My home is my castle

Hi you all! I have joined in a swap over at  Bockel124, where the theme is 'my home is my castle'. The swap runs until July 15th, so there's still time to join in.

I have used some English castles and Queens for my ATCs. I am sure you will recognise the Queens, but I've forgotten the names of the castles...I'm not sure if I like the ATCs or not, but they are done now! Ah, I forgot, I'm trying to be positive - of course I like them, they are almost what I was trying to do!

Linking to FSC - 'Something new' - ATCs

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

Tea-time Tag Book

Hi you all! It's been a wild and rather wet day here today, just right for staying home and playing!

Over at Out of a Hat Creations the theme this week is to make a tag-book.

I used grey coredinations paper to cut the tags, and some stiff cardboard from the back of a paper pad for the covers. The tags have been covered with some DP from DaisyDs, which I think fits well to the tea-time theme, and to the little tea-pot and tea-cup buttons I have used as embellishments. The alphas are from a giant packet of felt letters from the € shop. I fixed an eyelet into each tag to make the holes a bit more stable. I have only done the front and back covers, the rest will be for another time.

Inside front cover

Back cover

I made the album this morning after getting up. When I was finished I looked at the clock, and saw that it was just after 8 am. I think I must have woken up early! And this time the postman was not to blame!

I am also linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show - buttons 

And these two tags are for the FSC 'Tags' Challenge. The tags have been made from coredinations paper overlaid with some Prima paper. After distressing the edges, I stamped some French script over the background using forest moss DI, which is unfortunately hard to see. Let's put it positively - it blended beautifully with the background, as was, of course, intended. The next layer of stamping was done with archival black, using various French words and symbols - I don't know who these stamps are from, I got them from EBAY! The smaller images on the top panels have been stamped with a mini Paris set from Chocolate Baroque, and the Paris post stamp is from Artemio. The heart was made in a mould - mold for all on the other side of the big pond - using wax from candle ends, melted in the melting pot, and coloured with Inka gold in gunmetal grey. I hot-glued a large bead to it to thread the ribbon through. I usually get my challenges done earlier, but I was convinced that I still had another week, until I looked last night and saw the error of my ways. Convictions are not always reality!

The collage has been made from some pics I took this week on my balcony and window ledge.

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

Paper Saturdays and challenges

Hi you all! Another week has flown by, and it's time for Manon's Paper Saturdays again.

I have made a card, which I have decorated with some quilled flowers.  Quilling is really easy to do, and makes pretty, dimensional decorations which you can always make in the colour you need. This is something I often do when I am watching TV, so I have a supply when I need it.  You don't need special supplies, I cut left over paper into thin strips to use it. The card is a joy-fold card, and you can find instructions here if you are interested.

At FSC the ladies want to see tags this time. I have made a rather grungy recycling tag. The front tag has been made from craft paper from a cereal carton, and the corrugated card back is from a box, cut to size, partly peeled, and painted with white gesso. I put Utee gold on the right side and melted it, stamping into it with a paisley stamp (maker unknown). The background of the top tag has been distressed using a stencil ans ancient linen and vintage photo DIs. I stamped the chair, birds and nest (stamps from Catherine Moore character constructions) with black archival and clear embossed them. The quote along the edge reads ' The spider, a web - the bird, a nest - man, friendship' and I have forgotten who wrote it, sorry. I found the little feather on my balcony this week. I put an eyelet through both layers after adding some paper and textile strips as matting, and 'sealed' the edges on the left with more Utee to fuse them together. The metal embellishment and chain are from my stash. I am also linking to the recipe challenge at Our Creative Corner, and have chosen fabric, ribbon, metal and inks.

And last but not least, the wonderful sky from yesterday evening. It poured all day, but the sun showed itself sometime after 9 pm,  and gave me this wonderful view.

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

Summer of Colour and Paint Party Friday

Hi you all, hope you are having a good week. My painting today is for the Summer of Colour - hosted by  the sweet Kristin and for Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin. The colours for SOC this week are citron green and turquoise, and I made an African landscape with unusual colours.

