I had to let go (scrapbook page)

In spite of my mojo still being on holiday, I made myself make a scrapbook page. I know from experience that I just have to start. At some point my mojo will come back when he sees I’m working without him!

Some of you have asked to see my new washi tape in action and there it is under the photo. Well, at least one of the tapes. I bought several (see previous blog). 

Olive green was in the palette of the CSI challenge that I like to to. (Colors, Stories and Inspiration. http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/

I tried to do ‘messy’ but the whole thing didn’t come together. Oh well... still waiting for Mr Mojo.

The photo was taken in 1989 when my son was living with his dad in Italy. He and his childminder spent a summer with me. I have many good memories from that summer.

The journaling reads:

“When I divorced your father I had to let go of you too. That was hard. A mother has to let go at some stage but you were 12 years old and that was difficult. In the summer of 1989 you came to visit me in Rotterdam with your former childminder Lilla. That was the last time I saw you until you were an adult twelve years later.”

My son is now 39 years old and we are gradually building our relationship again. He and his wife now have a baby boy, whom I hope to meet next month when we travel to Italy.

Thanks for visiting,

CU soon

Lisca

WOYWW 297 New stash and strung up dried fruit

Hi Folks,

It’s Wednesday again and I’m looking forward to do some snooping around the desks of crafters all over the world. If you don’t know what I’m talking about look at Julie’s blog at http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/

But first of all I have to reveal the mess on my own desk! Here it is. 

I’ve started to put together some stuff to do another scrapbook page using the CSI challenge (http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/) . One of the requirements this time was (amongst other things) to use leather, so that piece of black you see, was once part of a little coin purse which had ripped. As a crafter you don’t throw anything away, now do you! There is also an old sketch from Page Drafts and the prepared 12x12 page on top of my laptop.

I’m very excited about some new stash I bought last week. Here is a better picture:

There is an alphabet stamp set and six packs of beautiful washi tape. The blue things are embellishments in the shape of fishies. As I’m a Christian and the fish is a Christian symbol, I can certainly find use for those.  I bought the whole lot at Lidl’s, a European supermarket that changes their non-food range every week and occasionally sell craft items. When they do, I’m straight there as they do nice things. I’m particularly pleased with the washi tape as these are lovely, and up until now I’ve only been able to buy tape online.

My last photo has nothing to do with crafting but is something typical about living here in rural Spain. 

It’s a string with dried fruit on it. My neighbour gave it to me when she heard we were on a diet and couldn’t eat sweets or chocolates. Apparently they are small fruit that look like a small apple. These have been dried and then strung up. We occasionally pull one off and eat it. They’re very sweet and yummy.

That’s  it for today. Have a good week all of you. I’ll try and visit as many of you as I can over the course of the week.

Hugs

Lisca

PS I've just realised I forgot to reduce my photos in size. I do apologise. I just hope my page doesn't take a long time to load....I really haven't got time to take them down, reduce them and then put them back on.... sorry.

WOYWW 296 The brayer saga continues

Hi peeps,

We’re back from Holland and I’m aching to get in that craft room and make something, but nothing seems to come out of my hands. I’m just faffing about! I've joined His Kingdom Come, (Christian artists and crafters) and have been doing some faith journaling, but my desk hasn't seen much action. (Where's my mojo?)

I do apologise for not visiting many people. Not my fault this time: we've had terrible gales. Here out in the sticks this means No Power! We're used to it and do most things on gas and even have gas lamps. But it does mean we have no internet. For several days we been without internet. The storm has died down a bit now but it's still horrible out there. The power cuts yesterday have been short luckily. 

My desk is an unholy mess. I’m trying to make cards for my grandson’s christening next month. I’ve been asked to make 15 cards. My first efforts are there in the foreground (turquoise and cream). On my laptop is a photo of my mother having her hair done which I was going to scrap for the CSI challenge but I never got any further than prepping my 12x12 paper with gesso and you can see it drying in the background. 

Also on the closed laptop is a box with acrylic mediums. The middle one is gel medium! I have been trying to buy/source gel medium for nearly a year and I have finally found a tube of it in a shop in Holland! Hurray!

And what have we here? Another thing I have been trying to find is a brayer (unsuccessfully I might add). The other day my DH asked me to ‘close your eyes and hold out your hand’ . And I ended up with this half brayer. I know it’s not what crafters use but it’s the closest I’ve ever got to a brayer. He used to use it for wall papering seams. I haven’t used it yet but I’m going to experiment with that.

We had quite a bit of mail, having been away for two weeks. Among the pile of mail were many postcards (10) from all over the world. I belong to Postcrossing.com, a postcard swap thing. My favourite this time is this beautiful card from Hongkong. 

If you were wondering what all this deskhopping is all about, then have a look at http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/

That's it for this Wednesday. Wishing all a good week (with lots of mojo),
Lisca

WOYWW 296 coloring book for adults

Hello desk hoppers.  I'm still away from home. I'm in Holland but we will be flying back to Spain tonight.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, have a look on Julie's blog (www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es) as she has organized this worldwide desk hop.
So I have no desk, but I do have a few things to show you. I bought a colouring book for 'big kids'.

This looks like real fun. I will be able to practice my non existing colouring skills. Here are a couple of pages

Earlier on this week I went to a shop that sells my favorite paint. By this I mean paint to paint furniture with. It's 'idiot proof'. No priming or sanding, it's water based and it goes a looong way. It's called Annie Sloan chalk paint. There is a shop near Rotterdam that sells it. When I bought some I was told there was a workshop the next day. So my friend and I went to that. 

we were taught all sorts of techniques like crackling, decoupage and gilding and using templates. Great fun! The result is that old looking shabby chic type finishing.

