Paint Party Friday and Sommer of Colour

Hi everybody!
Another week has sped by and it's party time again.
PPF is hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin, and SOC by Kristin Twinkle-Like-a-star.

For PPF I am sharing some journal pages I made with a green man. The background was another smear and wipe sheet, with a bit of spray added and a lot of background stamping.

I am also linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show, 'Good to be green'

 For SOC I made another journal spread, this time with the theme architecture again, and am also linking to Art Journal Journey.
 I used gesso for the background, and then added in the colours over the collage and tissue transfers with pastels.

And we're not finished yet. I made myself a journal using some of the fabric scraps Donna sent from Mexico. First I had to persuade my machine to sew, not an easy task, but with some online help from a nice chap called Alex in England, it worked. Sewing is still not easy, as I need to work with my nose next to the needle to see what I am doing, and it is not perfect, but I LOVE it!

This is the back:

And last, but NOT least, I received this beautiful picture from Sandra in Australia. She has done a giveaway each week with her SOC paintings, and I was lucky to be one of the winners. Thanks Sandra, it is hanging in my Arty Kitchen and will be treasured.

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

OOAH - You hold the key and MooMania, 'seaside'

Hi everybody!

Today is the beginning of the new week's challenge over at OOAH creations - 'You hold the key'.

I distressed the card with vintage photo, and then stamped some little hearts randomly over it. I layered some printed transparent paper over that, and added the image of the little girl (CI) with the lock and key and a leaf/flower embellishment.

 Inside I cut a heart from honeycomb paper and glued it inside so that the heart opens with the card.

It would be great if you would join in, and there is plenty of inspiration to be found on the blogs of the DT - Chrissie, Sandra, and Janet

The challenge at MooMania is 'At the seaside'. I made some seaside themed Moos, which I put onto some mini-cards. I have made settings for the photos with some of my nautical decor. The first one has been made with some loosely woven turquoise and silver fabric, which I pushed into 'waves' before decorating. The photo has been taken on my kitchen board. The sand has been made with some German glass glitter.

 

The next one has been taken on the cupboard door. Here I have used strips of paper for the sand and sea, and made some TINY deckchairs, beach-huts and a boat..

 

The last one has been taken with Hein Blöd, my Emden teddy sitting in his beach chair! Here I have used a scrap of blue painted paper, a fish and some dew-drops.

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

Two floral cards

Hi you all!

Just sharing 2 floral cards today, with the same motive and style, but still each a bit different!

Both tags have been made with the same stamped image from Scrollswork, which I cut to look like an old photo. For the first card, I used some printed card, and after folding it into the double z form, I fussy cut around the flowers along the bottom edge in the centre part to make a pocket for the photo. I added a Prima flower and some leaves.

 

The second card has been covered with panels of paper from a Gecko Galz paper pack. I added some clear gem-stones to the flowers and gave the little girl a bow.

 

I am linking to Craftroom Challenge Blog , vintage stamping.

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

Tag Tuesday and Try it on Tuesday

Hi everybody!
At Tag Tuesday our theme this week is the 'Roaring Twenties'.

The roaring twenties always brings to mind the pictures of the flapper girls, feather boas and suavely dressed men in elegant cars, although for many in Europe and from the end of the decade in America it was a time of grinding poverty after the First World War, when those with no  money fought to exist.

 (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

The tag I have made shows the other side, I just wanted to remind us that not everybody was part of this superficial glamour world.

I have used an image from gecko Galz, a pink feather (so hard to stick down!) and some beaded fringing over some long fringes from an old stole.

At Try It On Tuesday our theme for the next two weeks is 'Home is where your heart is'.

I have made a little canvas, treated with structure paste and painted with various metallic paints. The little house has been stamped. I gave it a layer of cheap, clear glue, and threw lots of beads and gem stones onto it.

Also linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show, green.

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

A Walk through Kaiserswerth

Hi everybody!
On Saturday we had ideal weather for taking a long walk - not too hot and not too cold, just perfect. I went down to the Rhine, along the towpath and past the castle, and then through our little town, with its quaint old houses and alleyways.

In front of one of the old  houses, a few steps from the river, are some little brass plaques let into the pavement. They are called 'Stolpersteine' - Stumbling Stones, and are the idea of a German artist, Gunter Demnig, to show where people who got deported and murdered by the Nazis, used to live. The Nazis took away even the identities of the people by just giving them numbers. This art project is to give  back the names and places where they lived to these victims. The stones can be found in many towns in Germany, and are funded by donations. They serve as a constant warning neither to forget the awful things that happened, nor the people who lost everything, even their names.

The oldest thing in Kaiserswerth is a standing stone, or monolith dating back to prehistoric times. Every time I pass it I wonder what this stone could tell us if it could talk. I can see a face on the right-hand side, can you?

Perhaps you can see it better in this close-up:

Kaiserswerth itself is celebrating its 1300th birthday this year, and is well worth a visit. After strolling through the little town, I walked through the fields, and a little wood, and back home along the stream, and saw a lot of beautiful wild flowers, rusty old gates, a sign telling me I was in a frog protection area, birds and a stray cat that hissed and swore at me. I have put the pictures together into a little video. Please watch, and enjoy part of Mozart's Horn Concerto in E-flat major.

I am linking to Ayala's 'show me yours' link-up, to share the places where we live.
Have a great day, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Happy Mail and a Journal Page

 Hi everybody, hope you are enjoying your weekend, whatever you are up to.

I got some nice post this week, a parcel from Mexico and another one from Canada.

Christine in Canada sent me a wonderful surprise - 2 beautiful blocks of card-stock, with wonderful colours and patterns, some fantastic embellishments, and a lovely card and an ACEO which she painted herself. The ACEO shows a moose in silhouette, just beautiful.

 Thanks a lot Christine, I will have great fun playing with my new stash, and the picture will be hung in my arty kitchen, so I can see it when I work.

 Donna, a very dear friend,  sent me a parcel of Mexican cotton remnants, with typical, and very colourful Mexican motives. I admired the ones she was using some time back, and now I have my own! Some have Day of the Dead motives, some with Frida pictures, and others just colourful and fun motives. Aren't they gorgeous???

 

 

I know I am going to have lots of fun with them, in fact, I have already started having fun!

This beautiful postcard showing one of Donna's paintings came too, and it will also be hung in my arty kitchen. Thanks a lot Donna, you have given me lots of happy hours here!

Last week I started a journal page with Frida Kahlo, an artist whom I much admire for her energy and wonderful work, and all the magic she put into her paintings, in spite of being so ill. I was looking for some ideas to fill the space at the bottom of both pages, and then my Mexican parcel arrived. I used some of the Frida  scraps, and fussy cut some of the motives, which were from the same painting I had used for my Journal pages - Self portrait with monkey. The background for the journal spread was another smear and wipe sheet, to which I added some stamping. I painted the leaves behind Frida's head - which was cut from a postcard - and covered them with some netting, to look like vines. I added the flowers and the leaves, and the quote. The other images are all cut from the fabric.

 

I had fun making this spread, and it was such a happy coincidence that the parcel arrived just on time. I am linking to Artists in Blogland 'colour this quote':

"The sun is shining...That is the Magic. The flowers are growing--the roots are stirring. That is the Magic. Being alive is the Magic--being strong is the Magic. The Magic is in me--the Magic is in me. ...It's in every one of us." 

 For me, Frida was a person who showed so much magic, and growth, and was so unbelievably alive in spite of all her problems, and I think this quote from the Secret Garden fits her very well.

Thanks for coming by, take care, and have a great day!

Paper Saturdays - More Word Birds

Hi everybody. 

It's Saturday, so time to link up with Paper Saturdays.

I have another flock of birds to share with you today.

'Birds of a feather flock together'

Have a great day, and a good weekend!

Take care, and thanks for coming by.