Friday 30 December 2011

Paint Party Friday Week # 42

It hardly seems possible that this is the last PPF in this year; where has the time gone? Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting this challenge.

I have made a mixed media canvas for this week, using photos of me taken at various times, and pictures of London. I grew up in London's Docklands, more or less in Jack-the-Ripper-Land, and the predominant colours were grey and black, which I have used in my painting. Many of the buildings were not only soot blackened but also scarred and damaged by the *Blitz*. I cut away part of the photos I have used along the bottom of the picture, in order to make them merge better with the background. The pictures show places with which I was familiar during my childhood and school time. We lived very near to the Tower of London, where we often played as kids.






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

Thursday 29 December 2011

The Same but Different....

Yesterday I made some tags to enter into a few challenges. The theme over at *Take a word* is print this week, and this was my inspiration for the tags I made. They have all been made with the same combination of a *sandwich-man* stamp from Scrollswork, and TH's umbrella man. I used tags cut from waste cardboard, which I covered with paper from an old book. After distressing the background, I stamped the motive, and added the umbrella-man, twice as a die-cut, using old book covers, and once sponged with ink using the *waste*. Although each tag is basically the same, the look has been changed each time by using different colours and positioning of the images, and different *accessories*. I am also entering the tags into the challenges at the *Craft Room*, and at * Everybody Art* and at *Sunday Stampers* where *anything goes* is on.





I started some new journal pages, too, but they are only half finished just now.
Thanks to all who left me nice messages yesterday, it did me good to see that other people care. I still feel very down, but am trying to give myself a kick in the butt to get back into my routine again, and hope that it will help.

And before I close, another joke from Narda:

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a Southerner, a New Englander, and a Californian) an Argentine, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Kyrgyzstani, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and 47 Africans all from different African countries all walk into a fine restaurant...
The maître scrutinizes the group one by one, and bars their entrance saying, "Sorry, you can't come in here without a Thai."


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

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Not feeling so good....

Hi everybody, these are pictures I made back in 1991, but they look like I feel today.



Catch you all again tomorrow. Have a good day and take care!

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Lots of Thank You's

Hi everybody, I must say I am glad that the holidays are over and that life can get back to *normal* now, whatever that may be! I want to say thanks to all who sent me beautiful cards for Christmas and my birthday, hand made presents, embellishments and other *play-things*: Jo, Annette, Zoe, Katie, Yvonne,Cindy, Carole, Carole (Cobbly), Maria, Elvie, Carolyn, Suze, Natasa, Sara Bee, Lynne, Karen, Sue and China.






Here's wishing you all a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Sunday 25 December 2011

More Journal Pages

Holiday time is a difficult time to be alone, so the past couple of days were rather sad. Well, at least I didn't have to cook for anyone, and could spend my days crafting as always....
I hate to do this to you again, but once again a song has crept into my work - *Pictures of Matchstick men* - from Status Quo, which has been going round in my head for days; now it will surely do the same for you! And for those of you who have perhaps forgotten how it goes, here it is:



I have used predominantly grey in the pages, more or less matching my mood. The pictures and images have been printed in black and white; some have been applied as dry transfers, as I like the rather ragged look this gives. Others have been collaged,and mixed with some London images. As a kid I used to call the guards *matchstick men* - perhaps because they always stood so still and straight. I have used two TH die cuts, the dress form, which has been *Stamped* using the *waste* from the die-cut, and the umbrella man.




Here's wishing you all a good day. Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Happy Holidays You All!

Happy Holidays to you all, whatever you may be celebrating, and enjoy the time you can spend in the company of family, friends and loved ones.




Take care of yourselves, and thanks for visiting!

Saturday 24 December 2011

'Twas the Day before Christmas...

Good morning you all! Hope you have all finished running round in circles and that everything is ready for the big day.
I wrapped up the last of my presents yesterday, and that was about it.
I finished the journal pages I started for PPF, so now the spread is complete; the second page is just as depressing as the first one!



I hope that the next pages will improve!

Here's wishing you all a good day, happy holidays whatever you are celebrating, and don't forget to take care of yourselves! Thanks for looking in!