Fantasy Tag

Hi everybody, hope you have all have a good weekend, and are ready to get dug in to the new week!!

I spent most of yesterday in bed, I still feel very grotty. I haven't had a cold as bad as this for a long time, I think it must be man flu!

The tag is for the new challenge over it *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*, where land of fantasy is the theme. I have cobbled a tag together using bits and bobs flying about my table. The background picture has been cut out of a free magazine from the chemist's, the little girl is from Scrollswork, and was stamped and cut out, but not used, for another project, and the rest was in my stash.

Have a good day you all, and thanks for visiting!

Valentine Post and Blog Awards

Hi you all, I'm a little bit late blogging today, my nose is still running faster than I can and I need some rest! Apart from that, and coughing and sneezing, I don't think I will be up to much today. Why does a common cold make you feel soooooooo bad?

First of all, here are the pretties I got from Carolyn. She always does such lovely work, and makes her things with an incredible attention to detail. And in the little bag is another bag full of hearts - a bag full of love! Thanks again Carolyn!

Then I have been given the *Liebster* Blog award from 2 people:

Jeanie and Andrea. Jeanie makes wonderful layouts, and Andrea makes a wonderful selection of horrible things, but have a look for yourselves....

There are some things to do for this award, but it will have to wait till I feel better!

And Natasha May gave me this award:

Natasha's blog is also well worth a visit to see her lovely art.

I am soslow today, I have needed more than an hour for this little post, so I think I had better stop. Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Silk Scarves

On Tuesday evening one of the nurses here did a silk painting class with a group of us. I I made 2 scarves, using a sort of batik Technic, which was quick and easy. We had to leave them to dry overnight, and then iron them to fix the colours. It's the first time I've had an iron in my hands for a long time! Then the scarves had to washed to remove any excess dye, and ironed again - phew! Here they are:

Next week she is doing another class, so I've signed up already!

The weather here is mild and sunny, saw the first snowdrops when I went for my walk yesterday, so I very much hope that more will follow, I've had enough of cold and winter!

And before I close, here's another joke from Narda:

Kidnapping

A blonde woman was having financial troubles so she decided to kidnap a child and demand a ransom. She went to a local park, grabbed a little boy, took him behind a tree and wrote this note: "I have kidnapped your child. I am sorry to do this but I need the money. Leave $10,000 dollars in a plain brown bag behind the big oak tree in the park at 7 a.m.. Signed, the Blonde." She pinned the note inside the little boy's jacket and told him to go straight home. The next morning, she returned to the park to find the $10,000 in a brown bag behind the big oak tree, just as she had instructed. Inside the bag was the following note: "Here is your money. I cannot believe that one blonde would do this to another."

Have a good day you all, take care and thanks for visiting!

Wednesday photos.

Hi you all, good morning from Bad Honnef! Just got some photos to share today. The first two were taken hanging out of my bedroom window as dawn was coming over the hills, in real life it was even nicer. The third one is a face on a tree-stump in the garden here, reminds me of a teddy bear!

Okay, that's all for today. Take care, have a good day and thanks for visiting!

Tuesday This and That

Hi everybody, hope you are all well and fit today. Had a quiet and crafty day here, my fingers are still inky!
The night from Sunday to Monday was really frosty again, and when I went into the kitchen here to make a coffee I saw the frosty *Drachenfels* - Dragon's Cliff - sparkling in the sun, the vineyards were all white with frost, and I managed to get a pic before the sun disappeared again.

At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is poetry or verses. I have used a rather corny *poem* which was in the very first Valentine I received, when I was 5, given to me by a boy in my class called Bruce. He wrote *Rosses a red, vilets a blew, shuger iss swet and so a you*. Since this time, this has been my fave Valentine verse!

Have a good day you all, and take care. Thanks for visiting!

Sporty men tags - JFF

Hi everybody! It's carnival here in Rhineland, so there will be a parade in the town today, but I don't think I will be going to see it. A lot of people drink too much, and I don't feel happy standing in the middle of a crowd, so I will take my walk in the opposite direction.
I made 2 little tags yesterday for the JFF challenge, where the them this week is sporty men, or sporty for men. The large tag has been given a print background, which I coloured with water-colour pencils, then added some CI images, and an image from Dezina World. The small tag has a stamped and decoupaged image from Scrollswork, pasted onto a map background.

Have a good day you all, have fun and thanks for dropping in!

