Oops, I did it again....

Well, this has been a distressing week, one way or the other, but in spite of health problems I couldn't keep my hands off the inks and tags, and this was the result. They are somehow different to my usual ones, the colours and motives have changed a bit, but that's the nice thing about tagging - watching them *grow* and develop. Thanks for looking!

Sunrise, sunset....

We had some lovely sunrises and sunsets this week before it started to rain and snow again, and as we have lovely views to the *Drachenfels* and the Rhine from here, I just have to open the window to get such lovely pictures. Made me think of that lovely, albeit melancholy song from *Anatevka* (Fiddler on the Roof):

(Tevye)
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?

(Golde)
I don't remember growing older
When did they?

(Tevye)
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?

(Golde)
Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?

(Men)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

(Women)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

(Tevye)
What words of wisdom can I give them?
How can I help to ease their way?

(Golde)
Now they must learn from one another
Day by day

(Perchik)
They look so natural together

(Hodel)
Just like two newlyweds should be

(Perchik & Hodel)
Is there a canopy in store for me?

(All)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

Distressed again.....

Well, I have been trying to fight the urge to make more tags for some days. Today the urge won. Not that I have been lazy lately, made quite a lot of pretty cards for friends and a little thank-you booklet, but it was all nothing for my TH-distress urges. Now I feel better....Thanks to Gina who sent me the TH die-cuts and filled up my supplies here in exile.

A boat trip to Unkel

Yesterday there was a strange appearance in the sky - the sun! After so many cold and windy days it was good to get out and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. We decided to make use of the good weather and take a little trip on one of the Rhine Boats to Unkel, a tiny town on the Rhine with an abundance of beautiful, old, half timbered houses. We were lucky to be able to *cruise* on the *Rhine Princess*, a new ship whose virgin voyage was on Easter Sunday. And it was possible to sit on deck and enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine without freezing. In Unkel we sat outside a café and enjoyed ice-cream, cakes and coffee to strengthen us for the journey back home, this time on a ship called *Beethoven*, which was also very comfortable, when not quite so luxurious as the first one. All in all, a sunny day in nice company, a little holiday from the grey weather reality of recent times.

Ladies' Night in Pseudonym.....

People who know me may not be disposed to believe this, but last night I actually went *out*. And I don't mean a visit to a friend's or a scrap shop, but to a club-discotheque here In Bad Honnef. Of course, I didn't want to. But some other gals had decided we should all go to Ladies' Night, and put the pressure on till I agreed to go with them. We all got a bit dolled up and went out at 8p.m., not really knowing what to expect. We knew it only cost 3€ to get in, and thought we couldn't expect too much for that price....But we were wrong. Nice surroundings, good music, very friendly service, and the price included 4 free drinks. Only for ladies, the men had to pay the regular prices. Perhaps they will be able to enjoy equal rights one of these days! The selection of free drinks was good - wine, beer from the barrel, mineral water, cola, juices, tea, coffee, sekt - there was something for everybody. We spent an enjoyable 2 hours there, listening to the music, chatting, dancing and behaving a bit like teens out for their first night on the town....All in all, the place is well worth a visit & very good value for money, so if you happen to be in Bad Honnef on a Monday evening, make tracks for *Pseudonym* ( www.club-pseudonym.de) and enjoy a nice evening....And they don't mind if you decide to spend more than 3€.

Mini Loo-roll Album

For this little tag album I used 2 coordinating papers from an Anna Griffin stack to cover the cardboard rolls. They have been embellished with die-cuts, dimensional cut-outs (also from Anna Griffin), transfers, clocks and frames printed onto overhead transparency foil, mini playing cards, textile flowers, some bling and some nostalgic pictures, etc. The tags all have sayings about time, seems to be my theme at the moment. They have been distressed with Tim Holtz inks in tumbled glass, Victorian velvet, crushed sage, wild honey and forest moss, and then stamped with diverse motives and embellished with everything within reach. Was fun to make, thanks for stopping by to look!

Crafty ladies, a walk through Bad honnef and a sunset....

Yesterday afternoon we managed to dodge the rain clouds and take a walk through town. Every time I see these wonderful old houses, alley-ways, little gardens and small cafés I have to get out my camera and start clicking....It is amazing that so many houses survived destruction in World War II, and still remind us of old times. If those times were better or not, I cannot say, but they certainly produced beautiful buildings which have lasted longer than many of today's houses will. As usual, our walk ended in a café where we enjoyed some delicous cake and coffee before strolling home again. The crafty ladies were taken one evening here, while we were decorating Easter eggs, as were the pictures of sunset over the *Drachenfels*. Except, of course, for the naked lady holding the flowers, who stands outside the Pizzeria day and night, waiting for customers....

Mini Tag Album

Made this little tag album from tags distressed with Tim Holtz inks and stamped with different motives, such as script, music-notes, diamonds, cherubs, skulls and crossbones, floral flourishes and little wings. It has been decorated with Tim Holtz clock faces, textile flowers from Prima, film-strips, metal embellishments, rub-ons and ribbons. I have written some sayings about time, mostly round the edges of the pages. It was, as usual, fun to make, thanks for stopping by to look!

A walk to Rhöndorf

Rhöndorf is a little district in the suburbs of Bad Honnef. The first German Chancellor after the second World War, Konrad Adenauer lived there, and his house - now a museum - can still be visited. Rhöndorf is also famous for its beautiful old houses, several of which are now *Wein Stuben* - wine restaurants, with a view to the vines growing on the slopes of the *Drachen Fels*, under the castle ruins, in the background. Well, today our afternoon walk led us there, in spite of hail-stones and rain showers. It was too early in the day to be drinking wine, so we went to an ice-parlour and enjoyed giant portions of delicious ice to strengthen us for the walk back to Bad Honnef, where we arrived just in time for tea....

Far, far away in a little town in Germany....

