Chasing Butterflies

Hello there once again dear friends. Horace here on this slightly warmer weekend to show you my latest journal page.

So, now it's a little warmer, I've braved the desk in the bedroom. I admit, I had the electric fire plugged in while I crafted, it's certainly not warm enough without it just yet. I was feeling creative so pulled out the large Dylusions journal to play in. As you see, the desk is very well covered, the plastic cloth even covers part of the wall behind the desk. This is because last time I played with India inks in the bedroom, I upturned the whole bottle and it dripped down the wall, behind the desk, onto the floor.... The whole bedroom needed redecorating after that little mishap. Now it's cover everything or play in the garden only, and it's still far too chilly for that as yet!!



My page background consists of old book pages which are liberally sprayed with Dylusions and other mists. Then I added some texture paste through a star stencil and waited 10,000 years for it to dry so I could paint my stars. Next time I think I'll mix the colour into the texture paste before applying it!



I wanted to add some stamping to my background. I keep all my stamps in these A4 ring lever arch ring binders.


Inside the ring binders are A5 plastic wallets that I pawchased from The Works, a shop that sells a bit of everything really, books, stationery, art supplies.....


I chose my favourite Tim Holtz background stamps, these are very well used.


I dipped the stamps into white acrylic paint


And randomly stamped the image across the page.


Last Christmas I received this horror colouring book, it has images from films in.


I think this is the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He suited my theme idea perfectly. I coloured then cut him out.


Next I sorted through my veritable stash of ephemera and found some flutterbyes. Perfect.


I need another jar of Golden matt medium, this one is down to scrapings now.


I used the Cricut for my wordage, and my favourite Type Candy font.


I wanted the page to look like my man was attempting, but failing, to catch the butterflies, hence the bigger butterflies were nearer his too small net.


Here's the completed page, Chasing Butterflies.


Time for small smackeral after all that creating.

TTFN

With love from Horace.

WOYWW - Lifebook doings

Hello there and welcome once more to the Wednesday fun that is WOYWW, a fabulous blog hop where we all nose at desks across the world. Click on the link, read the how to and join in the fun.

This week I'm still in the lounge due to the bedroom, where the craft desk is, still being a little chilly. I'm hoping it'll start to warm up in the coming weeks but for now the emergency desk will do me fine.



I'm creating a dream catcher as part of my Lifebook class. The background is made from old safety envelopes, then painted over with metallic paint. What a shame the shimmer doesn't show on the photos as it looks fabulous on paper.

In the class, the tutor adds a doily to the page, I had a doily stencil so used that and stippled white acrylic through. I then poked holes through and added some string, from which I dangled Sizzix heart die cuts. These were all painted with the same metallic paints as the background.



I may add some dangly words to my page. I haven't quite decided yet. I'll let it sit for a while until I decide.


I'm off for a blog hop before I pack my stash away. See you soon.

With love from Horace.

It's Never a Good Idea

Hello, it's me, Horace here again to show you my completed page from this week's WOYWW post. I was in the middle of finishing my page, which was in response to too much over sharing of personal lives on social media. I came to the conclusion that it's never a good idea to air your dirty laundry in public, and as I thought this furry thought, a vision of dirt stained laundry flapping on a washing line rippled through my brain. I just had to get my journal out and create.


My laundry was drawn, coloured and cut and my washing poles drawn in, and a simple sky and grass background added. I glued the tops of the laundry over the string washing line and left the bottoms of the clothing free, as if the washing was flapping in the breeze. I halved my mini pegs so my journal still had half a chance of closing. I added a sentiment with marker pens and hey presto, my thoughts are recorded.


See you soon.

With love from Horace.

WOYWW - Dirty Laundry

Hello dear friends and welcome once again to another WOYWW , the first in February. If you're wondering what that strange acronym can mean then click on the link and be transported into a world of blog hopping and desk noseyness, hosted by Julia at Stamping Ground.

So what am I doing this week? Abandoning the desk in the bedroom for a start. As the weather grew colder, so did the north facing bedroom. This, coupled with the lack of light in the room lead me to set up my emergency craft station in the lovely warm south facing living room.


