More Challenges!

Good morning you all. It's another lovely day here, cold but sunny. I need to make the most of it today, as the weather frogs have promised us rain later.

The first tag I made is for a challenge that I saw on *Pieces of Whimsy*. Traci had made a lovely creation for her PIT group, and there was a lovely image of antique playing cards to use. I used a manila tag, and distressed the edges and printed the image with adirondack espresso.
I cut out the cards, distressed them and fixed them into a stack with a brad, and they can be fanned out to show as a hand of cards. I added a felt heart and some hand doodling.

The second tag has been made for Tag Tuesday - I hope I am not too late there! It has to be a card with a surprise. I used a manila tag, which has been distressed with Th inks in gradient colours, which show up rather muted because of the manila background, an effect that I like. The door has been stamped with a *Dark Room Door* image is archival black, and lightly coloured with green pencil. I cut round part of the door, so it can be opened. I added bird and flower rub ons around the door for some colour.

Now for the surprise. When the door is opened, there is an image of a laughing garden gnome inside. I'm sorry, but I can't remember where I downloaded the image!

And the the third piece is for the Gingersnaps Yahoo Group Recipe Challenge - 3 papers, 3 words and 3 buttons. I have used one paper for the background, two for the alphas, and 3 rosettes made from the three papers, with the three buttons on top.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

One More for Less is More and Something Brown for ...

Good morning everyone from sunny and spring like Rhineland. Nice to be woken up by sunshine and bird song again!

The card I have made for the *Less is More, Off the Edge* challenge was inspired by the view out of my window. The sun rises in the East, which is over to my right, and I see it through the branches of the silver birch in the garden. And the wild geese often fly past. For my card the sun has been stamped using a round stamp from Hein Design, Belgium and 2 shades of Color Box pigment ink. The leafy flourishes have been stamped using a floral stamp from LaBlanche and brown Color Box, as have the flying geese (Lavinia Stamps). The Sentiment is from LaBlanche and means *Everyone wants to get back to nature, just not on foot*. I distressed the edges and did a few *sun* streaks with TH wild honey. I think I am beginning to enjoy making cards with less clutter on them, and will def. keep on trying!

The theme over at Sunday Stampers is something brown. I made a double mini-shadow box from a manila tag and 2 matchboxes. The tag has been stamped and distressed with Adirondack Espresso. I fixed the match boxes behind the tag after cutting the openings. The boxes have been painted with gold-brown acrylic paint, and then I used some scraps of brown embossed and inked paper for the bakground. The images are from *Crafty Individuals*, the metal corners from LaBlanche, the rose from Netty (thanks again), the heart from my stash and the brown ribbon was from a chocolate Easter Bunny that got eaten last year.

Both pieces were fun to make, as always. Now I'm afraid I must do a little h*******k before getting crafty again, sometimes it can't be avoided. Have a great day you all, and thanks for looking!

Less is more....

I have made these cards for the *Less is More* challenge blog. The theme is *Off the Edge*. The card also has to have little or no embelishments, lots of white space, just one layer, must be clean and simple etc. This is not usually my cup of tea, I prefer to put more on than less. But I wanted to try it, so here are my 2 cards. They have both been stamped with TH forest moss and bundled sage, lightly distressed around the edges, the image is partly off the page, and there are no extra embellishments. And I decided to keep them just one colour, as that is something I do like.
The first one has been stamped with a hedgehog from LaBlanche, and the sentiment means *Paths are created by walking along them*. The seond one is also from LaBlanche, and the sentiment from Dark Room Door.

I suppose it does us good to do something different once in a while, and at least I can now say that I tried.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamping and Embossing on Metal

