My cheer-me-up playlist

It's been too long since I last played in the Green Pepper Press Crusades - but Michelle knows that she can always count on me to join in with the music related challenges, I can never resist :)

Can't believe this is Crusade #57 - I fondly remember number one!

A simple brief then - name and shame the list of songs you can't stop yourself belting out in the car, in the bath, pottering around the kitchen - the ones that lift your spirits every. single. time.

So here's my list - my playlist of pure joy :)

I think I'm going to burn this little lot onto a CD for the car - then if I'm ever feeling a little down, I know I have handy a 100% guaranteed way to cheer myself up :)

(Please don't judge me on McFly and the show tunes!)

AJED : 104/365

A slightly late crusade - my forensic self portrait

Yet another outing for my self portrait stencil - I'm certainly making it earn its keep!

This page is in response to a recent Crusade from Michelle Ward's Green Pepper Press Street Team:

Due April 1st - oops!

The premise was nice and straightforward - document yourself right now in this moment.

This will be really fun to do once a year, to see how my preferences and behaviours change over time...

I was brave and used fabric and the dreaded sewing machine on this page, it behaved perfectly, I must use it more!


AJED : 72 / 365

Didn't we have a lovely time, the week we went to Paris...

So - we're home - achey and exhausted, but we had a great time.

And I NEARLY kept up my art journalling every day - but I must admit that on the very last day, after a very tiring 5 hour trip home with lots of train changes, I was in no fit state :(  So the best I can hope to end the year with is 364/365.  I can live with that, though - I kept up this new years resolution well into February which is a lot better than most! :)

 

I think you'll need to click on these trip journal pages to see them larger if you want to be in with a fighting chance of actually reading any of the writing, but even just at a glimpse they give you a fairly good idea of how much we managed to cram into 3 and a half days (and why we are now so tired! :) )

We spent 2 and a half days in the Disneyland Paris parks going on tons of rides, and meeting the characters.

And we had an action packed day trip into the city of Paris itself, where we visited all the sights, the highlights being Sainte-Chappelle, the Catacombs and travelling right to the very top of the Eiffel Tower at night (blimey, it's a LONG way up!!)

I hope to use this particular journal (a 5"x8" landscape watercolour Moleskine) to record all our trips and holidays this year, it will make a nice memento I think.

These three pages are also my contribution to the current Green Pepper Press crusade - "been there done that" - where the challenge was to document evidence of a trip or an event in your journal.  Thanks to Michelle Ward as ever for the inspiration.

AJED : 49/365

It's a long time since I've been Crusadin'

A long while back, when the perpetually-bursting-with-talent Michelle Ward first started her GPP Street Team Crusades, I used to play along near enough every single month.  I was even lucky enough to win a FANTASTIC prize box once for participating.  I loved the challenge of each new crusade and the little community we had there.

Thanks to the Crusades I tried cutting stencils and masks, making hand carved stamps, paper casts, mail art and many other cool techniques for the first time.

But then my life got so horribly busy....and I just didn't seem to be able to make time to play :(

And would you believe they are now up to challenge number 47?!

And, what's this?  An art journalling challenge?  Hang about....I can actually do this one!!! in my precious 10 minute daily AJED slot!!  Result!

And the great thing is that I was thinking about doing a page to commemorate one specific amazing Christmas present anyway, so this fits RIGHT in :)

I love Michelle's idea of including the wrapping paper that the present was given in on the actual page.  I never would have thought of including this particular wrapping paper in an art journal as you can imagine, but I like that I get to keep a bit of the gift wrap with me.   And I like Michelle's use of the word "evidence" so I included that too (on some hockey tape of course, what else?)

The page is a bit OTT and not exactly fine art, in fact it's ugly as sin, but hey, it was fun to make!

So there it is, probably the only autographed (by the whole 2010/11 roster!!!) Canucks hockey helmet given as a gift this Christmas anywhere in the world in pink Hello Kitty giftwrap :) :)

This page came together over two evenings, so yes, I'm still Art Journalling Every Day! woohoo!

AJED: 6/365

Die Branson Die!!!

I don't mean it really, I quite like Richard Branson. But his employees leave something to be desired. I've had no internet access at home now since first thing Saturday morning, and they won't be able to fix it until Wednesday.

Classic snippet from approx 4 hours of phone calls.

VM: "Sorry madam, we cannot re-activate your internet access as the modem you are using does not appear to be one of ours"

Me: "but...but...but... your engineer gave it to me, and it has a huge sticker on it that says "PROPERTY OF VIRGIN MEDIA"

VM: "Oh, there must be some other reason then"

Yes, yes there must be. any chance one of you could figure out what it is??????

Grrrrr.

But I can't keep you good people in suspense any longer re the contents of THE BOX - so I have brought a CD of piccies into work to show you....

Apologies if this blog post ends up being a little rushed/messy, but am busy at work so I can't spend too much time prettying it up...

Anyway - pic at top is how the parcel first looked when I opened it. Like christmas :) And it smelt lovely too.


the great paper many of the gifts were wrapped in - it says "girl can ROCK" :)


the gift bag says I rock, so who am I to argue?? :D


I wonder what's in this interesting looking scroll...?

OK OK enough teasers - onto the pressies!

In no particular order (other than I am saving the bestest till last), here are all my WONDERFUL goodies:


Tattoo themed scissors!!!


a HIM CD :) :) :) (my other half seemed particularly pleased with this and looked ready to spirit it away, but I managed to keep hold of it)


the contents of the mysterious scroll....a Chili Peppers stencil! (as modelled on the outside of the box)


and matching mask :)


POP ROCKS!!!! (my teenagers almost expired with pleasure when I shared these out :))


Custom guitar picks! (or plectrums to us Limeys)


treble clef paper clips - these are so cool


a fab felt chandelier embellishment....


...and matching notecards (these are particularly timely as I had bought some just like these in Canada in March but have nearly used them all up :))


a hand carved Chilis stamp

and....

this last one made me cry....

here's the box, the tag should have been a dead give away:


but I really wasn't expecting this:


a hand carved stamp of my ORCA!!!!

it is PERFECT, no way could I have made one that brilliant - not even on my imagepac.

I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it I LOVE it

this is genuinely one of the best gifts I have ever received

THANK YOU MICHELLE!!!!

I really really really want to share the contents of the box with you

I really do!

But my internet connection has been playing up since yesterday and I can't upload any pictures to Blogger without it falling over

aarrggghhhh!!!

As soon as I can, I will, promise

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Look look look what the postman just gave me

Look!!!!!

My prize! My prize!

I haven't even opened it yet - I am in love with the box :)



My very own spray painted Michelle Ward original!

And do you see what I see on the back????



A chilis star :)

<3

Going to open it in a bit, will blog again to tell you what's inside :)

Just after I have admired the box some more.....

I raided Connor's crayon stash....

...which turned out to contain precisely ONE crayon - I swear that child eats them.

So - for the latest GPP Crusade - wax rubbings and paint resist - I had one el cheapo orange crayon to play with - it did the trick though :)

Our challenge for this month was to find some interesting textures to crayon rub - and then bring out those textures by applying a wash of paint.

This was great fun - and I got my favourite result from the most unexpected place - the surface of my paper trimmer :)



St Tim's grungeboard also gave an excellent result, as did a Cuttlebug embossing folder.





I did try a couple of rubber stamps too, but found it difficult to get a good impression from these - I had trouble holding the paper still on them.



The photos above are the rubbings before I added paint - at the top of this post you can see the fab resist effect you get from applying a wash of paint over the top and then giving it a bit of a buff with a baby wipe. Here's a close up:


I couldn't wait to use some of these papers on a journal entry - so I used them for the big arrows on my latest A-Z page. J is for job.

I have all sorts of conflicting emotions about work at the moment - best not aired in public :) This page helped me get some of that worked out - especially the journalling on the back of the page :)

Cheaper than therapy, and a lot more fun :)

"Why is mum blendering bog roll????"

(is blendering even a word???)

This month over at the Green Pepper Press street team, the Crusade topic is paper casting.

This is something I have never tried before, but I will definitely be doing it again. It's fun of the highest order.


And it's hard work, but worth it, to keep a straight face as your teenage son and three of his friends look on incredulously as you merrily tear a toilet roll into little strips and run it through the blender :)

(My smoothies have tasted a bit odd ever since.... :D)

I made this huge job lot of casts in one night - some were made with moulds, the rest by pushing the pulp onto an upturned rubber stamp (I think the harlequin stamp could have done with a clean first!).


They took about 48 hours to dry, but once dry they were rock hard and ready to use. And a great thing about these paper casts is that they are really lightweight - so this is a great alternative to clay for projects that you don't want to be too weighed down.

And use them I have - on Little Boxes, of course :)


By the way - that one with the heart and wing? See the background? That is proof positive that you don't need a die cutting machine to use the Cuttlebug embossing folders - I did that with a rolling pin and good old fashioned muscle power :)

I won! I won! I won!

Ooh ooh oooooh!!!!

I am this months Top Hat pick at the GPP Crusades!!!

yay!!!!

*dances around the room with gay abandon* :)

I even get my very own Michelle Ward graphic, as she would say, HOW COOL IS THAT???

Seriously - I have enjoyed this month's crusade so much that it's been a prize in itself. I LOVED the stencil making and can't wait to cut more. The whole house has got into it - my eldest son has already made a couple of t-shirts and they came out great.

In fact the stencil burner has fast become the most fought over tool in the house :)

So to win the draw too is just fab - a wonderful cherry on top of an already delicious cake :)

Looking forward to Crusade #20....

Yes!!!! it worked!!! check out my t-shirt!!! :)

Oh wow this was so nervewracking!

I had to wait for the paint to dry completely before I could peel off the stencil - and I really had no idea if any paint might have bled under and ruined the design completely.

It felt like forever.

But when I took off that stencil and saw the PERFECT result, I whooped out loud :)

Ignore the shiny bits you can see around the design - that's residue from the temp glue I used to hold the stencil down tight on the shirt while I was painting through it. That will just rub off but I want to wait till the morning to make absolutely sure I won't smudge the paint.

Can't wait to wear it :)

(and yes, it's supposed to be off-centre!)


Inge asked for a tutorial.... but there isn't much to tell really. It was amazingly simple.

I lightly coated the back of the mylar stencil with zig glue and let it dry completely for a few hours.

Then I ironed the shirt (which was an interesting experience, I don't think I have used an iron in over a year - apart from the little craft iron I use for ironing distressed tags!! :)) - and laid it flat on the table with a big bit of cardboard inside, just in case the paint leeched through onto the back of the shirt.

Next it was just a case of sticking the stencil onto the front of the shirt, being extra careful with the little detail bits. And then I used a sponge brush with a dabbing motion to apply Lumiere fabric paint all over the design.

I waited an hour or so till the paint was dry, and then peeled off the stencil. And whooped :)

Tomorrow I'll need to iron it to heat set it, and then it will be washable and all finished.

This is the first of many t-shirts for me, that's for sure. I already have a couple more stencils cut, but they are for pressies, so I can't show them on here....

Oh, and on a completely different subject - here's Cons yesterday when we went caching in Chiseldon: