A black bird...on blue

 Hi everyone, I can't be the only one who wants to see blue skies and a little bit of sun, these grey skies do nothing for my mojo - I've been looking through my old journals for ideas.

This page was already half done as it was intended for a previous challenge that I missed.

I had even started to put some bird washi tape on but just couldn't think how to add the beautiful Carabelle Studios bird by Birgit Koopsen.

After looking through my journal I used two ideas, the inside of an envelope and a frame with scribble writing on. It says 'it's a bird, all the way round the frame, which is a little bigger than I intended.

This will be my last entry at Art Journal Journal for Alison's 'Come Fly With Me, theme and I must say I have so enjoyed this theme, so thank you Alison for hosting this month. I wasn't here for the first part of the month but I have loved using some of my many bird and butterfly stamps for a few of the pages I made. Thank you too for your kind comments. 

Thanks for looking, Chris

Another Blue Bird

 Hi everyone, I have another journal page to show you.

You may remember my post (here) where I used a page where the ink seeped through to the reverse - this is the page I made with the actual stencilled page made with an Aall and Create stencilled with a selection of inks.

The flower is by StudioLight and the bird is a Crafty Individuals one by Sharron Bates. I added some random stamping and quote using some stamps I bought in France.

I am joining in with Alison's theme at Art Journal Journey - 'Come Fly With Me' 

Had a friend round this morning so I'm off to put some things away!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Blue Birds

 Hi everyone, I am back in my craft room after two very busy days(more later)

I have another page for Alison's 'Come Fly With Me' theme at Art Journal Journey.

The blue stencilling in the top right corner was an experiment that has been in my journal for nearly a year. I found a stamp that I thought would be perfect for this page so I added some random background stamps around it and also stamped and embossed it in white onto the blue.Don't look too closely - I forgot to pat some anti-stat on!) After adding blue ink to the bird I spattered some onto the page too. The words are Tim Holtz small talk stickers.

We escaped on Tuesday to go to Lyme Park the weather forecast seemed to indicate that it was going to be the best of the week(it wasn't - that was yesterday)

We started in the Orangery - having decided to walk the opposite direction than we usually walk. 

Rain clouds were forming

We headed for the Summerhouse - we hardly ever see this empty! 

This was our view for the next 20 minutes

Didn't stop us smiling though. Once it had stopped we continued with our walk.

Herbaceous borders are a big favourite of mine.

A litte patch of promising blue sky

I spotted this - photo taken with my phone camera held upside down - worked a treat!

Walking in reverse we noticed this.

This sign is for children and the binoculars were quite low down!

In the opposite direction more rainclouds were heading our way so we changed our plan and decided not to walk around the lake!

So, with a last look at the lake we headed off to a nearby garden centre for lunch. We got back to our car just in time before more rain fell.

We did some food shopping and went home. 

Yesterday we attended the funeral of one of friends here in the apartments. It was at a big church and turned out to be standing room only - he was clearly a popular man. 

We called into a local cafe on the way home for coffee and then in the afternoon I went for a hair cut. 

The evening was spent in our communal dining room eating a Polish meal prepared by Kasia(one of our managers) who is leaving us tomorrow. It was good to see a full dining room but we will be sad to see her leave. 

A quieter day today - just a  garden committee meeting this afternoon and then it's a leaving tea party for Kasia tommorrow.

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands For Taking It All In...

 Hi everyone, those celebrations last week were so good that I interrupted our journey in France.

It wasn't the only interruption though!

We decided to visit St Pierre Sur Dives market with hubby driving us all in our car, as we turned into the road up to the market square we heard a loud noise under the car. We thought we had some stones caught up in the wheel arch but when we stopped in the square we found that the edge our fan belt had ripped off. Fortunately the recovery firm organised someone to come out but it took some time. Our friends went off around the market and after a while hubby suggested that I did too. I met them in the mediaeval food hall but went straight back to hubby while they continued to look around.

I only remembered to take these photos after the market had cleared away.

This is where we had to park. We were asked by a very helpful man if he could do anything - he rang his friend, a garage owner and that is where we eventually arranged to take our car.

After the breakdown man had made an appointment with the garage and told us to drive carefully, we went for lunch - of course the market had totally finished by then.

We had a lovely meal in the sun and made our way to the garage (fortunately in the direction of our gîte)The mechanic looked at it and told us to come back at 9.30 the next morning.

We were to find out the significance of the brasserie name the next day....

We were at the garage by 9.30 and the mechanic told us to come back in around half an hour - so different from home!

Our friends had followed in their car so we went off to St Pierre

We checked out opening times of the abbey and then went for a coffee

I called into this newsagents and bought a couple of magazines

We picked up our repaired car and went back to the Abbey at St Pierre.

This floor (roped off) is the original floor from the 11th Century

The most interesting feature is also connected to the name of the Brasserie we ate at the day before 

A line is carved into the floor from north to south. In line with the meridian, a small hole has been drilled into one of the windows. When the sun passes through this hole at midday its rays illuminate a zodiacal sign on the floor according to the season.

Feel free to translate this if you wish. There is also a link here

The delights of St Pierre continued with this beautiful garden..

It contains 450 species of plants from the surrounding district, my friend and I were fascinated with some of the plants.

Feverfew

Hops

Jerusalem artichokes

Not sure what this is

Sneezewort - we think!

This translates as fly grass

I know a lot of you would love this garden!

From here we went to a Logis de France restaurant and possibly one of the best meals of the holiday

First a taster from the chef - a delicious fish mousse with crusty bread

A delicious pate for me

Then Pork with a sauce

Finally fruit cheesecake

We had water and tonic water to drink and they are my ticket to T Stands For Tuesday at Bleubeard and Elizabeths place - The Altered Book  Lover.

The afternoon was going to prove interesting and fun - more next week!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx