Shades of summer

Hi everybody!

I am happy to say the big heat wave has broken, and it is now fresh and cool - lovely!

It will warm out again at the weekend, but not with extreme temperatures, just normal summer days - that's fine with me!

I have been working on a lot of stuff this week which I can't show yet, as it's being made for something I can't talk about yet, so we will have to wait. But I did manage a journal spread for PPF, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin. I am also linking to  AJJ - squares,  Colour this quote at Artists in Blogland,  'Seize the Day', and Journal Journeys - what summer means to me. I am also linking to Out of a Hat creations - things beginning with 'B' - blue; and to the Three Muses challenge - circles or squares

I have used my fave summer colours here - aqua, turquoise, blues and greens, and pale yellow. I colour washed the background and then used a CWS stencil to add the squares and rectangles in the background. The next layer was made by using the ink pads to stamp squares in greens and blues. Then I used a small template to draw squares of different sizes with a fine liner in black. I added more colour to some of the squares by colouring them with pastels. Then I took scraps from one of my wonderful boxes - parts of holiday photos, painted scraps, pieces of images and patterns, and cut them into squares. I pushed them around till I liked the way it looked, glued them down, and finished! Well, not quite, I added a few coordinating embellies and a quote from Bill Gates.

'Seize the day', is, for me, an invitation to use the day to create something, then no day is perfect for me when I have not been creative.

I hope you all seize the day to do something good for yourselves, then we can't be good to other people if we are not good to ourselves! Take care, have fun, and thanks for coming by.

Tag Tuesday Tags and more

Hi you all!

It has been extremely hot and muggy here again, so did not have much mojo for crafting.

I am just showing my Tag Tuesday tags from last week - travel, and this week, weddings.

For this week's wedding tag I used a photo of the wedding of my great uncle back in the 1920s, as can clearly be seen from their clothes. My Mum is standing next to the bride. Her 2 sisters were also bridesmaids, but I couldn't fit them into the frame today, so they got cut off - sounds brutal!  The frame has been made from an old card that I found in my bit box. I wonder of they had a car like that back then?

The travel tag is an altered matchbox. The paper is from Graphics 45, and the dashing young men are on an image from gecko Galz. I glues some map paper into the back of the box , and the train has been stamped with archival in black and then fussy cut. I fixed it with foam pads. I cut a window in my tag, and a corresponding one in the cover of the box before assembling it. I wonder where they are off to?

And this is a piece with a history. I started out about half a year back or more, making 2 pieces for the covers of a journal, both were to be more or less the same. Well, I discovered the envelope with the bits to make this one, and have now finished it. But I can't find the first one....
It has been made from cardboard, partly peeled, and embossed with Utee gold. The image is from CI, and the paper beads at the bottom are some I made this week.

I am linking to OOAH, numbers (on the clock), Craftroom Challenge, Bingo (lace, pearls and brown)  and  Artful Times, let's ribble!
Now I will put this one away till I hopefully find the first one again!

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

A new album - ode to summer

Hi you all!

It is still very hot and humid here, I am not a happy bunny, as I cannot cope with the heat well.We seem to be getting more and more extremes of weather lately.

Last week I made an album, using some of the lovely papers that Christine sent me - thanks again! I made the covers from the back of an old drawing block, and cut a large sheet of good quality paper to make the pages of the accordion inside.

The front:

The first double page, with pockets for tags: 

Details:

The next double side with more pockets and a notebook which can be taken out.

 Details:

The back:

When you turn the page the next pages are waiting:

Details:

The accordion from the front:

And from the back:

This was great fun to make, and is a nice album for summer photos, notes etc.

I am linking to 'ode to Summer' at Simon's Monday Challenge.

Have a great day, keep cool, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Alpha challenge and Moos

Hi everybody!

It has cooled off a little bit here, at least outside, but here in my apartment it is still extremely hot. It will take time for it to cool down again, providing, of course, that it doesn't heat up outside once more....

My arty kitchen and my laptop are the two absolute hotspots, the coolest place is the bathroom, but there's not enough room to be crafting there! Yesterday my glue stick melted, something I have not experienced before.

For the alpha challenge, letter 't', at the Craft Barn, I chose the word T-shirt. Not very original, but the heat seems to affect my brain, too. I printed a T-shirt onto white paper and added the definition from Webster's online thesaurus. I glued it to a dictionary page using some of my melted glue, and cut round it again, before fixing it to a sheet of DCWV paper. I fussy cut the tulips, and glued on an arrow to point to the definition. I added a tag with 'T' as a 'price' tag.

At Moo-Mania the challenge is to make a Moo with the sun - bad timing, girls! It is too hot to think about the sun! I made 2 not very inspired moos using scraps of hand-painted paper and mounted them onto some ink-smooched cards.

That's all for today! Take care of yourselves, keep cool, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Ode to Summer

Hi you all!
Phew, what a heat wave we are having here again. These past days have been  really unbearable, it was scorching outside and so hot in my little apartment that I didn't have energy to do  much.
I made this bookmark  for the 'ode to summer' challenge at Simon's Monday blog. I didn't feel like doing anything with sunshine, as we have rather too much of it just now, so I made this bookmark in cool, summery colours, which remind me of sparkling sea water. The images are from Gecko Galz. The paper beads are from a batch I made this week from the front cover of a glossy magazine. I made a mix of glue and gold ink to varnish them. I threaded them on some coordinating ribbon together with some beads from a broken necklace.

I am also linking to Manon's Paper Saturdays.
Have a great weekend, take care, and thanks a lot for visiting.

Paint Party Friday

Hi everybody!

We had two days cooler weather this week, but it is scorching again, with warm winds from the south heating us up. I don't mind it being hot outside, but I would like to have my apartment a few degrees cooler - sigh!

But, come rain or shine, it is time for Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always by Eva and kristin.

I have re-purposed another 8x8" canvas this week, adding texture with moulding paste and CWS stencils, and having fun with colours and Stickles. The lady and flowers have been printed onto transparent paper, fussy cut, and glued on. I did another layer of flowers at the beginning, but painted over it, which gave a nice texture. The little words have been cut from an ancient book and placed on the rectangles.

The wooden and wire embellishment has been flying around in my stash for ages, and has found a home at last.

The collaged journal page is another result of the hot nights and ensuing sleeplessness! The background has been printed, and then painted with gesso, before doing some stamping and stenciling.

I have used various images from my bit box, and combined them with text and part of a serviette. The floral clock is from a Gecko Galz image sheet, the other clocks from one of my photos printed onto transparent paper.

 

 I made a 'rusty' tag as background for the sentiment.

The little girl, clock and butterfly have been crackled  and distressed. 

(Sounds like my face, but by me it just happened!)

 

I am also linking the journal page to addicted to stamps and more, anything goes

I did an enormous amount of collage this week, less sleep means more crafty time!

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