Beatrix Potter, an altered notebook and more

Hi everybody!

I just got back from the 'Stempel Mekka' craft fair in Hagen, and had a good day out. I wasn't really intending to buy stuff, but some stamps and stencils just jumped at me, and then I had to take them home. I met some blogging buddies from Germany, Silvia (Barnies Baustelle) and Ulrike (Ulkau), as well as some others I have met there a lot of times, including the lovely Linda from Lost Coast Designs.

And I was pleased to see this evening that I am in the designer spotlight at Simon Monday challenge this week, for the textured autumn canvas I made a week back.

This journal page has first been water-coloured and distressed, and then I used a fussy cut photo of Beatrix Potter printed out in Sepia to soften it. I added some tissue tape, and lots of  her little creations, also fussy cut. The rabbits have been stamped with the Alice Palace Stamp from CI, and the little birds and the vine are part of a set from Kaiserkraft.

I am linking to Art Journal Journey, living beings

This little back to school notebook is one of my DT pieces for Gecko Galz. I cut a piece of 2 sided cardstock, 4 1/4 x 7" and rounded the corners. I scored 3 1/8" from each end to make the spine. A small note pad, 4 1/8" x 3" was glued onto the right side of the folder. I made a pocket from scraps, 3x2",  rounded the top corners, and fixed it with DS tape. I made 2 small tags out of left-over card into tags. For the front cover I used the image SD11 from the schooldays stamp set. The image was fussy cut and glued to some vintage ledger paper from 1924. I varnished it to make it more durable.

We have a 'new' market square here on the other side of the tram lines, and this statue and fountain are in the middle. It's not a statue I like, but recently someone had decorated it, which looked quite funny.

And my fave horse has the last word again....

Have a great Sunday, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by.

Trees, ducks, horses and stones

Hi everybody!

It's weekend, so hope you all have a restful and creative time.
We had cool but nice weather here today, so I enjoyed my walks, and it was a bit warmer in the afternoon.

I still seem to be on my autumn/trees/leaves/ little beings trip, so here is the next offering, a journal page. I sprayed an A3 page with home made blue and green inks, and then used just under half of it for this painting. I daubed the water-colours (thanks again Chrissie)  directly onto the paper, using orange, brown and yellow, and a liberal portion of fairy dust. I used some of the super bronze gilding flakes that Sandy recently sent me to make the little leaves on the tree and fluttering down. The little elf is from the autumn flower fairies, and the rabbit, of course, from Beatrix Potter. The little birds were stamped with scraps of brown paper from an old envelope using a Martha Stewart punch. I have forgotten from whom the quote is, if anyone knows, please tell me! I am linking to Art Journal journey, living beings; Mix it Monthly, trees and Craftroom Challenge, something old, something new. (New paints and gilding flakes, old images and recycled paper)

The ducks came waddling up to see if I had any food, so I shared some bread with them.

The horses were calm and contented as always.

The sun was sparkling on the lake this afternoon.

And I love this large, rusty rose on the old gates to the hospital park:

There are a lot of stones and huge pieces of brick and mortar walls down on the shore underneath the castle. There were a lot of battles to take control of the castle in the course of history, and  the walls were breached with cannons.

Some of these stones were evidently cut, so were perhaps part of door frames or arches:

Have a great weekend, take good care of yourselves,
and thanks a lot for coming by!

Autumn Feelings

Hi everybody!

Thanks for all the kind wishes for my sore throat, and I think it is a tad better, so let's hope it keeps going that way! I had a restful day yesterday, well, not exactly restful, but a bit quieter than usual!

By the way, two weeks ago I promised 3 ladies who commented on my blog in a certain time room a little 'Nettigkeit' - kindness, a sort of pay it forward or RAK, whatever! I chose three out of the hat, and sent the surprises off on Monday. One has already arrived in Germany, and the other 2 are on their way to the States and Scotland....

My thoughts are much inspired by autumn just now,  there are lots of beautiful leaves, horse-chestnuts, acorns and pine-cones to be picked up and gathered outside, and it is for me a very inspiring time of the year. I have tried to recreate a picture I made a few years back, and gave away. I used leaves I collected to make stencils for drawing the leaves, and cut them out of scrap cardboard, so I can use them again. They are all life size. The background of diagonal stripes  (15" x 19")was painted with acrylics mixed with a glitter glaze which I got recently at the Euro shop. The glaze can be used alone, or can be mixed with colours. I Painted diagonally working from the corner with red, yellow, orange and rust. When it was dry, I used the leaf stencils to draw the leaves, and painted them with matte black gesso, to make a nice contrast to the glittery background.I outlined the leaves with a gold gel-pen. I cut a panel out of the middle, which I will use as a background for something else. The tree fairy image in the centre is from Gecko Galz, and has also been glazed with the glitter stuff, and mounted onto coordinating matting. I was pleased with the result, and have it hanging here as an autumn decoration.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, and to  Art Journal Journey, living beings, and Mix it Monthly, trees.

As always I visited the horses - they are on my way to and from the Rhine, and this one loves carrots....

A 'Diva' speeding along the Rhine

This flower is good 3 metres high, growing in the 'jungle' along the banks:

A typical weather picture yesterday, blue sky and huge towers of clouds:

Have a great day you all, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!

Stirring the cauldron and more....

Hi everybody!

I woke up today with a sore throat, and it has got steadily worse in the course of the day. To top it all, I had an appointment in town, which I didn't want to cancel. It is always so full, and noisy, and full of building sites - I was really happy to get back here afterwards.

Today I have another, and somewhat different piece, for Art Journal Journey.

These are living beings of the other art....

I used another old calendar page in A3, created texture with tissue paper and mod-podge, and then went to work with sprays and Bistre - sent to me by Silvia - to give it some colour. I love the grungy effect this gives. The spider's web has been made using a TH stencil, and the bats, moon and witches shoes are Sizzix die-cuts. The other die-cuts were in my stash. The witches round the cauldron is a digi-stamp I have had for a long time. I printed the witches onto transparent foil, and coloured them with gel-pens. Another witch, made of shrink-plastic, is trying to hide behind the leaves. It was a bit difficult to write my quote, 'Girls just wanna have fun', as the tissue paper was rather uneven, or perhaps it was the smoke from the cauldron making it fuzzy....Anyway, this girl had fun making it, too!

And I have been working on another canvas, 18"x18", which is still a WIP. I have used lots of acrylic paints in autumnal colours, gold and copper EPs, fairy dust, sprays, fragments of old letters, gilding flakes and some keys. Sorry, the photos are not good, it was a dark day and I had to use flash, which reflects on the metal. I made lots of texture again by sprinkling beads into the wet paint, and by heating and bubbling. At the moment I am just enjoying creating textures and colour. I hope to have it finished for next week.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin!

I was pleased to see some ducks and birds on the stream through Hofgarten, a big park in town. I like the little duck-ladder!

But I was happy to get back to my quiet corner of the world afterwards.

Have a great day you all, take care, 

and thanks a lot for coming by!