Taking Time

I was sorting through my bag of French bits and pieces that I saved to use at some point and found a couple of napkins with the  cute character at the bottom of this page. I used multi medium to stick him on and then some circles and the repeated quote 'meilleurs moments' (best times) from PA EEG07 stamps by Emma Godfrey.The clock and the quote on the card are from PA Clocks4.

There are branches of the French Coffee shop all over France although the one where we spent a happy half hour was in Troyes at the start of our holiday in June.

I would like to link to Paper Artsy where the theme this time is 'Circles'. I haven't joined in here for ages …no reason except I have usually been too late to link!!!

I also wish to link to Art Journal Journey where the current topic 'Time' is coming to an end. There have been lots of fabulous journal pages at this lovely 'join in when you can' challenge!

Thanks for looking, Chris 

Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 - August - The French version!

I very nearly didn't make this tag but I'm determined not to give up    this year!
I don't have the words dies…..or some of the other products Tim uses in his tutorial here ….but I do have some of the the ephemera we picked up on our travels around France in June…including a 1950's catalogue from one of the Grand Magasins in Paris - Printemps. My SIL and hubby took us to some Vide Greniers ( table sales) and Brocantes and a very kind person at one of the stalls gave me it as an extra so my beautiful lady was scanned and reduced in size a little!!She looks as though she is holding her mug of chocolat but (a little secret) it's just the way I cut the surrounding paper!

I must say I really enjoyed using the gesso, ink pad and multi medium - I love the effect it gives and I'll be using this technique more in the future!

It was only when I was looking for some thing to put on the top corner that I realised how like a fleur-de-lys the leaves in the idea-ology foliage set were!

I wanted to give the tag a more feminine touch so instead of the colours Tim used I chose to use pink on the leaves, cog and around the edges of the tag.

There is part of a métro ticket and card from a lovely crêperie we ate at, as well as part of a Paris guide. The bird stamping also reminds me of France - the sky was often full of swifts.   

I am pleased with my tag as it is full of my memories of our visit! I hope you like it too!

Oh! and just save you looking up the quote on the little French stamp - 'Enjoy every moment'….I try to!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 325

The wanderer returns, it really does seem ages since we spent some time at home on a Wednesday, although we are off to buy paint later on! 
It's a sad, sorry desk I bring to you too! This is what greeted me this morning.

I should have tidied when I finished my tag yesterday but we had a visitor so I shut the door on my craft room and never returned to it!!
Just looking at this - 3 pairs of scissors? I only remember using one!!  

Keeping this short today - trying to impress Julia - Queen of Desks at the Stamping Ground…and I did have a ramble yesterday with my photos!!

Hoping to visit lots of desks today!

Thank you for looking, Chris

T is for two of a kind!

A '2 in 1' post today…hmm..where to start? I have a tag and some photos so I suppose if I show the tag and you don't want to see the photos you can leave then! I was determined not to be last at the Dragons door for this new challenge at Dragons Dream TIO 198, which is the number 2, so my thinking cap was on at the start, but nothing coming to me at all even with the fabulous inspiration from the team (I wanted to think of my own)! 

Yesterday I had a chance to catch up on some blogs - apologies if I didn't get to you…I will I'm sure!

On a visit to my lovely friend Gez I saw that the Stampotique ChallengeSDC209 is to Repeat Yourself. Immediately a song came into my head!

We're two of a kind, for your information, we're two of a kind, 
Two of a kind,it's our observation, we're two of a kind,
Like peas in a pod and birds of a feather,
Alone or together you'll find
That we are two-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo, oo of a kind!

If you were at home on Saturday night in the 70's you might have heard Morecambe and Wise sing this!!(yep! I can hear ya!!)
Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer sang this in the US.
So, here is my tag
  

The 'Mort' twins! The tag was run through some Brushos on a mat and then I added some straw blown Graphik line painters. The words are computer generated.

I am also here to join my good blog friend Elizabeth at for T stands for Tuesday. 

I have some photos of what we got up to last week while away at our caravan with my son, grandson and grand-daughter.This is where you may need to go and grab your tea or coffee!

before

after!

 We had painted the rails on the decking the previous week while the weather was being kind!!
On the first day we went off to Keswick - in the very North of the Lake District

 A beautiful backdrop with gathering clouds!

Lots of interesting displays….

 ..and a fabulous shop!!!

Hubby got there first!!!

There were tables around the museum and café so that we could try the products.Staff were happy to demonstrate too! Of course I bought something..it would have been rude not to! My Grand-daughter and I had been colouring with my Inktense blocks the evening before and as it is her birthday(tomorrow!)she requested some for her present so along with some colouring pencils and water brushes that's what she got! Oh! OK… a few more Inktense and some pencils for me too!!!

We also had a very interesting visit to the Puzzling Place - by then it was raining!

By the time we came out the rain had stopped!
The next day we went to Dalemain House …with 2 for 1 tickets.
A lovely setting and very interesting with lovely gardens. The pictures are enough I think…

a sleeping dragon

On Friday we went to Carnforth railway station to the refreshment room where they made the war time film Brief Encounter

On our last day we went to a local pub for a meal together before we went home - my drink - water…GD did not like eating from the strange shaped dish!

I do hope you are still here so that I can say …
Thank you for looking, Chris

Time Flies!

