Tenby 2.....

It is s good job we don't have to pay to have photographs developed these days or I would be bankrupt. These are just some of my favourites from our short stay in Tenby.  
                                                                           Lighthouse

 and  Lobster pot

                                                                          

Baskets

and towers of flowers.

Rocks

Ruins

and Reflections

Merchants House

Staircase

Seaweed

and Sunsets

Brave bathers

and the best book shop in the world........possibly.

Z.....

...the end, no,  not quite yet, thanks to the deliciously random nature of the Craft Barn Challenge.  A limited choice but decised for me when I saw "Zodiac" and remembered that I had some zodiac symbol stencils from goodness knows where. So.three gelli prints, one for the page and the other to make the circle and another for the symbols. I mixed PaperArtsy Grunge Paste with a little paint for the symbols and cut them with the Sizzix. I made little circles of the colours associated with each sign (don't shout at me if they are wrong because there are so many variations, depends where you look.) The word plate I made by putting a piece of gelli print through the printer.

Here it is with the definition tag.

Oh I do like.....

to be beside the seaside, especially when I have a view like this where you can watch the comings and goings of the tides and people.

We wanted a short break and we fortunate to find this apartment was free for the days we wanted.It is in Tenby in Wales.  I had never been to Wales before so after a lovely welcome we set out to explore. Oh my.
 There are three sandy beaches,  this is North Beach

 and this is Castle Beach which leads to  South Beach which stretches for miles

 The town has the remains of the fortifying walls and some wonderful houses, Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton visited and Roald Dahl spent his childhood Easter holidays in the house next to ours.

The Pembrokshire coast is truly spectacular and we had some breathtaking walks to  St Govan's Head  where we counted the steps down and true to legend counted a different number on the way back up.

and to the Green Bridge of Wales and the Stack Rocks where you can see the layers of the earth's crust

Another visit was to Caldey Island . The island is owned by an order of Cistercian monks and is only accessible by boat.This is the way I like my sea when I am on it.

We arrived at this beach

and walked to the cliffs on the other side of the island

 where we met some of the inhabitants.

The quiet on the island was lovely, it is so rare these days.
Back in the harbour, our little home is marked with a cross and the building on the left is the Roald Dahl house.

 As you can see were blessed with perfect weather, a very unusual occurrence for us. Sunsets and a bookshop to come.

August.....

is the month my young friend comes to stay and we go walking.  It was a bit delayed this year thanks to the fact that in July I missed the bottom step and ricked my ankle. I was worried that I would spoil her holiday by not being able to do long stints but it turned out I managed and in fact it seemed to make my ankle better.  Still not perfect but everything takes longer these days.
One of our first walks was to Hothfield Heathlands described as one of the few remaining fragments of open heath.  Land where, traditionally, cattle were grazed. We saw......
New trees growing from a fallen tree,

the longest horns I have every seen

and a grey horse in grass that looked like mist.

On other days we saw a sheep on a wall, in Sevenoaks

and in London a blue cockerel.

We found dream cottages in  Boughton under Blean and Dargate

 orchards,

 pub flowers

and a magnificent oak tree.

and what better way to end a day than with a sunset. London horizon from my bedroom window

 and fabulous every changing clouds.  I won't bore you with the other 20 odd shots I took.

O.....

August nearly over...and my goodness these Craft Barn Challenges seem to come round even more quickly.
 Some very strange words in my dictionary but finally, because of my love of maps, I decided on ORIENTATE.

I found a map of Italy from about 15 years ago, so probably out of date..I painted it with my favourite Quin. Azo Gold.and then set about making the compass. I used a stencil/mask of a compass and  fussy cut it out of black card.  Added a layer of Fresco paint and some Treasure gold and some very ancient peel offs. I abandoned the idea of making it turn, summer laziness.

Memo to self:  I must do a catch up post of the places I have been in the last few weeks.

D..

It's been a busy week but thanks to some long walks to gestate ideas and a couple of early mornings I have been able to complete my Craft Barn Alphabet Challenge.  The letter D.  My dictionary(temptation) yielded DIORAMA. "a dissolving view, a building for dioramic exhibition".I think one of the reasons it jumped out at me was I had recently seen the pretty summer windows of Fortnum and Mason in London. They are representations of the old 18th century pleasure gardens of London. 

So.......
Here is my view of "ships at sea".  I gave myself some problems because a diorama is usually three dimensional and I want this as a book page but with a bit of help from sticky pads I managed to get a bit of dimension in it.

 I made doors to add a bit more depth. The ships are cut from some paper I bought in a tiny little shop in Sienna, Italy many years ago.  This is nearly the end, I wish I could get back there,  there were so many wonderful papers.

I am particularly pleased with the sky and for that I have to thank Leandra from Paper Artsy who put up this video last week. I love the finish of Fresco Paints. As ever I have really enjoyed this weeks challenge.

T........

From the four pages of Y to pages and pages of T....too much choice...panic and then, as usual, flipping the pages the word jumped and stuck.  I find it fascinating and I am loving the Craft Barn Alphabet Challenge .  The word is TESSELLATED, my dictionary says "formed in little squares or mosaic work" I have marvelled over the micro mosaics of the Gilbert Collection which are now in the V&A and I have clever friends who make mosaics.  I opted for squares. I made a gelli "landscape" and cut it into 99 pieces.

I now have even more respect for the makers of real mosaics.

Not having any grandchildren of my own I can still imagine the joy this little bundle has brought.

 Welcome Prince George. Image from the Daily Telegraph.