Tea Bag Art and Recuperation

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you for all the good wishes I have received over the last week, your visits and kind words have meant a lot to me.
  When I knew I was imminently going into hospital I prepared a handful of teabags! I ironed Vilene on to the back of each one, and added some fabric and machine stitching to them.  Now that I am recuperating I have my bag of prepared teabags and a bag of 'bits and bobs' by me so I can sit and quietly decorate them with beads, braids and embroidery.  It's been nice having a gentle activity to do while I'm on enforced rest!  The theme is the Winter Garden, in case you hadn't guessed, and this is what is on my desk this week for WOYWW! 

The Resilience of the Winter Garden

This is a page from my sketchbook and it's still sitting on my desk open from when I photographed it early last week.  It's quite a busy piece and I wanted to show the resilience of the garden in winter, all that's going on that we don't see until spring arrives.

I used Grunge paste and glitter, gold leaf, beads and Glossy accents with micro beads.  I discovered that micro beads ping off the glue from the hot glue gun once it's cooled down!!  I'll be finding them around my studio for years to come!

Spring Nests and the Paper Artsy Challenge

The new challenge over at Paper Artsy is 'deconstruction' - using items, materials or products in a way they weren't originally meant to be used.

Leandra's video inspired me to get out my box of old thread spools, and after some deliberation I decided to make a nest - the birds in my garden are looking very smart and I think they are beginning to choose their mates and gather nesting materials ready for the Spring!

I used some vintage sheet music around the spool, and the nest was made of feathers and moss, with a little egg on the top!  The miniature tag is ready to be decorated with an initial or message when I decide who to give it to!

WOYWW #300

  On my desk this week I have some new stash (mixed up with some old stash!):- some lovely wide linen ribbon, printed and frayed...   

some vintage style fabric with birds and script on it, and some linen trim with little rosettes...

 some new Tim Holtz fabric with postal marks and stamps...

and finally, a lovely surprise landed through the letterbox from my dear blog friend, the super-talented Lynn at One I Made Earlier Today - she knows how much I covet and love her old rusty typewriter and she's made me a wallet with matching postcards, beautifully decorated with stitching.  How gorgeous are they!

A huge thank you Lynn.

I'm linking up with WOYWW this week for the 300th Anniversary.   Congratulations to our leader Julia - what an achievement!  Why not pop over and see what other people have on their desks - it's a great place to nose around!

Winter Seed Head and Paper Artsy Challenge

I have just finished this little piece of work that I'm entering into the 
Paper Artsy challenge - the subject is miniature art, and on their blog I was particularly inspired by a domino with a pretty bunch of wire and bead flowers attached.  I immediately thought of seeds and twigs! 

I found this seed head in my studio and I used copper gutta around the outside.  I filled it with silk clay, into which I stuck wired beads and then wrapped wire around the stem - I also used Treasure Gold on the outer shell, on the stem and on top of the clay.  The bowl is about 3cm in diameter.