Buttoned up and Happy Mail

Hi everybody, it's weekend! It's still bad weather here, cold, windy and not a bit like summer, but it's good weather to stay home and craft and read.
Over at the *Out of a Hat* Blog Challenge, the ladies want to see something with buttons this week. I have made two little mini books. The first is a maze-book, made with some double sided 7 Gypsies paper. The covers are scraps of gold card. I have filled the pockets with little tags, and decorated some with lace.  The front has been decorated with a scrap of hessian, lace, a skeleton leaf, and of course - buttons.

The second book has been made using distressed, corrugated cardboard glued onto chipboard. The chipboard is from the back of an old water-colour pad. I inked and embossed the cardboard, and used images from Graphics45 mounted onto some scraps of a 7 Gypsies paper. The pages have been cut from drawing paper, and I have bound it with string, adding a little key charm (thanks Diane!). Buttons have once again been used as decoration, and a flower made of old book paper. The insides of the covers have been inked and stamped with various LaBlanche stamps.

Front

Back

Inside

 And I got a surprise from Tracey in Australia, who sent me a little packet of Australian tea to try out, and one of her lovely postcards. I got a letter from the post saying that I had to collect a 'shipment' from customs and excise. I had no idea who had sent me something. I had to open the envelope there, and show what was in it. The lady there was furious - not with me, but with the idiots  employees from the post, who evidently thought that it was a shipment for which I should pay customs duties! This seems to be bureaucracy gone mad! Of course, they didn't charge me. Thanks a lot, Tracey, for the nice surprise, and I have already tried the Afternoon Tea, which is delicious!

Here's wishing you all a great weekend. Have fun, take care and thanks for visiting!

PPF and Postcard Challenge

Hi everybody, welcome to another week of Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, week 24, where we are off to Italy, which for me means ROME, which is my third favourite town in this world!


Jason and Shannon loved the T-shirts from Lviv. The wedding is going to take place in August, and Cissie and Thelma spend a lot of time squabbling over the arrangements, each determined to outdo the ideas of the other one. But Jason and Shannon both have other ideas. Shannon wants a romantic wedding in white. Jason wants a cool event with all of his mates. Cissie and Thelma at least agree over the fact that their kids have no clue about how to organise things, and decide to send them off to Rome for a few days, to make up for the holiday Jason was not allowed to take in Thailand.
On the day before their departure, they go to the Chippie for their usual meal, and then to Cissie’s for their afternoon tea and cakes. Jason has a list of friends he wants to invite, and Shannon a list of her's. The *Oldies* promise to think about it if there is enough room at the reception. Jason is cross, and says, *’Ang on, it’s my weddin’, ain’t it, so why don’t I get to choose?* Shannon buts in and says, *Your wedding? What about me? It’s just as much MY wedding!!* Cissie and Thelma seem to have been practising chorus speaking, for they say, *And we’re paying!! * Cissie adds, *Anyway, we have to invite the neighbours and their families, they always invite us!* Jason asks, *Do you know that Latif and Munah have got 9 kids?* They’ll fill up the reception themselves!* *What?* Asks Cissie, They have 9 kids already? I swear she gets pregnant every time she irons his trousers! Reminds me of my great uncle Joseph – He had so many kids he couldn’t keep track of how many, let alone the names!* *And I hope you learn to keep your trousers buttoned!* says Thelma, *I don’t want no 9 grandchildren!*
On this happy note, Shannon and Jason decide to go home and get packed….
The flight to Rome is pleasant, and when they arrive  it is hot and sunny, a pleasant change after cold and rainy London. They are staying at a little hotel on the Via Pinerola, near the Piazza Re di Roma, which is very central. They are delighted to find lots of cafés, bars and pubs directly nearby. On the first day they do a round tour with a bus, and then spend the next days visiting the famous sights one by one– the Vatican, the Via Appia Antika, the Colosseum, the Pantheum, the Tiber, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain,the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Baths of Caracalla, and many, many more. Every time Jason looks at one of the pretty girls he gets a sharp dig in his ribs from Shannon, and is told to look at something else!
Shannon has read the wonderful novel  in which the two protagonists promise eternal love by placing a lock on the third streetlight of Ponte Milvio and launching the key in the River Tiber.This ritual has become one of the new symbols of the city.The padlocks of love became hundreds, then thousands, were even stolen! Eventually  padlocks were put on the streetlight to stop it being stolen, which unfortunately fell apart because the locks weighed too much! But this does not deter Jason and Shannon from placing a lock there! The authorities have placed chains there now, specially to accommodate the love-locks!

Some of the famous sights: 

Some Panorama Views:

The Trevi Fountain was Shannon's fave place; Jason enjoyed sitting on the Spanish Steps and ogling the girls as they went past in their mini-skirts....

(Photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

And this is the postcard they send home, taken on the famous Ponte Milvio, after they have sworn eternal love and fixed their padlock to the chain. Jason is lifting his *scrawny bird*, as he likes to call her, clean off her little  feet....

And for Paint Party Friday I would like to share another of my 'ancient' nudes, painted in 1995.

