Coffee anyone?

 Hi everyone, I am here to share some of my recent (and not so recent) trips to coffee shops at T Stands For Tuesday, hosted by Bluebeard and Elizabeth at The Altered Booklover blog.

It's an age since I was last here, I hope you still know who I am!!

The first two are from our holiday in France this year

I love this cup and saucer (in rather a posh restaurant) with my Noisette coffee after a meal

The first place we visit when getting off the ferry is always this bakery, which has a fabulous range and decent toilets!!!!

This is one of stop off places when we have our weekly shopping trips - The Tea Shop in Knutsford has one of the best coffees I have ever had - the toasted Teacakes are great too

We get free coffees using my vouchers at Marks and Spencers - we usually share a fruit scone too

Saturday mornings often find us at Petit Delice - mainly so that hubby can have his favourite Pistacchio croissant

I'm hoping to get back to blogging some time soon 

Thanks for looking, Chris

Halloween

 Hi everyone, we have a new theme at Try it On Tuesday - 'Halloween' and you will find lots of inspiration from the Design Team here.

I must confess, 'Halloween' isn't something I look forward to, especially these days when the shops seem to be full of garish items for weeks ahead.

I used to love the days when it was more fun than big business. Of course, being in a retirement apartment means we don't get Trick Or Treaters either, something I used to love when neighbours children used to call.

I decided to make a tag...

The branches and spiders are by Lavinia Stamps and the witch and cat are by AALL and Create. The pumpkin paper is from a very old Graphic45 pad. I spattered the tag with orange and black distress ink.

I know that many of you love 'Halloween' so I hope to see you entering this time at TIOT.

The Rules and Guidelines are here if you need to check!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Autumn is my favourite colour

 Hello everyone, we've been having some of those grey days that the UK does so well, but with the leaves turning to so many beautiful colours, along with the berry and fruit show this year it's a beautiful place to be!

Try It On Tuesday are celebrating that with our new theme 'Autumn' and you can see what that means to the Design Team here.

I made a few Autumn backgrounds in some of my journals and chose a small square page for this.

I stamped some All and Create leaves and coloured them with Derwent watercolour pencils. I cut some Collage Soup Autumn collage to make a block on my page and then sprinkled the leaves over. Some were too large to look right so I used Printshop to resize some. The squirrel is cut from some Stamperia paper. The quote was stamped onto a scrap that was on my desk.

I do hope you will celebrate this season with us at TIOT this time with our 'Autumn' theme.

Thanks for looking, Chris  

New TIOT theme

 Hi everyone, We have a new theme at Try It On Tuesday and it's one I think is going to be popular with a lot of you. 'Animals - real or imaginary' is our new theme. The Design Team have some fun examples to share with you.

I chose a stamp that I really love, even though I don't use it often.

I used Neocolourll watercolour crayons, along with a wide waterbrush, to make a background. I left the middle free to do my stamping then filled in the gaps afterwards.

I coloured in the image with watercolour pencils and a fine brush.     I love this little family with the busy Mum feeding her young.

The sentiment was taken from a sticker set by The Works.

To finish it off I added a brown watercolour border.

I hope you will join us this time at TIOT with your favourite 'Animals'. 

You have two weeks until the theme changes                           The Rules and Guidelines are here.

Thanks for looking, Chris

If I'm not too late I would like to join Mia for her 'Make Your Own Backgrounds' theme at Art Journal Journey.

Pretty Papers

Hello everybody, it's very nearly officially Autumn and it's also time for the start of a new theme at TIOT.  Time is flying, especially as I have been sorting out my craft room. That was good though, as I found lots of 'Pretty Papers', which just happens to be the new Try It On Tuesday theme. We all have some lovely papers on the Design Team, as you will see here.

I made a journal page...

I chose a 13Arts page for the background than added some different parts of a few different Stamperia pads. After cutting them out I used a Tim Holtz distress tool to scruff up the edges (yes, the little tool has turned up, so I no longer need to use scissors for making distressed edges)

I am pleased to be cutting into my papers. While tidying I managed to make quite a pile of papers I won't use, to take to the local school. They will be more useful there than a charity shop I think.

I hope you will look through your 'Pretty Papers' and join us this time at TIOT.

Thanks for looking, Chris

 

Children at TIOT

 Hi everyone, just in time as many children either start or return to school this week we have a new Try It On Tuesday topic 'Children'. The Design Team have some fabulous inspiration for you.

I used an All and Create stencil first with Picked Raspberry DI then Vintage Photo leaving a space in the middle for my Crafty Individuals image of two sisters taking a walk. I added some Kaisercraft background stamps to add more squares. The words are from Tim Holtz.

I do hope you will join us at TIOT this time. Rules and guidelines are here.

Thanks for looking, Chris 

Always Shining

 Hi everyone, I'm just popping in with a final page because I wanted to thank everyone who joined in with my 'Hot Summer(Days and Nights)' theme at Art Journal Journey.

There was so much lovely art to see and I so enjoyed being here and seeing them all. Thank you all for your support. 

Thank you to the Art Journal Journey Team for asking me! It has been good to get back to some regular art journaling! 

I cut up a calendar page for this, it reminded me of the seaside towns we used to visit on our Summer Holidays and I'm sure the sun shone every day. The border is some scrappy washi tape I made at Journalfest in July. I also used a sponge ink applicator to add some yellow circles and a pink pen to add some dots. The words were done using Printshop on my computer.

Thanks for looking, Chris