Jason in the USA and PPF

It's Friday, and that means it's time for Darcy's Postcard Challenge, week 26,  and Paint Party Friday, where it's week 16 of year 2. Our postcard characters are off to the USA this week.


Since Cissie disappeared in Australia more than three weeks have passed.  Cissie and Thelma are sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Cissie is happy to be home after her outback adventure. Queenie is in the spare-room, still asleep. She needs lots of time to get acclimatized to  London. The *Kids* are in America, having their last, wild fling before they get married.
What happened to Cissie in Australia?
Cissie and Dougie got the address of a nature reserve where Queenie was supposed to be living as a sort of Therapy to cure her of her Crocodile obsession. The therapist thought that if she lived and worked in a place like that, she would get better. And she had been getting better, till one night she had heard strange noises outside her hut. Panic! She could hear something moving around outside, and she heard it saying her name!
Queenie just knows that she never wants to be attacked again, so she grabs her shotgun, opens the window, and fires blindly into the night. Then she hears a branch crashing down, and a scream. Then silence. She calls for help, and when a ranger comes, they investigate. No crocodile. No wild animals, just 2 strangers – a young man and a stout, elderly lady lying unconscious. An ambulance is called and they get taken to hospital. Nobody knows who they are, as their papers and passports are locked in their car. They are both badly concussed, and spend several days in hospital, until they are well enough to explain who they are and what they were doing. Queenie is called to the hospital, looks at Cissie, and says, *She's never my sister! I’ve never seen her before!* Cissie says, *Queenie, you’re my little sister! Don’t you recognise me?* *Nope! My sister is 30 years younger, tall and slim!* Cissie is very sad when she hears this, and says, *But that was a long, long time ago. You’ve changed, too! I’ve come to take you home for Jason’s wedding!*
When Queenie hears that, she looks hard at Cissie, and realises who she is. They are both too overjoyed to speak. (Quite an event by those ladies!)
Cissie still needs a few days to recover, and Queenie gets her things packed for a trip back to England. Cissie rings Thelma, to tell her what has happened, and tells her to book a last-minute journey for Jason and Shannon, to get them out of the way for a couple of weeks, as she is bringing Queenie home. Thelma books them a ticket to Chicago, they are completely delighted, and head for the airport, kissing and cuddling non-stop, and don’t even bother to think about why Thelma has suddenly become so generous….

They arrive safely in Chicago, and just love the town – there is so much to see and do, great places to eat, discos to dance away the night, and a wonderful atmosphere. Their fave eatery is Mitchell’s, where they spend a lot of their time and Thelma’s money.
They take a coach tour to see the sights:

 After seeing Chicago, they decide to hire an old Chevy and drive down the Route 66 through Illinois, and then fly back from St Louis.

They love the little town of Joliet, where they visit the historical museum and learn all about Route 66. Museums are not usually on Jason’s plan, but Shannon insists!

 In Pontiac they visit the Route 66 Hall of Fame and museum, where they have their photo taken for the card they send home. They have heard that Cissie is safely back, but do not yet know what wonderful surprise she has brought with her!

 They see lots of historic gas stations and diners, old stretches of road, and quaint bridges on their route. They want to visit Narda, a friend of Valerie’s, who lives in Percy, but discover that she is on holiday.

(All images courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

 From there it is just a short drive to St Louis, where they give back the car, do some shopping for souvenirs, and then go to the airport to fly home. Shannon asks Jason, *What did you like best about the tour?* *You!* he says.

Here is the postcard they send home:

I am sure you all want to see Shannon's face, but you have to wait till the wedding....

For Paint Party Friday I have more or less finished the heads I started last week. I cut them out, and glued them to the cardboard from the back of a sketchbook, which I first painted with black gesso. I used a picture of the galaxy taken from a magazine and added some numerals with a CWS stencil.  Then I collaged different bits and bobs to fit with the idea of *dreams*.

So, that was enough for today. Hope you all have a good day, and a great weekend. Take care, and thanks for coming by!

Seaside and Mini-Books

Hi everybody, hope you are all well and fit. We even had sunshine here yesterday, but we have been promised bad weather again - rain, wind, storms etc from tomorrow, so looks like it will be back to our summer like a *green painted winter*, as Heinrich Heine said. (He was a great German Poet, who was born in Düsseldorf at the end of the 18th century)

Yesterday I made a card for the challenge over at the Artful Times Blog, where the theme this week is *I do like to be beside the seaside*. I painted the background in a watery blue-green, stamped some shells, and added gold-glitter for sand. The wave has been fussy cut from some designer paper. I added 3 images from CI, and put some blue and green stickles on the waves. I mounted it onto a piece of greeny-blue paper, with some blue fibres, and added a little dolphin for fun.

And I finished my matchboxes, here they are, all four in a row. The first one I showed yesterday.

