Round Robin Journal

Today I finished the last page of Astrid's Round Robin - the page being for Yvonne. The idea was to wait until you saw the next player's own first page then make a page yourself for them. However, as Yvonne's page is yet to materialise and as I've done all the others I decided to do her page anyway (after first getting permission from Yvonne of course!)

Yvonne's theme was 'Memories' in muted colours of our choice. I found an old black and white photograph of me aged about 3 (I think) with my aunt Vicky (Mum's youngest sister) and my maternal Grandfather (Bert was his name and he liked a bet and a fag and had a cauliflower ear from his boxing days!) This picture was taken in the grounds of the flats my Nan and Grandad lived in (Bethnal Green, east end of London) and must be one of the few family photos that exists of that time - early 60s. I have a rather pained expression on my face (didn't like my photo taken even way back then - lol), I think it's due to it be a sunny day - it looks as though we're all squinting too! I love my aunt's beehive hairstyle and boldly patterned dress in this picture - so 1960s and very befitting of her big, beautiful and flamboyant personality! She lives in Spain now but we're lucky enough to go and see her and her husband every year and have a swim in their pool!

As soon as I get the remaining pages and my own first page of the journal back, I will bind all the pages together - I have already made the front and back covers for it - and then I'll post a picture of it.

Oops forgot to say what I did for this page! Another beeswax collage - a copy of the photo layered onto lightly inked card, then some layers of tissue and the text - some black paper lace around the edges and finally some buttons to finish it off - the white one representing my Grandad - for the white shirt he's wearing, the green one for my aunt as that's her favourite colour and the pink one for me as I'm a sweet little girl in the picture - say aaahhh!

'Girl Talk'

I've made another journal page for Astrid's Round Robin challenge in advance for the same reason as 'My Fair Lady' below.

This page is for Heidi. The background is a mixture of acrylic paints, metallic rub ons and some gloss finish. There is quite a bit of shine to it so unfortunately it hasn't photographed very well. The Style Stones have rub on words on them - all linking to the 'Can We Talk' rub on in the background. I coloured them with metallic rub ons and finished with some of Anita's 3-D Clear Gloss Finish. They were all linked together with some black beads.

As there was a bit of a gossip theme going on I thought some girlies should be present! The heads are moulded from air dried clay and coloured with metallic rub ons. Their eyes are sparkling with some of Ranger's Stickles (or maybe just because they are enjoying their good old gossip!!)

As Heidi had mentioned that she didn't want a particular theme and that 'anything goes' I shall send the page off to her before waiting to see her own page.

'My Fair Lady'

I've jumped the gun a bit and made a journal page for Cindy before actually seeing her own page for real. I've seen a photo of her page on the Astrid's Round Robin blog and as I'm going on holiday next week I'm worried that on my return I'll have a pile of journal pages waiting for me, and as I've had an idea of what to do for Cindy's page for a while, I thought that I'd get on and do it! I won't post it off to Cindy yet though - just in case she has specified a colour theme which doesn't fit my page.

Cindy's theme is 'Woman' and my page isn't deep and meaningful at all! It just has a picture of a pretty woman on it which is actually an altered magazine image (Bernie Berlin style). She is embellished with a paper flower in her hair and a real chain and locket around her neck (which isn't real gold unfortunately!!) The background and woman's hair is painted with acrylic paints. The music score is an extract from the musical 'My Fair Lady' and I have decorated the back of the page with further extracts of music score from the musical too.

Although the page is quite simple, I am really pleased with how it's turned out, so if when I receive Cindy's page I discover that mine doesn't fit the brief, I'll be quite happy to keep it anyway.

'The Beach'

Another journal page finished (for Astrid's Round Robin Challenge) This one is for Femmy whose theme was the 'Outdoors'. The great outdoors conjures up images of the countyside but I was a bit stuck on what to do. Femmy had said that it could be any kind of outdoor activities or travel, as long as it was outdoors. So, when I saw a picture of a seagull in a magazine I decided to go with a beach theme.

I used the magazine image after altering it a bit with some acrylic paint. I didn't stick his upwards wing down completely, giving it a 3D effect (but this doesn't show up in the photograph). For the beach scene, I used gouache paints. The coastal path sign is a couple of lolly sticks, bleached, then painted. To finish off the page I used some pebbles and tiny sea shells - and a little bit of dark green mossy stuff - from my hubby's model railway stash (sshh, don't tell him!)

As Femmy lives in the Netherlands, I hope the page arrives safely and in one piece - and that she will like it.

Hopscotch!

The next page I’ve done for Astrid’s Round Robin Challenge is for Astrid herself.

Her theme was ‘Children of a Bygone Age’ and she didn’t mind which colours were used so long as they were vintage.

I saw an illustration of two little girls in a library book on how to draw which I thought would make a great focal point for this page. Rather than draw them myself though I photocopied the images - I don’t think my drawings would have resembled anything like two girls! It looked to me as though they were playing together and the idea of hopscotch was formed. I know hopscotch is still played today - in fact I was having a game with my 7 year old niece the other week - although my hopping about on one foot is not what it used to be - lol! So although it is still played today, I regard the game of hopscotch to be of a bygone age much like skipping and playing with two tennis balls up a wall - anyone remember the rhyme “Matthew Mark, Luke and John, next door neighbour carry on ... next door neighbour’s got the flu, so I’ll leave it up to you….” My little niece hasn’t quite got the hang of this game yet - but I still enjoy it! (What must my neighbours think - lol)

Anyway back to journal page. I started off by dividing the page into two and lightly chalked in blue for the sky and grey for the pavement. I pencilled in the hopscotch squares - (the perspective is not brilliant, but I did say I couldn’t draw) then covered the whole thing with a single layer of tissue paper with bleached beeswax. The railings are an image transfer directly onto the wax - using a photocopied image and applying it with nail polish remover (with acetone). Although the transfer is a little sketchy in some places I like the overall effect and think it adds to the vintage feel of the page.

I coloured in the two little girls and adhered them to the page with more wax. (I should have coated them with some gel medium first as the railings have come through onto their faces unfortunately). I printed off the dictionary definition of hopscotch onto some tracing paper and applied that with more wax.

Finally, I coloured around the edges with some oil pastels to give it an old, vintage feel. I hope Astrid likes it.

School Days

My next page for Astrid's Round Robin Challenge has been completed.

This page is for Wendy whose theme was 'When You Were Young', and her only stipulation was that a photograph or image of your childhood should be included.

There aren't that many good photos of me when I was very young so I decided to use a copy of an old school photo. I've also included a copy of a school photo of my younger brother and sister who look very cute wearing their matching sweaters lovingly made by my Mum on her knitting machine. It was this photo that determined the year 1976 as Mum remembered that was approximately when she made the sweaters on one of her earlier machines. The extract of my school report was also from Spring 1976 but the photograph of me is probably a couple of years earlier since I'm not wearing any glasses - I didn't get my specs until about 1973 - I wondered why I could never see the blackboard in class!

The background of the page is a copy of the cover from my old School Reports book which I distressed by spritzing with some Glimmer Mist and making a couple of rings with my coffee cup. The report extract is spritzed in the same way. The date and flower are metal embellishments which have been coloured with alcohol inks (copper and stonewashed).

I enjoyed making this page and looking back at my old school reports, but have had the tune of 'remember the days of the old school yard' in my head for the last couple of days! I hope Wendy likes the page.