Gingersnap Colours of Autumn Challenge

So, this is going to be the last of the halloween themed pics for this year, but at least autumn is not yet over! This challenge is to do a picture using the colours eggplant, avocado and pumpkin, 3 beautiful colours of the season. I used ceramic card which has been distressed using TH inks, and stamped with an owl and some foliage. I used my black embossing powder, but there was no noticeable coffee aroma in spite of my recent mishap.... I highlighted the colours and embossed parts with perfect pearls in green, pink and gold. The background is out of the DCWV *Fairy tale* stack. I cut a window - evidently still under the influence of the gothic elements & arches challenges - and placed my card behind it. I added a window frame cut from some embossed paper, and a witch, a bat, 2 pumpkins and a moon. I cut round some of the vases in the picture and defined them with some black ink and perfect pearls, and stamped a little gothic architectural element in the top left hand corner. Was fun to make, as always - thanks for looking!

Gothic Arches Challenge *Text*

This arch has been made for the new *text* challenge from Gothic arches. I have used an old photo of my great aunt, which was taken in 1918. I have printed the picture onto an overhead transparency, cut it into an arch, and mounted it onto different arches. The first arch has been cut from a sheet of floral paper on which I printed part of an old document from the family of my great aunt's husband. The same text is printed onto the last arch, too. I found the documents, some of which go back to the year 1701, in the dustbin after she died! The flower has been die cut with TH *Tattered Florals*. The third arch has been cut from some metallic paper, and the lace doiley I found in my stash. To carry on the text theme, I placed the arch on an old book of ladies' magazines from 1901. I found the combination of text and arches very interesting, and I am sure I will try some more variations of this theme. Thanks for looking!

A Ghost from the Past....

As I am planning a little Halloween party at the weekend, I decided it was time to clear up - looks bad when guests have to put the stash piles on the floor so that they can sit down. The trouble is, that all my drawers and cupboards are full, a problem which is probably known to other addictive scrappers. And the ladies who are coming at the weekend are very tidy and house-proud people - heeeeeeeeeeeelp!
So, I have been clearing and tidying since yesterday afternoon. I have a lot of drawers which haven't been opened or sorted for more than 20 years. When I moved three years ago I just moved the drawers with their contents and planned to clear them up when I had time....Well, the witching hour is here, and I had to start. I have done half of the drawers in my 2 desks, and removed 3 (yes THREE) plastic sacks of rubbish. Old biros, pencils, dried out paints, half used notebooks, bills from the 70s (paid!!), bits and pieces of this and that - the normal detritus that collects in the homes of chaotic crafters. Found some interesting things, too. Photos, old coins from different foreign countries, dried up free samples of cream and make-up, paper, old envelopes, newspaper cuttings, 3 dead & dessicated spiders, enough dust to bathe an elephant, my missing camera, keys and many other objects which I would rather not describe here. But for me the best thing was this photo, taken in Scunthorpe in 1968, where I had my first job as a teacher. I was a member of a local amateur drama group, and we represented our town at the drama festival at the town theatre, playing a piece called *Down the Hatch*, a rather corny murder story. I was a naive & nosey young journalist. Can you find me among the *stars*??
OK, back to tidying, the *bottomless pit* - the hall closet - is waiting for me to find what is lurking in its deep, dark depths.

The Witching hour - Gingersnap Gothic elements challenge

Made this card for the Gingersnap *Gothic Elements* challenge. The Ghostly face and the gold background elements have been stamped with Opalite *crystal blush* onto black card, and then brushed with perfect pearls in electric blue and gold respectively. The gothic arch has been cut free-handed from some gold card from a choccie package, embossed with a TH folder and then swiped with black archival ink. The card and arch have been mounted onto a scrap of *Graphics 45* paper with 3D pads. The bat is a sizzix die cut, edged with gold, and is carrying an hour-glass to herald the witching hour. The large bird is from TH, has been stamped with archival ink, black embossed and cut out by hand.... That was where the story got messy - I tipped the pot of black embossing powder over the working surface in the kitchen. Managed to scratch and brush it back into the pot with the addition of some coffee granules & some UCBs - unidentified crumbs and bits, so I am wondering what special effects my next embossing will have....Was great fun to make in spite of it all. Thanks for looking!

