500th Blog-post & Giveaway Today!

Well, I never thought I would get this far when I started blogging just under 2 years ago. I have met so many nice people in this time, made a lot of friends, exchanged art, cards, postcards etc with people all over the world, and enjoy being part of the blogger family. Thanks to all those who have visited, written words of encouragement, cheered me up when I was down and just been there. It means a lot to me.

So, to celebrate I want to do a little Giveaway. It is open to all members of blog, and to those who join! and all you have to do is to leave a comment on this post. Tomorrow morning I will put all the names into a hat, and and one will be randomly chosen. Please tell me how to contact you if I don't yet have your contact details! The winner will receive 3 tags and a mini book made by me, some ephemera and other crafty bits and bobs, all packed in a mail-art envelope.

Today I had a nice, crafty day at home, made my journal pages & a tag, and some other things which I don't want to show yet.

For the journal pages I started off with different colour mists, home made using re-inker and a touch of perfect pearls. Then I rubbed a bit of ink direct from the ink pad here and there.

Then I put the pictures onto the page, as at this time of year, especially when it's windy there are always lots of people - adults and kids - flying their kites. I often tried, but mine never started flying, there must be a trick to it, but I never got it!

The tag has been made for *Dragon's Dream TIO*. Poor Frankie - the dragon boss - is having a rough time with injuries and illness in her family, so get well soon Frankie, and lots of hugs and sparkles coming your way. The challenge was to show the full moon!

So, that was all for today. You have until tomorrow morning when I roll out of bed to add a comment and join in the Giveaway, that will be about 9 a.m. German time.

Have a great day, take care, and thanks for being with me over such a long time!

Time for Sunday Sketches

Hi everybody, hope you have all slept well and are feeling fit. I slept till really late - 10 a.m., and enjoyed getting a bit more rest.
I had a nice day out with my friend B yesterday, even if the journey to Bonn did turn out a little differently to how we had expected it. The weather was not good - a mixture of wind, rain and hail stones, but that was not the worst. The drive usually takes about an hour, this time we needed nearly 3 1/2 hours. The first few kilometers went by quickly, and then there was a 10km traffic jam, which caused the usual frustration of only being able to move a few meters at a time, but in the end, after taking a detour to escape the motorway, we managed to get to Bonn and find *Irish Teddy's*. Everybody there was very friendly, there was nice food and sweets, coffee and Sekt for all who wanted it. And of course, lots of nice, crafty things to look at and buy. I couldn't spend much, as the dentist is eating up my money just now, but did succumb to some embossing powder, a stamp, 2 TH texture fades and a few embellies. The shop is also very conveniently situated next to a *Döner* shop - a Kebab takeaway - so we didn't starve, either! We met some nice people there - Iris, who has started the shop, and her husband, and some very friendly helpers, especially Kerstin, who fell in love with little Emily, so it was a good day out. We managed the way back in less than an hour. B's little dog, Emily, accompanied us, slept in the car, and was much petted and admired in the shop, so I think she enjoyed it, too.

Today I want to show you some little notebooks I made using cardboard, a BIA and some scraps. Two of them have lined paper inside, and 2 post-it notes. These are fun and easy to make, don't cost much, and make nice little presents.

And today is time for Sunday Sketches over at Sophia's *Blue Chair Diary*. She has had a very hard time with the illness and death of her dear Father, so I am sending her lots of hugs and sparkles.
The first and last piece are vases (in case you can't recognise them) and the other 2 everyday things which were on my table. Sometimes I think I am making progress, and then I get days where nothing turns out right, but the main thing is for me, that I am sticking to it!

So, that was it for today. Now I am going to have a nice crafty day, do some challenges, and not go anywhere. Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for dropping in!


PS - Tomorrow I will be having a little Giveaway!

Happy Weekend!

Hi everybody, just a quickie today, as I am going to Bonn with a friend today for the opening of a new scrap and craft shop there; should be fun!

These are the journal pages I made yesterday. I seem to be fixed on playing patchwork with pieces of paper just now. For these ones I used two pages cut out of a home decoration magazine, which I cut into different sized rectangles and mixed with some white and gold paper scraps. I put some other cut outs on top, and the first verse of *Mack the Knife*, which seemed to fit...

And I have received the last of my postcards from Lenna's postcard swap, a beautiful card made by Lynda Roddy Ozzanto. Thanks Lynda!

Okay, that's all for now. Have a good Saturday, take care, and thanks for visiting!