After seeing various over sharing posts on many social media posts, an idea for a journal page crept into my furry mind. I'm of the (maybe old fashioned ) opinion that dirty laundry should not be aired in public, no matter what the provocation. I felt strongly enough to have a little visual rant in my Dylusions journal.



I drew some clothes, coloured them then added smidges of 'dirt' with my Albrecht Duhrer watercolour pencils. I cut the items of clothing out and added them to my 'washing line' .


I found some cute mini pegs in The Range, perfect for my page, so I spent this week's pocket money on a pack.



My washing line was some string from an Art from the Heart purchase.


I made holes in my washing poles to feed the string washing line through. It'll add some texture to the other side of the page when I come to journal on it.


Now I just need to add the pegs to my washing to complete my page. I think I'll have a little blog hop before finishing though.


With love from Horace.

A Vicious Circle

Hello again. I thought you might like to see my completed page from this week's WOYWW post. I collaged old road map and book pages over the whole page, Gessoed over then added some texture paste through a stencil around the edge of the page, being careful to avoid the middle. I then used a circle stencil to create a large circle in the middle of the page with more texture paste. I used a LOT of texture paste on the circle and it really stands out.


Next I cut some artful arrows from a Sizzix die and positioned them around the circle. I used a marker pen around them to make them POP.


Finally, I cut words using my Type Candy Cricut cartridge. This is my most used cartridge as it has several fonts in one. I dripped some blue acrylic ink from the circle outwards and hey presto, a journal page. The Vicious Circle.


See you soon,

With love from Horace.

WOYWW - a vicious circle

Hello again dear blog hoppers and followers. It's that time of the week again where us nosey inquisitive WOYWWers get to snoop at desks of crafters across the globe courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground. Go and check out her blog, take a pic of your desk and join in the fun.

This week I'm working in my large Dylusions journal. I have an inkling of an idea for a collaged page so am starting with some old road maps ripped and stuck randomly onto my single page spread. The RHS has already been decorated with another attempt at the whimsical lettering page from a Lifebook class. Although I'd already completed the lesson on watercolour paper, I liked it enough to have another play in the journal.



The LHS will be filled with the ripped road map pages and any other co ordinating papers. As you can see, I already have some papers to the left of the desk waiting to be ripped and glued. I'm not entirely sure where the page is going right now, but that's half the fun of journalling isn't it?

Right, I'm off for a blog hop before completing my page. TTFN.

With love from Horace.

Quilty Pleasures

Hello friends, it's Horace here today, and probably will be for much of the blog postings from now on. The other bears have abandoned their blogging but I shall try and keep up with it.

I've been feeling in a stitchy mood of late. I made myself a quilt not so long ago, and was pleased enough with it to want to make another for the cub. I bought some purple fat quarters, which I cut into 8" squares with a quilting square, so much easier than trying to measure and paw cut 40 plus squares to an exact size. Once cut, I began to piece them all together in a random pattern. This part takes me ages, as I always find I have two matching squares next to each other. I then have to play quilty jigsaws until it looks as random as possible.



Once stitched together, I found the pattern had completely changed anyway, despite stitching row by row, then length by length. I think I inadvertently turn some of the rows before I stitch the length, oh well, it's random enough, if you ignore that pink line going on!




Every quilt needs binding, but it's so expensive to buy. I always make my own, out of cheap sheets bought from Asda ( other supermarkets are available!!) I bought myself a 2 1/2" ruler just for this purpose. Just in case you need to know, to make bias binding, you fold a sheet of fabric into a triangle, then cut down like so, this allows you to cut along the bias (meaning the fabric is stretchy, rather than taut.


Once I'd cut enough long strips to travel the length of the river Nile, I began to piece the strips together, to make one continuous strip of bias binding. This is done by putting right side to right side, at right angles like so....


I then sewed a straight line down the fabric


You should end up with this, cut off the excess fabric, taking care not to cut into your stitches.



Leaving you with a line of fabric. Press this for a smooth finish.


