52 Pages 2011

page 30. Smile.

I made a list of things that make me smile, my favourite things. there was such a jumble of them, and all different, how to pick just one??? so I didn't. I picked them all, well as many as I could fit on the page.

I started with gesso and doilies....doilies are fabulous, all vintage and full of memories about grandparents, plus they are a perfect symbol of one of my all time faves...CAKE.

I added some watercolour crayon, these are my fave mediums to use. NEOCOLOR II's

More doilies, more colour, now I have another fave going on. TEXTURE...it never fails to make me smile.

Then I hunted for images of my smilie things, some were stamped, some were cut from magazines.
The letter R.
Kissing
Giraffes
Hearts
Fabric
Quotes

More stamping,colouring, and my fave shiny thing...I don't usually love gold stuff but I do love
 TREASURE GOLD WAX.
Also some beads and some text.

On the back yet more faves.
Stripey socks
Boots
Skulls
Skelebobs
Architecture
Books
Music

And finally some wonderful POETRY, that gave me the biggest smile.

Tipsy Cupcakes

I haven't given you a new recipe in ages, so here goes.

6oz dried mixed fruit
3 TBspns rum

4 oz SR flour
4 oz wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
5 oz oil
5oz peeled and grated courgette/zucchini (I happened to have some fresh from the garden)

2 oz butter
4 oz icing sugar
3oz double cream,whipped
1TB rum

A good handful of flaked almonds

A couple of hours before you start, soak the fruit in 3TBS rum and a drop of boiling water.Drain but save the liquid.

Then sieve your flours,spices,baking powders.
Add the sugar,fruit and courgette

whisk the eggs and oil, add in 2 TB of the rum liquid from the fruit

Mix everything together and pop into cupcake/muffin paper cases.

Bake Gas mark 4 for around 25 mins.

Mix up the butter,icing sugar, and the whipped cream, add the rum.  Depending on the consistency you can pipe onto the cakes or spread on.

Finally top with a few toasted almonds. You can pop these in a tray and put at the bottom of the oven while the cakes are cooking.

Enjoy!

The Icelandic Page.

I started this double spread by colouring the gessoed pages using neocolours,then I drew Celtic symbols, and printed off some Celtic images which I coloured.

Next I added lots of Celtic stamping, some white acrylic and more neocolours. I repeated this a couple of times to achieve the layers. I then dripped water from the top of each page, s that it would run through all the colours.

I added even more white acrylic.

Next I wanted to draw a tree, I worried about this no end and went on a tree research trip to the local cemetary...twice in fact...and took over 100 photos of the trees...and squirrels.

Anyway....after much squirrel distraction I finally sat down to draw the tree, I have no idea why I worried, it wasn't that difficult at all.  I drew it onto cartridge paper then cut it out and glued it into the journal.                                                                                                                    

Then I coloured it, first with neocolurs and then with prisma pencils.

for the other page sketched out my hero of the Saga, I hadn't thought this would be difficult, but it was, and even now the page is finished I am not happy with it. but you know what, it's only a journal page and not the end of the world. So the image was cut out and glued in as before.

Then I coloured that. At this point I was supposed to be drunken skyping with Amy, so I valiantly downed a bottle of wine while colouring and waiting. Ms.Amybear where did you get to hmmmm...a little more than slightly tipsy is not recommended for colouring in, as it really didn't go to plan hahaha Actually once the next layer of white acrylic was rolled over it wasn't so disastrous.

Back to the tree, my journalling for this page came after I watched a programme on the Icelandic Sagas, and I decided to write the journalling in this style.

Now as I really quite liked the tree I didn't want to just glue the printed sheet down. I did think of Safmat, but that would have still left straight edges, and printing on tissue paper just annoys the hell out of me. So I decided to copy the text out by hand. now this was never going to be neat. I do not do calligraphy. I have the pens, I have the ink...but that's as far as it goes.

So I never aimed for it to be neat, instead I made it deliberately messy. I wrote out the text and added lots of ink splodges, more stamping, more white acrylic,more neocolours...and finally some rings of paint around the edges. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I also added the extra stamping and colouring and ink splodges and paint rings to the other page. Plus I stencilled the title down the left page.  I still don't care much for the left page, but I love the tree page, and that's ok, because really the spread is all about the journalling..which is on the tree page, so it is only right that that page is the one that worked out..and I love how it looks here, just dropped on the bed, looks like a kids fairytale book...

52 pages 2011

Page 30. Smile

Definition.= to assume a facial expression indicating pleasure,favour or amusement.

What made you smile today? What one thing is guaranteed to always make you smile? What memory always brings a smile to your face?

52 pages 2011

page 29. Community.

