Sunny Monday, Tag Tuesday and a Pig's Ear

Hi you all! Today we saw the sun again - what a wonderful feeling! It is still very cold, but it just did good to see the blue sky and the sun sparkling on the Rhine. I went for a nice walk, through the park and our little town, and really enjoyed being out in the fresh air without freezing stiff or trying to see through the mist! The weather will be worsening in the course of the week, we have icy winds and snow on its way from the north east, but it felt good to have a nice day today.

But first to Tag Tuesday. Our letter this week is 'G'. I had problems deciding again which word to take, and then I stuck my neck out and chose giraffe. I made a simple tag, long and narrow, using a scrap of printed paper mounted onto cardboard.. I added the giraffe at the bottom, and drew the 'G' at the top, before fitting a giraffe's head onto it. 

These are some of the pics I took here today, showing some of our narrow, cobbled  lanes:

the grammar school:

hazel catkins in the park:

(a sign that spring is on the way?)

a peep through a gate:

and another one:

one of the wider roads:

Another little alley:

Looking down Mill Lane:

And this statue of somebody parked high on the wall of a house:

And last, but definitely not least - When I got home, I met my neighbour, who had just come back from shopping. He had goodies in one of his bags - fresh 'pig's ears' from the baker's. They are giant pieces of very sugary and crispy puff pastry, dipped into chocolate to make sure you eat enough calories.....yummy! This was my reward after a lovely walk! I think it looks as though it is smiling!

Have a great day, take care, and thanks for coming by!

Fun with stamping

Hi you all, hope you are enjoying a restful Sunday. I have been enjoying getting messy and inky again, playing with stamps and colours. My hands are a lot less shaky than they were, but I still have difficulties, and I think it is important that I get plenty of practice.

The first piece is a card made for 2 challenges; the birds and or bees challenge at Out of a Hat Creations, and a second entry for the Fashionable stamping challenge 'Birds'. I was happy that I was chosen to be in the 'Saturday Spotlight' at FSC for my share some love entry which you can see here if you want to.

I stamped a background using my much loved script stamp in vintage photo DI, and the nest and bird - both from Catherine Moore - have been stamped with Adirondack espresso, fussy cut, and popped up with foam squares. I gave them a glint in their eyes with a drop of glossy accents. I used various scraps to cut the background matting, and threaded a ribbon through some slits between the punched paper lace. The little wooden bird is from Crafty emblies. I love doing monochrome stamping, as it reminds me of the prints in old books.

The second piece is also for 2 challenges;  'Eyes' at Try it on Tuesday, and  'Colour technique' at Artful Times.

I masked the middle of the card, and stamped the script, flourishes and leopard with archival black. Then I removed the masking, and added the 'Eyes' stamp in the middle. I used DI in wild honey, forest moss and tumbled glass for the background, and added some highlights with white, yellow and turquoise jelly pens. The eye stamp is from Paper Artsy, the others all from LaBlanche. If you look carefully, you will find more eyes hidden in the picture - can you find them? This is really a bit crazy, definitely not CAS!

I have used this piece to make my April calendar page.

All in all a fun Sunday for me, but I still haven't tidied up my kitchen: Perhaps next week!

Have a great day, whatever you are up to, stay creative, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Playing with words again and love(ly) mail

Hi you all, it's weekend, and I hope you are all finding time to relax and enjoy your weekend. Here it is almost warm today - in comparison - 6°! I went for a rather wet and misty walk, and came home  hungry for my lunch. 

The third part of Carolyn's 'Use your Words' course is 'random letter fun', and this journal spread is my take on the theme. I started by splodging painting the background with metallic blue and yellow, and then stamping into the still wet paint with script and diamond stamps (LaBlanche). I did not use any colour, so sometimes the stamp made a sort of negative print, and sometimes transferred colour to other parts, which was an effect I liked. I then blew a little perfect pearls and copper EP onto it, and heat dried to give some texture

The second layer has been made using 3 stencils from CWS and dark blue distress ink.

Then I used my stencils to draw the figures and letters with a fine black permanent marker. I coloured them all with a turquoise prismalo pencil and painted over them with a water pen. I wanted them to have some colour, but still show the background.

The pictures which I have taken at an angle show more of the texture and sheen.

I had fun making this again - I always do, it's just H*******K I don't like doing!

And on Valentine's Day I got 2 lovely cards, from Donna in Mexico - she knows I love cardboard!

And from Carolyn in the USA.

Both ladies kindly added embellies, too, and I was really happy to get post on Valentine's day!

