A Door prize from the OWOH Blog Event

I had a wonderful surprise when the postie came on Saturday. He brought me a beautiful envelope, which had flown to me all the way from Canada, from Yvonne of ARTic Blonde Creations.

Inside I found 2 beautiful ATCs from Yvonne....

AND a little card and some things to play with....

I have admired the beautiful creations of Yvonne since I first saw them, and I am now very happy to have 2 of her lovely pieces for my collection.
Thanks a lot, Yvonne. I will also have fun with my *playthings*, as soon as I saw those packets of file tabs I could feel a mini-book coming on - watch this space! And even our postie commented on the beautiful envelope. I often give him the stamps, as he collects them, but this time I want to keep the beautully decorated envelope as it is, so he had to leave empty handed. But I did make hime a coffee-to-go, so he was happy about that!

Jewel colours and gold - GC92

What a lovely theme - jewel colours and gold. Over on Gingersnaps this challenge is running till March 20th.
For my first take on it, I decided to take the theme literally. I started off with a little round tin which once held throat lozenges.

I worked on the lid and sides with structure paste in pearl white, gold satin, and antique gold, sprinkling on some gold glass glitter (Viva Color) before it was dry.
The rim of the tin has been polished with inka gold to change the colour without making it difficult to put the lid back on. Then I decorated it with some gem stones in regal colours, and added the top of an old perfume bottle - which has long disappeared! -to the middle, to make the lid look like a crown.

I stuck some gold net from an old evening stole inside the box, to make a sort of nest, and filled it with some old costume jewelry from my Mother.
It was, as always, great fun to make, and will make another nice memory box for those little keepsakes, instead of having them in a dark drawer somewhere.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Some Saturday Freebies

Here are some more images which you can download and use as backgrounds for collage work etc. The first one is an indenture for a house in Croydon from 1920.

The newest ladies underwear from 1899!

A German legal document from 1812.

To download, please click on the picture. This will take you to the larger, downloadable image!
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Striped Easel card

This card has been made for the *Simon Says stamp and show some stripes* Challenge.

This week I have been busy with lots of messy things, which I hugely enjoyed, BUT……wait for it………… - when I came home yesterday I needed to clear up a bit because my neighbour was coming here for a drink and a chat yesterday evening. This meant using my precious time putting things away, scraping blobs of paint off the kitchen, unsticking foam pads from the floor boards etc. Can anyone tell me why those little foam pads, which refuse to stick to paper or tin, decide to stick for all eternity once they touch my nice, shiny wooden floor? Or why does a brad or eyelet that has fallen down, hide itself till you walk across the room bare foot in the middle of the night?
Ooops, that was another digression. OK, did some dreaded H*******k for half an hour, and decided to make a card and not too much mess.
First problem – stripes! I don’t really like stripes, so had to hunt for the few striped papers I knew I had hidden somewhere. Much to my surprise, I discovered them in the bottomless pit – the hall closet – in the paper rack. Just where they should have been. I made an easel card again, using some hand made papers in lilac and purple, which I stamped and distressed and folded to look like an old letter and envelope. The little piece of coloured paper in between is part of some background paper I created recently using inks, salt, sprays and perfect pearls. Great fun and sooooo nice and messy! Added a few embellies and some paper lace, and it was finished. I think it hasn’t turned out too badly.

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend, I’ll be back tomorrow with some more Saturday freebies.

Memory Shrine - Altered Tin Box

I am entering this little box into the *Alter it Monthly* Challenge
The theme is to make a niche, altar, dream box or shrine. I have altered a tin box and made it into a little Memory Shrine, with pictures and artefacts pertaining to different generations of my family. The pictures of my great Aunt, my Mum with my older brothers and sisters long before I was ever thought of, and my husband as a small boy with his Grandmother have been mounted into TH fragments. I have added some pieces of old jewelry - a locket which belonged to my grandmother, a piece of a necklace from my Mum, and a brooch from my father's family, showing his grandfather on his wedding day. They are all just fragments which fit together into this little memory box.

