

 the pile never seems to get smaller.

 I will add these pages  to

  Art Journal Journey

and Linda's theme of Creature Comforts.

Maybe there are no dragonflies around at this time of year, but the colours of autumn are

  and this is a season of the year that makes me happy.

The photo on the left is   closer in colour to the base layers than the finished photo .
As you can see I was enjoying a cup of my favourite brew,
 I will be  joining friends over at Bleubeard and Elizabeths
where we are always made to feel very welcome with a drinks related post.

A short while ago we stayed for a few days in the Lake District, so I will share a few more photos of another National Trust House we visited, Townend  at Troutbeck
It is a lovely 17th Century Farmhouse  with wonderful views, although the day we visited was rather grey and overcast, but  it was worth the trip .

On the right are photos of the  Barn, which we couldn't visit as it is still used  as a farm barn
A link to the house is here
and the barn is  here.

Inside the house was, as advertised , very dark and we couldn't use a flash on the camera,
but I hope the next few photo will give you an idea of the wonderful wood furniture and carving.

The Library and the Dining room.
Again food made fresh but not to be eaten.

This was the kitchen, there was an open fire and range for cooking.

This game pie had just been cooked and added to the display on the dining room table.

The pastry work looked amazing. All that work so visitors could see the kind  of detail that was  added to what our guide said was a typical family pie of the times.

Thank you for calling in , you are very welcome here and I hope you have a lovely day

Things that go Bump in the night for ..... Diary day

 Friday..... is diary day 

It's getting near Halloween and I can see it getting more popular here in the UK

 as the years roll on by.

So I thought my diary pages for the rest of the month   would reflect this time of the year.

It was a pre- coloured page in shades of grey and did have some printed flowers.  Just the right moody colours. I added stencils as usual using distress inks, coloured the flowers and  tried to give a few a scared, startled  look. .

The skeleton's head and crown are All&create stamps.  I did give them a bit of a  hair do [grin], so they looked a bit smarter  for their night out.

I will join the folk at Art Journal Journey

and Linda's theme Creature Comforts

 as this page does have  creatures that I wouldn't want to meet on a dark night.

Thank you for calling in to see me today.

I hope you all have a good weekend.