Marbled Twinchie Mini-Books

Hi everybody, another week has flown by, and here we are at Monday again. I was busy making some mini-books out of some little pieces of plywood (bottom picture) which were in a box as dividers for something or other. I cut them into twinchies, which just fitted with the indentations they had, and used some of them to make these little books. The covers have been marbled, and then painted with several coats of clear varnish, and given a bit of glimmer paste. I used my BIA to fix them together, One has plain white paper, one has a mix of grey and white sheets, and the first one - with the black wires - has canvas paper. The edges have all been inked with purple, and the front and back pages in each book have mini prints of some of my art-work. The first one has just been decorated with some gold florist wire with little baubles on it.

You can see the structure of the paper here.

The next two have been embellished with some fibres, and a charm, a key and a bead, just a bit hard to see here.

And this was the raw material:

I am linking to 'show  us your twinchies' blog.

The tag has been made for the second week of the challenge over at 'The Cheerful Stamp Pad', coming up orange, and sponsored by Luna Girl

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

Goldfinger's Box & Happy Mail

Yesterday I did some boxing - in other words, I made a gift-box for the challenge over at 'Out of a Hat Creations'. Neighbours asked me to make a gift-box for a golden wedding they have been invited to. The box has been cut from an A4 sheet of gold cardstock - it's a good pattern, as nothing gets wasted! I sprayed a pile of 'used' flowers, and some dried thistles which I had, with gold spray. I fixed a square of gold sequin waste like a diamond to the box, and then used as many flowers as I could fit onto it. Nothing CAS here, I'm afraid.

The flowers are partly made of paper, some of material, and have a nice, matte shine. They were all different colours before.

I am also entering into the  Stamp Man Challenge, 'Precious Metals'

And the Postie brought me some Happy Mail yesterday. I beautiful photo from Terrie, who often shows the fantastic pictures she takes, as well as her art creations.

And this wonderful card came from Suze, who was kind enough to send me this beautiful card from her holiday there. Thanks a lot, it was a great surprise!

Both cards did a lot to lift my mood, thanks you guys!

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

Jason and Shannon in Malta and PPF.

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

First to Cissie, Jason and Co.
The wedding on Wednesday went off almost without a hitch. They held it Toynbee Hall, a large, old hall near where they live. The Hall dates from the middle of the 19th century, and has welcomed Lenin, Ghandi and many others as orators at different times in its history. It is used today as a community centre, for adult education and also as a popular wedding venue.

Toynbee Hall about 1860

Toynbee Hall today

The great hall

The great hall can usually seat 100 people, but as they had more guests, they held a buffet-style reception. The weather was good, so people were able to go outside, too. The catering was splendid. Well, what would we expect when Cissie and Thelma organised it? They had  nearly driven the caterers mad in the past few weeks, requesting samples of all the food that was to be served. Of course, there was enough food to serve a large army, and sufficient  leftovers to last normal people for a month. Cissie and co might manage for a week on them.
Even Jason has been persuaded to wear his new, grey suit instead of one of his fave pullovers. ‘Sh*t! I look like a real poncy git now!’ was his comment, after his women folk had told him how lovely he looked. Shannon, his ‘Scrawny bird’, wore a lovely white, silk dress, and even allowed her Mum to dye her green strands of hair back to its natural red. Cissie, Thelma and Queenie all wore flowing creations in pale green chiffon and silk, decorated with lots of flowers. ‘They look like Hyde Park in springtime!’ giggles Shannon to Jason.
There were a few sticky moments, for example when Cissie kept nibbling the sugar roses on the cake. Or when Thelma broke a tooth biting into one of the pillars holding the tiers of the cake. She thought it was icing sugar, and it turned out to be plaster of Paris….And one of Latif’s many children was sick on the floor after eating a whole plate of chicken legs. But apart from that, a good time was had by all. Jason was a trifle miffed that he had to sit with Shannon and the family instead of with his mates, but they were all so happy with free beer and wine that they never even missed him….

After cutting the cake, the happy couple escaped, and set off for Malta. They spend their time there exploring the beautiful sites of the Island. They are staying in the honeymoon suite of a wonderful hotel in Valetta, and spend a considerable time in their room, enjoying being on their own, or swimming in the luxurious pool. They hire a car, which is no problem, as in Malta they drive on the left, just like in England, and visit the megalith temple remains in Mnajdra, see old Roman mosaics in Rabat, enjoy the Blue Lagoon Bay between Comino and Cominetto Islands, Mdina and Valetta. And of course, they enjoy the food. Jason also enjoys the Maltese Aquavit, although not as much as he would like, because Shannon starts pouting as she mustn’t drink alcohol!

(Photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

This is the postcard they send home, showing the Maltese coat of arms:

I suppose we must now call them Mr and Mrs Shmitt!

For Paint Party Friday I want to show some mini-books I made with the marbled paper I made this week. I used hand made paper, with torn edges.

You can see the paper and the other pieces I made here and here

Some Marble Creations

Today I want to show you the two mini books and altered matchbox cases that I made with some of the marbled papers from the day before. Someone asked yesterday which colours I used. I didn't have enough ready made marbling colours, so I thinned down some oil paints, which worked quite well. I fill them into dropper bottles - from medicine, for example.  I think the marbling colours you can buy might smell a bit less pungent! (I always save those little bottles anyway, for poison bottles for Halloween)

The inside of the boxes has been painted with Viva metallic, the first one in lilac and the second one in purple. I cut a strip here to fit round the matchbox, and glued it down.

The mini book has been made from a strip of designer paper, with scraps of the marble paper for the covers. I added some gem stones to the front cover. I added another scrap of marble paper to the front of the 'drawer', and a TH hitch fastener as knob.

The plain side of the paper has been stamped and given a hand-written quote about time.

The strip of paper for the second box was narrower, so I painted the ends first with purple paint before fixing the marble paper. The 'drawer' was made the same as the first one.

The book has been made from a strip of scrap paper. I used mini prints of some of my paintings for 2 sides, and added a quote on the others. The end papers have been made from sequin waste with a star pattern.

I had fun making these little pieces, and tomorrow I will share some more creations I made with the marble paper. I am linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show, where the theme this week is  'Paint it Up'.

Here's wishing you all a great day. Get messy, have fun and thanks for visiting!

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!