Snow

To be honest, I´m glad that our first snow has disappeared quickly ... but as this week´s Gothic Arches theme is "Snow" here´s my arch celebrating a white world.

Winter Wonderland

Here´s my entry for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Winter Wonderland".

Just Stamps

Three greeting cards that can be found in the second issue of "Just Stamps", a German stamping magazine. If cou haven´t seen it, all the information about it is here.

Gothic Arch ATCs

Three ATCs for a swap themed Gothic Arch ATCs.

The lovely alphabet on the second ATC was a gift from Sandee - thank you so much, I love it!

Exotic Places: Your Inner Self

Can you imagine a more far off and exotic place than your inner self? You do not always have to travel far if you want to discover a new world - sometimes it´s just a pair of new eyes that you need. So this is my card for this week´s Wednesday Stampers theme "Exotic Places".

All I need is colour

Everything outside my window seems to be white right now.

So isn´t it great to have some new yarn designed by one of my favourite designers, Kaffe Fassett, and knit some socks? They´re almost as colourful as the sweater designed by Kenzo that I´ve knit a few years ago - just what my eyes need when winter is coming ...

Celebrate ...

... is this week´s theme for the Gothic Arches challenge.

Joker

My card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Joker".

My house is a very fine house

Connie´s theme for her tip-in book is "My House is a very fine house", and here´s where my house with the garden ended.

Each page is 4 3/4 x 9 inches.

The scans of the single pages have far better colours than the photo of the whole spread.

Word by John Ed Pearce.

A Garden within the House

While it´s cold and grey outside and the first snow has fallen, it´s getting colourful in our houses: This week´s theme for the "Dans ma maison il y a ..." challenge is "un jardin" which means "a garden".
My house will probably be used for a book spread soon.

Men

Two Men themed ATCs for Rein.

Travel around the world: North Pole - Where Santa lives

This challenge on our journey for Katrin´s "Travel around the world" swap has been quite difficult again, but here´s my North Pole card that goes to Cleo.

Snowflake Kisses

This week´s Wednesday Stamper´s theme is "Snowflake Kisses".

Tagged again

Hey, I´ve been tagged again, this time by Connie.
I don´t think that you want to hear more quirky and boring things about me, so maybe you just have a look here. And as always, I don´t tag anyone, but of course I´d like to read something about you ;-))

Hats

Here´s my card for this week´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Hats".

Telephone

This week´s Wednesday Stamper´s theme is "Telephone" - what a challenge for someone who does not like long phone calls (except with my sisters)! I thought I hadn´t the right stamp for this theme until I stumbled upon this one, so here´s my tag for this week.

Blue Hydrangea

These 7,5 x 6 inch pages are for Beckie´s tip-in journal themed "Blue is ...". My first idea was to choose "what I´m feeling" to make some melancholic pages. But then one of my favourite poems came to my mind, and as I also love Hydrangeas, I decided to illustrate Rilke´s lovely verses. I´ve found a translation by Bernhard Frank that I like and used here. The German text, written in 1906, is a bit more poetical though:

So wie das letzte Grün in Farbentiegeln/ sind diese Blätter, trocken, stumpf und rauh,/hinter den Blütendolden, die ein Blau/nicht auf sich tragen, nur von ferne spiegeln.// Sie spiegeln es verweint und ungenau,/ als wollten sie es wiederum verlieren,/ und wie in alten Briefpapieren/ ist Gelb in ihnen, Violett und Grau;// Verwaschenes wie an einer Kinderschürze,/ Nichtmehrgetragenes, dem nichts mehr geschieht:/ wie fühlt man eines kleinen Lebens Kürze.// Doch plötzlich scheint das Blau sich zu verneuen/ in einer von den Dolden, und man sieht/ ein rührend Blaues sich vor Grünem freuen.

Purple

I like to use purple for themes of mystery and passion. So here´s my ATC for this week´s TMTA challenge "Purple".

Raven ATCs

Two Raven themed ATCs for Johanna.

Another Angel

Why do people believe in angels? I think that they like the idea of not being alone, that there´s someone who´s watching and shelting and guarding them.
I´ve already shown you a favourite angel stamp this Monday, and now this week´s Wednesday Stampers´ challenge gives me the opportunity to show you my other favourite. It´s too big for some projects (so this arch had to be 5,7 x 8,3 inches!), but don´t you think that his large wings are made for giving shelter?

Monthly Art Quotes Journal

These are my pages for Barbara´s tip-in book themed "Monthly Art Inspiration Quotes".
She wants us to include the month and an inspirational quote and to use soft dreamy colours. And she says she likes everything winged - so here´s my (movable) artist who has constructed herself and now is ready for a take-off with her newly added wings!

Angel

This Cherry Pie angel is by far my favourite angel stamp, so of course I wanted to use it for this week´s TMTA challenge themed "Angel".

Vintage Children

Here´s my arch for this week´s Gothic Arches challenge "Vintage Children".

Sunday Postcard Art: The Tramp

Though I love going to the cinema, movies aren´t one of my favourite themes for art - but as I have this Chaplin stamp, I´ve made a card for today´s Sunday Postcard Art challenge "Movies".

Pink and Orange Banner

Tamara wants us to make a double-sided banner in pink and orange for her, and this is the first time that I´ve made a triangle shaped piece. She said that she likes all thing Zetti and winged, so I´ve used a winged child and winged Zettis for her. And because I liked the colour combination, I´ve made an additional ATC with it - the background was made with Teykol.

Dark Day

It´s a cold, dark, and rainy holiday today - so what you need is something to laugh about! I´ve found this little black guy on Ebay recently and have to laugh about him every day now.
I´m sorry that I´m not able to translate the following words by Hölderlin for you - but they capture this day´s atmosphere perfectly:

Komm! ins Offene, Freund! zwar glänzt ein Weniges heute
Nur herunter und eng schließet der Himmel uns ein.
Weder die Berge sind noch aufgegangen des Waldes
Gipfel nach Wunsch und leer ruht von Gesange die Luft.
Trüb ists heut, es schlummern die Gäng´ und die Gassen und fast will
Mir es scheinen, es sei, als in der bleiernen Zeit.
Dennoch gelinget der Wunsch, Rechtgläubige zweifeln an Einer
Stunde nicht und der Lust bleibe geweihet der Tag.