A halloween card & some photos

Hi everybody!

At FSC the challenge this fortnight is to use stencils or masks. I used a TH spider-web stencil to make the background for my card. It has been distressed with DI in tumbled glass, faded jeans and chipped saphire.

I stamped the background here and there with a crackle stamp before adding the top layer of stamps - the witch, cat, hat and sentiment are from a Halloween set by close to my heart, that I won in a challenge last year. I stamped the images with archival black and embossed them with EP extra fine in black. The owl corners have been punched, and the bow made from some distressed gauze. I mounted the card onto a black mat and used a 6x6 card in dark blue.

I am aslo linking to Artful times -  feeling distressed, and Manon's Paper Saturdays.

I had a long walk today, through the fields, past the lakes and stables, and then into 'town' and along the Rhine. I was really tired, so I went into the bakery and treated myself to a large cappuccino - naughty but yummy!

There are several of these tunnels along the path through the fields. They lead under the motorway to the fields on the other side, so that wild animals can get from one side to the other in safety. In winter I met a fox that had just crossed through, but he was not pleased to see me!

When I stopped to take a photo of these ladies, they all looked at me as if they were wondering  what I was up to...

The horses all turned their backs on me and got on with their grazing....

Tomorrow the weather should be better, so I hope to have another nice walk, perhaps in a different direction this time.

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

She-Art

Hi everybody!

Another cold and dreary day here, brrrrrr - it can only get better - I hope.

I made some journal pages for she-art at AJJ last week, and now have time to post them. I didn't get round to much this week, as I have been busy knitting, washing, even doing the dreaded H*******K and I*****G! Don't worry, the attack will pass.

The first piece is once again evidently influenced by Halloween.

The background was painted with grey, into which I added colours using pastel chalks. I sprayed some red and purple at the top and let it drip. The floating / flying figures have been stenciled and painted with black. The background colours still show through it. At first I wanted to give it a second coat, but decided I like it the way it is. The skellies have been stamped, as have the bats and spiders' webs, and the kid on the left at the bottom is a die-cut.

The second piece is rather a contrast programme, a double page I made using a photo of my Great Grandmother Rachel and the text 'woman of valour' (Eshet Chayil) from Proverbs 31.

The background has been painted with green and blue, and the patterns in the background have been stencilled and stamped.

I am linking to Paint Party Friday, hosted, as always, by Eva and Kristin.
Have  a good day, take care, and thanks for coming by.

And the first one out of the hat was:

Hi everybody!

This morning I took my new, knitted hat - worn here by a pink flower pot, as I did not want to spoil your day with a picture of me -

- and   put the names of those who wanted to join in my giveaway into it.The first one who jumped out into my hand was

SANDY DEHON!

(Simply Sandy)

Congrats, Sandy, please mail me your addy and I will get your prize - the ATCs and the bony hand - off to you this week.

And as I always have a childish pleasure pulling names out of hats, I pulled again, and this time the first one out was

RITA 

of  RMG Creations, who will be getting a little surprise.

Ladies, please mail me your details asap.

Thanks to all who joined in!

Have a great day and take care!

Tags

Hi everybody!

Our challenge at Tag Tuesday this week is shoes. I am still sticking to my Halloween theme, though, and also keeping in the direction of she-art, the challenge at AJJ.

I die cut the witchy accessories - broom, hat and shoes, using a Sizzix die and fun-foam. I mounted the tag onto a jazzy background, and added some girly shoes which I had in my stash, and prettied up the witch's hat to match. At the moment I am enjoying making nonsense stuff!

 

  The second tag has been made for the Tagalong challenge - hocus pocus

The background is a piece of white card, which was smeared with black DI, sprayed with water and then dried. I stamped over it with a crackle stamp in black. The witch flying across the moon is a digi stamp, which has been fussy cut. The tree is a TH die cut, the little book of spells  has been made from black paper and old book-pages, sewn together with 'real' witch's hair. The raven and skull have been printed twice - once onto paper and once onto a transparencs, fussy cut, and placed over each other to give more depth.

 

Yesterday was cold and windy, but stayed mostly dry, although we had a lot of dark clouds. The first pic was the view from my balcony early in the morning:

And these two were taken at the Rhine, looking to the bridge. In the second one, the ferry is just about to cross back to 'our' side.

I was pleased to see that I was chosen for the Saturday Spotlight at Fashinable Stamping Challenges, and was in the top three at Rogue Redheads.

That's enough for today - Have a good one, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Saturday Walk and Sunday Playtime

Hi everybody,

it's cold and VERY windy outside, so I decided to stay home today, not go for a walk, and just have fun in my kitchen....

I did go walkies yesterday, and found some more autumn impressions:

This is a very ugly brick storage building by the kid's playground, covered in graffiti, and I love how nature has taken over and made it beautiful:

 

In the park

Waiting for the boat:

 A potted garden along the top of the old town walls by the Rhine:

And this lovely tree, really enormous, and covered thickly with ivy and hops. There are stairs right next to it, leading down to the moat, so this was the best view I could get:

 

And now for the 'aroma therapy' part of the day:

I baked my carrot cake and  gave it a coat of chocolate glaze while it was still warm:

 Help yourself to a piece of cake!

Suze Bain asked me to keep a piece for her, so here it is Suze, enjoy!

 

And while the cake was baking, I made a travelling case for The ATCs, shown here from the inside:

and the outside:

I trimmed the edges with 'owl lace'. I hope Miss Araminta will enjoy travelling in it. The giveaway is still open till Wednesday early, so if you are interested, see my previous post.

 

And this photo of domestic bliss to end today's episode - Miss Fitt getting ready to cook pumpkin and toadstool  soup.....

I am linking to What I made today

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

ATCs, photos and a little giveaway.

Hi everybody!

Hope you all have something good planned for the weekend. It's cold, wet and windy here, so apart from taking my walks each day I will stay home, cook, do some knitting and play in my arty kitchen. And perhaps I will back a carrot cake, as I dreamed of eating carrot cake this week, and woke up very disappointed when it was not there. Ah well, the dream was at least free of calories.

I have made a set of 3 ATCs for the Craftroom Challenge.

I am also linking to Manon's Paper Saturdays.

I used some of the pretty Halloween paper that Donna sent me, and mounted it onto some scrap pieces of black card. The middle one is showing Miss Araminta, a wonderful stamp from Catherine Moore. I wanted to stamp another bird, but Miss A. started complaining that she had been in the cupboard for months, so I let her out to play. She has been fussy cut, and dressed up for Halloween with a smart hat I made for her, and a magic wand. The right ATC has been made using images from Gecko Galz, which have been coloured, fussy cut and given a coat of paper glaze to make them shine. I rolled the pumpkin over a pen to give it some form. The embellies on the left ATC, and the broom, were gifts from Donna.

And here a group photo with our resident witch, Miss Fitt.

(I was taking the photo!)

 

If you would like this set of ATCs and the bony hand necklace, please leave a comment and tell me so. I will pick a winner on October 15 at 8 AM German time.

This was the view out of the window yesterday morning, I just love the depth of the sky and the varying colours.

 

A view through the trees in the park:

 

 

And one of my favourite spots along the Rhine here:

The gate leads to the back yard of the hospital:

 

The little alley connects the Church close with the 'main' street, I love the play of light and shadows on the bricks of the old wall.

 

And here the shadow of the lantern on the wall caught my eye:

That's all for today! Have a good one, take care, and thanks for coming by!