More or less Less is more at Artful Times

Hi you all! I am happy to say that I did NOT get woken up by the postman this morning. No, it was a neighbour, having new cabinets put into his kitchen, and drilling holes in the walls! Well, never mind, I did get a lot done again.

I made 2 cards for the 'less is more' challenge at Artful Times - not really my cup of tea, but I have tried!

The first one has been made with some skeleton leaves mounted onto a scrap of silver fabric. The sentiment has been die cut.

The second one features my Leonardo lady again - I think her name was Leda. I stamped the background with script and flourishes in vintage photo, and she has been stamped with Adirondack Espresso. The sentiment has been die cut again.

I think both cards look rather better in real life.

You still have time to enter my little giveaway from yesterday!

That's all for today. Have a good day, take care, and thanks for coming by.

Moos Maze Album, a mini canvas and a giveaway.

Hi everybody, time for a little giveaway. Today I made a Moos Maze Album. I had a lot of moos flattering about, and thought it would be a good idea to give them a home. I made the album using some retro dp, and the covers from coasters, covered with sunshine-yellow paper. There are 2 moos on the front, one on the back,  and 8 hiding inside the pockets. 

Wonder who's hiding in here?

As I said at the beginning, I am having a little giveaway. If you would like this album, or the circus mini books  here, please leave a comment and say which one you would like. If more than 2 are interested, I will pick the names out of my old hat!  All followers of my blog are welcome. You have till Friday, May 3rd, 8am local time to leave your comment. I am linking to Moo-Mania.

The challenge at Out of a Hat is hearts and swirls. I have painted a mini canvas with red and gold acrylics, and heat-bubbled the gold to give texture. I stamped the canvas with my script stamp, but it is hard to see it here. I cut 2 hearts with TH's heart and wings die. The top one has been made from textured red paper, the one underneath from white card stamped with my 'love' stamp and gold embossed. The wings have been cut from a scrap of gold paper and embossed with swirls. There are more swirls in the heart. The black button is a Victorian one with a cameo, made of jet and edged with stones.

Enough for today! Have a good start to the week, take care, and thanks for coming by!

New Journal 'Dream'

Hi you all! It's been a chilly day here, but hope the sun will come for a visit tomorrow! I got woken up early by the postman again, bringing a parcel for the next-door neighbour. I wish I could sleep so soundly as all my neighbours evidently do!

I kept myself warm with crafting, painting and cooking, a good combination! I decided to make another album. The cover has been made from cardboard which has been painted with pink and then gesso to tone it down a bit, and stamped with script and diamonds while it was still wet, which gives a nice texture. I then built up layers with hessian, ribbons, lace and  paper strips. The focal image is a lovely Leonardo lady from Lost Coast Designs, stamped with Adirondack Espresso onto some packaging, and distressed with vintage photo  Victorian velvet and antique linen DIs. I used some pretty netting under the image.  As the lady looks very dreamy, I added the sentiment 'Dream'. I used a Prima flower and leaves and some scraps of ribbon and a few charms as embellishments.

The backside has been made from cardboard from an old drawing pad, covered with white, embossed paper and distressed with Victorian Velvet.

There are 50 pages inside waiting to be drawn on, doodled or scribbled on! I am linking to the 'Sentimental' Challenge at Fashionable Stamping and to 'so sentimental' at the Craft Room and 'Dreams' at PanPastel Blog

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

Alpha Challenge, Moos and an orange moon.

Hello everybody. It's weekend already, and I hope you will all have a fun and relaxing weekend. I was up early this morning, thanks to the postman who loves to get me out of my bed to take parcels for neighbours who are able to sleep through his persistent ringing! Anyway, it meant I was able to get the shopping early, and spend some time doing the dreaded, but rather necessary H*******K! I think the dust bunnies seem to breed at my place, I have no other explanation for them always coming back!

For the alpha challenge at the Craft barn we have to use the letter 'w', and as an extra, use circles on our page. I chose the word 'word blind' (alexia) after a long perusal of my Greater Webster's Dictionary. The dictionary page has been pounced over with white gesso to blot out some of the words, and then stamped with an alphabet stamp (Kaisercraft). I used a white pastel chalk to partly cover some of the stamping. The lady has been cut out of a magazine. I cut circles out of black card for her glasses. I used stenciled and self adhesive alphas to embellish the page. The magnifying glass has been fussy cut and stuck to the page.

The Moos are, of course, for the Moo-Mania challenge, where the ladies want to see spring moos this time round. I used scraps of paper which have been collaged, painted, doodled and embellished.

Then I decided to make the four moos into 2 little hangings, and mounted them onto ribbon, adding some beads onto them to help them hang straight!

They were fun to make. I am also linking to Manon's 'Paper Saturdays'

Yesterday (Thursday) evening we had an orange coloured moon. I have never seen the moon this colour before, it was so fascinating, I could not stop watching it.

That's all for today. Have a good weekend, take care, and thanks for coming by!

April showers....

Another week has been and gone, and here we are again at Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin. I have made some journal pages, which didn't turn out quite as I would have liked, but I think I can leave them as they are. I painted the background with gesso, and then used some left over blue and pale yellow paints, and when it was dry, added the trees with a CWS stencil, and outlined the branches with a black fine liner to give more definition. We have had 2 days of lovely weather here, but for tomorrow rain has been forecast, perhaps the inspiration for my quote. I cut the clouds from floral patterned paper, which was supposed to be self adhesive. Well, it stuck to everything, just not to the page. Thanks God for glue-sticks! Same with the alphas, I had to fight to get them off the backing paper, but the only one that stuck voluntarily and immediately was the one that fell onto my jeans. But I won in the end! I outlined the letters with a blue gel pen. The rainrops were drawn with black ink and filled with glossy accents. The umbrella man has been made out of green leaf-and-grass paper. The fence and bike were rescued from an old birthday card, and look good here. I added some floral rub-ons in blue, and some pale blue lace to the clouds.

I am linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show, 'Colours' and to Art Journal Journey, the landscape within me.

Yesterday evening the weather was really good, so I sat outside on my balcony, drank a little glass of wine,  and watched the moon, a lovely end to the day.

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

Inventors and inventions

Hi you all! It's been a gorgeous day, with lots of sun and really warm, and I enjoyed my walk along the Rhine - everything looks so much nicer when the sun shines!

Over at Try it on Tuesday the challenge is inventions, inventors and /or steampunk. I made a concertina album. The cover has been made using structure paste with various objects pressed into it, sprayed silver, and toned down a bit with Inka Gold gun-metal polish.  All the things on the cover are everyday objects which somebody invented at some time or other - even humble things like buttons and coins, which we always take for granted, were invented by somebody.

I stamped the pages with various background stamps using London fog, just to give a faint impression. The images are vintage cigarette cards from the 1930s, and show different inventions which have influenced the life of people through the centuries. I have written a short description for each image, and have used the inserts to write lists of inventions and inventors. Some inventions - like writing, books, medicine, methods of communication, radio and television have altered our lives in a good sense. Others, like weapons and methods of mass destruction, are not things we like thinking about, but they are, unfortunately, a part of our lives too.

I have room to add more notes on the pages. I am not showing them all so as not to make the post tooooooo long!

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

Circus at OOAH

Hi you all! The theme over at Out of a Hat Creations this week is 'Circus'. Hmm, not really something I like. As a kid I hated the circus, and found the clowns terrifying. I still find clowns scary, and would never go to a circus voluntarily. But back to the challenge! I found a half sheet of Graphics 45 circus paper in my stash, and decided to use it. I altered a little notebook, and as I had a few tiny scraps left over from that, made a mini-book as well. Both pieces have been given a coat of matte varnish to make them more durable

Here Fräulein Holzbein is holding them for the photo.

The finished piece is 11 x 7 cms. I cut out one clown and fixed him to the front with foam pads.

I added some stickles to his clothes.

Inside the cover there is a little pocket with 2 matching tags.

The little book is 5 x 3 1/2 cms. I had some scraps of wood left over from another project, and used them for the covers. They were covered with paper inside and out. The edges have been inked with rusty hinge DI. The pages have been cut from some left over strips of drawing paper. I never throw them away when I cut things to size, sooner or later they come in useful.

I tore the paper against a ruler to give rough edges.

I used my BIA to bind it. The o-wires were on an old notebook that had been used up, so I took them out carefully, cut them to size and re-used them here. I like recycling where it is possible.

That's all for today. Have a good one, take care, and thanks for coming by!