T Stands for The Mixed Bag

Hi everyone, what a mixed bag it is too!

First I have a Journal page for Elle's Art Journal Journey theme - 'Fairy Tales, Folklore and Fables'.

As you can see from my title I really don't know. 

When I started the page I had a recollection of a story from an old book belonging to my Mum where the Tiger was captured and left tied up in the sun. 

I went on to the internet to check it out properly and found several versions from various sources, one of which was similar to the one I remembered but now I am just confused so I'll leave it to you to find out for yourselves and make up your mind which you like!

The background is made from green ink and some random stamping and then collage over the top.

Next a few pics from Port Sunlight last Saturday. My lovely friend Sarah was demoing and took Helen and me along with her.

Here she is with lovely Jo Rice who was doing the first demo stint.

Here is a corner of one of my favourite stands - UNIKO

We popped back to see what Sarah was doing later in the day when the crowds had lessened.

After the show we headed off to Starbucks for some coffee shop journalling

Here's my little pink zip up case that went to France with me

By the time we came out (two cups of coffee and a little bit of cake) later the moon was shimmering away in the clouds.

So, what did I buy?

Mainly stamps and stencils and a little jigsaw die.

My biggest surprise came from not just seeing lovely Christine(Please remind me to take a photo next time Chris) but being given the most beautiful set of handmade papers 

Here they are with some brushes that Helen bought me. Thank you both so much!

Now to France...

Our first day was spent at a Vide Grenier - three of us love looking around other peoples rejects..

Hubby took himself off to the nearby lake for a while

We had a shopping day on the Monday - no photos

On Tuesday hubby and I went off to the Chateau de Mont Sur Guesnes while our friends attended appointments.

There were so many interesting animated displays as well as artefacts and and tactile diplays 

This whole wall had little vignettes that kept us looking for quite a while.

One of the most interesting for me was the story of Alaenor d'Aquitaine (who as you know is a kind of heroine of mine)

Hubby took close ups of some of the story plates

Another room had a banquet setting where we sat at a table with food on it, a head table and musicians in doorways.

Outside were tents, trebuchets and other items to explore, by this time a wind was blowing cold and we went inside for a drink!

The nearby village was interesting and we agreed that we should come back another year!

I didn't take any photos of the food we ate on these two days, but I do have some photos of the Italian restarant we went to during our Nantes stay - the food was delicious and the decor was so unusual.

We sat in a village square ....

There were other rooms decorated in different styles....a bar, a library, a country kitchen...one room had a wall with ceramic faces on it.

Here is my partly demolished dessert - with my very nearly finished mocktail, behind that you see hubby's café gourmand.

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth at The Altered Book Lover for 'T Stands For Tuesday' where we are invited to join the T gang with something drink related.

We remembered to take a photo of this fabulous place to show our friends.

I hope I haven't overdone it this week!

Thanks for looking, Chris

It's a bit late!

Hi everyone, we are catching up slowly and I have finally got into my craft room - oh boy! I did leave it in a bit of a state! Now I have my calendar journal ready I will be having a BIG tidy up!

As I will be joining Elle's 'Fairy Tales, Folklore and Fables - Tell Me A Story' theme at Art Journal Journey I have had some fun with my page.

Did you know that gnomes are protectors of minerals in the earth? 

They first became introduced in the 16th century so they are very, very old by now

Did you also know that although they are happy to be in English country gardens, they much prefer to be in gardens with stinky toadstools and spiky strange looking plants that no one else has ever seen? 

At night time they go searching for gold dust that often ends up in their whiskers.

The Gnomes and plants are Carabelle Studio stamps designed by Azoline

I made a background using different colours of Distress ink through a Lavinia stencil

I stamped some wooden letters with the plant stamps for OCTOBER

Here is September's page - feel free to take a look at what might be coming upon my Tuesday posts.

That's all for now, thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 696

Well, our holiday ended in the best possible way, in the company of friends once again! I am, of course, talking about the WOYWW crop.

Thanks to Annie and Jo the whole day was fabulous, from drinks and cake to a fabulous lunch, with lots of chat in between, it was a wonderful day.

Of course, none of us would have been there without the online introductions from lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground so special thanks for that dear Julia.

Before the random shots I took, here is the photo taken by my lovely hubby (who took himself off to Shrewsbury Cathedral for coffee and cake in peace straight after taking this pic)

Back row - Caro, Neet

Middle row - Julia, Eva, Jo, Annie, Angela(Felix the Crafty Cat, Cindy, Me, Sarah, Angela(Crafting with Jack), Helen

Front Row - Christine

It took a few minutes to get everyone in the final shot.... 

