March Calendar Challenge

Well, I am rather late with posting my calendar for this month, but I couldn't do it before today. I am not happy with it, as I have stuck the days on all wonky. I didn't intend to put them in straight rows, but neither did I intend them to be all at different angles! And my glue stick didn't help. I bought a no-name one from the local supermarket, and it was not only no-name, but no-stick, no-use and no-good. On Monday I will buy a decent one!

I painted the background in blues and greens, to give me some spring feelings, and did some stamping and embossing and some doodling before putting on the days. Next week I will be back home, and hopefully able to cut and stick straight again! I am linking up to the *Kathryn Wheel*

Okay, that's all for today. Have a good Sunday, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Postcard Challenge # 9 and PPF Week 51

Good morning you all. It's another double party today, week 9 of Darcy's postcard Challenge and week 51 of Paint Party Friday hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.

On arriving home after his visit to Cuba, Jason is rather disgruntled to discover that Cissie loves cigars – she just doesn’t usually smoke because she likes to live healthily, and he has to watch as she uses his rum to make *Rumtopf*, fruits conserved in rum....which need to soak for weeks before they are ready to eat!
But as she treated him to a double portion of fish and ships at that fave shop, and promised him tea and cream cakes in the afternoon, he cheers up a bit.

This week Cissie is off to Switzerland with her best friend Thelma. Thelma has hardly spoken to her all week, because she would have preferred to go to Hungary, which reminds Cissie of HUNGRY, but by the time Jason heaves the cases of the two ladies into the coach at Victoria, they are happy again. After boarding the ship, they both put on the life jackets they have brought with them, as Cissie is rather worried after hearing bad news of some cruise ships that had problems. The captain tries to tell them that it is absolutely not necessary, but they refuse to remove them, even when he invites them into the bar for free drinks. They arrive safely in Ostend, and the captain is glad to see the back of them, saying *Those two barrage balloons couldn’t sink if they tried!*

After a long drive they arrive at their hotel in Geneva, where they spend 2 days before going on to Basel and Zürich, and visiting an alm, where the tourist guide has to push the two ladies by their generous butts to get them from the coach-park to the restaurant in an *Alm Hütte*. They do some sightseeing in the towns they visit, but ignore all the wonderful museums and sights to give them more time to eat and shop. Auntie Cissie and Thelma each buy themselves a *Dirndl*, the traditional dress with blouse and apron, although Auntie Cissie is rather concerned that it makes her look a little fat.... The shop assistant assures her that she looks very fetching - *Nein, nein, Madam, a Dirndle must goot sitzen, and you have the goot body for it!*

Before they go home, Cissie buys masses of swiss Gruyere and Emmenthaler cheese, and of course, enough chocolate to sink a battle ship. Here is the postcard she sends to Jason. She had her photo taken in front of the wonderful panorama of Zürich and the Lake.

For PPF I want to share a mixed media piece that I painted last weekend. Once again I have used lots of green, blue and gold.

Sorry I haven't been around this week, my cold was sooooooo bad that I had to stay in bed for a few days to avoid more complications, but I'm up again today, and am feeling a lot better.

Have a great day, take care of yourselves, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Fantasy Tag

Hi everybody, hope you have all have a good weekend, and are ready to get dug in to the new week!!

I spent most of yesterday in bed, I still feel very grotty. I haven't had a cold as bad as this for a long time, I think it must be man flu!

The tag is for the new challenge over it *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*, where land of fantasy is the theme. I have cobbled a tag together using bits and bobs flying about my table. The background picture has been cut out of a free magazine from the chemist's, the little girl is from Scrollswork, and was stamped and cut out, but not used, for another project, and the rest was in my stash.

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

Valentine Post and Blog Awards

Hi you all, I'm a little bit late blogging today, my nose is still running faster than I can and I need some rest! Apart from that, and coughing and sneezing, I don't think I will be up to much today. Why does a common cold make you feel soooooooo bad?

First of all, here are the pretties I got from Carolyn. She always does such lovely work, and makes her things with an incredible attention to detail. And in the little bag is another bag full of hearts - a bag full of love! Thanks again Carolyn!

Then I have been given the *Liebster* Blog award from 2 people:

Jeanie and Andrea. Jeanie makes wonderful layouts, and Andrea makes a wonderful selection of horrible things, but have a look for yourselves....

There are some things to do for this award, but it will have to wait till I feel better!

And Natasha May gave me this award:

Natasha's blog is also well worth a visit to see her lovely art.

I am soslow today, I have needed more than an hour for this little post, so I think I had better stop. Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Silk Scarves

On Tuesday evening one of the nurses here did a silk painting class with a group of us. I I made 2 scarves, using a sort of batik Technic, which was quick and easy. We had to leave them to dry overnight, and then iron them to fix the colours. It's the first time I've had an iron in my hands for a long time! Then the scarves had to washed to remove any excess dye, and ironed again - phew! Here they are:

Next week she is doing another class, so I've signed up already!

The weather here is mild and sunny, saw the first snowdrops when I went for my walk yesterday, so I very much hope that more will follow, I've had enough of cold and winter!

And before I close, here's another joke from Narda:

Kidnapping

A blonde woman was having financial troubles so she decided to kidnap a child and demand a ransom. She went to a local park, grabbed a little boy, took him behind a tree and wrote this note: "I have kidnapped your child. I am sorry to do this but I need the money. Leave $10,000 dollars in a plain brown bag behind the big oak tree in the park at 7 a.m.. Signed, the Blonde." She pinned the note inside the little boy's jacket and told him to go straight home. The next morning, she returned to the park to find the $10,000 in a brown bag behind the big oak tree, just as she had instructed. Inside the bag was the following note: "Here is your money. I cannot believe that one blonde would do this to another."

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

Wednesday photos.

Hi you all, good morning from Bad Honnef! Just got some photos to share today. The first two were taken hanging out of my bedroom window as dawn was coming over the hills, in real life it was even nicer. The third one is a face on a tree-stump in the garden here, reminds me of a teddy bear!

Okay, that's all for today. Take care, have a good day and thanks for visiting!

Tuesday This and That

Hi everybody, hope you are all well and fit today. Had a quiet and crafty day here, my fingers are still inky!
The night from Sunday to Monday was really frosty again, and when I went into the kitchen here to make a coffee I saw the frosty *Drachenfels* - Dragon's Cliff - sparkling in the sun, the vineyards were all white with frost, and I managed to get a pic before the sun disappeared again.

At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is poetry or verses. I have used a rather corny *poem* which was in the very first Valentine I received, when I was 5, given to me by a boy in my class called Bruce. He wrote *Rosses a red, vilets a blew, shuger iss swet and so a you*. Since this time, this has been my fave Valentine verse!

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