Deep in the forest again....

Hi everybody!

We had another wonderful and sunny October Sunday here, and I spent a lot of time outside, making the best of it. Hope your weekend was good, too. We have a storm front on the way bringing wind, cooler temperatures and rain for a few days, but we have to take it as it comes, and cherish the good days!

I was pleased to see that I was chosen for the spotlight again at Simon Says Monday Challenge Autumn.

Today I have another page for Art Journal Journey, deep in the forest.

I used the larger version of the CWS stencil which was used in yesterday's journal page. This page has been made in my A3 journal. I painted the background with grey acrylic, and then stenciled the trees over it in white. The idea for the little verse about the fairy queen came to me a few days ago, and I wrote it down, and collaged bits and bobs to my journal page to fit to it.

I am also linking to Craftroom challenge, make your own background.

At Schloss Kalkum the ducks were enjoying being fed:

I enjoyed the shadow play of the leaves:

This is the crest over the main entrance:

And as usual, the combination of the old walls, trees and the beautiful reflections are very pleasing to look at.

Afterwards I walked to visit the brown cattle, who were once again dozing in the sun. That's my shadow falling into the picture.

The skies were once again magical:

In the afternoon the darker clouds rolled through:

Have a good start in the week you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Joint Venture and blue skies

Hi everybody!

Happy Sunday!

This piece is a joint venture made with a little girl, Sally, who I looked after for an afternoon this week while her grandmother had an appointment. She enjoyed making this page for 'Deep in the forest' at Art  Journal Journey. She chose colours which I would perhaps not have used, but they are her favourites The paper (and my kitchen floor) were sprayed well with a pink spray. Then she chose 'Dark peony' fluid chalk ink and I showed how how to rub it into the cracks of the CWS stencil. I held the stencil, so my fingers got to be the same colour! When it was dry she looked through my bit boxes to find nice things to put into the forest. She made up the owls from a decoupage kit, and the fairy was one I stamped some time back for a challenge and did not use. I helped her with the mushrooms, and showed her how to use my Big Shot, with which she cut TH's bird branch. She spent the rest of the afternoon cutting images with the Big Shot, and took them home with her when she went, so she was a happy bunny. It was fun working with her!

We had a golden October day here, with wonderful blue skies, which looked really magical. I spent a lot of time outdoors walking round and taking photos. Here are some impressions.

Morning sunrise:

Blue skies:

The castle ruins -

Can you see the little crescent moon at the top left?

And the evening sky

Forest, fungi and thirsty horses

Hi everybody!

We had a mixed bag of weather today - wind, rain, sunshine, clouds, but it could have been worse. I enjoyed my walks, managed to do the laundry in between, looked after  the granddaughter of an ex-colleague for a couple of hours, and found time to do some crafting and painting myself this evening, so I didn't get bored....

Last week an 8x8" canvas fell off the wall, and scared the life out of me, as I was watching a thriller at the time. I suppose it would have been worse in the middle of the night. Anyway, it was one with lots of bits and bobs on it, which all fell off,  so I re-used it for this week. I think it is the third time it has been re-worked. I gave it a coat of paint, using metallic blues, greens, purple and rust. The background was already embossed using a CWS stencil and embossing paste.  I die cut the trees using the TH branch tree, painted the left one with rust and silver, and the right one, made from corrugated card, has been painted with rust and embossed with Frantage in gold and copper. I added more seed beads to replace those that fell off and rolled under all the furniture in my living room, and splodged some gold ink on for the moon. I made the foliage on the trees with gilding flakes. Added a few dew drops and stars, and that was it - 'houses in the dark forest'. I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin, and to Susi's wonderful Art Journal Journey, deep in the forest.

Today started off well with a lovely sunrise:

I love the changing colours everywhere:

Lots of fungi are popping up all over the place.

This one is a brown fly agaric, next to a tram stop.

And the horses had managed to reduce the pile of hay they had   since yesterday, and were busy drinking out of the old bath tub today:

Have a great day, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

This and that on Wednesday

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all well and fit.

We had another nice day here, rather windy, but a nice mix of sun and clouds, blue skies and grey. We are expecting wet weather again tomorrow, so it's always good to be able to make the best of the good days.

This Tag (8") is one of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz this month. The background paper is  'Province Town harbour' from the 'Mayflower' paper pack. I inked the edges with wild honey and rusty hinge DIs. The image is from the 'Be thankful' stamp set, printed onto acetate. I kept the embellishments simple, using just burlap, a horn button, an embossed leaf and seed pods.  The background paper and digi stamps can be printed out to any size, which makes them very flexible. I am linking to Moo Mania and more, bright and cheerful.

I love these trees growing rather wild behind the little lakes here. It is a nice, overgrown area where I like to wander.

I saw this strange fungus along the bank of the stream. Was rather hard to take a photo, as I did not want to slip down the slope into the stream. It looked furry, and had a diameter of good 6". Perhaps someone knows what it is?

The clouds scudded along all day, blown by a very stiff breeze. 

Recently I have often seen crows down by the Rhine, they seem to find food there. Perhaps they go fishing?

He's definitely got something in his beak.

And the horses were partying....

Have a great day, whatever you are up to, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!