Monday 2 January 2017

T stands for today

Hi Everybody!

Today is Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday party and is also
the start of a new challenge at 

TIOT 

*Use tissue*

I made a set of 3 little canvases (4x4") into a 
wall hanging for a neighbour. She wanted
something with yellow and green and
flowers. I used some small tulip
serviettes from my stash,
glued them with gel medium to
the canvases, and then gave the edges
a coat of paint - finished. I mounted them
onto a dark green ribbon with gold edges . I was
not really impressed with them, but the
recipient loved her hanging, so that's the main thing!


At this point I would like to welcome the nice ladies of
the T gang. We had snow this morning, so I was outside on
my balcony before it was light taking photos. I mounted one of them
onto a moonlit sky background, which I grunged up a bit.
I do feed the birds every morning, they are always
waiting in the tree, but the coffee is
just for me! I am of course linking to Art Journal Journey, Erika's lovely theme of tell me a story




Last week I cooked a huge pot of soup made from carrots,
parsnips and sweet potatoes, and spiced with
garlic and ginger. It was good served with a splash of sour cream!


My fave water glass has a black cat on it, she looks like my
Kitty did:


The clear circle on the other side of the glass shows the
cat again, magnified by the liquid:


And I love making patterns in my soup - perhaps
I'm in my second childhood!?


And this bread twist was delicious - filled with tomato and cheese,
and with lots of seeds on top!


My Scandinavian bird hopped down to have a look:


And the rocking horse came over too - I think she wants
to send best wishes to Elizabeth & her boys.
(The rocking horse was a present from dear Sabine)


And some photos from my snowy walk on Monday:



Photo bombed from a loudly squawking crow!


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





Sunday 1 January 2017

Of dragonflies, strange faces and cracked mirrors

Hi Everybody!

Today is Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd,
where we share a post previously published.
I made the journal page in September 2014, using DP and 2 tags I had made a couple of months previously.  I used the same stamp set from Lawrence and Morgan for both. I added stickles for the wings. The tags were machine stitched to the background. The quote on the right tag is from Leonard da Vinci:



For Erika's new challenge at AJJ, 'Every journal page tells a story',
I made hybrid page where I got carried away, and it ended up
rather differently than I had planned..... 
The background was painted, collaged and partly crackled. 
I collaged lots of words cut from magazines.
Then I added the quote, the strange lady, goggles and hand digitally (Mischief Circus). The ravens are from Dezinaworld. This was a fun and 
silly piece made to cheer me up. And the story? 
Well, I would like your ideas for this! Don't be shy!


  


The photos today are from an exhibition at the Kunsthalle
in Düsseldorf, 'Wool and water'. It was interesting, but not
quite my thing- I am in some of the photos, rather distorted 
by the mirrors:











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


Ring out, wild bells

Hi Everybody!

Happy New Year  2017.

We are starting a new challenge for the new year at
Art Journal Journey
and this month the wonderful
is our host. She has chosen the theme
'Every Journal page tells a story', and writes:

*My AJJ theme is a twist on a phrase that we say in the US (not sure about other places, so whether this is a universal phrase or not, I don't know). The saying is "Every picture tells a story" and I am switching it up to  "Every journal page tells a story".  I think we  tell stories all the time, whether we talk about books we've read, movies we've watched, or told someone about an adventure we've had during our day, Our stories come from our past and things we find interesting in our present. Sometimes we even tell stories about our dreams for the future. We describe people we know, those we wish we could meet  or maybe  have just met.  Our stories are often non-fiction, but they can be fiction too. So this month I want to "see" your stories and hopefully get to read a little bit about them too.*

My first page for this theme is a hybrid page, using  a part of
Tennyson's wonderful poem
'Ring out wild bells', which is about the new year:




And now for the story. Last week I actually dusted off some of my 
books - I say some, as I have a lot, too many to dust at 
one time. As I picked up this one  I thought about
my Auntie Clara, a wonderful old lady,
who gave it to me in 1964, more than fifty years ago.


It opened at this page, and thus the idea
for my journal page was born. There is even a little
Bible verse in it, which she probably got
at Sunday school  as a child.





She was an educated, kind and caring lady, and  also my God-mother,
and sent presents every single birthday as 
long as she lived. She had no children of her own,
but a huge family of  God-children.
I spent a week every summer at her house in the country, 
which I much enjoyed. She wrote a dedication in each 
and every book she gave me, and several of my 
glass treasures were also from her.
This was evidently a prize she got at school in 1914,
and is one of my special treasures:


These ducks/geese were given to me by an ex neighbour,
I do not much like them, and they sit on top of the
bookcase in the hall, and look down on people:


I just hope they don't fall on my head one of these days!


These vases are all blown  glass from Bohemia crystal
in the Czech Republic.  They are all etched with pictures of birds, plants or fish.
These lilac ones change colour and look blue in electric light, 
they have a certain mineral in them, 
but I've forgotten what it is! And they are very heavy.
Ha! I just had a light bulb moment and remembered
that it's Alexandrite glass!


!



This is another piece from the 70s:


The glasses from the 1930s belonged to my great 
Auntie Fanny, another very dear person:



These are from the beginning of the 20th century:


 1930's again. This colour was evidently much liked!


These are more space age pieces:


I will put more photos up when I have taken them!

Have a great day - week - month - year!
Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Friday 30 December 2016

Last page for light and darkness

Hi everybody!

This is my last post for this year, so I hope you all enjoy 
New Year's Eve and have a great
2017.

For Art Journal Journey, light and darkness,
I have another hybrid piece. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for 
hosting the party every week. I used some designer paper for the background, which I panted over with splodges and dabs. Then I melded it digitally, using a mask (Serif) with a photo of a decaying tree stump 
covered in spiders' webs. I added the photo of the statue, 
and a face drawing I made, I just altered the colours.

I have not made my usual collage of all the pieces I made in 
the month, as this month was a very hard one for me, and I don't want
to think about it again:




Today I am sharing some glass from the glass museum, 
they have such a treasure trove of antique glass there:















Have a great day, and a good start in the New Year.

Thanks a lot for coming by!