Fairy arch for *Gothic Arches* Challenge

This time I have made something a bit different for the fairy challenge, and managed to use up some things which have been slumbering in my cupboard for a loooooooong time. But I thought for a fairy challenge, they would be just right. The background has been distressed with TH inks in gradient colours, and has then been covered with acetate printed with trees and then outlined with glitter. The fairy was from a decoupage sheet that I won from a blog candy, so I inked the edges, layered her, and added some ice blue stickles. The top arch has been cut from a scrap of paper, embossed with a TH folder to give it depth, inked with faded jeans and then rubbed with a bit of stickles, too. Added two punched birds, two prima flowers with mini buttons and a few tiny glitter flowers. It's nice to try something different once in a while, and it will be sent to a nice little girl who will be 9 next month and who just loves fairies, especially when they are pink, pale blue and glittery!
Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Ginger gems, a LIIU challenge & a lazy day.....

Today I had great problems leaving my bed, as I had a bad back on the one side - oooops, how can you have your back on one side???? And I don't mean my backside either....
OK, I'll start again. This morning my back was hurting. This made it difficult to roll out of my bed, but after my first coffee everything started to feel better....
And then -
And then - I saw I had been chosen again as a *Ginger gem* for my *white glitter*challenge entry - woohoo! Thanks to the team for the inspiration and encouragement, we have a great bunch of ladies there!


Yesterday evening I made a card for the LIIU Challenge #8, anything goes, and as the theme over on Gingersnaps was beverages, used that theme again. The background has been distressed with TH *Victorian velvet* & *Leather* glimmer mist from *Tattered Angels*, before randomly stamping it with a justrite stamp *Is there really life before Coffee?* and using Adirondack *espresso*. The tea cups have been stamped with a freebie from the *Craft Stamper* magazine, cut out, coloured and hand doodled, and then decoupaged. The vintage lady pic is from LaBlanche, the metal corners also. I placed a piece of brown card underneath it, which forms a little hiding place on the back into which I can pop an invitation to coffee.
It was, as always, fun to make - especially with this theme - and the rest of the day I have spent daydreaming, thinking about what I might do next and generally avoiding housework.
Thanks for dropping in, and have a good day!

GC85: Chestnut Theme Challenge - Hot Beverages

For me there can be NO discussion about which hot beverage I like the best - it was, is, and will be - COFFEE!! I love the smell and the colour of it, love watching it coming out of my coffee maker, and have a large collection of different coffee cups and mugs. The first thing I do everyday after rolling out of bed is to stagger to my machine, switch it on, pop in a capsule and watch the aromatic brown fluid run into the foamy milk....
For this challenge I decided to make a LO. The background paper is from K & Co *Neapolitan chocolate daisies flat*. The die-cuts are from Sizzix, and the wings from Melissa Frances.
I took a photo of an antique cup and saucer which I inherited from my Great- Aunt, natually filled with cappuccino. And I do want to emphasise that the dollop of extra cream on top was only for the photo. Well, I did drink it afterwards, I couldn't waste it, could i??
I printed the photo 3 times, and cut out 2 of the pics and decoupaged them. The coffee in the top cup hs been glazed with glossy accents and dotted with some stickles in cinnamon. The background is a ceramic card, distressed with TH Victorian velvet and Adirondack *espresso*, and sprayed with *leather* from *My Tattered Angels*. The card has been edged with die-cut lace which has been distressed to match. The text stamp is part of a *Justrite* coffe stamp set, and has been edged with a border made with a cuttlebug die and embossing folder. The leaves and bling are from Prima.
This was another fun challenge, for which I drank lots of coffee for inspiration.
Thanks for looking, and have a good day!

Update!
Last night I had the *brilliant idea* to make this into a canvas. Took a 15x15 one, distressed it with inks and sprays to match, and mounted the LO in the middle. Now I have a new picture for my kitchen wall, and it is hanging near the coffee maker!

Clockwork Orange- or God made time - He didn't say anything about clocks.....

