Altered mirror

The challenge over at the 'Recycle, re-purpose and re-invent blog' this month is anything goes, and for the bonus round, to create something with a frame.  I have altered a mirror, which I altered a couple of years back, but wasn't really happy with it, so it disappeared into the bottomless pit, AKA  my hall closet. For this challenge I dug it out again, and first gave it a layer of gesso. I also found a spray of silver paint in the closet, and decided to use that as well. I don't really like using paint sprays, because of the fumes, but it was possible to work on the balcony this time. I sprayed the frame twice with silver. You can still see the papers and tapes which I used on it last time, but I like the texture it gives. Then I took a whole pile of used paper and fabric flowers, and sprayed them silver. I only gave them one coat, so you can still see part of the original colour shining through, which I like. I found two prima flowers in shades of grey, and left them as they were to make a contrast. I couldn't find a shell in the size I wanted, so I made one in an ice-cube mold, and sprayed it silver. I used a CWS stencil for the chicken wire pattern, and dribbled some crackle accents along the top,  down the right side and over the shell, and rubbed some antiquing paste into the cracks when it was dry. After arranging the flowers and shell, I found a grunge board flourish in my stash, which I also sprayed silver, and placed so that it curls over a corner of the mirror. I added some clear dew-drops on the right side, and distressed the edges of the mirror with black, and that was it.

Before the alterations

You can see parts of me in one of the photos; it was almost impossible to take the pictures without showing myself!

I had fun making it, and if I don't like it at sometime, I can always give it a new makeover!

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

Cissie in Denmark & PPF

It's Friday, and that means it's time for Darcy's Postcard Challenge, and Paint Party Friday, hosted by Kristin and Eva.

The wedding is next week, the plans are done, and all are exhausted, especially Cissie and Thelma. Queenie is still busy decorating her flat. Jason and Shannon want to do something good for their ‘oldies’, so they book a long weekend at a wellness hotel in a little village in central Denmark, Ærøskøbing. The kids bring them to Heathrow in the car. They once again have enough luggage for weeks – ‘You never know what the weather will be like!’, and a hamper of food for the journey. ‘That stuff they offer you on the plane is not enough to fill a hollow tooth!’ says Cissie, while Thelma nods, causing all her chins to wobble like Jell-O. Jason and Shannon pay for the extra baggage without wincing. ‘What the f***!’ says Jason, ‘We ain’t gonna change them in this life!’
Thelma and Cissie waddle off happily, looking from the rear like Mummy Bear and Mummy Bear disguised in summer dresses, although Thelma, with her freshly bleached hair could pass for a cross between Goldilocks and Mother Bear. Jason and Shannon drive happily home, looking forward to a blissful weekend with no supervision. Wonder what they will find to do?

In Copenhagen Cissie and Thelma get collected by a shuttle service, and enjoy the long ride to their hotel – they have enough to eat and drink to sustain them!
The little village of Ærøskøbing is a jewel – it looks like a blast from the past. You almost expect Hans Christian Andersen to come out of one of those houses.....

 

(Photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

The houses are small, the streets are narrow, and it is beautifully kept. Their hotel is situated on the main square, and more than exceeds Cissie’s and Thelma’s expectations. They have a wonderful room, with a view of the sea, and the food is good. There are also enough cafés nearby to guarantee them sufficient calories for the hours between meals. They enjoy swimming, massage, facial treatments, manicure and pedicure. The masseur whispers to his colleague ‘It’s like oiling a white whale!’ They enjoy smørrebrød, flæskesteg and kogt torsk, to name just a few of the delicious specialities, and of course, the wonderful Danish lager beers. In the cafés they fill up on Danish pastries, cream cakes and tea, and feel strengthened to undertake the journey home on Monday, ready to tackle the big wedding.

Here is the postcard they send home:

Don't forget to come back next week to read about the Wedding of the Year!

For Paint Party Friday I have re-used two canvases. I stripped them and gave them a coat of gesso, before painting the backgrounds with metallic green, blue and silver. I used a template to add 'my' heads, spraying them with a mix of green, blue and purple Adirondack inks, and adding a little glitter - which is hard to see - for a bit of sparkle.  I have called them 'Positive and Negative', really original, as always!

Before (I must say I love this grungy look!)....

and afterwards....

So, here's wishing you all a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

What do you say?

We had a strange day weather wise here yesterday. It started off warm and sunny, and 15°. It was extremely windy all day, I thought the trees would blow away, and the wind was really warm. In the evening it was 30°, and the night was warm, too. Today they have promised us thunder storms again - crazy weather! 

'What do you say' is the theme this week at Simon says stamp and show. For my take, I have stamped an image from LaBlanche, using black archival ink, and placed it into an ornate frame (Graphics 45), and added a stamped sentiment that I got for 1€ from EBAY years ago.  I mounted the frame onto some distressed and embossed cardboard, and added some string and a couple of beads for the trim.

I spent a lot of time just having fun yesterday, trying out paints and sprays etc. The results can be viewed on Friday at PPF.

Here's wishing you all a great day, take care, have fun, and thanks for visiting!

Tag Tuesday

Another week has sped by and it's Tuesday, and time for our tags again. This week the theme is 'Mermaids and Water Babies'. This made me think of one of my fave poems from the time before I went to school, 'The Forsaken Merman' by Matthew Arnold. I was often at my Aunt's, and she was always willing to read this epic poem to me, over which I always cried copiously, and then begged her to read it again....Time seems to change tastes! It tells the sad tale of a merman who marries a human, and then she deserts him, and goes back to her world, with the little church on the shore, and leaves her children and husband sad and lonely...

Come, dear children, let us away;

Down and away below!

Now my brothers call from the bay,

Now the great winds shoreward blow,

Now the salt tides seaward flow;

Now the wild white horses play,

Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.

Children dear, let us away!

This way, this way! ....

Children dear, was it yesterday

(Call yet once) that she went away?

Once she sate with you and me,

On a red gold throne in the heart of the sea,

And the youngest sate on her knee.

She comb'd its bright hair, and she tended it well,

When down swung the sound of a far-off bell.

She sigh'd, she look'd up through the clear green sea;

She said: "I must go, to my kinsfolk pray

In the little grey church on the shore to-day.

'T will be Easter-time in the world—ah me!

And I lose my poor soul, Merman! here with thee."

I said: "Go up, dear heart, through the waves;

Say thy prayer, and come back to the kind sea-caves!"

She smiled, she went up through the surf in the bay.

Children dear, was it yesterday?....

Okay, I won't bore you with the whole story, just say, it doesn't have a happy end - sob, sob! If you want to read more you can do so here.
For my tag I chose a painting from an Art Nouveau painter Howard Pyle.  (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons) I have mounted the image onto some turquoise cardstock, and added some simple embellishments, which I think fit well to the picture. The picture shows a mermaid rescuing a shipwrecked man from drowning.  The theme shows opposing forces in nature; strong versus weak, land versus sea,  human versus mermaid etc. The painter died before he could complete the painting, but I still like it!

Have a lovely day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Mail Art ready to send

Another week has begun, and I hope to get a bit of shopping and perhaps a tiny bit of h****work done today. Yesterday I spent a lot of time doing nothing, but I did manage to  get a large mail art envelope done for my neighbours, who are in the north of Germany just now. The background has been painted with water-colours, and then I stamped the houses, the sun and the trees, and used some  prismalo pencils and cut outs to add details. The address has been written on a cloud, I just pixelled it here. It was fun to do something different and summery.