I painted the background with thinned down acrylics to make the colours more transparent, sprayed with some watered down green, and then stamped and stenciled with DI peeled paint. I went round the outlines of my African scene with a felt tip pen, and used the same colour for the text, although it looks blue here, as the pens are rather transparent and show the colours underneath. The quote is from Nelson Mandela.

This journal spread was made over pages which had been used to take the remainder of my colours from last week, livened up with half a cup of coffee (ooooops!) and a bit of yellow. I had no theme or challenge in mind, and just let it run.  I stamped, stenciled, collaged, doodled and had fun; this is the result:

This was fun to make, and thanks to Eva, Kristin and Kristin for organising these events.

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

Tag Tuesday 'W' tag and a journal page

Hi you all!

Before I forget, here is my tag for Tag Tuesday. We are almost finished with our ABC tags, it's 'w' already. I chose W for wild, and made a simple tag using some small animal stencils which I got in a super sale for next to nothing. I used some scraps of dark brown and animal print for the matting.

At Art Journal journey the theme is still 'home', so I made another spread about London. I used my stone stamp over a background of grey and blue, and added a bit of colour with some sprays. This time I have concentrated on the writing on the walls. London - and most other towns - are full of graffiti, posters, announcements etc. When I was small I remember getting very upset over a poster which said 'Bill Stickers will be prosecuted'.  I asked my uncle what prosecuted meant, and he told me that it meant that people would be taken to court and perhaps put in prison. I though Bill Stickers was the name of a person, and felt very sorry for him, as he was mentioned on every bill-board in London! The keep calm and carry on is a war time poster, but was still hanging on a lot of walls and stations after the war. 'Coughs and sneezes spread diseases' is another war time poster, but it was pasted in every loo at school. The 'all you need is love' was written on a wall near where my aunt used to live.

Graffiti are not a new phenomenon - there are many in the Tower of London, carved by prisoners in long bygone days. 

I wrote my text in English and in Hebrew, as the writing on the walls reminded me of the 'Mene, mene tekel upharsin' on the walls of King Nebuchadnezzar, as described in the book of Daniel. (You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting). The art of writing the graffiti and the style have changed, but it has evidently been part of our lives for thousands of years.

Here you can see one of the graffiti from the Tower of London, written by the Earl of Arundel.

Have a great day you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Just my ticket....

Hi you all!  I heard on the news that the floods are really reaching epic dimensions, with 45000 people evacuated, and 2 more dams which have burst, flooding more villages and communities. Poor people, I can't imagine how dreadful this must be for them.

They also told us on the news that the NSA are reading Google, Facebook etc to - err -'keep up with what's going on in the world'. Well, if any of you reading here today, you're welcome guys!

I made this card for the challenge at OOAH, 'tickets please'.

The background has been made from some card that not only has this wild pattern, but is also embossed to look like fur. I am always astonished what I find in my bottomless pit AKA hall closet. The image is from a Gecko Galz collage sheet 'The cat's Meow'. The ticket cardstock is from My Mind's Eye, and the embellishments from my stash. This was fun to make.

At Moo-Mania the challenge this week is to use the triple stamping technique. Okay girls, I tried. I tried so hard that I ended up with 5 layers instead of three. I think I will now have to call it quintuple stamping and layering. Sounds grand, although I can't say I like what I have made, but I tried! Not easy with shaky fingers, but I tried. No comment! The thistle stamp is from Crafty Individuals, and the swirls from I don't know who, but it's a stamp I like.

Also linking to Rogue Redheads 'Slender Benders' Challenge

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

Button Back Album

Hi you all! Hope you had a good weekend, and wish you a good start in the week.

I made another button - back album, where the pages are sewn together and fixed by threading through the four buttons on the spine. The album has been filled with paper in colours coordinating with the cover papers from Pashmina. I made a similar one a year or two back, and discovered some more of these lovely papers in my stash last week - and had to make another album. I don't have the other one as I gave it as a present.

I put one of my spirit-dolls onto the front. These albums are fun to make, so I think I will try another one soon in a different paper.

Linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show - buttons challenge

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