Craft Barn Alpha Challenge 'P'

Hi you all! Hope you are not snowed in! Here it snowed all day yesterday. Today we have had some sunshine, but it's getting dark again, so I fear the worst...

This is the photo I took yesterday!

Donna, please do NOT tell me how warm it is in Mexico, where you are sipping your sangria in the yard, surrounded by flowers, birds and butterflies!

For the alpha challenge I chose a long list of 'P' words, and couldn't decide which one to take. My pondering  was interrupted by the postman's ring, who left a parcel for a neighbour. 'Parcel' was not on my list of words, but I decided that fate had chosen for me! I thought this would be very quick and easy, I didn't realise that it was difficult to make a flat parcel that looks like a 3-dimensional one. My lines and angles are still not quite straight  so let's say that it got it bit battered in the post! 

Have a good day you all, take care, keep warm and have fun! And thanks for coming by!

Fun with lino cuts

Hi you all! Another week has raced by, and it's time for PPF already, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin. I have been playing around with an *ancient* lino cut from the 1990s.  I wanted to use the special paints I have for lino prints, but they have hidden themselves somewhere in the deepest recesses of my 'bottomless pit', AKA my hall closet. So I worked with acrylics and some sheets of coloured paper I had here. The lino-cut is 12X8"

The first one is red on red

Then I tried blue on red, but didn't really like it....

I think black on white looks okay....

And I like this green on green even if I did smudge it a bit....

And this is blue on red again, but it worked better this time

And lastly a collage I made and blogged at the beginning of the week:

That's all for today, have a great PPF, a lovely weekend and thanks a lot for coming by!

Me and my shadow

Hi you all! Hope you are managing to keep warm if it's still winter where you are. We have had sunshine for 2 days, but it is still extremely cold and windy. It was wonderful to see the sun, though! And this evening, as I write, the sky is cloudless and a large, full moon with an ice-halo is sailing over the sky.

My card today is for the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show, where the DT wants to see something using a quote, or saying or something similar. I chose a line from a song which has been going round in my head for the past few days - me and my shadow. I have printed the song-text onto the card, and then added an umbrella man, cut from an old book cover, and his shadow, made using the waste as a template. I matted it onto some printed brown card that was part of some packaging, and tied it all together with some string. I added a TH token as embellishment.  I used vintage photo DI for the shading.

The light was on when I took the second pic, and it looks all washed out - sorry!

And I forgot to post my Tag Tuesday tag again, so here it is. We have arrived at 'L' in our ABC, and I chose ladders, so made my tag with a snakes and ladders game.

That's all for today! Take care, have a good day, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Boxing Day

Hi you all! In case you are wondering about my title today, I am not thinking of the day after Christmas. I am thinking of boxing in two senses of the word - firstly, to show some altered boxes I have made for various challenges, and secondly - ouch! - because I boxed myself under my chin while trying to pull a piece of sticky tape off the floorboards. I am always surprised that things which refuse firmly and persistently to stick to paper, develop such adhesive strength when they fall to the floor....

The first box I have altered is a Swarovski box with hinged lid which I rescued along with its whole family from an awful fate in the old paper box. I sprayed it with silver paint -not really to recommend when there are minus degrees and a gale force wind blowing, but it has to be done outside. After it had dried, and I had thawed out again, I decorated it with lots of bits from my bit boxes - flowers, a cameo, sequin flowers, lace and ribbon. I stamped around the sides using my fave love script stamp, but I could not get a good pic of it.

The second box is a little oval one which was filled with delicious chocolate covered coffee beans - yummy! It wasn't quite empty, so I had to eat the rest. If I can't sleep tonight I will at least know why!

I covered the box with scraps of Graphic45 paper. The strip I had over for the lid was not quite wide enough, so I mounted it onto a strip of brown paper first. I added some lace, a flower and a skeleton leaf, and it was finished. The box is now on the shelves in my hall, holding the 50 cent pieces I need to put into the communal washing machine downstairs.

