Just been playing....

Yesterday I had a head which felt like a world-cup football after the game, so I decided I needed to be nice to myself, and do something fun. Fun means getting inky, painty, and making a mess. So I got out a plastic tray for water, dripped some marbling colours into it, and started dipping. I didn't make too much, as I have other plans for using the marbling colours, but made some papers and tags which I can use as backgrounds for other projects. I used aubergine, pink, silver and gold. Next time I will drip the colours onto a size mixture, as it is then possible to direct the patterns. I have already made an altered matchbox - which I will show next time - using the middle strip from the first photo. I always start seeing things in the patterns and swirls when I look at them - do you?

Three strips using photo paper leftovers

Some paper offcuts

Handmade paper for covers for mini books showing the fronts/ backs.....

I will cut the inside pages a little smaller and tie them together with very fine ribbon.

and the insides

More photo  paper

Manila tags

And lastly a tag I made when I discovered the camera image on my desk. I decoupaged it onto squares of black cardboard to look like an old camera.

That was my inky day; my fingers are still nicely coloured! Have a good day, take care, and thanks for coming by!

Tag Tuesday

Today's theme at Tag Tuesday is all about casino amusements, bingo etc. All things I do NOT like. When I was working at the old people's home I had to play Bingo with the Oldies every Monday, which they loved, but my fun was limited there, too, as it is not easy to play games with a group of 'I'm determined to win', deaf and excitable Oldies, fighting for the honour of winning soap or chocolate or a bottle of juice! But I let them win, they enjoyed their afternoon, and that was it.
For my tag I have stamped a manila tag with various background motives in gold, and then added two vintage tarot cards and some counters. Very exciting - not! I have surrounded it with other game accoutrements, taken from Monopoly and my stash. That was it!

The nicest parts are my monopoly pieces!

And I took a photo of a one-arm bandit, the only one I have.....

Sorry, not very sharp, but he kept moving! He is usually only let out for Halloween,  but I thought he night like a little airing in the summer. He prefers coins to keys, but he's too quick for me and my camera that way, so here he is with my car key, which is too big for him to grab!

Okay, this is a rather stupid post. Sorry, my head somehow feels like that today. Have a good day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Challenges

Hi you all, it's Monday again! I have had a lazy weekend, spent a lot of time reading with my feet up, and I must confess that I enjoyed it. In between I did do a bit of crafting, and here's what I made. The first one is my DT piece for the new challenge over at 'The Cheerful Stamp Pad', where the theme this week is 'Coming up orange'. The challenge has been sponsored by Lunagirl, who also supplied the DT images.

I have mounted the image onto copper coloured miri-card, which has been mounted onto distressed cardboard, inked with forest moss. gold and rusty something-or-other, and embossed with a mix of copper, pearl and bronze eps.  I added some ribbon, lace, string, beads and an orange flower as embellies.

The second piece is for the challenges at 'Out of a Hat' Creations, where the theme is lines, and for Artful Times, where the theme is Mona Lisa, and for the Renaissance Men challenge at Frilly and Funkie. It was difficult to get the colour of the miri card and ribbon right in the pictures; I think the real colour is just about in the middle of the colours shown here! Sorry. I distressed the card with wild plum and silver, and embossed with silver, pearl and lavender.

Hope you all have a good day and a great week. Take care, have fun, and thanks for visiting!

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!