The box started off life as a small tin box that I got filled with little goodies as a blog candy sometime back.

I have coated the outside with structure pastes in gold and pearl white, and sprinkled some gold glass glitter into it before it dried. The edges and raised parts have been inked with Archival crimson to give it more depth, before adding some random red gem stones to the lid. The inside has been lined with hand crafted red paper from India.

It was great fun to make, and to watch it developing. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Another Canvas and another Blog Award

Here is a canvas I made using a picture of my Great- Great Grandmother Rachel, taken about 1890. The photo is old and stained, but I scanned it as it is, although I do have a *retouched* copy, I just like the original one better. The canvas (15" square) has been made using acrylic paints and structure paints in copper, gold and pearl white, images stamped with TH *rusty hinge*, and sentiments stamped with Adirondack *Espresso*. Was great fun to make - what isn't?? and I plan on doing some more with some old family pics.

And yesterday I saw that I have another Blog Award. Well actually the same *Stylish Blog Award*. this time from Jack at Jacks Arty Crafty Creations

Thanks a lot, and now for the seven-things-about-me I have to tell again.... This time I have written 7 things about my day yesterday, as I can't just repeat yesterday's list. As I am trying hard to see everything positively just now, they are of course, very positive things....
1. I did manage to have a good, crafty day yesterday.
2. I did manage to avoid seeing the crumbs on the floor and dust on the furniture by the simple expedient of removing my specs.
3. I even did my morning exercises on the balcony by MINUS 8° in my nightdress - or was I just taking photos?
4. I managed to make lasagne for lunch - yoohoo for deep frozen food!
5. I found time while not doing the housework to take a couple of reading breaks on my recliner.
6. I successfully forgot the ironing.
7. I have declared the dust on the windows to be patina, which makes it a sort of art, and then it doesn't have to be removed - pardon, it MUST be left where it is!

Hope some of you like minded people might find a few tips here.
Have a good day, take care, and thanks for looking!

Simon Says "Stamp and show a Tag*

Heeeeelp! Just realised it is not Saturday evening but SUNDAY, and that time is running out for the *Simon Says* Challenge which is due not tomorrow, as I thought, but tonight, so I am having to do a night shift to get it posted. Where did the weekend disappear?
Anyway, here is my tag. I used torchon watercolour paper to cut the tag, which I distressed with antique linen and brushed corduroi. The script has been stamped with the same colour. Then the scrolls and flowers in the next layer were stamped with Adirondack *Espresso*. Over that I added the third layer - a vintage image, an acrylic floral flourish, some TH die cuts, paper roses and a heart which I made in a mold using candle left overs. I coloured it with inka gold and Stazon *timber brown*. I tried to create the effect of depth although I kept to the colours brown and cream. It was fun to make, as always!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!!

Clearing up and GC88, Coffee and Cream, Take 2

Recently they were selling different sorts of storage boxes and containers at the discounter's. As I need space to put all my crafty things in, I bought another large set of boxes, and a box with lots of little drawers - meant for screws and nails etc - and thought they would be a good idea. They lived for the first few days in the car, as I needed to think about what to put where. Then I put them into the hallway, where I was able to fall over them regularly for a few days. And then - yesterday I got down to work! Now I have a set of three boxes, which take a load of stuff that was flying about, neatly stored, and I have written lists to hang on the wall, reminding me where I have put what. And In the little set of drawers I have been able to put most of my inks and cut and dry foam for blending. Looks much better than having them spill about all over the place. I have even organised the inks in colours, so I will be able to find them easily.
I am soooooooooooooo proud of myself!
So after I had recovered from the tidying, I rewarded myself with making a card for a friend. As it turned out to be browns and creams, I have decided to enter it into the Gingersnaps *Coffee and Cream* challenge as a second entry. The background script stamp is one of my faves, but it was languishing in a dark corner till I discovered it again yesterday....along with several other forgotten treasures!