Today I drove with 2 friends to Linz, a little town on the Rhine about 10 kilometers south of Bad Honnef. Linz is a little jewel of a town, with ancient, half-timbered and stone houses dating back several hundred years, and 2 towers dating back to the middle ages. We almost ran from house to house, it was just unbelievable to see soooo many beautiful houses together. Many of the houses have hand painted sayings along the front, others were adorned with carvings, ornate lead plates, windows with hand made lace and artistically carved doors. One house - and its door - had been adorned with dozens of ancients tools, hammers, pliers etc. One old stone house had a wonderful double door with carved, 8-pointed stars set into it. I could ramble on for ages talking about it, because it was just one of those magical days where everything seems to fit - a parking lot directly opposite the old gate-tower, wonderful things to see, sunshine and blue skies, good company and last but not least a wonderful café with superb coffee and cake, and friendly, smiling waiters.
To cut a long story short - if ever you're somewhere near Linz, go and see it!

Arrival in Bad Honnef

So, yesterday I finally made it to Bad (*Spa*) Honnef, a pretty little town on the romantic part of the Rhine, near the *Dragon Mountain* and with lots of other small townships, mountains and ruined castles along this stretch of the river. It's not far from the *Loreley*, a famous cliff described by Heinrich Heine, the great German poet in his wonderful poem, *Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten, dass ich so traurig bin* - *I don't know what it means, why I am so sad....*
Today was not a day to be sad; the weather has turned really spring like, the sun was shining, and it was a pleasure to walk around here. At the weekend I will drive past the dragon mountain (so called because it looks like a lying dragon) and along the Rhine to the Loreley, and I will play my Heine CD in the car and listen to his unforgettable words while driving along. It's good to have a few weeks to take it easy, do something different, see different views and re-charge my batteries.

Unicorns and flowers

Well, I should have been busy clearing up and sorting out yesterday. But somehow I got magically drawn to try the stamps and colours I was trying to put away, and ended up with 3 tags and a card. I love unicorns and fairies, even though I (should) know that they don't really exist. But who knows? Anyway, I had fun making these. Now I'm off to do some clearing up, my stamps and inks are still all over the place....

Stampin' about....

Spent yesterday stampin' about the kitchen, playing with my new stash. Tried out some of the new stamps etc; alone, or combined with others I already had, and here are the results. I like them all, but the owl has to be my favourite! If I hadn't been sooooo tired I could have gone on all night! The tags have been distressed with TH inks, stamped, and then decorated, as always, with everything-within-reach. Two of the tags have been covered with some ads from an old Lady's magazine from 1901.It is slowly disintegrating, and the paper has become very brittle and yellow, and I am busy scanning some pages to preserve them at least as a memory, and others, which are in a really bad condition, are being scrapped before they turn to dust. Was great fun making them - as always!

The CREATIVA Craft Fair in Dortmund

Phew, what a day! Big queues for parking, even longer ones to go to the loo, masses of scrappers and crafters, and....and.....STASH, STASH and more STASH as far as the eye could see! The outing to Dortmund was something B and I had planned a long time back, and were both very much looking forward to. Once we had passed all the hurdles - getting there, finding a parking space, walking back to the *Westfalen Halle* where the fair took place and getting in, we were almost knocked out by the sight of soooooooooo many lovely things. We both love stamping and nice papers and cardstock etc, so there was really something to look at there. We only managed to look at a few of the exhibition halls, as after a time you are just not able to take in anything more. We did manage to spend a lot of money in a short time, and came away with lots of new stash and even more inspiration and ideas for new projects. We were both rather knocked out afterwards, my feet felt as if they were smoking by the time we got back, but it was worth it. Nothing can keep scrappers away from stash. Must go, need to start playing with my new things!

Distressed again....by Addicted

Addicted. Caught. Hooked. Call it what you like. I just can't stop playing with my distress inks. This time I used some pages out of a very tattered old school music book that once belonged to my sister. I stuck some printed paper onto the tags before distressing them, and then carried on as usual. I am not going to start ripping up my lovely old books, so all you book lovers out there can relax, this one was really just a heap of rather *distressed* pages, just the right thing! If anyone knows a cure for being a scrap, distress and ink addict, DON'T let me know. There are worse addictions!

2 ATCs, a card and a goody bag....

Our postie is an ambitious man. One of his ambitions was to get everything into the mail-box. If it didn't fit, he made it fitting. This did nothing to improve my mood or the contents of some little parcels and large envelopes....Now, I am proud to say, that he does a good job. With a mixture of complaints and little rewards I have persuaded him to ring the bell when he's got things that don't fit into the box, and not to reduce their size by folding and /or squashing. Well, yesterday he rang, and brought me a large manila envelope and a pile of post. The big envelope contained a *goody bag* from Alma and a lovely ATC from SusieJ. The goody bag was full of die-cuts, card toppers, stickers, ribbons, lace, charms etc, and in addition a beautiful card with a yummy cup-cake on it, and an ATC with a rose on it, one of my favourite flowers. Sue's ATC has a wonderful coffee-cup button on it; it's probably good that I dodn't have too many buttons like that or I would be sewing them onto all of my clothes....Thanks Alma and Sue for thinking of me, and brightening an otherwise cold and grey weekend. It's good to have friends.

A Damsel in Distress ....

in distress inks! Made some distressed cards yesterday evening, 2 *secret* ones which cannot yet be revealed and three just for the fun of it, and it is fun. To anyone out there who hasn't tried all those lovely things from Tim Holtz, I can only say, try it!

Giving in to temptation - or more tags - again! - and a birthday card.

