Tall house

In keeping with myself I decided to make something long and tall, I glued some card together, covered it with paper mache and a layer of Gesso. It's dried as hard as a rock which has given the finished house a really good feel.

I glued on scrapbooking papers which I sanded and painted, and then added a cut out stamped image

I wired the pieces together and attached a heart that I found at our local French shop. I think I'll be making a few of these for Christmas!

Slipping and sliding

Well, who would have thought it?? snow before we've even carved our pumpkins! I woke up to a Winter Wonderland this morning, it's rapidly disappearing but was here just long enough to give us a reminder of things to come, beautiful

Birthday wishes

I made this card for a friend of mine who turns 30 tomorrow (I myself have no recollection of this age whatsoever...)

Very orange and un-spooky, bring on Christmas and all those reds and greens, much more my kind of thing

Halloween Part 2

My 8 yr old's observation of my art

'tick tock, tick tock, Mummy what's that?

'it's my spooky house for Halloween, do you like it?'

'it doesn't look very spooky'

'um.. it's supposed to be'

'then it should have some bats or something, not two people kissing'

'well, I thought maybe he's a secret vampire and he's got a set of fangs hidden in his back pocket'

with an upwards swing of her eyes and a big sigh she said

'oh Mummy you're so complicated, that's just silly'

what more can I say...?? pot calling kettle black springs to mind...

Halloween

This weeks challenge over at http://dansmamaisonilya.blogspot.com/ is Halloween

I love how the colours came out and I'll use this combination again

I painted a small rose black which ended up purple. I also tried unsucessfully to emboss the branches but the powder reacted with the glue in a bubbling cauldron kind of way! spooky...

Matchbox madness

Last week I was lucky enough to recieve a copy of Somerset Celebrations and Holidays, it's a mag I've never seen before and it's packed with beautiful seasonal ideas.

I decided to alter a few matchboxes after reading an article by Ann Tatum called Matchbox Advent Calendar. http://keepinupwiththetatums.blogspot.com/search/label/Advent%20Calendar

I painted a base of Gesso, then added a couple of layers of Acrylic. I cut and attached some backing papers and did a bit of sanding to get that weathered look

Of course I used my Dymo (just love that thing!) and added a few decorations

A spot of bother...

I never thought I would find this shape quite so challenging!! The original idea I had didn't include anything to do with a clock but that's where it seems to be heading. I put the numbers on the front in the position of a clockface but it just looked all wrong, too busy and too many things going on. I've now attached them to one side with a hand to represent time. I think this really will be a work in (slow!) progress

Idea underway

Breaking with tradition I've gone for a circular something, a Frisbee perhaps... I'm really not sure where all this is going but I wanted to make a globe- shaped piece to celebrate the fact that most of my blog viewers pass by and comment while I'm asleep, rather like Santa leaving pressies in the dark of night

I started with two pieces of thick card and cut some corks in half to create the supports, I then added strips of card to make the sides and covered the whole thing. Unfortnately, it is of course hollow and not at all the right weight (for me) but I did manage to add a few grams by spreading a bit of structure gel on it

I then crayoned over a parts of it with Neocolors and was fascinated to find the structure gel took on the colour in a similar way to embossing. I have a vague feeling I'll probably sand the whole thing and start again but am trying to resist the urge... I have loads of pics and text to add in the next couple of days

Orange Oasis

So the hols are nearly over but just enough time to visit the pumpkin farm in Seegräben for a spot of colour and the last of the autumn sun

Ballenberg

Yep Hera, you're right, crafting has ground to a halt during the hols, so instead of paper products I bring you culture! Yesterday we went to place called Ballenberg which is a historical town/working museum set in a forest. Fab place and wonderful to see the old crafts still going, there were craftspeople sitting in many of the houses doing their thing. The lacemaker and weaver were amazing to watch. Now I just need to find a wee spot like this for myself...

My new atelier

The view

Surely there's room for my table in here??

TAGGED!!

The lovely Leanne over at http://mixedmediamartyr.blogspot.com/ has tagged me to reveal 7 things about myself and tag another 7, well now, where to start...

1. Being a bit of a lurker I'm hopeless at tagging

2. I'm very tall and so are my children, consequently I know ALL the tall jokes

3. My husband and children are Swiss

4. I love coffee, cheese and red wine, in any order

5. Whilst pregnant with my daughter I told the Doctor my friend was a uterus instead of a Midwife (German very poor at that time...)

6. I love books and all things paper

7. In my leisure life before kids I made dolls and collected more fabric than I can use in a lifetime, it's still under the bed...

Joyous junk

There were lots of cards, I tried to bargain on another set but no deal! next time...

On Saturday I went to a second-hand market in Bellvue, Zürich, which is held outdoors every weekend during the summer. I haven't been there for years and was amazed at the number of stands and the sheer volume of 'stuff'! They sell anything and everything, a rummager's dream come true!

My only slight worry, it appears to be full already!

I decided to put my precious cigar box bought for me in The States to good use. I had always thought I would alter it but didn't have the heart (or nerve) to start it. Patty at http://bitze.wordpress.com/ said she uses hers to keep text and pics in, now don't ask me why I didn't think of that myself! Anyway, I removed the inside papers, painted and sanded it and hey presto!

Ceramics

Managed to delete the pic from the previous post while messing around with it, opps... but the tiles I was talking about are above. Carole over at http://kiwicarole.blogspot.com/ has a whole collection of the little beauties, I'm soooo jealous, how gorgeous are they!! the blues are stunning. I know what she means when she says she likes to pick them up, might just have to admit to doing the same LOL! what is it about them I wonder, the weight, the size? I still don't know who's doing them? I can just make out a .com on the back? (yay Online shopping possibilities...) any ideas?

Inspiration

I was sent two ceramic pieces from my cousin in New Zealand sometime ago and combined with a mini canvas I recieved in a swap they set me on my 'small art' path. I like very much the small format and the weight of the finished pieces. I use a shop bought canvas and coat it with Gesso then add layers of tissue and paper, I also cut a small piece of thick card for the back to help stabalize the canvas, I've tried various structure gels to add weight to the piece with mixed results. I was finishing them with a layer of Translucent gloss and latterly Diamond Glaze which really hardens the whole work, although I've since decided the high gloss coating isn't quite the right effect, next stop Beeswax!

Last of the Summer

I love the floral magazine scrap I found for this one, I did lots of painting and sanding to get a faded summer look.

Mrs Gilroy

Nathalie has a lovely Tag-tutorial over at http://nathaliethompson.blogspot.com/ which is just what I need during the kid's holidays, some easy instructions to follow! I'm feeling rather weary however, I was totally inspired by this little project. I don't seem to have a Diva stamp but could manage an old Dame and oddly enough I do own a shoe stamp. Poor old Mrs Gilroy, I know just where she's at! The other night I had dream in which I was being thrown out of a club for wearing a cardigan. Now, of course that begs the question, what was I even doing in a club in the first place and secondly what's wrong with cardys?? I say that having just bought a new Winter woolly AND I changed the buttons to make myself appear young and hip. I'm with you Mrs Gilroy!

New fave

I've had the background for this one sitting around for sometime as I wasn't sure what to do with it. I attached the picture then found the text in my box, somehow it just seemed to fit! I like the soft blue/mustard combination that happened by accident. I tried to paint over the gold flakes as I'm not a big fan of these kind of stickers but even with a layer of Gesso the colour wouldn't hold.

I cut out a hat from a text about playing but just before I glued it I realised the word 'goer' was right in the middle of her forehead, just wouldn't do for a gal like Lettice!