Good morning you all. Well, it's nearly midday here, and I only crawled out of bed half an hour ago, I NEVER sleep this late, so must be a wonder. I was so groggy that I went through my place looking at all the clocks to see if it was really so late! Hope you all slept well and are enjoying your Sunday, too. I still have blue fingers from last night, I was working with indigo ink, and as hard as I scrubbed, it just did not come off completely, looks like a make-up artist got me ready for the morgue in CSI! But I am happy to say that I feel very alive after 2 large frothy coffees!
Yesterday evening I started working on some metal for the *Simon Says stamp and show some metal* challenge. I made a note book and a tag, but I'm only entering the tag today. I cut a strip of silver metal foil, folded all the edges to give it a tag form and get the sharp parts away from my fingers, and then stamped the long haired lady onto it. I don't know who the stamp is from, but I stamped it using Stazon *indigo*. Then I embossed the rest of the tag using a sizzix embossing plate. I could not do it in the machine, as I wanted to keep the lady smooth and wrinkle-free, so I used a koh-i-noor paper stump to get the pattern where I needed it. I embossed from the back, so that the raised pattern would be at the front to ink over. When the embossing was done, I rubbed over the image part using a tea-spoon to make the image balloon out a bit and stand out from the embossed background. I swiped over it with archival black and indigo, and that was it. Decided not to use any other charms or ribbons, as I think it looks good as it is. Was great fun to make, and the blue fingers aren't that bad....I know I could have used rubber gloves, but do not like working with them. And a thank you to Yvonne, who used this stamped image recently on one of her lovely creations, and reminded me that I had it....

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!
I am also entering this into *Try it on Tuesday* - Women's Day Challenge
and *Let's Ink it Up - Embossing*

Large Family Tree

Got this large, wooden tree and the matching oval pieces for the pictures for a birthday present last year,

and have since been wondering what to do with it. Last week I decided to start, as I already have all my brushes and paints out, thought it might be a good time. First I painted it all with gesso, and then applied paint in green, beige, gold and some blobs of crackle paint here and there. I wanted it to look old and worn, which it now does, but it would have been easier to have painted it nice and new! The tree is from Kaiserkraft. I used the wooden ovals to cut the appropriate number of photos, using pics of my Great Grandma, Grandparents, Great Aunts and Uncles, My Mum and brothers and sisters and me when I was small, too. There were a lot more people in the family, but as I have no contact to them, I can't get any other photos. Anyway, the pics have been stuck down with mod podge, and then glazed with crackle varnish. I hung them onto the tree using some gold ball-chain.

Well, if any of my family should happen to see this and feel bad that they have not been included, they can send some photos over and they will be hung, too!
I had fun making this, as usual! Thanks for looking and have a great day!

An altered box

While I was out shopping this week I saw some large, flat boxes containing little ornaments for Easter.

I don't ususally do much in the way of Easter, but these ones were rather special. Why? Because they were packed in a wooden box with 9 compartments, and in my mind's eye I visualised what I could make out of them. So, I bought 2 packets, and have lots of nice Easter ornaments that I can give to others as presents....and 2 nice boxes for altering. I forgot to buy most of the things that I should have bought at the supermarket, but never mind!! I got started on the first one straightaway. I painted it with white gesso, inside and out, and after it was dry, added some pieces of one of my old Ladies' Mags from 1899 - a lot of them are so damaged that I can only use parts of them - using mod-podge to stick them down, and then gave it a coat of diluted gesso to finish it off. I added a few strips of TH Tissue tape, and the box was ready to be filled.

Before I started filling it, I glued a string handle to the back using a hot glue gun so that it can be hung on the wall.
Then I added a few things I found in one of my many over filled drawers - a little glass bottle, an old dragon fly brooch from my Mum, a commemorative medal from the centenary of the Gas, Light and Coke Comapny from 1912, a medallion with some unknown relations pictured in it, 2 molded heads, some family photos put into fragments and a few mini photos & other bits that were just flying around.
I haven't filled all of the compartments so that the background can still be seen.

It was great fun to make, and next week I will start thinking about what to do with the other one.... Thanks for looking and have a great day!

The Postie Called Again....

Yesterday the Postie brought me a letter from England. Inside I found some pretty things from Dawn .
Some days ago I saw a beautiful ATC folder with ATCs on her blog, and she was kindly offering to give them away to the first person who asked - and I was the first one!

The ATC folder is beautifully made, with three gorgeous Paris ATCs, and tied with a matching ribbon, and I am very happy to have it for my collection of art-work made by friends I have made here on the net.

Dawn sent a beautiful card, too:

And although it is lovely to receive things, and have things *for real* that I have seen on a Blog, the best thing is to meet nice people, get to know more about them, to find new friends. Thanks a lot Dawn, nice to get to know you!

