That's better, isn't it? The temperatures, I mean. They have dropped a good 10 degrees so it's now 21C in my bedroom instead of 31C - makes it much easier to sleep and I have a lot of sleep to catch up on! I got by on just 3-4 hours for the past two weeks, it seems.
My desk this morning:
I've been continuing with the #junkjournaljuly challenge - there are only a few more days/pages left. This month flew by so quickly! The prompts for the past week were: textured, negative space, sparkle, photograph, warmth, thankful. You can see a glimpse of today's prompt (stencil) in the journal lying open on my desk, but I'll post that spread next week, so I only have these three for today:
These roses would have normally ended up in my cooking pot but as it was so hot, I didn't do any eco-dyeing up until Friday night, so I just let them dry out, but aren't they still beautiful?
Last Friday evening, as soon as the cooler air arrived, I didn't waste any time and got eco-dyeing again! I had an uncontrollable urge to play - I was still at it at 11 pm with the doors/windows wide open! I ended up with some really grungy papers, which is what I wanted:
My African Daisies are looking good at the moment. I couldn't get myself to destroy them, so I only cut one lucky/unlucky flower head to try, which is now immortalised on paper.
It's such a relief having cooler temperatures. I know it gets much hotter in other parts of the world, but that's a different king of dry heat, whereas here in the UK, it's the added humidity that makes it so unbearable. Either that, or we're just wimps LOL! My husband thinks the 50C temperatures in Death Valley, California seemed less uncomfortable than the 30C+ we had here last week. (plus, they have air-conditioning there!) Anything much above 21 C degrees is out of my comfort zone!
So yesterday was my first day back at work since October 2020. I was ordered encouraged to go back to the office so things can go back to "normal" - it's just a shame the day didn't come with normal temperatures. For me going to work means a 6-mile round trip on foot and let me tell you I wasn't having much fun. (I can drive, though I prefer not to but it wasn't even an option as one car is out of action and the other one was in my husband's use who had to drive all the way to Bristol, leaving much earlier.) It was not too bad on the way there, but coming back between 3:30 - 4:30 during the hottest part of the day, carrying shopping and my laptop, I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it. At one point I resorted to pouring a bottle of water over myself - I'm not kidding - it may have saved my life. When I got home, my son thought I got burned in the sun I was so red (not the case as thankfully I had remembered to put sun block on in the morning) but my body was overheated and my head pounding. After standing in a cool shower for 15 minutes, I started feeling normal again. So was it worth it? NO, IT WAS NOT! I could have done the exact same work from home in lot more comfortable conditions - and done a better job too being less exhausted. At the same time, they want to bring down CO2 but still insist on people getting back to the office causing congestion in rush hour traffic. It doesn't make sense! I really think the furture will be home working for office staff, but we just haven't got there yet. Thanks for reading my rant - now onto happier things! I won't have to go back until Friday and by then hopefully the temperatures will have dropped to more humane levels.
I'm still working on my Junk Journal for the #junkjournaljuly challenge. I didn't realise that there seems to be an ongoing debate about what a junk journal is, and I must say I was a bit confused myself when I first took on this challenge. According to old-school purists, a junk journal is made out of junk and that does not include any shop-bought supplies, even if you were going to throw them away. For me that is way too restrictive which kind of defeats the purpose. On the other side of the spectrum is the new trend of making junk journals with beautiful vintage kits and embellishments. Some people object to this, saying that's not a junk journal. But really, what does it matter? I think, it can be anything you want it to be and it doesn't matter what you call it! And if you look back on my pages, my style has evolved since I started this journal and that wasn't intentional. You can't label or categorise a creative process - just do what comes naturally and use whatever you like. In other words, don't restrict yourself with definitions.
With that out of the way, here's my desk shot for WOYWW #633. As you can see my tidy desk didn't last long - this is my newest spread in my junk journal - I haven't even posted it to Instagram yet, so you get a sneak peek here. I had to start combining the prompts now for some of the spreads as my journal is getting too bulky already and there are still 10 prompts to go. It was too hot to do any more eco-dyeing but I have plenty to keep me going!
These were the prompts for the past week (#14-21): monochrome, layered/borders, paint/quote, happy mail, collage cluster/relax - some of them are only very loosely connected to the prompts, but then again, it doesn't matter! And yes, I know, there are way too many moths, butterflies and dragonflies - and there will be some more to come - I can't get away from them!
