A Messy Desk!

 A bit of a messy desk this week - I haven't managed to finish anything and horror of horrors I actually have pushback!  The shells at the back have been pushed out of the way while they wait for me to varnish them, and some gentle collage making has been going on.  I say gentle because the tennis elbow in my right arm has now be joined by a frozen shoulder - they certainly make crafting challenging!

And on that note, can anyone please recommend an accurate guillotine - I always use a steel rule and a Stanley knife but that is just out of the question at the moment and it seems 90% of my crafting requires cutting straight lines!

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

Blue and White Shells

 I'm linking up with WOYWW today.  My desk is unreachable at the moment due to the fact I've emptied out the eaves cupboard that runs the full length of my room - it's full of overflow art and craft stash, and stuff I might need one day! 

However, I have a jar full of shells in the bathroom and a pile of paper napkins in the dining room so in between the horrendous task of re-organising that is going on upstairs, I've been playing nicely downstairs! 

I have wanted to have a go at decorating shells for a long time - they often crop up on Pinterest and after a few disasters I was quite surprised at how good they look from a distance - a bit shoddy close up but I blame the glue!

I finished them off with an 18kt gold leafing pen - it was an expensive indulgence that I don't regret at all as the quality of the gold is lovely. 

Underwater Birthday Card

I've had a bit of an unplanned blog break but at last I'm getting back into the swing of arty crafty stuff, and to start off I made a birthday card for my brother-in-law.  He used to be a dive instructor, so I wanted something with an underwater theme! 

 The card below is the first attempt but I didn't like the bright blue micro-beads that I had added - they seemed a good idea right up until the moment I threw them on the wet glue!  

I am joining in this week with What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Coral Dreams - A Boat Full of Treasures for Paper Artsy

I was so thrilled to be asked recently to do a blog post for Paper Artsy, on the theme of stencils.  

The finished piece was a little boat surrounded by coral and filled with seashells and other special treasures!  Step by step instructions and information on the techniques I used are on their blog here.

 

TAG TUESDAY CATCH-UP

It has been a few weeks since I posted my Tag Tuesday entries on my blog so I though I would play catch-up.

This weeks theme is 'Rock Pools and Beach Finds'.  For this I used a found piece of heart shaped sea glass,  which I wrapped in wire and glued to a piece of silk.  I attached this to a 'mess' of ink and gel medium and added some silver flakes.

Last weeks theme was 'Swimming'.  I used vintage images from the Graphics Fairy and 'somewhere else, I can't remember where'!  I emulsioned the background and stamped a swirly pattern to give an underwater feel, then added some small pearls.

For the previous week the theme was 'The Beach'.  I decided to keep it simple and stick to just rubber stamping (I think most of them are from Oxford Impressions).  The fossils and text were embossed in gold and look quite shiny and metallic.

And that's me all caught up!

There are some fantastic tags over at Tag Tuesday - why not take a peek!

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!

GPP STREET TEAM - 'THINGS I LOVE'

By visiting the blog of the extremely talented Terri Neggers - art-life-rust - I discovered the GPP Street Team crusade challenge.  This month the challenge is to create a journal page about things we love. So - with a new journal in hand and a studio just waiting to be worked in I have done my first challenge for the crusades (and enjoyed it immensely).  

Here's my journal page of things I love