Mini Book Day

First of all I would like to say a big thanks you to all who left me good wishes and sent me healing sparkles by mail yesterday, it evidently helped, because I do feel better today. But I am going to take things easier for a few days, and try to get a bit more sleep and fresh air!

On Monday I took my mail-art envelope to the post. The lady behind the counter smiled at me, said *Oh, how lovely! The lucky recipient! I'd better put lots of pretty stamps on to it!* Somebody must have cloned her!!

And I had to collect 2 parcels with mini-books from the customs - after they had been *keeping them warm* for weeks. Evidently they don't have enough employees. So why do they have to control mini-books?? Anyway, the lady there told me to open the parcels, and she couldn't believe her eyes! She spent 20 minutes going into rhapsodies over these beautiful little books. I kept telling her that there was a big queue waiting. She said *Let them wait*. Now I'm afraid they will be holding more of my parcels ransom so that they can look at my lovely things!
One of the little books was from Lisa Fulmer
I did a one to one swap with her 2 months ago, and she made me a beautiful bird book.
Here is the front cover, the other pictures are in the slide show at the bottom of the post.

The second parcel was from Lenna, who organises lots of lovely swaps. I joined in her *Little Book Swap*, fir which I made 4 books, and received 4 in return - from Laura Hummel, Juliet Sutton,
Corinne Marie and from my dear blogger friend Donna Parker. I have shown the first photo of each book here, the others are in the slide show. Donna's Album had an *extra* - it was wrapped in printed cheese-cloth, which she had pinned together with a pearl hat-needle.

And here is the slide show:




And while we are on the subject of mini-books, here is a little key-chain album I made at the weekend, and was intending to show yesterday. It is 2 1/4 x 3 1/2". I used a little metal frame for the front cover, and made the pages using scraps- left over from another project - from the *Fairy Tale Stack*.

Oh dear, this post has turned out to be a bit longer than I was intending! Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Taking a rest!

Hi you all, I am taking a little rest today, as I do not feel so good. *See* you all again tomorrow. Take care and have a good day!

A big rarity -Sunny Monday

Good morning you all! Yesterday was warm and sunny - all day. Today should be the same. It's summer! But tomorrow everything should be back to normal - cold, rainy and windy. But now we can't say we haven't had any summer in this year!
At the moment I am just tired all the time, although I spent most of Sunday sleeping. When I am tired, I seem to make a lot of little mistakes - like drinking my orange-brown painting water instead of my glass of *Mezzo-Mix* (Cola-orange mixture). It didn't really taste much different, I only noticed it because it was neither cold nor fizzy....But the worst mistake I made Saturday evening. I wanted to make myself a slice of toast with cream cheese. Unfortunately, I had filled some of my large container of gesso into an empty cream-cheese tub as the big one is to heavy to handle easily....And so I put gesso on my toast. I never did much like the smell of gesso, and the taste is not to be recommended!
Anyway, I did manage to finish my journal for August and a mail-art envelope yesterday, without any big mistakes. I am not happy with my journal this month, it has not turned out as I wanted it too, but I don't have the energy just now to start again. So it will stay as it is, and I hope that the next month will be better. There is just enough space each day for a short few words, and enough room to write any quotes or sayings I come across in the course of the month.
I am linking my journal to *The Kathryn Wheel* Journal Challenge

And this is the mail art envelope which will be winging it's way to Greece this week, in the hope that the post out of Germany will be delivered a bit quicker than the post which is being sent here. I don't know what our post or customs is doing or not doing just now, but 2 months and more for an air-mail letter from the USA to Germany is really impossible.

Okay, moan over! Here's wishing you all a great day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Monday and Time for Summer of Color

Once again the time has flown, and it's Monday already! I spent quite a lot of time sleeping at the weekend, and must say, I feel better for it. It means less crafting time, but sometimes it is just important to rest, and this was one of those times.
Today it's *Summer of Color* hosted by Kristin. Our colour prompt this time was orange, so I needed to get used to the notion of painting with orange. I started on Thursday, when I painted 2 orange backgrounds, one of which I used on Friday for our PPF event. I was planning on doing something similar with the second one, and then when I sat down yesterday to work on it, it just turned out differently. I sprayed some more layers on it using a flourish template and some letters and numbers, and after drying it, I drew 2 faces on it, and then started with little scraps to make a collage. I used book-scraps, stamps from an old passport, scraps of printed paper and labels, as well as some random stamping using TH rusty hinge distress ink.