Woohoo, I won a challenge!

Today when I got home from a nice day at my friend's I saw that I had won the *Let's Ink it Up* colours of halloween challenge with my *Halloween Tryptik*. I am really thrilled and this has made my day. This is my badge:

Thanks a lot, I'm off now to do a happy dance....

Family Gruft - for Simon says Challenge

I liked the sound of this challenge because it gave me the opportunity to play. As base of the *gruft* I used 4 matchboxes as *graves*, sandwiched betwen two beer-mats. The top mat has been covered with a scrap of *Graphics 45* paper. The sides of the matchboxes have been painted with black acrylic paint pimped up with some black soot stickles. The *drawer-ends* of the matchboxes have been covered with more paper scraps and have an added brad as knob. The *grave* at the back is a trimmed IKEA tag, which has been distressed with black soot ink and stickles. I added chipboard wings, distressed again with soot black and black embossed. The witch, hat, broom, cat, ghosts, shoes and bats have been die cut from black or white shrink plastic. Finished it off with a few skeleton parts trying to get into ( or out of?) the drawers. Was great fun to make, playing is not only for kids. There's a nice saying which says *You don't stop playing because you're old, you get old when you stop playing!* So, let's stay young!

Stamped and distressed postcards.

I am always trying to get away from distressing, to try something new, and occasionaly it does work. But I always get pulled back to distressing and stamping in one form or another. This time I made 4 postcards, all featuring THs bird & bird-cage stamps, a *family* stamp from paper artsy and the fob-watch and frame from LaBlanche, a German stamp designer who makes a lot of beautiful things. The card with the 2 large birds and with the bird-cage have been treated with gold leafing before distressing. I stamped some handwriting on one and the bird-cage on the other with a Tsukineko glue pad and stuck the gold leaf on. After it was dry, I brushed some off, just leaving enough to give a bit of gold glimmer in the background. The bird-cage has then been stamped over with archival ink and clear embossed. The bird and foliage have been stamped and embossed with a mixture of clear embossing powder and perfect pearls. It has been finished off with a motto and some hand doodling. On the card with the 2 large TH birds, one bird has been stamped and embossed directly onto the card, the other has been cut out by hand and decoupaged. The bird on the card has been embossed with clear embossing powder and gold perfetc pearls, the decoupaged one has been embossed with Ranger's *Hologram* powder, as has the grunge heart. It has been finished off with some stamped and doodled foliage, a black and red flower and a red *gem* as decoration for the bird. The other 2 cards are showing the lovely Victorian family group, stamped with archival black- once framed and decorated with a crowned & bejewelled TH bird; the other one with with a pocket watch, a TH bird on a hand doodled branch, and 2 stamped sayings. They were all great fun to make. Thanks for stopping by!

Gothic Arches Challenge *Jester*

Decided to enter this for the gothic arches challenge. I used *Taj Mahal* cardstock for the background arch. The figures have been stamped with Paper Artsy stamps using black archival ink, clear embossed, on gold cardstock. The figures have been cut out by hand, and *crowned* with party hats and a crown (Sizzix diecuts, as are the ballons). Added an embossed and distressed flower to finish it off. Was fun to make, although I'm not really sure if I got the subject right?

Fun altered lamp for halloween

While I was clearing up last week, I discovered this *wellness* lamp which I got as a present some time in the past. I don't like coloured lamps - except for the one in my bath tub with turns the foam all sorts of colours - as the changing colours make me nervous. And then I realised that I had a fun moon for halloween - wow! Made some spooky die-cuts, stuck them round the lamp, and then went into the hall - the only dark part of the house just now - and let the colour change run and I think it looks really good. Now I have a fun item for my halloween party - and perhaps I will leave it in my dark hallway till then - just for fun!
Apart from that, it's a cold, damp and windy Monday, I'm freezing, and my nose is running a lot faster than I can these days - it can only get better! Have a nice week you all!



