Phizzychick

Well there ya go!

2011-07-29T14:11:00.000+01:00

I can finish things! Eventually. Way after I've promised to.

I'm so excited that I've finally finished and photographed that butterfly page!

Remember it? It was a while ago...

Happy Friday! :)

The Sketchbook Project

2011-07-12T10:51:00.000+01:00

After the fun of The Sketchbook Project last year, I decided to take part in it again this year. The theme I picked is Monochromatic. Which for me could only be green!

So far just the backgrounds worked on. Lots more work needed!

If you are interested in reading more about this art project, or would like to take part, here is the website...http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

Glastonbury Festival Journal

2011-07-07T13:14:00.001+01:00

I get so excited at Glastonbury Festival than unless I make notes of the places I've been and bands that I've seen, I'm sure I would forget it all in no time! Altering a book has been an integral part of my festival experiences for years, and the weeks leading up to it, and the choosing and preparation of my book just adds to the excitement.

This years choice was an old Ladybird book on leaves. Before I leave I'll generally have the pages coloured and a number of things collaged onto the page ready. There is no sense doing all the work there. Too much to carry!

I was lucky enough to meet one of the acts, Marcus Bonfante, who signed my book, which has made it extra special.

I'll generally take just my book and a small pencil case of essentials around with me. Pencils and ink pens, white pens, a handful of watercolour pencils, scissors and a gluestick.

I then make notes, collect the newspapers and handouts and generally beaver away in it while I'm there. It's fun to work on while sat in a field relaxing, or in the centre of a heaving crowd. Most of whom then want to chat about what you're doing, so it's a great way of meeting new people.

So I don't weigh this post down too much, if you'd like to see the rest of the book it can be found on my Flickr here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/phizzy/sets/72157627137355132

Ants & Houses

2011-06-03T17:50:00.000+01:00

Two very different pages. Weird infestations seem to be all the rage this week, so it's appropriate I'm posting this ant page now! I love the idea of ants walking off carrying buttons.

And, wouldn't this be a fun place to live? I want to move in to this street!

A Trio of Pages

2011-05-30T10:59:00.000+01:00

I tore a couple of the pages in half, but layered slightly, so that the pages before and after interacted with each other. I love the slightly grungy style of these pages. The little clock hands envelope has a little pull out tag in it.

We went to a pub yesterday that had the cider on tap. Yum! :)

When the year is turning to harvest...

2011-05-25T11:14:00.000+01:00

When the year is turning to harvest
and the wind invites you to ride
light fires on every hilltop
and greet those beloved who died

Pages created in November to reflect the season :)

A page in progress

2011-05-19T19:16:00.000+01:00

While I'm busy playing catch-up posting some of my older pages in this journal, I thought I'd share something I'm working on now.

This is a page I've been working on today, that needs a lot more work, but is coming along nicely I think?

Matryoshka Madness!

2011-05-19T12:26:00.000+01:00

Is there anything more fun than Matryoshka dolls? I don't think so!

I've been hooked on these ever since I visited Moscow (many, many moons ago!). There was a market stall will hundreds of these wooden dolls on. A glorious sight!

One of my favourite possessions is the set of 15 stacked dolls I bought in a wood-burned design and gold. I love all the bright details they usually have, but in the end it was the simple set which stole my heart.

Simple lines, bits n bobs & black & white

2011-05-18T11:00:00.000+01:00

A simpler page with simple drawings

Pages created with the bits n bobs left over from other projects. I love the random, yet still cohesive effect this creates.

Simply black & white

A new Journal

2011-05-17T17:10:00.000+01:00

A new journal. Started a while ago in a book containing lots of little plays, which I'm trying to read before I cover them in paper and doodles!

Here's a peak at a few of the very first pages...

I live by this little motto: "You don't regret the things you do, only the things you don't."

It's been a while!

2011-05-16T13:40:00.004+01:00

Wow, it has been such a long time since I've posted here!

I was reminded recently that I never showed the finished pictures of my journal. I'm half way though another one now so I thought it was about time I shared them with you here. So here it is!

P.S. In case you were wondering from my last post...the glasses did finally turn up! ;)

ART, Glasses & Houses

2009-07-01T22:30:00.004+01:00

I've been making chunky houses this week!

