Wonderful mail art and presents and Blue Chair Diary Day

Good morning everybody! Well, I am very pleased to say that after several bad nights I managed to sleep through this time, and slept for nearly 10 hours. It was really necessary, and I am sure I will feel the benefit later on when I am quite awake.
Yesterday was a busy, busy day, filled with tidying all the craft drawers and putting everything back in again - tedious, hard work, but worth it - then I have rediscovered lots of things that were lost....
But the nicest part of yesterday was not all that yucky clearing and cleaning, but my POSTMAN

He came yesterday and brought me a beautiful mail art envelope from Donna and another large envelope from Tee. And then my trembling-with-excitement-fingers opened them, and found goodies galore.
From Donna a pair of her wonderful *Dia de los Muertos Earrings* from Mexico, on a wonderful presentation card, and from Tee two things that we swapped - an egg and a mini-book, and loads of other beautiful things to fill the envelope,
So I won't torture you more, here are the lovely pictures;



I have made a separate photo of the earrings so that you can see them better!

And not only did I get all those lovely things yesterday, during the week I got a beautiful book mark made of handmade silk from Julie of Sesenarts
in faraway Australia. The pictures are all in the little slide show, you can set it to view with or without captions.
I just want to say a really huge thank you here to all those who support me, visit my blog, mail me, send encouraging messages when I am down etc. This is so much more than I ever expected here in Blogger Land. We really are a community, and I have found many good friends here. Donna is a wonderful artist, always busy and full of new ideas, ready to start new projects, and Tee is always trying to make things personal, by organising swaps and contests, and making lovely hand-crafted things. Julie makes the most wonderful things from silk, well worth looking at. So If you haven't yet visited these ladies' blogs, it's time!
An now to Sketch Sunday, over at Sophia's *Blue Chair Diary*
I am sharing two masks I made some time back. I have a whole series of these masks in different sizes and colours. They have been painted using gouche colours. For those who don't know them, these are water based colours, which are thicker and have more coverage that water-colours, but are just as easy to work with.

The maks have just been painted using my fantasy, I just like doing them. It was a phase where I painted nearly all my pictures divided up into separate colour fields, I think I must start doing more like it!
I am also entering them into the *Color my world challenge* over at *The cheerful stamppad*
And last, but not least, it just remains to say a huge *THANK YOU*
once again to Donna, Julie and Tee, and to wish you all a happy Sunday. Take care of yourselves, and thanks for visiting, thanks for being friends!

A Cowboy, a Cowgirl and some twine....

Good morning everybody, it's Saturday again! Just in case you hadn't noticed. hope you slept better than I did, I think I will need a lot of coffee before I start feeling human today. Weatherwise it looks like I will be able to spend time on my balcony doing some painting, so that's good.
Yesterday was a really uneventful day. I didn't swallow beads, drink paint water instead of coffee or have any other mishaps. Just started on several new projects, which I can't show yet, as they are not yet finished,so I just have 2 little things to show you today.
The first one is a postcard for GC 102, where we have to use twine on a project. As it is still wild west over there at Gingersnaps, I made another cowboy, who is carrying his lasso over his shoulder. I have used another digi stamp, which I have clear embossed and decoupaged onto a gradient background. I Used a TH tree die-cut, and a Martha Stewart bird punch to finsih it off. I'm afraid *wild west* isn't really my theme, and I have no suitable stamps, so had to improvise, but that isn't a bad thing.

And the second picture is just a bit of fun. I started doodling while I was thinking about the wild west and cowboys etc, and this cowgirl was the result. She has been made in my famous *Five S* technique, then heated, bubbled, and distressed (poor cow!)before I added a bit of background with water colours, stamping and rub ons. And a cow girl needs a hat, so I cut out a hat from a magazine and put it on her head. But I like her boots best! I am entering this as my second take on *cowboys and cowgirls* into GC101.

So that was it for today. I need more coffee! Have a great day, whatever you are up to, and take care. Thanks for visiting, and great thanks to all who left such encouraging comments yesterday and during the week, I do appreciate them very much!