I tried not to. I didn't want to give into temptation. But I HAD to do it again. It has definately become compulsive - making tags with the new colours of Tim Holtz distress inks. I love the pastel shades, and it is just a good feeling to rub them onto the paper and see the effect as they blend. This time I used ceramic paper, a specially coated, very smooth and non-glossy paper, and the colours crushed olive, crushed glass, Victorian velvet, wild honey and forest moss (for stamping). I decorated them with the ususal eclectic mixture of everything-within-reach - charms, gem-stones, pearls, paper flowers, glossy accents, crackle accents, stickles, acetate butterflies, clock faces etc. The card - which went to Maria Bubbles - has been stamped with an *art-nouveau* style stamp from LaBlanche, and decorated with the the same bits and bobs as the tags. I had fun making them all, now I think I should perhaps clear up a little before starting the next ones!

Fleas, cakes and playing games.

Yesterday I visited a friend who lives in a village called Lintorf not far away from here, takes 10 minutes to get there in the car, traffic permitting. My friend and her Mum both live there. It was beautiful weather, ice-cold but with sunshine and blue skies, made a nice break from the cold, grey winter days. We started the day off with a good natter over breakfast, which lasted nearly 2 hours. We were planning on baking *Buchteln*, yeast cakes filled with jam, so I made the pastry so that it could rise, and then we set out for the flea market which they hold about 4 times a year there. Was a tiny market, but lots of interesting things on show; the usual household bric-a-brac, used books (we found some good ones!), records, toys, old china - you name it, they had it. And some stalls selling new goods, which ranged from life size animals to put in the garden to cheap sponges, ball-point pens and batteries which did NOT look as if they would have much energy left in them. And of course, all the stalls selling goodies to eat - sausages, coffee, bread and rolls, fruit, spices, nuts and dried fruits of all sorts, and - pop-corn!! It was soooo nice to walk home clutching our buys with a big bag of warm, freshly popped, sticky corn. We bought crystallized ginger, burnt almonds, salted cashews and Japanese crackers, too. After we had walked through the park back to my friend's place, I baked the *Buchteln* - recipe at the bottom! There are dozens of different recipes for them, this is just my one. You eat them hot with vanilla sauce - or icecream - but they don't taste bad cold, either. After eating our fill we played cards for the rest of the afternoon, drank coffee and ate nuts, ginger and crackers to keep up our strength. All in all a lovely day in good company, almost like a mini-holiday.



My recipe for *Buchteln*:
500 gramms of plain flour
Dried or fresh yeast
Milk
about 50 gramms of melted butter
Sugar
Pinch of salt
Jam or drained, preserved fruits
I egg
Cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top

If using dried yeast, mix with the flour, 100 gramms of sugar, the melted butter, the salt, egg and about 3/4 cup of luke warm milk. If using fresh yeast, make a well in the flour, crumble the yeast into it, add a tablespoon of sugar and a little luke-warm milk, leave till it bubbles - about 10 minutes - before adding the other ingredients. Mix using the dough hooks of the beater till it forms a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead through, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour to rise. When the dough has about doubled in size it is ready. Divide it into about 12 pieces, and press each piece flat with the palm of the hand on a floured surface till it is about the size of a small saucer. Put a teaspoon of jam or fruit into the middle, and then pull all the edges together and twist them in the middle so that the jam cannot run out. Place the dough balls into an ovenproof form, pour about 2 small cups of luke warm milk over them and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake in a preheated oven (180°) for about 30 - 35 minutes till well risen and crsipy on top. Serve hot with vanilla sauce. Guten Appetit!

Birds of a feather.....

It all started when I saw some pretty birdies made by Sue Bubbles on her DC Gallery. I asked Sue if she could send me the template for them, which she did, along with a pretty brown birdie (first picture). And before I knew what was happening, others fluttered along and joined the merry throng. Two flew away again to my neighbours before I even had a chance to whip out my camera, but I managed to get pictures of the others. I wonder how long they will be staying with me before they find a new home?

....And even more distressed tags

I don't know what it is that is so fascinating making tags at the moment. Perhaps the fact that I get to play with all my lovely distress inks, and stickles and gem-stones and crackle-varnish and glossy varnish and...and...and. There are not many things in this size which can be decorated and played with so satisfyingly. On some I have added mini film strips of old family photos, on others I have distressed the photos with alcohol inks and stuck them behind TH fragments. It gives lots of possiblities to try things out. All of the tags are in remebrance of different members of my family, some of whom I think of gladly and others who I would rather forget. But family cannot be chosen, you have to live with it and get to grips with it or, as a last resort, just turn your back on it. Oh, and the owl tag was just for fun.

Weather antics, buttons, beads and blog awards....

This morning I rolled bleary eyed out of bed. Nothing new, I do it every day. Staggered to the coffee maker for my first fix of the day. Looked out of the window. S-N-O-W!!! I was soooooooooooo sure that it was over and done with. Yesterday we even saw tulips and daffodils and flowering orchids. OK, it was in a garden centre, but it gave us HOPE. The weather was nice. The sun was shining. A bird was sitting in a snow-free tree trying to remember how to warble. And then SNOW!!! Again. I will not write what I said on seeing it, suffice to say I swore fluently in several languages congruently. Then I decided to make the best of it, made another bucket of coffee and headed for a long soak in the bath, with Dead-Sea salt crystals and mandarine essence (It's supposed to make you lively and alert). Well, it smelt nice, anyway, the soak helped my aching joints, I could hardly hear them creak as I rolled out of the tub afterwards. Went back into the living room and looked out of the window. YES, of course I had got dressed first. Surprise, surprise! The snow was gone. The sun was shining. I looked again, it could have been a fata morgana induced by coffee, Dead-Sea salts and manadarine essence. The snow WAS gone. But I could see a patch at the back of the field, so I hadn't imagined it. As I am writing this, the sun is shining, a bird is making a noise like a rusty bike-pump outside, and there are some dark clouds on the horizon waiting to throw snow or rain or sleet at us as soon as we look in the other direction.
Yesterday and the day before I was staying with a friend. We had a nice *old-girls* weekend - ate nice food, played all sorts of games - including snakes and ladders and ludo -*when ye do not become as the little children* - or something like that, went for a walk in *Schley's garden paradise* (wonderful!) and the best thing of all - we sorted out her button box. The garden paradise faded into insignificance at the sight of all those wonderful buttons, pearls, pins etc. Giant butons, tiny ones, wooden ones, shiny ones, jewelled ones, humble ones, pearls, beads, lovely little antique cards with wool on them, a giant mother of pearl shell - in a word - scrapper's paradise. Last night I spread them out on the sofa, let them run through my fingers, drooled over them, started making plans what I could do with them etc. And today, they are still on the sofa so that I can enjoy them before they go into my *treasure tins*. I'm not expecting visitors who might want to sit there - and anyway, there's plenty of room on the carpet!

