WOYWW #653: Advent Journal 2021 - Week 1

The week has gone so fast! I can't believe we're a week into Advent already.  And that means 7 pages in my new journal completed. My desk doesn't look quite as tidy as it did last week - that's a week's worth of junk accumulated already - I really must learn to tidy up each day - it would only take a few minutes.

I'll just quickly show you the 7 pages/spreads completed. When I start a new journal, it always takes the first few pages to settle into a style - you'll see here where that's happened - where I found my feet - it's not something I do on purpose - it just happens. So here are my pages in chronological order (click to enlarge):

I know I said no butterflies in this journal, but I had to sneak in a tiny one (see if you can spot it!)  - only because Julia said she'll eat her hat if I can resist - and I didn't want her to have to do that! 

I played a bit more with the snowy photos I took last week - we haven't had any more snow since (insert sad face). This was edited with a fake sky and fake birds! (click twice)

Hope everyone's ok! Happy #653

WOYWW #652: Advent 2021

Ladies and ...erm.. ladies! In honour of December 1st, I present a tidy desk! Tada! I does happen, you know, however rarely. I've even changed my paint water! 

On the left is my completed scrap journal and on the right is my advent journal for this year. I will follow the prompts from Michelle and Tamara on Instagram. The prompts are not necessarily Christmas related - it's just a way of spending some creative time during the run-up to Christmas. 

I'll show you a before photo as well, just for good measure: 

And here are the last pages in my scrap journal. I might do a flip-through later. I've finally found an easy way to repost photos/videos from my Instagram feed to my blog. For those who are interested: you have to copy the post URL into this website and download from there. It finds all the photos and videos related to each post. By the way, butterflies, moths and dragonflies are banned from my advent journal! I think I've OD-ed on them. 

I also have a couple of photos of Oreo to share. In this one he's posing with our advent village - there are Lindt chocolates hidden in each of these little houses (ignore the clutter in the background - that's our "utility" area - the rest of the house is, of course, spotlessly clean and tidy [insert snigger]) 

And here is his "official" 2021/2022 portrait:

We've also had some snow! (this is reposted from my Instagram Stories, see if it works - I think you'll have to click it twice)

So there you have it - Happy December and Happy #652! 

WOYWW #651: More pages in my scrap journal

Hello Deskers! I'm back again - having missed last week for my dental appointment - they didn't do anything just assessed the situation to the tune of £35 (they graciously took me on as an existing patient after being kicked off their NHS list without my knowledge, otherwise it would have been twice as much for new private patients). So that's £35 for telling me that I lost a filling, which is why I'd called them in the first place. It will be another £125 for the actual work. Imagine all the art products I could buy for that sort of money - and what is more important, teeth or art? - okay, that was a stupid question. 

Here's a shot of my desk this morning - still in utter disarray, and I doubt that will change in the near future, but you never know. I've completed a few more pages in my scrap journal and I really want to finish it before starting a new advent journal next week - my fourth year running! 

Yes, I do realise there's a winged creature on every one of these pages - I still haven't got over my obsession with butterflies and dragonflies. Some of these "scraps" were actually recycled from things I'd made back in the summer - this journal is their permanent home. If they are too big, I just rip them apart, which gives them a new perspective. 

That's it for today! I have a few more hours to visit and then I'm off to the dentist again for a rip-off filling. At least my tooth doesn't need to be taken out, not at this point, anyway. Wish me luck!  

Happy #651!

WOYWW #649: Back on the bandwagon with a new scrap journal

I fell off the bandwagon and hardly created anything for the past two weeks, then bang, I came back with a vengeance - like I normally do after taking some time off  - and now I can't stop! This is a still of my desk last night - a bit of a horror show:

Wait, there's worse - how about this wider shot of my entire craft room. I have no choice but to admit it: I'm a slob! There, I said it. I will tidy up - one day. 

But messiness aside, I'm back in the game creating again. This is my new scrap journal that I cobbled up in the last two days with a cover I had made a while ago. It was a write-off, but perfect for a scrap journal (originally, it wanted to be medieval journal, which is still on the cards for later - I have a journal kit for it). So here it is with the pages I've completed so far, the last one just this morning.

It's funny how I go through these creative blocks and then it just all flows freely. So strange how it happens - I never make a conscious decision - I just go with the flow. Perhaps that's why I have difficulty creating on demand. 

It will be interesting to find out what y'all been up to, hopefully keeping your desks a bit tidier than I managed! I'm unlikely to be around next week - I've got a dentist appointment. Only because I lost a filling - it's my wisdom tooth - they might have to take it out, although it doesn't cause me any trouble at the moment. When I phoned for an appointment, they informed me that I'm no longer on their NHS list as I hadn't visited for over 12 months. Well, yeah, cause there was a bloody lockdown and they weren't even open most of the time! When they reopened in July, I knew they were busy so I didn't want to go unless it was necessary. Now they tell me they're not accepting any new NHS patients, but, hey, I can be seen privately at short notice. The money grabbers, benefiting from the lockdown. They're not interested in the well-being of their patients - they're only interested in fleecing you, but I have no choice. I've tried a few other dentists in the area but there's an 8-10-month waiting list for new patients, even on the private register and you can only go to the NHS  Access Centre if you're in excruciating pain, so should I wait until then? What sort of a senseless, stupid system is that? Ok, rant over. Thanks for listening. I don't like complaining but it just seems so unfair. 

See you in a bit! Happy #649! xx

WOYWW #647: Colour Play with Laly and other things

This is intended to be another quickie - though you know what they say about the best laid plans and all but we'll see (and I'm already babbling)! First things first, I've finally got myself an iPhone - for the sole reason to get the full functions of Instagram. I know, my son thinks it's wasted on me - I don't even use it as a phone and still carry my old one around for that purpose. I've looked at alternatives, but it seems Instagram is optimised for the iOS and I was getting frustrated not having certain features. I've been playing with slo-mo and time-lapse - so much fun! 

These photos were taken on my new phone as well - I had to figure out a way to transfer them - I think it will probably be easier to stick with my trusted little camera for my blog as it requires a different format altogether.  

I did the #colorwithLaly challenge. I must say I struggled a little bit by not being able to produce the results I imagined. I did a similar lesson with Laly last year, so I got those cards out for inspiration. Here's a closer look at my new ones:

Then I spent a few days procrastinating until the inspiration hit me again on Monday night at 11pm to make these tags:

So there you have it - sweet and short? 
Hope everyone's fine - I'll visit soon to find out! 

Happy #647! xx

WOYWW #645: Gelli printing with talcum powder and LB Taster lessons

Oops, I managed to skip another week of WOYWW, but I'm back to show you a view of my desk for week #645. Here it is:

What's that on the gelli plate, you ask? It's talcum powder (aka baby powder). I was inspired by this video to try it. It gives you a resist effect reminiscent of peeled paint. Nothing much to shout about, but it was definitely worth a try. 

I've also done exactly 2 of the 35 LifeBook taster lessons. They're still available until the end of the week if you want to check them out. I might do a few more as time allows. Here's a link to all the lessons. 

This one was by Laly Mille, who's one of my favourite artists. Her lesson was titled "Poetic Secrets" and used magazine images and book pages to tell a story. Here's my take on it: 

Then there was this lesson by Laura Dame called "Intuitive Abstract Play" The point is not to recreate the sample but just to play, so mine looks very different as I went off on a tangent, but that's ok.

And that's it for today. Nice and short - I just wanted to check in and see how everyone else is doing. 

Happy #645!