A couple of years ago I altered a canvas and added a clock. It was in pink, with some blue and purple splodges, some glitter fragments, and didn't really look bad. But I couldn't find the right wall to hang it on, so it ended up in the corner of my bedroom...Last week I had a visit from a friend. She LOVED that clock, and said it was ALMOST perfect (flippin' cheek - my things not quite perfect??!) But then she explained, her bedroom was decorated in yellow and orange, and if she could find a clock like that in orange tones, she would be sooooooooo happy. Tada! Now she's got one. Took another canvas, distressed, daubed and sprayed it with orange, yellow, pink, blue, some adirondack wild plum, indeed, everything I could get my hands on to make it more or less the right colour, added sparkly bits and fragments again, stuck down with mod-podge and glossy accents, and added a floral frame to fence in the clock. Yesterday she rang up to say that her clock arrived.... And she thinks it's absolutely perfect, except that it ticks a bit loud....well, I suppose you can't have everything, can you? Thanks for looking, and have a nice weekend!

GC84- snow pine and mahogany

Just a short post today as I still need to tidy up a bit before my weekend visitor comes. I made this little present box in CD-size to house a mini album I'm making for a friend. The rose has been stamped with TH aged mahogany and a no name dark green, because my TH pine is still pining away under one of the many - as yet unsorted - piles of Xmas bits and bobs that are still lurking around. Then it was clear embossed before water colouring it with some ink and adding a bit of glitter. It has been cut out, decoupaged and matted onto paper scraps in white, wine red and dark green, and I have fixed a green ribbon under the paper so that the ends can be tied at the back. Added three dark red roses - thanks Netty! and that was it. It was, as always, fun to make it, but now I have to start my final clear up....Have a nice weekend, and take care! Thanks for looking in!

2 Tags and a LO, freezing rain and icy roads....

As I dragged myself out of bed an hour ago I heard on the radio that the rain which started in the night has fallen onto the icy roads and caused *Blitz* ice, and that it would be better not to drive if it's not necessary. So, I have changed my plans and will get the shopping this afternoon now, and hope that by then the ice will be washed away. In the meantime, I have time for a bit of crafting, blogging and I should find time for a little h*******k, don't even like to write that nasty word!
It is unfortunately necessary though, as I have a weekend visitor.
Yesterday I made 2 tags for an extra challenge in the Gingersnaps group, it's a recipe challenge for 2011 - 2 stamps - 0 diecuts - 1 ribbon - 1 piece of bling, so the tags have been made to this recipe. The backgrounds have been distressed with TH inks onto recycled card cut from my old calendar. Had to resist the temptation to stick more onto them, recipe is recipe, but it was fun to do.






The LO is a 12x12" print of a photo that I took from my balcony while the big snow was here. Printed a caption on it, used a few left over Xmas decorations and some ancient rub ons, which took ages to stick as they seem to have dried out.
It is a very simple LO, no stamping, no serious work,just for fun and just the expression of a heartfelt wish for warmth, sunshine, green leaves and flowers!
Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

My Art Journal - Between the Months Page

Yesterday I didn't feel like starting anything new, so I just played with some of my new stamps and then scribbled around, which I enjoyed no end. Usually pages like this end up chopped into inchies, or made into backgrounds for tags etc., but this time I am keeping it as part of my journal. The stamps are all from LaBlanche, with exception of the lovely tea cup, which was the freebie in this month's *Craft Stamper*, and I just love freebies- who doesn't?
The background has been distressed with TH inks and sprayed with *Juneberry wine* again - also a freebie, which is why I am using it lavishly just now. After stamping with archival black, I clear embossed some parts to give more depth and shine, and brushed on some perfect pearls, which I heat-fixed. Then I did a bit of writing and coloured some parts with glaze pens in the course of the evening, that was fun, just scribbling around as I felt like it.
I had a lot of fun playing and watching this rather surreal page develop, and will be making more as the mood takes me. there are 80 pages in the book, so I have plenty of space!
Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

I am entering this for the *Simon Says Stamp and Show* Challenge. I have to admit that they are all new stamps (someone keeps ordering things at night when I am asleep - or is it me?)

