T Stands For......the most beautiful garden!!!!

We are just back from Northumberland and I apologise if I didn't get around to visiting last week! Connections while on the move were erratic and when we got back in the evenings to our cottage we were just so tired that I couldn't cope with trying to read much on my phone! 

I hope you have drink with you - I have gone a bit wild with the photos!!

On our first full day we went up to Alnwick Castle and Gardens. 
The castle was impressive and was the home of the Percy family....

  

...but it was the gardens that truly impressed me. A note here for Helen...you really must head up North to these gardens one day!

I was impressed by Kew back in April but having seen these gardens I am hard pressed to choose between them!

Our first stop was the Poison Garden - guided tours only and the gates are locked once a group is in for security reasons, by order of the government!

Who would have thought that such beautiful plants have such sinister histories!

 This was our guide taking another group around.

We walked on to the cherry tree walk.

On the slopes are double swings - we couldn't resist!

Back and forth enjoying the view of the lake...

...where the owl and the pussy cat were sailing!

Sadly most of the blossom was over but the tulips more than made up for that!

 We walked on to the water feature which Alnwick is so famous for..

...there are lots of these shady walks around.

 On into the formal gardens...sorry did I go past that water too quickly? I will come back to it another day - it is worthy of it's own post!!

 The Malus(crab apple) hedges were beautiful...

...an I loved the riot of colour(and promise of more to come in Summer)

Hubby caught me looking up through the top of one of the bowers (note the soppy grin and the white hair - didn't know it was THAT white!!!)

Out to get some lunch - the biggest disappointment of the day - okay we were a little late but this was about all that was left...

...sausage casserole with an ever so slightly congealed gravy - tasty enough but we didn't eat it all!

Thank goodness I can still join Bleubeard and Elizabeth......

...with our drinks later on when a lot of folk had left and we had a view of the water display!

We had coffee and shared the huge piece of chocolate cake!

I will show more of the water displays and something else VERY special another day!

Thanks for visiting and for all the kind comments you leave, I hope to get back to you very soon! Chris

Buzzing around!!

Hi everyone, we're back and my phone was refusing to give up the photos to my computer again!
Hoping I can get to catch up with blogging soon!

This is a very quick post for now (I'll be back for TSFT towards midnight!) as I want to join Jo at Art Journal Journey for her choice of theme 'Flora and Fauna'

A combination of blue and green inks with an Aall and create set by Aida Domiesiwicz that I bought in Paris. I got up each morning in our cottage to have a play before breakfast.
The bees were stamped onto the page with a combination of stamps from the set and some Trish Latimer background stamps. I stamped the wings onto some scrap paper with greens on and cut them out to stick on so that they stuck up - it hasn't photographed well!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Destination TIOT!

Hi everyone! If you pop over to Try It On Tuesday you will see that our new challenge is all about Destinations! The Design Team have lots of ideas about where they would go!

Where would you choose to be (especially if money was no object)?

I am not a heat lover so exotic beaches are not on my list.
I think most of you can probably guess where I like to be - somewhere with lots of parks and gardens as well as beautiful architecture - Paris!

My background was created using Distress Oxides and then added some more around the edges.
I stamped a Crafty Individuals metro ticket a couple of times and put some of my own made tape at the bottom. A That's Crafty brick stencil and some random text added more interest to the background.
I used Carabelle Studio Paris stamp by Azoline and added some white and gold highlights

Next came the flowers - I have quite a few flower dies but this time I chose to use some punches on some gelli printed papers. I drew onto them with a fine liner pen - fiddly but relaxing - arranged them across the page and added my Tim Holtz paper doll. She has some  Stabilo all blue pencil just to make her stand out.

When we in Paris a few weeks ago Spring flowers were appearing everywhere and we spent quite a lot of time in one or two parks

 This little garden was up some steps that we decide to investigate one evening close to our hotel

 These two were from a little shortcut through the Jardins du Luxembourg....

...and this one from Parc Monsouris.

Finally - these beautiful white tulips in Parc de Belleville

I think you can see where my colour choices came from!!

I hope you will join us this time at TIOT - I really would love to see where you would like to be!

I would like to join Jo at Art Journal Journey too - where she has chosen Flora and Fauna as her theme!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for....Tulips and the Opera Garnier!

Hi everyone, this is the post I started last week before the internet decided to stop working!
A lot of it has been deleted..and a lot more added!
  
I have used my new Tulip stamps from Carabelle Studios - I was so looking forward to using these stamps and I used a background already in my journal!
All I did was ink them and stamp them so that fitted the page! I doodled in the spaces!

Everything was coloured in using my Derwent Coloursoft pencils.The words were picked out randomly from a page from my King Arthur book.

I am joining in at Art Journal Journey with Jo's Flora and Fauna theme.

On our second full day in Paris we caught a metro to the Grand Magasins area in Paris. We have often enjoyed eating at Printemps one of the big stores, but to our dismay everything has changed and there is now a very confusing mix of little outlets and groceries  - some with big queues - and not much that appealed to us!

As we were in the area to visit Opera Garnier we headed in that direction and found somewhere to our liking with a great choice of salads - perfect for the unusually hot weather!
Of course it is here I am joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday!

I know Elizabeth will like these bottles!This time it really is Coke  Elizabeth ( I made a mistake the other week when I had  a Pepsi and called it Coke! Sorry E, and any other Coke drinkers!)

Hubby saying that he's not waiting! I had a goats cheese and sundried tomato salad - hubby had a traditional Niçoise.

Opera Garnier looks spectacular from the outside so we had high hopes about taking a tour - we opted for a self guided one as all the English language tours were fully booked and we didn't trust our French that much!

We didn't get a photo of outside so here is an internet one
The Opera was built by Charles Garnier under Napoleon III's orders.
Opulent doesn't begin to describe it! I don't think I will need many words here!

 Napoleon chose the spot for the opera to be in a line with the Louvre which you can see in the distance here.

The balcony was quite busy but once again very decorative!

 We spotted the cafe below....

...so headed down the grand staircase and found ourselves a seat!

More of those bottles......Hubby stuck to Coke and I had an Indian Tonic water, they came with complimentary olives - very nice!!

We are away at the moment so will get to you when I have a connection!

Thanks for looking, Chris