Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Double Tuesday again

Hi Everybody!

Another day has flown by, and I don't know where the time went....

Today is another double Tuesday. At Try it on Tuesday we have a new challenge, 'New beginnings'. The challenge runs for 2 weeks, and projects of all formats are allowed, so hope you will link your creations to us. I made an A3 journal page about the creation, going back to the very beginning, and the verse is the first verse in Genesis, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth....' I used gesso for the background, and painted over it with acrylic and metallic paints in various shades of blue and purple and gold. I drew the planets and stars and coloured them with uniball pens in gold, silver, white and red metallic. I used the same pens for the Hebrew and English texts.
I am also linking to Art Journal Journey, favourite poem or quote, and Simon Monday Challenge, in the middle - order was created in the middle of chaos.







At Tag Tuesday our theme is 'insects', not my fave subject. But I do like decorative ones, like butterflies. The image is from Gecko Galz. I distressed the edges with wild honey DI, and matted it with 2 complementary shades of card. The large butterfly has been printed onto acetate and fussy cut. I added some textile flowers and ribbons as embellishments.




Today started off well, but the sun and clouds battled for quite some time. I was still able to enjoy my walk even though it was not as warm as last week.







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

Sunday, 12 April 2015

Shakespeare, ducks and a Rolls Royce

Hi Everybody!
Hope you all had a great weekend, and wish you a good start in the new week!

For Art Journal Journey, favourite poem or quote,  I have another Shakespeare page to share. The background is a torn paper piece, collaged, gessoed and coloured with Gelatos. I scanned the background into my computer so I can use it again. The bard is a stencil  (free download) from Stencilry.org.  I used china ink, white and black pens from Signo, and Gelatos. The rose stamp was a magazine freebie from many years ago, stamped with archival, embossed with EP extra fine and also coloured with Gelatos and a water brush.






Today started off with a beautiful sky again, and although it was cooler than last week, it stayed sunny nearly all day.



I visited Schloss Kalkum and fed the ducks with handfuls of grain and bird seed, and as you can see, they tucked in heartily.





The castle gardens were beautiful, as always:



On the way home I saw the flowers growing on our old town walls:


And I spotted this car in market street - I think the owner has more pocket money than I do!


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

Stars and more for Sunday

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

For Art Journal Journey, Favourite poem or quote, I made a page with a  quote supposed to be from Shakespeare, although it doesn't seem to appear anywhere in exactly this form, and is probably a misquote from his play, 'Julius Caesar'. But I still like it! 'It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves'.  For my page I used a painted and stenciled background which has been ready for some time. I drew the stars and planets and 'my' head with white pen and coloured some with gold and red metallic pens.





Recently I did a private challenge with Chrissie, where we challenged each other to make something spring-like using our newly acquired sewing machines. I sent mine to her, and as it has already arrived there safely, I can show you the sewing bag I made for her. It is reversible, with 2 different sides, and has appliques on the front and the back. I did a lot of unpicking as well as sewing, and there is room for improvement, but I finished it, and am proud of that!





Lilly and Lucky are enjoying their lives, as always.



This bullfinch often sits in the tree in front of my balcony, seems to be shy, and always tries to hide behind twigs when he sees me:



And here he is in all his glory:


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



Saturday, 11 April 2015

Spring Blossoms, fairies and birds

Hi Everybody!

We were able to enjoy another warm and sunny day today.  I was woken up early at 4.30 by birds singing in the tree outside with an incredible volume. I nurture these birds with seed and fat balls, and that's the way they show their gratitude! Anyway, tomorrow (Saturday) is supposed to be cold and windy, so perhaps they will sleep a bit longer!

For Art Journal journey, favourite poem or quote, and for Moo Mania and More, I have made another journal page. I used the other half of the background made recently with brushos and Gelatos  for my 'Little Prince' journal page. The stamp with the apple blossom fairies is one I got as a present many years back and have never yet used, shame on me. I used several stencils to add some depth to the background, and stamped a sun using colorbox ink and a stamp from Hein Design. The blossom fairies were stamped with archival black and embossed with EP extra fine. I painted them with Gelatos, taking the colour up with a water-brush, a quick and easy way to paint. I added some Stickles to the wings. The quote is from James Shirley. I am also linking to Stamps and Stencils, anything goes.







The trees are all blossoming just now:



This wonderful magnolia tree and the statue are in the garden of the Marien Hospital here:




The herons were walking around the fields along the Rhine picking out moles:


And the swans were still bobbling along at their favourite spot on the river.



Have a great weekend, whatever the weather!
Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!