Garden Shadows

 I've been working on a few mini collages based on shadows and shapes around my garden at dusk - always one of my favourite times of the day in the summer.  My garden is on two levels and has steps to the top garden but also lots of smaller steps from one area to another, little walls, and lots of paths - a great variety of shapes and textures to work with! These little collages are approximately 2 inches square, and after staining the backgrounds I added hand embroidery and collage papers, finishing off with gold leaf which I discovered is very tricky to attach to fabric!  

 

I'm linking up with Sarah for WOYWW this week.

Blue Mono Printing and the Midnight Garden

A bit of a printing fest going on this week, and it's all a bit blue!  I've continued with the mono printing from last week but changed the colours to suit my midnight garden theme - I seem to come round to that each summer as I really do love the muted colours and beautiful shapes of my garden as it goes from dusk into night.    

The bright sunshine we've been having has meant I can get some more cyanotype printing done - topping up my stash for card making and collages - always a favourite activity!

 

  I've also been running low on notecards so I have printed off another run of them using some of these photos of old and new cyanotype prints. I need to trim them all up - about 30 in total - a job I don't enjoy so we'll see if it gets done by next week - I'm betting it doesn't!!

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

My Mobile Desk!

 My studio has been too hot to work in over the last couple of weeks so I transferred some embroidery bits into a tin lid and that has been my mobile desk!  It's accompanied me around the house and garden letting me settle wherever I want to and although the weather has cooled down a bit, it is currently on the table next to my armchair so I can watch the Olympics!  

In the lid is a jumble of everything I need - embroidery threads in the colours I'm currently obsessed with, some rust printed cotton and cyanotype printed silk that I have torn into squares, plus needlebook and scissors - all set for making card toppers!

I assembled a few cards yesterday with some of the squares but still have quite a few to do. These are in my favourite summer theme of the garden at night. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW 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.

Alcohol Inks and WOYWW

In my tidying and re-organising frenzy over the last few weeks I have been discovering stash that I had thought lost or had completely forgotten about. Having unexpectedly come across a packet of Yupo paper I remembered how enjoyable Alcohol Inks can be, so decided to have a little play with them. 

I know they are usually beautifully vibrant and rich in colour but I am still in a 'muted' frame of mind and enjoying late evenings in my garden - so my tags are along this theme.

I accidentally discovered that if I add blending solution to the stamped image and then rub it off gently I get a wonderfully faded image, so I was able to layer them and achieve more of a feel of insects at dusk.   

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

Playing About With Gelli Prints

I've been finding a little time to mess about in my Summer Night Garden sketchbook.  I came across some gelli prints that I had printed a while back but never got round to doing anything with. So I thermofax printed, cut, tore, glued and collaged!

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who left such kind wishes last week for my hubby's recovery from his hip replacement operation - I really appreciate your thoughtful comments.  He is doing incredibly well and is pretty much pain free now - I'm still amazed at how effective this has been - hats off to the NHS, they have done a fantastic job.

I'm linking up with Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday this week - why not hop over and see what other people are up to.

Finishing Up Before Autumn

I have been busy getting the house decorated for Autumn and arty crafty stuff has had to take a back seat.  This is my mantle piece and my method of decorating is anything orange/brown or autumny gets chucked on it!

Although busy changing over from summer to autumn I did get a chance to finish a tag that had been hanging around - it had been left half done when I had no idea what to do to it next!  I used Ranger black Enamel Accents on some of the die cuts and I really like the hard glossy effect of it - I wasn't sure how shiny it would turn out to be but it's certainly better than I expected.

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

A Nature Themed ATC Swap

 I have recently been involved in a lovely ATC swap with Elaine over at
 Craft Shed Girl - I was so pleased when she let me know she was up for a swap, as we have similar tastes and a love of nature in our artwork! 

This is the ATC and matching box I sent to Elaine, it's based on my current work around the moonlit garden ...

... and this is the beautiful ATC holder and gift tag Elaine sent me...

 Elaine very cleverly designed and made the holder herself - it's absolutely ingenious and such an effective and beautiful way to present the ATC.  I felt I was opening a birthday present when it arrived!

As you can see once you undo the ribbon holding it closed, it opens up to display the ATC which is held in the card groove - and what a stunning ATC it is. Elaine thoughtfully and carefully worked with images, colours and subject matter that she knows I like and if I had sent her a list of my requirements she couldn't have got it more right!!!

This has been such an enjoyable swap - thank you Elaine!

I must add that for anyone interested Elaine has listed her supplies and techniques over on her blog.   

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

August's Forgotten Stash

Continuing my monthly project of using a forgotten item from my stash, this month I'm using a Tim Holtz butterfly punch. I haven't had it that long but it was purchased on a whim with no idea in mind about what I would do with it!

So, keeping with my theme of my garden at night I played about in my sketchbook and using a resist technique with a flower stamp and some new Distress Crayons I created a moonlit background - perfect for the butterfly punch which now became a moth punch!  I added double layered moths with gold ink edging and a stamped vellum top layer.

I'm joining Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday 

Crafting Fun

Not much arty crafty stuff achieved this week, but a busy and happy week looking after my nephews now the school holidays are here, and also visiting Jan (our very own Lunch Lady!) for some crafty fun and lots of chat.  

It was a fab day, made even better by seeing Julia too - so much chat and just a little bit of embroidery done on these half finished 'night garden' collages.

Thank you Jan!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW.

Embroidery for a Summer's Night

I've been embroidering the garden again, and using more of those tiny little vintage photo album pages!  I also used eco prints, black lace, antique tapestry and hand beading.  I'm pleased with how the black lace and dark eco print gives it a real night time feel.

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