Happy Mail and a tag

On Saturday my mail from Donna came after a very loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong journey from Mexico to Germany, it might have been quicker on foot! You can see the green customs sticker on the right side, so I suppose my letter had a long rest on somebody's desk before making the last lap of the journey! But I  got it in the end! Donna made a gorgeous envelope, as always, with a whole battery  of Ronald Reagan stamps. The envie is going into my collection of collectables, too!

The back:

And this lovely little collage, which is now in my arty kitchen:

This is a bit problematic, as I only have vodka - wonder if that works too?

A beautiful collaged postcard:

And one of Donna's great photos:

And if that wasn't enough, she sent me loads of images and  die cuts etc., which made my crafty heart very happy. Thanks a lot Donna!

I made several tags at the weekend, but one is for Tag Tuesday, and 2 are on their way to California, so I can't show them yet. But I can show you my Autumn rain man. The BG paper is from 7 Gypsies, the TH die-cut has been cut from some hand painted paper, and the small image is from Gecko Galz.

I am linking this tag to the Fall into Fall challenge at Frilly and Funkie

Thanks for looking, have a good day, and take care!

Walk on the Dark Side number 2

Hi you all, hope you are having a good Sunday. Yesterday I finished my second journal 'On the dark side'. This time I made it as a three ring book, so that I can add pages as necessary. I have about 30 pages in it now. It is a little larger than the first one, and the covers are thicker. I used the chipboard from the back of a water-colour pad, which I cut into 2 equal pieces, each measuring approx. 12 x 9 ". I covered it with tissue before adding various bits and pieces - string, hessian, lace, corrugated card, sequin-waste, some flowers and leaves and another head. After two coats of gesso I sprayed it dark grey, and when it was dry, polished it again with Inka gold in silver and gun-metal grey. The insides of the covers have been covered in grey paper, as the chipboard was rather paint-flecked. I added some black ribbons, fibres, charms and an old ear-ring for decoration. It was difficult to take the photos, as the sun kept disappearing behind a big, black, cloud....

The front:

The back:

I had fun making it again, and now have 2 nice journals to use in the next time.

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

A shadowy Halloween Shadow Box

Good morning everybody! There's a real nip of Autumn in the air now; the weather is dry, but really chilly, especially mornings and nights, and the evenings are getting longer. But every weather is good for crafting and painting!

For my shadow box I have used a wooden rack that was filled with Easter decorations. They were under 2€ each - with the filling! - so good value, and are approx 12x8".  I sprayed it with gold and then gave a quick spray of dark red over it, to make it look 'blood spattered'. The background papers are all from TH's Halloween Kraft Paper Block. Here it is before I added the filling. 

Here is the finished box. I gathered all the scraps and Halloween bits I had lying around. The three bottles in the top row were the packaging from some stuff from Ranger. The quote behind the  rooster is one the head-mistress of a school I taught at in St Helens many years ago greeted me with every morning:

A whistling woman

And a crowing hen

Waken the devil

From his den.

She didn't like it that I came happily whistling to school. It certainly woke her anyway, wonder what that tells us?!

The clock is showing us that the witching time is fast approaching.

The little book has been cut from some old book pages, and sewn together with 'witches' hair'.

The bottle was one I made up last year, and which I have astonishingly found again in time to use it for Halloween; mostly the things turn up much later....

The houses, fence and bats are all TH die-cuts.

I am linking to the 'halloween' Challenge at Out of a Hat Challenge Blog

Here's hoping you all have a great weekend, whatever you are up to. Take care, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Dubai and PPF

It's Friday again, and that means it's time for Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, where our participants are off to Dubai this week.

Jason and Shannon are still overwhelmed by the success of their shop. Queenie is a bit miffed that they seem to get more trade selling their ‘junk’ than she does with her second hand clothes and accessories, although she has to admit that her shop is doing ‘ bloody well on the whole’. Cissie has been reading a lot, she has bought herself a Kindle reader, and is addicted to it. This has Thelma feeling a bit fed up, as she is not so fond of reading, and her knees are still hurting a lot. But Cissie often reads the juicy bits to her, and Thelma does like that!
They all meet for lunch at Latif’s Chippie, and enjoy their usual, large portions. Then Jason says, ‘I’ve got an invitation to the annual meeting of the Antique Shop Dealers!’
‘Bet you’ll get good food’ says Cissie.
‘Where is it?’ hisses Shannon.
‘Well, it’s being held in a hotel, like always.’ answers Jason.
‘WHERE IS IT???’ spits Shannon, her green eyes glittering dangerously. ‘
Jason smiles and says, ‘Funny you should ask that! It’s in Dubai!’.
 Four strident female voices say in chorus, ‘You ain’t going!’
Shannon sobs. Thelma tries to comfort her little daughter. Queenie and Cissie just look daggers at him.
‘Well don’t get excited about nuffink, will you?’ he says. ‘I’ve already said I can’t leave my Shannon when she’s expecting a baby, and I wouldn’t want to leave the shop now, either, would I? I’m staying here.’
A sigh of relief goes round the table. Latif nods in agreement, and brings them over another pot of tea.
‘But I got a prospect wiv’ some gorgeous pictures in it, wanna ‘ave a look?’ laughs Jason.
Shannon looks adoringly at him, and says, ‘Later! I think I need to go and have a rest! You coming, Jason?’ Queenie says rather tartly, ‘Well, if it’s rest you need, I’ll bring you back to your flat. Jason needs to use his energies in the shop!’ Shannon and Queenie exit, arm in arm, Shannon blowing Jason kisses all the while. Jason pays the bill and leaves for the shop.
Cissie says, ‘Well, let’s have a nice afternoon. I’ll get the cream cakes while you go up and put the kettle on!’
‘Deal!’ Says Thelma.