Paint Party Friday, Cowboys and postcards

Hi you all. It looks like a fine and sunny day here, so perhaps we are in for some nice weekend weather. I do not like roasting in the sun, but it's nice to be able to sit on my balcony and paint or drink coffee, or both!
At Paint Party Friday they want to know what distracts us from painting. I think I don't let myself be distracted from painting or crafting. I am often distracted from h*******k in all its varied forms, but from painting? Nope!
I have painted a lot this past 2 weeks, so much that my paints are running low, which means that I will have to take trip to Creative Discount next week. It's a sort of art warehouse in town. Everything is piled up on shelves with narrow passages between them, you take a basket and wander round. I never find what I want first time off, but I do manage to find lots of things that I like while I am looking, and ususally emerge with a satisfyingly full basket and a lot to pay....Anyone else know things like that?
Today I am sharing the second picture I painted this week, a mixed media piece again, 12 x 15". (The first picture can be seen here ) The faces have been drawn onto ancient book pages, and painted over with gesso, as has the heart. After painting with acrylics and *bubbling*, I stamped some images, and added some floral rub-ons and of course, my favourite leopard to finish it. I have called this picture *Talking to myself*.

And I have made 2 postcards for three challenges. The postcards are my entries for 2 Gingersnaps challenges, *Cowboys* and *Make a scene*, and I am also entering them into the postcard challenge over at *Just for fun*
and into the *Color my world* challenge at *The cheerful stamp pad*
Here is my cowboy postcard:

I have used distress inks and watercolours to create the background, the houses are a TH die-cut, made from grunge paper and gessoed, and the cowboy is a digi stamp with has been clear embossed and decoupaged.

The sun-down scene has been created using distress inks, and the sun has been stamped with colourbox pigment ink. The cowboy has been clear embossed and decoupaged again, and the wild geese flyin' by are from Lavina stamps.

The postcard reverse is the same for both cards, so I have only shown one.

OK, it just remains for me to wish you a lovely day. Take care, and thanks for looking!

Sh*t Happens and other Old Wives’ Tales

Good morning you all! Hope you are all fit and ready to start your day.
Over at *Simon Says Stamp and Show* this week the motto is *old wives’ tales*, trying to explain some of the sayings we so often use without really thinking about them. My title today is not one of the ones I chose to make a tag of, might be difficult to put into a (polite) picture. But yesterday evening I got a taste of the truth behind it. I have to take 2 tablets every evening – no problem. Yesterday I had them on the table next to my laptop. As usual I was busy multi-tasking; reading blogs, watching TV, putting the finishing touches to a mini book, and taking my tablets. I had a small handful of half-pearls on the table, with which I was adorning some pages. Can you guess what happened? I picked up the pearls (small, peach coloured and very pretty), and swallowed them down with a glass of water. I realised what I had done almost at the same moment, because I saw that the tablets were still on the table. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I decided to ring my friend B, as she is a doc. Now there’s another saying that laughter is the best medicine, and if that is true, then I got a wonderful dose of it. She thought it was very funny. After a moment, I did, too, and she does not think that there is any danger of permanent damage from swallowing half a dozen pearls. They should leave of their own accord sooner or later. As I said at the beginning, sh*t happens. And sometimes it’s studded with jewels….
But back to the SSSS Challenge. I have made 3 tags, showing three different quotes: *don’t put all your eggs in one basket*, *time and tide wait for no man* and *A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush*.

And I finished the mini book I started earlier in the week. It is about 3”x2”, as I made it with the off cuts of another book. The covers have been embossed and distressed with worn lipstick, the pages have been cut from torchon water colour paper, distressed with ancient linen and worn lipstick, and then stamped. I used water colours to paint the stamped images, and some floral rub ons to enhance the pages. I am still trying to get the look of old illustrations. Then I added a bit of lace, some pearls (!!!) and some stickles for the finishing touches.

Now I am off to do some painting, and then I will clean -it must be done!- my arty kitchen.
Thanks for looking, have a great day and take care!

Thumbing my nose....

Good morning you all. Another cool day here, but I think it looks a tad better than yesterday - my heart ever hopeful! Anyway, the one thing certain about the weather, is that you have to take it as it comes, so no point in moaning.
Yesterday I drove to the post office and braved the dragon-behind-the-counter to give up my mail-art envelope. I stood in front of the glass window and showed her my envelope, as it was too thick to push under the slit at the bottom.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
Her eyes narrowed to two mean-looking slits.
She pressed her lips together to make two even meaner looking lines.
She moved her right hand and opened the side window to take my envelope.
She glared at me.
She glared at the envelope while thumping it with her date-stamp.
I said *Thank you!*
She said nothing.
I went.
I hope it made her day!
The rest of my day was spent doing what comes naturally - painting and crafting. I made another 4 bookmarks for the Gingersnap swap, but they have turned out almost exactly like the first ones. Sort of same but different.... I will choose 4 and send them off now.

