T stands For Taking the Train

Good Evening or Good Morning wherever you are!
Of course this is a scheduled post and I can't even promise to return all visits today so feel free to pop in and out quickly!
I am joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday and I have to ask if you would mind linking me dear Elizabeth?
Could I ask visitors here to please look for the TSFT post on Elizabeths blog as I can't link except to Elizabeth's main blog for the next few weeks

I will have written most of these words before leaving home but I am pretty sure I can add some photos (I am also copying this same set of words for next week too!)

It's most likely that as some of you read this we are fast asleep in Paris, for others we may be on a
 train on our way to Carcassonne(it takes about 5 hours)
The photos were taken on our journey yesterday and of course had to include coffee!

This is on the Eurostar train to Paris and came with free twix biscuits!
Tomorrow may be another matter as the is a national strike so we are getting up early tomorrow in the hopes of changing our tickets - we have been told it is possible!
Just a few pics - too much to think about!

Our first view of Sacre Couer

Our hotel is close to the Montparnasse tower and we walked past it to find somewhere to eat this evening after calling in at the information centre at the station!

Apart from scheduled posts for Try It On Tuesday my posts during the week will consist of photos and maybe a sneaky look at my Travel Journal.
I'm sure there will be a lot more photos when we get back too!  

Happy T Day and….
Thanks for looking, Chris

Paris?…Yes please!

"Evenin' all" (always wanted to start a post with that) If you are British and of a certain age you will know why - if not, then I can tell you that there was a programme way back in the Fifties that had a policeman who always started a programme called Dixon Of Dock Green with this words!

As I may have mentioned….we are off to France next week,
travelling around by train again! We are quite excited about a journey on the new TGV on the Bordeaux route!
We are starting and ending in Paris, although the first night is only an overnight stopover!
All the same we are certain to see the Eiffel Tower!
When I saw Wendy's new theme at Tag Tuesday I just had to take part..

…'Paris'  - of course!
A kraft tag stamped with a text stamp, a die cut oval stamped with a Paper Artsy mini, a trellis die cut, a bit of paint spatter, lace, paper roses and a bit of lace from an old scarf …..and then…
...I made a journal page…

..using the tag! I wiped Bronze metallic paint over the page with a damp cloth. When it was dry I added stencilling and stamping using anything French I could find!!! 
The roses and the lace were removed and I punched some Hydrangea flowers(I'm going to miss my Hydrangeas!

The fancy outside of the die cut was added along with some tissue tape. I doodled some squiggles and circles with a glue pen and added bronze foil and finally a gifted butterfly was stamped with text and added!
I would like to join in at 
Art Journal Journey for Yvonne's theme of Colour In My World
and 
More Mixed Media Monthly challenge - Anything Goes with optional Brown

I may just manage another post before we go, but if I don't I have some scheduled posts coming up, and I will be posting photos as and when I can!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Into the unknown!

Hi everyone, I had to get a new mobile (cell)phone yesterday - my old one had been having hiccups for a while but I kept ignoring it, finally hubby more or less pushed me into the phone shop to look find a replacement! As it happened we got a very good offer and we now get both of our phones for the same price as my old one and I get a bigger data allowance too! Only thing is it is taking time to get used to an up to date model!
As most of you know we are busy getting ready for a trip so I could have done without it!

To reward myself I had some time in my craft room this afternoon!
You may remember Maudie, who had been through an anomaly (she is here)
Well, when she returned to school this week she told her friend Agnes….who couldn't wait to have a go herself, even though Maudie warned her that her arm took weeks to recover!
Agnes, being an adventurous sort, donned her girl scout uniform and headed off with her trusty dog Towser to the spot where Maudie had been! 

I used the Kim Dellow stencil a while ago in my 7"x7" journal. It was laid on the page and sprinkled with a few Infusions powders, spritzed and left overnight to dry! I love how the darker pigments were drawn under the stencil.
Today I stamped along the edge with part of a Kim Dellow stamp and along the bottom with a stitches stamp(not sure where from)
The words are from a Dyan Reavely set.

Agnes(who had her outfit coloured with Distress Markers)and Towser are in front of the anomaly which now looks far more sinister than it did a few weeks ago! Do you know what though, from the confident look on her face, I think Agnes is going in!!!
I do hope she will be OK!

