A new day dawning & Hatters' Challenge

Hi everybody! You may think I am mad to keep taking pics of the sunrise, but it is just so lovely I can't stop! And as I am waking up very early each day just now, long before dawn has even thought of cracking, I have something to enjoy while drinking my coffee. The colours were so lovely yesterday, I'm sorry the photos don't really do justice to them, from deep blue to turquoise, lemon and lilac, and then pink and gold.

And I made some boxes for the hatters Christmas present challenge. I used some boxes I got last year as packaging as templates, placed them on a sheet of red velvet paper, and drew round them. These are just the old boxes. After they were all neatly cut out and fitted together, I decorated them.

I kept to red and silver decorations and embellies. The smallest box is for a gift card, and the others will be filled with toiletries or home made cookies. I have taken the photos of them sitting on my clean and tidy kitchen table. Look well, this is a sight you might never see again!

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

Harry Potter Surreal

Hi you all, hope you are enjoying your weekend. It's cold and wet here, good weather to stay home and craft. Thanks to all who left good wishes for my coming Knee OP yesterday, I was at the hospital yesterday for the pre-op exams, so it can go ahead next week as planned. Depending on what they do, I will be hopping around on crutches for something between 2 and 6 weeks. I'm trying to see it positively - no H*******K and plenty of time for reading, crafting, knitting etc!

This week I thought of a sentence I had read in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', which inspired me to do this rather surreal journal spread. I am sure it's not everyone's taste; I'm not quite sure it's mine! But I had fun making it. For those who haven't read the story, they were talking about apparating and getting splinched. 

(Both terms can be looked up on the net). People who don't apparate  carefully are in danger of leaving parts of their body behind when they magically transfer themselves from one place to another....

I used prismalo water colour pencils and stickles to do the eye, the legs, street sign and owl have been collaged, and the houses and shoes stamped.

That's all for today! Have a great day, take care - especially if you are apparating anywhere - and thanks for dropping in!

Postcard Challenge and PPF

Another week is over, and it's time for Paint Party Friday and Darcy's Postcard Challenge again, where our theme this week is Scotland. I may not be able to participate next week, as my knee is being operated on next week, and although I should be home by Friday, I am not sure how fit I will be. But I hope to be able to visit you all anyway!

Cissie and Thelma have been invited to a Scottish evening at a friend’s, who originally came from Glasgow, married a ‘foreigner’ from London, and settled there. But she has invited her friends to celebrate her birthday with Haggis, whisky and Scottish dress. Cissie is, as always, game for everything and anything. Thelma is still making excuses. ‘I haven’t got a kilt or anything suitable to wear!’ she moans. ‘We can buy one!’ says Cissie. ‘I don’t like haggis!’ sighs Thelma. ‘Have you tried it?’ asks Cissie. ‘No! Of course not....Oh well,’ answers Thelma. ‘If I eat something beforehand, I won’t starve even if I don’t want to eat it!’ ‘That’s the spirit!’ exclaims Cissie! ‘And talking of spirit – there will be plenty of whisky and good tea, too!’
The ladies get dolled up to go out, Cissie with a kilt and accessories to match, and Thelma wearing a tartan scarf round her neck as she does not want to buy a kilt. They take a taxi to their friend’s house, and are greeted by a merry band of elderly ladies, all wearing various shades of tartan, and sporting accessories like thistles and sporrans.

Tartans

The Scottish thistle

A sporran

There is not only whisky to drink, but red wine and beer, and Cissie samples them all, refusing to think about the headache she will have the next day. Thelma is rather pissed inebriated, too, by the time dinner starts, and tucks in to her haggis,  neeps and tatties with gusto, and manages more than one portion, as does Cissie.

No words necessary....

(Haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a sausage casing rather than an actual stomach. Neeps are turnips and tatties potatoes). For dessert there is Tipsie Laird and apple frushie, followed by oat cakes and Dunlop cheese.

