Sporty men tags - JFF

Hi everybody! It's carnival here in Rhineland, so there will be a parade in the town today, but I don't think I will be going to see it. A lot of people drink too much, and I don't feel happy standing in the middle of a crowd, so I will take my walk in the opposite direction.
I made 2 little tags yesterday for the JFF challenge, where the them this week is sporty men, or sporty for men. The large tag has been given a print background, which I coloured with water-colour pencils, then added some CI images, and an image from Dezina World. The small tag has a stamped and decoupaged image from Scrollswork, pasted onto a map background.

Have a good day you all, have fun and thanks for dropping in!

Auntie Cissie, Jason & PPF

Hi everybody, it's Friday again which means it's time for Darcy's Postcard Challenge, week 7 and PPF, hosted by Eva and Kristin, week 49.

This week it's Aunt Cissie's turn to take a journey, and she's in Wales, visiting an old school friend....

Auntie Cissie had a good laugh with her friend Thelma about Jason being silly enough to think he could buy Mannekin Pis in Brussels, but as she held tight to his credit card, he couldn’t buy it, and that was the end of the story.
This week she is visiting Sadie, an old school friend, who married a Welsh man and moved to Prestatyn many years ago. While Cissie was clearing out her cupboard she found a pile of old postcards, some of which had been sent from different towns by Sadie. She is most impressed by a vintage card from Aberystwyth, and is sure that she read somewhere that the outfit the lady is wearing was the national dress of Wales.

So she decides to ask her dressmaker to sew her a jacket just like the one in the postcard, and finds a matching hat in her fave colours to boot.
She is, as usual, rather worried about the food, as she has heard that the Welsh eat Laverbread, made with seaweed, and she is sure that seaweed does not have enough calories in it to support her! She feels better when she reads that they make very good cheeses and that lamb os often served. But as she likes to be on the safe side, she packs 2 large loaves, a pound of butter, 2 pots of jam, a home-made fruitcake and a good selection of sweets and chocolates into her case, and Jason brings her to Victoria bus-station, where she boards the coach for Wales. The driver nearly collapses as he lifts her case, and shouts *Bloody ‘ell, my ‘ernia!*. After Jason and the driver have a cup of tea to steady their nerves again, Jason waves goodbye, and is not really sad to see Cissie disappearing for a week.
Here is the card she sends to Jason:

Here is the text for those who can't read Auntie C's handwriting....

Dear Jason, arrived safely in Prestatyn after a strenuous drive. Lucky I had a few nibbles in my bag for the journey! Prestatyn is a lovely sea-side town, with plenty of cafés, several fish and chip shops and a McDonald’s. Yesterday we took the train from Llanberis to the top of Snowdon. Such beautiful views! We took smoked salmon sandwiches and cream cakes. Afterwards we visited Conway Castle, very impressive. We had fish and chips for lunch. Not bad, but nothing to sing about, although the restaurant was called the *Minstrel’s rest*.Sadie has got very fat and old; I hardly recognised her! Love, Auntie Cissie.PS. My outfit has really caused a stir here!

More next week, I'm looking forward to Monday to see where Jason will be going!

I didn't get round to painting anything for PPF this week, so I am showing a painting I did last week in my *art group* with some ladies here. The background has been scraped on with a plastic card, and the Umbrella men have been painted with black paint using the die-cut waste as a template. Then I added rings using a loo roll, and some rub-ons which have been flying around in my stash for years.

Thanks to all who left me nice messages or sent mails this week, I do appreciate it very much! Have a great day you all, take care and thanks for looking by!

A Quick Hello

Hi you all, just a quick hello today! Sorry that I wasn't around the past 2 days. I had a lot of pain, and reached an emotional all time low to crown it all. I feel more or less *normal* today, whatever that might be, and will be back tomorrow with the latest news from Auntie Cissie in the Land of Song....

Have a good day, and take care of yourselves. Thanks for dropping in!

Valentine Tags for Tag Tuesday

Hi you all! Well, yesterday it got really warm here - the temps went up to 2° plus, which felt good after weeks of icy cold. I sincerely hope that the big freeze is now over....There's a lot of snow today, but the weather prophets have said that it will soon turn to rain.
On the minus side, I had such bad backache yesterday that I could hardly sit, but I have another appointment with the chiropractor today, so hope he will be able to help.

I just made 2 tags for Tag Tuesday; the theme this week is *Valentine*. I think the pain robbed me of all inspiration yesterday, so I am not happy with the tags, but I suppose it's like that sometimes!

Okay, that's all for today. Today will be another busy day, so I need to get going!

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

More this and that....

