To be or not to be?

Hi Everybody!

For Jo's 'Poetry in Motion' theme at Art Journal Journey

I have a digital piece put together from various images and

documents found on the web (Wikipedia) and some super freebies 

from Serif. William Shakespeare was a poet and writer who was

well loved in his day at the court of Queen Elizabeth I and who

is still popular with old and young today. The quote is. of course, from

Hamlet:

HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--

No more--and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--

To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprise of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,

The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remembered.

For our 'Use your scraps' theme at Tag Tuesday I have another tag.

I discovered a box full of long and narrow off-cuts from

various papers and cardstock, and have layered and sewn  three of

them here to make my tag. The image was sent to me many moons

ago, and I have forgotten by whom, so if it was from you,

thanks a lot! The words and bicycle are die cuts, ordered from

 a Chinese company which sells wonderful crafty goods

for small change!

And congratulations to ERIKA, who won the postcard I offered on my blog

yesterday. Please mail me your snail mail addy!

I will get your 

 card out ASAP when I have the details!

And some photos from here. The first shows the sun drying up

the rain this morning:

This cloud looks like a poodle to me: 

Some pics taken by the market:

Fungi:

Dark clouds:

Rain!

Today it's stayed dry till now!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

This and that and the moon

Hi Everybody!

For Art Journal Journey, Jo's challenge of 'Poetry in motion', I have

an A4 journal page. The BG was painted with blue and gold, and the edges 

sewn. I made a golden 'skin' from acryl paint and matte gel, and 

stamped it with the Frida Kahlo stamp when it was dry (it needs about 24 

hours to dry). I sewed the skin over some cheese cloth, lace and gold 

mesh,  and added feathers, beading and 'earrings' as embellishments.

For my 'use your scraps' challenge at Tag Tuesday

I used various scraps of paper which I cut into tag forms

and sewed together. The craft tag in the top layer was stamped with 

an image from CI

The moon last night was fantastic, I couldn't stop taking photos.

It was wonderful to watch the moon rising over the horizon

and sailing up into the sky.

Sorry if you are not a 'lunatic'!

I will announce the winner of my postcard tomorrow!

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by.

T stands for Use your scraps

Hi Everybody!

On Tuesday we are starting a new challenge at Tag Tuesday,

Use your scraps.

I have boxes of scraps which are, for me, too good to throw

away, and I am sure I am not alone with my scrap-hoarding instincts.

This is THE opportunity to use some of them, so start de-stashing

and hope to see you linking to us at Tag Tuesday

with your scrappy creations.

I made a largish tag, 9 x 6 1/2", using corrugated cardboard,

tyvek from an envelope, scraps of lace and netting, and a

cut out postcard. The tyvek was painted, and then heated so it bubbled 

and shrunk, which gives a fun form. I assembled all the various bits, 

sewed them onto the card, and then sewed it to the background

paper, which had been hand-painted. I like how this one turned

out.

I am also linking to Creative Artiste, anything goes

The second one has been made with scraps of paper and lace

 collaged onto an old revision card. I added a die cut sentiment. This tag 

is approx 5 x 3 1/2"

I am looking forward to seeing what YOU create!

I found this pretty postcard advertising a flea-market in

a neighbouring town, and as it has a cup on it, it is suitable

for T stands for Tuesday, Elizabeth's weekly drinks party.

I would like to send the card to a new home, so if you would like it,

let me know in the comments. If more than one person should be 

interested, I will pull the names from a hat!

On Saturday I baked waffles to help me cope with a day

of non-stop rain and lots of crafting:

And of course, I never go without my cappuccino:

Yesterday I visited the Kunstpalast, an art museum here.

It was not exactly exciting - half the museum is being reorganised for

 a new exhibition, and most of the other half is being rebuilt

or renovated. There was a small exhibition of paintings

from Andreas Achenbach, a famous painter from Düsseldorf,

whose paintings I like very much:

I always enjoy seeing the architecture of the buildings:

 There are a lot of insurance buildings nearby:

This is one I showed from the other side last week:

 As I walked back to the tram I saw dozens of bikers on Harleys

waiting at the lights, revving up their motors with as much

noise as they could make:

We had a wonderful moon yesterday evening:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!