Thursday 2 February 2017

A red head and more....

Hi everybody!
Lovely weather again here - it's still very cold and windy, but sunny,
and that always makes me feel better.

I have a hybrid piece today. Lovely  Linda is the new hostess,
and has chosen the theme of 'Fifty shades of red'.
I have used one of 'my' heads, filled with a collage of ladies in red
on a mixed media background. The feathers and flower are from 
Mischief Circus. I was thinking of Chris de Burgh
and his song 'lady in red':






And here I have a mixed media tag made from a heap of disparate
bits and bobs. The face is from Lost Coast, and was stamped on an
old letter and then collaged. I added some random stamping
and did lots of sewing. The background was made from an
Amazon shipping envelope, partly peeled, embossed and painted.








This was my start up 'heap'. The bits and pieces of book pages, letters,
old passports and found things, like the feathers, remind
me of what is left over when people die and their
houses get cleared. Most of the old family papers I have
were dug out of dustbins after their owners had died,
some go back to 1700, and I will never understand
why people race to get 'useful' or 'valuable' things, but throw away their heritage
without a second thought.



I am also linking to Go Tag Thursday, anything goes,
and altered eclectics, also anything goes

I love the wintry scrub hanging over the fences:



But I didn't like the slippery paths:

 

And although it is still very cold, I saw the first signs of spring:








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

Wednesday 1 February 2017

Four footed friends

Hi Everybody!

Hope the month  started well for you.
We had sunshine today, always a good start,
although it was very cold and the wind,
especially along the Rhine, was icy.
But I enjoyed being outside, it's good to be able to
move with less pain now.

For Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd I am re-posting a painting I made 
back in the 1980s, and painted from a photo of my
dear doggy Struppi. She was a real character. She loved us,
the neighbour next door - he was a butcher and brought
her sausage every day, and one other neighbour. She had evidently had
bad experiences with people as a street dog.
She wasn't nasty to anyone, she just ignored them.
She always wore a scarf in winter and a ribbon in summer,
and loved being dressed up and posing.
My husband used to love opera - Scruffy didn't, every time
she heard an aria being sung, she pointed her nose up
to the ceiling and howled till the music stopped.
After that my husband got headphones....
I know today is still the first, but I need to get finished
early as I am getting visitors later and need to
cook and bake, so I will link tomorrow.
I am also linking to Paint Party Friday




One of her fave games was mesmerizing me into trying to take her ball,
so we could roll around in a mock fight where she
always won in the end, with Gretel on the sidelines
as referee.



And today I made a layout of Struppi. The background and
cat are from 'hipster animals'. The cat looks like our cat Gretel did, she was partner in crime with Struppi, together they could 
open any cupboard or fridge. Gretel pushed 
the things down from the shelf so that Struppi
could pick them up. The worst part was that they never
bothered to close the fridge, so I had to put 
a bolt on it!



I am linking to Simon Monday Challenge, pets' corner.

Some photos from today's windy walk:






I am turning into a Zoomster, or should it be a Zoombie?


Had a hot cappuccino in Cafe Burghof and enjoyed their winter decorations:




Nice views outside, too:





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



Tuesday 31 January 2017

Coffee papers and more

Hi Everybody!
Today has raced by again. I was up bright and early and thought
I had time to do a lot, and once again, the time ran away
so quickly that I couldn't catch up with it!
My tag today has been made from recycled
cardboard, partly peeled, partly embossed in an embossing folder, and then painted, embossed with Frantage and collaged with scraps 
of ephemera and paper napkins. The little girl has been stamped onto the paper from a used coffee pod, and then painted with 
water-colours. I know a lot of people paint on tea bags,
so I decided to use my coffee pods. I love the vintage look it gave.
The floral embellishments were culled from a tree in the 
garden and fixed with silicone glue The metal piece 
at the top was embossed with Frantage aged copper.
I am linking to Go tag Thursday, ephemera:








Some more photos taken on my Friday walk when the sun was shining:














The flower shop has moved to new premises,
and now has more space:



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