What to do on a stinking hot day!

Sydney, Australia, has been having some very hot weather. Not really so unusual for us but it's been the warm nights that have been getting most of us.

Luckily I live within about a kilometre from the coast and we've been enjoying a sea breeze which has helped to keep the temperatures within a habitable range (barely).

My younger daughter had a business trip to St Marys which is a far western suburb of Sydney on Friday of last week and there it was 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and the premises she visited were not air conditioned! No wonder she told me she thought she had melted!

Anyway, what to do in this stinking weather - well, I made a skirt I had been planning for quite a while and a couple of pages in my art journal. Anything to stay indoors!

I bought some printed linen from The Fabric Store a couple of years ago and had enough left over

from a summer dress project to make a pencil skirt. I used New Look 6541 view A which I've had in

my stash for donkey's years. It went together really easily and goes well with an elbow length sleeved blouse I bought. Looking forward to wearing it when the weather cools down a bit.

The art journal:

Sporadically over the past year I've been playing around in my art journal in between making cards and photo albums, sewing, knitting, etc (as you do). Over a couple of days between household chores and some family history research I did this:

Quite pleased with this spread and it sums up how I feel about craft.

When I finish this journal I'll start one that doesn't have a spiral binding because it drives me crazy.

I am quite the Tim Holtz addict, you will see, when I tell you what I used. Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Paper Floral, Distress Collage Medium matte to glue it down and then seal it; Tim Holtz mini layering stencil with clock faces, Tim Holtz blueprint mini stamps, a camera stamp from my stash (courtesy of my elder Daughter).

I also added cut-out words from magazines to make the words on the pages.

Everything was adhered to the page with generous amounts of the Collage Medium. The stamped images were outlined using a black pen and the page edges were darkened with walnut stain Distress Ink (Tim Holtz, of course).

I think the longest part of the process was allowing everything to dry. I don't like using a heat tool especially on a stinking hot day.

Love those Tim Holtz Blueprint stamps