Auntie Cissie, Jason & PPF

Hi everybody, it's Friday again which means it's time for Darcy's Postcard Challenge, week 7 and PPF, hosted by Eva and Kristin, week 49.

This week it's Aunt Cissie's turn to take a journey, and she's in Wales, visiting an old school friend....

Auntie Cissie had a good laugh with her friend Thelma about Jason being silly enough to think he could buy Mannekin Pis in Brussels, but as she held tight to his credit card, he couldn’t buy it, and that was the end of the story.
This week she is visiting Sadie, an old school friend, who married a Welsh man and moved to Prestatyn many years ago. While Cissie was clearing out her cupboard she found a pile of old postcards, some of which had been sent from different towns by Sadie. She is most impressed by a vintage card from Aberystwyth, and is sure that she read somewhere that the outfit the lady is wearing was the national dress of Wales.

So she decides to ask her dressmaker to sew her a jacket just like the one in the postcard, and finds a matching hat in her fave colours to boot.
She is, as usual, rather worried about the food, as she has heard that the Welsh eat Laverbread, made with seaweed, and she is sure that seaweed does not have enough calories in it to support her! She feels better when she reads that they make very good cheeses and that lamb os often served. But as she likes to be on the safe side, she packs 2 large loaves, a pound of butter, 2 pots of jam, a home-made fruitcake and a good selection of sweets and chocolates into her case, and Jason brings her to Victoria bus-station, where she boards the coach for Wales. The driver nearly collapses as he lifts her case, and shouts *Bloody ‘ell, my ‘ernia!*. After Jason and the driver have a cup of tea to steady their nerves again, Jason waves goodbye, and is not really sad to see Cissie disappearing for a week.
Here is the card she sends to Jason:

Here is the text for those who can't read Auntie C's handwriting....

Dear Jason, arrived safely in Prestatyn after a strenuous drive. Lucky I had a few nibbles in my bag for the journey! Prestatyn is a lovely sea-side town, with plenty of cafés, several fish and chip shops and a McDonald’s. Yesterday we took the train from Llanberis to the top of Snowdon. Such beautiful views! We took smoked salmon sandwiches and cream cakes. Afterwards we visited Conway Castle, very impressive. We had fish and chips for lunch. Not bad, but nothing to sing about, although the restaurant was called the *Minstrel’s rest*.Sadie has got very fat and old; I hardly recognised her! Love, Auntie Cissie.PS. My outfit has really caused a stir here!

More next week, I'm looking forward to Monday to see where Jason will be going!

I didn't get round to painting anything for PPF this week, so I am showing a painting I did last week in my *art group* with some ladies here. The background has been scraped on with a plastic card, and the Umbrella men have been painted with black paint using the die-cut waste as a template. Then I added rings using a loo roll, and some rub-ons which have been flying around in my stash for years.

Thanks to all who left me nice messages or sent mails this week, I do appreciate it very much! Have a great day you all, take care and thanks for looking by!

A Quick Hello

Hi you all, just a quick hello today! Sorry that I wasn't around the past 2 days. I had a lot of pain, and reached an emotional all time low to crown it all. I feel more or less *normal* today, whatever that might be, and will be back tomorrow with the latest news from Auntie Cissie in the Land of Song....

Have a good day, and take care of yourselves. Thanks for dropping in!

Valentine Tags for Tag Tuesday

Hi you all! Well, yesterday it got really warm here - the temps went up to 2° plus, which felt good after weeks of icy cold. I sincerely hope that the big freeze is now over....There's a lot of snow today, but the weather prophets have said that it will soon turn to rain.
On the minus side, I had such bad backache yesterday that I could hardly sit, but I have another appointment with the chiropractor today, so hope he will be able to help.

I just made 2 tags for Tag Tuesday; the theme this week is *Valentine*. I think the pain robbed me of all inspiration yesterday, so I am not happy with the tags, but I suppose it's like that sometimes!

Okay, that's all for today. Today will be another busy day, so I need to get going!

Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

More this and that....

Hi you all, hope you have all had a great weekend. Here it was extremely cold - still -10°, but sunny. The weather should be getting warmer today, and bringing rain, which is going to make for some very icy roads, so I'm happy I don't need to go any place today.
Yesterday we had another peaceful day- We had a good lunch, then I had a nap, and then H. had set the table with coffee and more decadent slices of cheesecake....sorry again Auntie Cissie and Donna, but we ate it all up! Then two of the men here had visits from their wives, who turned up bearing large cakes - a beautiful many layered cake filled with butter-cream and a *Streusel* cake filled with vanilla pudding. Well, it would have been rude to say no, wouldn't it!!!!? Anyway, we decided to leave out supper to make up for it. After eating all that cake we made some more cards, and had a fun afternoon.