I have used scraps of designer paper to make the cover-side of the *books*, and have used the same text on the reverse of  all three. It is a quote from Ecclesiastes III, *To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.....*. It is quite addictive once you start on these little things, and anyway, there were 4 matchboxes in the packet....

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

Tag Tuesday & a Matchbox Mini-book

Hi you all, it's time for another Tag Tuesday. Our theme this week is *Tales of the Riverbank*. I sat here, storming my poor brain, and wondering what to do, and then I remembered that I live round the corner from the Rhine, and there is a stream directly next to the house here - duh! Problem solved! I made a collage of photos taken along the riverbanks - the ruins of the castle, the shore, the houses, boats and the ferry. The background is a photo of the stream next door, complete with the ducks swimming round. I mounted the photo onto a piece of hand-painted paper in watery green-blue, and added a ribbon made from some matching gauzy material strips, and a little shell, from the shore of the Rhine. 

I have included the original collage, too, as the colours in the tag seem to be a bit changed .  The photo underneath shows the colours better.

And I decided to make some more mini-books.this time accordion books in matchbox cases. The matchbox has been covered with scraps of designer paper, inked and varnished to give an aged look. The little book has been made from a strip of waste paper, distressed with DIs in Antique linen and forest moss, and stamped with various small motives and quotes.

It was fun to make, and I have another three nearly finished, which I will show sooner or later. I am linking again to Out of a hat creations.

Have a good day, take care, and thanks for looking!

Little books

This weekend I have been busy making some mini-books again. The ladies at  *Out of a Hat* creations want to see mini books measuring no more than 3x3". My first one is 2 3/4 x 1'3/4". I cut three small pieces of chipboard from an old drawing block, and glued them onto some leather-look paper to make the front and back covers and the spine.

The pages inside have been made from handmade paper, torn to size to keep the edges rough, and then inked along the outer edges. I fastened each double page with fine twine to a small piece of card, which I then glued into the spine.

I then added some end-papers (7 Gypsies) to give the whole construction more stability.

The second mini-book is 1 1/2x 1 1/2". I made a maze book from asheet of 6x6" double sided paper, added chipboard covers covered with scraps of designer paper, and some paper roses formed into a little bouquet with silicone glue. Inside I folded some of the corners to form pockets, and trimmed them with some mini-pieces of lace.

The last book is one I made last week, and is small, but not mini - it's 4x3". The covers were made with chipboard from the same drawing block, covered on both sides with blended paper, which has been varnished and distressed before adding the rose and a final coat of varnish.

The pages inside have been distressed and each stamped with a quote.

The book has been bound together with string and thin ribbon.

Hope you all have a great Sunday. Take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Paint Party Friday and Cissie in Australia

It's Friday again - in case you haven't noticed - and time for Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, week 25. Our contestants are heading for Australia this week.

Cissie is not at home. Thelma knows where she is, but has been sworn to secrecy. Jason and Shannon think she is looking after a friend who has been ill, and enjoy having Cissie’s flat to themselves.
 In reality, Cissie has embarked on a diplomatic mission to Australia, to try to find Jason’s Mum, so she can come to the wedding. If you remember, she almost got eaten by a crocodile many years back, and since then keeps changing her name and moving home so that the crocodile can’t find her…. Jason hasn’t heard from her for years. Cissie knows she was last heard of somewhere near Canberra, and that’s where she heads for. The journey is long and stressful, and Cissie is relieved when she can at last move freely again.
 She spends a few days at a hotel, is able to see some of the sights, and make contact with a private detective who has promised to help her with the search. She visits Government House, Parliament House, and a wild-life sanctuary, where she can admire parrots, crocodiles, kangaroos and koalas. She does not have much time as she needs to find her sister, Queenie. She is at least happy that Canberra has plenty of shops and restaurants, even if she does not find a fish-and-chip shop.

(All photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

The detective does not look like Cissie expects him to. He turns up in khaki shorts and shirt, calls Cissie ‘Mate’, and is very cool! He says he has some addresses for them to check out, and that they will need to be out and about for three or four days. Cissie packs her case, tells the hotel she will be back by the end of the week, and off they go.

Back in London, Thelma is getting worried. Apart from the postcard that Cissie sent on the third day in Canberra,she has not been in contact for ten days. This is something quite unheard of, as Cissie needs to communicate with friends and family several times a day.
The hotel hasn’t seen Cissie since she left with Dougie, the Private Eye.
 Where can she be??
Stay tuned….


For Paint Party Friday I want to share some of my heads (?!?). This isn't finished yet, I have just been playing around  this week with colours, just having fun!

So, that was all for today. If you want to know what has happened to Cissie, be sure to read next Friday's episode! Have a good weekend, take care, and thanks for dropping in!