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

Challenges

Hi you all! Hope you are enjoying your weekend! I spent my time yesterday doing some odds and ends for challenges. The first piece is for the Challenge at Out of  a Hat Creations, where the theme this week is sewing. This is something rather difficult for me, as I can't see to thread the needle, but fortunately my sewing machine was loaded. The image has been printed onto canvas, and sewn on with the machine, which was not behaving well, and kept sticking. I then put some lace at top and bottom, sewed a button on - by hand! - and added a tassel made of string and beads. This is the second little bag I have made, and I still have one more to decorate, just not today!

The second piece is a tag made for the 'Renaissance Men' Challenge at Frilly and Funkie Blogspot. I have chosen an Image from Leonardo da Vinci. The stamp is from Lost coast designs. The background tags - one over the other - have been distressed and stamped. I added some lace, some sequin flowers and a string and ribbon tie. I am also entering it into the 'hey girl' challenge at Simon Says.

That's all for today. Have a good Sunday, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Whitechapel to India and back in one day

Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, where our participants are off to India.

It’s less than 2 weeks to the wedding now, and tempers are definitely getting rather frayed, to say the least. The ‘oldies’ are happy that Shannon and Jason are going out for the day. Jason has told them that they are ‘off to India’ for a day. ’Don’t be stupid’ they shout in chorus.'It's much too far!' ‘Yes, we are’ laugh Jason and Shannon. ‘Well, actually we’re going to Brent. A friend of Shannon’s is tourist guide at the Neasden Temple, and we’re getting a guided tour, and then we’re going to a posh Indian restaurant!’ And with that, they wave goodbye and go.
They take the tube from Aldgate East Station - next to the wonderful Whitechapel Art Gallery -

and after changing to the Bakerloo Line at Paddington, take a tube to  Stonebridge Park Station, and then walk along Conduit Way, hand in hand, to the Temple, which is called the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.

(Temple photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

 Their friend Abha –her lovely name means ‘lustrous beauty’- is waiting for them, dressed in a gorgeous Sari. Shannon sees Jason looking at her a few seconds longer than necessary, and gives him a discreet kick on his ankle, which causes his eyes to water, when Abha turns to point something out to them….At the visitor’s centre they see lots of photos and a film about the building of the Temple, built entirely using traditional methods and materials. Neasden’s Swaminarayan Mandir is Britain’s first authentic Hindu temple. It was also Europe’s first traditional Hindu stone temple, as distinct from converted secular buildings. It is a part of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha(BAPS) organization and was inaugurated on August 20, 1995 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj. The mandir was built and funded entirely by the Hindu community. The entire project spanned five years although the Mandir construction itself was completed in two and a half years. Building work began in August 1992. On 24 November 1992, the temple recorded the biggest-ever concrete-pour in the UK, when 4,500 tons was put down in 24 hours to create a foundation mat 6 ft (1.8m) thick. The first stone was laid in June 1993; two years later, the building was complete. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is larger but is no longer used as a Hindu temple. It has even been entered into the Guiness World Records as the largest Hindu Temple built outside India.

After touring the different buildings, and admiring the beauty of the temple, they go with Abha to the Shayona restaurant opposite the Temple. The ambience is a trifle more swishy than their usual chippie, and they enjoy enormous amounts of delicious Indian foods from the well stocked Gujarati buffet. After they have eaten and drunk their fill – probably enough to feed and water a herd of hungry elephants – they take leave of Abha. Shannon snarls into Jason’s ear, ‘Don’t dare to kiss her goodbye!’, and so Jason just shakes hands, and they walk off to the tube. The time spent in the tube is great for catching up on some snogging, much to the delight of some kids sitting opposite, and they arrive home in time for a light meal consisting of mounds of smoked sandwiches, Greek salad with feta cheese, strawberries and ice cream and a variety of cream cakes. Here is the card they send home, showing Abha in front of the Temple:

For Paint Party Friday I want to share some journal pages I made using collage, paint, spray etc. Everytime I got something done, I painted over it and started again, but have decided to leave them as they are now, as I am sure they would not be able to take another layer!

These pages were from the week before, and were also not what I wanted, but sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!

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