My Art Journal 2011

I was lucky to get a copy of *Craft Stamper* sent to me last week from Petra B - once again, many thanks! - and have since been enjoying the inspiring articles, lots of which are from the lovely ladies of *Gingersnaps*
One of the many things which have landed on my ever growing *to do* list was the *Project Art Journaling* from Kate Crane. It reminded me of the giant, A3 sketch book I have had hidden in my hall closet for a couple of years.
So, yesterday I dug it out, resisted the temptation to dig further and see what else might be lurking there, and started work.
I decided to distress the pages with ink, as I recently tidied all my acryl and water paints away, and did not want to spend a day looking for them....
The title page has been distressed with TH inks in various blue tones and wild honey. I used a mask to make a border top and bottom, which I sprayed with *Juneberry wine* from My Tattered Angels. The alphas were left overs from Xmas crafting, and the background squares cut from paper printed with a snowy picture taken from my balcony.
Then I did a double page spread for January, using remnants of scrap paper from my stash. The background has been distressed with TH inks in stormy skies, faded jeans, victorian velvet, forest moss and wild honey, masked with scrolls and also sprayed with *Juneberry wine*. Then I did some random stamping with my large script stamp before sticking on the squares for the days and dates etc. Then I did more random stamping round about, using all the stamps which were flying around in the kitchen where they should not have been. To finish it off I added some hand-doodling, one of my favourite sayings from Albert Einstein, and some cut outs which were also littering my kitchen. This way I will always be able to remember how messy my kitchen was when I started my journal, although it was NOTHING compared to how messy it was afterwards. Now you won't believe this, but I did clear away the mess when I had finished - I had to make a path to the coffee-maker!
Before I went to bed I typed a preface for my journal, here is the text:

*Art is the window of the soul*
For me, creating my art is an integral part of my life, and I cannot imagine having to live without it. It helps me to maintain my mental balance and wellbeing, and together with my other great loves - music, reading and writing, makes me whole.
I have often had phases in life where I have been left alone, been sad, overworked, frustrated, ill or disappointed, but my *loves* have always offered me an escape into the realms of creativity and imagination.
I am happy if other people like the art work I make, or what I have written, but it is not essential; the process of creation is important, and if I am satisfied with what I have made, I feel good after it.
Now I have started on a new journey with this art journal for 2011. There will only be a small square to write in each day; space for a short, positive comment. My aim will to be to find the things each day for which I can be thankful, things which made the day a good day, and not to write a report of problems or catastrophes!
I discovered this giant sketch book in my *bottomless pit* - my name for the hall closet! As it is already bound, mistakes or pages which don’t turn out quite as I would like them to will have to become a part of the journey, a mirror of the imperfections of life itself. You can’t rub out your past, but you can turn over a new leaf and try to do better – or differently – the next time!
So, here’s wishing us all a good new year, with the courage to take life as it comes and make the best of it.

There are loads of pages in the book, so I will be able to use some of the other pages *between the months* to try out stamps, do some doodling, or...? Who knows? That's the fun of a journey, you don't know what's round the next corner!

So, now I had better get started on filling it in. Thanks for looking!

My Recycled / Upcycled Bit-Box

What's a Bit-Box? Good question. I recycled a corrugated cardboard box which was filled with silver night-lights. The ribbon that was round the box already got recycled in my winter door-wreath, and the box has been calling to be used for days. First I rubbed all the edges with embossing ink, and then embossed with bronze and gold powder and a touch of perfect pearls in gold and pink to give the cardboard a bit of shine. The background has been covered with a scrap of hand-made Indian paper with gold stars, which I stamped with a script stamp and a clock. Then I gathered all the bits that were flying around on my desk and stuck as many of them as I could onto / into the box - a stamped and embossed TH bird, some Prima flowers and leaves, some gold numerals, a key, some clocks, some words, a vintage picture, a cameo and a vintage fairy which I placed under a TH fragment. The copper coloured clock is also from TH, and the words from Dark Room Door.
Now you know what a Bit-Box is; I'm not sure if I really like it, but my desk definately looks better. Thanks for looking, and have a nice day/afternoon/evening as the case may be.

