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.

Midnight Lavender and WOYWW

I'm loving my garden at the moment - especially at night when the colours come alive and the moonlight creates such a beautiful glow on the plants. This tag is made using dried and pressed lavender from the garden, some collage scraps and some metallic wax.
Some of you who visit my blog regularly will know that I love working seasonally and for the last few years have been working during each summer on my 'midnight garden'.  If you are interested you can see some of my older work here.

I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who left good wishes for my carpel tunnel operation last week - I finally had it done last Friday and it's now well on the mend.   I'm struggling to type (this post is taking ages) or do much art but I made some tag bases before the op and have been able to do the finishing touches one handed - in fact it was surprisingly easy gluing on the lavender flowers.  
I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW.  I shall try and return visits but might just have to leave my mark rather than a comment - I hope you don't mind!

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.