And about those blog awards - well, something got atarted there.


There aren't enough people on Scrapbooking to give all the awards to that we have to keep giving on to 3 or 5 or 10 people, not to mention all the likes and dislikes, shoulds and should nots we have to admit to. So, now I have got this *Happy award* from Ann
and now I have to list - once again - ten things that make me happy. Here goes:
1. Looking at stash
2. Buying stash
3. Getting stash as a present
4. Playing with stash
6. Cash for stash
7. Drooling over new stash
8. Making mini books with stash
9. Recycling stash
10.People who like stash.

I am still thinking about which victims are going to get this blog award from me, perhaps for the umpteenth time, so WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

Yet more distressed tags - the last ones for now!

Made one more batch of distressed tags yesterday, now I have a visitor coming this afternoon and need to get my kichen looking something like a kitchen and not quite so much like a witch`s workshop, so will have to put everything away and fly once through on my steam broom. Used more or less the same colours again (from TH -what else?) - forest moss, rusty hinge, wild honey, cracked saphire, crushed glassed, crushed sage and olive. Wanted to try to do a bit of jungle theme where everything gets swallowed up by time, ticking relentlessly by....now you know why I can`t sleep at night, always thinking of things like that! Used flowers, gem-stones, some rub-ons, clock charms, skulls etc., and some of the stamped motives have been *stickled* and then glazed with crackle varnish. Was fun making them, won`t be soooooo much fun clearing up! Thanks for looking!

And yet another blog award.....with even more conditions!!

Today seems to be blog award day, now I have been given an award from Alma, who got it from Debbie. There are strings attached again - this time I must list ten things that make me happy and pass it onto 5 other bloggers and link to their blogs.
First the ten things that make me happy;
1: Drinking coffee
2: Drinking coffee, & eating chocolate
3: Drinking coffee, eating chocolate & crafting
4: Drinking coffee, eating chocolate, reading and crafting.
5: Crafting, drinking coffee and eating chocolate
6: Crafting, drinking coffee, eating chocolate, & reading
7: Crafting, drinking coffee, eating chocolate, 12" Subways and reading
8: Smoked salmon sandwiches
9: Bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon
10: Sleeping

I could name a lot of other things, but I don't want you to think I am being greedy.
Anyway, they are all very healthy things - chocolate and coffee are made from beans. And what are beans? Yes, right, vegetables! The body needs lots of fluids - mine gets plenty! Healthy again! Chocolate is also known to be good for depressions because it raises the serotonin levels in your brain (if you have one, of course). If you don't, you won't be worrying anyway! Reading broadens your horizons and your vocabulary. I read nearly everything that falls into my ink & chocolate stained fingers. In the meantime I swear fluently in many different languages and dialects, an advantage which is not to be overseen in today's multi-cultural society. Fish - such as salmon, is full of poly-unsaturated fats which are good for you. Sleeping is good for you. Subways contain loads of salads - healthy again! That leaves the bread, bagels and cream cheese. Well, you have to do something just for pleasure, don't you??
I want to give this award to *Sue creating memories* because she has just started to blog, to Suzie Boo, to Gina, to Sue from "This is my World" and to Doodles from *Welcome to my world*, 'cause she is always giving awards to others. The links to their blogs are all here on the left side. So, here you go girls, over to you!

More distressed tags, stress with a neighbour and a blog award....

So, let's start with the good news. I got a blog award from Gill aka Drumcloggirl over at the Scrapbooking forum on DC. Here it is:


There are, as always, strings (conditions) attached - I must tell again three things I would /should never do. OK, you asked for it:
1. - I would never call my downstairs neighbour an old goat out loud. I just think it. She loves boiling cabbage - very healthy - and so I open the little window(about 6" square) in the stair-case to let a little of the cabbage steam reach the outside world before it arrives in my bedroom. This causes her to start screaming about *fools who don't know that it is winter*. She always starts cooking at about 7a.m. so it will be ready when her son comes home at 7p.m. I am one of those strange people who do not take kindly to being woken by clouds of boiled cabbage. After having written this, I am hoping that neither she nor her son ever get to read this blog.
2.- I should never start making more distressed tags before I have cleaned up the mess from the day before. (Please note the use of *should* instead of *would* in this case.
3.- I would never be so rude to show my middle finger in public. Even when provoked, I just gently push my glasses a little higher on my nose. I can't help it that my middle finger is longer than the others and therefore my fave digit.
Thanks for the award, Gill, I will start thinking about the three recipients as soon as I have cleared up my kitchen.....




And for those who are interested, the technical details:
It was such fun making these tags that I coudn`t stop! My favourite is the last one with the quote from *Macbeth*. Used recycled card again, and as colours crushed sage, tumbled glass, forest moss, rusty hinge and wild honey. All by T.H. - what else? The forest moss is really like a dark pine forest, looks almost black, just gorgeous! Decorated the cards with stamped skulls, flourishes, dragonflies, ferns and butterflies. And of course, the quote from *Macbeth* -By the pricking of my thumbs, somwthing wicked this way comes*,(Used to be thinking of my Aunty P. when I said that!) On one I cut out a larger skull, painted it with crackle varnish and then fixed it with foam pads. Some of the other motives have been embossed and /or glimmered with stickles and painted with crackle varnish. Used ribbons, die-cut dragon flies, transparent butterflies, mini prima flowers, bits and bobs of old costume jewelry,(Well I hope it was costume jewelry after I have ripped it apart!!) and on one a TH film-strip which I sewed on - wonders never cease! Thanks for looking!!

