Sunrise and a hoopoe

Yesterday was one of the first days in a long time that I haven't sat down to craft anything, but I was not lazy, as I am having a fit of the tidy-it-ups and clean-it-outs just now - don't worry; it won't last long!
I was up early, in time to see the sunrise - I just love this transit from dark sky to light!

The sky had such a lovely colour as I got up, that I grabbed my camera and threw a blanket over my nightdress, and sat in the freezing cold on the balcony, holding on to my cup of coffee for some warmth. But I enjoyed it so much, it was worth it.

After that I made some lemon muffins, as there were some people coming to help my neighbour  carry the heavy things, and I thought they might be hungry. I did not even get a chance to take a picture before they were gone!

An hour later, I heard something scratching about in the corner of my balcony, where there is a pot of dead plants that once were petunias. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a hoopoe digging into the earth looking for whatever they find there! I know this bird from Israel and the Mediterranean lands, but have never seen one here in Germany. I didn't dare move to get my camera, but this is what it looked like:

(Hoopoe by courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

Hope your day will also have some pleasant surprises in store for you! Take care of yourselves, and thanks for coming by!

Hatter's Challenge Xmas Cards

Hi everybody. Hope you are all well and fit. I spent yesterday with a friend, and when I got home I just had time to have a try at my Xmas cards. I have a whole packet of purple cards and envelopes - which look blue in the photos - and decided to try out some simple cards just using die-cuts made from silver foil, a few vintage images and some matching ribbons. I am not happy with them, and will not be making any more like this. Ah well, we live and learn! And at least I now know what I do not want to do for Xmas cards....How good that there is still plenty of time! I think the colours are so strange because it was just starting to get dark outside.

I am linking to the 'Out of Hat' Challenge.

Have a nice day you all, take care, and thanks for coming by.

Tag Tuesday

Hi you all, it's Tag Tuesday again, and our theme this week is 'rainy day'. My idea of a rainy day is to stop home and craft, drink coffee and perhaps bake a cake.... The  only other thing that occurred to me was yellow wellington boots....
So, once again TH's umbrella man had to step in, this time with fitting footwear. I made a tag out of recycled card, covered with some music paper, distressed the background with DIs and some sponged trees, and added the umbrella man, made from miri-card, and a fence made of scrap cardboard.

I didn't have the energy to do another one. I spent a lot of time helping my neighbour again, we drove three car loads of stuff to the charity shop, and slowly, slowly, we are getting there. And then I decided to tidy my working space, AKA kitchen table, which is now really empty for the first time in years!

Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

2 Birthday cards

Good morning you all! Another week has begun. Yesterday I was intending to do lots of crafting, but then I was at my neighbour's for a long time, helping getting things packed and sorted again, and then he kindly treated us to some spicy chicken and a Pizza, so we had a nice break feeding ourselves full and washing it down with white wine, and by the time I got back to my apartment it was 5 p.m. and I NEEDED a big cup of coffee. Thus fortified, I was able to do my my two cards which have been commissioned. One is for a lady, who will be 75, and the other for her husband, who will be 89 (the number is on the number plate). The car has been cut from a dark grey miri-card, pity that the shine is not showing up here! Was fun making the cards!

Today I will be taking a lot of things we have sorted out to the charity shop near here, I think I will have the car completely full, and I am sure they will be happy to get such a lot of good things. 

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

Fall fearless and fly challenge and Happy Mail

Hi you all!
For this challenge at Artists in Blogland  three prompts were given, of which we had to use at least one:
a headline prompt - Inventing the future
a colour prompt - warm colours - reds, oranges, pinks, yellows
a quote prompt - The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time ( A. Lincoln)

I decided to go with the colour and quote prompts. I started off with gesso, and added yellow metallic and pink acrylics painted with a thick brush. Then I used some red spray over some templates and leaves, and stamped over the still wet pages with a script stamp.