Stampman Special Event

There's a special event and blog hop underway on the Stampman Challenge Blog, more details here:






























One of the *musts* is to show your favourite project of 2010, how difficult, I loved so many of mine (vane, I know!) But I decided that I really liked this pic that I made for the *Gothtober* Challenge over on *Gingersnaps*. More pics from this project can be seen on my blog here.






So, folks, if you want to join in, the more the merrier - off you go to the Stampman Blog and just have fun!

Happy New Year Everybody!

Hi everybody, here's wishing you a happy and healthy 2011! Hope you all got through Christmas OK, and are ready to start into the new year tomorrow.
I have made this card for the *STAMPMAN BLOG CHALLENGE - ANYTHING GOES!*
I have been resting and reading a lot this past few days, tanking up some fresh energy ready for celebrating with my friends tomorrow. Strange to think that this is the last thing I will have made for this year!
Once again, many thanks to all those who have visited my blog, left encouraging comments and who have given me a lot of inspiration.

Happy Christmas & A Blog Award

First of all I would like to wish everybody who looks by a very merry Christmas, hopefully with some time to relax from the pre-Christmas stress, pleasant hours with family and friends, and all the best. I have been reading on many blogs about all the preparations and hard work people - mostly the ladies- have put into making this holiday memorable for their beloved families, and seen many beautiful cards and presents which have been made with phantasy and a great love of creativity, and hope that all these lovely things will be much appreciated by the recipients. Have a lovely time, and thank you all for visiting my blog and for all the encouraging comments you have left.

Secondly, I have been given a blog award by
Carole who got it from Kevin of McCrafty's Cards.


Many thanks to Carole, who for me is the Queen of hand-coloured Tilda Cards, for thinking of me. I don't really like Tilda at all (Hey, don't shout at me, all you Tilda lovers out there!), but Carole's techniques are worth taking a look, then this lady is good!
One of the conditions is to write 8 things about me, and the second one is to pass this award on to 4 other bloggers.

Hmm, what can I say without revealing too much???

1) I am not a good cook, but like eating and baking cakes and biscuits, such as shortbread, chocolate cake, Muffins, Waffles and....and....which probably explains number 2:
2) I am a little too short for my weight; well actually I am quite tall, but I do weigh a few pounds/kilos/stones/ perhaps tons too much.
3) I am NOT planning on making a diet in the new year, because I cannot afford to buy new clothes and lifting the sewing machine out of the cupboard to alter those I have would hurt my back and anyway I can't see well enough to thread the needle properly - and I could surely think of a few more excuses if necessary!
4) I like driving my little red car around, but NOT by ice and snow.
5) I love crafting, making scrapbooks, LOs, mini-books, cards, albums, tags etc.
6) I love reading books about crafting, making scrapbooks, LOs, mini-books, cards, albums, tags etc.
7) I do NOT like clearing up after I have been crafting, making scrapbooks, LOs, mini-books, cards, albums, tags etc.
8) I love reading, and spend most of the time when I am not crafting, making scrapbooks, LOs, mini-books, cards, albums, tags etc. reading everything that falls into my mostly sticky and inky fingers.

OK folks, I hope you now have a good idea what I (am) like!
I have to pass this award on to 4 other people, so I have chosen
Netty of Netty's Craftings,
Carole of Carole's Crafty Corner,
Sue of Scrapbook Susie &
Alma of Tassels, Tags and Teabags.
So Ladies, grab your award when you have time!