This is a pic I tool looking out of my window yesterday afternoon. There is a clematis there in summer, and I noticed that a bird has made its nest there, too. But I hope I will be home before the birds start nesting!

This is the card I made Saturday afternoon, I took the pattern round the back. I painted it with water colour pencils and distress inks. The hedgehog and bee stamps are both from LaBlanche.

I made this card yesterday, it is my DT piece for *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*, where the theme this time is birthdays. It's for a little girl who loves blue and bling, so I think she will like it!

And last but not least, an envelope ready to take my twichies for the Gingersnaps swap. It will be on its way to England tomorrow, lucky thing!

Have a great day, take care, and thanks for stopping by!

This and that....

I had a nice relaxing day yesterday. Saturdays there are usually no treatments, but I just had one - cupping and then a back massage, very pleasant. Then one of the ladies here had baked a cheese cake, and we sat in the common room, eating indecently large pieces of cheese cake and drinking coffee. Auntie Cissie, if you are reading this, sorry, the invitation came as a surprise, so I didn't have time to ask you over! When I am back home, I will make a giant cheese cake, and then you can pop over with Jason and we'll party!!

After that, I needed to work off some calories, so I made some tags and cards. I'm just showing you the tags today, as my internet stick SUCKS just now, and is taking ages to do anything! The first one has been made with a scrap of left-over cardstock, which has been randomly stamped with script and some flourishes, before adding the image, which is from Crafty Secrets. I just added the flowers and the ribbon.

The second one has been cut from white card which has been distressed with wild honey, and then stamped with the same flourishes and script. I added some flowers cut from a prospect, the image is from Crafty Secrets again, the sunflower from my stash, and the bee is a LaBlanche stamp, decorated with some stickles. I used some honey coloured dew-drops to make the flower-centres.

The third one has been made with a manila tag, the background has been stamped like the other two, before adding some flower rub-ons from LaBlanche and an image fussy cut from a picture which was flying around in my stash. The first and last tags were finished off with some scraps of lace.

Have a good Sunday you all, take care, keep warm and have fun. Thanks for visiting!

Postcard Challenge Week 6 & PPF Week

Good morning everybody! Today is a double party again; week 6 of Darcy's Postcard Challenge and week 48 of PPF, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.
For PPF I have made journal pages, which are not quite finished, but I hope I will have more time to play over the weekend. I have used acrylic paint for the background, and added faces, doodling, some dry transfers and some stamping. I am not yet sure what still needs to be done, but time will tell.

Cissie arrived safely home after her trip to France, with a good stash of chocolate, cake, paté and a few other edible souvenirs in her ample case. She invited Jason for a day to feed him up a bit, as she is always convinced that he looks starved. They have double portions of fish and chips for lunch, followed by chocolate éclairs, scones and fruit cake for dessert. For afternoon tea she serves paté sandwiches with salt and vinegar crisps, and is really happy to watch Jason stuffing himself. Then she brings out the tea shirt she bought him in France. She is very concerned that it makes Jason look so thin, and decides she must invite him more often. She takes the opportunity to put Jason’s fave green pullover into the old clothes bag for the charity shop. But he is cunning, and offers to take the bag to the Charity shop for her on his way home. As soon as he is in his car, he swaps his pullover for the French t-shirt and is happy again.

Before he sets out for Belgium, Auntie Cissie takes his credit card off him, so he can’t spend money on junk again, and gives him enough pocket money to keep him happy on his trip. He flies to Brussels, and visits other beautiful, old towns like Ghent and Bruges, the *Venice of the North*. In Ghent he enjoys the many medieval buildings, and of course, the antique shops. In Bruges he visits the famous museums and takes a boat trip, although he is more interested in the pretty girls sitting next to him than in the beautiful views of the ancient town. He is delighted with Brussels, visits the wonderful museums and the Atomium, but his highlights are the night clubs and girls....

So, that was all for today. Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Vintage men - Just for fun

Hi everybody, I'm a bit late posting today as treatments started early. now I have a break till after lunch, which is very welcome.

