treats for t…

today I am sharing a box of wonderful hand crafted treats that arrived in my mailbox all the way from Germany…

I was one of the lucky winners of a giveaway that the lovely and talented Valerie of Bastelmania had recently (Valerie shares her beautiful surroundings along the Rhine River and her passion for creating here on her blog)…

you’d really have to see these pieces in person to fully appreciate the depth and detail that Valerie puts into everything she makes (also included were some blank tags and a little blank canvas that I have already started playing with)…

who knew a plain brown paper bag could be magically transformed with punching and folding and special touches (the color is truer in my second photo below…my iphone and I are still learning to get along)…

above on the left is a sweet little accordian book with a fancy corrugated cardboard cover…

the layers and details on this owl hanging are really wonderful (notice the handmade paper beads and more)…

wishing everyone a happy T day along with all of the friends over at Elizabeth and Bleubeard’s…

“Change is a measure of time and, in the autumn, time seems speeded up.  What was is not and never again will be; what is is change.” -Edwin Teale

 

Bat Girlz…

our local Mixed Media Collaborative group is having a one for one altered tin swap with a Halloween theme…

Lisa kindly supplied us each with a tin which measures about two inches (5.08 cm) across with a see through top…

I forgot to take a photo of the plain tin before I started…

it was a little tricky to photograph because of glare and my pix do not show the wide black rick rack I used around the sides of the tin but you get the idea…

angels and demons…

a handful of my index cards so far for the changing season …

best viewed by clicking each for the closeup …

feeling autumnal and

a little Béla Lugosi …

thanks to some Recollections Lenticular Stickers…

other ingredients are pieces of my Citra Solv treated Nat’l Geographic magazine pages … tea cup from Dover … Black Cat firecracker label … assorted rubber stamps and the perfect freebie word sheet from Pennywise Arts…

and to balance things out a bit here is October’s quote from my “Angel Spirits” The Art of Sulamith Wulfing 2011 Calendar:

“I have been with you from the moment of your birth, precious child, and I will be with you to your journey’s end – and beyond.  Close your eyes and feel my presence, strong and sure and eternal.  Know that I keep you safe and whole, every day and every night, now and forever.” ~Guardian Angel, October 2011

I would also like to share these three angels as FREE DOWNLOADs from my photo collection

taken at the Washington DC Congressional Cemetery…

these are for your personal use only…

not intended to be made into collage sheets or sold…

Enjoy OXO

Pumpkin Love + Happy Hallowe’en

over the years I have enjoyed decorating and carving pumpkins … I wasn’t going to get a pumpkin this year as we have plans to skip out on the tiny trickle of tricker treaters here in the neighborhood … just because

visiting The Cottage recently and seeing the array of pretty and unusual pumpkins … with names like Cinderella Pumpkin (wanted one of those too!!!) … I found them hard to resist …  an Australian Blue Pumpkin kept calling my name … they are supposed to be good keepers and excellent eating also … if you click/double click for a closeup you’ll see the special coloring

thanks to Judy Post for the lovely flowers

look what my QB5 friend Linda sent me … I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to share this

fun to rip into the cool stitched bag…very carefully of course

I am finding it hard to get enough of these precious  little girls … they are my absolute favorites along with the frill at the top and the glittered pumpkin … thank you so much Linda!

and an RAK from a sweet blog friend Charlotte

a wonderful all white and ghostly pumpkin ATC along with other special goodies … thank you Charlotte!

Lennie the fresh bay leaves you picked from your bush are drying and pretty as a picture in the process … thank you also for the magazines!

look at this goodie bag from Pat who has two ooglebloops blogs … she certainly is a treasure seeker…it seems Patti & Co Arts and Crafts is an Italian company and she rescued this bag just for me … I will be enjoying some of Pat’s special Lavender Syrup with a cup of green tea in that nifty foil defuser… how unique!

my cup runneth over with wonderful gifts and art mail of late … I feel very fortunate to know so many talented and generous people!