PPF And some Challenges

Another week has been and gone, Friday's here and that means it's Paint Party Friday , hosted by Eva and Kristin. Hope you have time to hop over and see what the others have made. Today I want to show the photos of the little chest of drawers I painted a few weeks back, and somehow forgot. At first I wanted to do some more distressing on it, but it didn't look right, so I just did some edges with a little gold paint and rubbed a bit of inka gold into it here and there. The first photo is *before* and the others *during* and *after* - just in case you don't notice it for yourself! It didn't look bad before, I just needed something brighter in my rather dark hallway. I still need to paint the bookcase to match it, but that will have to wait.

I am still not sure if I like it, or if I will leave it as it is, but I do not feel like starting again just now!
After a day of wind, rain and cloud yesterday, it cleared just before dusk, and we had a wonderful sky. I think there's a saying, *Red sky at night, shepherd's delight*. The photos are not good as my camera does not work well when there's not enough light.

After I got back from the dentist - which was not bad yesterday, he just took out all the stitches, and my mouth felt a lot better for it! I spent the rest of the day crafting. I made another mail-art envelope, which will be flying off next week. I used a mixture of collage and stamping again, this way I get to use a lot of old magazines instead of putting them in the old paper collection.

And lastly I made 2 projects for Gingersnaps Challenges. The first one is for GC121 *Horror Stories* and the second one for GC 120, *Turquoise, blue and purple*.

I really like the *naked* tag, after it had been distressed and stamped, but decided to give it some fitting decorations.

So, here's wishing you all a good day. Take care, and thanks for dropping in! And don't forget, Monday is Giveaway Day!

It's Dentist Time again....

Good morning you all! It's Thursday and that means the Dentist will be waiting for me again....I can already hear the money dropping out of my purse and into his!
Yesterday I didn't get much done, but I DID manage to get rid of a whole sackful of things I cleared out, so that was good. Apart from that, I managed one tag and a digital layout. This is the first time that I have made a complete LO with Photoshop. The photo is another *clocky* one I made some time back and digitally altered. Then I took it to the copy-shop and had it printed out in 12x12 format, so I have something in the hand. It was fun, but I think I prefer working the conventional way.

The tag has been made for the GC 118 *Crimpers* Challenge at Gingersnaps. I splodged a tag with TH distress inks in wild honey and spiced marmalade and stamped it with a background stamp from LaBlanche in Stazon black. Then I crimped the tag, and a second one, a little larger made of some patterned gold cardstock. I cut a diamond shape out of a scrap of hologram card in gold, and mounted the flowers, berries and skeleton leaves with silicon glue to form a little bouquet. I added a scrap of black ribbon and that was it.

And this came from Narda yesterday:

That's all for today, and don't forget on Monday there will be a little GIVEAWAY on my blog....stay tuned! Have a great day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Melancholy autumn mood....

Hi everybody! It's a chilly and wet day here, but it doesn't matter, as I don't need to go anywhere today, and can stay at home and do what I like best!
Today I would like to share a rather melancholy LO with you, using the first few lines of John Keats *Lamia* -



LOVE in a hut, with water and a crust,
Is—Love, forgive us!—cinders, ashes, dust;
Love in a palace is perhaps at last
More grievous torment than a hermit’s fast:—



For the LO I made a word cloud with Wordle, which I printed onto vellum. The background paper is from 7 Gypsies, and for the matting I used some heavily distressed core'dinations black paper. I have kept the embellishments simple; some die cut vines, a few prima flowers and some ribbon. I have written the text with a white pen along the edge, and stamped some *love* text in white on the right side.

And here is a collage of a Halloween album; my fave holiday is coming nearer and nearer....

So, that was it for today. Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!




P.S. In 5 days I will be offering a giveaway; tune in to find out more!

An Autumn Day

Time is flying by again. it's Tuesday already and time to (1) go to the dentist again, (2) do a LITTLE bit of H*******k before I forget the colour of the furniture and (3) enjoy the rest of the day. Yesterday started out really chilly, when I woke up the trees were all shrouded in mist, and as the sun rose, the mist started to dissolve and the leaves were all sparkling like diamonds, a wonderful sight, even though the picture does not really do it justice:

I spent the day with my friend Inge, and we did the same as always - eating, coffee drinking, playing cards and chatting, a nice, relaxing day. I make Inge a calendar page each month, and this is October:

And I want to show you a LO I made. I took the photo of the clocks some time back, and then digitally altered it in Photoshop. It has been printed onto vellum, so as not to completely obscure the background paper from K & Co. The2 fairy images are from LaBlanche, and the frame has been stamped onto acetate using Stazon brown. The key and keyhole are from My Tattered angels, and the sentiments from K & Co. *Time* has also been computer generated and printed onto acetate. I am entering this LO into the *Just For Fun Challenge* which this week is anything but a card.

So, that was enough for today, the dentist is waiting for me....Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks a million for visiting!