A mixed bag

Brrrr, its a chilly morning here again, and yesterday evening I sat here wrapped in a blanket as it was so cold. But the weather prophets have said it should get a tad warmer this week, so I sure hope they are right. We had nearly no summer, and if they take away autumn and throw us directly into winter, I will protest!

Today I have my journal pages to share with you. The pages have been painted with white gesso mixed with a touch of black to give grey. Well, you probably wouldn't have known that if I hadn't said it, would you? I found the pictures of Pisa's famous leaning tower in one of the prospects I was recently cutting up, and decided to use them. I was only in Pisa once, and it was a day when it was raining cats and dogs without stopping, and so grey is firmly anchored in my mind with Pisa. And I have also used a photo of the Gehry Buildings in the Harbour here in Düsseldorf, built by the Canadian Architect Frank Gehry, who specialises in unusual shapes and angles in his work. You have to look twice when you first see them, as they are leaning as much as the ones in Pisa,but FG does it intentionally. I don't think I am a great fan of his work, I much prefer ancient buildings, but his stuff is all very eye catching and worth looking at. And I put a quote from Paul Verlaine on my page, too: *Il pleure dans mon coeur comme il pleut sur la ville*. At least I have written it properly here, I typed it wrongly in my journal, but I will alter it later.

And I have 2 tags to share, made for the Gingersnaps *Once in a Blue Moon* challenge GCSP 09. I have made 2 travel themed bookmarks, one of Paris, and one with New York as the *Big Apple*.

And here's another joke from Narda:

What I Want In A Man!
Original List: age (20 something)

1. Handsome
2. Charming
3. Financially successful
4. A caring listener
5. Witty
6. In good shape
7. Dresses with style
8. Appreciates finer things
9. Full of thoughtful surprises

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 32)

1. Nice looking
2. Opens car doors, holds chairs
3. Has enough money for a nice dinner
4. Listens more than talks
5. Laughs at my jokes
6. Carries bags of groceries with ease
7. Owns at least one tie
8. Appreciates a good home-cooked meal
9. Remembers birthdays and anniversaries

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 42)

1. Not too ugly
2. Doesn't drive off until I'm in the car
3. Works steady - splurges on dinner out occasionally
4. Nods head when I'm talking
5. Usually remembers punch lines of jokes
6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture
7. Wears a shirt that covers his stomach
8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids
9. Remembers to put the toilet seat down
10. Shaves most weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 52)

1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed
2. Doesn't belch or scratch in public
3. Can tow a RV or drive a Motor Home
4. Can cook a BBQ
5. Doesn't re-tell the same joke too many times
6. Appreciates a good TV dinner
7. Helps with the housework

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 62)

1. Doesn't scare small children
2. Remembers where I have put things
3. Can still tow a van without causing chaos on the road
4. Only snores lightly when asleep
5. Remembers why he's laughing
6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself
7. Usually wears some clothes
8. Doesn't notice my facial hair and wrinkles
9. Remembers where he left his teeth
10. Stops trying to tell jokes

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 72)

1. Breathing.
2. Doesn't miss the toilet.
3. Remembers where we both live.


Okay, that's all for today. Take care, have a great day, and thanks for looking in on me!

Strange faces in the woods....

Yesterday I had to go to the doc's, and this time I drove very carefully through the Rhine Tunnel so as not to get another speeding ticket! I also went for a walk with B's doggy, Emily. We took out usual walk though the woods. There is still a lot of greenery on the trees, but they are starting to turn colour.

And I saw some fungi growing on a rotting tree stump. I don't know what sort it is, but it has some interesting shapes and colours. I am sure I can see a ghostly face in the fungus on the left hand side - can you see it too?

And by turning the picture 90° to the right, I can see a bearded man in the middle of the other one. Can you see him, too? Or perhaps something else?! Perhaps the witches are hanging out there till Halloween....

Well, apart from dreaming in the woods I managed to get a tag and my journal done. The tag is for the *Just for fun* *shades of green* challenge. I distressed the tag with TH inks in bundled sage, crushed olive and forest moss, and stamped it with a collage stamp from LaBlanche in forest moss. The bottle has been cut from a piece of green packaging. The poison label is from the Graphics Fairy, the bony hand from my stash, and the skull is from *My Tattered Angels*. Was fun to make; Halloween is coming nearer and nearer....

