The boys....

My son has adopted two young cats from the RSPCA.

They are called Heimdall and Tyr, both named after Norse gods. This is Tyr

As all good grandmothers do I made toys

which I am happy to report were a great success.

The toys were made from and article in Cloth Paper and Scissors by Diana Trout way back in 2009.

February grey.....

...again. Wet too. Yesterday I received a comment from a name I didn't recognise so I followed the link   Elfi Cella has two blogs, one elf2main is where she shows her  minatures for famous painting and the other elf2mani which has her other painting and photographs. Both are well worth a visit and made me open of Paint Shop Pro to play.

I turned this

 

into this

and then into this

Hopefully Mother Nature will soon change it back again.

A fun day.......

of which I was feeling much in need after a nasty week. "Us girls" all had a play with the Wen Redmond technique from the last post.  I love it when you all  follow the same technique and end up with something totally and uniquely yours.  Look at these Val, went for wonderfu, vibrant brights, Marien made lovely, subtle, earthly colours and I went for chintz.

Unfinished with lots of playtime left. 

I came across two, new to me, blogs. Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made has this tutorial for a shrink plastic bracelet, she also provides downloadable PDFs of the ephemera.  She has lots of other interesting projects.

On a quite different note is  Spitalfields Life. If you are interested in London this is full of past and present doings in this old part of town.

Juggling.....

things are a bit hectic here at the moment, our Youth Theatre production of "Nine" is racing towards us, so lots of long rehearsals.  Equally our Tenth Anniversary of Sevenoaks EG is also coming soon, (April) and prjects have to be finished.  Eeeek! However the last issue of Cloth,Paper, Scissors(34) made me put all that aside while I tried out the article by Wen Redmond, "Fabric collage Mail Art". Here are four of the eight I made all in one go.  Mass production, marvellous.

 

  I also managed to put my Ideas of Inspiration post up this morning, the theme this month is Square. This is a church window in Ravenna, Italy, I played with it a little(PSP)  and love the effect on the glass.

Looking for something else entirely this morning I found this copy of  The Morning Post dated January 21 1936.
I bought this paper in an junk shop sometime ago and had forgotten about it.  Having just seen the wonderful film "The Kings Speech" and it being the 21st January yesterday it was too serendipity-ish to ignore.

I thought you might like to peruse (or use) a section of the Personal Column. Rivetting stuff.

(Click to enlarge)

Death of a Snowman...

A study in disintigration. This was the snowman built by our neighbour, I wish I'd noticed what was happening a little sooner.

I love the stage where it looks like a demented diva giving her all.

Here we go....

 a new year. No lists of resolutions but a firm resolve to clear my workroom in the hope that I might be able to get in there and actually produce something. It is going to takes some time as this time...... things are going to be ejected!

In the meantime I have been having  little digital play. The first two are from my holiday.

and a London statue placed in a sky

The sky was actually an underwater photograph taken by my daughter and regarded, by her, as a dud!!!! 

                                                          I now pass it on for you to play.

I would like to thank everyone who left a comment and stuck with me through 2010.  I am going to send my wishes for 2011 in the words of Neil Gaiman

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. Neil Gaiman

Ravenna and Venice.....

Well the snow is back so this seems like a good time to take a final look at my holiday. The last visiting stop was Ravenna in Italy. The port is quite a long bus ride from the city but when we started our wander there was no doubt we were in Italy.

The old town of Ravenna has cobbled streets and the bicycle is the preffered mode of transport.

I would hate to be caught in the rush hour, I wonder if they have blue lights!

We had only a few hours to take in the sights which of course in Ravenna means the mosaics.In the three churches we visited they were on the floors, the walls and theceilings.  We gazed in wonder at the colours, the detail and the overwhelming richness of millions of tiny pieces of stone.

Here are just a few.

 

I loved this little window.

I am not sure of the significance of this golden bale but I loved it anyway.

Back on the Odyssey I discovered that my daughter had arranged a massage for me.  This is the ante room to one whole hour of heaven.

This was the sad sight that greeted us as we returned to our cabin on the last night.

and this was the sad sight that greeted me when I woke of the next morning.

 The only disappointment of the trip. I had missed our arrival in Venice which I had been pleasurably anticipating. The only time on the whole trip that I didn't watch our arrival. I shot out to my favourite deck and there in the distance you could just make out the Campanile and the dome of St Marks. 

Fortunately I have been to Venice a couple of times but I would have loved that view from the yacht.

(This photograph is from the Seabourn site, no breach of copyright intended) 

It was a wonderful holiday, so many sights and impressions of so many fascinating places. If I did something like it again (if I win the lottery) I would tack on an extra day at each end.  That way we wouldn't have had the stress of any possible travel delays and we would have been able to

spend a little time in Istanbul and Venice.

One more image from Ravenna.

Hallelujah....

I just had to pass this on...



Thanks to Michelle Ward

Snow on snow.....

More overnight, still snowing now, the light powdery stuff. This is the garden this morning

and the road

I am waiting for Hansel & Gretel to knock here

Soft south and snow beast....

 Well this is a change from sunshine cruises.  Yesterday I woke up at 6.30 to what is our usual amount of snow (when we have any), it was still snowing and it continued snowing without stopping for the rest of the day.  There were three types of snow, quite big flakes and then a kind of tiny hailstones and then a fine powder which came in blizzards they just kept alternating all day. I have never in all my years known such a prolonged downfall,  

I spent a happy half hour trying to catch the birds as they whipped in and out of the tree by my kitchen window.

blue tits don't stay still long

It was easir to catch them on the feeder which is further away

and I was delighted when a robin arrived.

He came onto the tree later and seems to be saying"Do you mind if I camoe in for a while?"

This was the garden this morning

The bench is in there somewhere

and I think my car is still under this

Not one snowmen but a line of little snow goblins

and the chimney across the road is getting a loving hug from a snow beast

It is 9am and it has just started snowing again!