many many thanks to you all and …

oxoxo

*more thank you’s still to come*

Peter Peter …

… Pumpkin Eater

I have had pumpkins on the brain today …  so here is my take on  Sandy’s SaWo alter a cabinet card challenge for this week

to begin with

*before*

I randomly collaged bits of scrap paper around the image of the man on the cabinet card and then inked over the background

*after*

here is my wee bit strange altered cabinet card… I am happy with the background 🙂

the Chocolate Bandit

a yummy challenge for Mittwochstempler (WS)  this week … and one of my favorite food groups too … CHOCOLATE

“… and no one gets hurt”

my arch began with a photograph of  an old funky looking metal iron rest that I picked up with intentions of altering some day

I added the velvety flocked leaves as a finishing touch along with the recipe page from a 1953 Refrigerator Desserts booklet as a backdrop

Autumn’s Antics

Autumn is all about Hallowe’en…spelled it like that for Joanne 😉 … you can go here to find out why … you will not want to miss Autumn’s 13 Days of Halloween Extravaganza going on as we speak!

she has lots of wonderful ideas and images to share … a really fantastic creepy doll head even

I was drawn to this unusual pumpkin at the market and just cannot do a blog post without a picture or two

Run quick…fast as you can for some really fun blog candy…Autumn is picking three winners on Friday … sorry for the short notice… Autumn and I just met

blackbird ballet

the talented Fatma is the guest designer for Sunday Postcard Art this week … her challenge is “Blackbird”

it’s only a Paper Moon

the Wednesday Stamper challenge is “double trouble” … had fun with this one stamping  with acrylic paint on black copy paper

with a Washi paper moon

and two rubber stamps

Beauty in the House …

my sweet and talented blog friend, Caterina of La Dolce Vita, recently discussed “beauty” in a really nice blog post here AND she shows some of her cool creepy doll collection too

… what IS beauty  …

here is one dictionary definition:

beau-ty \ˈbyü-tē\

1 : the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit 

we recently shared our “creepy” doll fascination (and we say that fondly as we adore a bit of creepy, especially this time of year) … I sent Cat a collage I made using an image of a doll head from my Oma (I’ll have to show you the eyes another time, they are detached)

tattered and worn dolls speak to me …they seem to have stories to tell  … still being around … they are at the very least survivors and I admire that

so my creepy doll went to visit Cat in Colorado … just look at the wonderful wire frame she gave her when she arrived

one thing led to another … some days I could hug the mail lady … OK don’t hug the messenger teehee

always a thrill to see ART MAIL in the mailbox!

talk about presentation!

just look at the lovely vintage treasures in Cat’s package … felt like Christmas here

and then I got to see “Beauty” in person … this doll was Cat’s grandmother’s doll … isn’t she special … Cat gave her a real tatted lace collar … such wonderful surprise gifties

*photo by Caterina*

for a brief time our dolls got to play together in Cat’s studio … now they are each in their new home … thank you SO much Cat, it’s always lovely to get a “bit of Love in the post”!!!  oxo

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it” ~Confucius

WS: Bucket

Hermine’s theme this week for Wednesday Stamper is “bucket”

it took me awhile to find it, but I knew I had one here somewhere … this one reminds me of a little laundry bucket

the baby is from my cabinet card collection … only half of one AMuse stamp went into this creation

be sure and stop by my giveaway

Happy Halloween

A wonderful surprise arrived in my mailbox all the way from California!  It was full to the brim with all kinds of paper goodies and treasures, and look what else…..

…this fabulous 5″ x 7″ canvas.  That gaggle of witches sipping tea is just so wonderful!

Be sure and visit Gaye over at The Paris Salon. She generously shares details on how she created the canvas on her blog too.

Had it not been for blogging, Gaye and I might never have met…..thank you so much for such a special RAK Gaye along with all of the treasures you sent too!

“Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen, Voices whisper in the trees, Tonight is Halloween!” ~Dexter Kozen

Dans ma maison il y a…halloween

There is always amazing eye candy over at the Dans ma maison challenge blog.  My little haunted Halloween house is using another sweet Paper Whimsy image that I dressed up, along with bits of this and that you’ve been seeing this Halloween season….my last little Bwahahahaaa……

“When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.”
~Author Unknown