For my journal I did a scribble background with blue and green wax crayons and painted over it with water. The pictures I have used for my collage were cut out of some magazines and prospects I was sorting out. The tigers are rub-ons. It was fun doing something completely different again. I don't plan what I am going to do, I just open up the journal and do the first thing that occurs to me. And I am not advocating drinking three bottles of wine each day!

So, that was enough for today. I hope the sun comes out today and warms us up a bit. Have a good day, whatever you are up to, take care, and thanks a lot for dropping by!

Monday Again!

Good morning you all, here's wishing you a good week. It's really chilly here, there's a definite nip of autumn in the air now!

I had another lovely, crafty day here at home; didn't have to go anywhere or do anything, so I didn't! I got some more tags done, played around with my journal, and had a good nap in the afternoon.

The first tag has been made for my DT piece at *The cheerful Stamp Pad*, where you have to use something transparent this week. You have 2 weeks to enter the challenge. I distressed my tag with TH inks, stamped the background with a collage stamp and a script stamp - both from LaBlanche - and added a vintage image from a German Ladies' Magazine from 1899. The image has been covered with a film strip printed onto acetate.

the second tag has been made for the *Dedicated Follower of Fashion* Challenge at the *Dragon's Dream*. Ever since I read about it, that song has been going round and round in my head. I distressed the tag, stamped it with what I call *sock pattern* in forest moss, and added an image from Graphics 45 and one from my old ladies' magazine. As embellishments I added some shoes and a shirt, and that was it!

For the journal pages I used a picture of my Great Auntie Fanny, as I have been thinking about her a lot these past few days. I used pink, as that was one of her favourite colours. She was a good friend to me, and I always felt good when I was staying with her.

That was all for today. Have a good day, take care and thanks a lot for visiting!

Sunday Sketches and Catching Up on Challenges

Yesterday was a good day. I stayed home, didn't go shopping, didn't tread in paint - I just had a nice day crafting. Before I could start, though, I cleared my table as much as possible, so that I had room to work. I can actually see the table top now!

Over at Sofia's *Blue Chair Diary* it's time for Sunday Sketches. I want to share a couple of the sketches from my *75 days, 75 sketches* book. I have completed 19 sketches up till now; some passable, some good and a lot bad, but I am practising and learning. In the past few days I have been sketching everything in my top drawer, and things flying about on my working space!

Then I spent some time catching up on challenges. The first one is for *Try it on Tuesday* where we had to use an old stamp. I used one that I have had for 3 years and never used, it's just not what I like, but i think it's made quite a fun tag. The background has been distressed and sprayed, and the image - from LaBlanche- has been stamped with soot black and embossed with black EP.

The second tag is for the GC 115 at Gingersnaps, Tribute to Teens. I have used an image from Scrollsworks. The background has been distressed and sprayed. The film strip has been printed onto acetate. The text round the edges reads: *Teens - the time when the film of life starts to get faster, and then runs wild before getting normal again*

The card has been made for a challenge at Splitcoast stampers, using scraps and 2 images from Crafty Secrets, which were among the things Jan kindly sent me. The love heart was made for another project, where it didn't look right, so I cut it through the middle and turned it into wings.

And last but not least, I got another parcel yesterday, this time from Narda, who sent me an assortment of crafting goodies and embellishments - silk roses in all colours, dimensional die-cuts. bows, bling and rhinestones galore, ribbons, and the most wonderful sequined, beaded and crocheted bands, so I am going to have fun with these things. It was a bit like Xmas for me this week, I feel really overwhelmed from the kindness of friends. Thanks a lot, Narda!

Okay, I will save the other things for tomorrow, this post is long enough! Have a good Sunday, take care, and thanks a lot for visiting!

The weekend is here.

