The Mask!!!

Since it’s Carnival time,  I decided to introduce to you , dear readers, a new friend , a mysterious lady I have just created!

Her life is unknown even to me, but I have made a few guesses about who she would be  if she came to life just for a Carnival night in Venice!

But first let’s make the introductions!

Here she is, all white and – a bit terrifying I would say – staring at us through her vacant eyes…….. .

Well, she needs a lot of work to show us her real self, I’m afraid.

But I think, I can do my magic on her and with some decoupage, silver and black paint, she will be ready to dance and have the best of times in the narrow streets and the canals of bella Venezia!!!

Here she is!! With a delicately ornate headband, painted cheeks, with butterflies and lace and a dreamy look.

But I think something is missing. Oh , yes! She needs some lipstick on .

Black and silver and some silver additions on her intricately ornate head cover and she is ready for the first dance in a palazzo in Canal Grande!

Does she have a name? I don’t know.

 You can name her what you think suits her best . To me, she  is  a lady who just wants to spend the best night of her life in a swirl of confetti and streamers!!!

Enjoy the Season dear readers , have fun whatever you do.

My love to all of you wherever you are in this vast world!!!

Tina xxx 

Colours !!!!!

Hello  dear readers .

I’m back after some time and I can honestly tell you I’ve really missed my little place in blog landL.

We are really blessed here in Greece with a wonderful, sunny and warm weather although  we are in the mid of January. It smells like spring already and February which will visits us tomorrow, doesn’t seem to keep us very far apart from the flowery season!

As  the sun and the sky so brightly colour Nature in our country, I decided to ‘offer’ you today some bright colours  from inside my little house, my little shelter.

 As you may already know, I adore colour and can’t live at a space where colour is absent. I love all shades of pinks and purples , yellows, oranges, fuchsias and mauves , burgundies , salmons, reds and light blues. 

For that reason I love wild flowers and flowers in pots , hyacinths , cyclamens, marigolds , geraniums and anemones. (You see, the good weather has had such an impact on me that I think of flowers and green open spaces already!)

 An orange –red  ceramic plate creates such a vibrant contrast with the fresh , juicy lemons from my lemon tree.

Two little pots of pink and fuchsia cyclamens on my kitchen window sill, make me really happy every time I look at them .

My hyacinths  in red and mauve among little favourite kitchen ‘treasures’.

                                       

Black, grey, soft blue and cream colours for a little ‘scene’ around a ‘cuisine’ sign.

 A favourite toy is offering us a posy of purple marigolds from a pot on my balcony .

 Little flowers  resting inside a paper napkin in a deep purple colour. Mmm, yummy colours!

I love this game of arranging and rearranging objects  of contrasting and complimentary colours to create little colourful scenes in my kitchen, on the balcony, on a desk at work.

 I know from your blogs, dear friends that many of you like playing with colours,too and fill your homes and crafts with it!

I hope you have enjoyed my little pictures and that I have kept you a good company on this last day of January. 

 I will go now my dear readers and I’m sending you my best wishes for many colourful , happy moments for the New Month. Happy , Creative , Joyful  February to all!!!!!  

Tina xxx

The Diary

Another week , another little project, another idea to share with those of you who like crafts and love creativity , for those who want to make things at home , without spending a fortune, using simple materials  that we all have in our drawers and shelves .

This week’s project is the transformation of a diary.

 I  am one of those many people who  keep diaries and I have been doing so for many years.  That’s why I always look for an attractive looking diary at the end of each year, to buy and accompany me for 365 days. The fact is that the diaries I usually find are either not attractive at all or  quite expensive . Some of them come at a very small size –which I don’t find handy at all , as they do not provide me with enough writing space.  There are others which contain sayings , mottos, excerpts from books , funny pictures and jokes or other not so interesting or even boring stuff.

I prefer diaries with just the basic things: important dates , telephones, some  maps and  plenty of writing space in each page.

 I was given a diary like this some days ago, but the cover was plain and cried for transformation!

 Some serious decoupage intervention seemed more than necessary.

I started by painting the black cover white, using acrylic colour.

I chose two napkins, a black and white and a burgundy one , with purple and golden details. I cut out wide stripes of napkin and used a decoupage glue to carefully stick the layers on the cover of the diary. You need to be careful at this stage to stretch out the napkin , firmly but smoothly, in order to avoid creases .

  Finally, I gave the cover a romantic and vintage touch by sticking a cameo figure on it.

 The back of the diary went through the same decoupage technique, but I added some silver and white acrylic colour to give it some extra ,shiny texture

 I am very happy with the way both the front and the cover of my new diary look J

I think I’m going to take it now, snuggle  in my sofa, with a cup of tea and my favourite pen , to write down some of the events and thoughts of the first days of 2016!:

 ‘My dear diary …………………………’.

Love,

Tina x

Happy 2016!!!!

Hello my dear readers from around the world!

I hope you  had a lovely holiday time with your family and friends   and  I wish you all a happy 2016 !!!

 We had a good time during the holidays and the chance to leave the city for just very few days to visit a place in the country  which we like very much. From there, we drove to the mountain and enjoyed the beauty of the forest and the magnificent views. We were very lucky that the weather was sunny and not cold at all.

 I love the lovely hotels you can visit in the area  and have a coffee by the fireplace with the beautiful decoration and cosy atmosphere.

 I love mountain resorts , with wooden ceilings and floors , vintage items and furniture that smell of burnt wood and well cooked food! If you can’t afford staying there, you can just have a cup of tea or coffee in their beautiful bars /lounges and enjoy the beauty and comfort of the place.

Some snow gives it all a magic touch. It is so good to be safe and warm inside and watch the soft snow falling outside ‘painting’ the deep forest snowy white…

This year Christmas wasn’t white here, but New Year’s Eve brought some snowflakes along! It didn’t last long , but it was a welcome New Year‘s gift!

On Christmas day, we were invited to a relative’s house and I baked a chocolate cake which I decorated with a biscuit house and little chocolates : a snowman, trees, a Santa and lots of icing sugar, for snow.

 We also made  a little village with biscuit houses , covered in frosting , inhabited by  small wooden people and decorated with cinnamon sticks and plastic trees. We had great fun but also  needed lots of patience to assemble the houses ,which didn’t want to let their walls and roofs stick together!!

I have to go now wishing you again the very best for this New Year and may our dreams and good plans come true. ‘If you can dream it , you can make it!’

Love to all,

Tina xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx