Journal and Goodies in the Post

This week the postman brought me some goodies instead of the usual bills and ads. I love getting happy mail - don't we all - so want to show you what arrived.
The first package was from Jeanie, who sent me some *royal* creations, which pleased me very much, as there is nothing to commemorate the Queen's diamond jubilee in the shops here, as well as some matching ribbon, three beautiful little water-colour ATCs and some mixed embellies, all of which will be very useful in my day to day crafting.
Here you can see the lovely tag - which has both sides decorated, in its pretty pocket, and all the other pretties:

The second package came from Sue the Iron, who sent me a huge goody bag which backing papers, rub-ons, transparencies, metall flowers and embellies, skeleton leaves, quotes, puzzle pieces, rubber stamps (not on the picture as I am mounting them!) with angels and flying creatures, and a beautiful tag and card.

I was really overwhelmed by all the goodies I received from Jeanie and Sue, and am always surprised how generous and kind the blogger family is. Especially just now, where I have been feeling so down,your kindness did me good. Thanks a bunch!

And I started work on my new journal, this time I have a tin with prompts, and the first one I pulled was fashion:

I made the background using pages from one of my old magazines, painted with gesso, and then doodled, collaged, scribbled etc. I have already made some alterations; I have edged the *fashion* script with red, which sets it off better.

Have a good Sunday, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

PPF and Jason In Ghana

It's Friday again, so time for Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge week 20, where our participants have to visit a west African country this week. Darcy, what about sending them somewhere normal, like Brighton or Blackpool or Berlin?? Anyway, Jason is off to Ghana....

After arriving back home from Bulgaria, Thelma was not really happy to see that Jason and Shannon had got so friendly. And although they both deny that there is more going on than just being friends, nobody believes them, least of all Thelma, who keeps a watchful eye on her beloved daughter.
They are still looking for a new flat and shop for Jason, but nothing that Thelma and Cissie find is right for him, and in the meantime, Shannon has taken to spending more and more time with Jason, ‘To help the boy in the shop....’
One afternoon, Jason, Shannon, Thelma and Cissie are enjoying their usual cream cake tea, swapping the newest news of hatches, matches and dispatches when Jason says, ‘I’ve got something to tell ya!’ Thelma thinks it might be something about Shannon, and nearly chokes on her tea, but is very relieved when Jason says that he is planning to go to visit an old school-friend, who is getting married. ‘Where does he live now?’ asks Cissie. ‘Well, 'e lives in Brixton, but 'e’s getting married in Accra, where ‘is parents came from. ‘E’s the one wiv the shop selling second hand jazz records, makes a fortune wiv ‘is old vinyl!’ says Jason. ‘Problem is, I ain’t got enough money to take Shannon, and she’s pretty cut up about it!’ ‘Where is Accra?’ both ladies ask simultaneously. ‘Isn’t it in South London somewhere?’ asks Cissie. Jason grins, and says, ‘Nah! It’s in Africa, in Ghana.’ Cissie and Thelma can’t stop shouting. ‘You must be mad!’ ‘I would never let my Shannon go there, there are pirates and terrorists everywhere!’ ‘Just send ‘em a nice present and be done with it!’ ‘Jason!’ please!’
But, as usual, Jason does not listen. Shannon is furious that her Mum won’t give her the money to go with him, and after tiring themselves out with eating cream-cakes and shouting at each other, they all go to the fish-and-chip shop for supper to recuperate. Sharon decides to knit Jason a pullover on her knitting-machine, and tells him he is not to take it off all the time he is there, except perhaps for the wedding, and he is not to look at any girls there. Cissie and Thelma are speechless. Then Thelma whispers to Cissie, ‘Bloody hell, I think they’re getting serious....’ And everybody in the shop starts to laugh.

After a long flight Jason arrives in Accra, and is surprised that it is a modern town, full of large buildings, noisy roads and crowded with people, in fact, not much different to London, as far as Jason can see.