I am entering this for the *alter it monthly* challenge

Colours of Halloween -LIIU Challenge

Well, I think I will have to mark today red in my calendar, as I have managed 2 posts today! Stayed at home, as it is very cold and wet and *ungemütlich* outside, and had a nice day *resting* - and my way of resting is crafting, baking, napping and eating. And the rest of the day will be knitting time, bought some pretty wool yesterday, and hope that it will be a thick, warm scarf by the time I go to bed.
My triptik has been made from chipboard, left over from a *present* album last Xmas. I just sawed off the bows at the top of the presents, and declared them to be a house and windows. I painted them with matte acrylic paint. The middle part has been *wall-papered* with ceramic paper, which has been treated with resist ink (for the moon) and then distressed and stamped with TH inks and archival black and partly black embossed. The window frames have been hung with nets, spider's webs, birds, spiders, skeletons having a ball and a scary cat. The bats, witch's hat, shoes, broom and small birds are sizzix die cuts. The branches and trees in the background have been hand doodled. I fixed the three parts together so that each side gives a different picture. The hinges have been made from some gold wire and red beads, which I snipped off some Xmas decorations. Was fun to make, even if it was a bit fiddly in between. Thanks for looking!

Autumn mists and other signs....

The past few days have been so cold that I was not really tempted to go out, but had to, as I had lots of things to see to. We are getting icy winds from the north and east, I even heard the word *snow* being spoken on the weather show, but I hope they were not talking about here! But I do love to watch the early morning mists, which creep over the fields behind the house, hiding the trees, and giving a glimpse of the hedge here and there. Sometimes they look like white ghosts or witches floating over the grass. But don't worry, I know they are not, even if Halloween (and Netty's birthday) are coming nearer and nearer. I was not in a very good mood this week, although I ususally like Autumn, but perhaps sometimes we all just need a time to grouse, and I think my recent surgery took it out of me more than I like to admit. But on one day we went to a garden centre, where I bought 2 little witches to hang up at the end of the month, and where I wanted to buy an autumn wreath for my door. But the prices were so high, that I decided to leave it. And last night I took an old polystyrene ring, wound some hessian round it, and then stuck on all the autumny bits and bobs I found in my decorations. Had fun working with my glue gun (only burnt myself once this time!) and lots of little black headed needles - which more often than not found their way into my fingers - and now I have a wreath for my door. The round thing in the middle is the spy hole, through which I can look to see who is standing outside, in case anyone should ring my bell. It's not the best wreath in the house - just sneaked around in my dressing gown and looked what the others have got on their doors - but it's mine, and all my own work. Thanks for lookng, and have a nice weekend!



I am entering this for the *Stampman* Autumn Challenge

Birds, flowers, bits and bobs....

Well, this last week has gone by very quickly, probably because I spent a lot of time sleeping, resting, reading and recovering from my operation. I was not able to craft as much as usual, as I just didn't have the energy, but sometimes we just have to take a break....But I did manage a few things in between. A simple card for a friend who was in hospital, made with a TH *On the edge* die and with a *house mouse* card tucked into the pocket in the middle. I coloured the picture with pencils, not something I usually like doing, but it was a gentle occupation which I could do while lounging on the couch. Then I managed some flowers using the TH *tattered florals* die, but I am not sure if like them or if I will use them. The black and red bird has been made with honeycomb paper sandwiched between leather-look cardstock and given to a neighbour together with a bottle of pro secco to say *thanks* for giving me a helping hand this past week. And today my friend B visited me and we did some crafting. She worked on her LO, I made 4 tags, which all somehow look a bit bleak, and remind me that autumn is well on its way. But it was good to sit down together and craft and natter again.
Oh, and I must have made the ATC with wings sometime in the week, probably with the remains of the card....