WOYWW

Hope I at the very least managed to visit those of you who left a comment on my blog last week.  Thanks for all the lovely comments you leave for me, they are really appreciated. Have come down with a cold (again!) so jobs are very laboured at the moment.  Not much done but as such a lot of you on WOYWW are into card making here is one I made this week.  It is for a very special little girl who loves dancing like "Happy Feet" and is never, ever still.

It has two folds, so I guess you could call it a triptych, the front page is the last one above and the middle one is the back - confusing? Anyway, the front one has a pocket on it and a little card inside which is this one

This is held in with a red peg which has a snowman on it and the number four because that is her age.  The inside is like this

Not like me to do decoupage and certainly not with bought images but I had these on sheets from last year and thought I would use them for my little sweetheart.

I really had no idea what to do for her this year and this kind of evolved as I went along.  Still got to make her mummy a card and after the wonderful cards they sent me I am really stuck as to what to do.  Could take a day or two in the making.

Sorry but I am uploading some more pictures from Munich, seems to be taking me an age to get through them.  Mind you I did take 200 or so but won't have you wade through them all.  

Spencer was rather annoyed with me when I said he was to audition for Moby Dick.  Not at all a comfortable little bear for this photo shoot.

Just had to have one of those marshmallow things that I saw everyone eating.  Gone in a tick and nothing to write home about - especially at 2.50 euros.  (note: at the Christmas Market in Manchester they were 99p)

With several things in my head that I wanted to see I had gone into the tourist information building to find out how to get to the "Walking Man".  The lady was more than helpful and she told us that it was just beyond the Sigestor which is a bit like the Arc d'Triomphe in Paris. Well we walked from the university for what seemed like miles and still could not see this figure.  Surprising as it is "white" and stands "17 metres tall" - just as we were about to give up Chas said "what's that" and there, right across the road was the Walking Man.

From there we went to The English Garden to see another Christmas Market. Smaller than most but in a beautiful setting, and remember, it was like a Spring day.

These little figures were exquisite - but expensive

Very unusual too

Then there was this hut - like a chalet.  My German is not good at all (minutely minimalist) but I think the sign was saying that at certain times of the day a lady would come along and read stories to the little ones who wanted to listen.  This park was frequented by lots of young mums and toddlers, babies and small children so I guess it was aimed at them.  I peered in the window and this is what I saw

a chair for the story-teller and tiny sleighs all covered in a furry fabric for the children to sit on.  My feet were aching by this time and had my backside been able to fit in one of those sleighs I would have been in in a tick.

This was to be our last Market - Schwabing - a small but very artisan type market.  Wonder how much these sculptures cost - fortunately would not fit in my rucksack so did not need to enquire.

I say "was to be our last" because when we got to the airport there was another one there.  Now you know how we all go on about airport prices?  Well, this one seemed cheaper than the others.

But the knitwear was still expensive.  Hey girls, how are you fixed for a stall in Munich next year?

And they had an ice rink

and a fab live band which again I videoed rather than taking stills 

That's it folks - but look at the displays in the Airport

If you have got through all of those photos why not pop over to Julia and see what links she has to people who don't bore you with holiday snaps but do some fab crafting instead, and if you have a blog why not join in the fun - you make lots of friends along the way.

Sorry - More Munich

Just realised I have not uploaded any more photos from Munich and it is almost a week since I said I would do so.  Not sure how many people want to see them but as I also treat this blog as a bit of a journal it serves as a good record for me.

What better photo to set off with

St Nicholas was sat by one of the churches as we rounded the corner.  Nice to see that in Germany, unlike here, nobody bothered about children having their photographs taken.

Two of the beautiful buildings we saw in the city centre.  Just love the architecture in Germany.

Lots of felting stalls around on the markets

Could not believe the price of these knitted hats

Entrance to the market at The Residenz

Didn't get any photos inside as they had a band stand and the men wore traditional dress and played some amazing music so I videoed it instead of taking photos.  This was Chas' favourite market, tiny but nice.

On then to the Medieval Market

And back to Munich city centre for a beer

and something to eat.

Before off to Tollwood for the alternative market

This is the artists market

Lots of them would not let you take photographs of their wares but a lovely young lady let me take photos of her pictures.  The figures inside are blown glass.

Isn't this child's jacket wonderful?

A real tepee

Lots of food - this was the top of a stand and the weird figure below glowed sinisterly.

Right I will leave it there .. warning ... there is another day to go yet.  Then we went to Manchester to compare prices when we got home.  (I can hear yawns)

Steampunk Song - you must follow this link

Just been on my friend, Sam's blog, and she has this Steampunk Song on it.  It is brilliant - from You Tube and absolutely fab.