And while I was in an orange mood at the weekend, I altered a canvas which fits both *Summer of color* and GC110, *Gears, cogs and watch bits* over at Gingersnap Creations.I have painted the canvas with some orange structure paint, which has been bubbled and burnt, and then distressed with Stazon brown. I mounted the clock (1€ from the Euro shop) onto the centre, and added watches and watch and clock parts round about it. I had to give this one a name. I am sure you can guess it! Clockwork Orange!

And the clock in the middle really works! My journal for August is nearly finished too, but that will be shown tomorrow! Have a nice day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Sunday, Sunday Sketches & More post received

Good morning everybody. Did I say that I thought yesterday might be a bit better weather wise? While I was wrong! I was so cold that I crawled under a blanket to warm up, and then woke up again just before 8p.m. The whole afternoon was just gone!
Which means I did not get too much done, except a few little things! But I had a wonderful sleep!
But first I want to show the lovely tag I got from Kat's Postcard swap. *Liberate your art*. We each sent in 5 postcards to Kat, with pictures of art we have made, and Kat distributed them and has now started to send them out. I got my first one yesterday from Lisa of *Wright Stuff*

She sent me a card with a picture of Flavia, and wrote on the back that I should not let myself be deceived by her coy looks, and that she has a lot of hidden latin fire! It is a beautiful picture, and will be given a place of honour in my arty kitchen! Thanks Lisa and thanks Kat, who had the enormous task of sorting, addressing and posting nearly 1000 postcards in all.

And I made a tag before I fell asleep for The Dragon's dream TIO. The dragon has been dreaming of embossing. This tag has been made of cardboard, which has been embossed with my small heart folder, and then distressed with Victorian velvet and ancient paper, and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The grunge board flourish has been inked with Tsuneki glue pad and then embossed with silver and perfect pearls in pink. I just added a fairy, a little lace and some dewdrops to finish it.

And I must not forget that it is Sunday Sketches over at Sophia's Blue Chair Diary I am sharing a picture I painted in 1995. I can't remember making it, and I discovered it folded into four and at the bottom of a drawer.
Perhaps you can think what it might be trying to say....

So, that was it for today. Have a lovely Sunday, take care and thanks for visiting! It is always much appreciated!

Saturday and more post....

Well, I don't want to say this too loudly, but it looks as though the weather might be a tad better today; I sure hope so. It's still grey, but NOT pouring and NOT freezing cold!

Yesterday the postman rang again, and brought me a little parcel from Petra. She had a giveaway of a beautiful lavender cushion on her blog a couple of weeks ago, and I was the lucky winner. She very kindly not only sent me my prize, but also a box full of little goodies which are going to be most useful as embellishments on my tags and mini books etc. Here are the pictures, showing the lavender cushion, a beautiful tag made by Petra, and all the goodies - different tissue papers, ribbons, bows, pearls and lots, lots more! Thank you, Petra!

This afternoon I finished off a piece that I started on yesterday, made from 4 matchboxes and 2 coasters. I embossed the coasters with a flourish folder, and then distressed them with brown corduroy ink, before painting over them with clear rock candy crackle. When it was dry, I rubbed Stazon brown into the cracks, and then added some Inca gold for a bit of metallic shine. The matchboxes have been painted with rock candy crackle in tarnished brass, and then distressed and lined with some paper scraps. I used some metal screw brads for knobs, and then sandwiched them between the two coasters to make a little *Four drawer unit*. I am going to fill it with brads and buttons etc and give it to a friend. I am entering this into the GC 112 challenge at Gingersnaps, which is about leather, brass and iron. And I am also linking to the challenges at *Simon says stamp and show* where *anything goes* this week, and to *Try it on Tuesdays*, who want to see something altered to make a gift.

