T stands for This, that and TIOT

Hi Everybody!

Hope your week got off to a good start.

After my fall on Saturday I got awful pains in the 

night, so dragged myself to the ER Sunday morning.

I have 2 cracked ribs, and as well as the bruising on my

knee, I am developing a black eye with a matching

nose - I must have kissed the ground with power!

Pity it's not carnival, it would make a good

disguise....And as I am not allowed to lift anything,

or bend, or do housew**k, I am happy that there

is something positive to report.... And I have a few weeks

to read, do some crafting, watch old films etc -

'Always look on the bright side of life.....'

On Tuesday we are starting a new Challenge at TIOT -

Anything but square.

As always, you have 2 weeks to link your creations to us,

and projects of all formats are allowed, as long as they fit the theme.

I made a mixed media tag (8"), using lots of elements which are 

not square. As usual I used my clear-the-table-technique, 

AKA everything but the kitchen sink - scraps of old 

letters, paper napkins, stenciling, stitching and more:

And I have another not square piece.

I altered a Moleskine A5 journal I got

for my birthday, using a piece of my vintage, rusty linen

from the erosion bundle and an iron-on

beaded owl - quick and simple:

I am linking the journal cover to Art Journal Journey.

And today is also Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday, I would like 

to welcome all of the nice ladies of the T Gang.

This was taken on New Year's Day. People take their Sekt down

to the Rhine, use the bottles as rocket-launches,

and then leave all their garbage behind them

when they stagger home!

 I like to bake a tray of spice bars each week, they are cheaper

and better than shop cookies. These were

filled with strawberry and ginger jam - help

yourselves:

I had an English visitor and made 'Toad in the Hole',

sausages backed in Yorkshire pudding batter:

 And lemon cake and cappuccino are high on my list of faves:

I was fascinated to see men working at the top of the old mill

last week:

And the moon this week was really magical:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

More this and that

Hi Everybody!

Today we had some crazy, mixed up weather.

It wasn't as cold as the last few days, we had 

sunshine, wind, clouds, blue skies, grey skies, snow and rain, 

all one after the other.

I went for a walk, and stumbled over a loose

paving stone, and kissed the ground like the Pope. I managed

to turn a bit in falling and landed on my 'old' knee

and not on the new one, so I was lucky, and got off with

a few bruises, a graze on my knee and a hole

in my trousers.

I spent the rest of the day safely at home, reading,

crafting and having fun. I have been making a

lot of large, mixed media tags lately, and am sharing one I

made last week. I used an 8" tag, which was painted, 

stenciled, collaged and stitched:

I am linking to Simon Monday challenge, square

And this little heart was made with remnants left over

from last week - corrugated card, scraps of serviettes, gilding

flakes, vintage linen, string and sewing:

The winter skies are beautiful:

Lots of snow showers:

And a magical night sky:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by:

It's weekend....

Hi Everybody!

It's weekend - have a good one!

I don't know why I always look forward to weekends,

because as a pensioner, my life is made up

of weekends - I guess it's still some

primal memories from working days.

Every day is a gift, so we need to celebrate,

try to be positive, leave negative people and stuff

off the plan and just have fun! 

For Art Journal Journey I made a hybrid piece

for Erika's lovely theme of  'Tell me a story'. The quote is from

Hamlet's famous 'To be or not to be' speech:

(Here I combined my own elements with some from Mischief Circus)

I am also linking to Paint Party Friday

Good weather to stay home and keep warm:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Ice, mist and journal play

Hi Everybody!

Another week has flown by, it's Thursday already,

I need to do some dreaded housew**k,

it's cold and grey outside,

and not much better inside!

I made a cover for the second journal I got as 

a present, so now it's all set up

and ready to go. I painted the A4 cover with some 

blue/green metallic paint, which changes colour with the light,

 and added some soft white in 

the middle before stamping into the wet paint

with the swirl and script stamps. I don't need any ink on the stamps,

The wet paint gets picked up and transferred. 

The floral part of the design 

was made with a paper napkin. When it was dry

I stenciled on the birds and added some

gilding flakes:

I was pleased that the underlying stamping is still visible

through the paper napkin:

This was before the napkin went on:

Then I decided to alter a paper bag to make a pocket inside the

journal. Here it is still on my messy table:

Then I used some new and old stencils to liven it up,

adding some white dots to highlight it:

The front page was quickly painted and then stenciled:

Now I have a journal to fill with dreams.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, Erika's lovely theme

of 'Tell me a story' and to

Altered eclectics,

and to Stamps and stencils,  swirls, whirls and flourishes,

and to Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin.

And here are some icy and misty photos:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!