Thanks for looking, have a good day, and take care of yourselves!

Saturday Freebies

Here are some more pics to download and use as backgrounds for your work. They have been taken from a German Magazine from 1899, *Häuslicher Rathgeber*. I have several complete sets of these, for 1899, 1900 and 1901. They are very heavy tomes, each containing 52 editions, with the newest scandals, fashions, and also knitting and sewing patterns. And of course, adverts for everything one needed for daily life in those times!

If you click on the pics, it will take you to a larger image, which can then be downloaded. Thanks for looking, enjoy the images, and have a great weekend!

Crown Tag

I have made this tag for the *crown* challenge over at Gingersnaps - GC91
I have used a large manila tag, distressed with TH inks in gradient colours, and then stamped the background with a script stamp in forest moss.
The heart, crown and wings have been cut from chipboard using a TH die, distressed to match and stamped with *love* in different languages.

The charm is a metal one from LaBlanche, I tore the face out of an image and glazed it with glossy accents to make it more durable.
Was, as always , fun to make. Thanks for looking, have a great day and take care of yourselves.

A Mini Book and more.....

Yesterday I made a mini book from two of the remaining coasters. I glued some striped black and gold embossed paper to the reverse of the coasters, and cut the pages from watercolour paper, which is thick and always has such a nice feel to it. The page edges have been inked in gold, and each page has some flourishes stamped on one side in archival black, with some added quotes and hand doodling. I put it all together with the bind-it-all, and like the results. There is still room on the pages for some notes or little pictures, so the recipient can use it. I am going to send it to a good friend in England, because I think she will appreciate it.

And there were still 2 half-finished coasters on my workspace. On one I added a heart and some flowers, in keeping with the Valentine theme...

And then I decided to go crazy on the last one, which of course, is MY all time favourite!

Thanks for looking, big thanks to all who take the time to leave a comment, and have a great day, whatever you are up to!

GC90 - Charms

This is my entry for the GC90- Charms Challenge over on Gingersnaps.
For this I wanted to try something different. I used my lovely Mona Lisa stamp with archival black and clear embossing powder to make the picture. I mounted this onto a piece of black card and then onto a postcard stamped with my script stamp in black. For the charm I added a cheap earring, 2 pairs for 1€ at the Euro shop.

Then I inserted the photo into a newspaper template - dowmloaded from www.presentationmagazine.com - on Power Point. I changed the text and headlines, and made an article about ML. I scanned and printed this in the usual way, and my ML Newspaper was finished.

It was, as usual, fun to make, and now I am wondering how to mount the finished *newspaper*. Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

More coasters for the art exchange

I have really enjoyed making these coasters, so I think I will be getting my paints and brushes out more often in the future.
For these coasters I used structure paints in gold, silver and copper, metal foil - the silber foil was the aluminium seal from a coffee-tin!, stazon and colour box inks, and bits and pieces from my workspace.
I have chosen four for the art exchange, and the rest will find their way to other destinations.
It was great fun to make, I love making a mess, and liked how they turned out,too.
Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

GC87 - Tea Bag Template, Take 2

This is my second take for the Tea Bag Template challenge over on Gingersnaps.
I managed to use up a lot of scraps for this one. The tea-bag has been cut from a scrap of pink cardstock, then stamped & inked with Victorian velvet, and turned into a little love-letter. The spotty card was part of some packaging, *Dream* was on a shop card I received some time back, the pink ribbon and the heart were from different Xmas present packaging, and the braid and pink paisley paper were also left overs from other projects. The tulip has been stamped onto a scrap of a cardboard box, clear embossed and then re-embossed with perfect pearls before cutting it out and sticking it with foam pads to give it more depth. The TH wings have also been cut from cardboard, covered with scrap paper and glazed with mod-podge. The red card was out of one of my many almost forgotten stash boxes - anybody else ever discover things they never knew they had??
Anyway, everything together made a Valentine easel card, was quick and fun to make.
Have a great day you all, thanks for looking, and take care!

