Good morning, it's Sunday....

And that means it's time for Sunday Sketches over at Blue Chair Diary. I had nothing ready for today, so made a quick 5 minute sketch of me, not yet washed and combed, *fresh* out of bed and before the first cup of coffee. Was a bit difficult to take a photo, as the sun is making hard shadows this morning, but it's all I can manage!

Now, if you all feel like crawling back to bed after seeing this, don't - it could cause bad dreams!

Yesterday I got a wonderful package in the post from Narda, she's the on whose funnies we often have in my posts- She knows I love cows and everything to do with them, and has sent me a beautiful charm bracelet full of cows, to keep me company when I am lonely. She wrote *Hope it will moooooooooooove you to a herd of giggles so you can look pasture troubles each time you wear it*. Have had great probs taking a decent photo, I think the cows keep moooooving!

Oh dear, nearly forgot my tag for Simon say stamp and show, with a travel theme this week. Stamps are from scrollsworks.

Okay, that was it, Short and sweet today, I am going to go back to bed. Hope all who are affected by the storms are keeping safe! Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Weekend again!

Good morning you all! Saturday again, so I hope you all have some nice plans for the weekend.

Yesterday started off bright and sunny, and then every half hour or so it went dark, and it stormed and rained. A good day to stay home and craft! At midday we had a really strong storm, but it it only lasted five minutes and then blew over. Ir was enough to flood lots of roads and cellars again, some places were knee deep in water or hail-stones. I know it's not as bad as in the USA, so hope everybody there is keeping safe.

I made another canvas with scrunched up tissue yesterday, and kept it white on white, just tried to put lots of texture onto it. Usually I prefer doing things with more colour, but sometimes it's good just to try other things. I used different bits and bobs covered with gesso to build up the texture - tissue paper, flowers, a leaf, some string, lace, some snowflakes, cardboard, lace doilies, a felt heart and one of my heads. I don't mean one of MY heads, I only have one, I meant of course, one of the ones I made in a mould. Everything has been covered with several layers of gesso, so it's all hard as a rock and can't fall apart. I have made a second one, too,similar but different; however, as it's a present for a friend, don't want to show it yet.

And another joke from Narda, just a short one this time:

One day, a man came home and was greeted by his wife dressed in a very Sexy nightie.
'Tie me up,' she purred, 'and you can do anything you want.'
So he tied her up and went golfing.


So, that's all for today. Have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Paint Party Friday

Hi everybody, good morning from Kaiserswerth! The sun is shining, and it's Friday again, which means it's time for PPF hosted by Eva and Kristin.

I had a lovely day with my friend B yesterday, scrapping, painting, chatting, eating - you name it, we did it! We started off with a lovely breakfast with fresh rolls and croissants and coffee, and then did some *work*. For lunch we had ice cream and a glass of bubbly, did some more *work* in the afternoon, and B made a great Paella for supper. We talked a lot, too, B is someone you can talk to about everything, and so it was a very enjoyable day.

I have 2 pieces to share with you today; an altered canvas that I have been working on all week on and off, and a piece I made yesterday for paint party Friday. I am entering the canvas into the TIOT *Wild card* challenge, which has to be something you can hang up. For the canvas I have used pictures of Erika, a lady I cared for for several years, and who was also a distant relation. I have used photos from her childhood and youth. She was born and brought up in Germany, had to flee with her family in 1938, lived for many years in Uruguay and Israel, and came back here as an elderly lady. She died 4 years ago. She must have been very spoilt as a kid, but had a lot of hard times later, and was sometimes one very difficult old lady, determined to have her own way, and always with long, painted finger-nails, nicely dressed, and in general had the ambition to be the prettiest gal in the room, even when over 90! I have also used some pieces of documents belonging to her. The middle picture is a gel transfer, applied to a gessoed paper background. The other photos are prints applied with mod-podge.

The piece I made yesterday for PPF is a bit different to what I usually make, just felt like doing something different. I scrunched up some tissue paper, and stuck it with gesso onto a sheet of water-colour paper, then gave it another coat of gesso after forming the paper a bit with my fingers. After it had dried, I painted the eye onto another piece of tissue, and fixed it with mod-podge. In the centre of the eye is a tiny heart, and I have used a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's *Little Prince* - *It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye*. Finally I distressed some of the raised parts with some Inca gold in gunmetal grey. I'm not sure if I am going to leave it like this or do something else with it; time will tell!

So, once again I have rambled on and made the post longer than I intended! Have a good day you all, take care and thanks for visiting; your comments and visits are very much appreciated!

More tags for challenges

Hi everyone, another week is flying by, where does the time go? I had a quiet night, no thunder, no lightning and no drunken callers. I think I would have killed him if he'd called again! Yesterday I started a lot of different things, but didn't get them all finished. Today I am having a scrappy day with a friend, so we shall see how much I get done there!
But I did manage 3 tags, so that was something. This week the dragon over at *Dragon's Dream* is dreaming of travel. I made 2 travel themed tags, both with Paris motives, so I hope the Dragon can dream over both of them. The third tag is for the Challenge at the *Three Muses*, where the theme this week is *windows*.

And now another joke from Narda:

Curious when I found two black-and-white negatives in a drawer,
I had them made into prints. I was pleasantly surprised to see
That they were of a younger, slimmer me, taken on one of my
First dates with my husband.

When I showed him the photos, his face lit up. "Wow, look at
That!" he said. "It's my old Chevy!"



