Sparkle at Try It On Tuesday

 Hi everyone, you can see that out new theme is Sparkle All The Way at Try It On Tuesday, that means that whatever you do you can make it sparkle as much as you like (I'm already finding glitter in all kinds of places around the apartment)

The Design Team probably have the same problem as there are some super sparkly examples to look at - see them here.

I went to Lavinia Stamp's Hallaganza at the weekend and although I have lots of glitter I couldn't resist the holographic glitter that a lot of the demonstrators were using. (Confession - it's not all I bought)

The tree stamp is one of the new releases and I love it. I had already made a card but this is so much more glittery!

Here are some different view so you can see just how sparkly it is.

The stars were made by stamping in silver and brushing with silver cosmic shimmer

I hope you can join us this time - anything you make for the Sparkle All The Way theme at TIOT will certainly brighten up the darker nights. There are a few rules here but I'm sure you won't find them too restrictive.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Gear Bird

Hi everyone! When I saw Neet's gear bird the other week I remembered that I also have this stamp so I set about making this page - it took me a while to complete it, but here it is - all ready to join in with Neet's 'In Gear' theme at Art Journal Journey 

I used a stencil and green ink alongside part of a stamp with gears on to make the background. I stamped the image and set about using watercolours to colour it. I added the words stamped onto a label.

UK clocks went back in the early hours of this morning so hubby and I are looking forward to watching a film once it goes dark early for the first time.

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands For.....

 Hi everyone, we're back too grey days again so I am happy to be able to take you back to the sunny days we had in September

It may not look it here as the clouds were rising in the direction we were headed!But first.....

We stopped off in this charming village

On some of the walls were photographs of previous residents

By this time were all ready for something to eat - a short drive to this quirky place in Lhomaizé (they had a huge Ronald McDonald figure at the other side of this bar!)"Les Bienvenus', basic food and good value for money

No other photos but there are drink adverts around including one for one of my favourites - Orangina - enough to give me entry to T Stands for Tuesday at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog The Altered Book Lover I hope?

From here we headed to our destination - somewhere that our friends knew we would find interesting!

Civaux not only has a reptile zoo and a nuclear power station. it also has an ancient burial ground...

There are links here and here 

Other boards explain that the death toll from the Battle of Vouillé was expected to be higher but not all of the sarcophagi were required.....

...but this is the legend!

It is quite close to the power station

The entire surrounding wall of the cemetery is made of Sarcophagi lids.

Our friends live near Vouillé, some 30 miles away - how they got bodies here was not explained.

There are recent graves too.

There is also a ruined chapel

We could see some very faded crosses on some of the lids

From here we walked back to the car - parked by the church - we had look inside

It has some amazing Mediaeval artwork and carvings

Most have been renovated but there are still signs of some of the original art.

Next week will be something totally different, for now, thanks for looking, Chris

Difficult!

Hi everyone, apologies for not showing up much this month, I am still having problems with my medication and on top of that I feel so darn tired! I'm pleased we have a smart TV that can rewind the bits I keep missing by dozing!

I have been in my craft room and made a start on some pages. This is one I started by splodging paint onto the page using a bottle cap and watercolour paint.

I used a Carabelle Studio gear stamp and a wooden hexagon stamp to create a weighing machine - the surrounding stamps are from one of the first Aall and Create stamps designed by Abs - this set is on my desk all of the time.

The little lad has been told that all he has to do is stand on the hexagon and it will not only weigh him, it will show how tall he is! 

He's not so sure, which is where the quote comes in.

This is for Neet's 'In Gear' theme at Art Journal Journey.

Hoping I can catch up with all of your entries soon.

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for .............the return!

Hi everyone, I'll start with a photo of my outing with friends on Saturday (more photos here)

Above are the pages I made and here I am with Sarah and our drinks, two flat whites and one American with cold milk(mine) We also had cake - Lemon Drizzle for me, a Lurid orange pineapple slice for Helen and a salted caramel fudge for Sarah. As you can see we were also belatedly celebrating Helen's birthday which was way back in September. 

I am, of course, joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday.

Here are two more drink pics 

We had a day out on our own while staying with our friends and went to a restaurant, recommended by them, for lunch - we had pork with roasted vegetables with water and Tonic water to drink 

It was another hot day and I chose to have a cafe légeious, hubby had a chocolate légeious 

We were on our way to see the Battle of Poitiers site - I have been reading Bernard Cornwell's 100 year war series of books and one includes the battle.

First though we went to visit the site of another battle in 732 involving Franks and Muslims. You can read more here if you wish

This was a listening point to the story of this battle and could be accessed in English.

We then went to the other side of Poitiers to the 1356 battle site, here is the introduction panel

It was a really interesting place with lots of information. You can read more here if you wish.

This is the memorial.

From there we went to the nearby Abbey 

That's it for now. 

Thanks for looking, Chris