After this page (the last with text on) I only have 3 pages left in my journal.

I've been waiting in for my new glasses to arrive all week. Still no sign of them... I found this stencil image online and printed it onto fabric.

A friend brought me a poster for a patchwork exhibition and it inspired me! The ART words are from the poster. The image in the frame is an inchie with a little border around it.

ABC?

2009-06-29T16:05:00.003+01:00

Alphabet

Bird

Temple of Love

2009-06-29T15:59:00.002+01:00

Okay, so it's actually Zeus. Every time I see this 'Temple of Zeus' plan I have Temple of Love (Sisters of Mercy) going round my head :D

Thought process:
Temple of Zeus
Temple of Love - *buzzing round my head*
Goth dancing - legs
Even more goth/gother? feet
My poorly toe

Also features a label from a new CD since it seemed to fit in with the page. The fairy/angel is a scanned plastic figure that I found at my Gran's house.

Pages from my Greek Holiday

2009-06-14T16:22:00.007+01:00

Images taken from a church booklet. The bottom left image is a used matchbox picked up discarded in a graveyard.

The vivid purple is mulberry berry stain. There was an abundance of them in a remote hillside monastery garden. They were delicious! The monastery was built over a sacred spring so there's spring water on that left page too, and candle wax. There was a field of very smelly goats nearby, hence the stamp. The sketch was made in a local harbour.

Larissa theatre, church shrine, Mycenae entry ticket. The number 5 was drawn around a metal number found in a graveyard. Those splotches on the right are where the candle wax came through from the next page.

Museum objects.

Lots of mixed up images of things here to represent things I did or saw. The stone with the natural hole I found on a beach.

A patchwork and an injury

2009-06-14T16:16:00.005+01:00

I made the mistake of thinking I could bike down the second set of steps just because I'd managed the first. Turns out I was wrong!

Patchwork page

A series of random pages...

2009-06-12T13:18:00.004+01:00

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle,
but it will never break."
~ ancient Chinese belief ~

Oodles of doodles

2009-05-10T23:07:00.003+01:00

Just some random doodling for this page, in ink and watercolours.

Inspired by sketches I made on my wanderings around Granada.
The white page on the left was pulled from my mini travel sketchbook.

Who cares if it rains, there's always a rainbow

2009-04-28T11:19:00.003+01:00

A slightly psychedelic, rainbow page.

And some random doodles...

Symbols, brains and...

2009-04-26T23:29:00.002+01:00

3 of the 4 Sons of Horus! Of course! :D

It's one chunky, chunky book!

2009-04-26T23:23:00.005+01:00

I hope the binding holds up...I still have a lot of pages to go!

London Pants!

2009-04-26T23:15:00.003+01:00

Death metal and cross stitch on the same page? Hell yeah! Ha ha!

I went to a cross stitch workshop with a friend and we were given a little kit to make skulls, underpants, bombs...lots of neat little things. Plus you could have cupcakes and wine or cups of tea. It was a great evening!

Another garden

2009-02-16T18:07:00.004+01:00

inhabited by a slightly freaky bug.

It was Valentines over the weekend. Did anyone notice? Did anyone care?
Never mind the romantic hype, I went to an awesome metal festival called RottenHeart at a local club, and it was fantastic. And not a bit mushy!:D

2009-01-31T12:25:00.003+01:00

After a day of planting out my garden seeds...

This in an underwater scene... with a freaky little puffer fish

And a watercolour version of The Starry Night by Van Gogh combined with lyrics by Opeth

New Year, New Pages!

2009-01-08T18:30:00.003+01:00

A festive recycled page made with wrapping paper and ribbons that had been used for gifts. Welcome, New Year!

This page was made with my cousin's wonderful (and very artistic!) daughter Ella. She did a great job working with me on this page. I'm thrilled to have been able to work with her on her first page of her journal too!

Happy New Year!

New Arrival!

2008-11-01T12:51:00.005+01:00

This week was a special week. My niece Amelie Georgina was born on Tuesday under the new moon. I'm very honoured that my sister chose her middle name after me. This is her page in my journal. Welcome to the world little Amelie!

Taken on the day she was born, with very proud parents!

