Cling Time!

When I was creating a background for an earlier Craft Barn challenge (see here), I used glossy card with Distress Ink and water spritzed cling film scrunched on top.

Whenever I do the cling technique I end up having a fight with the cling film, and get quite exasperated, so I created a few different coloured backgrounds at the same time.  My resolution of not letting unused stuff languish at the bottom of a box made me make some cards!

This one is on coated textured card.

Both stamps are from Designs by Ryn - which, by the way, will be available in this country from Oyster Stamps.

Back to glossy card - with a more subtle cling effect.

Teasel stamp by Woodware.

And staying with glossy card, this is even more subtle.

Wading birds stamp is from a Stampin Up set.


















I think I've mentioned before that I like the works of the poet Emily Dickinson; I found this one:

Eden is that old fashioned House
We dwell in every day
Without suspecting our abode
Until we drive away ...

Breaking News: Dormouse takes a respite from the Mad Hatter's tea party .....

The next Craft Barn Q&L Challenge words are PATIENCE and BETTER.

I have used a verse from a poem by A A Milne "The Dormouse and The Doctor".

The Dormouse looked out, and he said with a sigh:
I suppose all these people know better than I.
It was silly, perhaps, but I did like the view
of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

But whenever I think of a dormouse, the Mad Hatter's Teaparty (from Alice in Wonderland) comes to mind, so I've taken the liberty of combining the two and found a piece of clipart of a dormouse in a teapot.

I quickly brayered an ink background, then printed the verse onto it. I painted some impressionistic delphiniums and geraniums with acrylic paint, and coloured the clipart with Copic pens.

Time for a nice cup of tea now!

Christmas? It's not so bad!

Spent a very pleasing and relaxing few hours at a Crafts U Love workshop yesterday, decorating a Tim Holtz Configurations Book - on a vintage Christmas theme!  I was persuaded to do it by a friend, and even though I'm not into Christmas, I really enjoyed it!

We used a little Distress paint, Distress inks, some vintage papers, and dies, with a little stamping and embossing.

The front cover has the Sizzix Bigz poinsetta die, which I did succumb to and bought one, as it doesn't have to be a poinsetta!



















Inside, there is a little house, which we made three dimensional, a bottle with a Christmas scroll and glitter snow, and a couple of boxes left empty for personal items.  One box has been reversed and stamped and embossed (which I think would make an ideal place to hide a small gift).

This would make a perfect extra special Christmas card.

CHILDHOOD: long long hours of summer play

Another 2 weeks has passed and the Craft Barn challenge words this time are CHILDHOOD and EASIER.

There are countless poems about childhood, but I thought this quote by Cynthia Ozick (an American author) was very appropriate for a crafting challenge!

What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.

For an ethereal effect I used glossy card as a base, and sponged on some Distress Inks, then spritzed some cling film and scrunched it on top.  A little stamping using the same colours finished the background.  Yes, I used that dandelion seeds stamp again - once found, never forgotten!

Happy days!

Tall ships and a sea of red poppies .....

Yesterday had a perfect day out with a couple of friends.  Went to Greenwich to see the Tall Ships Festival.  These are so romantic - always liked a bit of swash and buckle!!

Just a few of the photos I took -

We then took the Thames Clipper from Greenwich Pier to Tower Pier.  Never used this service before, and it is fast - no wonder commuters use it!  And there is nothing like seeing a city from the water.

The iconic Tower Bridge

and the Tower itself.

















We had specifically gone to the Tower to see the poppies art installation, marking one hundred years since the start of the First World War.  888,246 ceramic poppies will fill the Tower's moat, each poppy representing a British military fatality during the war.

This is awesome, and if you have an opportunity to see it, do.  To find out more, visit the website here.

It is spectacular and thought-provoking.

You can buy these, and I've already ordered mine.

A fabulous day, with a couple of hitches on the travel front, which meant the day involved 8 trains - oh - and a boat!

Collage compulsion!

Painting bits of paper and cutting them up is becoming a little compulsive .....

I'm always interested to find new substrates to experiment on.  I like using wood and MDF as they give such a solid base, but I also like the texture canvas can give.  So when I found these MDF boards covered in canvas ..... well I just had to try!

Brayered on some acrylic paint, and used some texture paste (coloured with the paint), through a stencil, together with some freestyle texture pasted areas!



















Wanted to continue with the tissue paper collage theme, so randomly painted some more tissue paper and also found some really fine paper book pages.

This time, cut large petal shapes, then continued layering smaller pieces.

I added some gold mica flakes to finish.

















I do like using this canvas covered MDF, a perfect combination!

A quillion reasons why not, but Christmas still raised it's frosty head!

After a summer break, it is time to restart the workshops for the craft group I run, and  I have had a go at quilling!  Not really me, but quite enjoyable for a short time.

Thought I would share my efforts, as I doubt I will be taking up quilling in the long term!

Flowers are always a good choice, and yes, a little bit of a book page crept in!

Experimented with some loose shapes for the leaves.
















Then I had to face it - Christmas!

Snowflakes mean you can create your own design with some basic quilling shapes.

Colourful festive lights make a good subject too!













So this is what we will be getting up to tomorrow afternoon.  Hope it is not too warm to get into the Christmas spirit!