Sunny Thursday....

Good morning you all. It started out rather misty here, although not as cold as the days before. I have been watching the sun rise though the mist, and the frost outside is nearly gone. And it's already 3°!! Yesterday afternoon the temps went up to 15°, so was able to enjoy my walk, and it was positively hot in my car....The sun was shining down on it, and I still had the heating full on. Time to switch the air conditioning on instead!
I made several trips to the thrift shop, too, but this time I was taking things there. I am clearing out, and bit by bit I am getting some space in my cupboards, which all seem to be full of things I never use, but where I always think I might, possibly, need them some day....Anyway, I hope they will find new homes with folks that do need them!

I managed some crafting, too. I'm just sharing a little Easter card today, the rest is for Jason's travels and PPF tomorrow! The background has been inked through some starry sequin waste. I added some glittery flower rub-ons, and two little Beatrix Potter images. Was fun to make and a good way to use up some of those scraps!

And another little joke from Narda:

A little girl asked her mother,
"How did the human race start?"
The mother answered,
"God made Adam and Eve and they had children,
and so all mankind was made."

Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered,
"Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved."

The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?" The mother answered, "Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his."


Have a nice day you all! Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Another Tag

Good morning you all! It's another very chilly morning here, with frost still on the ground, but the temps should rise again during the day. The sun is rising already - so I hope it will soon be more than the present 1°.
I have not got much to share today. Yesterday I went for a long walk, and when I came back I decided to put my feet up for half an hour. Well, it must have been a bit more; I read while I was drinking my coffee and then fell asleep. But it was a very relaxing day, even if I didn't get much done. I hope today will be better.

For the tag I made a gradient background with TH inks. Then I die cut the tree out of some sparkly paper, and sponged through the die cut waste to make the tree on the right. The one on the left has been colour embossed using a texture fade folder, and then I used foam squares to fix the tree in front of the others, to create a feeling of depth. I put the rabbits slightly behind the tree, and added some butterfly ribbon to finish it off. I need to do a few more, as Easter is almost here, so hope to get them done this week.

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

Tag Tuesday and More....

Good morning you all! It's still cold here, just 2°, and the field outside is white with frost again. But they keep promising us in the TV that spring is on its way - I'm wondering which way it's on!? But we are enjoying nice sunrises, and there's no rain or fog....

For my *Tag Tuesday* Tag I have once again used a Beatrix Potter figure, as the theme this week is geese, ducks etc, and the first one I thought of was Jemima Puddleduck, the poor, rather stupid ducky, of whom the clever fox wants to take advantage. For the background of the tag I have sponged ink through a tree template to create the woods where the fox had his hut. I have added a few flower rub-ons, and some matching ribbon and lace. The quote has been taken directly from the Jemima Puddleduck story.

The altered postcard has been made using some blended papers, gesso, and a gel-transfer. I have forgotten from whom the quote is, sorry!

The little notebook has been made using the TH cabinet card die. I folded the cardboard so that it didn't get cut on the folded side to make the front and back covers in one piece. The front cover has been inked with Victorian velvet using some sequin waste. I used one of the images I got from Von, adding some lace, a flower and a decorative pin. Inside there are 16 pages for notes.

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

Monday's Mix

Hi everybody. After two sunny days last week, the weekend came cold, cheerless and dull. There was even a ground frost last night - it really can only get better! But I am watching the sun rising through some clouds just now as I write, so it does look a bit hopeful!

I had a good post day on Friday. Laura sent me my twinchies from the Gingersnaps art exchange. I have received six beauties, from Laura, Alexa , Annette , Suze, Kerry and Petra B. Thanks a lot Ladies, they will be treasured!

Then I got an envelope from Von, who sent me some goodies - a lovely exercise book, the type we used to have at school when I was a kid, and the other things were all hidden in between the pages - mini playing-cards, card-toppers, vintage images, a lovely serviette, ribbon on a ribbon flower, and a wonderful black feather, which I can't stop playing with! Thanks a lot, Von!

And lastly, a tag I made using my (NEW!!!) cabinet-card die. I stamped it from white card, distressed with antique linen and vintage photo. The background has been made using ink sponged through a ledger-template. The image is from LaBlanche, and the wings cut from another TH die using some of my hand-painted paper.

That's all for today, I will be back tomorrow with my tag for Tag Tuesday. Have a good day you all, take care and thanks for visiting!

Friday's Parties

Hi everybody, it's Friday, and that means double party time for me - Eva and Kristin are hosting Paint Party Friday as always, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge is entering its 11th week.

This week Auntie Cissie is off to Holland:

In the four weeks since Jason returned from Canada, they have been eating together nearly every day. Cissie was not delighted with the strange Canadian haircut, and makes a mental note to supervise future visits to the hairdresser. She was also VERY concerned, when she received a letter from her friend SANDI in Canada, who wrote* I've been so drowned in work just lately, I haven't had the chance to tell you that I met Jason during his sojourn in Victoria!

Well I didn't really "meet" him more like I witnessed him being here. It isn't everyday that our visitors so take to wearing the Canadian red & white and maple leaf.

He was also clearly taken with visiting all of our pubs and spirit serving establishments. Then "resting up" between by hanging about the statue of Queen Victoria on the lawn of the parliament building. I am sure many other visitors got charming pictures of this!

