Happiness is...........

 Hi everyone, I have another page for Valerie's 'Anything Goes'  theme at Art Journal Journey blog.

This will be my last page for Valerie's theme. I have really enjoyed making pages for this month, I've used some stamps I haven't used for ages. Thank you also for your inspiration Valerie, especially your faces. 

My face is a Paper Artsy Lynne Perella stamp. I spritzed some blue Distress Ink with water on an acrylic block and pressed it onto the page. I added more Distress Ink (Ripe Persimmon and Aged Mahogany) through two different stencils. I added some Seth Apter stamps and coloured the image with Derwent pencils. Finally I added 'Happiness', a JOFY Paper Artsy stamp and a little bit of spattering.

I hope to join Nicole's Friday Face Off this time too

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for The Rush...

Hi everyone this will be a rushed post today. 

We finally got our car back late yesterday afternoon. If they had told us the reason why there was a hold up I wouldn't have minded so much, but the silence (which was about a part not turning up a soon as it should have, then another part that was sent being too big!) was really annoying!

We had to do a very rushed online grocery order on Friday afternoon which meant I forgot a couple of important items for a new recipe I planned making so we had a short village walk on Saturday.

The time I spent on the phone also meant that it ate into my crafting time, which as I needed to schedule posts wasn't good.

I did manage to make this page for Valerie's 'Anything Goes'  theme at Art Journal Journey blog

The base for my page was a stencil mop up to which I added ink through some sequin waste and some stamps by Jo Firth Young from Paper Artsy. The main image is a Trish Latimer girl. She is grounded by some washi tape and some stamping.

The words are from two separate stamps(one masked off) by Visible Image.

We had a lot of rain last week so the river was quite full

We walked on the new path that was made after the work on that side to do repairs the bridge was finished.

We got some different views of the island, that as you can see has almost disappeared .

Lovely to see new greenery...and newly planted trees to replace the ones they uprooted!

As you can see, the river is very calm before it reaches the weir

The old village must have been pretty in the past.

We were also lucky to have youngest and partner to pick us up to meet middle son and two grandchildren at Styal.

I forgot to take photos until we were almost ready to leave.

It was a lovely afternoon, which included a light lunch. 

The weir here was rushing over too!

The heron obligingly posed and so did the family! (I refuse to short this word to the modern 'fam'!!!)

Looking forward to seeing the Magnolia tree when we get back from....Paris, yes we're off tomorrow!

I just have time to show you the drinks we had with our meal on Wednesday when we took our car in. Here we are with our shared starter of garlic bread - we were also given some delicious pasta crisps.My drink was Apple and Sour Cherry(delicious) and hubby had a fancy orange drink! 

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth at The Altered Book Lover blog along with the rest of the T club at T Stands For Tuesday.

I may not get here for T next week but I will share my Paris photos when we get home.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Faded Tulips

Hi everyone, I have a page today inspired by some tulips bought over two weeks ago. They were at a bargain price from Lidl. We hardly ever used to go to Lidl but having found that their croissants are the best we have ever tasted (in England at least) we go there regularly now. We have found a lot of other food there that we love too.

I used a Crafty individuals stamp which I inked then wiped around the border to smudge the edges, unfortunately stamping onto a grey stained page doesn't really work too well but I think with the addition of the number stamps, the crackle printed paper and some pink spatters I may have got away with it! The Visible Image quote fits quite well too I think!

I am joining in at Art Journal Journey where Valerie is hosting with the  theme 'Anything Goes'

Here are the remainder of the tulips, I forgot to take a photo when they were in full bloom mode. I have take out about six tulips that wilted and the rest will be going out any day soon.

Some other blooms on my balcony

We took our car in yesterday for a service and a door repair (we couldn't open one of the passenger doors) We had to come home by tram and bus as it wasn't ready - we have waited for a call today (it would be too late to get there anyway now) but still no phone call and we can't get through ourselves it keeps saying that it's not possible to speak to them!!!

On the good side though, we walked into the city centre and by the time I went to bed I had walked 15,750 steps. We had a nice lunch in town too. We also found hubby some cord trousers in a sale and I found the perfect shirt to go with a top I bought a while ago!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for Trying To Get Out.....

Hello everyone, the weather has been so unpredictable here. We watched a weather forecast one morning and decided to go for a walk...by the time we were ready to leave home it was raining - rain had been forecast for late afternoon.

We did get to Fletcher Moss on our way shopping.

Most of the crocus have died off but the daffodils are coming along 

Plenty of seats by the cafe trucks but still a bit chilly for us to sit outside

I love seeing 'Glory Of The Snow' growing as it reminds me of our caravan

We're looking forward to walking around the woods soon but for now we'll stick to the firmer paths.

We walked up the road for a quick look at The Parsonage gardens.

The fascinating Edgeworthia ....

One of my favourite Spring sights is grass with Spring bulbs in bloom

We bought coffee and scone at the supermarket.

There was a special offer of buy a hot drink and get a scone for £1 - good enough to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday. I think! 

As you can see they are getting ready for Easter in the cafe.

I hope to be here next week but we will be getting ourselves prepared to go to.......Oh, you know where.........!

Thanks for looking, Chris