Hard Times....

I spent quite a lot of time yesterday collaging little bits of paper again. After managing to clear part of my working space the day before, I wanted to carry on the good work. BUT....every drawer I opened, in the hope of being able to find a small corner to stuff something into, was already full. Now I have no idea who always stuffs small scraps of paper, wonky die-cuts, badly stamped images and images which nobody needs into my drawers. The paper was even sorted into colours, some of it fixed together with paper clips or rubber bands, so it can't have been me, as (1) I don't clear anything away, (2) I am not a sorter-outer and (3) I swear I have never seen this stuff before! Anyway, I filled several pages in my journal with collages again, and the drawers are just as full as ever. It must be the pixies....I also found 3 hot glue guns, masses of glue sticks, and 2 pairs of socks. WHO put them into my kitchen drawers? But I must admit, I was rather proud of myself for even THINKING about tidying up. (Note to self : give yourself a mental pat on the back. Or do I mean a pat on my mental back? Can one have a mental back to pat? Or do I mean a mental bat on my pack?) (Second note to self : Shut up! Show them the pictures!)

Okay, here the pictures from 2 tags and a double page spread in my scribble-a-day journal, which is fast becoming a stick it each day journal. The tags were fun to make, trying to use up all the last drops of spray in my mini-misters before washing and refilling them. The first one is again Autumn themed, in case you didn't notice. The second one should have been something quite different, but the pansies fitted best to the background colours. I dyed the little lace scrap to match. Actually, the lace fell into the ink on my craft sheet, but the result is the same!

Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for dropping by!

Poison Bottles and More....

Hi everybody, I had a nice time staying with my friend, but it's still nice to be back home again, and have all my crafty things waiting for me. And there's no bed like one's own bed....
Yesterday I had fun making more decorations for Halloween. I altered 2 bottles which I can use for condiments. For the large one, I cut a label from TH's Halloween Resist Block, which I distressed with some barn-door red. I threaded some ball chain into a little skull to hang round the bottle neck. I went to my neighbour to ask if she had a wine-cork for the stopper, but she didn't have any, so I had to sacrifice myself, and open a bottle of red wine - just to get the cork, of course. But I have to admit that the wine boosted my crafting spirits.... No, I didn't drink it all! The hand on the top was from a back-scratcher that recently broke. I gave it 2 coats of white acrylic paint, which I heat-bubbled, and then distressed with distress inks in red and blue to give a little atmosphere. The smaller bottle has a label from the Graphics Fairy (thanks!), a skull, and a little booklet with evil recipes. As I had no stopper for the bottle, I fixed 2 skeleton arms together to make a *plug* for the bottle neck. They were great fun to make, and I am wondering if my guests will dare to use the condiments in them....

The journal pages were made on Sunday, with all the scraps that were once again littering my table, made into a rather haphazard collage.

So, I think that was enough for today. Have a good day you all, take good care of yourselves, and thanks for visiting!

Tuesday

Good morning everyone! I am still at my friend's place, and wanted to do my blog, as usual, from here. I remembered to bring my Netbook and modem, but forgot that the pictures that I wanted to share with you are on my computer at home!
But I do have a joke that Narda sent. It's a bit naughty, you have been warned....


Last week, Ethel checked into a hotel on her 70th birthday. She was a bit lonely. She thought, "I'll call one of those men you see advertised in phone books for escorts and sensual massages."

She looked through the phone book, found a full page ad for a guy calling himself Tender Tony-a very handsome man with assorted physical skills flexing in the photo. He had all the right muscles in all the right places, thick wavy hair, long powerful legs, dazzling smile, six-pack abs, and she felt quite certain she could bounce a quarter off his well oiled buttom....

She figured, what the heck, nobody will ever know. I'll give him a call.

"Good evening, ma'am, how may I help you? Oh my, he sounded sooo sexy! Afraid she would lose her nerve if she hesitated, she rushed right in, "Hi, I hear you give a great massage. I'd like you to come to my hotel room and give me one. No, wait, I should be straight with you. I'm in town all alone and what I really want is sex. I want it hot, and I want it now. Bring implements, toys, rubber, leather, whips, everything you've got in your bag of tricks. We'll go hot and heavy all night - tie me up, cover me in chocolate syrup and whipped cream, anything and everything, I'm ready! Now how does that sound?"

He said, "That sounds absolutely fantastic, but you need to press 9 for an outside line."

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

Monday again....

The weekend has sped by, and I seem to have very little to show for it, but I enjoyed it, and that was the main thing. Sometimes t's good to be busy doing nothing.

Yesterday I decided to smarten up some skeletons. I am sure we all have skeletons in our cupboards, and the poor things only get taking out at Halloween and spend the rest of their lives (??) in some dark boxes, keeping some dusty pumpkins, Easter Bunnies, and Christmas baubles company. Can't be fun. So I thought I should at least get 2 of mine all dolled up for the festive Halloween season. Here they are, Miss S.Keleton and Mr B.Ones, I think they make a lovely pair.

