"It was a lovely crisp night early in December when Hilary and her best friend Sophie went out to the Christmas Markets in and around their local town. The two girls had both had a busy day at work and met up when they finished for the day to have some fun, and buy some presents, at the Market.
All around them was lit up, the stalls were suitably decorated with little winter scenes on the tops of them and the things they were selling were adorable. Little glass baubles to decorate the trees, lovely tiny scenes painted on tea light holders, nutcrackers in their various military like uniforms, even pans to bake Christmas shaped cakes and cookies in were hanging from some of the stalls. It really was a 'winter wonderland' as the girls walked around.
Despite it being night time with all the various Christmas lights and the lights from the stalls it wasn't dark at all. A lovely starry evening for all to enjoy. Of course there were also the stalls selling food and that had been the first place the girls had gone to. They were hungry after the days work and so the traditional German Fayre was on hand for all.
Along the way Sophie bought lots of decorations for their new tree at home. She wanted to decorate it in the traditional German toys that one saw on the internet, and Hilary decided to buy some lovely little tea light things and some huge stars to hang from the ceiling. Ooh, it was going to be a very special Christmas, the first one in their new flat since leaving home.
Oh dear, the Bratwurst smelled lovely. They had not eaten and so the two of them had to have a Bratwurst with lashings of mustard, or ketchup in Sophie's case. Needing something to drink they decided to try the Gluhwein. Neither girl had had it but had heard so much about it.
And so the evening went on. A mixture of shopping, eating and drinking that hot mulled wine, what fun they were having. Suddenly Sophie turned to her friend and said "I feel a bit tipsy".
"Don't be silly" said Hilary, "you've only had two glasses".
"No, seriously I do", replied Sophie and her legs did seem to be buckling a bit as she walked. "What will people think?" she asked. "They will think I am drunk. What if someone from work sees me? They will all be talking about me tomorrow."
"Shhhh .. No one cares" said Hilary, "let's get you home, it's obvious you are not made for alcohol and maybe that second one was too much on an empty stomach. It's never happened before so that's probably it."
And with that the two girls made their way home with all manner of Christmas goodies.
This was a quickie! I got up early to see if the new theme at Art Journal Journey was yet up and ready. What a lovely scene greeted me as I saw Jo's 'Snowy Scene'. Quickly I grabbed a starry stencil (Aall & Create) and rubbed some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink through to resemble the stars that were in the sky and on the various stalls in the Christmas Market. A quick search through my Dylusion ladies and I came up with these two and whilst colouring them in I thought about the bare bones of my story. It was to be Christmas Markets, I had only been talking about them the day before with a friend. I used to love visiting the various ones in Germany, Dusseldorf being my first and therefore favourite.
And so you have it - a quick story and journal page for Art Journal Journey. Sorry the whole border was not caught in the scan. Why not pop along and join in. Oh, the snarky comment from Tim Holtz stickers this week was "Shhhh ... no one cares". Did you spot it?
