Here we go round the mulberry bush....

Hi everybody!

Today was a sunny, but rather windy day, and good weather for walking. I enjoyed 2 nice walks along the Rhine and through our little town, making a total of almost 16000 steps. I was even able to sit on a bench in the sun, that was a good feeling! We have stormy weather on the way, so it's good to be able to make the best of the good days. And in between walks, I got three loads of laundry done, running down and up the 52 stairs to the basement each time, which is also a good training!

This card is one of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz this month.  The image is from the Arty Jewels collage sheet. I matted it with coredinations paper and then a piece of hand-painted paper, which complements the colours of the image. I used a 6" green card blank, and some netting to make the bow.

My material list: 6" card blank, image from Gecko Galz, coordinating paper, hand-painted paper, netting, textile flowers.

On my walks through the town I often go over the old walls and fortifications, and discovered this strange tree, which has been propped up with brick supports. It's a white mulberry tree, which is evidently quite rare. This one was planted 100 years ago by silk weavers in Kaiserswerth, as the silkworms like to feed on the leaves of this tree. The sign tells the history of the tree and that these trees were imported to Europe from Japan and China. The tree is a protected species. I will be watching it now, and take more photos when it gets leaves and bears fruit.

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

Hearts for Tag tuesday.

Hi everybody!

Our them at Tag Tuesday this week is 'hearts'. Hmm, not really my fave theme, I am not a romantic type, but as Valentine's Day is drawing nearer, I played with hearts...

The first one was made with a heart cut from corrugated cardboard, partly peeled, painted white end embossed onto the wet paint with Frantage shabby pink. The die-cut wings were given the same treatment. I cut a second, smaller heart out of a fabric scrap, and then threw on all the pink flowers I had, a key, and some pink ribbons.

The second heart is a die-cut chipboard one, which has been languishing in one of my boxes for a long time. I painted it in blues and greens, and then sprinkled it with glitter, and added some crackle varnish. This time I threw on all the blue and white flowers I could find, and some beads instead of a ribbon.

Also linking to the Cheerful Stamp pad, Valentines

Here's wishing you all a good day, take care, and thanks for coming by!

More of the blues

Hi everybody!

After a wild and windy weekend I hope that the coming week will be  a bit calmer, I would prefer not to have to battle against the wind when walking! But I suppose it is better weather here than in many places, where people have been snowed up for weeks, or have been flooded.

This is the second journal I made last week, using blues and purples. I made this one a bit differently. After I had textured the background with tissue paper, I added some of the UFOs (untidy, flying-around objects) from my table to give even more texture, before painting it and adding the printed and written scraps and the gold leaf. I made 2 pockets on the inside covers, and 2 matching bookmarks, trimmed with ribbons and hand rolled beads. Sorry about the bad photos, the weather is not good for taking photos!

Front:

Inside cover:

Inside  back cover:

 Back:

Both journals together:

Here a lot of people seem to take their horses out for Sunday walks:

And more trees are budding:

I saw daisies and clover in the grass, too, and lots of snowdrops and some crocuses.
Thanks for all the nice comments on my 'age of aqarius' yesterday - it was a nice thought that a lot of people were joining in the singing !

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

The Age of Aquarius

Hi everybody!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Today was another www day - wet, wild and windy. There were not many people out, so I enjoyed my wet walks, well wrapped up with scarves, duffel coat, cap and gloves, and a big umbrella. It was at least possible to use it today, yesterday I would have flown away like Mary Poppins if I had opened it! I managed 14000 steps, not quite my usual standard, but okay for this weather. And it's always nice to come home and get warm and dry, and drink hot coffee afterwards!

The theme at AJJ this month is Zodiac signs. Since I read the announcement, I have had a melody going around in my head - 'Aquarius'. As a child of the flower power age this was - and still is - one of my fave songs, and I have lost count of how many times I watched 'Hair'. So Idecided to try to paint it. I painted the background with various blues, including some metallic ones, which looks nice, but made it very hard to photograph. I used my rollergraph to stamp stars over the background, which I embossed with white EP and gold perfect pearls. I also stamped my fave swirls, as they fit good to stars. The aquarius image is an old woodcut printed onto tissue and glued on, the moon was drawn with the help of a dinner plate, and my glue-stick helped with the planets. The number 7 is of course, a magic number, and the moon is here in the seventh house.  I wrote the text with a white pen, but it sometimes looks golden because of the reflections; the whole thing was a nightmare to photograph, especially on such a dark and dismal afternoon! But I did have fun making it, and using plenty of fairy dust as star dust, glitter cream and gold ink!

              When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius!
Aquarius!