And I made 2 tags for my DT pieces at The Cheerful Stamp Pad, where the Challenge this week is Thanksgiving. I distressed the tags with TH inks and sprays in spiced marmalade, wild honey, barn-door and forest green. Then I stamped them using the Lavinia 3-part leaf stamp using red. green and black. I have decorated the tags with German scrap images showing a filled basket of fruits and some fabric leaves. The sentiment on the first tag is *Give thanks to the Lord for He is good*. The second tag has more or less the same sentiment, just in Hebrew, and spoken *Hodu L'Adonai ki tov, ki le olam hasdo* - Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for He loves the world. I added a flower fairy tag, and some images printed onto transparency foil.

And that was all I managed, but I enjoyed my lazy day. Have a good day, take care, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Cold and sunny Sunday

It's another clear, windy and cold day here, after a very frosty night, and I have been watching the sunrise, something I never tire of. I wonder what it is that fascinates us all so much with sunrise and sunset?

Yesterday I worked on an altered box for the Just For Fun challenge, which was to alter something from the bedroom or sewing box. I found a rather battered square box with a nasty, water-stained blue covering. I covered the outside with scraps of some ancient books and some music sheets which have been decaying in my cupboards for years. I can't bear to throw them away, so I am using them bit by bit for different projects. I used mod-podge to fix the scraps, and then gave it a coat of diluted gesso after it had dried. The lovely, art-nouveau paper with the lyres which I used for the lining was an end paper from a music book from 1900. I have also mod-podged the inside, so that it will withstand some wear-and-tear. I covered the edges with TH tissue tape, and rubbed round them afterwards with some inka-gold. I painted the rim round the base of the box with gold-bronze paint. I have glued a tiny magnet into the front of the box and under the lining of the lid, and put a gold button on just for decoration. The top has been decorated with a paper-lace doiley cut into four, some paper daisies and a picture of Mona Lisa, with a metal frame. I will be using the box to store my *best* buttons - the mother of pearl ones.

Apart from that, I spent the rest of the day with my feet up, reading, drinking coffee & nibbling biscuits. In the evening I re-watched a DVD, *Nirgendwo in Afrika* (Nowhere in Africa) based on the novel by Stefanie Zweig. I love the book and the film, so it was a pleasant way to pass the time.

Hope you all have a good Sunday, whatever you are up to. Be good; if you can't be good, be careful, and thanks a lot for stopping by!

Saturday, Weekend and Good Weather

Hi everybody! Now, I don't like to say this toooooooooooooo loudly, but yesterday I didn't cut myself, or burn myself, or crash into anything. I didn't drop anything, and apart from a pair of scissors falling apart, the day was really uneventful. What's wrong with me? I'm going to take it as a good omen and hope the next days will carry on like this.

I spent a nice afternoon doing a journal spread. I sprayed the pages with inks in autumnal colours, and when it was dry I drew the leaves on the left hand side. Then I had fun playing around and trying out different techniques. Some I painted with colours, others with different sorts of felt-tips and / or water-soluble pencils and crayons. That's the nice thing about working in the journal, it gives me a chance to try things out. Then I stamped some acorns and birds, and added some fabric leaves, and the spooky Halloween ghost. On the right hand side I have used a poem written by my sister Cynthia in 1989, and added some more Halloween decorations. After taking the photos I distressed the white paper with wild honey to make it match the page better. I only have ten days left to play with my Halloween ideas, so I'd better make the most of it.

Hope you all have a good Saturday. Have a good time, whatever you are up to, take care and thanks for dropping by!!

Alas, poor Yorick!

Well, I am pleased to say that I managed to get through last night without any calamities, like bumping into the bathroom door-frame in the middle of the night. I still have some bumps and bruises, and rather resemble a cross between a panda and a unicorn, but it will pass. And I sincerely hope that my little series of calamities is slowly passing.... Enough is enough!

I had a nice, lazy day yesterday. Apart from a little bit of crafting, I watched the crows and ravens gathering in the tree in the back garden, first there was just one, then more and more came, and it looked for all the world as though they were holding a Hitchcock Memorial Service there. I think they were waiting for me to go away from the window so that they could empty the bird feeder.... But it was fun watching them.

But I did manage to make a tag and a mail-art envelope. I forgot to take a picture of the envelope before it had been filled, so the photo is not very good.

The tag is for the GC 123 Challenge over at Gingersnaps, and the theme is *Ravens*. The tag has been sprayed with distress inks in wild honey, spiced marmalade and forest green. I stamped leaves using Lavinia stamps in barn door and black, and then added some fabric leaves to give depth. The large raven has been stamped using a LaBlanche stamp, and then I added the pumpkin and small leaves at *ground level*. The smaller raven has been printed onto acetate and placed up in the leaves. I used ribbons in orange and green, and a skull as a charm. I think this tag will be called *Alas, poor Yorick!* in memory of Hamlet in the graveyard. The lovely earrings next to the tag are the *Dia de los muertos* ones that Donna made for me some time back; they accompany me a lot!

Then I spent the rest of the day sorting out papers and letters ready to file them away, but didn't get very far with them, the piles seemes to ge growing and not decreasing!

Hope you all have a nice day today, take care, stay creative, and thanks for visiting!