(Bad) Dream Journal pages

Hi everybody, hope you are enjoying your weekend! I had a strange dream last week - I was in a room, which had a strange, greeny tint to it, like it was underwater, and there were some strange people in there. Nobody was looking at each other or talking, just looking straight ahead. There were also various odd bits of furniture there, a big gramophone, and a deer's head on the wall. It reminded me of my family - although the people didn't look like them - perhaps because nobody ever tried to talk to anyone there, either. Anyway, I tried to recreate this creepy dream using images I had flying about in my bit-boxes, as my printer is still on strike. I used  some green and purple pages which I had started for SOC last week as background, but didn't like them, so painted and sprayed over them. There is even an elephant hidden in the background, which adds for me to the feeling in the dream of lots of hidden currents being there. The isolated words flying around are perhaps some that they weren't speaking. I distressed all the images with shabby shutters DI to make them look like they were under water, and edged them with a green gel-pen. The shadowy floating ladies were made with a stencil, as were the sea-horses.

Sorry about the shine on the photos, I used metallic paints for the background, and it was very hard to get good pics.

Well, if any of you get the idea that I come from a strange family - well, yes, you might be right!

Have a good day you all, take care, sweet dreams when you go to bed, and thanks for coming by.

Paper Saturday, Happy Mail and a Challenge

Hi everybody! It's been a cold and wet week here, but the weather men have promised us that we will have some summer next week. I wonder....

I was lucky to get happy mail twice this week. The first mail came from my good friend Diane in Michigan, who sent me a packet full of lovely papers and images she  printed out for me, as my printer is not behaving itself at all. Of course, I could hardly wait to get my fingers on the papers and start making something with them! Aren't they gorgeous?

This lovely card from Diane came too. Thanks a lot Diane, it is so good to have friends who help! 

The ladies over at Out of a Hat Creations have chosen  'Inspired by a song with a flower in the title' as their theme.  After doing some research in internet, I cam across a song from 1939 called 'Lilacs in the rain', written to an Irish folk-melody. You can hear Bing Crosby singing it here.

I made a Double Z-fold card, and used the lovely papers from Diane. I didn't have any lilacs in my stash, so I sorted out all the mini-lilac coloured flowers I had, and put them together to look like lilacs and glued them on, using seed beads for the centres. I added a butterfly on one side, and that was that.

I am linking to Manon's Paper Saturdays

The second happy mail that arrived this week was from Alex , who sent me a beautiful painting which she made. It  now has pride of place in my arty kitchen where I sit and create, on the wall opposite my place. I love the soft shades and speckled background. Isn't it beautiful? Thanks Alex, I will treasure it, and let it inspire me!

Once again I have to say what a caring and generous community bloggers are!

Have a great weekend you all, take care, and thanks a lot for dropping in!

Summer of Colour, and Paint Party Friday

Hi everybody. The week is flying by again, there never seems to be enough time to do everything I would like to. So I saved time on the H*******K and made more time for playing. I don't want to say this too loudly, but today the sun is showing itself here and there fir a few seconds - progress!

I was rather stumped about what to make for SOC, hosted by our lovely Kristin, where the colours this week are purple and lime green. Then I remembered making a canvas in these colours some time back. I gave it away as a present, but had photos, so was able to more or less re-create it. In the end, I think I like this one better than the other one, so that's something! The canvas is a re-purposed one, for which I used acrylic paints in several layers, Adirondack colour wash sprays, Stickles, some punchinella, and some bits and bobs from my stash - the parrot, flowers, ric-rac ribbon, heart etc.  I got the hearts from a florist that was closing down a year or 2 back, it's always good to have things like this in reserve. I think it took more time to FIND the things in my bottomless pit than it did to paint and assemble the canvas!

I am not as happy with the journal pages as I was last week, but they are more or less the right colours, so that's something. The camel and tree is an illustration I found in a magazine, scanned, digitally altered, and printed onto book paper. I made a nasty boo-boo on the left side, and managed to put a book on it while it was still wet, which messed up the paint, so I had to patch it, but I did not have the energy to start all over again. The girls have been made with a home-made cut out, which I used on the left to stick on to the page and on the right as a template to sponge the colour on.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.

Tags

Hi everybody, it's a chilly morning here, just 10° outside, really more like autumn than anything else! I had a long debate with myself about whether to leave my warm bed or not, but the thought of hot coffee drove me into the kitchen to make it, and now I am sitting here at my desk, enjoying my first mug of wonderful coffee.