(The first two pictures show the town of Accra, the third one is the sport stadium there. All three photos are from Wikipedia Commons)

His mate’s family live outside the town in a big, modern bungalow, with air-conditioning and IKEA furniture. Jason can’t believe it. He had envisaged Africa to be rather different…. The wedding ceremony goes on for several days, with partying day and night, which Jason just loves. The family give Jason some African masks, statues and printed cotton material to take home for his family.

When Jason arrives back at Heathrow, Shannon is waiting for him, and he realises how pretty she is, and how much he has missed her....

This is the postcard he sends Cissie. He sends the same one to Shannon, but puts it in an envelope, seals it, and writes ‘Private and VERY confidential, Thelma keep out!’ on it. I wonder what he wrote on it? Thelma was NOT amused....

The postcard features a mask, painted with tempera colours more than 20 years back. Jason is wearing Shannon's new pullover, and has grown a little beard. He thinks it will distract from his still rather swollen face. And he still has those red marks on his throat....

For Paint Party Friday I have made a large, mixed-media canvas. I have painted it with acyrlics, using templates from crafter's work shop for the small squares, numbers and writing. It's something a bit different to usual, I think it's good to try something new once in a while....

The quote is from Al Capp, rather thought provoking, but perhaps not to be taken quite seriously.

Here's wishing you all a good weekend, have fun, take care and thanks for looking!

Thursday and even more grunge....

Hi everybody. We had a cold and frosty day here yesterday, and when I set off to go to the doc's it bucketed down hail stones. It was so loud I thought they would come through the roof of the car! In south Germany they even had snow! But the weather-men have promised better weather from today on; i sure hope they are right!

The five postcards here are the ones I made for the swap on Inspiration Avenue, they must have reached their destinations by now.

I showed the *backsides* last week already. I have had a lot of fun messing around with ephemera and mod-podge and ink this past couple of weeks, I think I will be soon doing some more.... I am linking to *Simon Says Stamp and Show* where anything goes this week.

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

Wednesday and more Grunge....

Hi everybody. Today I want to share two more grungy postcards that I made.

And the *backsides*

They should have been made with gel image transfers, but it was late at night, and I pasted the wrong side, so they just ended up with vintage images as they were....I think I should stop doing things that need a bit of brain when it's soooo late. But I still like them. I am entering the birdy one into the birds challenge at *Artful Times*. The quote on the rose card is from Umberto Eco's *The Name of the Rose*.

Tomorrow I will share the pics of the cards I sent off for the postcard exchange, they should have arrived at their destinations by now. I know that one has arrived, so let's hope the others have, too.

Have a good day you all. Take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Tag Tuesday Tag

Hi you all. It's Tag Tuesday again, and the theme this week is gardening and everything related to it. I am just as good at gardening as at all other household tasks; all I know about this theme is that gardens should have flowers and plants in them, and that they attract bees and butterflies and birds etc. So, I have made 2 tags with flowers and bees. For both tags I have used some scraps of Anna Griffin paper mounted onto card from an old calendar. The first one has been made with a gel image transfer.

Thanks to all who sent hugs yesterday, I really need them just now.
Have a good day you all, take care and thanks for visiting!

Monday, Tags and Postcards

Hi everybody, hope you all had a good weekend, and a happy Mothers Day. Here the weekend was, as usual, filled with scintillating conversations with myself and the heavy sounds of silence. At least I had time to craft and paint, so I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies, even when it's sometimes hard.

It's the second week of the Tag challenge at The Cheerful Stamp Pad, for which I made 2 tags. The background paper is a freebie from Free vintage digital stamps. The steampunk trunk and animals on the second tag is an image from Inka Heaton at *Altered Artifacts*, the other images are from my stash.

Then I finished off two more postcards, very grungy again....

And last but not least, I painted a canvas for next week's PPF, here is a small piece as *sneak peek*:

Okay, that was all for today. Hope you all have a good day, take care and thanks for visiting!

Cissie on tour and PPF

It's Friday again, and that means it's party time. At Paint Party Friday it's Year 2, Week 9, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge has reached week 19 already, and our participants are off to Bulgaria.

