Lilac Blossom

It's that wonderful time of year again when the lilac is in bloom.

  The scent is intoxicating and the colour is heavenly. 
For a very  short time the straggly, ugly shrub is transformed - and it is well worth the wait!

I am linking up with Judith for Mosaic Monday over at Lavender Cottage.

The Emergence of Spring

For WOYWW this week - four little teabags depicting the emergence of Spring.

I used some of the eco-printed papers I made and also a selection of printed fabric, sari silk, beads and lace.

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!

Paper Artsy and gelli printing

The latest Paper Artsy Challenge is to use paint, and I was inspired by all the wonderful artists over there to get my paints out and play - so I decided to do some gelli printing on deli paper, following my theme of the winter garden.  I think these two pieces work quite well as a pair, although I didn't make them with that in mind.

 Once I had picked out the gelli prints that I thought were suitable for what I wanted I glued them onto sheets of A5 hand made paper and then they were ready to be embellished with collage material, beads and embroidery.

This is the paint through the holes in the stencil - I love how it's mottled and splodgy!

Winter Garden Embroideries

On my desk this week are two little embroideries I've been doing - and they are continuing my theme on the winter garden.  I used hand made paper as the base and added sari silks, glass beads, freshwater pearls, metallic threads and printing.  I wanted to give the idea of awakening - new life pushing up through the dormant layers and the hard, spiky frost.

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

White Winter Garden

I have just finished another piece of work in my sketchbook this week, based on the winter garden theme.  The whole page is very sparkly and glittery but unfortunately the camera just didn't pick up any of the sparkle.   

In detail the shiny stuff includes glitter on texture paste, tiny diamonds, iridescent thread and little dots of Perfect Pearls.  Non-shiny stuff includes twigs, white feathers and tiny scraps of rubber stamped Tyvek - there's a little bit more info on this technique here.

 I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW, and also with Paper Artsy for their current challenge 'shiny stuff'.

The Winter Garden

I'm currently working on a series of pages in my sketchbook based on the garden in winter.  I love the garden at this time of year - despite looking so withered and dormant, there is so much going on above and below ground.  My previous Winter Garden page can be seen here.

The colour palette was inspired by these photos I took recently, peering through glass on a cold and frosty morning.

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW - why not pop over and see what other people are up to!

My Winter Garden and the Paper Artsy Challenge

For the second challenge over at Paper Artsy the subject we've been given is shiny things.  I am currently working on a series of pages in my sketchbook based on my winter garden, and this page seemed very appropriate for the challenge - I have used white embossing paste with glitter, translucent embossing paste, copper wire, Treasure Gold and iridescent beads.  I'm afraid my camera simply refused to acknowledge that there was any shiny, glittery, sparkly stuff to photograph - even on the closeups it's hard to see the glitter.  However the translucent embossing paste shows up quite well on the lower half of the page, with a shiny glass-like quality, so all is not lost! 

Tyvek Lacy Papers

The Paper Artsy Challenge last week was to make art with fragile papers, and it coincided nicely with me seeing a fab technique over on the super-talented Angela's blog at Felix the Crafty Cat - she laid Tyvek over a rubber stamp, covered it with greaseproof paper and ironed it to create some amazing and beautiful lacy papers. I just had to have a go - I knew they would be perfect for the challenge - you can see how I used the scraps of Tyvek for my collage here.

 My collection of fragile papers included some scraps of delicate 'paper' using Angela's technique - although they look fragile, they really weren't!  In fact they were as tough as old boots and I had a really hard job tearing the bits apart for my collage!

 I originally tried working with Lutrador but nothing happened - luckily I found some scraps of Tyvek I didn't know I had and here are the results, which I'm quite pleased with. 

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

Paper Artsy Challenge - Fragile Papers

I am cutting it fine, but have just manged to link up with the Paper Artsy 2015 challenge before it closes for this week.  The subject was Fragile Papers. For my collage I used a disintegrating book cover for the base which has been beautifully eaten by something - the nibbled corner fell off while I was working on it!  I also used a page from an extremely old Shakespeare book that is falling apart, and some handmade Tyvek lacy papers.  Where I have pulled the Tyvek apart to make whispy bits, I rather like how they look like they've been eaten and match the little nibbled holes on the book cover!

Before starting the project I collected some 'fragile papers' together to get some inspiration - included is a vintage cigarette card, a page from a 1934 diary, part of the Shakespeare book previously mentioned, the broken top of a box for pianola music, and hidden underneath the various samples of Tyvek paper is a teabag!

Decay and Repair Textile Project

Another week of embroidery and stitchery, working on my long-running Decay and Repair project!  I would love to claim that all the embroidery is done by me, but sadly I didn't do the background stitching - that was already on the lovely piece of vintage silk I used for the background - my embroidery is mingling with it.  I might use a yarn card with less thread on it next time - it was extremely difficult getting the needle through all that thickness! 

I am linking up with WOYWW this week

Decay and Repair Textile Project

I have been doing a little bit of hand embroidery over the holidays, working on my project of Decay and Repair.  I found it very tricky sewing the hooks and eyes and just couldn't get them straight - I haven't sewn a hook and eye since I used to make clothes for my Sindy doll in the early 70's - perhaps child-size fingers helped back then!

I am linking up with WOYWW

Merry Christmas and WOYWW #289

The builders have gone, the decorating is finished and the tree is up - we're ready for Christmas!  I'm linking up with WOYWW but although there is nothing on my desk, I hope I'm forgiven as all my creative energies have been going into the festive preparations!  Here's a little mosaic of my decorations - red, brown and cream this year - and I managed to acquire an old sled which I'm using to display some of the presents.

To all who celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a happy, sparkly and creative one! 

Pine Cone Gift Tags

After last weeks Poinsettia-fest I've still been churning out gift tags like there's no tomorrow but this week I've been making some with a more masculine feel - after several failed attempts I finally got the hang of Tim Holtz's pine cone die - a bit fiddly and time consuming, but I enjoyed myself!  I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW.  Apologies for the appalling quality of the photos - will try and do better next week!

Christmas Poinsettia Tags

I wouldn't say I particularly like Poinsettia plants - I can pretty much guarantee that any given to me at Christmas will be dead by February - however, I'm rather keen on the Tim Holtz Poinsettia die that I've used for my Christmas tags this year.  In fact, I've been making tags like crazy - here's a small selection of what I've been making this week to share with WOYWW.

 

 

Vintage Moths and Yarn Cards

On my desk this week are some lovely vintage yarn cards I found at an antiques fair recently.  I had to get them as they were perfect for my ongoing project of Decay and Repair.   I love the delicate mint green colour and I knew I had some similar coloured moths in my collection.  

I'm linking up with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, why not pop over and have a look at what other people have on their desks this week.

Mosaic Monday and Farewell to Autumn

My last few photos of Autumn...

These last two photos were taken for the Themes of 2014 challenge - there are more photos in the series over on my Velvet Moth Photography blog for anyone interested. 

I'm linking up with Judith over at Mosaic Monday.