Beaded Christmas Flower and WOYWW

My very talented friend Felicity from the little Craft and Chat group that I run kindly taught us all how to make this beaded Christmas Rose.  I'ts the first time I've attempted 'proper' beading despite using copious amounts of beads for pretty much everything I make from collages and embroideries to cards and tags!

It's now been added to the Christmas tree and just needs the leaf attaching.

It was fun and I will certainly be looking up more beading 'recipes' on line.

 Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and a big thank you for all you kind, lovely comments and support over the past year.  

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

Autumn Ferns and WOYWW

I love ferns - they have to my one of my favourite plants, and right now the New Forest is full of beautiful bracken that's turning that rich, deep, Autumn rust colour.

Currently sitting on my desk (still waiting to be cleared away!) are some Autumn themed card toppers I've made before we go rushing into Winter and Christmas - I usually add a sentiment at the last moment when I know who the card is for.

 

I think I'm going to add the die cut initial of the recipient to this one as the centre seems a little too plain.

Using up all the left over bits - I think the tag is too big for the scale of the foliage but I was too lazy to die cut a new one!

    

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

Rust Printing, Book Making and WOYWW

I have spent the last few weeks slowly making a gift for my dear blog friend Terri over at Art-Life-Rust, which she has now received so I can show it!  She recently sent me the most beautiful water colour painting and I wanted to send her a little something back to show my appreciation.  I knew I wanted to make a little notebook but the blizzard binding needs very accurate folding so I had to wait until my hand was recovered enough from my recent operation to fold and put pressure on the paper.

Little by little it's come together - using rust printed fabric I stamped some text on to it, then embroidered, beaded and collaged.   

I remembered to add ribbons for closure just before gluing the inner lining to the covers - something I forgot to do on the last one I made (here)!

I have used Khadi paper for the pages but the nature of a Blizzard binding means the pages can be changed around or replaced with different papers.   

I am linking up with WOYWW and the Mini Album Makers Challenge.

October Birthdays and WOYWW

Not much crafting done lately I'm afraid, but I'll show a couple of birthday cards I've made this month - they were propped up on my desk waiting to be photographed for ages as I discovered a scratch on the lens of my camera and had to wait for a new one to arrive.  I was so disappointed to find that my 'new' camera was too old be mended but I've picked up an identical second hand one so I don't have to learn how to use a different one -  I'm soooooo lazy when it comes to reading instruction manuals!  

 On to the cards - this one has vellum leaves and stamped Tissue wrap which I adhered to a Khadi paper base for my sister's card...

... and this card for my nephew's 17th birthday is based on Dungeons and Dragons - he's a bit of a fan of it at the moment.   I cut and stenciled the D&D logo onto an embossed 'shield' that I edged with copper tape.  I made a small matching box to hold birthday money and gift cards, which is always preferable to anything I might go and buy him!!

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

Orange and Duck Egg Tag Cards and WOYWW

    Using my favourite tag stamp again and some left over bits and pieces.   

I found the rolled paper beads on Etsy and fell in love with them - I always knew I'd find the perfect use for them one day!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW - why not pop over and see what other people have on their desks this week. 

Midnight Garden Tag and WOYWW

I've been on a bit of a roll with these garden tags - I love the garden at night and this is another play with my favourite tag stamp (the other two are here and here).  I've enjoyed gently playing at tag making while my hand recovers but I really should move on to birthday cards soon as October is a hugely busy month in our family and I'm currently crafting quite slowly!  

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

Midnight Green

I'm still working slowly on little tags while my hand recovers from the carpel tunnel op, and still enjoying my 'summer' garden although the weather feels definitely autumnal lately.  
 I don't work with green very often, it's definitely not a 'go to' colour but I've really liked working with these shades to represent the garden at night - it makes such a change from the blues and purples I usually use.   

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW - why not pop over to see what other people have on their desks this week.

Midnight Lavender and WOYWW

I'm loving my garden at the moment - especially at night when the colours come alive and the moonlight creates such a beautiful glow on the plants. This tag is made using dried and pressed lavender from the garden, some collage scraps and some metallic wax.
Some of you who visit my blog regularly will know that I love working seasonally and for the last few years have been working during each summer on my 'midnight garden'.  If you are interested you can see some of my older work here.

I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who left good wishes for my carpel tunnel operation last week - I finally had it done last Friday and it's now well on the mend.   I'm struggling to type (this post is taking ages) or do much art but I made some tag bases before the op and have been able to do the finishing touches one handed - in fact it was surprisingly easy gluing on the lavender flowers.  
I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW.  I shall try and return visits but might just have to leave my mark rather than a comment - I hope you don't mind!

Old Postcards and Childhood Memories and WOYWW

I have been struggling to do much in the studio recently as the Carpel Tunnel problem in my left hand has become decidedly worse.  This has been going on for several years and after quite a long waiting list and some hospital cancellations I'm thankfully, or should I say hopefully having it done on Friday!

However, I have managed to make these little collages, doing little bits to them here and there over the last couple of weeks. I still need to do some more hand sewing but to be honest that's quite uncomfortable for me at the moment, so they will have to go into the 'work in progress' box for a while.

