Second on the Second

Hi Everybody!

For the next couple of months I will be undergoing a course of treatment

at the Diakonie, the local hospital, where I will be

spending a lot of time, so may not always

be able to keep up blogging every day.

Thursday is Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd, where we can link things

already shown at some time in the past.

I showed this woven piece 2 years back.

I cut a frame in A4 size from the back of an old paper pad, made

holes with my cropadile, and threaded it with linen yarn. I wove

strips of old linen, fibres, ribbon, burlap etc through the threads.

When it was done I mounted it on a piece of chipboard, 

which had been painted and embossed, and added

the beads at the bottom.
I am also linking to Paint Party Friday

I wrote the quote on the back:

For Yvonne's lovely theme of 'out and about' at Art Journal

Journey, I have a hybrid piece, using a water-colour background 

painted in 1991. It shows The Kloster (convent) at Sießen near Saulgau.

Bertha Hummel, who created all the Hummel figures, was a nun there.

She did some very fine drawings, which I like better than

the porcelain figures, and they can all be seen in the

museum there.

The pictures were taken at the weekend, some with sun, and some 

without,  where the water looks cold and grey: 

Have a great day, take care,

and thank a lot for coming by!

The blue flower

Hi Everybody!

It's been another cold and dismal day here, but it's not

stopping the spring flowers blooming, so 

that's good.

For Simon Monday challenge, based on a book, I have

a mixed media tag. The first layer was made with scraps of 

old book pages and letters, and a strip of corrugated

card. I gave it a coat of diluted gesso before going on to the next

layer,  for which I used pieces of paper napkins.

The butterfly was also cut from a napkin, 

pasted on card and fussy cut. I added stardust

Stickles to the wings, and antennas

made from gold wire and tiny, blue glass beads.

I added some glass leaves as embellishment.

The blue flowers always remind me of a poem

by  Josef von Eichendorff, a German writer

of the 19th Century, who wrote

'Die blaue Blume' - the blue flower:

Ich suche die blaue Blume,

Ich suche und finde sie nie,

Mir träumt, dass in der Blume

Mein gutes Glück mir blüh.

Ich wandre mit meiner Harfe

Durch Länder, Städt und Au'n,

Ob nirgends in der Runde

Die blaue Blume zu schaun.

Ich wandre schon seit lange,

Hab lang gehofft, vertraut,

Doch ach, noch nirgends hab ich

Die blaue Blum geschaut

 Roughly translated it means:

I search for the blue flower,

I search and cannot find it,

I dreamed that my luck

Will bloom with the flower.

I wander with my harp

Through countries, towns and meadows,

Always hoping to glimpse 

The blue flower.

I've been wandering  a long time,

And have hoped and believed,

But alas, I was not able

To see the flower anywhere.

My sister Cynthia brought me a card with this poem 

when I was a little girl, and it was the

first German I learned.

Today I am sharing some of the presents I received in the past

weeks, and would like to say 'thanks' again to all of

the senders.

The book came from Sandra, who is a talented and proficient 

author, and is really good, it's well worth a read!

(As are her other books, too)

The purse is also from Sandra:

These bottles are tiny, about 1" high, and were part of a huge

parcel of goodies sent by Gill, and all made with so

much loving care. I have shown some of the other pieces, and will

be showing more as I use them. She also sent a CD with digital images,

as she is a designer at Daisy Trail:

The gorgeous card is also from Gill.

These 2 cards were from Sandy, and accompanied a huge

pile of gorgeous paper napkins which I have been

using lately, and some water-colour cards:

Thanks Ladies!

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by.

Tea or coffee?

Hi Everybody!

It's been another cold and blustery day here. I went out

for my morning walk and was happy to get back home again.

On Tuesday we are starting a new challenge at TIOT 

☕-Time for Tea-☕

This fits well to Elizabeth's 

☕Tea stands for Tuesday☕

so I would like to give a warm welcome to all of the

nice T gang ladies and anyone else who visits today.

At TIOT you have 2 weeks to link to our theme, and projects 

of all formats are welcome- I made a spread in one of my journals. The background was painted, stamped and stenciled. I cut the cup from

corrugated card, painted it white and then added

a cup-themed napkin. I tucked in a tea-bag and a packet of

sugar (from my fave ice parlour). The drinking ladies

were cut from a paper napkin. The script

was added to make sure that everybody knows

which beverage I prefer!

Doughnuts, or 'Berliner' as they are called here, are one

of the staple foods of carnival. I wanted you to see them,

so I bought 2, one filled with jam and the other with eggnog cream,

yummy! I sacrificed myself for you again. Enjoy!

And cappuccino was on the table, too, as always:

The Rhine path was rather deserted this morning:

I saw this lady and her son making their way to the tram, she was dressed

as a cowboy and he was an old lady.....

I always like taking pics of the shop windows, where the

contents merge with the reflections to become

surreal pictures:

The window boxes in front of the old town hall have

been planted with spring flowers:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Spring is on its way - I hope

Hi Everybody!

I met a bunch a strange people waiting for the tram to take

them into the town for the carnival parades Today.

One group, all men, were dressed as 'Queen Elizabeths',

all beautifully decked out in pastel colours, wearing tiaras,

carrying handbags and skilfully made up - they looked

great. 

I have another  12" mixed media tag to share, this time made for

Go Tag Thursday, turquoise and brown. I used some DP

for the background, and cut some cogs from cardboard, which I painted with turquoise and embossed with Frantage EP. Tim's bird branch was cut out twice, Once in turquoise and once in brown, and placed over each other so that a narrow brown 'shadow' remained. I used some nature decorations mixed with fibres and fabric roses in turquoise. I sewed the various layers 

together again.

I am also linking to Simon Monday challenge, transport - cogs and the bird transporting a branch.

These rusty statues are in a garden near the castle ruins:

The ruins have decked themselves out in spring flowers:

The buds are getting bigger:

The hospital gardens are full of crocuses:

 Some shops are decorated for spring:

The lingerie shop has added carnival masks to the shop-window

mannequins, which gave me some very surreal pictures:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!