Oscar and Eric..and York!

Hi everyone! We've been out today, first a walk then lunch and a little bit of Christmas shopping!!

I have one more page for Erika's Vintage or Modern theme at Art Journal Journey.

As you can see Oscar and Eric are making their way through the modern art gallery and eavesdropping on spectators comments! 

I spattered lots of different coloured paints and I apologise to fans of Jackson Pollock!!

I have a quick look back at this time last week too! We were in York  and we ended up in a fake snow storm....

 Walking through the Shambles and some of the shops had fake snow machines in their upper windows - magic!!!

 We had been to the museum earlier where children were in Victorian dress!

This is the way to the railway station the next day!!

See you in December!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Vintage page!

Hi everyone! I am pleased to say that my leg is a lot better today! We have had a few gentle walks and this afternoon attended a party to celebrate the end of the decoration of the shared areas here at our retirement complex! It really does look lovely and has been worth the wait! 

I have had some time to play with my art journals too and I have also used some papers I have had for ages which I rediscovered while having a tidy!!!

The page started with some scraps of ephemera type paper which I stencilled over with an AALL and Create stencil using texture paste! Once it was dry I sprayed it with brown shades of ink. The papers I used are from a very old Graphic 45 set - Domestic Goddess - I tore one piece out and cut off part of another image, which I stuck down over some cheesecloth. I added lace, stick on pearls and a sentiment!

I am entering this at.. 
Art Journal Journey for Erika's Vintage or Modern theme 
and also at..
A Vintage Journey - Paper Stash


Thanks for looking, Chrisx

T Stands for....the trip and the walk

Hi everyone! I am hoping that we reach the end of our trip photos  by the middle of December!
We had a wonderful rail journey through the Czech Republic to Prague.

I loved this bright green house!

I would love to visit this church too!

We arrived in Prague and found our way to the hotel quite easily by taking a tram ride.
There wasn't much time for anything except a walk to the information centre, stopping at this church on the way!

I asked if the assistant at the IC if she could recommend somewhere to eat traditional food and she directed us down the road a little way to Havelska Koruna, a really unusual eatery!

As we went in the cashier had thrust a ticket at us! We went and sat down and although there were a few members of staff walking around no one asked us what we wanted!
Fortunately a couple across the aisle came to our rescue and told us to take our ticket and go around the corner to the counter! As it happened two men from Yorkshire were also on their first trip here so we enjoyed a bit of banter! 
We both chose a pork stew  and cabbage. I had dumpling with mine, hubby had rice! It was a truly delicious meal and at a very reasonable price. As you can see I had cola and hubby had orange.
I am of course joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands for Tuesday

The next day, another very hot one, was the day we chose to walk across Charles Bridge!
We tried to stop at every statue for a little bit of shade but so did a lot of other folk!!
I will show just a few of the many we took on this fascinating bridge with stalls, artists and performers all along it.

We spent a little time on the other side of the river, had some lunch (pics saved in my TSFT bank).....

...and walked back again!

We headed past some posh shops towards the Jewish Quarter...

...where even in the shade it was very hot!

We headed for a drink and next week I'll show you what we saw next!!

I am sorry I haven't been around much lately - my time has been taken making samples to send off for next Monday's Craft Individuals shows on Hochanda - I think they are planned for 12.00 and 16.00 GMT.
I have now got everything in the post (watch out - there may be sneaky peeks!)and hope to be catching up......unless anything else happens - I am struggling with a trapped nerve in my knee that occurred on the last part of our journey home from York! I'll show you some pics of York later in the week!

For now, Happy T Day and Thanks for looking, Chris

Winter Wonderland

Hi everyone, are you ready for some snow? I know that some of you already have had snow - I hope it did't cause too many problems! 

We are thinking about the beauty of a snowy day with our new theme at Try It On Tuesday - Winter Wonderland! The Design Team really have shown the snow at it's best!

I decided it was time I got some more Christmas cards started.

I made a background using some corrugated card as a stamp and a selection of different blue Distress inks.
I used one of my favourite Christmas tree stamps by Artemio, which I stamped in white and then heat embossed it. I have had the snowflake stickers for  a while so decided to add them.
I scuffed the edges of the card and mounted it on more scuffed card.
I actually found I had a Winter Wonderland sentiment in a freebie set!!

Looking forward to seeing your Winter Wonderlands!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx 

Christmas wishes!!!

Hi everyone! I have another Journal page for Erika's Vintage and Modern theme at Art Journal Journey! I hope it isn't too early for a Christmassy page!

The page has had a few transformation along the way, it was quite bright so I knocked back the colour with Fresco Snowflake paint to with I added some Quinacranine gold watered down.
Some time later I added some stencilling and finally I added the book text - smooshed into some distress ink, some random stamping, a Crafty Individuals image(I think from the Christmas image book- it was loose in my Christmas box)I added some Tim Holtz snippets.

This is the same page taken in artificial light - nothing has been done to the page it's just the red/green magic!!! I would like to enter at 
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Baby It's Cold Outside

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

Thanksgiving wishes!

I am thinking about my friends in the USA today who are celebrating Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful day!
I have made a journal page which is mainly for Art Journal Journey and Erika's Vintage or Modern theme.

A wish with a modern twist - well, that's what I aimed for!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for.....time flying and the last day in Vienna

Hi everyone, is it just me or is time flying? We had some relaxing time at our caravan at the weekend and we are heading to York for a couple of nights away in a hotel towards the weekend. I have been told that York Christmas Market is one of the best. 

We had quite a leisurely last day in Vienna.
We managed to get into the church we had seen on our first day...just around the corner from our hotel

Then we went for a walk to find..Cafe Central..here is a link so that you can find out more about the famous visitors this cafe has had!

There was a short queue to get in!

This chap had clearly had to sit down....

......so did this one after a short wait!

 We shared this wonderful patisserie, hubby had hot chocolate and I had a cappuccino. The waiter was lovely and as he passed by on one occasion joked about hubby eating more than me!

We didn't read any of the newspapers provided.

 Next, some cake art!!!

We really enjoyed some time to sit as it was really hot outside!
Next we walked around the area, mainly in the shade.

I loved this church.....

...and this one.

 Very ornate..

 ...but I am always thrilled to find old wall paintings

It was soon time for lunch! We were close to the Royal Palace and entered from the square into the Hofburg cafe.

A double treat for T Day, where I am joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

We both ordered the same drink but I don't recall whether it was a Mocha or a hot chocolate - lunch was a sandwich with fries!

 I resisted the Kaiserschmarrn on this occasion

Did hubby have a delicious dessert from the cabinet?

I think he wanted to...but no!!!

I was sorry we couldn't eat in this part but it was being set up for a party!

We were going to visit the Sisi museum but I decided I would like to know more about her first...so maybe next time. For now I have brought a book back to read!

 The area around the palace is beautiful

St Stephens was beautiful too but I was too hot to take anymore photos and I think maybe hubby was too too as not many turned out well!

Finally we walked back towards the hotel passing some beautiful artwork.

Next time we will be heading to Prague!

Thanks for looking, Chris