Another BIA Album

On Saturday I did a workshop at *Bettypepper*, our theme was recycling - this time, loo-rolls. We had a nice afternoon flattening them, then covering them, decorating them, cutting tags and other decorations with the Big-Shot etc. Although the basic materials were the same - each participant got a *goody-bag* with paper, embellies etc - the albums all looked different at the end. The 4 hours went by very quickly, was nice to scrap in company, and Bettina supplied us with doughnuts (because it's carnival) and coffee galore, so all were happy. All in all a pleasant workshop with plenty of work while talking shop!

Some distressed and altered tags.

These tags have all been cut from cardboard packaging, which is always much too good to throw away! I have distressed them using Tim Holtz inks in some of the new colours, wild honey, broken glass, victorian velvet, crushed sage and rusty hinge. The names alone sound yummy! Then they have been stamped, and some partly embossed with plants, a skull, flourishes, flowers etc. Some of them have been brushed with perfect pearls in interference blue, which has a lovely sheen like oil on water. Some of the motives have been varnished with crackle varnish and /or decorated with stickles. Added some textile flowers, some transparent butterflies, some dragonfly die-cuts. The ones with the skull and cross-bones have been decorated with little skull charms, as in the style of the *memento mori* paintings, which I always love looking at.. Thanks for looking!

Fat Book Pages and *tin* album from Lesley AKA Dragonlady

Yesterday I received these wonderful works of art from Lesley, after they had been in the post for 4 weeks. I know we have had bad weather, but perhaps somebody could explain why an airmail letter in the year 2010 needs 4 weeks to get from England to Germany. Now I know why it is called *snail-mail*. Lesley's pages speak for themselves, they are the most beautiful pages I have ever received. Thank you, Lesley!

A baby album in a satchel for Pia.

Made this little album so that Pia`s Mum can put lots of the new baby photos into it. The *satchel* is made of cardboard, covered with pretty paper from the *Sascha Collection* by Anna Griffin for Prima. The concertina album has been covered with a coordinating paper from the same collection. I punched eyelets it the front part of the bag, and threaded a pink ribbon through so it is done up like a bodice. Added a butterfly gromlet to the top of the flap, sewed a button to the bottom part so that it can be closed quickly by winding the ribbon round it. Used more pink ribbon for the straps, and added a bunny wrist-rattle. Used some foam alphas for the name, and some peel offs for the first page of the concertine album. Was fun making something for a baby (who`s one week old now). This was definately something different for me, neither distressed nor stamped with skulls and crossbones, but sometimes we have to leave our *comfortable* paths....

Distressed valentine mini-book

Aftrer TH had taken leave of us on Saturday, we had a little workshop at Bettypepper with Wendy Morris, a lovely gal from Alabama. She gave us a wonderful selection of papers from Graphics 45 and lots of ephemera and embellishments to go with it. we didn't have enough time to finish it there, but I managed to get it done the past 2 evenings at home, adding a few photos and bits and bobs that I have here in my various *treasure* tins. Was fun making it, distressing the papers, stamping the tags etc. As nobody loves me - big sob, please - I have decided to keep the album myself! Was fun making it, thanks for looking!

Meet & Greet with Tim Holtz by *Bettypepper" Düsseldorf, Feb, 6th 2010

Today was THE BIG DAY. Tim Holtz was in Düsseldorf and visited our Scrapbook Laden *Bettypepper* Well done Betty on getting such a big fish hooked! We had a meet and greet, we each got a copy ot Tim's yummy new book , *A Compendium of Curiosities*, signed by the Master himself, and were able to chat to him, take pics, watch him work etc. It was quite expensive getting into the *Location*, but my best friend B bought me a ticket and enabled me a wonderful day. Took lots of pics, and gave Tim an album I had made, he even said he liked it! Then we had a group pic of the shop team with Tim, and he took some of his own of everyone who was there. His one complaint about Germany was that aren't enough *Starbucks* coffee shops!! But it was a day to remember for me!

Narnia Revisited....

While I was driving past snowy fields, trees and frozen ponds in the past few days I had to think of Narnia, the land where it was always winter and never Christmas. I grew up with the *Chronicles of Narnia*, that cold and magical world where you go through the wardrobe to get to Lantern Waste, part of a frozen world where time seems to stand still. I think I wouldn't have been surprised to have been overtaken by Jadis, the White Witch of the North on her sleigh, with her gang of nasty dwarves - sorry, I know that expressions like that are not politically correct today, so let's say with her troop of vertically challenged, bearded activists - or to see the gentle Mr Tumnus out and about with his shopping basket over his arm. But no, nothing so romantic crossed my path, and I was overtaken just by the usual hell-bent lorry drivers and BMW and Mercedes drivers who believe that they have a right to push you into the ditch when they are in a hurry. Neither did I see Mr and Mrs Badger, nor talking trees and stones. But if there are any Lucys or Peters or Edmunds out there - take courage! Go through that wardrobe, find Aslan, and then Jadis will have to retire to the High North with her winter, and spring will be just around the corner.

Another Family Layout

This shows a picture of my Great Grandmother Rachel, taken in 1920, when she was 50 years old. She was born in Kiew in the Ukraine, but moved to London to give her family a beter chance in life. She was a very resolute lady, who brought her children up with an iron, but loving hand.
For this LO I used coordinating papers from the *Bridgeport* Stack by SEI again. The flourishes have all been cut by hand, the edging paper has been cut into strips to make 2 straight and 2 zig-zag borders. I used the same paper for the matting behid the photo, making a space for some hidden journaling. Used some *Prima* flowers and half pearls for decoration.

A bleak, black and snowy weekend with plenty of time for crafting....

