2nd on the 2nd - Back to School

 Hi Everybody!

It's the 2nd of the month, so it's time for Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd, where we re-show artwork shown on our blogs in previous years. These pieces were all made for AJJ back in 2016, and the theme was back to school. Here in our county the kids went back to school 2 weeks back, some still have the 'Big Day' in front of them. 

My internet provider has announced that they will be doing maintenance work during the night, from midnight till about 6 a.m. I hope I will be able to get onto the net again tomorrow, but it could take longer than they estimate - we shall see!

But now - back to school!

For this one I used my head(s):

This one comes from the heart, during 35 years of teaching it was good to have friendly pupils at least some of the time!

Here I have a selection of young ladies from various times. The one standing at the front behind the chalk board is me. My mum is the third from left in the 2nd row, and another relation, Erika, is at the left of the 2nd row:

Erika is in this one again. It shows her school sports team back in the 1930s. Erika is the 2nd from the right. A year later she had to leave school because she was Jewish, and 2 years after that she fled Germany with her family and had to start a new life in Paraguay:

This piece shows Tower College in the background, a private school near Liverpool where I taught for a couple of years from 1969 to 1972 before I came to Germany:

I taught art at various schools here. This journal page reminds of some Christmas window decorations I made with my class one year. We decorated the windows through the length of the big hall, so it was a lot of work:

This one shows my late husband as a schoolboy:

This page shows another project I did with one of my classes back in the 1980s. We made heads using paper maché and the kids had great fun. We started by collecting egg cartons, then they had to be torn up and pulped, and then we formed our heads. And no, we did not empty all of those wine and beer bottles, we got them from the caretaker....:

Another page showing Erika while she was at school, she's standing on the right. She was the only one with short hair, all the others still have their long plaits, including the teacher in the middle!

The photos are also a repeat from this day back in 2017. We visited a lake surrounded by a lovely wooded path, not far from here on the other side of the Rhine:

I love these fairy colonies:

The cormorant found a good seat:

And of course, lots of Canadian Geese, especially for dear David:

That's enough for today!

Take care, have a great day,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

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!