And I have been playing here, experimenting with bits and pieces. I hate to throw nice boxes away; on the other hand, if I leave them on my workspace they magically fill up with miscellaneous objects. So I just have to use them. I had another little box in which one of my 1€ clocks was packed. So this time, I decided to turn the box into a clock. I just don't know if this is thinking outside the box or inside the box....Is it a bock or a clox?

I covered the box with torn strips of one of my old magazines, using mod-podge, and then painted it with some diluted white gesso. I added a bit of TH tissue tape here and there, made a hole in the base, and fixed the clock to it. And I am proud to say that it works. This was a fun project, and I am entering it as a second take on the theme *Time* over at *Alter it Monthly*



Thanks for looking, and have a great day.

Head start on Spring, Mini-Theatres and a Ginger Gem Award

Had a busy day yesterday, generally making a mess and crafting, and managed to get some pieces finished and some started. It was Carnival here in Rhineland, and I belong to those who DON'T like it, so it was a wonderful excuse for a crafty day. Not that I really need an excuse....
I finished a shadow box which has been waiting on the kitchen table for a few days. It was the box from the plastic clock that I altered for the *On the wings of time* Challenge. First I covered it in TH Tissue Tape, and then decided to polish it with inka copper. Now you can hardly see the tissue tape, so I could have spared it, but I suppose we are always wiser afterwards. I painted the rim with some gold structure paste and dipped it in some gass glitter. The box has been filled with some fabric flowers and a moulded head, painted with inka copper, and is for a spring swap on one of the forums I belong to.

Then I saw a tutorial from Lesley D for ATC shrines over on Bella Creations
and decided to try it. I made two as mini theatres, one painted in pink, and the other made from dark brown *sugared* cardstock. They were fun to make!

And while I was on the balcony taking my pictures, I saw that one of the trees in the garden is turning green - what a lovely sight. It's still very cold, 1° outside just now, but the sun has been shining for a few days, and it really looks like spring is on its way!

And I was chosen as a *Ginger Gem* again for my *charms* entry - WOOHOO!!!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

More Challenges

Yesterday evening I came back home after spending a pleasant couple of days with a friend. I suppose it's common to all people to do the necessary things first when they get back home - like unpacking your bag, putting things away etc. Well, I didn't. I dropped my bag in the hall and went and checked my craft things straightaway - it was all still there, waiting for me, looking sort of tidy and unused....Of course, I soon changed that! Got down to making some tags. I cut the tags from scrap-paper and used a page out of one of my old magazines from 1899 - which was, unfortunately , torn beyond repair - and cut out strips to stick onto the tags. I distressed the tag with TH inks in gradient colours, and then added rub ons (LaBlanche)and images (Crafty Individuals) and a charm made from a piece of an old necklace with a metal tag put on at the end instead of a bead. Some fabric flowers were added to give the finishing touch, and that was that. I am entering this tag into the GC90 *Charms* Challenge over on Gingersnaps
as my second take on this theme.

This postcard is for the *Simon Says stamp and show some ephemera* Challenge.

The background of clocks and writing has been stamped with resist ink onto the card before distressing with TH inks in gradient colours. The leopard has been stamped with black archival ink and clear embossed, as has the clock at the top right (leopard and clock stamps are both from LaBlanche, the background stamp is from Paper Artsy). The golden clock and frame on the left (stamp from LaBlanche) has been stamped with a Tsukineko glue pad to which I stuck sme gold leafing bits. The chandelier is a rub on, and the tapes on the left side from TH. Oh yes, and I added a game-spinner and a bird cut with a Martha Stewart punch to the top clock. Was fun making something crazy again!
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Saturday Freebies

Saturday again and time for some free downloadables. I have taken some photos of some book title pages, hope you can use them The first one is from *Hansel and Grethel* from 1889. The title means *H & G and the canibal* - I suppose they mean the witch!

The images look like they have been distresssed by TH personally, but it's just *natural* distress!

This is a page from the Thespian magazine

These 2 pics are from a theological book from the seventeenth century.

