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!

Jewel colours and gold - GC92

What a lovely theme - jewel colours and gold. Over on Gingersnaps this challenge is running till March 20th.
For my first take on it, I decided to take the theme literally. I started off with a little round tin which once held throat lozenges.

I worked on the lid and sides with structure paste in pearl white, gold satin, and antique gold, sprinkling on some gold glass glitter (Viva Color) before it was dry.
The rim of the tin has been polished with inka gold to change the colour without making it difficult to put the lid back on. Then I decorated it with some gem stones in regal colours, and added the top of an old perfume bottle - which has long disappeared! -to the middle, to make the lid look like a crown.

I stuck some gold net from an old evening stole inside the box, to make a sort of nest, and filled it with some old costume jewelry from my Mother.
It was, as always, great fun to make, and will make another nice memory box for those little keepsakes, instead of having them in a dark drawer somewhere.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Some Saturday Freebies

Here are some more images which you can download and use as backgrounds for collage work etc. The first one is an indenture for a house in Croydon from 1920.

The newest ladies underwear from 1899!

A German legal document from 1812.

To download, please click on the picture. This will take you to the larger, downloadable image!
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Striped Easel card

This card has been made for the *Simon Says stamp and show some stripes* Challenge.

This week I have been busy with lots of messy things, which I hugely enjoyed, BUT……wait for it………… - when I came home yesterday I needed to clear up a bit because my neighbour was coming here for a drink and a chat yesterday evening. This meant using my precious time putting things away, scraping blobs of paint off the kitchen, unsticking foam pads from the floor boards etc. Can anyone tell me why those little foam pads, which refuse to stick to paper or tin, decide to stick for all eternity once they touch my nice, shiny wooden floor? Or why does a brad or eyelet that has fallen down, hide itself till you walk across the room bare foot in the middle of the night?
Ooops, that was another digression. OK, did some dreaded H*******k for half an hour, and decided to make a card and not too much mess.
First problem – stripes! I don’t really like stripes, so had to hunt for the few striped papers I knew I had hidden somewhere. Much to my surprise, I discovered them in the bottomless pit – the hall closet – in the paper rack. Just where they should have been. I made an easel card again, using some hand made papers in lilac and purple, which I stamped and distressed and folded to look like an old letter and envelope. The little piece of coloured paper in between is part of some background paper I created recently using inks, salt, sprays and perfect pearls. Great fun and sooooo nice and messy! Added a few embellies and some paper lace, and it was finished. I think it hasn’t turned out too badly.

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend, I’ll be back tomorrow with some more Saturday freebies.

Memory Shrine - Altered Tin Box

I am entering this little box into the *Alter it Monthly* Challenge
The theme is to make a niche, altar, dream box or shrine. I have altered a tin box and made it into a little Memory Shrine, with pictures and artefacts pertaining to different generations of my family. The pictures of my great Aunt, my Mum with my older brothers and sisters long before I was ever thought of, and my husband as a small boy with his Grandmother have been mounted into TH fragments. I have added some pieces of old jewelry - a locket which belonged to my grandmother, a piece of a necklace from my Mum, and a brooch from my father's family, showing his grandfather on his wedding day. They are all just fragments which fit together into this little memory box.

The box started off life as a small tin box that I got filled with little goodies as a blog candy sometime back.

I have coated the outside with structure pastes in gold and pearl white, and sprinkled some gold glass glitter into it before it dried. The edges and raised parts have been inked with Archival crimson to give it more depth, before adding some random red gem stones to the lid. The inside has been lined with hand crafted red paper from India.

It was great fun to make, and to watch it developing. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Another Canvas and another Blog Award

Here is a canvas I made using a picture of my Great- Great Grandmother Rachel, taken about 1890. The photo is old and stained, but I scanned it as it is, although I do have a *retouched* copy, I just like the original one better. The canvas (15" square) has been made using acrylic paints and structure paints in copper, gold and pearl white, images stamped with TH *rusty hinge*, and sentiments stamped with Adirondack *Espresso*. Was great fun to make - what isn't?? and I plan on doing some more with some old family pics.

And yesterday I saw that I have another Blog Award. Well actually the same *Stylish Blog Award*. this time from Jack at Jacks Arty Crafty Creations

Thanks a lot, and now for the seven-things-about-me I have to tell again.... This time I have written 7 things about my day yesterday, as I can't just repeat yesterday's list. As I am trying hard to see everything positively just now, they are of course, very positive things....
1. I did manage to have a good, crafty day yesterday.
2. I did manage to avoid seeing the crumbs on the floor and dust on the furniture by the simple expedient of removing my specs.
3. I even did my morning exercises on the balcony by MINUS 8° in my nightdress - or was I just taking photos?
4. I managed to make lasagne for lunch - yoohoo for deep frozen food!
5. I found time while not doing the housework to take a couple of reading breaks on my recliner.
6. I successfully forgot the ironing.
7. I have declared the dust on the windows to be patina, which makes it a sort of art, and then it doesn't have to be removed - pardon, it MUST be left where it is!

Hope some of you like minded people might find a few tips here.
Have a good day, take care, and thanks for looking!

Simon Says "Stamp and show a Tag*

Heeeeelp! Just realised it is not Saturday evening but SUNDAY, and that time is running out for the *Simon Says* Challenge which is due not tomorrow, as I thought, but tonight, so I am having to do a night shift to get it posted. Where did the weekend disappear?
Anyway, here is my tag. I used torchon watercolour paper to cut the tag, which I distressed with antique linen and brushed corduroi. The script has been stamped with the same colour. Then the scrolls and flowers in the next layer were stamped with Adirondack *Espresso*. Over that I added the third layer - a vintage image, an acrylic floral flourish, some TH die cuts, paper roses and a heart which I made in a mold using candle left overs. I coloured it with inka gold and Stazon *timber brown*. I tried to create the effect of depth although I kept to the colours brown and cream. It was fun to make, as always!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!!