Hi everybody, it's weekend again. Yesterday I went to my friend Inge's and spent the day with her. I had a very big surprise when I went down to my car, as the windscreen was iced over. This must have been the first frost night here in this autumn. Last Saturday it was 30°, hot and sunny and the temps have dropped a lot, especially during the night. I think I can start looking forward to Halloween!
And when I got back home in the evening I needed to do a bit of crafting. I didn't manage a lot, just my journal, but that was fun. I had some remnants of paint over from the day before, so I smudged them around the edge of the pages using a paper nib, after spraying a bit of diluted re-inker on the pages. And my pages once again reflect the colours of autumn. I added some little drawings in black ink, a few quotes about autumn and some journalling, and that was it. Today I am going to try to do something different. The journal is a good way experimenting, with everything - the good and the bad, kept together, to look back on. Learning by doing.

Ans as it's Saturday, another joke from Narda:

Little Susan was mother's helper. She helped set the tablewhen company was due for dinner. Presently everything was on, the guest came in, and everyone sat down. Then Mother noticed something was missing.

"Susan," she said, "You didn't put a knife and fork at Mr. Smith's place."

"I thought he wouldn't need them," explained Susan.
"Daddy says he always eats like a horse!"


Today I plan on having a quiet day at home, crafting, reading and resting. Hope you all have a great day, too. Take care of yourselves, and thanks for visiting.

PPF and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Hi Everybody! Another week has been and gone in the wink of an eye, and it's time for Paint Party Friday again, hosted by Eva & Kristin. I want to share a painting I made of my dog *Struppi*, many, many years ago, in 1979. I dreamt of her last night, and in my dream she was looking at me just like she is doing in the picture. She was the best dog we ever had. The picture hung for years at a friend's house, who gave it back to me a year or so ago. The gold round the edges was not from me, someone must have tried to dress it up, I had a dark brown, shadowy edge which I liked better. But I was pleased to get the painting back!

And I would like to share my journal pages which I made yesterday. The pages have been painted with water colours, then stamped using TH *barn door*. I added some Halloween die-cuts and some verses about autumn. I can't seem to get away from this colour scheme at the moment; the autumn colours just make me feel good.

And now for the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY.

The Good - I got a wonderful parcel from Jan yesterday, full of goodies. I was really overwhelmed at her generosity, and will be having fun playing with all my stamps and embellies and other lovely things in the coming time!

Many, many thanks Jan, for a thoughtful and more than generous gift!

The Bad - is dropping some red paint onto the kitchen floor, treading in it with bare feet, and spreading it through the whole apartment. By the time I noticed it it had dried, and I had to crawl round on my knees to scrape it off the floor.

The Ugly - I got post from the town authorities again today. My car had exceeded the speed-limit while exiting the Rhine Tunnel again, and I have to pay 15€. They sent a photo as proof. Now I am wondering - who is this fat and ugly old woman who keeps driving my car too fast?!

Surely this can't be me?

Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Play-Time

Hi everybody, hope you are all well and fit. We had a chilly night here, and it is still really nippy this morning. My visit to the dentist wasn't tooooooooooooooo bad yesterday, the next appointment is in 10 days, so I have time to recover before then!

I was back home early, so had plenty of *play-time*. I did some more painting on my little chest of drawers, and I think it is slowly getting done. If I had known how long it would take to paint it I wouldn't have started, but after 4 coats of paint It seems to be all-white. Now I can do the other bits and bobs.

I also managed my journal pages, and 2 tags. The first tag is for the *Three Muses* autumn challenge, the second one came into being while fiddling about with all the odds and ends littering my table, and believe me, there were enough to choose from. Now I have half of my working space cleared, which is a lot for me. The Three muses tag has been distressed with wild honey and forest moss, and then stamped with leaves (Lavinia Stamps) The leaf is made up of three stamps, so you can use a different colour for each lyer to give a real autumn look. The sentiment has been computer generated and printed onto a transparency. I have hidden a little witch among the leaves and toadstools; Halloween is coming nearer.

And this is the *Remains of the Day Week* Tag:

In the journal pages I have used a poem I wrote 2 years ago, about scrapping - what else? The stamps I used were also ones which were flying about on the table before I cleared up, and I made some outline drawings of other things - pencils, scissors, ruler etc. The strange assortment of scraps were all - you've guessed it! picked off my table, but I think they are a part of every scrapper's life.

So, I think that was enough for today. Hope you all have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!