Happy mail and some photos.

Hi everybody!

I got a wonderful surprise in the post this week, a parcel from Debbie (Craftymoose) in America.

It was totally unexpected, as she didn't say anything, so I hurried into the kitchen, cleared some space on the table and started to unpack. It was full of wonderful goodies - some hand-made pieces from Debbie, and lots of embellishments for crafting. THANK YOU!!

She made this wonderful pen, which has been wrapped with silk thread, and has one of her beautiful beaded flowers on it:

And these beads are not made from paper, but from clay - so beautiful! I will have fun with them!

And this baeutiful ATC accompanied the parcel

Here is a collage of all the other things - tassels,  flowers, lace, ribbon, yarn, fibres, leather strips, studs, beads, little wooden pieces, a doily and embellishments:

 

This was a great kindness, Debbie, thanks a bunch, and it did so much to cheer me up. 

I have been doing a lot of walking thses past days, and have a few photos from my walks to share.

This is more or less opposite where I live - perhaps they should add a 'keep out' sign?

 

Horses in the old moat

 

Keeping watch

 

Doors and courtyards - I love all the different textures of the stones and bricks and cobbles

 

The leaning tower - I wonder if Rapunzel lives up there?

 

The wall on the right belongs to the hospital:

Stylish living behind bars:

 

And a wonderful, brass bell-pull

 

 Hope you enjoyed this little walk!

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

Paper Saturday

Hi everybody!

Another week is over and it's time to link up to Manon's paper Saturdays.

I am showing a card I made months back, but never got round to posting. It is a 6x6" square card with a little concertina book added. The images have been fixed together on the back to make the book. I added layers of matting with scraps of white embossed and bronze metallic papers. 'Cherish' has been made with a Sizzix die-cut. The book has been glued to the matting and can be closed with the ribbon threaded through the eyelets.

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

Autumn Weather

Hi everybody!

This weather this week is showing us that it is definitely autumn, with cold winds, rain, and morning mist, but also sunny intervals where it was possible to go for a walk. I love walking along the Rhine with the wind blowing in my face and the sound of the gulls in my ears, and so I have walked a lot and enjoyed the signs of autumn - berries on the trees and bushes, fallen leaves layered over the ground, and acorns and chestnuts falling. I love the textures and colours.

 

 

So it is no wonder that my journal page this week is about autumn. I couldn't paint much, as my hand is still sore, but the stitches come out on Friday  and then it should be easier.

I made 'Lady Autumn'. The first layer of leaves has been painted with acrylics in shades of brown, red and green , and then I added some of my die-cut and painted ones.

  This was a fun make! I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin, and to Artful Times - scraps, as I have made the leaves from scrap paper.

I am also linking to AJJ - less is more. I am not sure that this is completely less is more, but there are some white areas, and for someone with tendencies to always add a little bit more, this is definitely less - well, more or less.

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

Tag for Tag Tuesday

Hi everybody!

Over at Tag Tuesday our theme this week is 'wings'- I did another edition of my fave Umbrella Man, and gave him wings to let him fly. I know Mary Poppins managed it just with her umbrella, but I thought Mr U.M. might need help. All parts have been cut twice, once from card and once from book paper/written paper.

I am also linking to ABAC - Hit the books.

I won a giveaway at Petra's blog a couple of weeks back, and at the weekend this beautiful armband she made arrived in my mail-box, and the pretty lace and charms, too. Thanks Petra, it is a treasure!

The weather has been cold, wet and windy since the weekend, so I decided I needed a nice soup, and made this one with pumpkin, carrots and tomatoes, crowned with sour cream - yummy!

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

Autumn

Hi everybody!

Thanks for the good wishes for my hand, it is healing slowly. Apart from that, my life is very complicated just now, and not in a positive sense, but I hope that it will sooner or later get back to normal.

I have made another little book, (15x13cm) with an autumn theme, using, as always recycled cardboard to make the covers.

After partly peeling the cardboard, I painted the covers inside and out using a mix of terracotta and gold acrylics.

The leaves were die cut from painted paper which was glazed and crackled.

(The dirty thumb is mine)

The back cover, which has been stamped, and has an added, symbolic 'last leaf'

 

The inside back-cover, stamped with leaves and embossed with copper EP

The front cover, to which I added lace, jute ribbon, more of my die-cut leaves, some beads for berries and some string tied with home made paper beads.

Inside the fron cover, once again stamped and embossed with copper EP.

Details of the front cover:

  

I punched holes and bound the book together using ribbon and string, which gives a soft binding, which allows the book to be opened flat.

Inside there are 24 pages of white drawing-paper, an envelope front and back to take bits and pieces, 8 sheets of kraft paper and eight sheets of transparent paper

This was another fun make, which I am linking to the following challenges:

Simons Monday Challenge - Embossing

ABAC - Hit the books

The Artistic Stamper - Autumn

Country view Crafts - Layers
Rogue Redhead - colours of autumn

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

Paper Saturday

Hi you all!

Today I am sharing a piece I made as one of my Guest-DT jobs at Gecko Galz.

Here I have recycled a large matchbox. I cut the sleeve open through the middle, folded the 'wings' right and left, and fixed the drawer in place. I painted it all with black acrylic paint, sprinkled with a little fairy dust. The images in the background and wings are from the Gecko Galz Collage sheet 'Witchy women'- For the roof I die cut a Sizzix spooky house from some spidery paper and mounted it behind the box. The little book has been made from  some vintage book pages, cut to size and sewn into the black cover. The potion jars at the front have been fussy cut from DCWV 'Fairy Stack' paper. The hair round the skull is NOT mine! The bat is a Sizzix die-cut, the cat was cut for me by Diane. I had fun playing with these witchy 'sistahs'.

I am linking to Manon's Paper Saturdays.

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

This and that

Hi everybody!

Hope your week has been better than mine, life is not much fun here just now. And to add to it all, I cut my hand on a piece of glass that I oversaw in the dishwasher, and now have stitches in my right hand, so am not even able to make a decent mess with paint and glue just now.

The first piece is a journal page, which is my entry for Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin, and which I am also linking to Art Journal Journey - Less is more, and Journal Journeys - Childhood.

The pictures I have used so rather bleak images of children, so I have painted the pages using mostly sombre grays and black. I just added a little blue and yellow, in the hope that those children saw some blue sky and sunshine in their lives, too. Both pictures were taken in the East end of London, the first one at the beginning of the 2oth century, and the second one is from 1963. The quote I have used on the right side is from Agatha Christie. We so often think of the happy side of childhood, and this is good so, but I think it is important to remember all the less unfortunate children, from past days and today.

(images courtesy of Wikipedia)

The autumn / Halloween hanging was made as part of my Guest DT work for Gecko Galz this month. I started, as so often, with corrugated card, which has been partly peeled, and painted with white gesso. The harvest hymn and the owl are both GG images. The owl has been printed onto canvas and the edges frayed. The right side has been embossed with gold Utee, into which I stamped with a flourish stamp and a script stamp - both stamps belong to those which I use over and over again.. For embellishments I used the usual eclectic mix of flowers, leaves, beads as berries, and bats, which Diane cut for me with her Zing. The branches have been cut from a TH branch tree die. I added the brown lace, string and some home made paper beads to tie it all together, and two coloured eyelets to match the embellies.

 I am also linking to  Craftroom Challenge - leaves/trees, and Simon's Monday Challenge - Embossing.

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