Hello Friends!
Hope your week is going well and you have recovered from Blue Monday if you felt affected by that yesterday. Here not much has changed, my foot problems continue and on top of that Mr G has not been at all well and has been back at the vet. The vet is pretty sure he has IBD which is not good news, it’s a inflammatory bowel disease similar to a few human diseases though you can imagine how it affects a cat who can’t communicate the problem. He has had a flare up and had to be contained in a safe room with no soft furnishings, nuff said. That has been taking up most of my time recently, back and forth to the vet, and monitoring him 24/7. We still have no heating and it’s been a bit chilly so we are all huddled together in the same room as much as possible. I shared my New Year decisions a couple of weeks back so here is an update…
Sugar – free
I am referring to this as being sugar free but I am also free of any processed food which includes bread and pasta. I have now been completely sugar free (and processed food free) for 18 days and feel fine but a little tired. What is interesting is that during periods of stress such as the above issues with Mr G, I get serious sugar cravings or urges to eat comfort food like bread and pasta. I have managed to resist so far though but it’s not been easy.
Buy nothing
I am doing better with this decision. The only unplanned purchase was medicine for Mr G which is is classed as a necessary purchase. Other than that, all that has been purchased is food and petrol.
Giving it away
I have been reading/re-reading a couple of decluttering books. I hadn’t really decided on a major declutter, I was just planning to get rid of some things I don’t need or use, and build on the success of my charitable donations of craft supplies I did last year and the year before, but I think that a more extensive operation is necessary. There are things that need to be done in the house and guess what, those things would be much easier to get done with less stuff in the way. I am not a hoarder but I do have a lot of stuff, and most of it is not used. My house is like a museum of unused stuff, so what is the point in just storing it like I am the Curator? This is not a new problem, I have been aware of this for years. I have read decluttering, and organising, and minimalism books for years, and they are currently on my overstuffed bookshelves gathering dust. I know what to do and how to do it, what is lacking is the motivation and commitment to doing it. Sometimes I dream of hiring a skip and being able to open the bedroom window and throw everything out the window and into the skip lol. I wouldn’t do that of course but it says a lot that that idea is appealing!
today’s art . . .
And so on to today’s art. Last week was a birthday card for my sister, but in the process of making that card, and trying to finish it in time to get it in the mail, I made a couple of mistakes. The first one wasn’t a big problem, I just picked up the wrong jar of Infusions (Rusty Car instead of Raspberry) no big deal, so I carried on, and then I made a stamping mistake with the quote and couldn’t fix it well enough to be on a card for someone else. So then I had to start over and make a new card. So what to do with the old card? Well I decided to make it into a journal spread since the card was made from one piece of A4 watercolour paper anyway. I started by covering the back of the card with the same Infusions to match the front, and then I also added the Raspberry since that’s one of my favourites and I’m not a huge fan of orange but I do like orange and pink together.
Believe it or not this is the first journal page I’m created this year! That is really not like me at all but for all of the above reasons and Mr G, it’s just not been possible. I am also sharing this page with Erika’s theme of Let’s Face It over on Art Journal Journey.
I got these new markers for Christmas – I don’t really do much with alcohol markers, they’re not my go-to, but it was a nice crafty gift to receive and I will try and use them up. I am also sharing this page with Try it on Tuesday’s In with the New theme. As you will see later on, I also used another new item – a WRMK label maker – I am on the fence with this as I am having problems keeping the tape straight, it seems to move around and so the words don’t come out straight. Is it just me or is this an issue I wonder?
To make my page, I glued the card onto some brown packaging paper from amazon to make a page that is the same size as my journal and stuck it into my journal. I added some stamping around the edges using a tape measure stamp which I thought was randomly selected at the time but considering my page is about my Words for this year – HOME, SPACE, ENOUGH – then a tape measure actually makes sense.
Over the top of the Infusions, I did some stamping using some feather stamps and some small mark making stamps, then I journalled some quotes about homes and nests and how I want to feel at home.
I found these diecut green leaves and decided to add them too, and also this stamped bird.
I coloured the bird lady using the new markers and made the HOME SPACE ENOUGH labels with the dodgy label maker, and mounted them on white card.
I turned her into a paper doll type journal girl by giving her a skirt out of feather and mark making stamps and a piece of left over green leaf ribbon.
Finishing touches were just to add a bit of white splatters from a paint pen as I like to add some random splats to my pages.
t stands for . . .
My ticket to tea this week is this photo I already shared above which shows my favourite cup and my new plan to keep my tea warm, a thermos! I tend to make a pot of tea, and then take my cup upstairs and forget about the pot until it gets cold. So my new plan is to make this thermos of tea – it holds enough to refill this big mug twice – and take it with me to the craft studio. My tea of choice at the moment is the Pukka Licorice Mint tea, very delicious but not good if you have high blood pressure because of the licorice.
Let me know what you think in the comments and Happy T Day! As always, thanks for reading!
Ingredients
watercolour paper, brown paper, stamps by Paperartsy, Infusions, stazon ink and versafine clair ink, white paint pen, label maker and tape, white ard, black pen, alcohol markers,
Challenges
Altered Book Lover – T Stands for – home, space, enough!
Art Journal Journey – Let’s Face it
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Insects and/or Birds
Try it on Tuesday – In with the New
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Oh I thought I had commented yesterday, my comment did not come out. Well, I was saying that those are good resolutions for this year, Happy belated T-day! I really like that cup of tea with drawings of cats.
Your page is wonderful, the stamps are very pretty and the colors are fabulous.
I wish you a great weekend, big hugs
Caty
Such a gorgeous make! Those infusions look amazing and match the stamp beautifully, love the feathers that you added to cover the quote too ?. Take care and Happy January! Hugs Jo x
Good new year decisions Elle ! Happy belated T-day ! I love your cup with cats, and this tea may be delicious. Wonderful Art page, the colours are great, so the stamps.
I wish you a very nice Friday, sending big hugs,
Caty
Sorry about Mr G’s illness. Well done with making progress with your resolutions. De-cluttering is hard and always harder when we keep things that may be useful…but not just yet. I took another three carrier bags to the charity shop today. I love your journal page both for the new way of adding words for TIOT and for those beautiful faces for Erika’s AJJ theme. I hope your heating gets fixed soon, hugs, Chrisx
Sorry to hear that G is still not well. But congratulations on sticking to your resolutions. Not easy.
Your journal page is beautiful! I love it.
I also drink Pukka mint and licorice which someone brought over from England for me.
Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca
Very impressive you are keeping so well to your resolutions – Congrats! I am still on mine as well and started them the day after Christmas. Your journal page looks great – love your fun additions like the tape measure and your new words. What a great way to save the card with the mistakes! STay warm and happy T-day, Elle.
It is good that you are getting time to journal and create a fantastic page to share with us at Try it on Tuesdays and at Art Journal Journey.
I hope Mt G is getting well, its so hard for us humans as our animals cannot tell us what is wrong or how they feel.
Hope your heating gets back to normal soon.
Stay safe.
Yvonne xx
Oh, I remember those markers when I studied. After the technical drawings were done we made colorful sketches of the created architecture with those.
Love your work! xx
I made more room in my bookshelves downstairs by moving books to the attic. Unless I build some shelves out on the roof, I don’t see how this can end. Good luck decluttering!
best…mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I had never heard of Blue Monday, but I survived! Beautiful journal page. I like your words for the year. I am trying to declutter, and it is an ongoing job! Good luck with your decluttering. My problem is that I bring in stuff quicker than I move it out! So, you see my problem! LOL Happy T Day.