This is for Yvonne's Colour In My World at Art Journal Journey as I am fascinated by the way these colours reacted when left to dry naturally!

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for This and That!

Hi everyone! A quick post before bedtime - tomorrow we are having a break from cleaning(me) and sorting tickets(hubby) and starting our day with our weekly gym session - it only takes an hour.

We also plan a cinema trip in the afternoon - the Silver Screen showings have restarted after the school holidays and we want to see a comedy called 'Going In Style'

We went out with two of our Grandchildren and their Dad on Bank Holiday Monday to Lyme Park.
It was a lovely warm day and we had a gentle walk around the gardens. There was also a very strange coincidence here(see later in this post)

A few years ago my GD had posed on the same spot and her Dad wanted to recreate the scene!

Unfortunately the bell rang for everyone to leave the gardens so we had no time to visit the Orangery!
The cafe was shut too so I am taking you back to Hereford for T Stands for Tuesday over at Bluebeard and Elizabeths The Altered Book Lover blog

I could show you hubby, but he just kept pulling faces, so today our water, lunch of cheese and ham toasties and the cathedral walls are the stars!
The cathedral, as I showed you last week, was so impressive!
They are replacing some of the stonework and the stone mason was working outside.

  

I was quite interested to see this tomb as we visited the site of the Battle Of Poitiers last time we went to visit my SIL.

This was interesting too as I almost share a Birthday with John Piper.
Now for the strange coincidence…my birthday appeared on the entrance ticket to Lyme Park - the house was celebrating the travels of one of the owners of Lyme Park

Maybe I will come across more on my travels as my time of being able to say that I am in my sixties comes to an end!

Happy T Day!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Not going round in circles!

Hi everyone, Thank you for the lovely comments you have been leaving for me!

I'm not going round in circles…yet! I suspect by the time next Sunday comes I could well be!

I don't know what compels me to have a  super clean of the apartment when I should be preparing things for packing but it happens every time we are going away for anything longer than a few days!

My page today was inspired by seeing Yvonne's new theme - Colour in My World at Art Journal Journey.

The page was painted a while ago and stencils were added but that was as far as it got  - it just didn't seem to want to join in my playtimes!!!

One thing I did like was the colours I had used so today I added various circle stamps (mainly Paper Artsy)and some swirls and doodled dots 

I stamped the Kim Dellow flowers onto some rather messy under paper, cut them out, stuck them down and added some drawn stalks.

The JoFy words are to remind me to focus on what is important!!!

Have a great week!

Thanks for looking, Chris

A Second Look (at France) on the 2nd

I am joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for a Second Look On The 2nd.

I am scheduling this post as we are celebrating a couple of Family Birthdays today

Two years ago we visited France and went to Troyes, Orleans, Tours and had a lovely week with my SIL and BIL, finishing off wth a few days in Paris.
I am getting in the mood for another trip to some different places in France and once again we will be staying with my dear SIL!

This was my post from 1st September 2015 
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I have some photos from our France trip - some of the more unusual views!

I very nearly bought one of these

Lovely reflections

Love this curtain fabric

There were other coloured trees in this square too

I loved this No Entry sign by the Kebab shop in Orleans!!

 Two exhibits from an exhibition of containers in Tours Cathedral

A bride on her way to her wedding

The above three were in shop windows

…and because we are here for T

Ladies Tea and Gentlemans coffee - in a shop window in Orleans.

The shop was shut and we never went that way again!I hope this will do in the absence of my own drink - back to the painting now!!

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I am sure some of you will remember these so please forgive my excitement!

Meanwhile we have quite a lot to do to get ready!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

My calendar for September and a look back at August's outings!

I really needed to be speedy with my September pages - we have a lot to do at the moment!I stamped some Kaisercraft background stamps using Archival inks - coffee and sky blue. You will see that some of the days are not stuck on - they will be filled in while we are away!!!!
I used a Scrapcosy flower and an Eiffel Tower in the corner! 
A slightly hurried page!

Here is August's spread

As you can see I hadn't filled in the last square when I photographed this. 

Here are some of the sights we have seen over the month 

 From our caravan window

In Dunham Massey park

Furness Abbey

Hereford

The view from the hotel bedroom last week

Lyme park on Bank Holiday Monday (there are more of these too!)

Thanks for looking, Chris