Not the last of Having Fun...

....I hope!
It is however my last chance to join Wendy at Art Journal Journey for her 'Having Fun' theme! 
I always have fun when I am building up layers of stamps and stencils in my journal and this time it is also my final Circle page for Birgit Koopsen's 'Everything Circles' instagram challenge

Thanks Wendy....it really has been fun!!

...and Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for the bees in the trees at TIOT and Paris!!

We have a new theme at Try It On Tuesday - 'Things with Wings'! As you can see I have chosen a bee but it can be anything with wings that you would like to show us! 
The Design Team have lots of inspiration for you here!

My bee is on a piece of grey-board and I started with lots of yellow paint and two different size honeycomb stencils.I stamped and embossed the the bee and the word FLY and I thought it looked a bit lacking in something...ah yes!!....honey....in the form of gold paint, spatters...and a few more honeycombs on the form of stamping! 

On our last day in Paris we did what we have done for the past few visits! Parc Montsouris is a short walk away so after packing our cases we had them locked away and set off! It was a lovely sunny day and the park looked beautiful!

We walked down this road..

 ..and spotted that the gates were open onto the garden area of these houses which we were told are for elderly....Oh I wish!!!!

The view from the gate

 We had stopped for coffee at a busy bar...we wished we had waited!!!

The bees were loving this Lilac but it seems I missed them!!
Almost back to the hotel...

Now for my T Stands For Tuesday part...not in Paris but at the airport yesterday evening...we got there by accident!!!

Having returned the mini bus we had been using for my Messy group outing to a craft store, we caught the tram to the interchange, got on the bus, but going in the wrong direction - having seen the number on the back and rushing to catch it...
We decided to sit out the ride and treat ourselves to coffee...not quite what we expected!!

 In the bag??

A toasted teacake to share!! It was quite a fun end to our day and to join Bluebeard and Elizabeth at T Stands for Tuesday!!

I do hope to see you flying in at Try It On Tuesday - the challenge runs, as usual, for two weeks!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

New paper!!!

Hi everyone! I am enjoying the aroma of new paper that I bought at Version Scrap - I really didn't mean to buy new paper but these Stamperia papers are wonderful! They are double sided and I probably should have bought two sets of each as I am having difficulty choosing which to use!!! 
It has made it easier to part with some less attractive papers that have been in my paper box for ages and I just don't know how to use any more - I have tried to alter some with paint and stencilling etc. but now they are being bundled up to go to the charity shop! 

I made a page with part of one of my new papers and had so much fun it is definitely for Wendy's 'Having Fun' theme at Art Journal Journey.

The page started as a mop up page and then had texture paste, gesso and some background stamps added.
I wasn't so happy with some areas so pasted over them with a piece of paper containing one of my favourite Crafty Indidviduals stamps as well as adding parts of the stamp over the page.
I cut around the image of a Venetian building and used a piece cut from the top to tuck in at the side of the main image.
I stamped the quote onto some fibre paper that I have had hanging around on my desk for a while and then spattered over the page with Broken China distress ink and added Stormy Sky DI around the edge of the page!

I am also entering this page at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

I have only visited Venice once, some of you may remember we did a 7 cities in 7 days tour of Italy a few years ago.(I needed a holiday when we came back!!!) and not only had it been raining but the water level rose to one of it's highest of the year the day we were there!
The guide rushed us to the gondola ride as 'the aqua alta is unexpectedly high today' and I swore never to go in a gondola again after clinging on while the boat went sideways under the bridges to return to the gondola station!! That, by the way was not fun....the sights we saw were though!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Having Fun!

A quick post today - we are off to our caravan for a few days!

I have seen quite a few posts where stencils have been used and then drawn into so I decided to have a go!

I used a flower stencil I have had for ages over a watery stamped and stencilled background.I used a fine line pen for outlining and added some butterflies - you can probably guess that the botton right corner didn't stamp very well so I picked a piece of coloured bookpaper and stamped the butterfly again - I think there maybe a fault in the stamp as it still hasn't stamped so well!

It was still fun and I am joining in again at Art Journal Journey and Wendy's 'Having Fun' challenge
I am also joining in at Moo Mania and More with the Spring Fever challenge - this page was made after sitting in our friends' garden and spotting 3 different varieties of butterflies - now that was the real fun - the bird song was pretty good too!

Hoping to get some rest and some catching up done while we are away!

Thanks for looking, Chris

I am guessing that by now most of you know that Elizabeth is back on her own blog - Hurray!!

T Stands for......there's no reason!

I've had a bit of a job getting to the computer recently - no reason other than I have been turning out cupboards and drawers, entertaining or being entertained and no photos to show for it! It's a good job I still have lots of Paris photos and some of my Everything Circles challenge pages!

