Tuesday, 27 September 2011

The Day After The Day After....

Good morning everybody! I had a relaxing day yesterday, reading, cutting pictures out of old magazines for collages, and just trying to enjoy myself and forget Monday. My mouth is still very sore, there are a lot of stitches irritating me, but I am sure it will soon be healed. Yesterday evening I started on my journal again - always a good sign when I have the feeling that I must do something. Of course, the pages do seem to have been influenced a little by the dentist, but I suppose that's normal:




Big thanks to all who left messages yesterday, it really does me good to know that I am not alone, and I do appreciate it very much.

Okay, just a short post today. Thanks a lot for visiting, have a great day, and take care!

The day afterwards.....

Hi Everybody, I am not feeling so good today. Got a sore mouth and a swollen face, and plan on spending the day on my recliner reading and snoozing. I have some soup ready that only needs warming up, and plenty of cool drinks in the fridge, so should manage.
Thanks for all your kind comments yesterday, they cheered me up a lot, Take care of yourselves and thanks for visiting!

Monday, 26 September 2011

Monday and it's Dentist Time.....

The weekend has flown by, and although I have tried not to think too much about the dentist today, I couldn't keep the thoughts out of my head. Today is gonna be real bad, with extractions, and I don't know if I will be around tomorrow. Have to wait and see how I feel. Oh, the pleasures of getting old....
Yesterday I did my journal pages, got a couple more sketches done in case I can't do them in the next few days, and made some exploding boxes for Halloween. The boxes have been cut from TH's Craft Resist Stack *Halloween Haunts*. The insides of the boxes will be filled with the
Recipes, Rules, Regulations and Rottenness for when I hold my annual Ladies' Halloween Party. This is the only holiday in the year that I really like. the *Rottenness* is composed (or decomposed ?) from little skulls, worms, beatles etc, perhaps the dentist could give me a few extra teeth this time round? (As long as they are not mine!) The Rest can only be revealed on the Evening itself, it's supposed to be a nasty surprise. I distressed the boxes with bloody fingerprints, using TH inks in a fitting colour, and there is a skeleton sitting on top of each box to keep guard. Whatever, they were fun to make, and I am entering them into the Challenge at JFF to use any shape that has more than 5 edges. My maths isn't good enough to count exactly how many edges there are, but it must be more than 4! And to the challenge at haunteddesignhouse The pics show the completed boxes, the lid - which holds everything together - the insides, the *backside*, which is the outside when it is folded together, and the completed boxes again.







And for my journal pages I used some old black and white - or rather grey and white pics - combined with a verse from Billy Joel. The stripes which make a *La Ola* through the middle have been cut from an image out of a magazine from 1961, if you look carefully you might be able to see what it is.




Okay, that was it for today. Spare a thought for me today, when I am lying there suffering....
Have a good day you all, Take care and thanks for visiting!

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Sunday Sketches and More Journal Pages

Today is Sunday, I overslept again -shame on me! And the sun is shining. Donna has been out of bed and dancing around, which is great news, and seems to be on the mend. WELL DONE DONNA! Today is Sunday, and that means it's time for Sunday Sketches over at Sophia's Blue Chair Diary. I have been doing more sketches this week for my *75 days, 75 sketches challenge*, so I am showing a few out of my collection. Wgen I first started, 75 sounded like an impossible hurdle, but now I have 25 finished, one third down! I have been carrying on sketching small things out of various drawers and shelves. The magpie has been sketched from a photo in a book, there are loads of them in the trees outside my windows, but do you think they are prepared to sit still for an hour while I sketch them?? The first one is a brush hidden in a pen, the second one a miscellany objects from my drawer, and the third a candle-snuffer.





And I have more journal pages to share; I have used different papers for the collage background, trying to use lots of different textures. I have used 2 photos of my husband as a little boy; one with *Heidi* his toy dog, when he was about 8 months old, and the other one taken about a year later.




And I made a card for a challenge at Splitcoaststampers. It's a challenge to use over the rainbow or the wizard of OZ. I made a hand painted rainbow, with different images swirling about - the scarecrow, and of course, the red shoes. I cut the rainbow out and put the end of it into a crock of gold. The rainbow opens up to a painted scene, into which I have placed a holiday pictures from Crafty Secrets. The gold frame is from LaBlanche. I have written the text of the song onto the reverse of the rainbow.



So, I think that was enough for today. Have a good day you all, Donna enjoy having the OP over, take care of yourselves, and thanks for dropping by.

Saturday, 24 September 2011

It's Saturday, weekend again!

Good morning you all. I don't know what time of day it will be when you read this, but it's morning here now. And if I'm not mistaken, it's feeling a bit warmer today. I don't want to say it too loudly in case I scare it off! Would be nice not to freeze today.

Yesterday I spent nearly the whole day playing with my journal. The paper in my daily scribble journal is not very good quality, and when I use wet paints or too much gesso, it goes through the paper. I was wise enough to leave 2 pages free before painting the pages from yesterday, and so I have *repaired* these pages to make them usable. I stuck an old ledger page over each spotty *backside*, and then took it from there. I had a pile of nice hand-made paper, which I tore into trips and added along with some torn book pages, some sacking, lace, TH tissue strips etc until the pages were covered. Then I added some photos, of 2 great aunts of my husband(taken about 1900) on the left side, and one of Erika and her brother, taken about 1920 on the right. I decided to leave the rest as it is, as I liked the collage without covering it up with too many photos.






And I made a tag, which was supposed to be autumn and lace, using the dress form from TH, leaves and lace. I got a bit carried away, and now you can hardly see the dress form or tag....Oh well, somethings do go wrong....And it does look like autumn, just not like anything else!


So, here's wishing you all a good day, and I'm sending huge hugs and sparkly vibes galore to Donna, who had a knee operation yesterday. Get well soon Donna, miss you! Take care you all, and thanks for visiting!

PS I just read on Donna's Blog, that she has been up all night taking pics of the people who go past her door and blogging them, Good for you, Donna!

Friday, 23 September 2011

Paint Party Friday is here again!

Good morning everybody, and welcome to Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin. Hope you will find time and see the work of some of the talented people who play along every week.

I have painted some journal pages this week. I went to IKEA - the swedish furniture store - recently, and saw some material printed with lots of pictures like a story book. I couldn't afford to buy any just now, but it inspired me to paint these journal pages. The pages have been drawn with water colour crayons and pencils, painted, and then edged with a pen and black ink. It was fun to draw all these haphazard pictures, linking them with the *bean-stalk* and then working them into a little story. I think I will try something like this again.




And I made a tag for Rebecca's Blog Challenge Garden. This time we have to make a tag out of recycled materials. I have made the tag and the sentiments from my Coffee packaging, the ribbon was from an Easter egg, the lace and paper scraps are ancient. Just the fairy image is new.


So, that was it for today. Have a nice day, and happy PPF to all participants. Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

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!