Tombstone City Revisited....

I love making things for autumn and Halloween, and today I just needed a bit of fun….The *tombstones* have been cut by hand from white cardstock, and distressed with TH inks in pumice stone, weathered wood and forest green. The die cuts are from Sizzix, the owls stamps are from Hero Arts, and the foliage stamp is from LaBlanche. Added some numbers, a Prima flower, a skull, a text stamp *By the pricking of my thumbs….* and some hand doodling. The tags were great fun to make, and just something different. The small *graves* on 2 of the tags open up to reveal Halloween surprises….

Nostalgic tags for the *let's ink it up* challenge

I don't usually enter many challenges, but decided to do one for a change...Made 2 tags using ceramic paper, the background has been stamped first with resist ink, then distressed with TH inks, and stamped using archival ink for the face and stazon for the owl and skull. The images have then been clear embossed. The owl and the skull have been powdered with perfect pearls. The tags have then been embellished with lace, flowers, buttons and some hand doodling. Thanks for looking!

A-Z of me

I made this A-Z of me last year, I think in October or November, worked a whole week non- stop to get it done. Once I started I couldn't stop, so I just kept going till it was finished. And my flat looked like I had been crafting more or less non-stop for weeks, chaos as far as the eye could see, and even more where it couldn't. (Well, actually, nothing unusual, is it?) And as I have been crafting a lot this week, too, doing nice, messy things with ink and embossing powders, it looks pretty awful.... But next week I really am going to clear up. (Well, I have to, because my friend Inge is coming to stay with me for a few days....) Reminds me of one of the sayings of St. Augustine, *Lord, make me holy, but not yet*. And for some reason I didn't blog it, so here it is now; enjoy, and have a nice weekend, whatever you have planned!

The last of the cardboard box tags - for this week!

OK, I am sure I will be back in business as soon as I have dug the rest of the cardboard out of my bottomless hall closet. But it's the last one for today, anyway!



Have a nice day!

Causing distress to innocent cardboard boxes....

Well, I have been at it again. I finished off three of the tags I started on Sunday. For 2 I have used the TH embossing folders again, and then did several layers of colouring and embossing and perfect pearls to give them real depth and shine. The third one is partly peeled cardboard, embossed with clear embossing ink and then different metallic embossing powders and perfect pearls, and then stamped with the pocket watch (a lovely stamp from *LaBlanche*) and embossed again. This also gives a lot of depth and shine to the tags. I have included pics of the tag at this stage, too, before decorating with TH die cuts (lock and key) and an autumn fairy. There is also a little face looking out from behind the key-hole, but it's hard to see on the photos. Was fun playing around again, and I like the colours in the tags which show up differently according to the light falling on them! Have a nice day you all, happy crafting and try some experimenting - it's fun!

And yet another cardboard box distressed....

Had a nice weekend, in spite of the gloomy and misty begin yesterday. I visited my friend Inge , where we enjoyed another gay old ladies' day - an eclectic mixture of talking about God and the world, enjoying our food, playing Skipbo and Rummycub, and just enjoying each other's company. Poor Inge had bad backache, but she is very courageous! We got up late this morning, enjoyed a nice breakfast, and then I went round to her daughter, B,and we crafted all afternoon. Of course, we did have a few little breaks for lunch (yummy, B, thanks!!), coffee and a wonderful dessert which her Dad brought us. And in between talking we both managed to do some crafting. B made a beautiful new-baby card, and then worked on her album, and I played with 2 TH embossing folders, cardboard, lots of different embossing powders & distress inks and other bits and pieces. The cardboard has been cut into tag form, embossed, distressed with different colours of ink, & clear embossed. Then the raised parts have been inked with archival black, and then partly embossed again with bronze, silber and gold. Then I put on a bit of perfect pearls in different colours and heated it again. The bird is on the cage this time, and the *nest* has been made from some fibres sent to me by Maria some weeks back. The golden numbers on the BINGO card were part of a big bagfull I bought at the flea market in Königswinter for next to nothing. Was fun to make, as always, and I have another 4 tags waiting to be embellished in the course of the week! Have a good week you all, and take care!

Season of mists.....

Keat's *Ode to Autumn* was the first thing I thought of when I looked out of the window this morning. Actually I said *Mist!* when I looked out, but then *mist!* in German really means *manure* so it's a somewhat more polite way of saying *sh*t!* Had a bad sleep, with silly dreams, and a blanket which kept falling off the bed instead of keeping me warm, and then woke up in time to see a quick flash of red where the sun was rising before it disappeared into the mist. I think the sun has now gone back to bed, as it is nowhere to be seen, perhaps I should do the same....But I decided to stay up, drink lots of hot coffee to warm me and dissolve the mists of despair which are enveloping me today, and then to see what the day brings. After such a dismal beginning, it can only get better....I hope!!

And here is Keat's beautiful poem for those who like to remember what they learnt (or didn't!) at school:

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.