Walking in a winter wonderland

Hi Everybody!

Thanks for all the good wishes yesterday. I have been resting, 

drinking lots of tea and eating chicken and veggie soup,

and I am glad to say I am feeling much better.

I will stay home again today, but hope to be

able to get out again on Monday - I miss my walks

outside!

For Art Journal Journey, winter wonderland, I have another hybrid

page, combining photos, real and imaginary persons. The background is a snowy photo taken in our little park last winter. I set it into a snow-flake frame, and added some people to it. The child at the bottom right was my husband as a little boy, and the  girl is Erika, a distant relation, wearing her beautiful muff and winter outfit. Mr Umbrella man is also going for a walk, as are a few other shadowy figures in the background. I was asked yesterday how I manage to craft when I am ill - well, I don't. I usually have my work ready for at least 4 weeks in advance, which saves me a lot of stress.

The bird photos were taken from my window, the Rhine photos are

from my 'archives'

This woodpecker can eat fat balls quicker than any other bird I have seen!

The hawk turned up again, which meant that the pigeons all took shelter in the tree in front of my window, but the cheeky crows came 

and mobbed him till he flapped away!

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

The second day of the year....

Hi Everybody!

Hope your new year got off to a good start, and will get better and better!

I have started the year with a sore throat, earache and

temperature, so it just has to get better!

For Art Journal Journey, winter wonderland, I have a collage made from a winter photo. I just love to see the beauty of frosty leaves and grass, and it is a very fragile and transient beauty which melts too soon. The quote is from Shakespeare.

Today is also Elizabeth's 'Second on the Second', and I am re-showing  my copy of Van Gogh's portrait of his mother that I made last year. The quote underneath it is one of my fave ones from Vincent.  I chose this one because the sunny yellow makes a nice contrast to the winter photos. I am linking to 99 faces.

I was not able to go out today, but I have enough photos of the frosty weather to show!

Winter sunshine makes looooooooooooooooong shadows!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

New Year, New Challenge

Hi Everybody!

Happy New Year!

Today is not only new year, but the start of a new challenge at 

Art Journal Journey.

Our hostess this month is Chrissie, and she has chosen the theme of

winter wonderland.

I hope to see lots of you at the challenge, so get your thinking caps on, let your imagination run riot, and join us at AJJ.

I am using photos as part of my journal pages this month. We haven't had any snow up till now, just a bit of frost, but I have lots of snow photos which I have used, and tried to find a suitable quote to fit each one. Here I have used the view from my window taken on a snowy and overcast day. I added it digitally to a painted background, together with the trees and silhouettes. I placed it onto an A3 sheet and pasted crackle paste 'snow' round about, and added a TH fence and tree and some snow flakes. The birds on the trees are photos of my balcony visitors. I love merging my reality and imagination this way.

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday and Moo Mania and More, anything goes.

Today started off frosty and misty:

The pigeons found the food in spite of the mist:

The path along the stream was full of frosted leaves:

This little robin looks cold, poor thing!

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Last Day of December....

Hi Everybody!

Today is the last day of 2015, and also the last day of our
collage Challenge at Art Journal Journey. Thanks to all who joined in again,
and made Susi and me happy with their lovely journaling.

I have once again , made a collage of my collages from December, although I have missed one or two!

This is one which I missed, and I didn't get round to showing it, so here it is now.

The hybrid collage has a painted and crackled background, one of 'my' heads, and a silhouette made from one of my photos. Mr Umbrella Man is there again, and the quote is from Stencilry.  I made a lot of blue pieces last month, let's see what the next month will be like!

Be sure to call back tomorrow to see who will be hosting our first challenge for 2016!

I am also linking to Moo Mania and More, anything goes.

We had beautiful and mild winter weather  again, but the weather is getting colder, so it looks like the warm woollies will be necessary!

The blackbird is one of my most frequent visitors just now, and always

has a healthy appetite:

Have a great day you all, and enjoy the last day of the year. 

Take care if you are out and about in bad weather!