Here's my bias binding, I wonder, if I left one end at home, how far I would get with the rest of it? It is rather long.



I made sure I had enough to go all around my quilt... I did, and more, and more....


Next, I took my quilt top and used some temporary spray to adhere it to my cotton wadding.



I then added backing fabric - another sheet from Asda cut to size- and sewed in between all the lines of the squares, this took me ages, I only have small paws and the quilt was rather large.



Now it was back to the binding. I followed a Youtube tutorial for this, first I sewed the binding to the front of the quilt, leaving enough to fold over and hide the sewn line. I then flipped the quilt over, folded the bias binding tight, and began to sew. Next time I make a quilt, I may look for a tutorial for machine sewing the binding on front and back, as my paw sewing skills are not that good.


Anyway, I eventually completed the quilt, and presented it to the cub yesterday as an early birthday present. She seemed to like it, and hopefully it will keep her warm in the coming cold spell we've been promised!


With love from Horace.

WOYWW - It's Despicable!!!

Hello there on another WOYWW Wednesday in January.


Is it cold where you are? It's a little chilly here but nothing compared to up north (UK) I've been keeping busy with art journalling, both the Lifebook course and anything else that takes my fancy along the way.

A while back we watched the Disney film, Despicable Me, after which I had the urge to draw the minions. Recently I was flicking through my art journal and found the blank right hand page next to my minions. I decided to draw another character from Despicable Me to tie in with the left hand minion page and searched the Internet for a sketch to follow. I found Dragoart, a web page chock full of drawing tutorials on many subjects, including the characters from Despicable Me. I decided to copy the tutorial for Agnes, and here she is ready to go in my journal.



I decorated my blank journal page with old book papers, Gessoed over the top then used my Neocolours to make a colourful background for Agnes to sit on. I tried to coordinate the colours with the minions. As you can see, once I've finished creating I'm a bit of a neat freak, in fact, sometimes I tidy as I go, which can be incredibly annoying when I realise I've put away something I need again!! This picture was taken before I glued Agnes down on the page as I was debating whether to add more to the background.


On the book chair to the right is a canvas I started decorating last year. I got so far and didn't know what else to do with it, so I've left it out hoping inspiration would strike, so far it hasn't! The panda to the front of the desk is my lovely ipad cover, and to the back you can see a mini pooh beanie, which the cub bought me for Christmas, and yes, it really is that dull in the bedroom during the day. We have 4 lights in there and sometimes still check that they're all on. The joys of a north facing room!

Anyway, I have actually glued Agnes onto the page now, and here she is. I decided not to add more to the background. Sometimes I go a little crazy and throw everything at the page, but for this I decided less was more.



See you soon,

With love from Horace.

Jarred Off

Hello again. After yesterday's post telling you all about my Lifebook journal jar, I thought you might like to see the finished product. I think when you last saw it the jar was completely undecorated. I started by gluing on some sheet music and old Jane Austen book papers. I then Gessoed over the jar, and scribbled on some neocolour 2 crayons. These were blended with a damp paintbrush.

I had some flower stamps which I had never used, this was the perfect project for them as they are long and thin. I stamped fairly randomly over the jar on all sides. Then I was stuck wondering how to finish the jar.







I didn't want to write on the jar but I wanted it to reflect the fact that it would be a jar of memories. I looked through my stash and found a book of mini text. Rather than write one word or sentiment, I thought I'd go for broke and add every word that went with the theme.





Around every side.





Sometimes accidentally repeating words, oh well.





I had an awful lot of words that were apt.





I thought I should use a sentiment for the top, Tam, who hosted this Lifebook class used the phrase 'jar of awesome' but awesome is not a word I use. I didn't want to write 'perfect' so went with the simple statement ' my year'.





I've started filling the jar already. At first I thought I should write down one good thing every single day, but realised this was setting myself up for failure, and spoilt the spontaneity of the project. What if I just add things as they happen. Some days I may find three lovely things to write about, other days may pass without me adding anything, that's okay.





At the end of the year, or periodically through the year, I can open my jar and read lots of lovely happenings. What a great way to lift the spirits.

With love from Horace.