Of course i couldn't miss a Hallowe'en entry! Happy Samhain!

Autumn is here

2008-10-24T16:42:00.002+01:00

Journal pages with an Autumn theme. It was so very nervewracking to burn my book, but thankfully it turned out well. I wanted to create the scent of bonfires and clearing leaves when the page was turned.

I went to America and I saw...

2008-10-01T14:24:00.006+01:00

For just over 2 weeks I have been travelling around the USA with my bloke, we arrived home on Friday. When Rackycoo sent me this wonderful bingo card journal, I knew it would be perfect for all the nick-nacks and paper things I would collect along the way. The pages contain a mix of found objects, collected items and a few things from my stash. I painted the pages before I left so things wouldn't get too messy, but pretty much all of the collaging was done whilst I was away, when I was sat having coffee, in the hotel or train :D

Front of book:
The gubbins inside, some of which was hard to scan since it's about 4 inches thick now!

Title page. We live in Spain, but had to travel to London for our flight.

San Francisco
Our hotel, the pier, lunch at Hard Rock, old fortune telling machines, tour of the submarine, picked up a copy of The Onion

The Pier, Cartoon Art Museum, Book Arts exhibition at the library, strawberry melon juice drink, lunch in China Town.

Napa Valley wine tasting

Walking around Yosemite National Park
We camped in Yosemite for 2 nights. I cried so much walking around here, it was just stunning.

Death Valley
Camping! Vist to manzanar Historic Site. It says 'Resort' but it was a small motel, campground and restaurant. There was nothing around for miles but earth and mountains. It was so hot in our tent we had to have the windows and roof open, and it was beutiful to see the stars and moon from there. My favourite memory from the entire holiday was watching the moon rise up over the mountains.

Las Vegas
We were upgraded to a suite in Bills...it was awesome! Not to metion exactly what we needed after 3 nights roughing it! Met up with fellow craftster Babbetto for a great night! I'll have a tag from her in that space on the right soon.

Atlanta: Tag made by the wonderful Rackycoo who I met up with for an awesome visit!

Art Fair I went to with Rackycoo and Reese52

Train from Atlanta to NYC (we had bunk-beds on the train in our little room, so much fun!)
Gig on my birthday!

NYC:
Found objects from Central Park (sun & label) where we had a picnic, and American Museum of Natural History.

Empire State Building, Pearl River Store, St Patrick's Cathedral. Lots of walking!

Library exhibition.

Rockerfeller Centre. The target is there because there's a funny interactive light room at the top that kept us amused for ages! I much prefered this to going up the Empire.

Museum of Modern Art
It was awesome to see work by some of my favourite artists in there.

Phew, that's it, holiday over, thanks for looking!

Updated Pages!

2008-08-28T00:19:00.002+01:00

I've been so lax in posting for a while...I'm so bad!

I had a funny week a couple of weeks ago. I kept finding things from games on the local streets. First the Pictionary card, then the Monopoly money, then the bingo card. I tend to pick a lot of stuff up off the street, but never usually so many game parts in such short a time. So last week we took this random advice and played board games! :D

Automated Dragonfly:

154 new stars were created this Wednesday afternoon. A tragic event. My thoughts have been about life and death these last few days.

For anyone counting, there are 153 stars in this photo. Sadly, I had to add another one overnight.

Doors...

2008-08-04T23:55:00.003+01:00

Neverwhere book inspired pages...

Pages inspired by the Mezquita in Cordoba:

New pages!

2008-08-04T23:49:00.005+01:00

I'm so slow at posting!

I received a huge pile of goodies in the mail last month so I put them to good use on a couple of pages as a tribute to the store they came from, which is sadly closing down.

Curio Shop Pages:

I used a cute flying fish postcard in the centre to add some interest, and the threads for texture.

Opeth Lyrics:

The Quest for Playing Cards

2008-07-15T11:21:00.000+01:00

I collect found playing cards. These are scanned (ie smaller) copies of all the cards I have found since 1995. So far no duplicates! You'll note that some don't count as proper playing cards, but I like to keep them anyway.

