Narnia revisited

Hi everybody!

Today we were blessed with better weather. Not exactly sunshine and blue skies, but not too cold, no rain, and occasionally a glimpse of the sun which was hiding behind curtains of cloud.

This is a photo I took here a few years back when we had a lot of snow. It is part of the old moat, which is a park today. It always reminded me of 'Lantern Waste' in Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, from C.S. Lewis). And that gave me the idea to a little alteration:

I digitally removed one of the lanterns and the waste paper basket:

After printing it out I did some colouring with prismalos, gel-pens and oil pastels, and added Lucy and Mr Tumnus, ( a faun) and a glittery sleigh for the White Queen. Lucy is just going home with Mr Tumnus for tea.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, deep in the forest

I saw these huge sunflowers in a garden today, well over 3 meters high.

A few steps further along the street I met these nice cows:

This little, old house is at the corner of the old village square: 

I went to the dilapidated villa with the sculpture park. Actually, you are warned to keep out just now, as there was terrible damage there in the huge storm in June, and not all of the trees have been checked. Still, what's life without a little risk? But is was hard to see some of the damaged areas, they looked really bad, and I did not take any photos of them. The beautiful old cedars have all disappeared, so sad.

The chapel has been renovated and the scaffolding removed:

You can see a tree with a red 'x' on it here, these are the trees which are endangered (and dangerous!)

The path between the park and the Rhine embankment was beautiful as always

I love this  lemon yellow toadstool, it was so delicate:

And the heron was raiding the fields today instead of fishing. Sorry, the photo is not really clear as I was a long way off:

Have a good week you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by.

Sunday this and that

Hi everybody!

We had to put our clocks back during the night. My clocks all adjust themselves, but I am having difficulties getting myself adjusted. And this afternoon it will get dark very early, which I don't like at all. How do you feel about summer/winter time?

This is the last of the metal tags made for Moo Mania and more.

I used a TH texture fade folder, and then heat embossed using clear ink and hologram EP. I added gilding flakes for the foliage, or pine needles or whatever. I sewed it again onto some gold netting and gold corrugated card.

Some more views of the Rhine, taken on my walks last week:

I love this old barn, which looks as though it might fall down any time:

I visited the brown cattle...

 And the white ones

The ducks love this place where the stream tumbles into the Rhine:

And I am still fascinated from the fungi everywhere

This magpie was perhaps looking for a worm

Or for its lost feather?

The seed pods and dried grasses all have a beauty of their own

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

More metal, birds and fungi

Hi everybody!

Hope you have had a good day.

This is another piece I made for the metal challenge at Moo Mania and More.

I embossed a piece of metal foil in an embossing folder, then heat embossed it with Archival green and hologram EP. This time I held it with a cloth so I did not burn my fingers again. I double sewed it onto red, silver, and red corrugated card.  The metal man is one that Donna sent me from Mexico many moons ago, and I fixed him to the front of the hanging with foam pads. This was fun to make! Also linking to Simon Monday Challenge, anything goes.

The sun tried to show itself this morning, but soon hid behind clouds again.

Today the wild geese and ducks were busy standing on one leg:

And the cormorant was back on his striped pole:

A huge cloud of wild geese flew up from the Rhine, I just managed to catch them. As they flew they formed their 'v'.

Somebody had evidently been playing mosaic with bits of glass down at the river, and arranged them on one of the large stones:

Thanks to the copious amount of rain we had, the fungi are sprouting everywhere:

Have a nice weekend, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Heavy Metal

Hi everybody!

It was another cold and windy day, but stayed mostly dry, so that was something!

At Moo Mania and More the theme this fortnight is metal, so I had fun working some metal foil  I found in one of my many boxes. I embossed it in a TH texture fade folder, and then embossed it with some sparkly hologram EP to give some texture. I added 'foliage' with some gilding flakes. Sorry, the photos are not good, it was dark all day. I decided to try sewing it onto the background, and much to my surprise it actually worked, I haven't tried sewing metal before. I used some golden corrugated card and some animal print for the backing. By the way, if you are heat embossing metal, it's good to remember that it gets hot....

Today I had fun watching the birds. The crow was perhaps on the lookout for some food:

The heron stood like a statue waiting for a fish to swim by:

I love these twisty trees all covered in moss

And the slug was evidently enjoying mushrooms for dinner; it's a nice, large puffball, so should keep it fed for some time.

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