Leftovers and WOYWW

 I've been using up the leftover scraps of backgrounds from my last two projects (here and here) and decided to die cut and punch out butterflies from them to make up some cards that I need for the coming weeks. 

 The seed head in this one was pressed a couple of years ago and used in Gelli printing, that's why it's covered in black paint - I knew I'd use it one day!

This one will be attached to a card shortly but it's a little too 3D to be posted easily - why do I always forget that when I'm busy making!

I stained some ribbon and wrapped it around a wire circle for the base - I gave the art stones and butterfly bodies a teeny touch of Treasure Gold - you can just catch some of the shine in the pic below. 

This butterfly was added to an arch I had left over from my spring garden projects - the pale green crackle background just matched the wings but the other greens, the Prills and inky splats, are a little questionable!

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

Beach Collages and WOYWW

 I really don't do the beach in summer, although I do spend many hours at our local beach out of season and love it.  Somehow the three little backgrounds I had left over from last weeks collages just screamed 'seaside' at me, helped along by me finding a piece of sea pottery with a pretty wave pattern on it! 
  

It also gave me the perfect opportunity to use more of my old clay pipe stems - they make a perfect breakwater!  The gold foil I used on all three is not showing up very well in the photos but in one of two of these detailed shots you can see the light glinting on the gold of the coral, the sea glass and the stamped seashell.

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

Three Little Collages

I was intrigued to find a piece of old crackle glazed sea pottery with what looked like a raised flower stem on it - I knew I had use it, and these three little card toppers, made on blank ATC's are what resulted.  

I lined up the little ridge in the pottery with the stem of the die cut flower, and I used the orangey/blue colour of the old crackle glaze to influence the background inks and the crackle stamping on the the die cut stems.

I'm linking up with Julia this week, over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Tree House Collages and WOYWW

Carrying on the theme from my last post I've just finished another two little tree house inspired collages.

I'm linking up with Julia this week, over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Tree House Collages and WOYWW

  On my desk this week are these two little collages that I've just finished - they are based on my fascination with tree houses and my current love affair with lime green!
If anyone's interested I did a little trio of tree house pieces last spring, and you can find them here.

   

I'm joining up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

My Outdoor Studio and WOYWW

While some health issues have been causing big changes in my life lately, I've been turning to the things I feel familiar with - more than ever my garden has been a huge source of comfort and inspiration to me and in some ways is an extended part of my studio.
 My garden is full of memories and full of plans for the future.

 It's where I feel closest to my mum - she would have been such a strong and loving support to me through this rather trying time and she is deeply missed.

When my mum was living with Alzheimers the garden was our favourite place to be - I turned her little herb garden into a sensory garden where we could enjoy the flavours, smells and textures of the plants.  Wild strawberries were scattered throughout and Pineapple Broom gave off a beautiful fruity scent.  Chocolate Cosmos really did smell deliciously of real chocolate (that was one of our favourites!) and we'd crush and smell the leaves of Lemon Balm, Rosemary, Thyme and Lavender.  Heliotrope had a smell very much like cherry pie (which is also it's nickname) and Stachys Lanata had the softest, furriest leaves to stroke.

Some of the plants have disappeared during bouts of neglect due to many different reasons throughout the years, but there is still an abundance of  favourite plants that have survived through both the good and bad times - Thalictrum with it's especially beautiful fern like foliage, Geums and Rock Roses, and blue Geraniums. I've been gently working on the garden when I can so that it continues to be a place of inspiration, comfort, peace and tranquility, and where new memories will be made. 

Here are some older photos of the herb garden - the house and lower lawn are behind the bench, hidden by the hedge so I'm working on opening it all up so I can see this part of the garden from the house.   

  I'm joining up with Julia over at WOYWW and I apologise for the length of this post - I seem to have rambled on for an unusually long time today!

Jigsaw Pieces and WOYWW

While having a sort out in my studio I came across these jigsaw pieces that I had painted and printed last year but not got round to using.

They were part of an idea for my 'midnight garden' project which is why I've added them to the black sketchbook page - not sure where I'm taking this but I will work on it later in the summer - I have Spring projects to complete first!

I received a lovely ATC from Kim this week and wanted to share it with you - I love the little card it came with too - thank you Kim.

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

ATC Swap and WOYWW

 Last week's WOYWW 9th Anniversary swap was great fun, and I made a handful of ATC's, only to worry I'd made too many, then only to discover I hadn't really made enough!

These are the two designs I made this year using a little touch of copper foil on one and silver foil on the other.  The envelopes were stamped to match and I remembered to do that before I put away all the inks and stamps!

It has been such a treat getting beautiful mail through the post, and these are all the wonderful ATC's I received in return - aren't they fabulous.

From top to bottom they are from Jan, Shaz, Sarah, Ali, Angela and Zsuzsa.

And as well as the beautiful ATC's here are goodies that came with some of them - thank you so much for your kindness and generosity ladies - beautiful embellishments and dream catcher tag from Zsuzsa, a gorgeous piggy card from Ali and some lovely ephemera and die-cuts from Angela.  

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week to see what goodies other people have on their desks!