I was not in a good mood this weekend. The weather was bad, snow again, and my mood was even worse. I had been looking forward all week to cropping with my friend on Friday, but she was ill, so we had to cancel our crop, and that was the last straw. So, I got stuck into my crafting to try and tide myself over a long, cold and lonely weekend. I have been trying to use up paper from a stack of paper that I don't much like, which meant thinking of new ways to do things. Made another layout using similar techniques to the *spring-cleaning* one, just with other colours. It is a very fiddly job, cutting out petals and leaves and butterflies with a small nail-scissors, but I was quite happy with the results. I used an old photo showing the aunties - or great aunts of my husband, taken at a wedding in 1910. They are standing there so stiff and somehow looking very anxious, and I had to think of Gilbert & Sullivans *Mikado* and the *Three Little Maids who all unwary, come from a ladies' seminary...* I hope you enjoy looking at it!

Thank you Gina....

For this lovely blog award.



Now I must tell three things I should (would) never do :
I should never throw my nightdress into the toilet
I should never paint my toilet seat with Eddings
I should never go out in my PJs, especially if I want to go shopping at Tesco's!

The three people who I have chosen to get the award are Alyson (Crafting to stay sane) Joanne (Take life by the hand) and Tania (Tartantaz). So please start thinkig about those three things that you would NEVER do!!!

Spring cleaning, naked facts and how not to sort the laundry....

Yesterday I had to go out to do a few errands. It was freezing cold and the wind was biting. I went to the post office to buy a stamp, ususally not a big problem. But for some strange reason they had closed at 12:00 for lunch, an hour earlier than usual. So I decided to try the stamp vending machine. The screen is so dark, you have to practically put your nose onto it to read what is on offer. You can buy stamps for 1 cent, 2 cents, 3 cents etc. What the hell does anyone want with those? Are you supposed to put 55 or more of them on your letter? And an assortment for 5 or 10€. Didn't need those, either. Then there is a possibilty to choose your own denomination. As long as you want 5 cents or 10 cents no problem. After struggling with small change and a sign which kept telling me *not available*, I managed to get an assortment of stamps to the value of 1.30€. The next problem was finding room on the envelope for so many large, freshly printed stamps, and getting them stuck on by arctic temperatures and a boisterous wind while worrying if they were going to freeze onto my tongue....OK, they didn't, and I got the letter posted after 8 minutes of deep-frozen time. Got back home and warmed myself up with a hot coffee. Then I decided to tidy the bathroom and bedroom, which I had left in the usual mess after getting up and taking my morning bath. Wanted to put my nightdress into the laundry basket, lifted the lid and let it drop in. How lucky that I do not usually flush the basket. I had dropped it into the toilet by mistake. Quick hunt for the elbow length rubber gloves. A blue bin-bag, eyes closed and a quick grab to put the nightdress into it. No, not for the old-clothes collection, this needed to be put into the garbage bin, straightaway - yuk! I never did like that nightie, anyway.
After recovering from tidying up I needed to make some mess again, so started on a layout. Used a photo of T when he was about 2 years old, *helping* - helping to make a mess, as usual. Love his outfit! I used coordinating papers from the SEI *Bridgeport* stack, 2 as background, and 2 sheets which have been cut out to make the flowers, butterflies, vines and alphas. After cutting them out - by hand! I glazed them with sparkly mod-podge and decoupaged them to give it more depth. Was fun making it, but now I have to clear up again....

ATCs

Made some ATCs in the past few days, it's a good way to use up some of the scraps which get left over when making bigger projects. I used lots of different techniques - stamping, embossing, distressing etc. Was fun making them!

Cardboard and loo-roll mini BIA-tag album

Made this album using a lot of recycling materials - cardboard for the covers, loo-rolls for the pockets and cream coloured packaging for the tags. The buttons have been *rescued* from old clothes and stored in my *treasure tin*. The cardboard for the covers was distressed and inked with T.H. inks in weathered wood, brushed corduroy and lettuce, then sprayed with *My tattered Angels* glimmer spray in wheatfields and garden fairy, powdered with some *perfect pearls* and given 2 coats of glimmer mod-podge. The loo-rolls have been flattened with my *Big Shot*, covered with 2 different papers - I think from K & Co, and also coated with mod-podge. Tip -after covering them I put them through the Big Shot again so that the glue bonds better and doesn't cause air-bubbles. Used 1" BIA O-wires to bind it, and then decorated the little album with lots of bits and pieces from my *treasure boxes* - ribbons, wool, flowers, magic mesh, cut-outs, die-cuts, some *bling*, nostalgic pictures, plastic animal stickers from the toy-shop, animal transfers, clock-faces etc. The tags have been distressed with T.H. inks in the colours used above, and patterned using a T.H. *Scroll* mask. Each one has been stamped with owl pictures, and I added some quotes about wisdom and owls. Was great fun making it, hope you enjoy looking at it!

Mini BIA Album

This album has chipboard covers and mini envelopes to hold the tags. The envelopes have been distressed with Tim Holtz inks in broken china and brushed corduroy, and then stamped with archival ink in black. The small stamps are from *Sousan Design*, the large clock from *My tattered angels* For some I have used masks from Tim Holtz. The Tags have been die-cut using the packaging from the T.H. masks. I used quotes about time, printed on to brown paper. I kept the embellisments sparse, some words, notes, clocks and owls printed onto overhead transparency foil, a few flowers, some clock face cut-outs, some ribbons, string and paper clips. The paper-clips have been covered with coordinating papers. The covers have been covered with paper from *Graphics 45*, and embellished with a T.H. *dog-tag* and a watch face, fitted into some clear plastic packaging cut to fit. The two labels at the front are from other products and have been distressed and stamped, the smaller one has an added die-cut from grunge board. Was fun to make! The quotes used are:

Love makes time pass
Time makes love pass

Time to remember

As if you could kill time
without injuring eternity.
Henry David Thoreau

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
Louis Hector Berlioz

Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.
Henry Austin Dobson

Men talk of killing time,
while time quietly kills them.
Dion Boucicault

Time heals all wounds

Sunday is Muffin Day

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My First Card from 1951

While clearing and tidying one of my drawers this week I found this card that I made in 1951 for my Mum. I was 4 1/2, so I think it was an achievement! It's been written on rough post-war paper using pencil and coloured pencils. I remember making the card and that my brother picked wild flowers from a bomb-site nearby, which we placed in a cup for Mum.

