Color This Quote

For this months Color This Quote challenge over at Artists in Blogland, the quote to inspire us was:

'Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else' 
 Judy Garland

I used Adirondack Colour Wash inks, chalk pastels, and a stencil/mask from The Crafters Workshop.  I used an old Stampers Anonymous rubber stamp as I felt the words 'Aspire, Astonish, Amaze' really fitted in to this months theme, and I summarized the quote in keeping with the simplicity of the image - I didn't want it too 'wordy'.   I have long had a love affair with the colour combination orange and purple, and although this was going to be aqua and brown originally, I am quite pleased that in some totally inexplicable way it turned into orange and purple!

Color This Quote

 I've just finished this month's challenge for Colour this Quote, over at Artists in Blogland, and the quote to inspire us was

'Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year'

                                                                    Ralph Waldo Emerson 

This was quite a difficult challenge for me, as at the moment every day is most definitely NOT the best day in the year!  However, I decided to think about 'best days' and immediately holidays and childhood sprung to mind.  A lot of distress ink, Ranger dyes and rubber stamping later and I finally finished.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and moved away from my favoured cream and neutral backgrounds and palettes.  I am disappointed that the gold embossed writing along the top just didn't show up clearly in photos or scans, and it's also a bit wonky - but that's because I didn't do it on one of my 'best days'! 

 If only every day was a day like these!

 Close up showing the gold embossed writing along the top of the page

I removed the ink with clean water on a fine brush to write the words next to the image, and it reminded me of the 'invisible' writing we used to do as kids - I think onion skins were involved somehow - anyone remember that?!

Color This Quote

Over at Artists in Blogland there is a new challenge called Color This Quote - it sounded interesting and fun and I immediately had an idea of what I could do for it, so I decided to give it a go - I hope I am not too late!

This weeks quote is 

'Good friends are like quilts - they age with you yet never lose their warmth'.

The image is of my mum Joan (on the left) and her best friend Eileen - they had a warm and strong friendship for over 75 years.  I hand stitched small pieces of 'quilt' to represent the unbreakable bond between them - the little scraps of letters, the stamps symbolizing the miles between them, and fragments of memories from their days out in London, where they both grew up - all carefully held together by strong threads.