Happy Thanksgiving Day

Hi Everybody!

I want to wish all dear friends in the USA a very happy

Thanksgiving Day.

To celebrate the day, and for Art Journal Journey, inspired by the colours of autumn, I made a journal page:

For our private Challenge, 99 Faces, I made a blue lady.

I drew her very simply in black ink and kept to a very limited colour scheme, using a gold pen to add some highlights. She was painted with water colours.

I am also linking to Kim Dellow's show your face:

The sunrise yesterday was wonderful:

The moon was really unusual tonight - not just because it was so bright, but because of the halo of coloured clouds around it.

Mid week mix

Hi Everybody!

Hope your week is going well.

For Art Journal Journey, inspired by autumn colours, I have another hybrid collage, using my photos and art work. I added  Banksy's little girl with the balloon (stencilry) and some bubbles.

For Wen's Simply Neutrals I made another hybrid collage. The fish are from Itkupilli, all the rest is made from my own art/photos.

These 2 photos fit Wen's theme, too:

On Sunday we had beautiful weather. This raven was waiting for his breakfast in the early morning:

Here I have digitally cut out the background and changed it to a PNG file,  (with a transparent background) so please feel free to down load and use this one in your own work if you like it.

We have had wonderful sunrises in the past few days, I love seeing the morning sun dispelling the frost and mist.

My long shadow accompanies me on my walks:

The leaves of the pollard willows were gleaming like silver in the sun:

Frozen leaves:

There was ice on the little swamp:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

A new Challenge at TIOT and much, much more.

Hi Everybody!

Lots going on again today, so I'll jump straight in and get started.

We have a new challenge at TIOT starting today -

Gift bags or boxes.

As always, you have 2 weeks to make something special, and I am sure nicely decorated bags or boxes do come in handy at this time of year,

so please show what you can do!

My project is a recycled bag from last year. I cut and trimmed a panel of gold card to fit the centre front, and disguise the old writing on it. Then I made a Christmas card, decorated with various papers from DCWV, some German scrap and a TH die cut reindeer. Only the back of the card is fixed to the bag, so it can be opened to write a message. I added some seasonal stickers. This will hold a little present for my neighbour.

 Today is time for dear Elisabeth's T stands for Tuesday meeting, so I want to give a big welcome to all of the T gang.

I have made a hybrid page, combining drawing and photos for the occasion. I used 5 different photos, I am sure you can find them for yourself.

I had great fun making this wild face for our private challenge 99 faces from a piece of underlay paper onto which I had already painted, stamped and scribbled. After drawing and painting the face with water colours I added more scribbles and stamps just for the fun of it, things like this are very liberating.

Both journal pages are also meant for Art Journal Journey, inspired by the colours of Autumn.

On Sunday they had an open day - or better, open meadow - at the Alpaca farm in Kalkum, opposite the castle. I couldn't resist taking a peek at these gorgeous creatures, they are so cuddly and pretty:

Love this photo, looks like they are having a gossip:

There was also a booth where they were selling beautiful items made from alpaca wool, unfortunately all way beyond my price range, but I did enjoy looking at them. You can see more pics of the place here

That's all for today, have a good one, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Monday Mix

Hi Everybody!

The weekend has gone by in a flash. 

Have a good start in the new week!

For Art Journal Journey, inspired by autumn colours, I made an A3 mixed media page. The central image is from Alfons Mucha, I love his colourful and vibrant work. The background was painted with yellow and orange, and the surrounding leaves and flowers were stenciled and then edged with gold. The quote was collaged. It proved really true this year, until last week it was like spring, but the mild temperatures have now been blown away by icy winds. 

For our private challenge, 99 faces, I made a hybrid page. The background is a photo taken from my balcony and an old family document. The moon is also one of my photos. The eye and head-profile are my drawings. The eye is looking straight ahead, but I wanted to do it like the old Egyptian sculptures, where the eyes, even when seen from the side, are shown from the front view. The little cherub is a freebie from Freubel's Freebies.

The pictures are from my Saturday walk. The sky was full of clouds, which often looked threatening, but it stayed dry.

The first of the Christmas decorations have gone up here, and one of the shops had a special Christmas booth in front on Saturday:

The Christmas market is already in full swing, with tempting aromas coming from the grilled sausages, potato cakes, Glühwein (mulled, spiced wine) and other tasty things on sale.

Plenty of 'Lebkuchen' (Gingerbread) and burnt almonds, too.

A roundabout for the kids:

And lots of gifts to buy:

Our market is very small here, but there is plenty of 

opportunity to spend money anyway!

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!