Tipsie Laird

 After dinner they listen to Scottish folk songs, and everybody sings along as best they can. In the wee, small hours of the morning they take a taxi home, and stagger, singing ‘Scots wha hae’ back to their flat, much to the amusement of neighbours who hear them. They sleep late the next day, and both decide to wear sunglasses at breakfast, which consists of Alka Seltzer and strong tea….

(All pictures courtesy of Wikipedia Commons; Alka Seltzer collage made in Picasa)

Here is the postcard they send after sobering up:

For Paint Party Friday I am sharing a paint roller picture  (60x42cms) which I have called 'Skyscrapers and rainbow'. I have used acrylics, painted with a 1" roller, which I made myself by dissecting a larger one into several small ones. 

So that was all for today. Have a great weekend you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Sunrise and a hoopoe

Yesterday was one of the first days in a long time that I haven't sat down to craft anything, but I was not lazy, as I am having a fit of the tidy-it-ups and clean-it-outs just now - don't worry; it won't last long!
I was up early, in time to see the sunrise - I just love this transit from dark sky to light!

The sky had such a lovely colour as I got up, that I grabbed my camera and threw a blanket over my nightdress, and sat in the freezing cold on the balcony, holding on to my cup of coffee for some warmth. But I enjoyed it so much, it was worth it.

After that I made some lemon muffins, as there were some people coming to help my neighbour  carry the heavy things, and I thought they might be hungry. I did not even get a chance to take a picture before they were gone!

An hour later, I heard something scratching about in the corner of my balcony, where there is a pot of dead plants that once were petunias. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a hoopoe digging into the earth looking for whatever they find there! I know this bird from Israel and the Mediterranean lands, but have never seen one here in Germany. I didn't dare move to get my camera, but this is what it looked like:

(Hoopoe by courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

Hope your day will also have some pleasant surprises in store for you! Take care of yourselves, and thanks for coming by!

Hatter's Challenge Xmas Cards

Hi everybody. Hope you are all well and fit. I spent yesterday with a friend, and when I got home I just had time to have a try at my Xmas cards. I have a whole packet of purple cards and envelopes - which look blue in the photos - and decided to try out some simple cards just using die-cuts made from silver foil, a few vintage images and some matching ribbons. I am not happy with them, and will not be making any more like this. Ah well, we live and learn! And at least I now know what I do not want to do for Xmas cards....How good that there is still plenty of time! I think the colours are so strange because it was just starting to get dark outside.

I am linking to the 'Out of Hat' Challenge.

Have a nice day you all, take care, and thanks for coming by.

Tag Tuesday

Hi you all, it's Tag Tuesday again, and our theme this week is 'rainy day'. My idea of a rainy day is to stop home and craft, drink coffee and perhaps bake a cake.... The  only other thing that occurred to me was yellow wellington boots....
So, once again TH's umbrella man had to step in, this time with fitting footwear. I made a tag out of recycled card, covered with some music paper, distressed the background with DIs and some sponged trees, and added the umbrella man, made from miri-card, and a fence made of scrap cardboard.

I didn't have the energy to do another one. I spent a lot of time helping my neighbour again, we drove three car loads of stuff to the charity shop, and slowly, slowly, we are getting there. And then I decided to tidy my working space, AKA kitchen table, which is now really empty for the first time in years!

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

2 Birthday cards

Good morning you all! Another week has begun. Yesterday I was intending to do lots of crafting, but then I was at my neighbour's for a long time, helping getting things packed and sorted again, and then he kindly treated us to some spicy chicken and a Pizza, so we had a nice break feeding ourselves full and washing it down with white wine, and by the time I got back to my apartment it was 5 p.m. and I NEEDED a big cup of coffee. Thus fortified, I was able to do my my two cards which have been commissioned. One is for a lady, who will be 75, and the other for her husband, who will be 89 (the number is on the number plate). The car has been cut from a dark grey miri-card, pity that the shine is not showing up here! Was fun making the cards!

Today I will be taking a lot of things we have sorted out to the charity shop near here, I think I will have the car completely full, and I am sure they will be happy to get such a lot of good things. 

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