Jo and Helen - with Annie at the sink!

Lots going on here.

Eva - you make me smile

Serious discussions going on - ooh! and look, there's Max, who popped in for a while

Christine and Angela chatting, Dee(Christine's friend who drove her to the crop) and the Raffle table.

Eva had some lovely cards - difficult to choose wasn't it Sarah?

Sorry Angela, did I take you by surprise?

Hi there Caro!

Almost ready for home - I have jacket envy Neet!

Lots of folk also have pics on their blogs today so check out the links on the Stamping Ground.

I hadn't had time to make anything to swap before we went away and thought I might make some ATCs at the crop - unfortunately they were still on my desk at home.

Thank you everyone for all the lovely art that I came home with.

Since we came home it's been unpacking, laundry, jabs, eye test, meetings, making appointments...I want to craft!!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris 

T. Stands For .........The Start Of The Journey

Hi everyone, we are definitely back in the old routine, as well as the unpacking of a huge pile of laundry to be done we have already had our flu jabs, about to go out for hubby's eye test and have made appointments for our Covid jabs. I have a gardening Committee meeting to attend and on Saturday I am off to Port Sunlight for the first time in three years. We're also off on a hunt for a new mattress soon too.

So....our trip to France started in a sad way. A lady at a services on the Motorway stopped me to tell me that the Royal family were on their way to Balmoral. Back in the car we turned on the radio and waited for a news bulletin which confirmed what I had been told. By the time we reached the ferry port the Queen had died and we felt sad, it didn't help that we couldn't access a TV either, although once on the ferry we did get to see some TV coverage before settling down to sleeping our bunks.

The crossing was reasonably calm although there was a heavy swell halfway across as I looked out of a porthole and my head moved up and down on my pillow when I settled down again.

I volunteered to take the first shift in driving (on the wrong side of the road E!) I knew of a commercial centre where we might find a bakery with a cafe so we stopped off there for a coffee and croissant.

 It is here where I will join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday at The Altered Booklover.

As you can see Hubby also had a pain au raisin and I had a brioche loaf that I couldn't manage all of.

We found somewhere for lunch and then got a little bit lost on our way to Nantes, where we had booked a hotel for an overnight stay, but pleased that our adventure led us to Locmine, a beautiful town that I had visited years ago.

Several of the trees around had flowers in like this one

The next morning, we woke up with a plan to visit Nantes but I wasn't feeling so good so we got on our way to Poitiers. 

We did see a beautiful sunrise though!

Our journey included a stop off at a retail outlet where I bought my SIL and I some beautiful warm scarves.

We arrived in Poitiers - it was good to see our friends and we had lots to talk about!  

They had also recorded some programmes about the Queen, so we could catch up a little with events.

Keeping it short this time. Thanks for looking, Chris

Autumn is here!

 Hi everyone, 'Autumn' is our new theme at Try It on Tuesday.

The Design Team clearly love Autumn as they have provided the most wonderful inspiration for you - please take a look here.

My journal page comes in two parts

First, the page you will find on the Try It On Tuesday blog

and then this page where you are invited to find the three fairies who are at the bottom of my Autumn garden.

I used a napkin over a splodgy painted page to which I added some stamped mushrooms and more paint.

The idea for this page came from a song my Mum used to sing when I was little. We had a compost heap in our garden and I would often stand and watch, waiting to see fairies - never did!!!

Here is a link to the lyrics - There are fairies at the bottom our garden

I hope you will share your Autumn art at TIOT over the next two weeks 

I am also sharing my page at Art Journal Journey where Elle has a theme of 'Fairy Tales, Folklore and Fables - Tell Me A Story'

Thanks for looking, Chris

There once was....

.........a blog called Empire Of The Cat, owned by Elle, today she is our new host at Art Journal Journey with her fabulous theme of - Tell Me A Story.

First of all a big 'Thank you' to Neet, for hosting last month.

I love traditional stories and Hans Christian Anderson's stories were always a favourite when I was a child. I was old enough(just) to go an see the film of his life. One of the songs I remember the star Danny Kaye singing was the Ugly Duckling.

I assembled some papers I wanted to use but the only duckling I could find was more like a growing cygnet than a baby so I had to go to the Internet for that.

I used my Kraft journal and added some texture paste mixed with white paint through a stencil.

Papers were arranged on the page and I popped in an AAll and Create die cut. 

The main image is from a Ciaobella Christmas set. I added more texture paste/paint over the edge of the frame on the left.

The words are from the Ugly Duckling song and were made on Printshop.

There are so many traditional stories and I look forward to seeing your choice!

Thanks for looking, Chris