Jason had a hard time of it with his mumps, but is now on the way to recovery. He has decided it’s time he gets back to his own flat and his antique shop. Cissie and Thelma are planning a week in Bulgaria, first visiting a spa in Velingrad, and then a few days by the Black Sea at Sunny Beach. One afternoon they are all sitting together in Cissie’s living room, enjoying their afternoon snack of smoked salmon sandwiches, stuffed tomatoes, Danish pastries which Thelma brought, and the usual mountain of cream cakes *To keep up the boy’s strength*, as Cissie says while stuffing a large Éclair sideways into her mouth.
Cissie is still a bit worried about Jason going back to his flat, and she and Thelma are hoping to find him a new shop and flat a bit nearer, where she can keep an eye on him. She does not want a repeat of Jason’s Twilight Saga at Mr Deepdown’s. But Jason doesn't know of these plans yet.
Cissie says: ‘Jason, we’ve been thinking. You know there have been burglaries near here the past few weeks. I would like you to stay here for another couple of weeks, while we are away. Shannon – Thelma’s daughter – will pop in every day to keep you company, and you two could go to the shop a couple of times and get it cleaned up. What do you think about that?’
‘Yeah, well, not bad really’, answers Jason. ‘Can she cook?’
‘Don’t be so bloody cheeky, you!’ Hisses Thelma. ‘You are sometimes very ungrateful. And anyway, you can go the the take-away for lunch every day!’
‘Well, I only asked ‘cause she’s such a scrawny moo’ explains Jason.
‘Don’t dare to call my Shannon a scrawny moo!’ thunders Thelma.
‘Well YOU always call her scrawny old moo!’ says Jason.
‘That’s different,’ spits Thelma, ‘She’s my daughter!’
‘Have some more cakes’ says Cissie. There’s nothing like a bit of good food to soothe the nerves!’

Jason and Shannon bring Thelma and Cissie to the Coach Station at Victoria 2 days later. For a *scrawny moo*, Jason has to acknowledge that she is as strong as a horse, and has less problems heaving their humongous cases into the coach than he does. After waving them off, they drive back to their fave chippie for a meal, and make a plan of what they can do to pass the time....
As Cissie and Thelma drive off, Thelma says: ‘I just hope your Jason doesn’t take advantage of her while we’re gone!’ Cissie says, ‘You don’t need to worry, they can take care of themselves’, whilst thinking that it would be a miracle if he didn’t at least try it....

They are on the road for three days, stopping at hotels in Eastern Europe along the way, where the beds are bad but the food is good. They arrive tired and travel worn at the beautiful spa of Velingrad, where the first evening is spent being massaged, floating in the beautiful pool, and stocking up on calories. They have a luxurious room, the town is wonderful, and they much enjoy the treatments and wellness, and of course the good food, which reminds them of the cuisine in Greece and Turkey. In any case, plenty of everything, so they are happy.

Velingrad

Maslen Nos on the Black Sea

(Both photos from Wikipedia Commons)

After three days they move on to Sunny Beach on the Black Sea. The food and their hotel are both good, but Cissie is annoyed by the crowds of young men and women with red, sunburnt skins who lounge about all day drinking. ‘They must be Germans!’ she says, ‘They are always so loud and drink too much!’ ‘Strange’ says Thelma, they’re all talking English, listen!’ ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ says Cissie. ‘British people would never behave like that in public! Anyway, the Germans are known for being good at languages!’
They fly home from Burgas Airport, and Thelma smiles slyly when she sees that the 'Germans' are flying to London, too! Cissie and Thelma are happy to see Jason and Shannon waiting for them, arm in arm, at Gatwick.

Here is the postcard they send to the *kids* back home. Cissie especially wanted me to show a close up of her new shirt and her dangly earrings.

For Paint Party Friday I have one of my masks and a WIP to show you, both painted in tempera paints. I just get the urge to do these masks every so often, and I hope the WIP will be going somewhere sooner or later, although at th moment I think it will be the bin....

Here's wishing you all a good weekend. Take care, have fun and thanks for coming by!