Oldies but Goldies

Hi everybody!

i have been spending a lot of time on my computer these past few days, just trying to stop the glitches and keep it going, and it is sometimes rather frustrating. For now, it is still working, but I will be sharing some 'old stuff' with you for PPF this week, as there was not time to finish anything more. I think I did show some of these paintings, made back in the nineties, but I am not sure if I showed  them all or not. Anyway, they are from a series of nudes I made using mainly blue, green and orange, and are painted in gouache.

 This is a caricature of me, drawn for me by a friend back in 1990. He drew caricatures and cartoons for newspapers, and I love this 'portrait' he made of me, with my red hair (where did all the colour go?), green eyes and of course, my dear dog Scruffy.

Yesterday I 'met' the sheep on my walk along the Rhine. The herds are 'employed' by the town to keep the grass short and the Meadows and embankments well trodden, which makes them stronger if the Rhine floods. They get a new grazing place staked out each day, and always have plenty of green and juicy grass - they seem to be happy at their work. They were 'working' on a patch directly at the embankment yesterday, so was able to get some photos without wading through the meadows. Some had bells round their necks, although I don't know why.

Time for a drink after eating:

 

I saw this beautiful decorated Easter tree outside a house in a neighbouring street, so wish you all a happy Easter:

 

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

A little bit French

Hi everybody!
A little bit French is the theme at Vintage Journey, chosen by the lovley Astrid.

I have made a large tag using lots of techniques from TH - embossing, distressing, stamping, and also used some die cuts, including, of course, my fave Mr U.M., who is visiting Paris.
I embossed the tag in my embossing folder, using a few tricks to get the whole of it embossed and the embossing all going in the right direction. The background has been distressed with tumbled glass, Victorian velvet, wild honey and forest moss, and then the embossed parts inked with Adirondack espresso, one of my fave colours. For the die-cuts I recycled the craft card from my rice packet. The background stamp with the French script is from LaBlanche, the Paris post-mark from Artemio and the tiny birds have been made with a MS punch. I am not really happy with the tag, the idea was okay, but I find it a bit dull now, but I am not starting again!

I loved seeing the spring flowers on the lawn by the castle ruins:

These photos all show some very peaceful corners of the Church Close, a place which I like very much, and which has a very special atmosphere:

That's all for today. Take care, have a good day, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Another Double Tuesday

Hi everybody!

My computer is really playing up just now, it seems to be on its last legs. Old age doesn't only affect people!

Today is a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday and at Tag Tuesday. Our theme for the next 2 weeks at TIOT is to make something with more than one fold. I made some maze books and a mini concertina book. The larger maze book has been made from one sheet of 12x12" double sided paper, the smaller one in the middle from a 6x6" sheet, and the concertina book from a strip of double sided paper 12" x 23/4". There are plenty of instructions to be found on the web to make these little albums. The large one has covers made from coasters, which I painted with metallic blue and stenciled with a darker blue round the edges. By folding down the corners of the pages in the maze books you can make little pockets for tags etc, and the middle book has some tiny tags in the pockets. The concertina book has a folded up lower edge which also makes pockets for tags.
I am also linking to the Three Muses - lime and turquoise. Well, I will link on Wednesday when the challenge starts!

At Tag Tuesday our theme is eggs. I am not an Easter card or egg-tag fan, but did my best. I made an egg shaped tag,  on which I stenciled some grass, a lamb and a cockerel. The image is from gecko Galz, and has been printed and fussy cut twice, and placed one over the other with foam pads to give some dimension.

 

Today was much cooler than it has been, and extremely windy. I still enjoyed my walk, and enjoyed watching the horses grazing and frolicking in the old moat.

This little figure is standing on a roof top near the old walls.

By the evening the wind had more or less blown over, and the sky was beautiful:

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

Our feathered friends

Hi everybody!

Today started out cool and misty again, but by the time I was ready to go out the sun was out and trying to chase away the clouds. But it was a pleasant temperature for walking, and I enjoyed my walk to Kalhum to visit the ducks and geese, and then a stroll along the Rhine.

This is another of my FT pieces for Gecko Galz. I used an image from the Musical jewel it collage sheet and the background paper is from the Background Jewel it  2 sheet. I used dark grey mirri-card for matting the image, and mounted the BG paper onto a green card blank to pick out the green in the BG paper. For the embellishments I used a shabby bow, and a textile rose. The little birds have been cut using a MS punch from scraps of black card, mounted with foam squares and given gem-stone eyes. This card reminds me of spring and the birds making their music.

Material list: card blank, image and BG paper, paper birds, ribbon and flower, mirri-card for matting.

 The path through a patch of woodlands between our little lakes:

Flowers growing through the paving stones:

The goslings are nearly as big as their parents, who are still watching over them fiercely, and have managed to look after all of their children, none of the 8 is missing.

There are lots of lilly pads on the duck ponds and in the moat, and I am looking forward to seeing them bloom:

This fellow thinks he is boss and chases all the others away from 'his' pond:

Reflections:

And the stone lion was holding his nose into the sun:

As I got back to the Rhine the little pleasure boat was just taking on passengers for a trip to the old town in Düsseldorf. It's an enjoyable outing, but rather expensive, so I shall continue to walk....

Hope you enjoyed 'our' Sunday walk today, I enjoy taking you with me!

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

Mixed bag for the weekend.

Hi everybody!

I am sitting here trying to write my blog and getting very frustrated because either my ancient lap-top or Blogger or both are on a go-slow, and everything is taking ages to load. Well, I just hope it doesn't get worse!

This altered journal is another of my Gecko Galz DT projects. I used a ready made journal  (6x4"), painted the edges with bronze metallic structure paste, and then covered the front and back covers with some scrunched up bronze metallic paper from my stash. The beautiful image is from the musical jewel it sheet. I matted the image onto some bronze mirr-card and blue card-stock. I love the combination of browns and blues. I embellished the spiral with some ribbons in brown and blue.

Material list: Journal, paper for matting, image, structure paste and bronze paper.

Today started out cool and misty, and the sun chased the mist away bit by bit. This was the view from my window when I got up.

On my walk today I took some photos of the old tombstones, which are set into the wall around the church of Saint Swidbert.

And inside the church I saw the pattern of light from the stained-glass windows falling onto the stone floor.

I met this little beetle as I left the church, it's about an inch long and was so sparkly with its striped suit in metallic optic. Not a good photo, it didn't want to stand still for me!

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