Here are some of the lovely photos they see in the prospect later that day.

Burj el Arab

Elegant bus-stops

The old method of travelling -  with Abras

Sheikh Sayed Road by night

IKEA!!!

Another view of Burj el Arab

The Beach  Desert

All photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

A week or so later they get this postcard from Marc, one of Jason’s ‘antique’ cronies.

‘Well, that ain’t my idea of  an ‘oliday!’ says Jason.
‘Yeah, but you must admit, there’s plenty of beach!’ says Shannon.

For PPF I have a work in progress to show. It started off hopefully, but I have got a bit bogged down in it just now and don't know to where it will be progressing. I have used acrylic paints. The raised bits have been made with a CWS stencil. I used a music sheet under the rest, but it can only be seen here and there. Perhaps I will have a brainwave!

Thanks a lot for visiting, take care, and have fun!

It's the light side today....

Hi you all, hope you are all well, fit and  being creative. I didn't get too much finished yesterday, although I started several projects. I was given a set of shelves and a little chest of drawers by a neighbour, who doesn't need them any more, and they have helped to get some order in my creative chaos. First I had to clean the furniture, then make room for it, and then put all the things into it. I craft in my kitchen, so there is usually no space for anything else. But now I have managed to put all the crafty things down one side, leaving one side as a 'normal' kitchen. Even my table is visible just now, oh wonder!

I have altered another of my biscuit boxes as a little present for a friend, and it is really a contrast programme to yesterday. My friend has a kitchen in white and blue, so this was made to match it. I am hoping very much that these fancy biscuit boxes will be back for Xmas, as I now don't have any more to alter! Anyway, I gave it two coats of white before adding the flowers, which are water decals. I gave it two coats of clear varnish to protect it. I didn't even give it a crackle glaze, as I know that the recipient will like it better without! Tastes are different.... I will fill it with some nice biscuits before I hand it over!

I will be back tomorrow with the latest news from Cissie, Jason & Co. Have a good day, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Tag Tuesday - Owls

Good morning you all! This time I double checked to make sure I had the right theme for my tag! I love owls, and often hear one here during the evening,  but have never seen it.

The first tag has been made using one of my pizza-box craft tags. I used the stamp pad to stamp the colours - forest moss, wild honey and rusty hinge -directly onto the tag, and distressed the squares with perfect pearls in green, gold and bronze. I used the die-cut waste to sponge the first tree onto the tag, and then embossed the tree - cut from a scrap of 7 gypsies paper - using a Tsukineko  Glue Pad and clear EP.

The owl is a rub on, and I just added some leaves, a pumpkin and a hedgehog. And can you see who's hiding behind the leaves?

This tag had been made using a part of a card that was sent to me, as I liked the night sky so much. The moon has been punched from Miri card, and the 'hills' have been made from torn card with inked edges.

The owl has been stamped, and the feathers coloured with perfect pearls and prismalo pencils.

I added some berries, leaves and toadstools, and hope that a mouse soon comes along for the owl's supper!

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

Tags for free and other stuff....

Hi you all. Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  It's quiet here - as always, so I've been trying to liven things up by holding conversations with myself, but somehow couldn't find the right theme....so it's quiet here, as I already said.

Here are my free craft tags. I got them with a double packet of deep frozen pizza. Really! All you need to do is to open up the package, and start cutting. It made 2 large tags:

6 medium ones:

And a whole load of book plates.

The Pizza wasn't bad either!

By the way, the dark spot on the left hand side was something on my camera, sorry!

Over at 'Artful Times'  the theme is to have a tree as the focal point. I made a tag using one of my  new craft tags. I stamped the background using the whole stamp pad to make squares in rusty hinge, wild honey, forest moss and crushed olive. Then I dusted the squares with  perfect peals in green, bronze and gold, and heated it to fix it. It gave a lovely shimmer, which you can see better in the second picture.

The tree on the left has been sponged through the waste after cutting the other tree. The die-cut tree has been inked with perfect pearls medium, brushed with perfect pearls, and then clear embossed. I added some berries for a spot of colour. And the hedgehog fitted just nicely into the picture.

At 'Out of a Hat' the theme this week is oriental. I altered biscuit box number two, using a dragon image. The box had first been sprayed with gold, then toned down with spray mist in dark red before cutting the paper to size and gluing it down. I gave it all a couple of coats of clear varnish. The paper is from 7 Gypsies.

And I made two tags. I wasn't satisfied with the first one, hence the second attempt. This one has been distressed and stamped using wild honey and spun sugar, and then overstamped with my Japanese plant, which has also been decorated with some berries.

On the second tag I stamped a yellow sun over a pink square, and then used the same stamp as before, once again with black archival ink. The lady came out of my stash, as did the button. I like this one better than the first one.

And that was all for today. Here's wishing you a all a pleasant day. Take care, and thanks for coming by!