The garden's looking good - we're watering every day. My husband drafted in our son, who gets paid for doing it - call it a summer job! At least it gets him out of the house and away from his computer games for an hour. My begonias have finally started to flower - I never thought they would! I bought them as tiny "plugs" and most of them died on me but the ones that survived are beautiful.
Oreo's been a bit jaded by the heat as well and doing a lot of this:
...and this (sorry, I had to keep moving the camera to make him open his eyes):
Hope you're holding up ok in this heat in the UK and you're back to "normal" whatever your normal is. Some people's normal is another person's nightmare LOL - eg nightclubs - even in my 20's I hated them!
Hello again, it's heating up around here for the weekend - which I wouldn't mind too much if I didn't have to return to the office next week. Not looking forward to that, but hey I had more than a year working from home, so I should be thankful for that at least, right? Still, I got used to it and I liked it! But anyway, I'm not here to moan but to show you my desk. I've tidied up - can you believe it? I even changed my paint water! I had to - it was getting unmanageable. Here's a shot of my desk before and after (it doesn't look this tidy any more though, but I'm trying to keep on top of it!) - The free version of this slider only works for the first 100 impressions, so if it stops working it's because I had more than 100 visits, which is unlikely, but possible (half of them would be me though refreshing the page)! If that happens I'll replace it with my regular photos.
I did some more eco-dyeing over the weekend and experimented with different surfaces, laces, pieces of fabric, doilies, index cards, embossed cards, envelopes, music sheets, graph paper, etc and some of the papers had distress oxides on them. They remind me of the erosion bundles I did a few years ago. It was fun but I'll have to stop at one point because I have a huge stash now to use up!
I kept up with the Junk Journal July challenge as well - I love that I can work ahead when I have more time instead of having to wait for a new prompt to be released every day. I even have today's page ready, but I haven't posted it to Instagram yet. The prompts were: envelope, wanderlust, pattern, trash to treasure, favourite supply, in the garden, and morning.
That's it!
Photo heavy but not much to read.
Hope everyone's doing well. I'll be going around shortly!
Hello again, deskers! I've got so much to show and tell today, I'll just jump straight in and try to keep the blabber to a minimum - there will be plenty of photos though, so just skip to the gallery if you're in a hurry. I've done a few more batches of eco-dyeing - it's seriously addictive. I haven't had this much fun since I tried acrylic pouring! There's definitely a connection between gelli printing, acrylic pouring and eco-dyeing - and that is the random, surprise results! It's a bit like opening a present every time! The other thing they have in common is that they are extremely messy!
Here's a shot of my work surface on my kitchen counter. I've changed my set-up and use string instead of clips to keep my bundles together - although I did like the impressions the clips made, but they're not suitable for bulkier batches.
This is what it looked like when I opened the bundle after simmering for an hour or so:
I made several batches over the weekend. I dry them naturally, sometimes give them a blast with a hairdryer, if I'm impatient and then iron them so they lie flat, but I don't mind a few wrinkles. These were made with 160gsm printer paper, so about twice the thickness of regular printer paper (similar to cartridge paper, I would say). I just happened to have whole pack from years ago and they're perfect for this. Here are some of my results (one of the batches had some turmeric thrown in, that's why they're so yellow):
And I've found the perfect way to use them as well! I'm taking part in the #JunkJounalJuly challenge on Instagram, which means I have to forego other challenges, unfortunately. I made this junk journal from an old book I bought for 50p in the charity shop with some of my teadyed/printed and ecodyed papers inside.
We were given the prompt list beforehand, which I find very useful as I can work and plan ahead. I started a couple of days late but was able to catch up. My pages so far:
As you can see these are quite different from my regular mixed-media style. Neater, I would say, more controlled - a bit like scrapbooking but using ephemera instead of photos. You wouldn't believe the amount of faffing some of these arrangements took! So it's a different kind of creating but I like it! There's more info about each page on my Instagram feed if anyone's interested.
It was my 7th Blogiversary on July 2nd! This would normally be a time to reflect, update my Pinterest Board, etc. but I only had time to put together my regular celebratory collage with my favourite projects these past 12 months - I'm too busy making new ones!
And finally, an Oreo shot plein-air (or is it al fresco?) just because you haven't seen him for a while. He's doing very well and enjoying spending lots of time outdoors chasing mice.
Happy WOYWW! There were a few people who left comments after Wednesday last week that I haven't had a chance to visit back yet, but you're at the top of my list today! See you later! xx
