His days are numbered.....

Does this babe look ill to you?

At the beginning of May after having had an Xray & ultrasound we were told that Max had a vast liver tumour & basically would be travelling to pastures new before the year was out, as a few of you know, I've been quite devasted by this news for the past few weeks & have found it tough concentrating on anything.

He is such a faithful & loving friend to me that I'm finding it really difficult to take in that he won't be around for as long as I'd hoped. As you can see by these photos which were taken this last week, he doesn't look ill at all and is showing no signs of discomfort or pain......he still enjoys his walks on the beach & meeting up with his other doggy friends & loves fooling around with a tennis ball....looking at him you just wouldn't believe this was happening as many people who know Max have said.So, for now we are making the most of the time we have left with him, trying to ensure the remainder of his life is as pleasant as possible and taking each day as it comes. I was unsure whether I should post about this or not, but then thought it would help to explain my lack of participation in my groups of late. Will keep you posted of any further developments.

Edit : Warm heartfelt hugs go out to all of you for your kind messages & support .......they are so appreciated, thank you : )

Cheap Trick - Tissue Paper Backgrounds

Whilst playing around with packing tissue, I remembered Michelle's Street Team call for Crusade No. 8 - Cheap Tricks & thought this entry would qualify...........

I never throw away packing tissue I receive with parcels as its always useful for collage & even stamping on. The above background was simply stamped with blueprints , then crumpled up prior to swiping with distress inks & spritzing with water.

This background started off as a piece of tan tissue paper to which I applied rusting solutions through a square mesh stencil .......quite a neat effect & textural in real life, the scan really doesn't do it justice!

Here are a couple of ATC's made with the first backgound above.

The Architect

Venus

Other Free Cheap Tricks:

Use your old phone book yellow pages for glueing, once the page is sticky just turn over & use the next one.

Use phone book pages as part of your background (as in the ATC below)......picked up this trick from Claudine Hellmuth's book - Collage Discovery Workshop.

Collect & incorporate used postage stamps (as above) in your art & you can even cut out the images from some to add to your collage if your don't wish to include the whole stamp. The butterfly in the example below was cut out from used US postage.

Masking tape which is relatively cheap from any Hardware/DIY store can be used to also create textured backgrounds as in the deco cover above.

When you think about it there are a ton of things you can use in your art for free, you just have to look at things with a different eye!

New Banner - Finally!

After nearly 2 hours of faffing around, deleting codes, re-instating codes & deleting more damn codes......I think I've got there : ) Time will tell over the next few days if things start going haywire, fingers crossed they don't......I'm so crap when it comes to techno stuff!
Here's the link to Lindsay's blog showing how to do this bit.

Possible new header Thanks to Lindsay!

Have finally figured out how to create a header for my blog using Photoshop Elements, thanks to an online tutorial by Linsay . Now I need to pluck up the courage to add it to the template without messing up.

The wave photo (one of my favourite's) was one of a series I took a few years ago down at Plemont Bay, here in Jersey......that particular day the waves were amazing......well over 10' high!

Architectural Rust

Another rust themed ATC, stamps by Rubber Baby.

I suppose this ATC could possibly qualify as an "Industria" style card a la Julie Van Oosten.

Also check out Keron's & Kelsey's ........they are fab!

Rust & Turquoise

Finally had a play with some rusting solutions I've had in the cupboard for years! These particular ones are by Chemtek but nowadays I believe they are made by Modern Options.

These are so fun to use as you can apply them to anything from paper to plastic to fabric to wood as well as metal.......whatever your heart desires rusted up!

I just quickly made up this ATC with an ammonite stamp by Above the Mark, scraps from my worktable & my squiggly doodles......needed a bit more colour than just rust so I brushed on a little turquoise green patina glaze. Would have looked better had I centred the stamped image, but there you go...this was just an experiment to start with.

As Turquoise is the theme for Wednesday Stamper this week, this one may be suitable......I've missed so many weeks lately, it's nice to participate again.

Where I live

Quite a few people in the international mixed media community are unfamiliar with Jersey, Channel Islands (not surprising) as we are a small group of tiny Islands in the English Channel just about 8 miles off the coast of Normandy, France.
Jersey is the largest of these Islands at approx. 9 x 5 miles, with a population of 85,000 at the last count & far too much traffic! All that said, there are still many beautiful natural sites to see here & an amazing amount of history, dating back from pre-history right through the French Napoleonic Invasions and Occupation of the 2nd World War with beautiful architecture recording these times.
So, here are a few shots of my little Island to help put it on your map, will add more as I take them when I'm out & about.

La Corbiere Lighthouse

South western most point of the Island

Footpath leading down to Le Scez Harbour

Not a harbour at all but a lovely secluded rocky cove where you can collect periwinkle shells, especially the yellow ones, by the dozen....see below. One of my favourite places to walk with my dog.

This is the coast line looking NE from Le Scez towards Rozel

Here we've moved down to the south coast, this is Elizabeth Castle, SE side of St Aubin's bay across the road from where I live, on the opposite side of the bay is St Aubin's Fort below. This is the beach where I walk with Max each morning & evening & pick up seaglass & all sorts of bits & bobs that have a potential artistic use!

Well I had to finish off for today with a photo of Max having fun on the beach as he always accompanies me wherever I go, he's a real beach babe!

Hope you enjoyed this first visit to my Island :)

Doodles & Stamps

Whilst on the phone last weekend, I started doodling with a permanent marker & white gel pen on some pre-made backgrounds I had lying around on my desk & ended up with these ATC's.....

I also played with oil pastels and stamped a few postmarks on the ones below prior to doodling & embellishing with postage stamps.

Click to enlarge

For the original background, I cover a piece of sturdy A4 cardstock with a page from an old phone book, then add bits & pieces of left over text/music paper from other projects. The sheet is then painted with a coat of French Sepia Ink......... this is a beautiful traditional shellac ink produced by Cornelissen & Son, London, which gives a lovely transparent satin finish to the background paper.