This week I am playing as guest designer over at Just For Fun where the challenge this week is vintage men. I made an easel card. I stamped a blank postcard with vintage London images (stamps from Artemio) after distressing with antique linen and vintage photo. I stamped the sandwich man image- from Scrollswork -with Adirondack espresso onto glossy card, and then decoupaged him onto the London background. I used some steampunk paper as a background. The clocks and inside image are from Graphics 45. I fixed the image inside with large brads which look like cuff-links. I haven't added a sentiment yet, as I don't know to whom I will be giving the card.

That's all for today, hope to see you again tomorrow for Jason's latest adventures in Belgium. Take care and thanks for visiting!

Post Surprises and a Tag

This week I have had 3 nice surprises in the post, from Donna, Katie and Narda, who often sends such good jokes.
Donna sent me some Valentine images and embellies, packed in a beautiful mail-art envelope. The images are especially welcome just now, as my printer is back home....One of the images has been used for my Tag Tuesday Tag.

The postcard is from katie

Here is my surprise from Narda, lots of bling, and two more cows for my collection:

And here is the tag I made for Tag Tuesday. I painted the tag with black acrylic paint, before adding the image from Donna, some lace, beads and flowers.

Yesterday was the coldest day we have had since thirty years. I had to go out to have some copies made and post a letter, but I was glad to get back here again. In the evening it started to snow, and now everything is white. It's supposed to be getting a bit warmer tomorrow, and then colder again on Thursday, sounds great!

Have a great day you all, take care amd thanks a lot for visiting!

Just a few Twinchies....

Hi everybody, good morning from the deep-freeze! There's no end to the freezing weather just yet, when I leave the house I look like an Eskimo! The session with the chiropractor was hard, first I got pulled, and then hung from a contraption fixed to the ceiling, ouch!! Strange feeling. I offered to sign a confession to avoid further torture, but he says he enjoys it! Glad one of us does, but I hope it will help in the long run!
I just have three twichies to show today, I made another six, but can only find three, so I will have to look for the others later. Now I have to decide which 6 I send to Laura for the Gingersnaps challenge.

So, that was all for today. Thanks for visiting, have a good day, and take care of yourselves!

Twinchies and Journal Pages

Good morning you all, hope you have all had a great weekend, and are now fighting fit for the week ahead. I took a break from blogging over the weekend, which was really necessary, as my treatment here made me very tired last week. To crown it all, I had a session with the chiropractor on Friday, where he pulled lots of bones back into their right places and spaces, which will help in the long run, but right now it is literally a pain in the ass and a lot of other places....I have the next session today, so I am wondering how I will feel after it. The weather is still extremely cold, not really my cup of tea!

I did a little stamping class with some ladies yesterday, we made lots of cards - which they do not want to show! and it was a pleasant time. Apart from that, I managed to finish some journal pages and make the twinchies for the Gingersnaps swap, so was pleased that I got so much done. The twinchies have been made from scraps, with the addition of some small embellishments and lace.

Hope you all have a good day, have fun, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Postcard Challenge Week 5

Today is week 5 of Darcy's Postcard Challenge, and our destination this week is France. Here is the continuation of the story:

Auntie Cissie had to rest and eat for 5 days to recover her strength after learning about Jason’s arrest, although she was happy that they let him go after 2 hours. She made him promise never to go to China again. Jason had the *Made in Taiwan* stamps on his vases painted over and replaced with some Chinese signs by a friend of his, who knows some Chinese letters as he does tattoos.

This week Cissie is with Thelma on a bus tour of France. They were able to start eating on the boat to keep up their strength, and were delighted with all the food and restaurants in France. Cissie has dug out some remnants of French learned long ago at school, and impresses her friends with her *Bong jewer Mon-sewer* when they arrive at their hotel in Paris. She still confuses some words and phrases, and astonishes the waiters by asking for *Caffay oh late, par avion*. But to make up for it, she writes *S’il vous plate* on the post cards to make sure they go by air-mail....In case you can't read Auntie Cissie's writing, here is the text:
*Dear Jason, Thelma and I are having a wonderful week in France. So much beauty to see! We had boullabaisse in Marseilles, Escargots in Albi - which they served in such cute snail shells, what an idea!! and plenty of coffee and cakes. There are cafés and patisseries on every corner. The Eiffel Tower is not bad, but there was no revolving restaurant! I have bought you a T-shirt just like mine; you will love it! Love, Auntie Cissie xx

Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!