Then I collaged various images, keeping to the colour scheme. Like life, past or  future, there are many layers hidden beneath the paint and the pictures, The script, which is partly visible, tells part of  the story. Other quotes have been written and then covered or partly covered by other things. As in life, we always see only a part of the story. The butterflies symbolize new life and metamorphosis, faces change in the course of time,  The lady - perhaps from thousand and one nights - symbolizes dreams and hopes; Buddha stands for strength, wisdom, continuity. I could write more, but I think it is important that everybody must make their own journey of discovery, based on the past, and headed towards the future.  The quote has been printed onto a transparent foil and laid over the right side. 

The profile has been cut from DP, the other images were in my stash, the head of Buddha is from a serviette.

I stamped the corners using archival black and a stamp from LaBlanche.

And I got some happy Mail on Friday from Annette. I won this lovely little tag hanger in a little giveaway on her blog. It is already hanging on the wall in my kitchen. It is beautifully made, with several layers of textiles and lace.

And these goodies came with it:

Thanks a bunch Annette!

Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Journal a quote

'Journal a quote' is the title of the challenge at 'Three Muses' this week. I took the title of the song by Cyndi Lauper, which has been buzzing around in my head this week since I heard it on the radio. I did the background by scraping on gesso and some blue and green leftover paint, did some prismalo scribbling on top of that, and then went to town with cutting and snipping. The disco girl on the right has been cut out of black paper, and then stickled, but the light was so bad all day that I couldn't catch the shine. But is is a nice green and orange sparkle, so you will just have to believe me!

Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Postcard Challenge and Paint Party Friday

Hi you all, it's Friday, and that means time for Darcy's Postcard Challenge,where the theme this week is Portugal, and PPF, hosted by Eva and Kristin.

Jason and Shannon have been invited by a friend to visit the Portuguese Synagogue in Bevis Marks, in the city of London. It’s a nice evening, so they decide to walk there, as it is not far from where they live. They have seen the building from the outside, as they often pass by, but this is their first time inside.
Jason is a bit glum; cultural visits are not really his thing, but Shannon insists. ‘You can’t go to the pub or watch telly every night, can you?’ She asks. Jason answers, ‘Well, actually I could!’ but ducks quickly before Shannon can cuff him.

Jason has to wear a kippa (skull cap) on his head, which sits strangely on top of his spiky hair. They hear a very informative talk about the history of the Synagogue, and learn that it is the oldest purpose built one in England. There are much older buildings in other towns, like the Jew’s Court in Lincoln, dating from Norman times, but it has not been continually in use since then, due to the expulsion of the Jews from England in the 13th Century. A number of synagogues that predate the expulsion of the Jews from England have been discovered by archaeologists or  historians in buildings that have been in use for other purposes for many centuries. A second set of synagogues post-dates the legal return of Jews to England in the seventeenth century. Some synagogues have been destroyed or demolished and rebuilt on the same site, so that, while the site or congregation may be very old, the building may be modern. Still other old synagogue buildings exist, but were sold by the congregation and are now used for other purposes, some as churches or mosques, others for everything from residences to school recital halls. And some very old synagogues have been in continuous use as synagogues for many centuries.
Bevis Marks Synagogue, called the ‘Sha’ar HaShamayim’ (Gate of Heaven) community was built to house the congregation of Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, and has been known since then as the Portuguese Community.