Okay, it's time for me to get ready for scrapping. Here's wishing you a nice day. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Two tags and a joke....

Hi everybody, hope you are all well and happy! Had another disturbed night here; first there were storms, with thunder and non-stop lightning, one flash after the other. Very impressive, but sometimes I need to sleep. Then at 2.30, just after I had finally drifted off, the telephone rang. I had a drunk at the other end, pleading with me to come down and let him in! *Shweeeetie, lemme in, I won't got drinking again!* I can well imagine why his sweetie didn't want to open the door to him, and told him to ring the right number. About a quarter of an hour later, he rang again, and begged to be let in....Being hard hearted, I told him where to get off to, and switched the phone off completely. I don't know whether he got let in somewhere, but I don't really care!
Yesterday I was out at my friend Inge's; we had our usual ladies day with eating, coffee drinking, gossiping and card playing, so it was an enjoyable time.
In the evening I managed 2 tags, one for Rebecca's *Blog Challenge Garden*, with *A* for adore, and the other one just because.... For the adore tag I made a double tag again, as I find the image looks lost on the larger tags I like, and a vintage scrap rose to match the silk rose. For the second tag I have used images from CI, and of course, my leopard....

And here is the joke, from Narda:

My job search

1. My first job was working in an Orange Juice factory,
but I got canned. Couldn't concentrate.


2. Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack,
but just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe.


3. After that, I tried being a Tailor,
but wasn't suited for it -- mainly because it was a sew-sew job.


4. Next, I tried working in a Muffler Factory,
but that was too exhausting.


5. Then, tried being a Chef - figured it would add a little spice to my life,
but just didn't have the thyme.


6. Next, I attempted being a Deli Worker,
but any way I sliced it.... couldn't cut the mustard.


7. My best job was a Musician,

but eventually found I wasn't noteworthy.


8. I studied a long time to become a Doctor,
but didn't have any patience.


9. Next, was a job in a Shoe Factory.
Tried hard but just didn't fit in.


10. I became a Professional Fisherman,
but discovered I couldn't live on my net income.


11. Managed to get a good job working for a Pool Maintenance Company,
but the work was just too draining.


12. So then I got a job in a Workout Center,
but they said I wasn't fit for the job..


13. After many years of trying to find steady work,
I finally got a job as a Historian - until I realized there was no future in it.

14. My last job was working in Starbucks,
but had to quit because it was the same old grind.

15. SO, I TRIED RETIREMENT


AND I FOUND I'M PERFECT FOR THE JOB!

Okay, that was it for today. Have a great day and take care! Thanks for visiting!

Thank you Scotland....

Yesterday I found a letter waiting for when I came home from the dentist's. (Don't ask what it was like, I don't want to spoil your day....) It was a letter from Aberdeen in Scotland, from Suze Bain. Recently I wrote about the *dead mouse* - which turned out to be a dried up leaf! that I found one morning in my kitchen. Sue found this story funny, and made me a little Scottish souvenir to remind me of this memorable day, a card, a tag, and some beautiful ribbon. all wrapped in some sparkly paper that will definitely be put to good use; but see for yourselves:

I am just not quite sure if she meant me or the mouse with the *wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie*. Okay, you can't really describe me as *wee*! The beautiful tag with the Burns quote and portrait reminded me of holidays spent in Rosslyn as a child, together with a school friend, whose Granny and Aunt never tired of reading Burns to us to make up for the *English rubbish* they might be stuffing our heads with at school. Not true, though, as our primary school teacher was a Scot and a great lover of Burns. Thanks to Sue for the lovely surprise, and this time it would not be fitting to say, *“The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy*.

Once again, I am amazed at the kindness of the blogger family; this was a little surprise that really made my day!

And I would like to share a tag I made at the weekend, using one of my favourite stamps, although I don't know who made it; I just know that I bought it at the stamp-mecca in Hagen two years back. I have made lots of tags with this stamp, and never seem to tire of it - sorry!

Well, that was enough for today, hope to see you all again tomorrow! Have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting

Portraits

Good morning everybody. You will be happy to know that my dentist is back from his vacation, and that means my treatment will be carried on today - I can hardly wait!
The promised storms were not much yesterday evening, just a bit of thunder and lightning, at least here. Hope nowhere else suffered damage again either!
Over at *The Cheerful Stamp Pad* the theme this week is *portraits*. The challenge is open for 2 weeks. For my DT piece I have made an altered canvas, perhaps rather unorthodox for this theme. The canvas was one which had already been used and *stripped* to give it a new lease of life. I made a background of torn paper which I painted with gesso. There was some gold leafing round the canvas before, so I left some it as it was, and painted the rest with gesso, which turned it a nice greeny grey colour. For the main picture I have used a postcard of a self protrait of Stefan Lochner, which is one of the wonderful pictures in Cologne Cathedral, painted in the middle of the 15th century. The pictures of the woman and the hands underneath it are part of some wonderful carvings in Bamberg Cathedral, carved my the great master Veit Stoss at the beginning of the 16th century. I used different embellishments - lace, sack-linen, some torn pieces of a map, some prima leaves, a flower made from antique book sides and coated with Utee, and two Rafel Angels. And of course, one of my little leopards is running through the picture. At the top I have used a silver brooch, which has a small piece of Roman glass in it, bought from the Roman-German Museum shop in Cologne.

That was all for today, now I need to prepare myself for the dentist! Have a nice day, take care of yourselves, and thanks for visiting!