T Stands for taking walk...and more

Hi everyone, I'm really enjoying these longer days, although it doesn't always mean I get more done!

First though, I have made a tag for Tag Tuesday - I missed a few this year already so I'm getting in on the first day of the Wendy's new theme - Bees.

I used some designer paper that hadn't been put away, stamped some hexagons and stencilled a large one using Wild Honey DI and then stamped bees all over using Vintage Photo DI. I added a TH hexagon die painted in gold to represent honeycomb, and a bee stamped with black Versafine onto some old book paper. Finally I edged the tag with gold paint.  

We managed to go for a longer walk last Thursday, I finally feel that I can manage it.

We went to Fletcher Moss again and took one of the paths that goes through the woods.

It was lovely to see the Horse Chestnut leaves appearing

We walked along by the Poplar trees..

...and looked back - one or two folk around.

We continued on our way...

..spotted quite a few of the daffodil clumps growing.

We reached the river, looking in the direction of home around a mile away and were pleased we had come in our car! The path looked quite busy.

There weren't so many people in the woods

Lots of Celandines here though

We did step off the path when we did have to cross paths with someone, which meant I got this great close up. Don't know what it is yet!

This tree was watching us!

We went past a couple of swampy areas

A beautiful view of the blossom over the field.....

.......so, why would someone want to spoil this area? Surely if they carried it there they could have carried the packing away much more easily!!!

More boggy areas.

Some parts so boggy that built a walkway

They are constructing a wheelchair friendly garden

This week there were lots of Snakeshead Fritillaries out.

We walked past the back of the cafe(not open yet but the trucks were still there )

We sat with this view so that we could join Bleubeard and Elizabeth and T stands For Tuesday with our cappuccinos and a shared banana and walnut slice! 

Finally, we completed week 13 of Wanderlust - a real challenge this time and it didn't really feel like as much fun as previous lesson!

The lesson was easy to follow but.....not so very inspiring at all!

Looking here they don't look so bad but it took quite a lot of working at!

Thanks for looking, Chris

New Stamps Are Inspiring

Hi everyone, you might have thought that working with a set of stamps to make samples to a deadline would be enough to put them on one side for a while. 

Not this time! Sharon Bates designed these fabulous quirky characters for Craft Individuals and they were on The Craft Store(Hochanda's new name) on Friday and were a sell out. The presenters were on the ball and showed most of the samples that the Design Team sent to Jean, who also made samples and did some excellent demos.

I am so inspired by these stamps that they just had to be part of this month's Calendar Journal pages.

There is one character missing so watch out for him later this month.

I kept the background simple, watered down paint and some cut out clouds and as you can see, in order to fit the cats in I had to rearrange my journal squares

Here is last month all filled in if you want to take a look I don't mind at all!

I shall be linking to Eileen's chosen theme 'Inspired By' at Art Journal Journey, where Erika and I are co-hosting this month.

Thanks for looking, Chris

  

'Inspired By' my Second on the 2nd choice

This year is going by so quickly already, but then years fly by so quickly and when I was looking for the post I am going to show you I had to go back far further than I remembered it being!

I wanted to find it as I have another page for Art Journal Journey where the theme chosen by Eileen is 'Inspired By'

See below Second on 2nd

I was lucky enough to go and see the Gustav Klimt exhibition at Belvedere palace in Vienna. I have always loved Klimt's art and my page is inspired by his art.

I'm joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for a second look at a post from my blogging history!

My Second look on the 2nd was back in November 2014

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Okay, so I know I wasn't impressed at first but Sunday dawned and the sun was shining - time for an early start - a metro train to catch and palace to visit!

Schonbrun Palace - the most visited attraction in Austria we knew there would be queues - fortunately not for too long - they were very organised!                                                     

The palace was beautiful and interesting! No photos inside!!

The gardens were amazing - and although we wanted to go somewhere in the afternoon we spent some time wandering around in the sunshine

I have never seen such a tame squirrel or birds, this squirrel kept going back to some children with nuts

We had a simple lunch and saw this advertised on a card on our table Kaiserschmarrn - couldn't resist - it was (apparently) Kaiser Franz Josef 1st's favourite dish

I could see why - delicious - loaded with sugar - we shared and hubby did his best to eat most of it!!

Then it was a metro ride back to the city centre.

We decided to walk to our next destination.

Past this..

Minecraft you could move yourself (I have grandchildren - I've seen their games - that's all I know! lol!)

Down the road to…

…beautiful Belvedere Palace

I wanted to see the Klimt exhibition- hubby wanted to wander outside.

What did I see? 'The Kiss' - couldn't get a photo, 

some lovely decor

some interesting faces

by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt who did these based on himself while receiving treatment for an illness - each face contorted in a different expression - fascinating!

I also took this view from a window

Hubby took some fab photos outside

Then it was a tram back into the centre again for another highlight!

The Sacha Hotel cafe!

Happy! Happy! Happy!
This is the one my Diabetic nurse said I shouldn't miss - bless her!!! She had been earlier this year and enjoyed the Sacha Torte!

From here we went for a walk, thought I'd better!!

Then it was time for something to eat and back to the hotel to pack!

I have no idea what blogger has done to the text at the top of this post - it looks fine while writing it!!!

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I have made page inspired by remembering this visit to Belvedere Palace.

There are lots of layers here of stencils, stamps and pen marks as well as washi tape

I used a face by Kate Crane for Carabelle Studio stamps to represent Adele Bloch-Bauer (The Woman in Gold from the film of the same name)  

A piece of mop up paper that I used to clean off a stencil was used for the body.

Klimt used a lot of gold in his art.

I think the words(a Dina Wakley stamp)could well have been said by Eileen 

I think Eileen would have enjoyed this exhibition too and would consider it okay for her 'Influenced By' theme at Art Journal Journey that Erika and I are co-hosting this month.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Art Journal Journey - Inspired By

Hi everyone, if you have come here from the link from Art Journal Journey you will know that sadly, Eileen should have been hosting this month. 

Erika and I are joint hosts for April for a theme chosen by Eileen - 'Inspired By'.

Eileen was always happy to share her art and aspects of her life, mostly posting these on T Stands for Tuesday. 

My page was inspired by Eileen's calendar journals. She lived in Mexico where the weather was mostly sunny.

Eileen used to depict the weather with her suns (and occasional clouds) and I have tried to create the sunniest of pages in her honour.

Some are stencilled, some stamped and some drawn, copied from her journals.

I used an Aall and Create Frida stamp designed by Janet Klein and some Woodware Cacti stamps. 

As you can see the Cacti have thorns on the stamped image so I stamped the image onto the page and added the coloured fussy cut image on top.

I added some bunting in the colours of the Mexican national flag.

I hope you can be inspired by others, or maybe a book, film or music. Perhaps you will inspire us at Art Journal Journey with your choices!

Thanks for looking, Chris