WOYWW ATC Swap

 These are the ATC's that I made for last weeks anniversary ATC swap.

  

But now on to the best bit of the week - sitting on my desk today is an array of gorgeousness, all the little treasues that landed on my doorstep during the week -  I am absolutely thrilled with them. 

    

These are from Annie, Jo, Cindy, Caro, Jan and Zsuzsa...

...and these are from Angela (Felix the Crafty Cat) , Helen, Debbie, Angela (Crafting with Jack), Neet and Lynne.

Thank you all so much for the beautiful work and the little cards and extras that came with them.

 I had problems with one or two blogs last week, I visited and tried to comment on all of them but one or two took several attempts and still didn't look like they had accepted my comments - I don't know what was going on, I'm despairing of blogger sometimes!  

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

Winter Garden Collage and WOYWW

This little winter collage is sitting on my work table at the moment, and I've been wondering what else needs to be done to it - something does but I'm not sure what!  It was inspired by my garden which has little houses in it to help the wild life through the winter - a couple of hedgehog houses and several bee and insect houses.  I was keeping the nest image for a more Spring-like collage but decided to use it as we've had lots of birds gathering twigs and nesting materials for the last few weeks, and a couple of Magpies have been fussing around a large half built nest in our Hawthorn tree this week.

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

Nests in Spoons and WOYWW

I have been missing in action for a while I'm afraid, spending the last few weeks getting to grips with some health issues and the resulting change of lifestyle.
  I am happy to say all now seems under control, and with life getting back on an even keel I'm feeling a little more like doing some crafting - so in honour of Spring I have been making some little nests, and using up some of my vintage cutlery stash too.

 I'm joining in with Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday this week.

Egg and Spoon

On my desk this week I have a nest in a spoon!

I collect pretty teaspoons from charity shops and decided I needed to use some up before buying any more!

A huge thank you to everyone for their kind wishes last week - I really appreciated them, and now I'm back in the world of NHS time I'm hoping I won't have to wait too long to be sorted out again!

I am linking up with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Paper Artsy - Niche Challenge

For Paper Artsy I crocheted my own niche!  

I used a nesty brown colour yarn and needle felted over it. 

 I decorated it with lace, beads, feathers, vintage millinery flowers,

moss, moths and a miniature cup and teapot.

Bunting was added - it looked too twee.

Bunting was taken away - the top half looked too bare.

Bunting was added again - still unsure.  
Bunting might be removed again depending on my mood!

I was initially inspired by the beautiful image of a small cart with the bird in it  (on the Paper Artsy blog here) and I planned to make a little nest for a bird, with lots of precious bits collected.  However, as often happens it turned out differently to how I imagined and I ended up with a tea party and not a bird in sight!

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!

TAG TUESDAY - BIRD THEME

Bird houses, birds carrying banners, threads and ribbons etc, and collections of bits and bobs for nests are themes that have been occurring in my work for many years.  For this weeks tag I have returned to an older piece of work purely because I have been short on time - it's been a hectic week.

She has been collecting 'beautiful things' for her nest just like most of us collect 'beautiful things' for our nests!

I brushed cream emulsion over a beige tag, added distress ink around the edges and attached a glassine envelope.  I added a roof and base from a photo I took of a beach hut, and then filled the envelope with 'beautiful things'!  I embellished the front of bird house and also used rather a large amount of Sticky Fixers to create depth.

Items include: stamp, feathers, pin, watch hand, lace, copper wire, cotton thread, pearl, button, cut out images of shells, moths, and a white bud and text from a vintage letter.

  

She's been quite busy!

TAG TUESDAY - WHITE THEME

This weeks theme was 'white' for Tag Tuesday and here is my offering.

 Detail of larger tag

I decided to make a nest for this weeks tag - I painted some small twigs and splattered an image of an egg with off-white emulsion paint.  The eggs were fixed to the tags with Sticky Fixits to give a 3D effect and the twigs were sewn on around them.  Small bunches of netting and silver beads were sewn around the nest and half a white flower was added at the bottom of the tag.

The smaller tag was embossed first and then had a twig, bead and tiny piece of netting added.