B is for Birgit's Birthday

My birthday was full of sweet moments.

Humming visitors collecting pollen from flowers in the garden.

Flowers in the sunshine.

Lovely flowers in the grass.

Bows on gifts.

Cute wrapping paper.

Roses from the garden.

A new friend.

A touch of my beloved Southwest.

A shiny red glass rose.

Ribbons.

A special notebook which a stunning cover.

My new love.

A beautiful scarf.

A yummy strawberry biscuit roll.

An outing to the countryside in the evening.

Enjoying the golden evening light near Aying in Bavaria.

Eating the most delicious raspberries ever.

An amazing sunset.

Ripe tomatoes from the garden for dinner.

A spicy snack -- hot little devils.

What a perfect day -- and the perfect chance to round up Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday where one could choose a letter this week.

Bliss

I must admit that I love to create journal pages digitally. It's a challenge to get all the layers right and to add three-dimensional objects to create the illusion of depth. Moreover, it always takes a couple of hours. I was totally in the zone when I created my latest collage, ending up with whooping 32 layers. I made the collage for Mind Wide Open's July challenge, using the picture Gail had provided as one of my journal pages. Gail had given the word prompt bliss, and I found a beautiful quote by Joseph Campbell to use as an entry in my journal. If you like my creation, I would be happy to get your vote at Mind Wide Open -- voting will start on July 15. Don't forget to click on the image to see it in its original size.

Follow your bliss
and the universe will open doors for you
where there were only walls.

-- Joseph Campbell

Mabel & Mary

I recently came across Green Paper, the blog of Mary Green who kindly shared a free collage sheet and offered a challenge to use it for a project. I sent Mary a note, asking if it's okay to use the images digitally, and she promptly answered with "Yes! Go for it!!!" While creating my digital ATC, I kept wondering how Mabel Amber and Mary Hayes could be related. Then I decided that they must have been best friends, and that Mabel just loved to write letters to Mary.

Now I would like to ask you for feedback. Would you prefer to see my images and photos in a larger size? Currently, I use the medium-size option -- I started to do that in the beginning of 2010, as details can be seen more clearly without having to click on the photo for getting the original size. It's the size you see above. On the other hand, the largest picture size is shown below.

What do you think? Too big? What do you prefer? I would really love to get your input -- thanks in advance!

Giveaway - Pink hair ties

Beverly invites us to another Pink Saturday. I would love to show you some flowers from the garden. The pink roses are a delight.

Moreover, the Da Vinci rosebush is a true beauty again.

Some pink herbaceous perennial -- I love the darker shade of pink.

A trefoil blossom -- simple and sweet.

A close-up of one of the Da Vinci roses -- so many petals!

On 4th of July, the evening sky had a hint of pink.

I have two new hair ties -- one in soft pink...

... and one in dark pink.

In less than two weeks will be my birthday, so I am going to have a little birthday giveaway. You can win your own brand new scrunchies in soft and dark pink.

Just have a look at the cute flowers with which the hair ties are decorated.

So how can you win the scrunchies? Simply leave a comment below and make sure that I have a way to contact you if you happen to be the lucky winner. The giveaway is open until Wednesday, July 21st -- my birthday. I will use the random generator on Thursday, July 22nd to find the winner.

* Good luck and Happy Pink Saturday! *

2010 FIFA World Cup

First of all, let me say that I am not a soccer fan. However, the recent positive energy of the enthusiasm for the World Cup in South Africa has been somewhat infecting. The marketing guys had great fun coming up with soccer-related ideas -- even in the food industry. Just see those grilled sausages in Germany's colors -- black (pepper) , red (bell pepper powder), gold (mustard):

You can also buy soccer rolls.

Most of all, I loved these hard-boiled eggs colored like a soccer ball:

There were also sweets which had at least the colors of a soccer ball:

Then there are the free fan items. The tattoos came with the little cream-filled cakes above and the small ball and scarf were freebies with two boxes of apples.

In my neighborhood you could recently often hear the sound of a vuvuzela -- not the greatest sound on earth for sure... Moreover, some people put up flags on their cars or even houses.

Due to Germany's history, it's something you rarely see. All the more, it has been nice to see all that wishing and hoping and coming together, even if Germany's dream of winning the World Cup ended on June 7.

Y is for You

We have reached the letter Y at Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. What better word is there than YOU? It gives me the perfect chance to thank YOU for your comments. I always try to answer each and every comment, even if it sometimes takes a longer time. In any case, your comments are very welcome and much appreciated -- thank YOU!

Happy 4th of July

It's July again -- plenty of sunny days and celebrations! Canada Day was on July 1, and I have been celebrating Independence Day since Friday.

The perfect plates and napkins for...

... a Friday night pizza on the balcony.

On Saturday I went grocery shopping, finding some American products at Aldi.

Saturday was the one of the hottest days of 2010. Perfect to spend the evening on the balcony again.

A sunshade was a must.

Ice-cream -- another must on a hot summer evening!

Then there were marshmallows...

... slowly being roasted over a tea candle.

Now on to Sunday -- the actual 4th of July. I had blueberry juice with sparkling water -- what a treat!

Spare ribs...

... and salad -- a perfect combination!

For dessert I tried the blueberry scones -- delicious!

Of course, I couldn't resist to eat a few Jelly Beans, too.

These days I really like to play Scrabble -- one day I hope to buy the American version, so that I can play with English words, too.

Happy 4th of July!

X is for Xmas

Slowly but surely, Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday comes to an end -- we have reached the letter X. That made me think of Xmas -- and how I have pieces of Xmas at my place all year long. They are too precious to be put away for most of the year -- like the cowboy Santa below in my living room.

A couple of years ago I got this Christmas picture frame with a snowman, two reindeer and Santa from a friend.

The little wreath reminds me of Christmas, too.

Another great Southwestern Santa who lives in my hall.

This saddle ornament is way too cool not to be displayed all year long.

The wooden train is a souvenir from "It's a Rocky Mountain Christmas" from Silverton, CO.

I just love the saguaro with its Christmas lights.

A couple of years ago I found this Christmas cowboy boot in a store here in Munich.

This gothic ornament was a gift from a lovely lady which I know from an online Halloween group.

Don't forget to shop or craft early for Xmas -- you will thank me in December!