Morning mist and blue skies

Hi everybody!

Today I am showing a journal I made as one of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz. Their images are digital, and I like it best when I can use them together with painting and/or stamping to add a little more handwork. The images I used are both from the Dance Jewl it collage sheet. I painted the journal covers with a layer of gesso, and then worked with metallic paints in purple and blue tones, adding ina little green and bronze. I wanted it to be similar in style to the background of the image, without copying it. If you are making something like this you don't need to paint the part under the image.

Material list:  I used a journal with chipboard covers, metallic paints, the GG images, glitter, ribbon, a textile flower and designer paper for the inside covers.

Back view - here I added some gold and stamped swirls to pick up the patterning in the image.

The inside covers have been lined with a coordinating, striped paper, and have pockets for bookmarks.

I am also linking to Artful Times, anything goes, and Cheerful Stamp pad, anything goes

The journal page is part 2 of the London one I showed yesterday. I always have fun making things which remind me of home, so was pleased to see that Moo Mania has this theme. The text has been doodled, the London skyline has been printed onto a foil. I am also linking to AJJ - fantasy scene. London is real, but definitely fantastic!

And here are both sides for those who missed yesterday's offering:

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always, by Eva and Kristin.

Yesterday morning I woke up and saw a thick, white mist covering the landscape. In the course of the morning it got less and less, but the sun didn't come out till the afternoon. But I love the views of the landscape fading away into the mist, and swallowing colours and sounds.

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

your visits and encouraging comments are always very welcome.

Blue skies, alligators and Horlicks

Hi everybody!

We had another wonderful and sunny day today, which I really enjoyed. Sorry for all of you on the other side of the big pond who are still snowed in and iced up, and hope it soon goes by.

For the Moo Mania 'London' challenge I have made a journal page. The background has been painted with blue metallic and then stamped. The guardsmen are cut outs, and the heart has been made from a postcard cut to shape. I printed the London skyline onto transparent foil, and placed Winston Churchill in front of it, as he really deserves his place there. The Beatles came from Liverpool, I know, but they did have their studios in Abbey Road, and I like that Ringo and Churchill are making the same hand sign. I am also linking to AJJ -Fantasy.

 The skies here today were as blue as the skies in my journal page:

On my afternoon walk through a little lane near here, I saw this strange sight in a front garden:

Well, the owners seem to have a sense of humour anyway!

And I got happy mail today from Suze In Bonny Scotland:

A beautiful card:

And Horlicks for a hug mug in the evening - she knows I am almost addicted to this stuff, so she has made me very happy! There is something similar here, but it just does not have the taste of home!

Thanks a lot, Suze, your kindness is much appreciated!

Double Tuesday

Hi everybody!

Today was changeable  weather, sunny in the morning and a sky full of scudding, black clouds in the afternoon, but I just love those dramatic skies!

Today is double Tuesday - a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday and a new theme at Tag Tuesday.

At tag Tuesday our theme is maps, charts and diagrams. I used a map of London for my tag, so I can also link it to Moo Mania. I added some bunting in the form of little Union Jacks. 'Travel' has been written with a stencil, maker unknown, and outlined with a gel-pen. The quote is from Samuel Johnson. Tea Time and the Telephone box have been stamped with Stazon onto foil, I wanted to use red, but somebody forgot to put the lid on it and now it has dried out....Both stamps are from the Artemio Vintage London Set.

I made a second tag for Tag Tuesday, I am not sure whether it's supposed to be a chart

or a diagram. Words like that always make me feel lost....I think my black humour has come through again....

 

 

 At Try it on Tuesday our them for the next 2 weeks is 'Birthdays with a twist', and you have to use a mask or a stencil. Bee, one of our DT memebers is celebrating a special birthday, and is offering a prize, so if you would like to win it, pop over to her blog and leave a comment!

I was not really happy with my giant tag, it was one of those pieces which I had to do in a big hurry before going into hospital, and did not turn out quite as I wanted, but that's life. I distressed the background and the kitchen counter with DIs and then sprayed it with water to get the colours moving. When it was dry, I used some turquoise metallic paint for the leaves. The hearts and sentiment are TH stamps. The die-cuts are from a Sizzix strip.

I saw this beautiful yellow lichen on a tree today

And in the afternoon I enjoyed the clouds along the Rhine

One of these days I want to paint some of 'my' skies

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

Crab apples, ducks and Tower Bridge

Hi everybody!

We had another wonderful, spring-like day with lots of sunshine, and I just love walking with the sun warming my back!

At Moo Mania the theme is London, which is, of course, just right for me. I made a very simple tag, using a stamp from Artemio. The background was distressed with stormy skies,  London Fog and tumbled glass DIs. I stamped the image with archival black and clear embossed it, the birds were drawn, The label was in my stash.  I fixed the tag to some hammered  and distressed card. The Tower of London is very precious to me, as I was born and grew up just a few hundred yards away, and we often used to play around there, and at the Tower, or go bathing at Queen Mary's beach by the Tower in the summer. When I see the Bridge I feel I am home.

I am linking to Moo Mania  - London

Today I walked to Schloss Kalkum and visited the ducks. I hope you can see how much better my eye looks today!

The ducks were, as always hungry, and enjoyed their bread and salad leaves.

And I found the wonderful flowering crab-apple bushes  in the hedge in front of the house where I live.

Here's hoping the sun will shine for you today! 

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

Lots of this and that and Happy Mail

Hi everybody!

Hope you are getting some good weather where you are. Thanks again for all the nice comments and mails and good wishes for my eye, it is getting better day by day.

Today I am sharing a card I made for one of my DT pieces over at Gecko Galz, using one of the images from Bookmarks 2. I matted it with some dark green card and some hand-painted paper, and mounted it onto a metallic card. I used some turquoise ribbon to make a shabby bow and some die-cuts in coordinating colours. I am glad I made such a lot of stuff in advance, but hope to be able to do some crafting again later in the week.

We had a frosty night here, and a sunny, but cool day, which was lovely for walking, and good for me! I love the colours here at the Rhine:

This pair was also out for a walk and hissed and clucked at me:

Just a feather balancing on a twig and blowing in the wind:

The plants were budding and sprouting everywhere, and it was wonderful for me to see everything three-dimensional again:

On my afternoon walk I saw the swan on one of the lakes again, and as it was difficult to get a clear shot through the bushes, I walked across a field to get to the less wooded side of the lake.

I was pleased to get near enough for a clear shot, but my trainers look bad. Some parts of the field were visibly marshy, which wasn't too bad, as I could walk round those bits; other parts looked fresh and green, but were treacherously wet,  and it really squelched and slurped as I pulled my feet out of it - but I got my photos. My trainers will enjoy going for a spin in the washing machine.

And Friday brought me happy mail from the States. Sandy sent me this wonderful stamp from Rhyn, which I have secretly been longing for for ages - can she read minds? I will have fun with it!

And this lovely magazine, full of wonderful ideas, and with such a pretty bambi stamp!

  And a beautiful card to accompany my presents.

Diane sent me this gorgeous embossed and cut out Valentine's card, a real work of art,  and it should have got here on time, but the post/customs evidently liked it and kept it for a bit, so it had a long journey. There was something nice hidden in the card, too, but I'm not telling you what it is, that's going to be my sweet secret!

Thanks a lot Diane and Sandy, I very much appreciate your kindness!

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