We have just returned from a few days away at our caravan with my son and two of my grandchildren. The time just whizzed by and we had some lovely days out (photographs another day as they are on my phone and it takes an age to transfer them)
Yesterday afternoon my GD and son went off into Morecambe to meet up with one of her school friends so hubby, grandson and I decided to walk back from Carnforth station where had eaten a lovely lunch. We had to go via Booths for some more milk and the route there leads past Rowantree Crafts - they have a fabulous range of goodies and yesterday - 20% off everything! So…another set of Visual Image stamps and some DecoArt paints fell into my basket!
I caught the 'boys' up at Booths and then the heavens opened so…a drink and a cake later we set off! By the time we got to our caravan the sun was shining and I was in the mood for some playtime!
A film for the other two on TV and I was pleased I had brought my VI horse set in my little box of craft stuff (thinking that GD and I would play as she loves horses - however we had spent our time together colouring - you will see why another day!)
I had two pages in my oldest journal that had been abandoned…hmm…I do that a lot!!
Here's what I came up with

You can't see much of the sparkly bits I added or the crackle and shine that was on the page already…even when I do this

I combined Visual Images sets 'Revolution' and Time after Time' along with some background stamps from Kaisercraft. The background already had some texture added through stencils and some rubbed on grunge paste.

I am Linking to Art Journal Journey - this month's theme is Time

and also entering the challenges at 

Stamps and Stencils where Yvonne is also saying 'Time Flies!'

A Vintage Journey - Things with Wings

Anything but Cute - Making Magic …although I have only used the wings and water inspiration from the montage.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Sending you (all) flowers at Try It On Tuesday!

The brand new challenge at Try It On Tuesday is Sending You Flowers and I must say, if I could I would, from my new followers(welcome!), to some of you lovely folk who have stuck by me(and encouraged me to start my blog) and to all the great people in between who have left me such encouraging comments even when I wasn't sure I should have posted!!!
My team mates have pulled out all the stops with their samples and I do hope you will pop over and have a look!
I have made a journal page for you.

 The page had stayed around in my journal for months looking like this…

…now you know why!!

I used gesso, crackle paste through a stencil, a thin coat of very watered down DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics(Burnt Umber) over the page and rubbed in some DecoArt Media Antiquing cream(Red Oxide) into the crackle.

I stuck on a little bit of ripped baby wipe that had been used to mop up from another project I also added a little bit of random text stamping

The flowers were a mixture of some I have had for a while , coloured with Neo colour IIs and layered with some leaves and part of a paper place setting that I rescued from a cafe in Austria!!!  The butterfly I think may have been a magazine freebie!
The words are from Paper Artsy and I had them in mind along with the clock so that I could also join in with Art Journal Journey!
It also means that no time was wasted on my up to now useless page!!

I do hope you will find time to join the Try It On Tuesday challenge, we like to see all kinds of crafting and the details are here!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Under the sea for dragons!!

I love to look at the sea but as a non-swimmer I have to say that to be under the sea does not appeal to me at all. I do quite like to watch nature programmes though!
Now, to my entry for Dragons Dream TIO 197 which this time is Helen's choice - number 5, and a little riddle for you!

Are you humming the tune yet?
I must confess that it has been going around in my head since I first saw the challenge! 
The original tag I thought of has had a bit of a change since by seeing the Thats Crafty challenge - Under the Sea
I started by using Distress inks, Faded Jeans, Pine Needles and Dusty Concord randomly over my tag, a few spatters of water then using Picket Fence Distress Stain stamped on some random sequin waste(Artistic Stamper)The seaweed is a seedhead stamp but can't name the company as it is loose in my box, as is the hand)The fish is a very old Elusive Images wood mounted stamp - one of the first stamps I ever bought….to make a birthday card I think!
I used Flitterglu and then metal flakes - I must say I am most impressed how sharp the image is - I have only ever used the glue randomly before!
Now here's a big clue IF you haven't got it yet…for the words 'once', 'why?' and 'because' I used three different letter sets and used a sakura pen around the edges.
Nearly finished..I added some Viva Decor Emerald Maya Gold to the seaweed and around the edge of the tag before finding some suitable ribbon and thread.

Now….you've got it haven't you…

1,2,3,4,5…
Once I caught a fish alive,
Why did you let him go?'
Because he bit my finger so,
Which finger did he bite?,
This little finger on the right!

Okay I tricked you - the only hand stamps I have are all left hands and the only way the hand looked okay was to place it on the left! 

I am entering the following Challenges

Dragons Dream TIO197 Number 5

That's Crafty - Under the Sea

Thanks for looking, Chris

Beside the sea!

One of my favourite places to visit while we stay at our caravan is Morecambe. It's about to have a massive facelift in the town centre but my very favourite place is along the sea front away from the town.

Last year there were dreadful storms at the start of the year, stones were washed across the road in some places and the beach changed quite a lot. This has meant that the birds that used to paddle around at the other end of town now go fishing at the end of town that is on our way back to our caravan.
We often stop for a walk just so that I can see the birds..

…..for some reason hubby always thinks its funny when I get the binoculars out!!

The day this photo was taken wasn't a very warm day but at least the tide was out just far enough
I have made a little wall hanging to remind me of these birds while we are at home

 Nothing very complicated - corrugated card painted with PA Fresco - snowflake, layered with patterned and plain card. The birds are from my new Stampin-up set that I have wanted ever since I first saw it(Thanks to Fiona who was at this years WOYWW crop I was able to order it!)I used PA Frescos - Glass Blue and Yellow submarine - watered down a lot!! I inked the edges with Stormy sky and gave it all a wash with very (very) watery Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylic -  Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide as I felt the white card was a bit too white!!!
In the top corner I wove together some net curtain and some white netting and then a piece of stamped sea glass that I collected years ago in Scotland.
The bottom corner has a fence made from painted coffee stirrers and a piece of hessian with seed beads and tiny shells stuck to it.

I would like to enter the following challenges

Country View Challenges - Summertime

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Seaside or Beach

Moo Mania where they would like to see Embellishments

Thanks for looking, Chris