I have 2 tags to share with you today, the one I made for tag Tuesday yesterday, where we have reached the letter 'Y', and the other one for the challenge at Artful Times. For 'Y' I chose Yacht, and used a stamp from LaBlanche for the main image. The background has been made with various scraps from my bit box, fussy cut and collaged. The bunting has just been stuck down at the top, so that it seems to be flattering in the breeze - sigh! - wish I was there! 

At Artful Times the challenge is white on white, so I gathered all the white bits and bobs together and threw them on. The tag has been peeled, and then painted with white gesso, to which I added some glitter. Actually it fell into the pot of gesso, but it looks okay so I left it. The TH dress-form has been dolled up with painted cardboard wings,  a piece of a doily and a rose. I added some tissue soaked in gesso - left over from another project I was working on - to give some texture to the background, and pressed the flowers into it.

That's all for today, it's time for my next cup of coffee! Have a good day, take care, and thanks for coming by!

Stripes - and stars

Hi you all! 

After the sweltering weather we had last week we are back to something like November - cool and grey! At least the weather here is never boring!

The Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is to use stripes, and as I needed some July 4th cards, I decided this would be a great opportunity....

The first card is a 'Dutch fold card'. The images are from Gecko Galz, and the other stuff from my stash. You can find the instructions for these cards at Split Coast Stampers.

Inside I superimposed the National Hymn over the Statue of Liberty

The second card is a double Z fold card, which is very easy to make.

The images are again from Gecko Galz. Miss Liberty has been stamped with a Scrollswork stamp and fussy cut.

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

Some tags and a joke

Hi you all, it's Monday again. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

I have a little set of tags to share with you today, together with a little folder to put them in. The images used are from Lost Coast designs. I used double tags, fixed together with an eyelet.

Linking to The Cheerful Stamp Pad - old images

And as it's Monday, a joke sent by my friend Narda:

 My wife, Julie, had been after me for several weeks to paint the seat on our toilet. Finally I got round to it. After finishing it, I left to take care of another matter before she returned. When she got home, she wanted to take a shower. She went into the bathroom, undressed and sat on the toilet before getting into the shower. As she wanted to stand up, she realized that the not-quite-dry epoxy paint had glued her to the toilet seat. About that time I got home and saw her predicament. We both pushed and pulled, but with no success. Finally, in desperation, I undid the seat bolts, Julie wrapped a sheet around herself, and I drove her to the hospital emergency room. The ER doctor got her into a position where he could see her to think about how to free her. (Try to get a mental picture of this!)

Julie tried to lighten the embarrassment by asking,  'Well, doc, I bet you've never seen anything like this before!?' The doctor replied, 'Well, actually I've seen lots of them - just not mounted and framed!'

Have a great day, take care (where you sit), and thanks a lot for coming by!

Alpha Challenge and Moos

Hi you all!

I was not really feeling inspired to do my 'U' page for the Alpha Challenge at the Craft Barn, so I left it till the last minute. I still wasn't really inspired, but desperation gave me a shove!

I bought two new glue sticks yesterday, they were on special offer, and now I know why - they have a lovely smell, but are reluctant to get sticky! Perhaps I can use them as perfume?

I chose 'U' for Unicorn, those beautiful creatures from myths and fairy land, and I am sure I will not be the only one! I made a background using gesso and some blue and green paints, and then stamped the 'forest' using Lavinia stamps. The unicorn  from LaBlanche has been stamped with archival black, fussy cut, and then given some silver glitter and shine with a gel-pen and lots of stickles. I added some deer, the wild rose hedge ( perhaps from Sleeping Beauty) and Red Riding Hood, who is having a look round on the way to her Granny. Didn't anyone tell that child not to walk through the woods alone? Oh well, she seems to have good company today. A fairy is sitting on top of the trees and pointing to the definition.

The card is for the Moo Mania Fashion Challenge. I made some fashion moos, and fixed them onto another lever card, made specially as showcase for the moos. The background stamps I have used are from Chocolate Baroque, and the paper from Prima. I made too many moos, so I have one extra - it's not always eays when you have to count more than 2! This was a fun make!

I am also linking to the 'slender bender' challenge at Rogue Redhead designs.

That's enough for today. Have a great Sunday, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!