Blue skies, butterflies and more

Hi everybody!

It was another really hot day, and  this afternoon we had thunder and lightning, and torrential rain. An hour later everything was dry again and the cooler air had disappeared - but it should be a bit cooler tomorrow!

I went out for my walk a bit earlier than usual,  and kept again to the shady paths and  the shady side of the street!

This little book is the first piece I made after getting my cast off. It will be some time before I can use my thumb normally, but I am trying not to do too much in the meantime. I made the covers from some woven man-made material that I got from a neighbour, who had a large piece left over after making her vertical blinds. I painted it with blue metallic paint, and then sprinkled Frantage EP onto it while it was still wet, and heat dried it. I was a bit afraid that it might melt, but it didn't. I lined the inside covers with DP from Prima. The dragonfly wings were cut with a TH die. I used some glassine paper, painted with the rest of the blue paint, and stamped with a blue crackle stamp. I just glued the wings at the inside edges, and let the outer edges curl up.  The flower is from my stash. After binding with the BIA, I added some seam binding, and a beaded embellishment, threaded onto nylon and tired to the wires. 

I love this corner of town

The roses are growing on a fence along the old wall

I love the shapes of the branches

This beautiful butterfly posed for me today:

Have a great day, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by.

This and that and very hot weather....

Hi everybody!

We had another scorching hot day today, 36° again, and a trifle too hot for my taste! I managed a shady walk this morning, and got my shopping, but apart from that I have just been trying to keep cool.

I started on some new work today, but am having to take it slowly as my thumb does not want to be cooperative. I will show the first piece tomorrow.

This is the last of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz this month, and it was made with some of my favourite things - cardboard, gesso, paper scraps, Mr Umbrella Man, and a fussy cut, stamped image of 2 little girls at the sea-side. The postcard with the fish is an image from GG, from the 'July Splash' collage sheet.  The stamp of the girls is from Scrollswork. I used tisue tape and paper scraps as matting, and the Umbrella man was cut from an old Uruguayan passport, which already gave e several Mr UMs. I am linking to Moo Mania, anything goes.

(Material List: GG image, cardboard, partly peeled, gesso, paper scraps, tissue tape, stamped image, film-strip and scraps of fibre and string.)

It is always fascinating to watch berries ripening:

The Rhine is a place where I need to walk along every day.

This is a little garden in Church Close,  with 4 trees, to represent the four Evangelists. It is a great place to st in the shadow.

As always, I walked over the old walls - I call this 'Narnia Path'

And the horses just enjoy their horsey life.

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Playing with cardboard and trying to keep cool

Hi everybody!

It's really hot today, 36° outside and not much less inside. I tried to keep to shadowy paths to walk along this morning, but this afternoon I walked through the fields and it was scorching. My plaster cast is off, which is good, but my poor thumb is still very painful and stiff, and I am hoping it will be back to normal soon.

In between walks I played with some corrugated cardboard, painted some backgrounds in my journal, and just tried to get the feel of paint again!

The card here was painted with white gesso. The top tag has been partly peeled, stamped, and embossed with copper EP and perfect pearls in copper. The image (Lost Coast Designs) has been stamped with archival green. I used some fibres, textile roses, and a TH token (almost hidden by the fibres) for embellishments.

This tag has been put together with parts out of one of my many  bit boxes. I used gold Utee into which I stamped and some paper scraps for the background. The little girl was in my stash, and already cut out, but I think I distressed her a tad too much this time!

I added an angel charm, some Prima leaves and scraps of ribbon and string.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, Moo Mania - anything goes,  Manon's Paper Saturdays, and Feline Art Friday.

Today the skies were wonderfully blue:

There are lots of leafy lanes and paths to walk along:

 Some of my fave paths are those along the old fortifications:

And I never get tired of watching the Rhine:

Here's wishing you all a great weekend, with time for creating and relaxing. Have fun, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Left handed blackberry jam and more fruity colours....

Hi everybody!

The temperatures are rising here, it was quite warm today, and mostly sunny, so I spent a long time outside walking, sitting watching the Rhine and the ships, and picking blackberries, with my left hand. I went out for my bramble-ramble early this morning, and got a good kilo, which I have already  made into one of my very special jams, with spices, ginger and fruit schnapps to round off the flavour. It tastes really, really good, so if there are enough still on the bushes next week I will get another batch. There were several people walking around filling their little buckets today. And from tomorrow I should have my right hand working again, as the cast is coming off tomorrow.

For Summer of Colour the palette this week is raspberry, tangerine and lemon - a nice combination. For my first piece I used one of my ladies, printed onto dictionary paper and coloured with oil pastels and gel pens.

The second piece is a print of one of my lino-cuts, partially coloured digitally, and then coloured with oil pastels and neon gel-pens. I made this lino cut many years back,  and still have some prints of it hanging in my living room.

I am linking to Summer of Colour, Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Journey, flower power. Thanks to those great ladies who host these challenges - Kristin, Eva and Kristin, and Susi. Also linking to Simon Monday Challenge, faces.

The old cart is still standing in the yard of a riding stable here on the street.

And the horses were busy as always:

 And a last look on my cast before it disappears tomorrow!

My thumb is looking forward to freedom!

That's enough for today! Take care, have a great day, and thanks, as always, for coming by!