Off to Austria and more

I'd like to begin today by sharing a tag I created for a friend.  I also thought it would go well with Wendy's theme, Landmarks, at Tag Tuesday.

I began by creating the tag from a used file folder. I colored it using lavender paint, then (don't faint, please) I stamped, yes stamped two Paris icons,

the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe on some ledger paper I sized and printed.  The polymer clay disc is left over from a swap I was in many years ago.  The two sides were actually created using a set of wax seals made by 7 Gypsies.  The set I have has three interchangeable seals, two of which I used to create this charm.  For the final addition, I added white lace I colored lavender and sewed it to the tag using variegated thread.  My friend has not received it yet, but I plan to give it to her soon.

Now let's shift gears.  Today Bleubeard and I are Counting our blessings at Art Journal Journey where we are hosting this month, by taking a trip to Austria.  Granted, this is an armchair trip, but it could be a real one since I know someone who lives in Austria and I bet she would even let me stay with her (I hope you guessed I'm referring to my co-administrator, Susi).  In fact, I have a double spread today, so sit back as we travel along the Danube to Dürnstein.

I apologize for the horrible lighting on this focal image.  I took this photo late last night in my kitchen where the lighting is very harsh.

In this image, we are standing on a hill overlooking the town and the Danube.  We are actually standing at the site of the old castle.  The "old castle" is famous for when Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned there from December, 1192 to March, 1193 by Leopold V, who was at that time the Duke of Austria.

Have I mentioned I have never sewn a straight line in my life?

Dürnstein is one of the most popular stops along the Danube.

This is the back side of the clock tower at the top of the church steeple that was built in the Baroque style by the former monastery in 1622.  It is as famous a landmark on the Danube as the Eiffel Tower is in Paris.  There are actually two towers, although one is hidden by the trees in the picture.  This steeple tower is part of the Abbey, while the other tower is part of the Parish. 

For this spread, I began by sewing the focal image found in a travel brochure, to my substrate, a used file folder. The embellishment included two different rick rack sizes, a black and white fancy fiber, and white buttons with black dots.

For my second spread, I show Dürnstein from the river looking toward the old castle at the top of the hill behind the "new castle," hotel, Abbey, winery, and parish.  The "new castle," complete with a monastery when built, the Abbey, and the hotel were sold in the 1960s, when the castle was modified into a hotel, as it still is today.  The Abbey was originally an Augustine convent founded in 1410.  The church and cloister were added in the early 1600s. 

There is so much history here, and I knew nothing about it when I first started researching Dürnstein.

It seems, as I mentioned earlier, Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned in the old castle

(shown at the top of the hill) for several months, until a ransom was paid to Austria.  You can see the castle behind the blue steeple above.  The old castle was later destroyed by Swedish troops in something called the 30 year war.

I wish I'd found images of the courtyard and the interior of the Abbey and its incredible organ, but at least you can see the parish tower above to the left of the next to last button.  I found pictures of the Abbey on the internet, but I only had images from travel magazines to work with for my journal pages.  From what I've read, the tourists flock to Dürnstein for the views, the wine, and the history.

For this journal page, I began with a sheet of 110 lb. white card stock, then sewed the two images, found in different travel magazines to the substrate using variegated thread.    I colored the computer generated words and sewed them to the focal image.  Then I adhered some gifted ribbon (thanks Valerie) and five buttons from my stash.

Bleubeard is exhausted.  He learned so much about Dürnstein today his head is spinning.  But he and I are grateful you stopped by because even armchair travel can be a blessing when you can't actually go there.  We also hope you'll join us at Art Journal Journey and hope to meet you at Tag Tuesday, too.