Sunday this and that

Hi Everybody!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

For Art Journal Journey, gardens, I made another hybrid page, using a water-coloured and stamped background, adding the dragonflies digitally. The quote is from Rachel Carson's book 'Silent Spring', a book which is still very actual in a time where useful insects and bees are in danger of  dying out because of environmental poisons.

This week my swap pages from Chris arrived, and they are gorgeous!

I am going to have a wonderful bird book when it is finished - we still have one more month to go in the swap.

The pages were wrapped in this beautiful DP folder, very artfully folded.

Lots of nice things inside:

Fun pages, tags, and goodies:

The description on the left belongs to the bird on the sewn pocket above, the other tag is the swap tag with details:

The little flap at the bottom opens up and there are 2 birds talking about the rising price of bird food - In Mary Poppins film it was only 2 pence!

I love this one with the peacock feather:

One page lovelier than the other:

Isn't this gorgeous?

And this one?

And all these goodies came with the pages

A tag in a bag:

Thanks Chris, your pages will be treasured, and thanks for all the hard work you put into them.

Clouds and sunshine can be a great mixture:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot or coming by!

Multi-tasking and more

Hi Everybody!

Today is Elizabeth's second on the second, where we can re-show a post made previously. The story here is one I wrote back in 2009, when I was still working at the old people's home:

Multi-tasking

I recently had a copy of Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" in my hands. I had a quick look at it, but I could not find an explanation for the fact that workdays last for what seems weeks and weekends go by quicker than a 5 minute break when the boss is watching. Perhaps we all try to cram too much into our weekends. I don't really have to do anything, but I WANT to do everything, and that doesn't work. And I often have to work at weekends or do at least half a day, and that reduces the free time even more. I am one of those fortunate people who can't sleep well at night, so that gives me some extra crafting time anyway. 
And then there is always the possibility of multi-tasking - put the washing in the machine, put the dishes in the machine - try to use the right machine for the right job while you're at it; put the potatoes on to cook, talk to a friend on the phone, make the bed with one hand, trip over the washing you forget to put in the machine, wonder what that strange noise is you're hearing, a sort of ferocious hissing sound coming from the kitchen - OK, turn the potatoes down. Ouch, the lid was hot, fingers scalded, put down the telephone to hold the hand under the cold-tap, strange smell of plastic, remove telephone from the hot-plate and drop it. But it still seems to be working, someone is calling out "hello, hello, what's up!". Carry on the conversation, tell your friend it was nothing, after all it was only a few scalded fingers which now resemble chipolatas. Sit at the computer and look if you've got mail, type a few answers with the fingers which you can still use and try to remember to say something every now and then to your friend who is telling you her problems on the phone. When the mails are answered, tell your friend you have to go because you've got an invitation to lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. Go into the kitchen, avoiding the wet spots in the floor and discover that you forgot to put the potatoes back onto the hot-plate, and lunch moves further away. Look into the fridge to see what you could eat instead - some sour milk, two slices of cheese which would send any self-respecting mouse into a hunger-strike, some strange furry objects in tupper-boxes, 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of pro-secco. You decide to get dressed and go to the take-away, fall over the washing still on the floor on the way to the bathroom, and bang your head on the door-frame. No cause to panic, the woodwork has not been damaged and there are no chips in the paint. Get showered and dressed without further mishaps, get on your bike and ride to the take-away. Halfway there you remember that you forgot your money, turn round and go back. Run up the 2 flights of stairs to the flat, grab some money, run back down and start again. Success, half a roast chicken accompanies me on my way home without protesting. Safely back home I wait for the dish-washer to finish so that I can eat my chicken from a plate, and decide to spend a nice afternoon crafting, and leave housework to those who show more aptitude in it!

By the way, the wonderful mug is one a friend had printed for me back then, and which unfortunately got broken:(

For Art Journal Journey, gardens, I have a spread from my journal, using gesso, stamps, scraps and doodling:

The water level in the Rhine is slowly dropping, but the ships just seem to get bigger and bigger:

And my quote for today:

'A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who finds such a man'

Lana Turner

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

New Challenge at Art Journal Journey and More....

Hi Everybody!

Today we are beginning a new challenge at 

Art Journal Journey:

-In my garden there is-

and our lovely Yvonne is hostess. 

She says: 

'I leave how you interpret this up to yourselves. How does your garden look, what would you wish to see in the garden, is it a small space, a pot plant... These are some of my thoughts that I jotted down when thinking of ideas.'

This leaves you a lot of freedom in your journaling, so put your thinking caps on,
get creative, and we hope to see you linking to us at AJJ.

I made a hybrid piece using a painted, dripped and textured background with a doodled bird, digitally altered and placed on the background. Birds belong in every garden!

Last week I showed my finished big, fat journal.

This week I made a cover to dress it up a bit.

I used craft paper, and after cutting it to size I cut and folded it before painting it with metallic blues and gold, which was heat dried and bubbled.

After fitting it over the book, I used some rub-ons to decorate it:

The edges have been folded and fixed with double sided sticky tape in the time honoured manner of covering school books, and it is possible to remove the cover if I want without damaging the book:

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin.

Today got off to a good start again, but soon clouded over:

The Rhine is slowly dropping, but still too high for the time of year:

I peered through the undergrowth and discovered these nice, fat ducks snoozing on a fallen tree:

I always love hollyhocks:

 This shows the old fortification walls of the town, taken from what used to be the moat, now a playground and park:

Looking up to the buildings on the bridge:

This ancient stone stands on the bridge:

This is an old stable  down the road, they give rides for

handicapped people there- you can see the lift in the background:

My quote for today is from Mae West:

'Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before'

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!