Cold, wet and windy

Hi Everybody!

It's weekend - enjoy!

For Art Journal Journey, winter wonderland,
 I have 2 hybrid pieces today. The first is a photo taken by the stream
nearby and placed onto a water-coloured background with a snowy frame. And Erika is once again putting in an appearance, poor girl. The little poem was one I wrote when I was 7, and I think it fits here well.

This piece was put together with one of my frosty night photos taken from my balcony and the face I drew recently.

I won some blog candy from Annie back in December. She sent it off by airmail

on December 8th, and it arrived here on January 14th.... Post services seem to have become much more expensive all over the world, but the service sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. Thanks Annie, I love my stamps!

This beautiful card accompanied the stamps!

Here it has been another cold, wet and dreary day, but we have to take the weather as it comes. The Rhine is rising:

The tits like to congregate in the tree in front of my windows, and I am always amazed that such small birds can be so loud!

Just managed to get a glimpse of the swan in the distance:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Crow on frosted leaves

Hi Everybody!

The week has flown by, and it's Friday already, which means it's time for
Paint Party Friday again, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin. And every day is a good day for Art Journal Journey, winter wonderland.

I painted an A3 mixed media piece. The background was a brush-wipe page painted with blue acrylic. I toned it down using some white, grey and silver paint applied with a sponge. I was inspired by the frosty leaves I saw here, so I drew lots of free leaf forms and painted them with brown, white and silver grey acrylics. I added texture to the leaves by embossing them with various colours of Frantage aged EPs. I doodled the left over spaces with Pentel pens in gold and white, and edged the leaves with the same pens. You can see the patterns in the detail photos. The crow, who is also one of my frequent visitors here, was painted with black acrylics and embossed with Frantage aged black, then cut out and collaged. I had fun  making this.

Today got off to a good start, but then the sky clouded over again and it stayed

wet and windy all day:

The water in the Rhine has risen thanks to a few days of hard rain:

Some of you tried to guess which 'bulb' I was growing on my window ledge after I showed the photos yesterday, but nobody got it right. It's a garlic plant. I had a clove of garlic that had started to sprout, so I put it onto the hyacinth vase and after about 10 days the roots appeared. Now I have a second one growing next to it, and will soon be putting them into pots, and am hoping they will keep growing - a good protection in case vampires come!

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

Umbrella Man in snow

Hi Everybody!
Hope your week is going well.

For Art Journal Journey, winter wonderland, I made another hybrid collage page using a photo for the background, and my fave Mr UM is walking along the path where I usually walk.

For 99 faces I have another face. I drew her onto patterned DP. It was just rather difficult to take photos, as the pearlised paper reflects the light in strange ways.

Today was grey, wet and cold - ah well, we have had lots of wonderful days!

I am trying to grow a plant from a 'bulb' in a hyacinth glass on my kitchen window-ledge. Can you guess what it is?

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Famous People

Hi Everybody!

Today we are starting a new challenge at Moo Mania and More -

Famous people.

Can you guess who I chose?

As always, projects of all formats are accepted and you have 2 whole weeks to get your imagination going and to link up to us. I made a hybrid collage page to show my famous person, with lots of sights of London, my favourite town.

For Tag Tuesday, our theme was 'ornate' (YUCK!) so I used a lovely image from Gecko Galz, which was already shaped as an oval, pasted it onto some recycled card, and added pearls and gem-stones. Ornate but quick!

And here are the last of the blue sky photos, with more ships (especially for Elizabeth), and more gulls.

I am not the only one who likes to watch the ships!

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!