Follow this link to Sam's blog and be sure to leave her a comment for showing it to you.

 http://sam21ski.blogspot.com/2011/12/call-it-steampunk-video.html

Cheers!

Spring - Is It Just Around The Corner?

NO!  "Don't be silly" I can hear you say.

Following on the success of Zoe's challenge last week on JFF which was Winter, she has now decided to take us to another Season - namely Spring.  Every time I hear that word my mind goes to a cute little stamp I have of a chicken popping out of a plant pot saying "is it Spring yet?"  But, we all know "we don't do cute on here" so I had to think of something else and put my little chicken firmly back in his box.

Right, Spring.  Apart from the boing, boing springs (as in your bed or settee or even Zebedee from The Magic Roundabout) ) it makes me think of rebirth, leaves starting to sprout on the trees, flowers pushing their way up to greet the early sunshine.  Crocus, Daffodils, all those early flowers that make us look eagerly towards the better weather that heralds the fact that summer is on its way.  (That is, of course, unless you live in England where the summers are often wet, and sunny days are few and far between.)

But let's not dwell on that - let's fill our minds with all the lovely colours of Spring, enjoy the early morning light streaming through our windows, the pale sunshine that makes you want to get up and create.  Let's all think of that and enter JFF's Challenge with renewed gusto at the chance to do something other than the "C" cards we have all been so diligently creating.  Here's my attempt:

Daffodils, the flowers that always remind me of my mum, stamped and coloured in with my Twinkling H2o's and masked, then a couple of Distress Inks used for the background to add colour.  A tiny bow from string that is the same colour as the background has been added to the sentiment "For You".

Looking forward to seeing what you make for Spring.

WOYWW 131 and More Munich

Well, since I came  home on Thursday night/Friday morning I have been totally lax about crafting.  Friday was spent in a comatosed state, with my bones aching, my feet sore (I had rubbed a huge blister on my right heel and stubbed my big toe which now was like a balloon) and final prep for the Big Party at Vicky Stampers.

The party went really well and everyone had a great time, I won't post any photos on here for fear of repercussions from a certain blogger friend who seemed to think I would blackmail her with a photo I had of her woofing to the tune of Jingle Bells.  I say no more!

I was totally tired on Sunday, Monday was spent looking at Christmas decorations and deciding what was going to go up and yesterday I went to the Christmas Market in Manchester with my lovely friend Paul.  I am pleased to say that prices were much more reasonable in Manchester than they had been in Munich for hats and decorations but it was a tad more expensive for the compulsory Bratwurst.

Anyway, this is my room - as it has been since I got home on Saturday (includes aftermath of card making pre-Munich)

This is normally at least a tiny space to craft in

Did you all get a copy of Woman's Weekly a month or so ago?  Great supplement inside - mine came via Alison (CB) who collected several for members of Vicky Stampers.

Anyway, for those of you who have been following my three day trip to Munich here are a few more pictures.

Day two saw us making our way through the Rindermarkt on our way to the Viktualmarkt which wasn't a Christmas market but a daily one throughout the year.  But more of that later - here is a stall on the Rindermarkt

and the Gluhwein stand

As I said previously, Viktualmarkt is the normal daily produce market but I do enjoy seeing food in supermarkets, market stalls etc when abroad and this was no exception.  In fact it probably was my favourite of all the markets.

These two characters greeted us as we entered the market - they were outside of this pub which had a Christmas tree hanging with nothing other than fir cones on ribbon - it looked lovely!  Maybe I will collect them from now on for our big tree which is in our back garden.

This was one of the many statues dotted around the market - the only one spewing water though.  See someone has given him a rose.

Not a clue who this lady is but she certainly kept the ground clean - no litter here.  I love statues like these.

Although this was not a Christmas market you can see it had lots of stalls with Christmas things on.  The stalls selling Christmas wreaths and garlands for the home were many.

I regret not having brought one of these lavender hangers home.

I could have spent a small fortune here.

The produce stalls were fascinating

Obviously they take great pride in setting out their wares

and the cheeses smelled delicious

I'll leave you with this photo

So many I would love to show you but too much photo overload for today, I'll carry on tomorrow as we visited so many markets and I haven't shown you the Medieval one yet ... and then there is Tollwood.

Right, if you have persevered and got right down here I suggest you go and visit Ms Julia and her WOYWW blog.  You might see something other than a market - in fact I am darned sure you will see some crafting.

Apologies if I did not visit you last week - my slightly shortened but busy week went by too quickly - I will try my best to remedy this this week - honestly.