Rest in Peas....

Well, they've gone. Soon they will be winging their way to their last resting place. They have been my loyal companions for 2 years now, have kept my feet warm in winter, slept next to my bed at night, were always waiting for me in the morning when I rolled out of bed, or when I came in out of the cold world outside. I feel lonely without them, and cold. Then I had to dispose of them - my wonderful sheepskin slippers. The problem was - where, and how?? In Düsseldorf, garbage is collected by the Awista. They give us bins for everything. Black bins for household garbage, brown ones for *bio* things which can be composted. Blue bins for paper. Yellow bins for plastic and metal. Containers spoiling the view on every corner where you can throw in brown glass, clear glass and green glass. Containers for old clothes (packed and bundled) or shoes (tied together in pairs, please!). Once a month they collect old furniture. We have a recycling yard round the corner where there are giant containers, not only for all these things, but also for garden rubbish like leaves and branches, for scrap metal, for small electric appliances (like toasters, coffee machines etc) but NOT for computers, TVs or LARGE things. These have to be taken to other specialised recycling yards. And once a month they have a special collection at the yard where you can take DANGEROUS things like old paint tins, batteries, acids, chemicals and old oil cans, to name just a few. Our garbage gets treated very well here, then they earn money with it. And the monthly, compulsory fees for their services are also considerable. Once a year we even get a free calendar which tells what you can put where and when. This was the problem. Where to put my sheepskin slippers? Normally, I could have bundled them and taken them across the road to the old clothes container. I mean, they are not worn out. It's just that I had to dispose of them because every time I took them off, the smell of decaying sheep was sooooooo strong that I nearly fainted. I had thought of trying to extract the gas they were giving off and marketing it as an anaesthetic for minor ops. Or would it have been more suitable as something for biological warfare? This was the problem. Did I have to take my slippers to the monthly collection of dangerous goods? Or could I dispose of them in the black bins? This morning I made a decision.
The offending articles were packed in a small bin bag, tied well, and I sneaked outside in PJs (the grey-pink striped ones) and my leather biker jacket and put them in the black bin. There they came to rest, not on a bed of roses, but on a heap of veggies, mostly peas, which were in the bin. As I said at the beginning - Rest in Peas!!

Getting screwed....

Well, don't be disappointed, but this is probably NOT about what you may be thinking. Last night I couldn't sleep again, so decided to get on with my crafting. Whilst getting things out of my scrap cupboard - actually it's my wardrobe, but somehow the scrappy things have taken over, and in the meantime my clothes all look scrappy too, as they are bundled up into the smallest compartment to make space for the important things in life - I spotted an album, which I thought would be good for a few LOs. Took it out, and saw why I haven't used it - somebody (????) had taken out all of the page protectors. No problem - I found a pile, got my screwdriver and unscrewed the album. Spent the next ten minutes on my hands and knees, crawling over the floor with a little torch looking for the screw I had lost. Thankful to say I found it after kneeling on it. The screw did not get damaged, I'm not so sure about my knee. By then it was nearly 2 a.m., I have hardly slept all week, my finger-tip skills had dropped to an all time low, and my frustration tolerance level was sub-zero. Took the album, after clearing enough space on the table to put it there, fumbled the page protectors - why are they always so slippery? Why do they fall under the sofa when they drop off the table? Why are transparent page protectors so hard to see on the floor? Why do they attract dust better than swiffers? - onto the screws, and tried to get the top parts of the screws screwed back in. 2.30 a.m. and almost finished. Then I saw the pile of cardboard strips which should have been alternating with the page protectors. I refrained from screaming as it was in the middle of the night. Start all over again! Unscrew screws. Page protector. Cardboard strip. Page protector. Cardboard strip. Page strip. Cardboard protector....they just didn't all fit on the screws. Rootled in the draw and found some little tubes to lengthen the screws. Fumbled them into the album. Page protector. Cardboard strip. Page protector. Cardboard strip....up to ten of each. 3 a.m. and still trying to get screwed. Why didn't that last screw fit any more? 3.15 a.m. - DONE!! There's a title on the front of the album - *Happy Days* (that title is so sick it sucks!). But with the title at the front, the page protectors had the openings at the bottom. 3.30 a.m. Put the album back in my scrap-robe, under a large pile of other things. I can't even throw it away without having to get it unscrewed to separate paper and plastic for the dual system recycling bins. If I ever find it again, please remind me about sleepless nights, lost screws, bottoms up and a lot of frustration....

Grunge Album

The tab album is from Tim Holtz. Made lots of die-cuts from patterned grunge board (also T.H. Who else?). Used distress inks (T.H. again, he must make a fortune!) in weathered wood, brushed corduroy and broken china. Used some masks from a travel kit for the Eifel tower and words etc. Decorated it all with ribbons, fibres, buttons, pins, paper-clips, an old brooch, brads, flowers, keys, clocks, an old postcard, printed cardstock - from T.H., some tags, pieces of old passports, transfers of animals and angels, and lots of other bits and bobs from my treasure tins. The only problem is, that once I start rootling in those tins, I seem to get lost in another world! Was fun making the album anyway!

Does the CSI operate here?

