Silver Pendant and Garden Landscapes

 Happy New Year!  We've avoided the snow thankfully but it's been windy and cold so I've been staying warm indoors and getting a little bit of crafting done. 

Before Christmas I made a silver pendant as a Christmas present and also another one as a commission from a friend of a friend, so as the kiln needed to be fired up it seemed a good idea to make a couple of pieces for myself too!

I forgot to photograph the first two pieces what with so much going on - I was just relieved to get them finished in time and boxed up! However, I've just finished polishing this one for myself and I'm pleased with how it came out.  I would have preferred a slightly different stone to the white Moonstone on the left but that is all I had in my stash that toned with the Labradorite and Hematite.  It was taken from a mould of a rough concrete surface and is chunky at about 4cm wide.

And for something completely different I've been playing around in my sketchbook with little landscape collages.  I started with watercolour bases and am just adding bits as and when I feel like it!  I have no idea how they will end up but it's all about the process - they are relaxing and enjoyable and are feeding in to my current obsession with garden landscapes! 

I'm linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW. 

Little Landscape Collages

 I have finished (I think!) the little collages I was making in my last post.  They are part of the garden landscape collages I've been working on in my sketchbook and I really like the colours in these.  They are loosely taped into the book and can be removed easily if I want to work on them again - which I'm undecided about at the moment.  

Christmas is nearly upon us and I'm all done - cards made, decorations up and presents wrapped, not a lot else to do now except sit back and relax!  

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy, crafty New Year.

I'm joining Sarah over at WOYWW

Projects On The Go!

I finished making Christmas cards last night but I still have several things on the go at the moment - I'm working on three little  garden landscape collages (nothing to do with Christmas!) based on some of the mini collages I've done over the last few months (see here) - I rather liked the colours and knew I wanted to continue working in those sorts of shades. 

In the background some Christmas coasters are drying after having their last coat of varnish - I decoupaged them as small extra gifts for some family and friends.  What the picture doesn't show is almost every pot of glue and paint that I own 

were used as stands for this mass varnishing event - 24 coasters in total!  I really should have put the sewing machine away to give myself more room but it has been taken out as I need to make a pair of curtains - if I put it away again they'll never get made! 

I'm joining in with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

Lanscape collages II

 These landscape collages are a continuation from last week's post where I randomly picked the words 'landscape' and 'brown' from my prompt jar as a starting point for a series of collages.  I decided to carry on with the theme and use up some of the papers I had made, this time working a little bigger and marking out 6 squares in my sketchbook instead of 9.  I think I might work into these a little more but will wait a while and think about it!

I worked these directly into my sketchbook and at some point during the process I decided to work both vertically and horizontally - I wanted to move away from the horizontal horizon line in each one.  However I think individually or paired up  some look better rotated.  Below are the collages as made in the sketchbook and   above are the pairings which include the 4 rotated ones.

I am linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

Mini Grid Collages - Landscapes and WOYWW

It really has been a struggle lately to find the motivation to be creative - I've had a lot of other things going on and and my studio has been sadly neglected.  However I decided to use my little pot of prompts and this set of mini collages developed from the theme of landscapes and the colour brown - two prompts that so nicely went together!  I have a feeling I'll continue with this as I enjoyed the colours so much and have an awful lot of left over home made papers!

 

I'm linking up with Sarah for WOYWW this week.

Little Foggy Garden Embroideries and WOYWW

 I've finally got round to finishing the little 'foggy garden' embroideries that I was making in my last post and I've attached them loosely to my sketchbook - I'm not yet sure if they will stay there or if I will do something with them. 

Not a desk shot but this is a corner of my studio that just had the late evening sun hit it while I was up there - it made the glass jars sparkle so I grabbed a photo before the sun went down completely.

 I'm joining in with Sarah over at WOYWW this week. 

Embroidery Mat and WOYWW

A few years ago I picked up a wool ironing mat from a crafting/quilting fair -it's been brilliant and I use it all the time when I'm sewing - among other things it's a pin cushion and a place to pin little scraps that I'm working with.  The downside is that I often pick up fibres from it while sewing and end up picking them out of the embroideries with tweezers!  So this week I decided to cover one side of the mat with some smooth cotton fabric.  I blanket stitched it all around the sides - this means the covered side can be used for sewing and I can flip it over for ironing - the embroidery doesn't get flattened when ironed face down on the wool side.

 I'm sewing my way through some more little garden themed collages - we get a lot of sea mists in the mornings living so close to the water and I love the way the garden peeps through in such lovely soft muted colours.  

 

The corners of the mat were a bit hit and miss and are all different, giving it a very individual look!! 

I'm linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

 

 

Garden Shadows

 I've been working on a few mini collages based on shadows and shapes around my garden at dusk - always one of my favourite times of the day in the summer.  My garden is on two levels and has steps to the top garden but also lots of smaller steps from one area to another, little walls, and lots of paths - a great variety of shapes and textures to work with! These little collages are approximately 2 inches square, and after staining the backgrounds I added hand embroidery and collage papers, finishing off with gold leaf which I discovered is very tricky to attach to fabric!  

 

I'm linking up with Sarah for WOYWW this week.