Thursday already.....

Well, the postman came again yesterday, and brought me something - a bill! I suppose it would be too much to expect nice surprises every day! But I had a good day anyway. My friend B came with her little dog, and we had a crafty day. Well, the dog just watched, she hasn't started crafting yet! We were busy with an Advent Calendar for her Mom, we made her one last year, which she liked very much, so we decided to make another one. We used a Sizzix die to cut 24 envelopes from different, coordinating papers, and then glued them together, put numbers on them, and made the tags to go inside. The tags have to be decorated, and we each make 12 with quotes and / or vouchers and little treats to go in the envelopes. When it's finished, we mount them all on a wall hanging, and then the surprise will be finished.
Here are 3 of the envelopes to give you an idea.

And after B had gone home, I finished my journal pages that I started yesterday morning. I painted the pages with gesso, and then used a wide brush to slop on two different blues, some white and some yellow. When it was dry I started drawing some stars, and they somehow turned into sea-stars, so after doodling them, I put in the rest of the under-water scenery, using water colour pencils, vintage scrap, and some cut-outs. The text has been printed onto acetate. I used *Ariel's Song* from the Tempest, as it is a poem I like very much. And I wrote a Beatles verse along the side - *I want to be, under the sea, in an octopus's garden in the shade*; The Beatles and Shakespeare go well together. It was great fun to make, and I am always astonished that I start off with a brush and some colours and it just turns into something without being planned. I am linking again to AEDM at Creative every day

And I got another good joke from Narda. Here it is:

This is the story of the poor blonde flying in a two-seater airplane with just the pilot.
He has a heart attack and dies. She frantically calls a May Day:

"May Day! May Day! Help me! Help me! My pilot had a heart attack and is dead. And I don't know how to fly. Help me! Please help me!"

All of a sudden she hears a voice over the radio saying:

"The is ATC. I have received your message and I will talk you through it. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of problem. Now, just relax. Everything will be fine! Now give me your height and position."

She says, "I'm 5'4" and I'm in the front seat."
O.K." says the voice from the tower. "Repeat after me: Our Father. . . Who art in Heaven. . . .."


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

The postman rang again!

This seems to be my lucky week - the postman rang my bell again, this time with a big, fat envelope from Yvonne. Inside it was a beautiful card, a tag, a wall-hanging and loads of lovely lace in different colours, just what I needed, as my supplies were running low. Thanks a lot, Yvonne - it was a great surprise! The gifts were all wrapped in pretty paper napkins, which I will definitely use in my journal, and sent in a stamped envelope. Here are the pics of my lovely things:

Yesterday started off cold and misty, so after I had got my shopping, I settled into my arty kitchen and got down to work. My fingers were itching to splodge about with more paint, so I grabbed my journal and did just that. I used blue, white, yellow and ochre, which I applied with a brush and a spatula before heating and bubbling a bit. I added some gold streaks and drips with a Krylon pen and some gold ink before collaging dome pictures and music notes. I don't think the results are really important, for me it's just doing it that is important just now. I am linking again to AEDM at *Creative Every Day*

And I decided to make another card using a favourite stamp. I distressed the speciality stamping card from LaBlanche with ancient linen and vintage photo, and stamped the image with vintage photo before clear embossing it. The embellishments have been kept simple again, some scraps of lace, a sentiment and a stick-pin.

I was pleased to see yesterday that I made *Top Three* again at *The Craft Room* for my black and white skeleton tag, and last week I was chosen again as a Ginger Gem for my *Horror Stories* piece. How sad that Halloween is now over!

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

When the postman rings....

Yesterday the postman rang, and that means he has something nice for me. This time it was a lovely painted and collaged postcard from Katie. This came as a complete surprise, and was like a ray of sunshine to brighten the cold and misty day we had. Thanks Katie! There's nothing nicer than a nice surprise! I just love the way Katie's girl is looking.....

And I finished off the journal pages in my giant journal. I used the rest of the colours from Sunday. This time I used a postcard from Hopper, an antique photo of someone I don't know, and some rub-ons. I did some random stamping on the background, before adding the rest, and chose images which fitted to the background colours this time. It was, as always, fun to make, especially the little surreal effects. I am linking again to AEDM at Creative Every Day

And lastly I made a tag for *The Dragon's Dream* TIO, which I somehow didn't get round to the past couple of weeks. The dragon has been dreaming of Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium, so it had to be something steampunky. I covered a tag with some adverts from a German paper from 1899, *Steampunk time*, glazed it with mod-podge, and then added 2 images and a sentiment from *Scrollswork* stamps. I added a clock as charm.

