Back home and already on the receiving end....

Last Thursday I left Bad Honnef after a very pleasant stay of nearly 3 months and came back home. Managed to find a parking lot directly in front of the door - a big help, considering all my luggage! My mail box was full to the brim, partly with nice letters from England, and partly with the usual a-b-c mixture - adverts, bills and crap! When I reached my front door, I found a *welcome home* banner hanging there, put up by my friend B. More surprises from her were waiting for me on the table and in the fridge; a lovely card, flowers, coffee, brownies, bread, cheeses, meat, milk salad and butter, so I did not need to run out and go shopping straightaway. Thanks B for the very kind thought! Then the sporting part of the day started - carting all my luggage up 2 flights of stairs and getting it unpacked and sorted and the cases away. When I saw all those piles of luggage in my bedroom, I wondered how it had all fitted in my little *Panda*. After resting for a couple of hours, I opened my post and found lots of goodies waiting for me. An album page from *Dippy Dog*, complete with frog and prince, and in addition one of her beautiful wallets stuffed full of lovely papers, stamped images and nostalgic pics. And last but not least, a beautiful tag with 2 wonderful sides to it. Thanks Dippy! And another little parcel from Doodles Dumpkins was waiting for me, too, with a wonderful ATC, a card and an assortment of goodies for crafting - lucky me!! And the flow continued. This week I receieved another ATC from Carol G , together with a lovely doggy tag. I think if I were a dog, I would want to be adopted by Carol, too, and enjoy all those lovely walks in the New Forest and on the beach! And both Doodles and Carol used brown and blue, one of my fave colour combis. And that was not the end....today I found a parcel from Alma waiting for me to welcome me home, with a beautiful star-card, an altered wooden tag, and a lovely hand-made cushion - and ....AND.... A BOX OF MALTESERS!!! I haven't seen - or tasted- them for years, so that was a real treat. Thanks, all of you, for your kindness. It's nice to know that people care. I still think a lot about all the new friends I met in Bad Honnef, and I am missing them, too, and hope to be able to meet up with some of them soon.

The birds....or Hitchcock revisited.

Do you remember that scary film with all those nasty birds? At the moment it seems to be happening here....They showed us on TV that crows are attacking pedestrians and cyclists who come too near to their nests and their fledglings. Some parks and leafy paths have had to be blocked for a few days to protect people from the aggressive birds. There are a lot of birds in the park round the house here, they wake me up in the morning and chatter and sing all day, but no attacks up till now.... But actually I wanted to tell about my *word-birds*. Sue Bubbles sent me a template for making pretty little paper birdies some time ago, and as I am heading home next week, I decided to make birds with little sayings or verses written in tiny letters around the edges- hence the name, *word-birds*- to give to all the people I have got to know here as a little farewell present. At first I wanted to make ten, but the first ones *flew off* very quickly, so I had to make more, and they just kept multiplying, inspite of those who left the nest earlier than expected. I used papers from Anna Griffin, from the *Bridgeport* Stack from SEI, and from Sarapapers *Flea Market Fabrics*, all liberally decorated with bling and stickles, and each with a heart on the right spot, like the people I have met here.

More altered tags....

The weather has not been favouring us here in Bad Honnef the past few days. It was cold, wet and windy, and the mountains have hidden behind clouds and mist, so it was a wonderful opportunity to read, watch some old *Simon and Simon* videos to get a bit of Eighties feeling again, and of course, to do some crafting. Made some more tags - what else? but tried to change the style and colours a bit. This is the first time I have used some red - barn door - to distress, not really my colour, but blended with the other colours it makes a nice, warm tone. As usual, I decorated them with everything I could find, after distressing and stamping the backgrounds. The black gauze I have used on 2 of them was part of a cosmetic packaging, and the little bells were on my Easter bunny. It's fun mixing the embellishments!

3 more tags and another canvas....

Wow, it was nice having a three-day weekend here, the weather was good, and I had plenty of time for crafting. Made some more distressed tags - what else? and another canvas to display them. Used all my favourite Tim Holtz colours again - wild honey, forest green, stormy skies, victorian velvet, crushed sage and brushed corduroy. After distressing, I stamped the backgrounds and then ran riot with all the embellies I could find. The wings have been stamped, cut out, painted with clear rock candy crackle varnish and then inked before doing the edges with a gold-leaf pen. The canvas was distressed with the same colours and then glazed with mod-podge. Was great fun to make, as usual!

3 Tags and a canvas

Well, I still can't keep my fingers from making tags. Used 3 large manila tags - which I bought here in the lovely craft shop in Bad Honnef- and distressed and stamped them in the usual manner with lots of lovely TH distress inks. They have been decorated once again with everything-within-reach. The wings have been stamped, distressed, treated with crackle paint and then cut out by hand. The blue-grey key and keyhole, on the right card, are TH die-cuts, which have been distressed with *stormy skies*, and then treated with crackle glaze before putting on a thin gold border with a gold leaf pen. The canvas is 30 x 24 cms, and has been distressed with matching colours & glazed with mod-podge before using some gold leaf round the edges. I have left the gold leaf rather rough to give it a worn look. Then I fixed the tags to the canvas, added a few prima flowers and some TH metal foliage, and a metal key and key-hole. I'm not quite satisfied with it yet, so may still do some alterations.

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