Thursday this and that

Hi Everybody!

Hope those of you in the freezing areas of the USA are keeping safe and warm, and that the extremely hot weather in Australia has cooled off a bit. Here it's cold and it snowed all day, but it wasn't as bad as it is some places. I need to stay home for a couple of days to get rid of my cold. I went to the doc's today and got some medication, I have sinusitis and bronchitis and want to get rid of it all ASAP.  Next week I have to go back for blood tests, and then to a specialist for rheumatology and immunology to see if he can help with my 'Smurf'' fingers and toes. It seems to be caused by micro embolisms in my extremities, so I am hoping there will be some suitable treatment for it, especially as it seems to be a very rare condition.

For Tag Tuesday I have another mixed media/collage tag for Michele's hearts challenge:

I am also linking the tag to Simon Monday challenge, love is in the air

And I made another double page in my journal at our art group last week, using collage, stenciling and stamping on a gessoed and stenciled background. The card on the right side was marbled. All of the used bits and bobs are from the UFOs that were flying about my work-table:

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday.

More progress shots from my 'winter-garden':

They grow so much each day it's almost unbelievable:

And today it snowed all day:

The photos of the heron were taken last week - he was grumpy and nervous because of the gulls:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

T stands for HearTs-HearTs-HearTs

Hi Everybody!

Hope your weekend was good and better than mine. I spent my time either in bed or resting in my armchair, tucked up under a blanket. I still have a bad cold, cough and sore throat, and my fingers are playing up, hurting and refusing to pick things up for me, which is very annoying. It can only get better!

On Tuesday we are beginning a new challenge at Tag Tuesday and this time our wonderful and talented Michele is hosting, and has chosen 'Hearts-hearts-hearts' as her theme, which gives us all a good opportunity to make some tags to show our loved ones that we care about them. As always, tags of all formats are welcome, and you have 2 weeks to link your lovely creations. Michele has 3 gorgeous, inspirational tags on the TT blog to get you going. I made a large tag (12") using part of a painting made many years ago, which has been chopped up to recycle. I sewed it onto a black background, and added lots of hearts in red and gold, a die-cut piece with notes and a quote which reads 'Dance to the rhythm of your heart'. The original painting showed strange creatures, a cross between women and birds, dancing across the page, and you can see one of them here:

I am also linking to Simon Monday challenge, love is in the air

And here I would like to welcome all the nice ladies of the T-Gang as it's time for Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday party:

And last but not least, some photos taken here when it snowed last week:

St Swidbert with a snow cape:

My hyacinths are still growing, so I needed to bind the blue ones to give them some support:

Can you see what I used?!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Chilly Friday post

Hi Everybody!

This week has flown by again, mostly cold and grey, with rain, snow and sleet, but we did have some sun on Monday, so that was definitely good. The weather man has promised  rain and ice over the weekend, so that sounds like a good time to stay home, read, play, listen to music or binge on TV - and perhaps catch up on some sleep!

Recently I have been chopping up some old painted pages and using them to create new ones in my journal. Here the strips were placed onto a gessoed and stenciled background. I also used a scrap of JD tissue and a stamped image of a little child. The child and sunflowers are a LaBlanche stamp, as is the swirly background which was stamped first:

I am linking to Paint Party Friday

And I have a last tag for our mail challenge at Tag Tuesday, assembled from various hand cut, stamped and sewn tags sewed together. The images are from CI:

On Monday I had an appointment in Dusseldorf, so traveled with the tram into the centre of town and then walked though 'Hofgarten', a beautiful park, to see how it looks in winter. The first photo was taken here in the shelter at the tram stop, you can see ice crystals on the glass:

Hofgarten is magnificent at any time of the year, and the lakes and ponds are kept ice-free for the water fowl:

The wild geese were very noisy and holding a cuss-out to try to scare away the swans, who just blithely ignored them:

I had fun with the long shadows:

 I love the bronze deer at any time of the year:

Have a great weekend. Keep warm or cool as the case may be!

Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!