Happy Weekend Freebies

Hi everybody out there, good morning from cold and wet Germany This is real crafter's weather, then when it's bad outside, the best thing you can do is to stay home and craft, so I will be making the best of it.
Today I am offering 2 old documents, both invoices from long ago. One is from 1916, and one from 1954. They were both among some old family papers that I am still trying to sort out.... I think they make lovely backgrounds for crafty projects. If you like them, click on the pic, this takes you to a larger image, which you can right click to download.
Enjoy, have a crafty weekend, and take care of yourselves!

Heart coasters - practising for the art exchange

I am taking part in an art exchange over on Gingersnaps. For this we have to make 4 heart coasters, which then get exchanged with other participants. So, I decided to start trying. These are not my entries, but they will be similar. I used coasters, gold and bronze structure paste, Stazon ink in timber brown, TH hearts, crowns and wings die cuts, which have been made out of chipboard and gold and copper metal foil, and two beautiful embossing plates from LaBlanche, one with a heart and one with a diamond pattern. Oh, and a small cuttlebug rose circlet embossing folder and die, diverse flying left overs, and some hearts made from cernit.



*Queen of Hearts* has been made from a coaster, thickly painted with gold and bronze structure paste, and then embossed with the diamond pattern plate. The heart was embossed with the big shot, cut out, distressed with Stazon, and fixed in place with silicone glue, which I also used to polster the heart from underneath. Added another small, sparkly heart, and finished!



For *Love Heart and Roses* I first inked the edges of the coaster, embossed some gold metal foil with the diamond pattern in the big shot, stuck it on again with silicone glue and added some roses (Thanks Netty!). The heart has been made from cernit, which I rolled out, cut using a paper heart template, stamped with my love text, and distressed with the structure pastes and stazon after it had been baked in the oven like a cookie!



*Your sunshine warms my heart* has been made from a coaster thickly daubed with the structure pastes, and then dabbed with an old sponge to roughen it up more. I presed the *Sunshine* charm into the paste while it was still wet, and heated it with the dryer, which makes it bubble and gives more structure. After this torture I distressed it with stazon before adding the cernit heart, freshly embossed, baked and distressed, and some more roses.



*My heart blooms for you* has been made by putting another embossed and distressed gold foil sheet onto a distressed coaster, adding a cernit heart embossed in a TH texture fade folder, cut with a cookie-cutter, and then baked and distressed as before. I added some more roses and an acrylic flower, finished.

They were all great fun to make, really great GREAT fun, my kitchen is in chaos, my hands are all colours of gold, bronze and brown, and I enjoyed it all no end, so looking forward to doing the others for the exchange now!

Thanks for looking and have great day, take care, and hope the sun is shining for you!

I am entering these coasters into the Simon Says *Embossing* Challenge

A new LO

I made this LO yesterday for a challenge over on *Bella Creations*. We had to use the colours pink, cream and turquoise, ribbon or lace, flowers, pearls etc. I chose a photo of my Great Auntie Fanny, taken in 1918. I cut the photo with an oval Sizzix die. The background paper is from the Prima *Sasha Collection*, as this had all the required colours. I stamped the right side several times with my text stamp in *Victorian velvet*, and then used my large rose stamp on the right side and lower edge, using the same colour, which has been lightly embossed. I just wanted the flowers and text to show as a sort of shadow. Then I played with all the bits and bobs till I liked the arrangements. The photo has been placed on a lace doily and a square *daisy doily* (Sizzix) and framed with flowers, some rub-ons, a vintage rose image and some layered flowers partly die cut and combined with some Prima ones which have been dyed to coordinate. Then I added a few pearls, a quote and a bird, and it was finished. It was great fun to make, and I have another page for ny ever growing family scrapbook.
Thanks for looking, thanks to all those who take time to leave a comment, and have a great day!