Had a busy day yesterday clearing and tidying and doing this and that. Then I wanted to go to bed. Wanted to put on my nice, warm PJs. I looked under the pillow - the PJs were gone!!!I was shocked! Had a criminal removed them while I was busy cleaning? Shock and disbelief lamed my usually sharp-as-a-knife understanding. It's not that I haven't got any other PJs, but I like these ones because they are so warm and comfortable. Horror! Perhaps I had thrown them away while clearing up. A thorough search of the blue bin-bag did not reveal any grey and pink stripey PJs. I double locked the door to make sure that the thief could not escape. Looked in the drawers of the desk - no PJs. Looked in my stash boxes - no PJs. Looked in the basket with the clean washing - no PJs. Looked in the dirty washing box in case I had thrown them in there by mistake - still no PJs. Went to the big closet in the hall where I keep a lot of my stash - no PJs. And then, as I turned round, I saw the culprit in front of me, in the mirror. It was dressed in my PJs, a black fur waistcoat and black and white cow-spot socks ( a real fashion statement!) I had forgotten to get dressed. How lucky that I had decided against an afternoon walk along the Rhine.

Old friends re-found....

I DID IT!!!! I have managed to clear my desk. Thought I would need a bagger to get rid of all the rubble and archaeological remains which have heaped up on it since I last scrapped there. I pulled on my elbow-length rubber gloves, took an extra strong plastic bag in my left hand and started. Found lots of old friends hiding there. Some nice piccies of my last dog, Scruffy. The angel-wings which I bought to use on Xmas cards. Lots of buttons, brads, flowers, paper-clips, pieces of ribbon, Easter decorations (just in time!), 3 Labellos in different stages of going off, a dried out stamping pad, my camera which I have been looking for for at least half a year, embellishments galore, 3,70€ in small change, you name it, I found it. No, I did not put all those treasures into the bin-bag, but sorted them lovingly into the right boxes, which were, strangely enough, mostly empty. And I found 3 (yes, THREE) spiders, probably relations of Freddie and Frieda. One was already dessicating, the other two got flattened ready for the journey to the big web-in-the-sky for the re-union with their family and friends up there. Then I cleaned the floor. I got out my steam broom and steamed the floor hygienically clean, which was necessary after I had removed so many families of dust-bunnies. The floor now has the same pleasant beech-wood tone as the living room, I think I had forgotten that. The desk has been moved to a space near the door, where it is nicer to sit, but I will have to keep it tidy....and the storage units have been hidden in the corner next to the wardrobe, where the desk was before. Anyone casually going past the bedroom on the way to the bathroom will not be able to see into this corner which makes it predestinated for a good stash hideaway. And there was even enough space for my spare bums in the corner! I still have to sort and tidy some of the drawers in the storage units, but I think I have done enough for the time being. I wish you all a good start to the week, and hope that the weather will soon give us a break. But bad weather is at least wonderful for clearing up and scrapping.

*Daisy* in Kaiserswerth

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

*Daisy* has now reached us with wind and snow galore. Time to stay home and watch the snow from the warmth of my living room. Time to think about the homeless looking for somewhere to save themselves from freezing.

Girls rule....

Spent the last 2 days helping a friend move into her new Surgery where she is *setting up shop*. We bought mounds of things by IKEA, and much to my surprise, they even fitted into my Panda, thanks to B's skills in packing. Yesterday we were 4 *girls* at work, screwing, drilling, assembling, hanging things up, putting things away etc, was fun doing the work, enjoying each other's company and watching things progress from empty rooms through mounds of boxes and packages to the first *taking shape*. And R, one of the girls, had made us wonderful mini sandwiches with home-made bread for lunch, which we very much enjoyed, and there was coffee galore and sekt to wash it down, so the fun part didn't come too short. And although I am really scared of driving in bad weather, I managed the drive there and back with no mishaps, even had my head clear enough to enjoy the white sparkly boughs on the trees and hedges, and the glittery,icy sheen on the little roads round here....Sometimes B is right, I can do more than I think! And in the evening I managed to get my washing done. Not ususally hard, but the washing machine here is in the cellar and I live on the second floor, so have to run up and down three flights of stairs each time, so after washing and drying three machines - white, dark, and the things which are already ruined with other colours in the third one! - I was feeling fit. Fit to drop onto my sofa, with a glass of pro-secco and amarol, where I spent the rest of the evening watching Dr House (glad he is not my doctor!) and CSI Miami. Not my favourite programme either, but I LOVE the way Horatio looks out from under his eyelids!
This morning I got woken up by an ex-colleague, who could not understand why I was grumpy at being woken at 10 a.m. - hells bells, I am a retired lady of leisure, and entitled to stay in bed as long as I like, especially after screaming with laughter over Stephanie Plum's escapades and witty sayings half the night!
Now, although it is half past one, I am still sitting here in a long nightdress, that once had a pink floral pattern, and has now been reduced to soft, mottled tones of floor-mop grey, long wooly socks, sheepskin slippers (that smell like decaying sheep when I take them off), a knitted cap and my fleece dressing-gown. Look like Garfield dressed up as Scrooge, but as nobody knows it doesn't matter.
But now it's time for the good intentions. Going to get dressed in my housework outfit, tidy away all the scrappy things strewn through all rooms, and then start cleaning....this could take some time, so, till then - watch this space!

Soft and noiseless world....

Woke up this morning very late, no traffic noises, no planes, just quiet everywhere. Looked out of the window and found the answer - snow everywhere, sun shine and icy temperatures. Just added some photos taken at dusk, and one of the wood pigeons resting in *my* tree. It's just starting to snow again, looks beautiful, but I am glad I am viewing it from the comfort of my warm living room.

Recycling - what some people throw away!

Sue Bubbles sent me a dotee doll and some other very pretty things for Xmas. And they were packed in a drop-dead gorgeous grungy vaseline box - thanks Waitrose - and this little album has been made out of it. I covered some of the pages with some pretty gold brocade paper from Maria Bubbles, and used lots of other bits and bobs of decorations from other DC Buddies - thanks to all. Was great fun making it, and I hope it will be an inspiration to others to look before declaring something as *rubbish*