And I made a tag using some fabric strips for *Just for fun*. I glued 2 strips of floral fabric to the tag, added a few bits and bobs and a vintage eagle image, and that was it!

So, here's wishing you all a good Saturday. Take care and thanks a lot for visiting!

Paint Party Friday has come round again

Good morning you all on this cold and blustery *summer* day! It'Friday again and that means it's paint party Friday, hosted by Kristine and Eva.
I didn't have as much time for painting this week as I would like to have had - just don't ask me where the time went, I don't know. Well, I did have 2 long appointments at the dentist's, and spent a day with a friend, had a few afternoon naps and read 2 books....But today, after surviving the dentist - without even having an injection - I sat down and started painting. The first picture is not yet finished, and will be for *Summer of Color* on Monday, and the second one is here. I painted the background diagonally with yellow, orange and red, and then sprayed it with diluted TH distress inks in spiced marmalade, wild honey, forest moss and vintage photo, and let the drips run off diagonally. When it was dry, I outlined some of the drip patterns with a fine-liner, and then drew the silhouette at the bottom, which I painted with dark blue. The moon has been cut out of paper, so I think I will call it *Paper Moon* - I know, soooooooo original!

And then I made another shabby tag, just so that I don't forget how to do it!

And I got these jokes yesterday from Carol, a blogger buddy, so thought I would share them:

DISNEYLAND
Two blondes were going to Disneyland . They were driving on the Interstate when they saw the sign that said Disneyland LEFT. They started crying and turned around and went home.


FLORIDA OR MOON
Two blondes living in Oklahoma were sitting on a bench talking, and one blonde says to the other, 'Which do you think is farther away... Florida or the moon?' The other blonde turns and says 'Helloooooooooo, can you see Florida ?????'


SPEEDING TICKET
A police officer stops a blonde for speeding and asks her very nicely if he could see her license.
She replied in a huff, 'I wish you guys would get your act together.
Just yesterday you take away my license and then today you expect me to show it to you!'


RIVER WALK
There's this blonde out for a walk. She comes to a river and sees another blonde on the opposite bank 'Yoo-hoo!' she shouts, 'How can I get to the other side?'
The second blonde looks up the river then down the river and shouts back, 'You ARE on the other side.'


AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE
A gorgeous young redhead goes into the doctor's office and said that her body hurt wherever she touched it.
'Impossible!' says the doctor.. 'Show me.'
The redhead took her finger, pushed on her left shoulder and screamed, then she pushed her elbow and screamed even more. She pushed her knee and screamed; likewise she pushed her ankle and screamed. Everywhere she touched made her scream.
The doctor said, 'You're not really a redhead, are you?
'Well, no' she said, 'I'm actually a blonde.'
'I thought so,' the doctor said, 'Your finger is broken.'


KNITTING
A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting!
Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, 'PULL OVER!'
'NO!' the blonde yelled back, 'IT'S A SCARF!'


BLONDE ON THE SUN
A Russian, an American, and a Blonde were talking one day.
The Russian said, 'We were the first in space!'
The American said, 'We were the first on the moon!'
The Blonde said, 'So what? We're going to be the first on the sun!' The Russian and the American looked at each other and shook their heads.
'You can't land on the sun, you idiot! You'll burn up!' said the Russian.
To which the Blonde replied, 'We're not stupid, you know. We're going at night!'


IN A VACUUM
A blonde was playing Trivial Pursuit one night... It was her turn She rolled the dice and she landed on Science & Nature. Her question was, 'If you are in a vacuum and someone calls your name, can you hear it?' She thought for a time and then asked, 'Is it on or off?'

FINALLY,
THE BLONDE JOKE TO END ALL BLONDE JOKES!
A girl was visiting her blonde friend, who had acquired two new dogs, and asked her what their names were. The blonde responded by saying that one was named Rolex and one was named Timex. Her friend said, 'Whoever heard of someone naming dogs like that?' 'HELLLOOOOOOO......,' answered the blonde. 'They're watch dogs'!

But now I would like to say that I am not really prejudiced against blondes!
Hope you all have a great day, take care, and thanks for dropping in!