Thanks a lot Donna and Carolyn!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, reeeeeeeeelax, have fun and thanks a lot for coming by!

Playing with words and colours

Hi you all, warm greetings from freezing Germany! This week has flown by again, and I was busy doing lots of different projects, some of which I even got finished. I am following Carolyn's course 'Use your words' just now. Although I have done my pages differently, and used the stuff I have here, I have concentrated on words. Both journal pages have been painted, sprayed and dripped in many layers - I do like getting messy! - before adding my text.

Here I used metallic paint in yellow and pink as basis, and sprayed and dripped various colours onto it, before giving it a dusting of gold perfect pearls. The shine does not show up well in the photos, it has been a really dark day here, not ideal for taking pics! As I write there is a snow blizzard outside, which makes me happy to be inside! I chose the words aspire, soar, live and fly. Live has been made using the waste from a die-cut, and the other words using a template, the only one I have for large letters. The 'flying' person has been made from a home-made template. I used the sparkly flourishes as templates, too, before sticking them down. I quite like the emptiness on the pages, so I don't know if I will do some more here or not; time will tell!

Here I have used my heads again, in conversation with each other, and a typical dialogue!

Round about the heads I have written a quote from Hillel, a Rabbi who lived about the same time as Jesus. On the left I have written it in English, on the right in Hebrew. It reads: 'If I am not for myself, who will be? And when I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

I am not sure here whether or not I want to add to these pages. Sometimes I like to have some free space in my head(s)!

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and Simon Says Stamp and Show, where the theme is to get messy - I did; my kitchen, too!

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

Moos and Birds

Hi you all! It's still freeeeeeeeezing here, it snowed for a couple of hours this morning, but seems to be more or less gone now. The temperatures are rising again - from -3° this morning to +1° now, so that's something! I have been busy making Moos, little cards 2,8 x 1,1", for the Moo Mania Challenge, where the theme this week is pointed hats, something that links to carnival here in Germany! I got carried away again, or should I say moo-ved to make several, it's just hard to stop once you get started.

These chaps looked like they needed some fun, so I gave them all pointy hats. The chap on the left has been decorated with some 'Luft Schlangen'. Literally translated this gives you 'air-snakes' - they are not dangerous though, just little rolls of coloured paper which you drape over and round everything and anything at party time.

This chappie was positively begging to join in the celebrations....

And this young man seems to be wearing the Eiffel Tower as his hat:

(All stamps are from Chocolate Baroque)

Here is a photo cut from the newspaper, showing a genuine celebration in Düsseldorf, you can see some more pointy hats in the background. Nobody looks twice if they see people walking through the streets at carnival time in fancy costumes - you just get stared at if you look 'normal'!

And little Miss Araminta was on my table, just clamouring to join in the fun, so I let her!

Miss Araminta is also starring in my card for the birds challenge at Fashionable Stamping. I used a square of speciality stamping paper, which I distressed with gradient colours, before stamping some plants and grasses with Memento London Fog to make the background. The plants and birds in the foreground have been stamped with black archival.  Miss Araminta and her cousin Miss Bella are dressed in their Sunday best and out for a walk. I stamped them twice, popping them up with foam squares, and the dresses have been paper pieced to give more depth. I gave them both a coat of clear varnish to give them some shine. Miss Araminta has a lace trim on her dress, Miss Bella has been picking flowers to line her nest.

The lovely ladies birds are from Catherine Moore, the background stamps are from Artemio, Stampin Up and LaBlanche.

These were both fun challenges, and Miss Araminta was soooooooo happy to be the centre of attraction again, she is really crazy for publicity!

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

And still more tags....

Hi you all. It's still very cold here, although the snow has almost disappeared. Hope you are all managing to keep warm - or cool - wherever you are!

The first tag today is for the challenge at Out of a Hat Creations, where the ladies would like to see three textures. I have used corrugated card, partly peeled, gessoed and painted- the card is my fave texture just now! I added a piece of old book paper, and a strip if card into which I have embossed three different textures using Utee.  Added the flowers and jute as embellishments, tied it up with a piece of string, and that was it.

That blue thumb belongs to me!

The second tag is one for Valentine. Once again I have used corrugated card, my script stamp, lace and scraps, half of a TH branch tree,  an image from a postage sheet from Gecko Galz, and a few embellies from my bit box.

Tag Number 3 is my Tag Tuesday 'F' tag. I know a lot of words beginning with 'F', but some are not suitable for making into tags....so I chose fingers as my word:

No, they are neither my fingers nor my nails!

That's all for today, take care, and thanks for coming by!