So, enough for today! Hope you all have a good day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Colour mixed with black and white

Hi everybody, hope you have all had a good weekend. was at my friend's for 2 days, and we spent our time playing cards, eating and drinking coffee.....So, when I got home today I was really keen on getting going with paint and paper again! I made some more pages in my journal. I painted the background with gesso, to see if the colour doesn't sap through so much this time, and then slapped on some blue, white, yellow and ochre, using a wide brush and a plastic spatula. As usual, I had squeezed too much paint out, so I also painted 2 pages in my giant journal to use it all up.

When the pages were dry I did some background stamping, using random stamps that were flying about, and then I added 2 black and white pictures. The left one shows POWs from WWII, the second one three of my older siblings, taken at a wartime rally *Wings for Victory* in Trafalgar Square. I added a bit of journalling, and it was done. I rather like the mix of colours and black and white, and will be doing something similar in my big journal for tomorrow. I am linking once again to AEDM at *Creative Every Day*

Okay, that was it. I have my appt at the doc's today, so I'd better get ready for it.
Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Happy Sunday!

Good morning everybody! I hope you have all slept well and have some good plans to enjoy your Sunday.
I am staying with a friend just now, but have my little Net-book here, so can still be online; I think it's an addiction!
The journal pages I am sharing with you today were made in the night from Friday to Saturday, as I couldn't sleep. Cutting and pasting and gessoing is such a calming activity. The music pages are once again from my old music book from 1900, and have been lightly dry-brushed with gesso, and then inked a bit. The pictures are all of me this time - except for the ballerina ! They show me in various stages between 1 year and 11. I realized while cutting and pasting them, that my hair was somehow always wispy and looked uncombed, and it is just the same today. No hairstyle keeps for more than a few minutes! Never mind, there are probably worse things! My journal is getting more and more difficult to photograph, as it is now so fat and bulgy - sounds like another description of me - that it won't lie flat! I am linking again to AEDM at Creative every Day

And here are some of the Xmas cards I made this week for my neighbour, although they are not my cup of tea again....

Okay, enough for one day. Hope you all have a great Sunday, whatever you are up to! Take care, and thanks for dropping in!

It's the weekend again....and Lynn is having a Giveaway!

Lynn Stevens over at *Trash to Treasure Art* is having a great Giveaway to celebrate her third Blogaversary. Hop over there and see the wonderful creations she is offering as prizes, they are all fantastic. If you don't go and see and join in, it's your own fault! You have been warned!

I am sure the time flies by more quickly from year to year, from month to month. Once again I have only managed half of what I wanted to do this week, and all the good intentions to do this and that are leading nowhere. Yesterday I just needed to do a bit of food shopping, and then had the whole day for crafting and painting....or so I thought. Every time I started working, either the telephone rang or the door-bell, sometimes both. Mostly I get rung up perhaps twice a week, and hardly anyone visits. They all waited till yesterday. Anyway, I did manage a card and a tag, but that was it! I am linking this post to the AEDM at *Creative Every Day*

The card is for the Just For Fun Challenge, where we have to use our favourite stamp(s). Difficult, I have so many I love! But I chose this stamp of a little girl in a lacy dress from Scrollswork, who unfortunately closed down. I distressed the card with ancient paper, vintage photo and Victorian lipstick, and stamped the image with vintage photo before clear embossing it. I did not want to add too much, so just used a scrap of lace, some beads, a feather and 2 little silk roses. I stamped *Postcard* onto it, and that was it.

The tag has been made for Gingersnaps GC 125 *Farm Fresh*. This is once again a theme which is not really my cup of tea, but I have tried. I like the background of the tag best, which was sprayed, splodged and splattered with distress inks in spiced marmalade, forest moss and faded jeans. When it was dry I stamped a row of turkeys along the bottom edge, added a turkey picture from *Crafty Secrets* (thanks Jan!) and a vintage scrap of a country girl, which I fixed with foam pads after *rounding* it on my glue stick, to give more dimension. I added some straw left over from my Halloween decorations, and that was it.

And I have another joke from Narda for you.

We had a power outage during a thunderstorm. As we peered from our dark cubicles to the outside world, my Director commented that it looked like power was out
for miles, since the office buildings as far as we could see were also dark. Our temp admin said, and I quote: "Can't be too far, that plane has lights!"

Have a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting.

Creative Every Day Challenge

Good morning! It's Thursday already, and we are enjoying some very unseasonable and mild weather, almost like spring. This really is something wonderful in November, and it should stay with us for another few days. So I hope to go for a walk along the Rhine later.
I was out most of the day with my friend, so it was nice to settle down to some crafting when I got back home. But I do need a better light in my kitchen; the nights are drawing in now, so I will have to arrange something that's good to paint and craft by. That will be my next priority. I made another spread for my journal, using a blended paper background, gesso and some black and white elements. It was fun to make, but for tomorrow I will make something with colour again; I feel that I need it just now. I am linking again to the Art Every Day challenge

Hope you all have a good day. Take care, and thanks a lot for visiting!