3 Hearts: Found on a road at Uni in Preston 1995
9 Diamonds: Found on a tarmac road in Manchester centre 1996
2 Clubs: Found in Altrincham 1998
4 Spades: Found on a train to Liverpool in 2001
King Diamonds: Found on a minor road in Manchester 2002
8 Clubs: Found on a raised garden wall during a long hot walk in Madeira, August 2003
2 Hearts: Found by Olivia in her house rafters, December 2003
2 Diamonds: Found by Mike in London in a bar, 20/12/03
Russian Card: Found in Altrincham city centre, Autumn 2003
Joker (K hearts) Mike found on a night out at Old Trafford metro station after the England - Wales game, 2004
6 Clubs: Found in Cheadle at a summer school I was running, 2004
6 Diamonds: Found nestled in the mud when heading for Lost Vagueness, Glastonbury Festival 2005
9 Hearts: Found by Mike pushed into the handrail of a lift, 2006
8 Diamonds (censored): Found on Saturday 10th June 2006 at Donnington Park while at Download Festival
3 Spades: Found by Mike in a Bristol pub 10th January 2007
Velma: Found in Manchester on a night out for Helen's birthday 27th January 2007
Ace Hearts: Found on a road near Warrington Bus Station, 31st January 2007
5 Diamonds: Found whilst car shopping in Sevilla, July 2007
12 Cups: Found in Tomares, Christmas Day 2007
8 Spades: Found by Emma & Justin New Years Day by the Bulls head Pub, Hale Barns, 2008
Go Fish Elmo: Found by the river in Andorra, Feb 2008

I wonder where and when my next find will be...

Mr Paisley Snail and puppydog's tails...

2008-07-07T19:01:00.006+01:00

Mr Paisley Snail.(the snail came on a funky paper bag from a shop I bought a dress in)

The right page comes from a quote my friend and I laugh at constantly. From Robin hood I think. We saw the movie when we were at uni, so that's why the page is experimental and arty ;)

From a poem I've had for years and never found the right place for...

The centre text says; 'He who lives after nature shall never be poor.'

The caterpillar on the leaf is represents one of the many munching on our plants at the moment, grr! We've now set up surrogate plants at the bottom of the garden to move them too since we obviously can't kill them, but really don't want them on our good plants!!

Wolf Moon

2008-07-05T12:16:00.003+01:00

Inspired by two subjects - rust and music.

One of my favourite bands is Type O Negative and I adore Wolf Moon from the October Rust album. A gorgeous man with a deep sexy voice singing about that time of the month, mmm! ;)

So, this is a blood red page with a music background over some of which I've written some of the lyrics. The vertical lines and vine on the right page borrow from the album cover, green stems with thorns. Moon, rusty metal found objects, blood drips and period dates. Perfect timing for this page to be born!

Most recent pages...

2008-07-05T12:12:00.004+01:00

A couple of my recent journal pages...

Dots:

Working with the themes of stitching and text

Rainbow Journal

2008-06-14T22:11:00.006+01:00

These rainbow entries were created as part of a journal-a-long on craftster.org where a group of us worked in our own journals to each create a set of rainbow pages.

Red: There's no better fruit than pomegranates and strawberries! It's just coming to the end of the strawberry season here but they've been delicious!
Orange: Sunshine, fire and beautiful sunsets. I love the feeling of warmth after a day swimming at the beach when it's just going cool so you grab a blanket, light up a fire and watch the sun set over the sea.

Green:
I love peas, and trees, so they had to feature, as did the dragon spine and the butterfly. We were recently given part of a cactus from our neighbour that we're growing, so the cactus appears too.

Yellow:
Since this is a personal journal I'm trying to keep to things which either represent me or that I'm thinking about etc. So, the yellow fell on page 34. My age. The corn is to represent the 3 stages of my life, maiden, mother and crone )O(. I've placed the corn so my age is between the first two, though I guess I really should be on the other side! :D The clock and tape measure in there to represent time. The tape measure is marked with an important point *ahem* ;) The horizontal tape at the top is just a humorous touch to this page about sex and life ;)

Both cover the same themes: peace, serenity, relaxation, the opening of your mind to ideas. I discovered an indigo gouache whilst I was painting my birdhouse with a sponge yesterday, I added some to this page too.

spirituality & inspiration

Also the crab stamp I've been hoarding for a while since it reminds me of a holiday to Egypt a couple of years ago. We did a scuba diving course and one day when we were walking out to sea I saw a crab scooting by on the surface of the water. I turned round to say to everyone to look out for the crab but they just thought I was crazy since nobody saw it. We did our training and an hour or so later we walked back to the beach to the gear offload point and I took my BCD (jacket) off, only to find that nestled behind my tank between my shoulders was the crab! He'd been hitching a ride with me all through my lesson! :D

Note to self: please be more organised!