Hope you can use some as backgrounds for collages perhaps whatever, have fun!
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Ephemera Note Book & Paris Tag

Made this little *Ephemera* Note Book for the
Simon Says *Stamp and show some ephemera* Challenge.
I used covers from 7 Gypsies, and the paper has been cut from torchon watercolour paper, distressed with TH inks in antique linen and brushed corduroy. The edges have been stamped with flourishes using Stazon *timber brown*, and I have added some hand doodling and sayings with brown ink. I placed 2 small manila envelopes inside the front and back covers, each containing a manila tag to use for notes or whatever. It has been bound with my BIA. The little sheep on the front cover is the fave animal of the friend who is getting this little book.

I have just shown a selction of the pages.









The Tag is for the *Paris Walkways* Challenge on
Sunday Stampers.

I have used cardstock from TH for the background, adding cut outs of children and a stamped and cut out Eiffel Tower in front to give it more depth. Then it has been stamped with some French sentiments and a postmark. I added the flowers and hearts to finish it, and voila!
Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Art Journal March

Today looks like spring - the sun is shining and the birds are singing but it is still ice cold . At least it gives the feeling that we are going in the right direction....
I made my March pages using spring colours in the hope that it might give me at least the illusion of spring! The background has been distressed with TH inks, then I sprayed it with water and perfect pearls, which made the colours melt into each other and get a nice sparkle. After heat drying I added the paper squares for the days, using paper from this month's *Scrapbooking*magazine. The title has been stamped with my LaBlanche alpha stamps. Added some random stamping with bunnies, flowers etc to give a spring feeling, and some floral rub-ons for a bit more colour.

I also added 2 journaling frames with March quotes.
It was fun trying out my new stamps, the bunny in the grass and the hedgehog, both from LaBlanche, and I am sure I will be using them a lot for spring and Easter projects.
It was, as always fun, kept me successfully from doing any h*******k or that wicked word I*****g, and it does me good to write a few words each evening to recap on the day and draw some positive conclusions.
Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

On the Wings of Time....

Recently I bought a round, black plastic clock from the Euro Shop in Lintorf. There was even a battery with it! As it costs more to buy a DIY clock, this was a bargain.
Yesterday I altered it with structure pastes in gold satin and pearl white, roughing it up with a spatula and a sponge, and then heat dried it to make it *boil and bubble*. When it was completely dry, I rubbed some *Stazon* timber brown over it, before adding *Time*, placing the letters on the four strategic points. I then added some wings (Melissa Francis) which I rubbed with Inca Gold and timber brown *Stazon* again. The little circlet of flowers in the middle has been cut and embossed with a Cuttlebug die, adorned with four small, red gemstones, to match the second hand.
That was it. It was very difficult to take a picture, as the light is not ideal this morning, so I will try to get a better pic later on.

I am entering this into 2 challenges:
Alter it Monthly - theme *Time*

And
Daring Cardmakers - Pound shop pretties
although I know it is not a card!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

P.S. The clock even works, and is ticking merrily away on my living room wall!

A Calendar Page

I gave a friend of mine a calendar at the end of last year. I made the title page and January, and promised one page a month. For February, I made a page about friendship, which I forgot to post as I was in a hurry!
For March I have made a page with shades of pink and flowers, and hope that it will invoke a bit of spring feeling, although there is still no sign of it here.
The saying means *Give every day the possibility to become the best one of your life*. I overlaid the top right hand corner with printed acetate, which has been sugared, as have the leaves and birds.
Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

A Door prize from the OWOH Blog Event

I had a wonderful surprise when the postie came on Saturday. He brought me a beautiful envelope, which had flown to me all the way from Canada, from Yvonne of ARTic Blonde Creations.

Inside I found 2 beautiful ATCs from Yvonne....

AND a little card and some things to play with....

I have admired the beautiful creations of Yvonne since I first saw them, and I am now very happy to have 2 of her lovely pieces for my collection.
Thanks a lot, Yvonne. I will also have fun with my *playthings*, as soon as I saw those packets of file tabs I could feel a mini-book coming on - watch this space! And even our postie commented on the beautiful envelope. I often give him the stamps, as he collects them, but this time I want to keep the beautully decorated envelope as it is, so he had to leave empty handed. But I did make hime a coffee-to-go, so he was happy about that!