I am linking to three challenges today:

Out of a Hat creations - who are, by the way, celebrating their first birthday this week - have a variety of things to choose from, so I took vintage.

Sugar Creek Hollow, who want to see an altered state and

Try it on Tuesday, where the challenge is to recycle.

It is still extremely cold and windy outside, so it was great to have a good excuse to stay home and play! Keep warm, take care and thanks a lot for coming by!

Happy Mail received and cards sent

Hi you all, hope those of you in the cold parts of this world are managing to keep warm. Here in Germany and the whole of Europe we are still in the grip of an icy winter. It was definitely warmer at Christmas than it is now! But I am not dreaming of a white Easter, so hope very much that it will get warmer.

I received 2 beautiful Easter cards from Donna and Yvonne.
The first one is from Donna, I love her very determined looking Easter bunny on his way to school! And the lovely rabbit charm on the card. Donna paints wonderful pictures, and if you haven't already visited her blog, please do so!

The second card is from Yvonne, who makes beautiful cards, mostly in vintage style, also well worth a visit if you don't know her blog yet! I love all the layers and delicate colours in this card.

Big thanks to both these lovely ladies!

And I have 2 cards which I have already sent off. The challenge over at  Vienna Impressions blog is to create a card using blue and green and an unusual shape. I have made 2 pyramid cards. The cards can be folded flat to send, and their is a sentiment inside. I stamped 'Gib jedemTag die Gelegenheit der schönste Deines Lebens zu werden' in each card. (Give every day the opportunity to become the best one of your life).

The first card has been made using double sided cardstock. After adding motives on the green and blue sides, I varnished the outside surfaces with clear glaze.

The second card has been made from a sheet of paper painted with green and blue, and stamped randomly with various background stamps. The outside surfaces have once again been glazed. All stamps used are from LaBlanche. The photos of the inside and the other sides have somehow disappeared from my computer, and as they are now winging their way to their destinations, I can't take any more pics, sorry!

That's all for today, take care, have a good day, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Playing with alcohol inks

Hi you all! Another weekend is over, time flies! It is still ice cold here, and very windy, so a good time to stay home and play. The challenge over at Artful times is to use alcohol ink. My inks seem to have diminished, at the moment I just have blue, yellow and gold. Anyway, I had a lot of fun dripping and blowing the inks in lots of layers to make my under-water landscapes. When the were finished I doodled round some of the drips and drops with a gold gel-pen. This is the first one before....

and then afterwards. This one has been stamped with fishes which I embossed with white EP. I added some underwater flowers, some dew-drops as bubbles, and a real mini star-fish. I matted it with black card and green miri-card.

The second one before.....

and afterwards. I have again outlined the drips with my gold pen, and then added flowers and leaves (Prima) in turquoise. The hand, called a Chamsa, is made from metal, and the stones and decorations are bedded in resin. The Hebrew letters spell 'Chai', which means 'Life' and is used as one of the names of God. I have matted the card with a turquoise blue cardstock.

I am also linking to Simon Says Stamp and show, where the theme this week is water.

I will be back tomorrow with some happy mail received from Donna and Yvonne!

Have a good day, take care and keep warm, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Cardboard City

Brrr! It was sooooooooooooooooo cold today, and as a bonus we had an icy wind blowing us fresh air from Siberia. Even the post man said it was too cold to be outside, so I took his advice, stayed home, and used the time well to do some crafting. The challenge at Eclectic Paperie is to use corrugated cardboard on a project. I have made a mixed media piece, which I am calling 'The surreal world of cardboard city'. The background has been painted and then sprayed. I used 2 stencils from CWS to do some shading in the background. The houses have been made from cardboard which has been peeled, and gessoed. I used the CWS stencil again to add some shading in wild honey DI to give the impression of windows. I stamped various figures with archival black, cut them out, and let them fly through the sky, together with the umbrella man, who has been cut from miri card. I used the waste to add some more shadows to the sky. The giraffe and leopard are rub-ons. This was fun to make, and kept me warm!

Have a good weekend,  stay warm, and  thanks a lot for coming by!