It's too bad that he didn't appear to have properly rested up before trying to board the ferry over to Washington state. I did think the Customs Agents were a bit rough dragging him back down the ramp! That would have been a nice additional excursion.*
They eat most days at the Chip shop. Cissie needs Jason to be there, as she is still trying to lose weight. She still orders a double portion for each of them, but gives Jason a few of her chips in return for half of his fish, as the doctor told her to eat plenty of fish. I wonder if he meant it to be deep-fried in batter? She has also reduced the afternoon cream cakes from 3 to 2. Most days, anyway! She shows Jason that she has taken off half a stone. He is not really convinced, as he notices her leaning on the bathroom sink while standing on the scales….
This week she is getting ready for her trip to Holland with Thelma. Jason manages to talk her out of buying yellow wooden clogs for the journey, so she wears her orange crocs instead….
Poor Jason has to drive both of the heavyweight ladies to the Victoria Coach Station and heave them and their luggage into the coach before thankfully waving goodbye and heading for the nearest pub.
After checking into the hotel in Amsterdam, they go shopping, take a boat trip through the *grachten* - canals, and enjoy the scenery.

Cissie is astonished that the town is not plastered with tulips, but the lady at the reception of the hotel recommends them to take a trip to the Keukenhof near Amsterdam, and there they see a sea of tulips as far as the eye can see.

Auntie Cissie and Thelma go to lots of cafés, and are amused that there are carpets on most tables instead of table cloths.

Then they wander down a side street, and see a *Coffee Shop* sign. Cissie insists on going on for a coffee. The proprietor is very friendly, and surprised to see the two robust, elderly ladies in his shop. Cissie buys some tobacco for Jason, and decides to smoke one herself, which results in her getting very giggly….she has not realised that the coffee shops sell marijuana. No wonder she felt strange.

The next day she visits The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, where she is meeting up with her friend Valerie from Düsseldorf, with whom she went to school many years ago. They have a nice day together looking at the Van Gogh paintings and walking in the sculpture garden, although Valerie is a little annoyed that Cissie tells her that she looks very fat!

Cissie was also very indignant about this sculpture, and was horrified that a woman with such a figure should have a statue made of herself:

(Photos from Google)

Here is the postcard that Cissie sends Jason: the photo was taken in her new, Dutch T-shirt:

For PPF I have a WIP to show, but I don't yet know where it will be progressing to! I have used water-colours and Ranger colourwash sprays, and flicked a bit of gold ink onto it.

That's all for now! Have a good day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Still More Challenges

Good morning you all! This morning as I got up, a strange red object was to be seen in the Eastern skies. If I hadn't almost forgotten what it looked like, I'd say it's the sun rising - yoohoo, looks like a sunny day!
I have combined 2 challenges here with these LOs, the Craft Room Challenge, Shabby Vintage, and the Gingersnaps Challenge GC141, Grandma's Photo Album.
I have made 2 family LOs. For the first one I used templates from TH and My Tattered angels, and spray mist in Garden fairy green and Victorian velvet. Then it was a bit too bright, so I rubbed ancient paper distress ink over it to tone it down a bit. I used various leaves, flowers, lace etc as embellishments. The photo of my Mum and my 4 brothers and sisters was taken about 1941/2.

The second one has been made using the same technique, stamping with resist ink, inking, spraying, wiping it off to leave just a touch of colour, and then putting on 2 more layers. I stuck to Victorian Velvet, Forest Moss, Ancient Paper and Garden Fairy Spray, as I want the LOs to match. I used a transparency of my Mum with me when I was about 1 year old, and decorated again with lace, sugared vellum, flowers, and leaves etc.
Both LOs have been made using LaBlanche speciality stamping paper in white.

These pictures are really out of Grandma's photo album - mine!! Slowly I am getting back into the swing of things with challenges, and hope to soon get back to my regular routine. I'll be back tomorrow with Auntie Cissie in Holland, let's see what she gets up to there!
Have a good day you all, thanks for coming by, and take care!

Some Challenges

I am pleased to say that I managed to get some challenges done yesterday; having done all the cleaning - except for the windows - I had time to do some crafting.

First I made 2 tags for *Tag Tuesday*, where the theme this week is Mad March hares or rabbits. The first tag uses a TH branch-tree, die-cut from some paper painted with acrylics. It has been mounted onto a tag cut from Anna Griffin paper. The edges have been inked with vintage photo. I have placed a Beatrix Potter rabbit in front of the tree, and added the sentiment *Run, rabbit run*, the first part of an old song from George Formby, The second tag has been water-coloured with pink, green and yellow, and I have used a vintage rabbit pair scrap.

The last piece is a postcard I have made as my last DT piece for *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*. The background has been painted with acrylics, and the umbrella men has also been cut from some hand-painted paper. The theme this week is *Wet and windy days*

Today we had a power cut for some unknown reason, the whole northern part of the town had no electricity. No phone, no computer, no coffee-maker, no light, no TV. It was just beginning to get dark, so at least I could see enough to find a candle. And by the light of the candle, I was able to read my Kindle. And the original meaning of *kindle* is to light up or set fire to something....But it was a strange mixture of old and new! I was very happy when everything was switched back on again!

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