Lantern Waste is Everywhere - Remembering Narnia

I grew up with *The Chronicles of Narnia* from C.S.Lewis, and that magical land, where it was always winter and never Christmas, was something that impressed me very much. I used to have an old wooden wardrobe in my bedroom, too, but it had no magic door to another dimension. Snow was something we did not have much of in London, I have more memories of fog and rain, while snow was something on old fashioned Christmas cards.
I have been living in Germany since 1972, and up till now we never had a *white Christmas*, and to be quite honest, I never wanted one. The only one in the family who liked snow was my dog.
It's still a few days to go, but as we have had snow for a couple of weeks now, it looks as though the wishes in Irving Berlin's *White Christmas* song - made immortal by Bing Crosby - will be coming true for a lot of people this year.
Today it was extremely cold. I watched the sun rising, and the crows sitting in the tree waiting for me to disappear so that they could get to their *supplies* on my balcony. Later it snowed again, but it was still possible to go out for a walk along the Rhine and through our little town. Two joggers passed me on the Rhine-path, one wearing shorts and with naked feet! Well, it takes all sorts to make the world....Unfortunately I was not able to get my camera out quickly enough to get a pic of him.
The old fashioned lanterns along the path, and the snowy trees, reminded me of *Lantern Waste*, but I saw neither Lucy nor Mr Tumnus.
I did see some nice Christmas decorations again, and Santas climbing up several houses. And a snow-ball bush. And kids throwing snow-balls or being pulled along on sledges by their Mums and Dads. And had time to admire the beautiful windows and entrance to St Swidbert's Church, and the arch leading to the *Marien-Hospital*.
And after I had warmed up again at home, I watched the sun putting sparkles on the snow before setting in the west, and a few minutes later the moon rising through the trees.
Am I getting to actually like snow??
Have a nice weekend, take care, and thanks for looking in!

A Winter Walk through Kaiserswerth

Woke up this morning to a white, white world again. It always looks really pretty outside, I have a beautiful view over snowy fields and trees from my window, but don't usually like going out in it. Anyway, today I needed to go to the bank, and as I didn't feel like exhumating my car from under piles of snow, I decided to dress up warmly and walk. It's about half an hour to Lohausen, where the bank is, I walked along the road, as it's the shortest way. Then I decided to cut down to the Rhine and take the *Scenic Route* on the way home. There was just a light snowfall, and it was good to be out in the (very) fresh air. Walked along the Rhine, but never met anyone else today, nobody else crazy enough to go there in this weather! At the *Old Rhine Ferry* I stopped for a coffee to warm up, and then discovered that I had my little mobile camera in my pocket, and was able to take some pics after that. From there I walked further, past the ruins of the *Imperial Castle* of Emperor Barbarossa, through the ancient Church Close, and then down the main street, where there are a lot of old houses, some of which were seasonally decorated. By this time it was snowing quite hard, and as I got to the top of the street, it had turned into a little blizzard.
But fate was on my side! Just at that moment, I noticed that I was standing next to the Grill Take-away, where they make such delicious chickens and chips and....
So, what is a girl to do under those circumstances? - Clear thing - open the door and go in! The shop is run by a very friendly Greek family, with a sunny temperament whatever the weather, so after being warmly welcomed I sat down, ordered half a chicken, chips and a diet coke. I think the diet coke is important. After all, the meal had more than enough calories - but it was sooooooooooo delicious! I hadn't had any breakfast, apart from my usual 3 cups of coffee, so was really hungry and enjoyed it no end. The lady sitting at the next table was very chatty, so we talked about this and that while eating and strengthened ourselves before going out into the blizzard again. I felt really full and warm and well by the time I had finished and was ready to stagger on home. The last 20 minutes back home was a bit unpleasant, because the wind was blowing the snow into my face, and my glasses were so snowed up that my vision was rather impaired....Or was it because of the glass of *Ouzo* that I got before I left the grill??
Well, if I hadn't got back safely, I wouldn't be writing this, found my way back like a homing pigeon, but probably not quite as quickly.
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the pictures!

2 *Snowflake* arches for the Gothic Arches Challenge

Brrrrrr! It's chilly here. Just been out on the balcony in PJs and dressing gown to take the pics of my arches, as the light inside was not so good this morning. Managed to get some pics of the mist, and then watched the sun slowly rising over the snowy fields, and now I feel like I have been deep frozen!
Made 2 simple arches this time. The blue one has been cut from some blue patterned paper from the *Taj Mahal* Stack, overlaid with some blue starry gauze material, and then I put an embossed and distressed frame round it. Added some snowflakes, a TH die cut, and some alphas, and that was it.
The second arch has been cut from different scraps of black and white card which were part of a calendar from last year, I added a silver border, the flower, 2 snowflakes and a text made with the Brother P-touch. Was fun making them, as always. Thanks for looking, and keep warm and safe!