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

Thursday and grunge again

Hi you all, yesterday was such a cold and windy day here, more like winter than the middle of summer. But I suppose it could be worse! I have been busy painting, doing a little furniture up-grade. I have a little sewing table that I found in a skip back in the 80's, which I thought needed a freshen-up. It was varnished in dark brown, and now it is a nice, creamy white. But now it looks too new, so tomorrow I will grunge it up a little bit and see if I like it better that way. I forgot to take a before picture, but I hope to be finished by the weekend, and then I can show you the after photos at least.
In the evening I fiddled about grunging up two tins, one that used to hold pencils, and the other one throat lozenges. A neighbour saw them, and said they look like they have been at the bottom of a trash can for ten years, so I think that's a compliment. They may be a bit too grungy for some tastes, but not mine! I still have to line the inside of the tins with some patterned paper, but I suppose they will get finished at the weekend, too. My next project will be to paint another ancient table in the same creamy white, so it looks like I will be busy  for the next few days.
Here I remembered to take a before photo after I had started to put some primer on it:

And now grunged up and ready to go:

And the second one:

The roses are rub ons from LaBlanche.

And I also managed to make a tidy and non-grungy card for a change:

But I still like the grungy stuff better, it seems to be more me!

Have a good day you all, whatever you are up to. I'll be back tomorrow with Jason and Shannon in Rome, wonder if they can behave themselves there? Till then, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

More Grungy Postcards

Hi you all, Wednesday already, another week is flying - or am I just getting slower? Had a lovely, sticky day yesterday, using lots of paint, mod-podge, paper, paste and varnish, but got none of my work got finished, as it all involved a lot of waiting in between to get things dried and ready for the next stage. But in between I made the last touches to some postcards. I am really enjoying just being free, getting inky and sticky and doing what I feel like, it just does me good!

Here's hoping that you all have a great day, take care, have fun, and find time for some things that make the heart feel good. Thanks for visiting!

Tag Tuesday

Hi you all, it's time for Tag Tuesday, and for the third week running I have my tag done on time. But first I want to show a card I made for *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*, where our theme this week is 'In the Garden'. You have 2 weeks to make something and join in! I have used an aperture card, and a LaBlanche stamp to make the garden scene inside. The girl on the front is a freebie from Free vintage digital images. The lovely dragonfly was made by Diane.

Here is the tag for *Tag Tuesday*. I cut a piece of cardboard in tent form, distressed and inked it, and added an image taken from one of my old books, showing a boys camp back in the 1930s. I added some 'tent-flaps' made from cheese cloth, dyed with DI 'ancient linen', and a flag pole with the Union Jack, rather wonky; we would have got into trouble at scout camp for things like that. I never enjoyed camping as a kid, where I went more or less voluntarily (better than staying home!) to camping *holidays* with the scouts or school, and later, as a teacher, often had to take kids camping (Under protest and NOT voluntarily!). I have added a song we used to sing round the campfire, and some tools, made of paper and rolled round a knitting needle to give them some form. The hammer is a little metal charm. Anyone else remember that song?

There's a long, long worm a-crawling

Along the ridge of my tent.

I can hear reveille blowing,

And it's time I went.

There's some cold, cold water waiting

For me to take my morning dip,

And when I return, I'll find that worm

Upon my pillowslip!

And this was another tag I made on Sunday while on my cardboard trip!

I am Linking here to Simon Says  Stamp and Show, 'Anything goes'

Enough for today! Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Made with lots of sticky, inky fingers

Hi everybody, here's wishing you all a happy Sunday. I had a great day yesterday, just playing with paper, paste, inks, sprays and cardboard - can it be better? Not for me. Here are some of the things I made.

First of all I made a cardboard tag, embossed and distressed as yesterday. The image (Lost Coast Designs) has been stamped with Archival green and embossed with Perfect pearls in bronze. I stamped onto a scrap of designer paper. Once again I used string, some beads and a strip of lace - thanks Diane! - for the embellies.

The grungy postcard has been made with a blended paper background, which has been stamped, collaged with images from CI, and stamped with one of my fave quotes.

And last but not least a concertina album, with sewn in journaling pages and chipboard covers. I covered them with some of the beautiful, hand-painted paper that also came from Diane. The album has a black elastic band to close it, which I have decorated with a Prima butterfly. The butterfly can be taken off so that the album can easily be stored in a handbag.

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

Cardboard Crazy

Last week I made 2 tags from cardboard for challenges. To make them, I had to cut up a box, which meant I now have loads of cardboard which is just begging to be used up. The problem is, when I start cardboarding I can't stop. So here are some more pieces I made this week.

The image has been stamped onto speciality stamping paper from LaBlanche using Archival red, and then fussy cut. The lovely lady from Da Vinci is from Lost Coast designs. I mounted the image onto some designer paper from Webster's Pages, which has again been used behind the cardboard. The cardboard has been distressed, inked and embossed with my *dirty mix* EP again, as has the flower. I mounted it to make an easel card.

The cardboard here has been distressed as before. The 'Mona Lisa' (LaBlanche) and the quote have been stamped onto speciality card using stazon olive. I added some lace, some string and a large glass bead. I like the contrast between the cardboard, lace and string. I am linking to Out of a Hat Creations, who want to see favourite stamps.

And lastly I made a postcard, which I intend to send through the post to see how it survives the journey. I used the same techniques as before, stamping the images this time with archival green.

Okay, that was enough for today. I still have my working space full of cardboard, so will stay calm and carry on....
Have a good day you all, and thanks for dropping in!