Hi you all, hope you have all had a great weekend. Here it was extremely cold - still -10°, but sunny. The weather should be getting warmer today, and bringing rain, which is going to make for some very icy roads, so I'm happy I don't need to go any place today.
Yesterday we had another peaceful day- We had a good lunch, then I had a nap, and then H. had set the table with coffee and more decadent slices of cheesecake....sorry again Auntie Cissie and Donna, but we ate it all up! Then two of the men here had visits from their wives, who turned up bearing large cakes - a beautiful many layered cake filled with butter-cream and a *Streusel* cake filled with vanilla pudding. Well, it would have been rude to say no, wouldn't it!!!!? Anyway, we decided to leave out supper to make up for it. After eating all that cake we made some more cards, and had a fun afternoon.

This is a pic I tool looking out of my window yesterday afternoon. There is a clematis there in summer, and I noticed that a bird has made its nest there, too. But I hope I will be home before the birds start nesting!

This is the card I made Saturday afternoon, I took the pattern round the back. I painted it with water colour pencils and distress inks. The hedgehog and bee stamps are both from LaBlanche.

I made this card yesterday, it is my DT piece for *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*, where the theme this time is birthdays. It's for a little girl who loves blue and bling, so I think she will like it!

And last but not least, an envelope ready to take my twichies for the Gingersnaps swap. It will be on its way to England tomorrow, lucky thing!

Have a great day, take care, and thanks for stopping by!

This and that....

I had a nice relaxing day yesterday. Saturdays there are usually no treatments, but I just had one - cupping and then a back massage, very pleasant. Then one of the ladies here had baked a cheese cake, and we sat in the common room, eating indecently large pieces of cheese cake and drinking coffee. Auntie Cissie, if you are reading this, sorry, the invitation came as a surprise, so I didn't have time to ask you over! When I am back home, I will make a giant cheese cake, and then you can pop over with Jason and we'll party!!

After that, I needed to work off some calories, so I made some tags and cards. I'm just showing you the tags today, as my internet stick SUCKS just now, and is taking ages to do anything! The first one has been made with a scrap of left-over cardstock, which has been randomly stamped with script and some flourishes, before adding the image, which is from Crafty Secrets. I just added the flowers and the ribbon.

The second one has been cut from white card which has been distressed with wild honey, and then stamped with the same flourishes and script. I added some flowers cut from a prospect, the image is from Crafty Secrets again, the sunflower from my stash, and the bee is a LaBlanche stamp, decorated with some stickles. I used some honey coloured dew-drops to make the flower-centres.

The third one has been made with a manila tag, the background has been stamped like the other two, before adding some flower rub-ons from LaBlanche and an image fussy cut from a picture which was flying around in my stash. The first and last tags were finished off with some scraps of lace.

Have a good Sunday you all, take care, keep warm and have fun. Thanks for visiting!

Postcard Challenge Week 6 & PPF Week

Good morning everybody! Today is a double party again; week 6 of Darcy's Postcard Challenge and week 48 of PPF, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.
For PPF I have made journal pages, which are not quite finished, but I hope I will have more time to play over the weekend. I have used acrylic paint for the background, and added faces, doodling, some dry transfers and some stamping. I am not yet sure what still needs to be done, but time will tell.

Cissie arrived safely home after her trip to France, with a good stash of chocolate, cake, paté and a few other edible souvenirs in her ample case. She invited Jason for a day to feed him up a bit, as she is always convinced that he looks starved. They have double portions of fish and chips for lunch, followed by chocolate éclairs, scones and fruit cake for dessert. For afternoon tea she serves paté sandwiches with salt and vinegar crisps, and is really happy to watch Jason stuffing himself. Then she brings out the tea shirt she bought him in France. She is very concerned that it makes Jason look so thin, and decides she must invite him more often. She takes the opportunity to put Jason’s fave green pullover into the old clothes bag for the charity shop. But he is cunning, and offers to take the bag to the Charity shop for her on his way home. As soon as he is in his car, he swaps his pullover for the French t-shirt and is happy again.

Before he sets out for Belgium, Auntie Cissie takes his credit card off him, so he can’t spend money on junk again, and gives him enough pocket money to keep him happy on his trip. He flies to Brussels, and visits other beautiful, old towns like Ghent and Bruges, the *Venice of the North*. In Ghent he enjoys the many medieval buildings, and of course, the antique shops. In Bruges he visits the famous museums and takes a boat trip, although he is more interested in the pretty girls sitting next to him than in the beautiful views of the ancient town. He is delighted with Brussels, visits the wonderful museums and the Atomium, but his highlights are the night clubs and girls....

So, that was all for today. Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for dropping in!