GC79: Random Redhead Challenge - Stitching

Although I used to love sewing,nowadays I find it more and more difficult because little things get in the way, like not being able to thread the needle any more! But I was determined to try the GC79 Stitching Challenge. I cut a large TH tag from some embossed paper, which I distressed with Victorian Velvet and Faded Jeans. The ribbon on the left side has been stuck on – OK, I cheated there, but it was sticky ribbon! *Live* has been cut with a large Sizzix die and the edges distressed with Faded Jeans again. Then I sewed it on with the sewing machine – it took ten minutes to get the silly needle threaded! – using a zig-zag stitch in dark blue. The lace flowers – which used to adorn an unmentionable piece of clothing! – have also been sewn on with the same stitch and additionally fixed with brads in a purple-blue tone. I added a medallion in blue to the bottom of the tag, and sewed a hanger on with pale blue ribbon – by hand!! Was fun to make, in spite of the little difficulties, but the problems in life are there to be overcome.
And as I looked at *Gingersnaps* this morning, I saw that I had been chosen again to be a *Ginger Gem* for my entry in the *sewing notions* challenge - woohoo!! Thanks a lot to the team for the great inspiration!

An Altered Drawer

Well, some time ago I started altering this little drawer made for sorting slides, and wanted to enter it into a challenge. It took soooooo long, that the challenge is long done and dusted, but I have managed to finish it, don't like leaving unfinished things in the dark corners of my flat - they are probably all full up, anyway! I started by removing all the *shelves* and supports in the drawer, sanded it off, and started painting - that's where the trouble started, as it just sucked up every coat of paint I put on it, and I was determined to use just things I had, otherwise it wouldn't have been recycling. Anyway, after a lot of work I got a coat of bronze structure paint to stick, which I roughed up a bit using an old washing up sponge. The inside has been painted with a remnant of sage green acrylic paint, which I then sprayed with some walnut sparkle spray to cover up the thin bits. Gave a powdering of perfect pearls in green and gold to round it off, and then hammered and sawed till I had got the dividers more or less back in where I wanted them, Then I filled it with different bits of mini - glass vases and other bits and bobs, and added a clock, which cost 1€ at the Euro shop. That was it. My neighbour saw it, looked at it rather critically, and said *It looked better before!* Never mind, he's a man, and I had fun making it, that's the main thing. Thanks for looking!!!

Busy doing nothing....

Well, not quite busy doing nothing - but busy. Had a few days away, with no time or opportunity to do any crafting, just had to be contented with things like watching *Harry Potter*, playing games, reading, snoozing, nattering, cooking and partying, so it was an enjoyable break from the usual daily patterns. It has been snowing a lot, so it was a good time to stay in and keep warm. Today it is is raining, and icicles are forming on the trees, look like big diamonds. The Harry Potter film was fantastic, but scary - glad B was there to hold the popcorn and comfort me at the bad moments. In the last couple of weeks we had made an advent calendar together for her Mum, who had to be sent into the bathroom to hide while we fixed it on the wall on Wednesday morning. She was really thrilled with it, too, so that was good. And on Tuesday evening, before we went to Harry Potter, B gave me a beautiful Calendar that she had made for me - in secret! and I was over the moon having something made expecially for me - thanks B! And I got another present, a beautiful gold bird with a winter hat, who came complete with his own travelling tin, and who now has a place of honour on my window ledge, so he can look out at his colleagues outside. And then on Friday evening, when we made our Channukah / Advent celebration, I got another bird from Inge, a red one with a crown and a majestic cloak. Now they are residing peacefully side by side on my window ledge, and no doubt have a lot of birdie tales to tell. Thanks B & Inge, for being so kind.Inge also has 2 of the lovely golden birds,who also seem to need to tell each other a lot!
All in all, some nice days, in good company. giving and receiving presents, and much more important, love & kindness.