These are some of my favourites and not for any other challenges as they are in my small journals. Some of these use some of the new stamps I bought at Version Scrap.
Having spent time at Version Scrap and not much time with hubby on Saturday we went to Quai Branly Museum!

 We had quite a walk past the Eiffel Tower, which now has a glass wall with entrance doors on either side.
The museum has living walls and I may have shown thees before...

We decided to eat first as there are no cafes in the museum any more....and it's here I will join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday!

The cafe and the restaurant are light and airy and set in the gardens of the museum.

 Hubby was studying the map while we waited foe our food and we made a start on the water!

Hubby chose Croque Monsieur and I had a giant vegeburger - we exchanged half of each as both were delicious(if rather expensive!)

After that it was on to the Oceana exhibition in the Museum! The building was quite impressive - instead of stairs their was a winding ramp with rather busy moving word patterns projected on to it.

The exhibits were amazing though an most had French and English captions.

 From Oceana we went to Asia, Africa and the Americas

We had spent most of the afternoon here but there were still some things we wanted to do so we caught a bus - you may see some landmarks mentioned here!

Our last view of the Eiffel Tower from the bus stop!

I will try to get some more photos ready for another day, for now I am going to rest my leg after walking around town today!

Thanks for looking, Chris

The right answer!!!

Hi everyone, it's taken a while to get back here, I was asked to go and help a friend out after we came back from shopping.

I had a journal page that wasn't quite finished and I am glad I left it or I would not have thought to add some sparkle to the fish.

I started the page by using some water colour pencils, then added quite a lot of water in some areas and blew it around with a straw.
I use Paper Artsy's Scrapcosy stamps(ESC10)- the fish and the reeds and added some doodled bubbles, fish and fronds.I wanted to find some words but went on to something else - when I came back to it I had found the words in Tim Holtz's snarky comments. 
I wasn't sure it was finished, looked around my desk and decided to add some Nuvo glitter accents the fish.

I hope you like this page which I am linking to Art Journal Journey and Wendy's 'Having Fun' theme.

An update on the knee....it seems I have arthritis in my knee (to keep company with both of my big toes!!) and may just have to have a new knee at some time in the future - I have started taking fish oil  capsules and hoping that they help as well as painkillers I take at night!

Thanks for looking, Chris

A friend in need...

Just popping in to let you know about our dear friend Elizabeth of The Altered Booklover.

She is having problems with her blog and can be found at her (hopefully) temporary new blog
https://alteredbooksandmixedmedia.blogspot.com 

I'll be back later after a shopping trip!!

Chris

T Stands For..the trip to Paris

Hi everyone!
We are back from our Paris trip which was quite a packed few days.I really do apologise for not visiting last week and hope to catch up soon!

The main reason for choosing the dates to go was because VersionScrap Paris was on - the big crafting show!

We had already got into the mood by spending time(accidentally)in the cafe bar carriage with our friend on the way over on Eurostar! He had missed his own train and realised that we were on the same train!

Hubby and I spent the first day going by the Arc de Triomphe on the way to check out the new Lafayette store on the Champs Elysees.

Quite an impressive space but not the same charm as the main store!

I loved this display though...

...and the the moving conveyor belt of accessories!

Hubby checked the price of one of the suitcases!!!
From here we headed to Place de Sorbonne and one of our favourite restaurants, for food and location - a square at the back of the Sorbonne!
I will join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday here!

Vegetarians...don't look!!
We had the set meal(formule) of a tender cutlet of Pork,fries and fondant potatoes in a crisp batter...followed by the most delicious fruit crumble I have ever tasted - there was very little sugar as it had spices and nuts in it!

As you can see we had water to drink and a coffee that I forgot to take a photo of!
After a little bit of retail therapy in an art supplies shop we headed to the Parc Floral at St Vincennes.

I was surprised when the friends I was planning on seeing were also at the evening event that we had been invited to, so we started our fun a day early!
The next morning we were up early and on our way back to Version Scrap.

Hubby had a quick look around and then headed off to explore the area!
My French pals and I had booked to do a Make and Take with Azoline of Carabelle Studios...more of that another time!
My French was tested and declared to be understood and I am understanding far more by listening closely!

There are lots of stands at this show but I didn't manage to take many photos!

  Great inspirational projects though!

I really can't take selfies!! This is with pals Sylvie and Coco.

Someone was able to take this one of my lovely friend Ab and me...

...you will only be able to see the 'other' photo of us on my 'chrisxpear' Instagram feed!!!

We spotted this on the way to the Metro afterwards.

That's all for now! I have still got a poorly knee that's really painful at the moment...too much walking I think!!
I am off to the hospital to see a consultant early tomorrow morning!

Thanks for looking and Happy T day! Chris