Happy mail and another Masculine card

Hi you all, hope you all had a good weekend!

Last week I got a lovely card and letter from Diane in Michigan. I had told her that my printer was making problems, and printing everything with a stripe pattern. She was so kind and sent me some print outs that I needed for challenges, and the lovely papers you can see below, all the way from Michigan. Now, that is what I call special delivery! I can't show the images she printed, as they have already been used in various projects, which I will show soon. She sent this beautiful card with it. It is even nicer in real life, if that is possible, and I have it here on my desk now.

And these are the gorgeous papers - wow!

Thanks a lot. Diane, you are a star!

I made this little joy fold card using one of the papers:

At Sugar Creek Hollow the challenge is to make a masculine card for Father's Day in shabby  or vintage design. I have made a vintage one. The background shows a vintage photo of an office, overlaid with some numbers printed onto acetate, and a phone, which I printed out, covered with glossy accents, and fussy cut. The old Jalopy is from TH, and the dashing young men are from Gecko Galz 'Smart Dressed Man' collage sheet.

The stopper of the Easel card has a hidden pocket under it for a sentiment or a little present.

Art Journal Journey - Home

 Hi  you all. The theme over at Art Journal Journey this month is 'Home'. I was asked to be the guest designer this month, so thanks for asking! And now to some explanations to my journal page.
I have lived in several different countries, and have been in Germany for many years, but my home was, is and always will be London.

I grew up in post war London. The buildings were all blackened from bombs, smoke and fire. There were gaps everywhere where houses had been destroyed, sometimes whole streets. These bomb sites were our playgrounds. I was born near the Tower of London and the Docks, and lived in the heart of Jack-the-Ripper land - and loved it. It was one big adventure from start to finish. Places to hide, ruins of bombed-out houses where we played 'house', little alleyways and cobbled streets, loud and lively markets in Cable Street, Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields, dark Churches - especially Christchurch Spitalfields which we all convinced was haunted, and a beach at the Tower of London, which has now been closed for many years. Much of the area underwent demolition, but a lot of the old streets and houses are still there, much cleaner and better decorated than I remember them. Docklands has become a paradise for the rich who live in the lofts made in the old warehouses. But the Tower is still there, and Tower Bridge, which is now white and clean as new again. And when I visit London, I always take a day to walk around my old haunts.  It's a good feeling to be there, even though so much has changed.

The predominance of grey in my picture symbolizes the dirt, dust and smoke of London after the war, and the broken lines the destruction. But in between there is blue and yellow, for the blue skies and sunshine, and for the positive feelings I associate with my home town.

The row of pictures at the bottom show Fournier Street and Christchurch, Tower Bridge, the Tower, Warehouses, Harads Place and Fournier Street again.

And my head is full of London, as you can see.

This was exactly the right theme for me, thanks! Have a good day, take care, and thanks for looking.

'Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, that I love London town'

Manon's Paper Saturdays

Hi you all! It's weekend, so hopefully time for you to relax.

For Manon's Paper Saturdays I have made a masculine card. It is a variation of the bendy-fold card. You can find a tutorial to make this card here at Splitcoast Stampers. I altered the size and form a bit to fit my masculine card.

I cut the form from cardstock, and glued the Graphics 45 'perfect gentleman paper to it to give it more stability. The reverse has been lined with some script patterned paper. The gentleman hanging on to his hat is from GeckoGalz' 'sharp dressed men' collage sheet.

The card can be folded flat and put into a 6x6" envelope to send.

This is fun and easy to make, and makes a card that is a bit different.

Have a great weekend you all, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Paint Party Friday and Piarom's Mix-it Challenge

Hi everybody!

Another week is done and dusted - wish I could say the same for my place! - and it's time for Paint Party Friday again, hosted, as always by Eva and Kristin. And Piarom has started a new challenge 'Mix it monthly', where the theme this month is  ' Yellow vintage girl goes Picasso'. She gave us as inspiration a photo of a fifties girl in a butterfly hat, and a beautiful 'Picasso' which she painted herself. I have incorporated the butterfly hat of the vintage lady, and some parts of her painting, cut up, into my journal pages. I have painted them in my giant journal, the spread is 60x42cms. I used a spread I started over a year ago, and didn't like, and now it is finished at last! It was rather hard for me adding all that colour, I didn't like it at first, but afterwards I just loved it - still do! The background has been made with book-page snippets, stencils, and various colours used over wet gesso, which tones them down a bit. The yellow and pink and bright blue went on top and it really made it pop. I have used various magazine cut outs for the face, body, eyes and mouth, which have then been doodled and 'improved' by cutting them apart etc. I am a compulsive magazine page ripper, and have to tear out pages I like. Of course, I do not do this in the waiting room at the doctor's. Well, not if anyone is looking! 'My' faces have also been jazzed up a bit with colours and patterns, I think I will try to get my eyebrows looking like they are here, that would be fun. The rather controversial quote is from Harlan  Ellison.

I'm sure I can't remember painting those eyes just there!

This was great fun to make, in spite of the colours, and I really was surprised what a difference they make, and how good it looks with layers of colours one over the other. Thanks Conny, for the inspiration to this challenge.

Have fun party and a great weekend,  take care, and thanks for coming by!

In the Fairy Tale Woods

Hi you all! It's back to normal here - cold, grey, wild and wet!

Hope it is better where you are!

The challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'Into the woods', and for me that means the woods of the fairy tales, where everything is possible.

I have made a multi-layer card, where the middle layer is folded and fussy cut so that it pops out when the card is opened. The top layer is a sort of 'window'. I printed the back layer first, using stamps from Lavinia. The front has been stamped several times using a LaBlanche tree stamp in different green shades to give more depth, and then over-stamped with  Lavinia stamps in archival black, which once again gives depth to the picture. The middle 'pop-up' layer has been stamped with a unicorn, a magic door leading to - I wonder where? and more trees and plants which can't all be seen. Red Riding Hood and the talking deer are meeting each other here. How do I know it's a talking one? Ask it something, and you will see. The wise owl and another deer are keeping watch at the entrance to the Magic Wood, they don't let everybody in!

Also linking to the Anything Goes Challenge - make your own background

and Frilly and Funkie -holiday destinations through a window

I still need to perfect this sort of card model; when I have mastered it myself I will do a tutorial if anybody is interested.

Hope you enjoyed your journey into the land of magic!

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

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!