We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
"Little Gidding"
T S Eliot

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Card roundup!

In between projects, and when I need thinking time, I make cards.  So thought I would gather a few together for this post.

Created a few Dylusions backgrounds, and used a favourite Memory Box die.

















Leaf die is by Cheery Lyn I think, and the bird is a Stampin Up punch.






















A friend recently moved house, so made this using a Paper Artsy house stamp onto an offcut of my Dylusions spray session. The clouds are from a Designs by Ryn stamp set.
















Used a Gelli plate print for the background, with a little random stamping.  The gentleman is from a Tim Holtz stamp set, and I coloured him with Distress Pens in the same scribbly style.














Inspired by a friend, this is using Sparkle Medium through a stencil, with Distress Ink background, and a little Frantage Shabby White embossing powder.

















I've got more cards in process, but none of them are finished yet, so they will have to wait for another time.

Meanwhile, on this horribly dark and dank day - I took this picture a couple of days ago -
Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay.
Robert Browning

Wednesday 19 November 2014

"Friendship", said Christopher Robin, "is a very comforting thing to have".

It is not long now until the end of the year long Craft Barn Q&L challenge, and this fortnight's words are JOURNEY and FRIENDSHIP.

I decided to go with friendship, as my friends are a precious part of my life, so this is dedicated to them!

As you know, I do like Winnie the Pooh, but decided not to use AA Milne yet again - though I have sneaked it into this post title!

The quote I have chosen is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from his poem Youth and Age.  It's rather a long poem, but can be found here.

Friendship is a sheltering tree

Started off randomly brayering some Distress Inks (most of the green ones), then threw some water drops at it.  Stamped some stylised leaves from Designs by Ryn, and then used one of Ryn's new stencils - the tree one - which I think is fab-u-lous!

I found a large bag of letter tiles - which I have had for a very long time - and which I have used for the quote - it took me ages to find all the right letters!


I do try and visit everyone's entries each fortnight, even though I may not be able to leave a comment because I'm not on all social media sites; so a big thank you to everyone who leaves comments on my Q&L entries -  this is for you too!

Saturday 8 November 2014

A little MOON gazing .....

Whooo  Hoooo!  I won the random number thingy last week, just need to decide what to spend it on, keep going onto the Craft Barn website, and keep changing my mind!   Oh - decisions decisions!

The latest Craft Barn Q&L challenge words are MOON and SENSATION.

I don't know how many times I've turned to Lewis Carroll during this challenge, but ..... at least I'm being consistent!

I've taken a verse from The Walrus and the Carpenter:

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done -
"it's very rude of him" she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

I've recently bought some Brusho paints, so this was an ideal opportunity to try them out. I sprinkled the dry powder onto damp watercolour paper, then spritzed with water.

Printed off the moon, and stamped some sulky looking eyes. Well, I think she looks a little sulky!


It's cold and damp today, so I'm off to make a nice hot mug of soup!

Sunday 2 November 2014

Four does three .....

The Fearless Four got together again recently, and this time we started with a triple recessed frame.



This frame is the papermache kind, which are really cheap (so it doesn't matter if it ends up in the bin!), but is robust enough to take whatever you throw at it!









I decided to challenge myself not to use any stamps, die-cuts or ephemera - just paint.


I started by painting the frame, and the background of three chipboard inserts, using Paper Artsy Fresco paints.

The inserts would be painted as one picture, then split between the 3 recess







I briefly sketched out a plan, and then dived in (metaphorically speaking), telling myself, it didn't matter if it all went pear-shaped!

I used Liquitex Basics heavy body acrylics, as I wanted the paint to have more texture.

And yes, my favourite cone shaped flowers again! (but at least they are not blue!).
















I also painted and cut out a couple more cone flowers (from spare chipboard), together with some stems.  I added some more grasses onto the frame too.

Here is the final result, and I'm quite pleased with my first attempt at something that relies on nothing but paint!


Now, for a look at what everyone else did - they were all unfinished when the photos were taken.



Here is Monica's pretty floral display, which is going to be a reminder of sunny days!







Linda went for a timeless winter scene - I wouldn't mind spending Christmas there!






Lin did a vibrant scene using some funky houses.  Think I would like to live ..... in the blue one!







I really enjoy our days together - hope we never run out of stuff to paint/stamp/ink/alter!