Never is community more apparent than when we stand shoulder to shoulder for the common good not fighting..but definitely with force. Seeking change demanding reform...we do this using our vote. It doesn't always work but it is our right to wield this power. For women it was not always so. ..and so I got to googling the suffragettes.

I had some Indian ink out for another project, so I painted my page with ink.

I wiped it back with a baby wipe.

I sprayed over this with a blue shimmer spray.

then I found my Suffragettes image and printed that to photo paper. I sanded back the edges then laid the photo over various stencils and sanded again. this is like doing a rubbing with crayons it has the same effect. However you do have to use a rigid stencil as you need strong edges a flimsy acetate stencil will not work. I used an alphabet stencil and sanded over the letters VOTE and also a flower stencil in the corners.

I

















While reading about the Suffragettes I kept seeing images of the jewellery they wore, which was predominantly silver purple and green. So I set about making a replica piece just from chipboard and plastic gems.

I finished the edges by dipping them in clear versamark and silver UTEE. I then rubbed black stazon over the edges to dull them.

On the back I stuck down a crumpled and distressed vintage ballot paper.

I wrote my journalling quote on and added a little UTEE to the edges.

52 pages 2011

Page 29. Community


Definition= a group of people who live and grow together

Describe your neighbourhood…are you an active part of that community, or are you a watcher? What community projects have you started or taken part in?

52 Pages 2011

Page 28 Pledge...woo hoo I am on time this week, actually I am early...go me!

I didn't have a clue about this page, I can recall no pledges ever being made. I never got married so no pledges there either. I make a point of not really making promises, because as soon as you do you are unable to keep them, and I really didn't want to do a page about furniture polish...so what to do hmmmm

then I remembered this little poem that i had sent to  friend ages ago, sorry I have no idea who it is by.

I used my faux lumiere paints that I mixed up, and first brayered yellow on both the front and back. now I have a bit of a problem with yellow, I really do not like the colour yellow, it is the colour of bad and wrong. it does not make me feel sunshiny and happy, I don't know why.

So I brayered blue over the yellow.

then I painted the brown onto some corrugated cardboard and used it as a stamp.

I heated it to dry it...cos I am impatient, plus I love to watch things bubble up...this paint did not disappoint, in fact it bubbled fantasmagorically.

Now I am not sure if this is the front or the back, really I guess an image should go on the front, but as the poem/quote was my inspiration..I am thinking this might be the front. I wrote it out onto lined  kraft paper, and glued it down, but I only glued it at the top, so you can lift it to still see the bubbled paint..cos I lubs that bit.

On t'other side...I stamped more brown..no bubbling this time. Oh I also stencilled some red paint around the edges.

then I wasn't really sure what to put on it. I ended up with an image from google, that I distressed around the edges, curled up, dabbed some red paint on and glued down.

PROJECT 2012...

Oh and I have been pondering on a new weekly project for next year, as a few people told me they wished they had seen this challenge sooner, but felt they couldnt join in as they were so far behind...it really doesn't matter, you can join in whenever you wish...and you dont hve to do all the pages anyway...but i digress...so, yes..next years weekly challenge will be announced around November time, so plenty of time for people to decide if they want to join in come January. All I will say is that it will involve a different country around the world each week, so if you think you might want tojoin in start collecting foreign stuff...

MIMM

Some more of my MIMM journal. I am having so much fun playing with this little book.

Amy, you definately have to do it, you will love it.

So here is the inside of the front cover..

page 5 which is about skin...

page 6 and 7 which are all about what is going on inside my head.

page 8  and 9 which are  all about my heart and love..

pages 10 is all about my hands..

and page 11 which is all about my feet..

page 12 is about me..

and page 13 is about my house..

Again I have left spaces on all the pages to go back and fill in the relevent answers.

I have almost finished the book, but there are still 20 tags to make which will slip into the pockets between the pages.

52 pages 2011

Page 28. Pledge


Definition=a serious or formal promise

A pledge of friendship, fidelity,love,charitable contribution…what pledges have you made and did you stick to them? How important are promises to you? Have people let you down with broken promises?

52 pages 2011

week 27 Illuminate..

I live in the North East UK, we have some famous Illuminated manuscripts up here known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, so I decided to use them as my inspiration this week.

I started by spraying ink through a circle stencil on both the back and the front.

then I added Latin text using a background stamp.

To the front I added a layer of stencilling using the faux Lumiere paints I made last week, I used the green and the brown.

then I added the Celtic/Illuminated letter D that I had drawn and coloured with promarkers.

Finally I added some gold wax around the edges.

On the back I added my journalling over some book print.

as we are now over half way, I thought I would show you my growing collection of little pages. out of the 27, there are only 4 that I really do not like. there are 10 that i think are ok, and 13 that i love....I think those are pretty good results all round.

If you have been playing along I would like to know how you feel about the pages you have made so far, do you love them? are there any that you would do differently?