The last one shows the reverse, for which I used a sheet of scrapbook paper with vintage postcard motives. I am still not really happy with them, but as I don't have any other travel stamps I don't think I will be able to change much! C'est la vie!

And I made a mixed media portrait. The face has been drawn onto some ancient book pages - from 1768 - and then painted over with diluted gesso.
I drew the features and coloured the eye and mouth with pencil and watercolours. The rest has been painted with acrylics, using metallic colours, then smeared and smudged etc before heat drying and *bubbling*, which is always fun. Then I added rub ons instead of hair or is it the contents of her head? I like being able to see the print in her face - every line tells a story, so to say, no botox!

Is she thumbing her nose at the rest of the world, or does it just look like that?
Okay, that was it for today. Hope you have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

An eye in the woods....

Yesterday I went for a walk with Emily, my friend's little four footed friend. We went through the woods, but it was all a bit spooky, as it was a dark and rainy day, and rather gloomy under the trees. Emily kept giving me unmistable signs that she wanted to go back home. Like slamming her brakes on, or trying to pull me in the opposite direction....And then I saw a TREE that was watching me. Yep, a tree! If you are now thinking that I am slightly/rather/completely mad - you could be right, but I did see it. I did! And here it is:

Anyway, I decided Emily was right and we should go back home!
On the way back I found some pretty, wild roses growing next to a heap of thrown away tyres next to a rather murky bridge under the motorway , and it always makes me wonder how beauty turns up at such unlikely places,

And I managed to finish one of the mini-books. I can only show you a sneak peek today, as it has to travel to its destination still - in the nice mail art envelope from yesterday.

I will show the rest after it has reached its destination.

And I made some bookmarks, there's a bookmark swap going on at Gingersnaps,with the theme *travel*. I think I will make some more though, as they are not quite as I envisaged.

The Paris ones have been stamped on the front, and for the back I used some Paris themed scrapbook paper, but there was no manufacturer's name on it. No embellishments this time as they might damage the books! And I have cut off the short ribbon-tail on the right one, didn't like it. But it was the last piece of red ribbon!

The London ones have also been stamped on one side and for the reverse I have used an old illustration of London life.
I will make some more with more exciting themes and then decide which ones to enter for the swap.
Okay, that was it for today, time for my next cup of coffee! Havea great day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Less is More (more or less) and mail art

Good morning you all! Seems to be a cool and windy day here, no sunshine and not much birdsong. They are probably busy holding tight to their branches so as not to be blown away.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time painting again, but can't show you yet as it isn't finished. And I have started 2 mini books for different swaps, but they are also not yet finished.
In the afternoon I decided to do my card for *less is more*. This week they want a one layer card with some embossing. No problem. But which embossing folder to use? Or should I use heat embossing? Or both? Then I decided to make a little scene and emboss part of it. So I made the card with the hot air balloon. Not totally bad, but not good either....

Well, I can use the reverse for some trial stamping....
















The next one I liked a bit better. Till I realised that the sentiment was not straight....

Then I remembered my Xmas folder. Brilliant! I embossed the card, and realised I had put it into the folder the wrong way round, so it was debossed. I thought I could put a sentiment on to it anyway, and promptly stamped it onto the wrong place. Said some naughty words while aiming card into the bin....

Tried again. Not bad, but not good either. Bin! (I love my bin!)

Then I remembered my lovely Penny Black cats and my *scrollswork* sentiment - and this was the result. It's not perfect, either, but I am leaving it as it is....enough of less is more for this week!

After that, I decided I was having a bad card day and decided to paint to soothe my nerves again. I made a mail art envelope to send the mini book I made last week. After painting and *bubbling* I distressed it with black stazon, did some random stamping and then decorated it with some rub-ons. The effect is rather wild, and I like it, so I hope the recipient will, too! I am wondering how the post lady will react, though....Anyway, who cares? Not my problem!

So, that was it for today. Time for some more coffee! Havea great day, whatever you are up to, thanks for visiting, and take care!