2008-06-14T22:02:00.005+01:00

Oh, I'm so lazy blogging, and I have a heap of things to show! :)

Firstly, remember my stool? Well, I've had a birdhouse hanging about the garden forever, and it was grotty! So, time for a revamp, phizzy style! Here's the before (yuck!) and some afters...

New Journal Pages

2008-06-04T15:36:00.004+01:00

I have been working on these entries to my journal this week.

And an older entry I forgot to take a picture of with my design for the chair.

The Challenge is On!

2008-06-04T15:28:00.004+01:00

I finished up the seat, and I've entered my little stool into the challenge. This is my first Craftster Challenge, so wish me luck!

You can view my entry here

This is how I finished off the seat.

A comfy seat at last!

2008-06-01T10:42:00.006+01:00

The seat for the stool was in such a bad way that I had no choice but to re-cut the wood for the seat, use new foam and re-cover. In a strange, and fortunate twist of fate, the wood left over from when I made my bird table was an exact fit. All I had left to do was to cut curves out of the corners to fit around the legs and I was done. I've had this fabric for a long time and I knew it would be perfect for this job, I just need to work into it now with some greens to tie the colour scheme in.

I used furniture tacks to keep the fabric in place. I'm currently working on collaging underneath the seat. I started by painting in a sky and clouds...and of course my triangles! They make it everywhere!

I think that's why I like this fabric so much...more triangles!

Project Update!

2008-05-31T02:22:00.004+01:00

I've spent today starting to add more details to my stool using collage and paint. I've also attached some wire swirls dangling off the bottom of one of the lower bars, but I think they're a little hidden by the grass. Some of the swirls are embellished with beads and a button, and there's a rusty old key hanging there too.

Up for a challenge?

2008-05-29T17:57:00.008+01:00

I am! I'm beavering away on my entry for craftster.org's Craft Challenge #28 - In The Hot Seat - which is due in just a few days!

"Everyone has room for just one more chair, right?! This challenge is to take an old chair -- the uglier the better -- and remake it into something beautiful!"

I found this old wooden stool out by the bin last week and thought it would be perfect for this challenge! I wanted to create a useful version of my journal, with the same look and feel. Painted, collaged, full of bright colours and quirky ephemera. Maybe when it's finished I can even use it to sit on and journal!

Here's my progress so far...

First layer of paint is applied...

Let the collaging begin!

I'm really enjoying working in 3D, it's so much fun!

Tea anyone?

2008-05-27T17:05:00.003+01:00

So, I just can't stop using this tea cup and saucer stamp that I carved a while ago. It made it's first appearance in the front cover of the book and it's back again. :)

This was going to be just the background but I really like this as a contrast to the business of the other pages.

Journal page

2008-05-25T19:02:00.001+01:00

Back to my book!

2008-05-23T13:43:00.005+01:00

In a flurry of activity I have worked on and completed several pages recently. I love the burst of colour they give!

Bird Matchbox Shrine

2008-05-16T15:26:00.002+01:00

Made for a swap on Craftster.org I love the colour combo in this matchbox shrine. I saw the matchbox in a local store and loved the yellow bird design so it evolved from there. The box top became the back of this little shrine.

Home

2008-05-05T23:16:00.003+01:00

I think a great deal about birds these days. I have regular visitors to my garden for food and they perch up on the fence and sing to me.

Bread for birdsong is definitely a good trade!

Last month we put up a new twig fence around the garden and they enjoyed taking some of the loose twigs for nests. I was wondering what my nest might be like, what I might like to make it from. Random things probably!

birds & bingo!

2008-02-22T13:56:00.002+01:00

Last weekend I bought some wood and paint and made myself a bird feeding table for the garden. Nothing fancy, just the base and edges and a lick of green, but it's perfect for the small birds that we have passing through. I've yet to see one on it...but I'm sure that's just a matter of time ;) So that's the inspiration for the first page here.

