STUFF I LIKE ...

Back from our travels but still slightly jet-lagged, my brain seems to have holes in it into which certain words keep disappearing .... I hope its temporary!   Anyway, a while ago I saw a journal prompt to make a page about stuff you like - so I did, and this is it.

As you can see below, the background is done with my trusty Caran D'Ache crayons.  I never get tired of using these and they go such a long way that they represent very good value for money.  I am not being paid by the manufacturers to say this, but will accept graciously if they like to offer me some ...!

I was trying to draw shapes which might encourage me to write other than in straight lines - a besetting sin of mine - and as you can see below it did work.  I was quite struck by how simple the things that make me happy are - nothing expensive or difficult to find, just fairly ordinary everyday pleasures.  I guess that makes me a very fortunate woman?  I am however willing to try the champagne lifestyle if ever it comes my way ... just to see how I like it.

The rather jolly sunburst shapes I added next are from an unmounted set of rubber stamps that I've used such a lot.  It isn't easy to find interesting non-commital stamps to use for journal decoration - they all seem to be pictures of something, so I'm always on the lookout for this kind of thing.  I can't actually remember who makes these but they're mounted on green foam if that helps to identify them?

Another in the same set was used to stamp the orange shapes - which look a bit like fruit slices but aren't!  This is one of those pages I really like without really being able to explain why - it just pleases me somehow ....

Off now to eat some chocolate and persuade a cat to sit on my lap for a bit .....

Cherish the Little Things ...

Good advice - and something I've been trying to do in the middle of the recent chaos we've been living through.  I didn't actually make this page at the time but some days before the brown stuff hit the fan ... but it certainly fits how I'm feeling now!

Anyway, as you can see below it began with waves of colour using my Caran d'ache crayons - if you've been with me a while you'll know that I've made a number of these wavy line pages.  They really seem to work, especially if you've got a lot to get off your chest (even if you don't know when you start what you need to say to yourself ... that's what makes art journalling so powerful isn't it?

I've also added some black lines for definition, and some silver ones - I like adding a touch of metallic, it really lifts the page somehow.  There's another element at work here too - I believe that you have to search for the seam of gold (or indeed silver) in your life, even if it looks humdrum, there's always something that lifts it beyond the ordinary, so I wanted to incorporate this idea too.

I was reading something about the wisdom you'd like to hand on to your grandchildren, which got me wondering what mine would be.  I thought of lots of big, wise stuff, but in the end this seemed perhaps the most important of all - contentment is a much under-rated state, but so precious when you have it, although of course you sometimes have to lose it before you understand that ....

And once I'd done all the writing I had a magnificent opportunity to do what I really LOVE, which is doodle to my hearts content!  And I did.  White Posca pen and Uniball Signo for a finer point, all kinds of thicknesses of black waterproof pens, and a bit more silver too.

Happily the worst days of our crisis are behind us, at least for now, but there's still a lot of stress and difficulty around as we try to move mum towards acceptance of the need for residential care.  Right now I really need to take my own advice - and cherish and appreciate all the small joys that come along, because they're little lights in a greater darkness ....