New Challenge at TIOT and Happy Mail

Hi Everybody!

Today we are starting a new challenge at TIOT. Hmmm, it's a difficult theme for me - neat and tidy! Not really my thing, neither in life nor in crafting! Projects of all formats are welcome, 'real', digital, hybrid, it should just follow the theme. Have a look at the blog to see the neat and tidy things my teamies made!  I made an A3 mixed media page, with a textured background. A lot of people have asked how I do these textured backgrounds, so I will show you in a little tutorial on Friday. I was trying to get away from always using circles, so divided my page into rectangles this time, and added some cat, dog and flower stickers. I am also linking to the new challenge at AJJ, hosted by Jo, texture:

And I got Happy Mail - joy in the post!

This lovely card came from David, the undisputed bird Pope, in Canada. He had read on my blog that I wasn't feeling good, and sent this to cheer me up. That's kindness from across the miles:

Avril, a lovely teamie by TIOT send me an envelope packed full of goodies -

napkins and a wonderful tag. The details on the tag are so fantastic, I was thrilled to see it close up - pictures don't do it justice:

And die cut flowers and more. I recently admired some white daisies I saw on Avril's blog, and she said she would send me a 'few' - wow, what a treasure I received:

Thanks a lot Avril, I will have great fun using them and think of you! 

And I have some more pictures from my beloved clouds:

The birds gather mornings and evenings in this tree:

I love seeing the tree and pigeons lit up by the setting sun:

And as you know, I love to walk by the Rhine:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

T Stands for This and That

Hi Everybody!

The last day of the month has dawned cool and grey, we even had a little rain, and could badly do with more.  Hope you all have a good week and a good start in the new month tomorrow.

Last week I got a beautiful card from David in Canada, which I will show later this week, and on the envelope there was a beautiful ladybird stamp, which I copied into my graphics programme to make into a tag for Tag Tuesday. The airmail sticker was also on the envelope:

And you still have a week to join in our challenge there!

This evening we will be gathering for Elizabeth's  T sTands for Tuesday link       party, so here a warm welcome to all of the ladies of the T Gang.

I have a coffee journal page using cups and pots with my sunrise photos:

The shops in town:

Recently I mentioned damsons to Jeanie, and she didn't know what they were, and now I know that they don't seem to grow in the USA. They are smallish plums which are not too sweet, and wonderful for eating, making jam, and baking into cakes and pies. 

I made a Tarte Tatin, for which there are lot of recipes on the net. You need to place the plums - or other fruit - onto a caramel mixture, butter the sides of the pan and put little cubes of butter onto the fruit:

Then you make a buttery short-crust pastry, place it over the plums, and bake it:

When it's cooled off for a few minutes, you carefully turn it over, using a plate, and then the crisp and buttery pastry is underneath and the caramelized plums on top. The pastry stays crisp because it was baked on top:

It tastes delicious, and is not low-carb but full of delicious, buttery and fruity flavours  - my neighbour enjoyed his slice, too:

And some walking pictures:

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!