In 1698 Rabbi David Nieto took charge of the congregation who met in a small synagogue in Creechurch Lane, in the city. A considerable influx of newcomers made it necessary to obtain more spacious quarters. Accordingly a committee was appointed which investigated matters for nearly a year, and on February 12, 1699, signed a contract with Joseph Avis, a Quaker, for the construction of a building to cost £2,750. Avis later declined to collect his fee, on the ground that it was wrong to profit from building a house of God. On 24 June of the same year, the committee leased a tract of land at Plough Yard, in Bevis Marks, for 61 years, with the option of renewal for a further 38 years, at £120 a year. Avis began building at once, reportedly incorporating in the roof a beam from a royal ship presented to the community by Queen Anne. The structure was completed and dedicated in 1701. With the exception of the roof (which was destroyed by fire in 1738 and repaired in 1749), it is today as it was over 300 years ago. The interior decor and furnishing and layout of the synagogue reflect the influence of the great Amsterdam Synagogue of 1677.
In 1747 Benjamin Mendes da Costa bought the lease of the ground on which the building stood, and presented it to the congregation, vesting the deeds in the names of a committee consisting of Gabriel Lopez de Britto, David Aboab Ozorio, Moses Gomes Serra, David Franco, Joseph Jessurun Rodriguez, and Moses Mendes da Costa.

The entrance

The Bevis Marks Synagogue was the religious center of the Anglo-Jewish world for more than a century. As the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community grew and moved out of the City and East End of London to the West End and the suburbs, other synagogies were built. Attendance at Bevis Marks declined so much that in 1886 a move to sell the site was contemplated; a "Bevis Marks Anti-Demolition League" was founded, under the auspices of H. Guedalla and A. H. Newman, and the proposed move was abandoned.
Thus Bevis Marks exists today, and still looks exactly as in former days. The synagogue's most prominent feature is undoubtedly the beautiful Renaissance-style ark (containing the Torah scrolls) located at the centre of the Eastern wall of the building. Both in its location and in its design, it is like the reredos of the churches of the same period. Painted to look as though it is made of coloured Italian marble, it is in fact made entirely of oak.

An old print of the interior

Seven hanging brass candelabra symbolise the seven days of the week, the largest of which - hanging in the centre of the synagogue - represents the Sabbath. This central candelabrum was donated by the community of the Great Synagogue in Amsterdam, upon which Bevis Marks' interior is largely based. The candles are still lit today for weddings and the Jewish Festivals. The rest of the year the Synagogue is lit by the electric lights added in 1928.

The Ark (where the Torah scrolls are kept)

(Pictures 1 and 3 courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

Twelve pillars, symbolising the twelve tribes of Israel, support the women's gallery.
The synagogue contains benches running parallel to the side walls and facing inward, leaving two aisles for the procession with the Torah scrolls. In addition, backless benches at the rear of the synagogue, taken from the original synagogue at Creechurch Lane, date from 1657 and are still regularly used.
A number of seats in the synagogue are roped off as they belong or have belonged to notable people within the community. Two seats are reserved for the most senior officials of the congregation's publishing arm, Heshaim. Those that hold the positions are welcome to sit in them when visiting the synagogue, but they are otherwise kept vacant. A third seat, fitted with a footstool, has been withheld as it belonged to Sir Moses Montefiore, a very notable Jewish philanthropist. It is the seat nearest the Ark on the central row of the left half of the benches. It is only ever occupied by very senior dignitaries and it is considered a high honour to be allowed to sit in the seat. In 2001 Prince Charles sat in the seat during the tercentenary service, and Prime Minister Tony Blair for the service celebrating the 350th anniversary of the re-settlement of the Jews in Great Britain.

The synagogue is the only one in Europe which has had continuous services for over 300 years.
Jason and Shannon find their visit very interesting, and even Jason is really impressed. This is one of the postcards they take home to show Cissie and Thelma:

Cissie and Thelma were rather astonished when they heard how the kids had spent their evening.

'I think Jason is growing up;' sighs Cissie. 'Marriage seems to be making a man out of him. About time, too!'

'Yes, well, he's married to my daughter!' answers Thelma.

For Paint Party Friday I have another WIP. There wasn't much painting time this week, as I have been helping my neighbour a lot. I have worked here with tissue paper, mod podge and gesso, and then different paint sprays and Inka gold. I think I will add some more layers to it, and then use it to make another journal cover.

I think that was more than enough for one day, congratulations if you have managed to stay with me to the end! Have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!