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!

I am also linking to Country View crafts, painty pleasures.

I didn't take many photos outside today, not easy when you are battling with wind and a giant brolly!

But I had to take this one - can you see what's sprouting on the tree?

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

Man's best friend

Hi everybody!

At Conny's Mix it Monthly the theme this month is pets, so I decided to do a page with dogs. I would love to be able to have a dog again, but it's not possible just now, so I will just have to keep walking on my own. The background has once again been made with a brush-wipe page, onto which I did some background stamping and embossing to give some texture. Then I gathered all the doggy pictures I found in my bit boxes, added a few other little animals for company, and a heart as it's coming up to Valentine, and it-was-on-my-table-and-kept-falling-off-and-now-it-can't-anymore-because-I-have-stuck-it- down-firmly! I must have picked that silly piece up at least ten times!

I am linking to Paper Saturdays and Mix it Monthly and Paint Party Friday

Today was a very wild and windy day, with gale force winds, rain and sleet. I went out for my shopping, and decided to walk home along the Rhine, where I had to keep my head down and battle against the wind. But then I had to cross over 2 open fields to get back to the street I live in, and the wind almost blew me off my feet, at one point I had to hold onto a signpost! But I got home safely, if rather wet and wind-blown. And it was beautiful watching the clouds racing by.

And I promised Sandy and a few others to add my flapjacks recipe, so here it is:

300 gramms of Rolled oats
50-75 gr. soft, brown sugar
about 150 gr. golden syrup or treacle (don't be stingy, more is better than less!)
200 gr. butter
half a teaspoon salt.
You can also add some rasins or nuts.

Melt the sugar, syrup, salt and butter in a large saucepan stirring well. Add the oats and mix well. Pour mixture into a baking tin lined with baking paper, spread out evenly (about 1/2" thick). Bake at 180° for about 25 mins. Cut into squares while still hot and leave to cool.
Enjoy!

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

A journal of many colours

Hi everybody!

Yesterday we had a wild, wet and cloudy day. In the morning I had a longish walk, and in the afternoon a rather shorter one, as the clouds looked  threatening and I didn't want to go too far. But I managed a walk along the Rhine, and enjoyed watching the sun trying to squeeze through the clouds. My total steps today were just under 18000, so I was pleased.

This week I have been playing a lot with paint, and little scraps of paper and gold leaf. I made a journal, using scrap card, which I textured with crumpled up tissue, applied with mod-podge, and then given a coat of gesso. When it was dry I daubed it with paint in blues, violet and metallic green. Then I added the scraps of old letters and books and the pieces of gold leaf before giving it all 2 coats of clear varnish to make it more durable. I divided it into 2 pieces to make the front and back covers, and lined the inside covers with some turquoise  textured card. I cut the pages to size and bound it all together with my BIA. The beads I have added as embellishment were some that Debbie sent me, and are hand-rolled from clay and beautifully painted - thanks a lot! They are perfect here. I have another journal ready, too, which I will show another day. I like playing around and getting painty and sticky.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and to Country View Crafts Challenge, painty pleasures.

The skies over the Rhine were really dramatic this afternoon:

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

Duck tales (tails) and an altered note book

Hi everybody!

Today started off very overcast, and in the course of the morning black clouds did their best to hide the sun. This afternoon the sun managed to take a front seat and beamed at us, sending the temperature up a few notches, which was pleasant. I was able to take 2 walks along the Rhine, and around our little town, where I explored all the little paths on or around the old fortified walls, and found a few corners which I hadn't seen before. And of course, I visited the ducks, they just seem to wait for me!

For one of my DT pieces at Gecko Galz I made an altered notebook. I used some background paper from my stash, and images from the 'Celtic Twist' digi-stamp set. I measured the notebook, and cut the paper exactly to fit the height, and  4" longer than the all round width, so I had enough to make 2 flaps inside to take tags or notes etc.  I used the image ct1 for the front and back covers, mirroring the image for the back. The tags have been made using ct22. The digi stamps can be printed out to almost any size. I glued the flaps with double sided tape.

The tags fit into the pockets at the front and back.

 Material list: Notebook, BG paper, Gecko Galz Images Celtic Twist 1 and 22, glue, ribbon, double-sided tape.

 The clouds today were really impressive and beautiful - 50 shades of grey?

The ducks were happy as always

 

There was a  picture was in our local paper today, showing 2 geese, who knocked on the door of a bus with their beaks and tried to get into it. No, they didn't want to go anywhere, but had seen that the driver, during his break, was unpacking his sandwiches! You can see the photos here.

And my ducks were waiting for me at the corner of Market street as always!

 

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