Thursday, 11 December 2014

Collage, notebooks and birds

Hi Everybody!

We had a very chilly and windy day, with lots of rain, but in between the sun peeked out, and right now the moon is smiling down at me.

Bad weather gave me lots of crafty time today, so I was busy making some little altered note books as presents for people.

My collage for Art Journal Journey was once again made in my Giant Journal. I made it last week when we had sunshine, so we have blue skies, green fields and lots of birds hopping about on the houses in our little town. The river has been made with a piece of yarn that Patty sent me, and it looks like there is a ship chugging through. I am also linking to Paint Party Friday. I used various scraps of blue and green papers, mirri-card and  washi tape, and did some stitching as embellishment.





The first 2 notebooks were painted front and back with black gesso and sprinkled with fairy dust. On the first one I added 2 TH bird die-cuts, and the on the second one a golden ginkgo leaf. I used crackle glaze on the fronts, and rubbed Inka  gold into the cracks.



The third one was collaged with tiny scraps of paper and stamps, crackled, distressed, and got a bike as focal motive. 


Mr and Mrs Blackbird spent more time on my balcony than anywhere else today, and were particularly keen on the nuts:




A pair of wood pigeons arrived today, hiding in the tree at first, but got bolder and bolder and rewarded themselves with a good tuck-in on my balcony.
The little robin still bosses them all about, when he turns up, he expects all the others to take flight!



Have a good day, take care,
and thanks a lot for coming by!

30 comments:

  1. Well this just popped up while I was going to comment on your last post! I love your collages Valerie. Your altered note books look great.
    Sandy xx

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  2. Taking a second peek at your collage, I love it!!
    Sandy xx

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  3. Gosh this is stunning...where do you get all of these wonderful ideas from and your photos, they are never the same, just love coming to your house.xxx{The Journey is the Start – my personal blog}

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  4. First thing that caught my eyes was that gorgeous crackle! Love your giant journal page. Now I am also wanting to go for a bike ride! As always great photos! Hope your day is a little warmer and sunny! Hugs!

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  5. beautiful collages, and great shots of the birds too. Stay warm!

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  6. Your notebook collage is awesome. The stitching is inrteresting as well the composition.
    Love your blackbird couple and the cactus is beautiful.
    Have a great day, hugs xx

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  7. Love your Rhine collage, really beautiful, and all the notebooks are great, hard to choose a fave! Lovely bird photos, too! Have a good day, and stay warm! Hugs, Sarah

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  8. Deine Collage ist wieder klasse und erst die Notihbücher - du warst echt fleißig :-)
    Liebe Grüße, Dagmar.

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  9. The artwork is super and love the use of the netting as a river--would never have thought of that. Beautiful shapes and colours to give the idea of a ship.

    The little note books look terrific and will be such great presents.

    Great photographs as always with the birds taking centre stage. A nice fat pidgeon looking at your cactii--what a magical moment.

    Nothing has touched the fat balls in our garden yet--the blackbirds prefer to strip our bushes of the red berries.

    Have a great day

    Love Chrissie x

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  10. Die Collage ist so ausdrucksstark... perfekt in Farben und Komposition...
    und die Notizbücher sind allesamt Kunstwerke!
    Die Vogelbilder beeindrucken mich immer und wimmer wieder...wunderschön!
    Hab einen guten Donnerstag Valerie!
    ♥♥♥
    Susi

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  11. Das vergoldete Gingkoblatt wirkt ganz super, gute Idee... ich habe auch noch ein paar gepresste Blätter, so kann man sie wunderbar aufwerten. ... auch das Fahrradbild gefällt mir sehr.
    Hab einen schönen Tag - Ulrike

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  12. The fabric adds so much texture and movement to your bird collage. Like the bike piece as well. Who doesn't need fairy dust in their lives? I know I do. mWind and rain here too. Hoping for some calming today. xox

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  13. The colors in this collage are so tranquil and calming! The yarn is a cool effect. Fun to see the birds on the balcony--are your cacti outside? All year long? Or am I seeing things?

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    Replies
    1. They stay outside all year and seem to cope with the temperature changes well.

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  14. Gorgeous collage work, I love the top one especially. You are lucky to have the birds hanging out on your balcony! Wonderful :) Cheers, Shirleyxx

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  15. Amazing art pieces today Valerie! I love the blues and greens together for the first one, and the gold really accented well on the black piece! Beautiful shots today, have a wonderful afternoon! holiday hugs :)

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  16. WOW! Great work and you have been so BUSY!!!! Love them!!! Love your bird photos too,

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  17. Your notebooks and collage page are gorgeous. Love your little birds too. Big hugs, ~Diane

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  18. I love that collage, the river the birds, wow you did a fantastic art creation, that's for sharing those birds, I love birds,

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  19. Valerie your collage work is quite unique and full of style, the notebooks are beautiful, great work and lovely photos as always too!

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  20. Fab collage and notebooks Valerie and love the blackbird pics. We have some robins that nest in the ivy on our pergola and it's lovely to see them from the kitchen window.
    Hugs, Fliss xx

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  21. Great note book and fantastic collages, I love the bike on the third one. Super works!
    Love the birds photos.
    Hugs, Mar

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  22. Hi Valerie, I love things that are crackled and I used it a lot in my painting over the years. Love your collages and the bike one really caught my eye. Great bird shots too.
    Have a creative day!
    XO

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  23. Wonderful pieces again today Valerie, the note books look fantastic.
    Yvonne xx

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  24. Fantastic collage again today, Valerie. You have a terrific eye for colors and putting 'scraps' together for a design. The stitching is the perfect touch for your collage. PHOTOS...always fun to view and I like your notebook covers too.

    Hugs,
    C

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  25. Wow-really terrific work going on, and I always enjoy your out door photos!

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  26. Wonderful mixed media collages! I love !!, especially the first !!!!

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  27. your collages are just wonderful - all so different and all so well done. Love the gold filled crackle. I also love birds (living in nature that is) and your photos are terrific.

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  28. What a lovely, busy patio you have! Love your sparkly bird collage especially.

    -Barb

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