Reach out for AJJ

A journal spread for Susi's fun theme over at

  Art Journal Journey

Collage with a twist...... no faces, leaves or wings.

My book is getting very thick and chunky and nearly impossible to get a photo of it open

The background is layers of paints, crayons and stamps.

The hand, is my own, which I drew around and recalled some happy memories of  doing the same thing, with the children in school.

The splashes of white, the  readable quote [not my  handwritten one  beside the hand] were added  digitally.
I even found some letters to use on the hand itself , goodness knows how long I have
 had those in the scrappy box.

The shapes I cut free hand from scraps of embossed card.

A memory came to mind here, this time with a blind  girl.  I met first of all when she was  a Girl Guide , boarding in a school for  Blind children.

She learnt to use her hands like we use our eyes. Introducing her to someone new, always meant having to explain that she would need to touch their face,

 shapes meant a lot to her. 

In case you wonder, she became a teacher herself at the school, which sadly is now closed,

Thank you for calling in to see me today,

you are most welcome

 and your comments are very much appreciated.

Collage with a twist at AJJ

The new theme for November at
  Art Journal Journey

 has been

set  for us by Susi,

but she hasn't made it an easy one, it's

Collage with a twist....no faces, no wings , no leaves.

This is my first journal spread  for the theme
The base pages started off with a splashed background and some torn scraps

I tried to soften the bright green with a coat of gesso.

But as you can see in my first picture I had a relapse and added some bright colours.

I found that if I rubbed the gesso with a damp  cloth, before it all dried, I could  erase the white and get the green splaters  to show up again.
Next up was a brush over with some brighter water colour....yellow.

I added another couple of left overs, the quote and the pointing finger. My fingers by this time were a lovely shade of yellow as well

I used a stencil for the words on the background which relate to the messy  painting adventures I was having,
 as well as a script stamp.

So after all the fun with the paint and changing my mind about the colour, I decided to use some digital additions to the right side of the spread.

It just had to be a selection of art related bits and pieces.

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

Tea and bargain books.

Its Tuesday and time to visit with friends over at

Bleubeard and Elizabeths

First of all I want to share a couple of bargain books , that just had to come home with me.

Bought from a local village  Charity Book sale on Saturday.

They only cost me £1 each and I know I will enjoy both.

Naturally the first thing I did on getting them home was to make a cuppa and settle down to have a first look at them

Yummy recipes.

this Vegetable Paella will be tried soon.

Awesome posters by David Hockney,

This book I thought at first  I  would  alter and make into a journal. but, maybe later after I have enjoyed looking at all the contents a few times.

Now these books were so  good to browse,, my cuppa  got cooler

 and was cold by the time I remembered to drink it.

So after all this inspiration I decided to finish off a page I had been colouring in,

It has taken me a while and it is so NOT  my style, but it was fun and kept my hands  busy.

Here she is after a few digital  alterations.

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

Happy T day everyone.

Golden October meets Halloween

I thought yesterday may have been my last journal page for Valerie's  October theme at

Art Journal Journey

When I was using some of these brighter colours the other day,

 I  started  this 8 x 8 inch  page, got distracted after I added the stencils and the canvas topper,

put it to one side..... to dry,

 then started on another piece.

To finish the page I  have added a quote,

 spread some gilding wax over the now,  well dried stencil paste.

So  thank you for a super theme for October at AJJ and I look forward

 to what you have in store for us next month.

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Happy Halloween
 to everyone

Thank you for taking time to call in and see me today.

Your comments and visit is always very much appreciated.

Digital images from

Mischief Circus kits

were used on the

second page.

A wise owl for AJJ

 A journal page for Valerie's theme this month.. at

Art Journal Journey

There should be more days this month as I have really enjoyed this theme.

October--- the colours on the tree have changed and the greens that are left .

all seem to be dull with tinges of yellow.

   They crackle and crunch as they get trodden into the ground.

This journal page was  sprayed with water colours,

  The remnants from a couple of home made mixes. Next a bit of random stamping.

 The bird on the fence stamped directly to the page, but my owl had to be stamped onto tissue. 

The quote was a digital addition.

Thank you for taking time to call in and see me,

your visits are always very much appreciated.

Who's watching you tonight for AJJ

 Only a few more days to join  the folk  over at 

Art Journal Journey

for this months theme...Indian summer/Golden October/Autumn

I was  still thinking about the wonderful colours of Autumn

when I created this digital page.

As its near Halloween I just had to make it a little scary .

Thank you for calling in to see me today,

you are most welcome and your comments are always appreciated..

Made using Mischief Circus images

 and a few of my own additions

Spooky or not? for AJJ

Are you scared at Halloween time ?

Well, I'm not.

Halloween is something that wasn't celebrated  when my boys were young.

they are in their 40's now. It was more about Guy Fawkes and fireworks.

Here where we live in the UK its growing in popularity

 and families seem to gather together for a party.

Parents go with the children to be sure they are safe, and its usually arranged where they call.

This is the base of the page in my hybrid  journal.

Splashes of colour, using Brusho powder on wet paper.

A word stencil  came next. 

After the photo was taken it was finished digitally, the fingers were not so good today for hands on crafting.

I  will join the folk at
  Art Journal Journey,

for Valerie's theme ...October there is only 5 days left till we celebrate the last day of the month and
 Halloween

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

Additional digital images from

mischief Circus kits and my

own stored ones.