Theme Thursday - Patterns

Thanks to Kelly for a great challenge.  I made this background some time ago when I obviously had nothing better to do.  It is just a series of semi-transparent coloured shapes overlapping each other.  The humming bird digital stamp is by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.

The Three Muses Challenge - Books

Thanks to Bev for a great challenge.  The reader is an image from my vast stash.  I have had her on file for many moons and I am afraid I don't know from whence it came.  Other scrumptious bits and pieces are from Lorie Davison at Scrapbookgraphics.

Take a Word #9 - Music

The quote for this picture is by Thomas Carlyle.  The background is by Lauren Bavin (with added brushes) and the angel is by me (using image from Flickr-free-to-use and wings by Irene Alexeeva).

The Three Muses - Tidings of Comfort and Joy

It's difficult for the average Aussie to get his or her head around being all rugged up against the cold at this time of year so forgive me for throwing in a peek at what people are wearing down here in the southern hemisphere.  Santa was painted by me.  Credits for bits and pieces in the first picture go to Gypsy at Scrapbookgraphics.

Here is my Christmas story:

A Christmas Caper or “Seasonal Secrets”


This is a true story. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Christmas for my family means a lot of undercover operations, cloak and dagger work, great secrecy and subterfuge, much feverish plotting and even meddling with the calendar. It is dangerous but exhilarating. You may ask me WHY? Well, at least two members of my family fall into the bah humbug category at Christmas. They cast a gloomy spell and a pall over our celebrations. One who shall be called  Ebenezer T. Stooge has no excuse other than he is a surly piece of work or, as we Australians might say, a miserable git. The other has a bipolarized brain which leads to bizarre behaviour and streams of less than acceptable language in front of the children. The solution? We celebrate Christmas Day at lunchtime on Christmas Eve. We prepare the feast in secret. We organize ourselves with military precision. We invent alibis. We congregate at a neutral venue, hoping that there will be no unpleasant surprises. So far, so good. At last we can relax and have a great time. We open our gifts and enjoy watching the children open theirs. We eat our Christmas feast. On Christmas Day we have our happy memories of the day before. Hopefully, the unwelcome would-be guests are so self-absorbed they haven’t even noticed that we managed to have a good time in spite of them and practically under their noses.

Take a Word #8 - Celebrate

Let's hope the celebrations cheer her up a little bit!!  The face is from an ACF freebie of long ago (much altered).  I used a Lisa's altered art collage image for the body which has been overpainted by me.  Other bits and pieces (crown, wings, Zetti swirls and background) by Irene Alexeeva at Scraporchard.

The Three Muses - Odd Couples

All my own work except for Googled vegetables.  Painted digitally in ArtRage software.

Take a Word #7 - Childhood

The two little girls are from Flickr-free-to-use images (coloured and altered).  Digital stamp is by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.

Theme Thursday - Wings

Face (altered) from Suzee Que at Flickr.  Cat (also altered) by Irene Alexeeva.  The rest by me.

The Three Muses Challenge - Flowers

A Christmas card made from bits and pieces.  The image is from Wikimedia Commons (altered), the wings were Googled, flowers and background by Lorie Davison at Scrapbookgraphics.

Take a Word Challenge #6 - MAIL

Decorating envelopes is great fun.  Why not surprise a friend by sending a message of cheer in an interesting/whimsical/funny/beautiful envelope?  Mine measures 4 x 6. 

The image used is a Flickr freebie.  Patchy background from bits and pieces, mainly from Createwing Designs.  Stamp Googled.

The Three Muses Challenge - The World of Movies

I couldn't go past Charlie Chaplin whose genius helped open a world of movies to generations of fans.  The quote is by Charlie Chaplin, the image was Googled, coloured and altered, the background and old film strip is by Irene Alexeeva and the ticket, film reel and camera are by Kubivet (freebies).