Tag Tuesday Tags

Hi you all!

They told us in the News yesterday that we have had the coldest and wettest May since they started recording the weather - funny, I would have noticed it even if they hadn't said anything! But today (Monday) it stayed dry, the sun came out, and it was quite pleasant. Let's see how tomorrow will be.

Here are my tags from the last three weeks, for R, S and T

R is for rust

S is for sea, shells, starfish, sunshine, seaweed - could be wishful thinking!

T is for time, type-fonts, typewriter, and travel, and also for three, tags and Tuesday:

and this week we have arrived at 'U'. U is, of course, for Mr Umbrella Man!

(I had to smuggle him in somewhere, didn't I?)

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

Vintage and roses

Hi you all!

I have made a Layout for the challenges at OOAH (photo) and Artful Times (vintage).

I have used a photo of my Great Aunt Fanny. I know I have used her photo a lot, I just like it! She loved pretty things, flowers - especially roses -,pink and wearing a flower in her hair, so I have tried to get all these things into the LO.

The background paper (prima) has been stamped with a rose motive  and my script stamp, both from LaBlanche . All other bits and bobs were in my stash. The photo has been cut with a Sizzix oval die.

I am also linking to Pan Pastels Challenge, 'bling it'

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

When will summer show her face?

 Hi you all. It's still really cold here, but, the weathermen have predicted that it will get warmer - it will also be very wet, windy and stormy, but I suppose we can't have everything!

The theme over at Moo-Mania is to make a storage or box for Moos. I have made another of my pocket books, and filled it with a selection of Moos. I used the leather look paper again for the covers.

 One day I might manage a photo with clean fingers!

I used designer papers from Anna Griffin.

And I have made some more journal pages for the 'Challenge yourself' theme at Art Journal Monthly. My challenge was to make something light and sunny to make up for the missing summer. Every time I painted something last week I wiped  the brushes and the remaining paint here, which gave me a basis which only needed a bit of background stamping / stenciling, and I used some Artemio stamps for the grass and plants over the green paint at the bottom of the pages. I added a little profile of summer, with flowers in her hair, and the two other figures made with stencils. I think a lot of us are asking ourselves the question I have asked! It was fun doing something a bit lighthearted this time!

I like how the colour used for the stencils has remained a bit transparent and still shows the background.

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

More mini books for Paper Saturdays

Hi you all! It's still very cold over here, hope it is warmer where you are!

Today is Paper Saturday at Manon's blog, and I am sharing 2 more little books I made. Each is made from a single sheet of 12x12" paper, and folded and cut a bit to bring it into book form. The spotty paper is from Graphics45, the other one from 7 Gypsies. The first one has been decorated with a spirit doll, and for the second one I used a wooden embellishment from crafty Emblies, which has been polished with Inka gold in copper. The covers have been varnished to make them more durable.

Have a good weekend, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Make new from old

Hi you all! Greetings from freezing cold Rhineland, I never expected it to be like this at the end of May, so I have been crafting to keep myself warm - better than going out at the moment!

It's time for Paint Party Friday again, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.

I have been busy painting a little spice-rack, which I found some months back in the paper recycling bin - where it shouldn't have been, as it's made of wood!  But anyway, thanks to whoever threw it in there! I painted it black, then gave it a coat of crackle varnish before painting again with white with a touch of green in it, and it developed lovely, big cracks! It wasn't quite green enough, so I distressed it with various shades of green DI.

Then the fun work began. I stamped some paper with flower motives from Crafty Individuals, using a little less ink than usual to give a faded look. I painted the flowers with a water brush and DIs in shabby shutters and crushed olive. I wanted it to look like old-fashioned wallpaper. I used various stamps to decorate the edges and the sides, using Archival Olive. Then I looked for scraps, bits and bobs and small creations to fill the shelves and decorate them. The rack is 9x7".

A view of the side panel showing the stamped script

The front edge stamped with a tiny flower motive

Crackle varnish on the watering can

One of my mini books and a tin

A heart from crafty emblies, painted, distressed and crackled for another project, and then not used, fitted here perfectly. The flower was on a present I got.

A little jar which held a free-sample of jam was pressed into action. The lid has been painted and then stamped, and the jar filled with little beads etc.

(The green thumb is not part of the decoration!)

A ribbon flower fitted perfectly on the top of the lid

A little die cut bird keeping an eye on things, and a vintage lace trim

The cameo has been mounted onto a bottle cap, which I painted black and distressed with distress EP

I really had fun altering this piece, and it will look good on my kitchen shelf (when I have tidied up a bit!)

I am linking to Fashionable Stamping Challenges (alter it)

Sugar Creek - use scraps and what you have (rack, background paper, glass jar,  mini-books etc)

Simon Says Stamp and show - use your favourite ink (Archival and green)

Pan Pastels - new beginning (for an old spice rack)

Have a great weekend, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Flowers for Artful Times

Hi you all! It's time for me to post my challenge for Artful Times,  before the two weeks are up! The ladies have set the theme, 'Bloomin lovely'.

I have made 2 cards. The face in the first one has been drawn, she has flowers and butterflies instead of hair. I couldn't make up my mind whether to colour the face or not, I wanted it to be a contrast to the flowers. The flowers and butterflies have been punched with X-cut 3D punches.

For the second card I have used 3 different stamps from LaBlanche - the face, the flowers and the bee. Some parts have been stamped twice, cut out, and raised with foam squares. I masked some parts while stamping to get all the bits in the right places.

So, that's enough. I'll be back tomorrow evening with my post for Paint Party Friday.

Till then, take care, have fun and thanks a lot for coming by!