Poppies, cycling and Tea on Tuesday.

First of all I am sharing another journal page for 

Art Journal Journey

A simple page today  for  the theme .......... In my garden there is.....

A watercolour background, finished in my digital program.

I loved the words [cannot remember where I found this quote] and wondered

 if I could only grow one flower in my garden , what might it be.

The poppy won my vote.

It means so much to so many people, my family included.

Now I am off to visit and share a cuppa and a chat with friends over at

Bleubeard and Elizabeths

We are away in our caravan , staying in a lovely town on the Scottish Borders...Melrose.

The weather is awful, wall to wall rain today , so not many photos to show of the town

This is the old Abbey

Back in the caravan we decided to spend an afternoon watching TV

Tea made, didn't have to jostle with the crowds

Here they come,  sprinting to the finish.

they had been riding nearly 6 hours.

We just watched the last 2 hours.

Even a photo finish at the end.

After a small delay, we were jumping with the crowds 

as it was announced that Mark Cavendish had won.

I think you can tell that cycling is a sport we follow as a family.

Thank you for visiting  and sharing a cuppa today.

An English Country Garden for AJJ

First of all  I would like to wish all my blog friends in the U.S.A.  a

HAPPY 4TH of JULY

..........................................................

I would really love to have had  an old style English country garden,

 but mine is firstly a family garden

 and can in no way be a show garden. its lived in and loved.

However it didn't stop me from creating this digital page 

and sharing one of my garden dreams with you.

for July's theme at....

 Art Journal Journey

In my garden there is..........

Thank you for your visit to see me today, you are always welcome.

Created using images from 

digital kits, Mischief Circus

 and Daisy Trail

The Bee hotel for AJJ

In my garden there are........Bees

Bed and breakfast for Bees.
It is always a sign of summer for me, to see the Bees buzzing around in the garden.
My garden is quite natural, with trees, grasses and flowering shrubs.
I don't get phased if some of it has a wilder look.
Yes, order would be good, but not for us.

The idea for this page cane from an article in a free gardening magazine about making bug houses.
The base layer was  torn from the  magazine

How to make instructions, also torn from the same magazine.

At this stage I gave it a random colour wash, took a photo and off....
you guessed it to the computer for the digital finishing touches.

I hope you will call over  and join the folk  at
 Art Journal Journey
where is months theme is

In my garden there  is.............


Thank you for calling in to see what I have been making.
I always appreciate your comments.

The Garden Party of AJJ

Gardens are for everyone, including the family pets.

Folk who have had a dog or a cat may agree with me

 that at times they consider us to be at their beck and call.

We certainly know Meg's ways of letting us know what she wants.

Here is a fun digital  page for Art Journal Journey

for the theme of

In my garden there is.........

 Meg hosting her own garden party for her friends.

Even Pandora the garden statue is enjoying a strawberry, 

Polly the parrot isn't  keen on the left over wine. 

Sam better hurry up and remember where he put the bones, so the 'pet',  party can get started.

Thank you for calling in to see me.

I always appreciate your comments.

In my garden there is..........for AJJ

A short while ago Valerie and Susi from
  Art Journal Journey
asked me if I would like to join them for a second time,  as their Guest Hostess for July.
 I was absolutely delighted and  it took me no time the say 'Yes please'
This is the blog that really sparked my interest in creating journal pages, I had dipped into journals for a while, but the inspiration to be found there is amazing

My choice of theme for  July is  ...
In my garden there is.....

I hope you will join in, you don't even  have to have a garden, just imagine what you would like to see, even if it is only  a small pot plant.

This is how my page began with a
photo of my garden taken in May

The first layers on my journal page.
Water colour washes, stamps and snippets of book pages

Next stage.
add the photo, torn around the edges.

Stamped and fussy cut bird
 and die cut wild flowers.
They were water coloured as well

Nearly finished,
 a few digital additions
 when I took the photo into my computer and  it only needed the words adding.

Thank you for calling in to see me today,
I always appreciate the comments you take time to leave me.

I am looking forward to visiting you in the coming month.

Flying in for tea

These two mad witches have never learned to fly their brooms,

lucky for them  the geese are happy to take them to their destinations.

Oh.... the magic of Fairy Tales

There is still another week to join the fun at Try it on Tuesdays

with the current theme of..... I believe I can Fly.

Now I am off to visit with friends over at 

Elizabeth and Bleubeards

where....

One of our favourite destinations [by car] is the small fishing town of North Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne

Most of the fishing boats were out when I took this photo,

 even so there are not so many fishermen these days.

I found this  photo on a

 Google search,

showing how the Quay used to look 

This is the view in the other direction up the river.

 Within seconds the day changed and we had torrential rain

Time to get indoors  for our lunch. 

The quay has many cafe's and restaurants these days. But this is always our first choice.

Why...........you may ask,

 its not fancy place   and usually you have to queue to get in .

But how can we say no,

 to a plate of delicious fish and chips. Crispy batter, bread and butter and  a pot of tea for me and coffee for my OH.

Thank you for calling in to share a cuppa with me today. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Europe

This is a  ' just because',  page, sometimes I think about what to create,

 most times I just get started and see what happens.

I'm sure many folk here in the UK are thinking at the moment about what happens next.

My family certainly are....

So this is my page  for Europe.

 It is an old antique map I used as a base.

The Thinking lady is an image from Dezinaworld.

I will be joining the folk over at Art Journal Journey

where there is only a few days left for us to join in Mary's theme of Maps.

Thankyou for calling in to see me today.

Your visit is always appreciated.