We will be home tonight, where I can recover from this horrible cold I've got. (I blame it on the pressurised cabins on aircraft, concentrating everybody's bugs!)

I'm looking forward to visiting everyone again this week. I'll try and visit as many as I can inthe course of the week.

Have a great week everyone,

Lisc

WOYWW 293 from Holland

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Hi peeps,
I'm a bit late but I've been travelling today. I'm now in Holland at my mum's in Rotterdam. This is my mum's desk. She is nearly blind. The computerscreen is huge and has a zoomtext software so she can read emails. Next to it is an electronic magnifier, which she uses to read documents and letters.
Sorry, I've not been able to upload the photo  of above described desk. I have a Samsung tablet (android) and after two years I still don't know how to use it. What a nightmare (and waste of money!) It takes beautiful photos but I can't do anything with them... (Does anyone else have that problem?)
So I'm now going to use my mum's computer to write more and to post this. 
Here was my desk yesterday. (These photos were still on my camera)

I've been trying to do some 'messy'stuff with deli paper and a brayer. Of course in Europe we don't know what deli paper is, so I'm using baking parchment... not quite the ticket I think. It's not working. And I haven't got a brayer so I'm using my pastry roller with cling film around it haha! It did work although it's a bit big!
My first ever attempt to mixed media is a journal page following the first prompt (and video) from ODLP. I was asked to use book paper and the prompt was 'Guarding your own goals'. Well, I'm not guarding  them. My goals I mean, you can all see them here:

I'll be busy packing boxes and helping mum move house on Friday so this week I won't have much time to visit any desks (unless I can get some sense out of my tablet...)

Have a great week all of you,

Lisca

WELL DONE ! St Peters Hospice scrapbook page

WELL DONE ! St Peters Hospice scrapbook page

I love doing the scrapbook challenges of CSI (Color, Stories and Inspiration). One of their latest case files was this one:

Here is my solution to case file 150, which had subtle Christmassy colors. But as Christmas this year was a non-event for us, I have no photo memories to share. Instead an image of my three colleagues.  

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to ‘get messy’ and to that end I have modestly splashed some paint around on my black page. Well, I’ve got to start somewhere!

I’ve used the Sketchability sketch nr  130. (No idea if it is a recent one but Lynette Jacobs used it and I  liked it, so...)

I’ve used all the colours and quite a few bits of evidence: dots (sorry, I don’t know what Swiss dots are), arrows, a banner, holiday accents, decorative border, a (crooked haha) ribbon, I heat embossed the word ‘lovely’, and there are two pompoms. The testimony is inspired by Bzoink prompt: ”Have you ever seen a dead person”.

The journaling hides behind the photo and can be pulled out. It reads:

“I read through the Bzoink prompt for some inspiration and I came across the prompt: “Have you ever seen a dead person?” That’s a pretty grimm concept but strangely enough it was part of my work. For the last 22 years of my nursing career I worked at a hospice for people with a terminal disease. We help them get on top of nasty symptoms (we specialize in pain control and symptom control) and help the family cope, and we sort out complicated social scenarios. (amongst other things). It is a great job, in a positive atmosphere, full of laughter and joy. Part of my job was being with the patient and their loved ones at the end of the journey. That was an immense privilege, as you can imagine. A very private and emotional time.

During those 22 years I worked alongside these three ladies. Pat Gane on the left, Paula Murphy in the middle and Jan (Janice) Little on the right. Jan was ward sister and recently retired after 35 years in the job. She very deservedly got a Lifetime Award shortly after (autumn 2014) and I feel very proud having worked with such great people.”

This is the hospice I worked at. It's St Peters Hospice in Bristol.

If you’d like to read a bit more about St Peters Hospice, have a look at this link: http://www.stpetershospice.org.uk/about/#!prettyPhoto

There is a delightful 5 minute video which is well worth watching. It’s a really lovely place to work.   

Bye for now, have a great week,

Lisca

WOYWW 292 - Three kings and a potato salad

WOYWW 292 Three kings and a potato salad

Happy New year everyone!

This is the potato salad I make every New Year’s Eve. (The pink colour is due to the beetroot.) We had it at midnight with a glass of champagne.

 It’s Wednesday so that means we bloghop from one desk to the next (See Julia’s blog if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

I’m sure we’ve all got hopes and expectations for the new year, even resolutions and targets. My promise to myself is that I’m going to have a go at mixed media! I’m taking the plunge and I’m going to get messy. 

I’ve joined The Original Documented Life Project™ and here on my desk is the start of my first art journal page, which is drying. The theme for January is: How to face a blank page, and the art challenge this week is: use book paper.

My whole desk looks like this:

I’m doing a scrapbook page for the CSI challenge which is due in a couple of days.

Spot the out of place item.... 

baby bottle teats. Someone (I can’t find who it was... sorry...) had written about using baby bottle teats to cap glue bottles so that they don’t dry out. I watched a video too and it looked like a brilliant idea, so I went out to buy said teats. (see photo) But I got a shock when I saw the price! 7.50 Euros! That’s more than the glue! So I won’t do that again (and I’m too shy to take them back, besides it’s half an hour’s drive into town).

Yesterday was Three Kings (Los Reyes) festival here in Spain. Important for the children as that’s when they get their presents.  Wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus. Popular legend have us believe it were three kings although this is not biblical. There are usually  parades with ‘kings’ throwing sweets to the children in the streets. In the bigger towns the parades are really spectacular, but here in our village it is all a bit more modest....

That’s it for today folks, thanks for visiting. I’ll try and visit as many as I can over the course of the week.

Lisca