Happy Halloween and Happy Mail

Hi everybody!

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate it, 

and Happy Friday to everybody!

And Happy Birthday to Annette, she was lucky enough to be born

on Halloween! Have a great day!

Today I am showing 2 Halloween pieces made in the past, but which I like very much. The canvases are both 8x8", and the images used are from Gecko Galz, 'Little witches' and 'Owling for you'. They have been printed onto canvas, and fixed to the painted and textured canvases before being embellished.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday.

This beautiful Halloween card arrived today from Diane - thanks a lot Sweetie, I LOVE it! It must have taken ages to fit all those little parts together, wow! What a fantastic project! Thanks again!

Today was milder than yesterday, which made walking more enjoyable, and I went for one longish walk and 2 shorter ones, which made 17000 steps altogether, so that was good. I thought the sheep were looking very snooty today:

This is the path which leads past the castle ruins:

As I came back from my evening walk, the sun was setting over the Rhine:

And the wild geese were also hurrying home

Have a great weekend you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Fear no more....

Hi everybody!

We had a cold, damp and misty day here. I couldn't find my gloves, so had to keep my hands in my pockets on my walks. Winter is coming nearer!

In the past few days I had a song from Shakespeare, the 'Dirge for Fidele' (Cymbeline) going round and round in my head, with the lovely music from Ralph Vaughn Williams, which you can hear here.

Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' th' great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
all follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning flash,
The all dreaded thunder stone;
Fear no slander, censure rash;
Thou has finished joy and moan.
All lovers young, all lovers must
consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorcisor harm thee,
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee,
Nothing ill come near thee.
Quiet consummation have,
And renowned be thy grave!

Anyway, it prompted me to make this page in my giant journal. The background was painted with a mix of rust and red, and then I stamped into it with the background stamp from Chrissie, without using colour - the dry stamp just pulls colour off and leaves a negative pattern, which gives a great texture. I sprinkled some fairy dust over it while it was still wet. I used some of my stencils, bought and home made to make the figures, which I painted with gold acrylics, and outlined in white. I did the same with the text. I used the rest of the gold paint to fill in the gaps around the edges.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin.

Today the sheep were back again. The grass is lush and green after so much rain, so they have plenty to eat! I love how the bridge in the background has faded into the mist.

Close behind Mama

Along the Rhine everything was grey in grey, but I enjoyed my walk along the shore, scuffing through the stones and sand.

Wonder what they are all looking at?

The red leaves lit up the grey day.

Have a lovely day, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

This and that again

Hi everybody!

Today was one of those days which was mostly so stupid that I just want to forget it!

This is one of the October DT projects for Gecko Galz, using one of the digi stamps from the 'Be thankful' stamp set. I printed it onto acetate and onto the yellow card, placing the images one over the other, which gives more depth. The sentiment has been hand-written and the embellishments are mostly natural materials.

The second card was also a DT project from a couple of months back that I didn't get round to showing. The image is from the Collage sheet 'Olive Thomas', who was an actress back in the roaring Twenties. I used an acetate overlay to make the frame, and some paper flowers and a ribbon bow as embellishments.

This morning the ducks and seagulls were out swimming merrily together, enjoying the sunny weather. I hope they didn't mind the cold wind as much as I did!

The name on this ship reminded me of my blog buddy Yvonne, 'Meggymay'. It was filled with tractors and trucks.

The wild geese looked like they were having a conversation

I wonder why somebody left the wheelbarrow in the middle of the field?

Have a good day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot or coming by!

Double Tuesday

Hi everybody!

We had another nice autumn day here - cool, but sunny, and just right for long walks!

Today is another double Tuesday, as we have a new theme at Tag Tuesday and at Try it on Tuesday.

At TIOT our theme for the next 2 weeks is 'Autumn colours', so hope to see lots of you joining in. You can make anything you like as long as it fits the theme.

I made a large (12") tag. I used an image from Gecko Galz, matted with 2 coordinating colours onto black card from an old calendar. The owl trim has been made with a punch. I added some gilding flakes as leaves, and some fibres and beads. I am linking to Crafty Cardmakers, use a punch.

At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is Fright Night - yes, right up my street!

I made a triptych. The grey background was made with DP stenciled over with a CWS tree stencil and Archival black. I mounted it onto some yellow card to brighten it a little, and punched some owl trim from the same card. The moon faces are from Rhonda Kauffs 'Moonbirds' (available from Gecko Galz). The bats and trees have been die cut and crackle varnished.

We had a wonderful day, and I was outside for hours, wandering round - I just feel I have to make the best of the good weather while it lasts.

The day started with a fiery sunrise:

The crow was busy picking at a dead fish at the Rhine:

Once again I was fascinated by the fungi in beautiful autumn colours growing on various trees:

I love these little mossy 'hills' I saw on the little bridge over the stream:

The sun was setting by the time I came home from my last walk:

Have a great day, whatever you are up to, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!