The second uses all the offcuts from a bingo card I was using to make a chunky book page for a swap. Waste not want not!

shabby chic journal entry too!

2008-02-14T20:26:00.000+01:00

On Monday I was looking through some of my ATC's which I never got around to swapping. I came across this lady and thought she deserved to be featured in my entry for the 13th. I love the combination of colours I used for her. So vibrant.

I loved the elements of my chunky book page from my previous entry so much that I used some of them in my journal entry for the 14th.

shabby chic book pages

2008-02-14T17:04:00.004+01:00

This is a page I made for a chunky book page swap on Craftster. I hope I have judged my partners taste correctly with this page. I went for a romantic shabby chic style. Well, it is the time of year for romance after all!

The front:

And back:

I hope the recipient likes it!

the return of Arthur

2008-02-11T16:02:00.000+01:00

Arthur is a grasshopper. He spent most of last summer on our garden fence. He stayed so long that we named him. Today he landed back in our garden for a visit. I wonder how long he will stay this time?

thinking about journalling

2008-02-10T17:22:00.000+01:00

I was thinking yesterday of the reasons I like to journal. I think the main reason for me is that I like to look back, years later, and see what I was thinking about and creating at that point in time. All my holiday photo albums are in scrapbooks with writings and drawings too. It brings the past to life and reminds you of all the little things that you had forgotten about.

green green grass of home

2008-02-08T14:36:00.000+01:00

This morning has been beautiful so I dragged my paints and pencils outside to enjoy sitting on the grass and working in the sunshine. Someone, somewhere was cutting their lawn and the smell wafting over my garden was wonderful!

Ponderings

2008-02-08T12:05:00.000+01:00

This is the next page. I'm starting to play with colour again, inspired by a notecard I received through the post this week and my curiosity about animals it would seem! The clock hand moves so you can alter it's position. I'm biding my time waiting to see what the background to this page needs, so I'll revisit it later.

You'll be seeing more of the papers I used on the right page in subsequent pages. They were sent to me by the wonderful mimiw on Craftster. She surprised me with an envelope just crammed with little goodies yesterday, including some machine sewed papers. I couldn't wait to use them and you'll see the thread stars going across the page too.

The pink piece of paper was found by my friend Sue while we were out in Sevilla yesterday. It was too unusual not to use!

I also want to show off my new painting apron, which I was surprised with yesterday by Sue. I haven't been able to find mine since we moved and the pockets in this one are proving to be invaluable for stashing papers and pencils!

First Visual Journal Pages

2008-02-07T17:26:00.000+01:00

I was so excited when received two books in the post, one French and one German for altering from PurpleHeather on Craftster. They originated from a sale at Birmingham Library. Both were perfect so it was a difficult choice which to start on first. I settled on the French novel 'Les Belles Infidèles' by Georges Mounin. It smells wonderfully old and full of character. Plus it's cover is green. I'm in a green mood recently and everything I produce features green somewhere. It must be spring!

Here are the first two spreads from my visual journal. I have been inspired by song lyrics for both of these. As usual with my work they include a random selection of images, comments and doodles. I may go back and so some more work on them, but I'm happy with them for now. I just love the stamped 'DISCARDED' on the second page. It may have been discarded, but not for long!

I found some great paper bits today in Sevilla to use so I'm excited to work on my next pages.

A few of my favourites

2008-02-06T15:04:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of my favourite cards to date.

Etsy Shop

New beginings!

2008-02-06T14:55:00.000+01:00

In May 2007 we relocated from England to Sevilla, Spain. Since then I have been busy producing artwork, cards and jewellery with renewed passion. Up till now this has been mainly for friends and family, but I now have an Etsy site where I sell my artwork.

Yesterday I had my first card event since we moved here which was a great success! Here is a sample of my cards which I snapped as I was packing them up.

Hopefully this is the first of many!

Hello!

2008-02-04T10:00:00.000+01:00

For my first post I thought I'd like to share some recent exciting news, my first Etsy front page! Some of my inchies artwork were featured on the front page in a very colourful collection. I'm so proud of them!

take a closer look