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

Swatches Folder

Not much creativity has been going on since last week but I have been doing a little organizing and trying to stuff new stash into an already very overcrowded studio!  This also involves adding samples of my new purchases to my swatches folder, which is currently open on my desk right now as I was too lazy to put it away last night!  

 In the folder I have swatches of everything from

ink pads and glitter pastes.....

...to coloured card and washi tapes

This makes it so much easier to colour match and remind myself what stash I have (which probably means I have far too much if I need visual aids to remember it all).  I must give a shout out to Shaz (Silverwolf) who many moons ago pointed me in the direction of the pocket folders from Westgate-supplies - I use them for almost everything - they really are bloomin' marvellous!
  
I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week so why not pop over and have a nose at what other people have on their desks.

Boxes and Fun and WOYWW

I've been absent from blogging for a while as things have been crazy over here.  My step son and his family have been visiting England for the first time since they moved to the US over 20 years ago, and of course it was the first time the children had ever been over - we had such a lovely time with them.

To give the girls a memento of their holiday I made two little envelope boxes that held a silver pendant for each of them.

These are the front of the boxes...

 ...and the back of the boxes

Just when things were feeling a bit dull and the family had returned home to the US I received some lovely happy mail - an ATC and pretty card from Shaz in Oz arrived.  I love the green background, such lovely subtle blended colours that really make the black flowers pop, and the card is made from an original card and photo by Margaret - what a gorgeous image of the bluebell.  Thank you so much Shaz.

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

Art, ATC's and Organisation!

 I've been busy sewing this week, working my way through a big basket of mending that has been accumulating for about a year!  What this has to do with WOYWW is that earlier in the week I spent ages trying to thread a very fine needle only to discover despite glasses, that I was trying to thread the wrong end of it -  so as if by magic the Hubs found an old magnifying glass in his shed for me.  I really shouldn't moan about him never throwing anything out should I!

 Also on my desk is a small ATC storage holder that is waiting to be decorated - perhaps I'll get round to it soon - or perhaps not!

 I have had some wonderful mail this week, firstly this beautiful

piece of artwork from the super talentedTerri over at Art Life Rust.  I have been a fan of Terri's amazing work for such a long time and am thrilled to own one of her beautiful botanical pieces.  Thank you so much Terri, it will be greatly treasured.

 I also received some gorgeous ATC's.

This little bundle on the left is from Neet and I just love the painted cockerel card so much, I shall be framing it shortly.  The other ATC's (clockwise from top left) are from Lunch Lady Jan with a beautiful card she sent made by Debbie (Tattered Rocks), Sylvia (Little Treasures) who sent the prettiest ATC along with some gorgeous collage pieces and Shaz Silverwolf whose sparkly and celebratory ATC was gorgeous, and so appropriate for the anniversary! 

Thank you so much ladies. 

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

ATC's for WOYWW

 Here are a couple of the ATC's I made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of WOYWW...

...and here are some of the beautiful pieces of art work I received back...

I was overwhelmed at the gorgeousness of the needle felted creation made by Jo (aka Twiglet) who was my pif - she had even chosen my favourite colours and popped it in a sweet little frame.  Needless to say it's taking pride of place on my little shelf of 'treasures from others' (an idea inspired by Jan last week).  Thank you so much Jo.

And these two lovelies are from Heather (at Heather's Crafty Retreat) and Zsuzsa (Inky Dinky Doodle).  Heather included a lovely card and some inspirational die-cut words, and Zsuzsa printed her own envelope and note card to match the ATC and added a lovely sheet of collage images. 
 Thank you so much ladies.

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW, so why not have a nosey over there and see what other people have on their desks this week.

Silver Clay Pendants and WOYWW 10th Anniversary

I haven't done much arty crafty stuff lately as I've been making the most of the lovely weather we've been having and working in the garden.  But I have taken a break to mess about with some silver clay.  After doing a wonderful workshop  recentlty I just had to have a go at home, so after a small investment in colours and a larger investment in a UV light box this is my first attempt.  

I had some left over bits of silver clay and had to use them quickly, so I made this second pendant and had a go at setting a stone, which I'd also never done before.  The design emerged from ideas about pollen and seeds, possibly because I've been getting hay fever, but I'm thinking it looks a little bit more like coral!

I'm linking up with WOYWW this week for their 10th Anniversary - what an amazing achievement, I've loved being part of it and look forward to many more weekly meet ups in blog land.

A Happy Anniversary to all you lovely deskers out there and a HUGE thank you to Julia who has kept it all running so smoothly and for so long. 

Resist Stenciling Cards

Despite being gardening crazy at the moment I managed to get some crafty time in and I turned a couple of backgrounds into birthday cards.  It was a continuation of my 'playing' with the Distress Micro Glaze resist technique. I can't seem to resist resist at the moment!

The top card has some gold embossing paste thinly stenciled on top of the resist stenciling so it's slightly translucent.  It's a little easier to see in the close up shot further down the post. 

The one below used just two colours of spray, pink and a honey gold but when sprayed on top of each other they made a very pleasing deeper burgundy.

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