Re-hearse

On the way to work...

This utility box is titled Mapped Out. Like the two below it, it's just in front of the Law Society, hence Justice.

Scooter City has a new next-door neighbour

August Favourites...

This month's blog header comes from our visit to the Botanic Gardens last September... I had originally picked a photo that was vivid autumn colours on some of the little Japanese trees in the rockery - this is also from the rockery area and a bit softer on the eye.

I was especially pleased with "Reach for the stars" as it used up two pieces from my spare/reject background box - the wrinkle-free distress base, and the watercoloured girl and cat who had a sentiment stamped upside down beside them on the original card. Mind you - if I know I'm going to be cutting out, I prefer to use a lighter weight of watercolour paper to make it easier for myself, and she was stamped on a particularly good heavy one.

Oh, and I have been meaning to give a book recommendation. One of the books we took on holidays with us was Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan. C read it over a few days and enjoyed it, although he felt it had a bit too much of Google the place. I read it in a day, and didn't feel that. I see that there is now a prequel, which I will have to check the library for.

Autumn....

...is nearly here. Well, if you go by the traditional Irish start to Spring on February 1st, St. Brigid's Day, we're already well into it. But I disagree; I don't think we have four three-month seasons here. Winter is pretty much November to March in my book, Spring is April and May, Summer is June and  July, and Autumn is September and October. 

Anyway, whether it's meterologically, my chronology or the traditional Irish count, there's a chill in the air and the leaves are falling, so it was time to change out my summer sampler and put some autumn into it;  this is what I came up with. I was disappointed to find that I only had one small scarecrow stamp which didn't really work, there were three squares that didn't make the final cut when it came to assembling the 9" panel - it's a 12"  frame.

And sticking with leaves, a card I made recently for the Art Neko blog...I did some stamping with leaves to create a setting for my stamped owl. The little nutshell one came from my grandmother's house, so he is not just wise but ancient. 

I'll be back in a couple of days with more cards as I pick my August favourites - and some more memories of France as I continue to chip away at culling and editing.

A Miscellany...

Given that this first photo taken in work is representative of yesterday (though it wasn't anything like as bad as the rain last week), it was an unexpected treat to be able to take the following photos today.
The Paris-themed umbrella, no prizes for guessing, is mine...

Today was sunshine and blue skies and warm enough to lie on a rug in the garden reading and watching the birds. We had a lot of bluetits today; at one stage I counted six. Some were a little more mature and blue, some still had very little colouring. And I think the blackbird is also a juvenile moulting into adult plumage.

I also marked the sunny day with a lizard coming to life in the sun.

Bug In A Box

I wanted to make something a little different for my Art Neko project this week.  The Whimsical & Kind Sayings set includes "Sorry You Caught A Bug" as one of the sentiments. Much as I love making cards which have bugs in jar, I already have two in my stash waiting to use and I didn't really need to make another. So I thought a little, and, with a little help from C who suggested the flower, came up with this idea:

(The little clockwork ladybird comes from Paris. It turns a somersault. We got it in the wonderful bookshop in the Tuileries, just beside the exit onto the Place de la Concorde. I don't think we ever go in there without buying something, often children's books.

I used my Sizzix matchbox die to create this, stamping the sentiment and ladybird before assembling the box outer.

I made a little insert with a tab and another of the sentiments. For my test piece I hand wrote the "lift here", but since I hate my handwriting, and happen to have black on clear tape for my Brother label printer, I did print a little label for the finished version.

And inside is the bug - along with a sprig of Cornus. That too is a Sizzix die from the Susan's Garden range. Lorraine - I think of you every time I use those nail-art styluses. whether it's for scoring details as here, or for adding tiny dots of paint.  The bug was stamped on watercolour paper with black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I used Inktense pencils to add colour, and went round the edges with a black marker after cutting it out. It's also shaped a little with a large stylus, and popped up on foam.
The flower stem is an ordinary piece of florist's wire wrapped round with brown florist's tape (although in fact both my supplies came not from a florist but from a cake decorating shop).

Here's the card I made to post to the Art Neko blog last week - if you want more details on the creation, they are on the blog HERE.

France - part 7

Our first trip away from Eygalières was a shopping trip for food. We went to the nearby town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Before doing the shopping we took in a visit to the Antiques de Glanum, on the hillside beyond the town. It's located on the Via Domitia, the Roman road that linked Italy with Spain, running through southern France.
Glanum started out as a Celtic fortified settlement (featuring a sacred well) dating back to appxox the 4th ntury BC for the earliest parts. It prospered again under the Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The town part of the site was paid access only and we didn't go in.

What we did visit were two of  the Roman contsructions on the other side of the road;  France's oldest triumphal arch, built towards the end of Augustus Caesar's reign (so before 14 AD), which depicts the Roman victory over Gaul, and the Mausoleum of the Julii, dating to 40 BC.

The Mausoleum, which was probably a memorial rather than a burial place, is 18 metres (60 feet) high,

More Utility Box Art

The first one of these is just outside work - and I think the "gate" in the title must refer to St James' Gate...

The second one is very near my bus stop. I noticed it and stopped to take a couple of photos. It reminds me a little of some of  Escher's drawings, especially the tessellations with fish  - Tessellation 99 on the page I have linked to (it's listed alphabetically under F for fish).

 It was a nice sunny day ;-).

It evidently was still a work in progress, because the next day I was in work I noticed it had some further additions - but still no title. I'll check on that tomorrow!

France - part 6

More photos around Eygalières...

Looking up to the old village on the hill, from the campsite gate