A Little Winter Garden in a Tin

I'm working my way through some half finished projects and came across this tin with a couple of half made cocoons in it.   I think the idea might have originally been for a midnight garden last summer, but I decided it was perfect to round off the winter and get another 'work in progress' finished!

The backdrop is a piece of old rust printed cloth that is lying on my desk waiting to be used in another project, but I thought they went quite well together!

  I hope you are all staying safe and well in these challenging times.  I have been amazed at the selfless acts of kindness from the folks in my community - it lifts the spirit and renews my faith in mankind when I see such a supportive group of people on our local self-isolation support group pages.  I hope you are all getting the support you need and are coping fairly well with this horrible situation.

Sending virtual hugs to you and linking up via Julia over at WOYWW.   

Spring is in the Air

'Spring is in the air' over at Tag Tuesday, so here is my Spring themed tag - 

with Pussy Willow stems, hard frosty ground and hints of new growth.

Tweed and Velvet Christmas Cards

This last week I've been rummaging through my fabric box in desperation for some Christmas inspiration - I came across the red, grey and cream tweed off cuts and thought they went beautifully with some grey silk velvet and some wool worsted suit fabric from a sample book.

I struggled to keep the cards fairly flat so they would go through the post easily, it was hard and I could easily have carried on adding to them as I'm very much a lover of over egging the cake when it comes to embellishments!  However, I stuck with embossing the velvet and adding Pearl drops, and gluing some die cuts on.  Here are a few of them. 

And here are a few more that are going to be hand delivered so I was able to add more bits and bobs!  Not many made this year but perhaps next year I'll give myself a kick up the backside a bit earlier!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone and thank you for all your kind comments and support throughout the past year.

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

Textile Birthday Card and WOYWW

October is a busy month for birthday celebrations and this week it's my sister's birthday, so here is the card and gift bag I made for her.

I picked up some lovely tweed fabric squares from a charity shop a few weeks ago and decided they would go very well with the beautiful rusty orange coloured silk velvet.

I embossed the velvet with a leaf stamp, covered a couple of buttons with the same velvet, die cut some copper sheet and added some hand embroidery and beading.

I made the origami envelope but needed paper nearly A1 in width to get it to the correct size (6"x6") - it's open so the card just slips in, which is fine when it's not going through the post!

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

Mossy Doodles and Old Postcards

I've been doodling and using up little bits of old velvet.
Little mossy seed heads on old postcards - inspired by my lawn that's about 80% moss with a few weeds and bits of grass thrown in!

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.

Summer Night Garden Velvet Tag

I'm enjoying working on the night garden theme - and I love this blue/mauve velvet which has a bronze thread in it and seems to glimmer as if in the moonlight.

I used Infusions for the background and sprinkled them liberally on clear texture paste through a stencil for the darker shapes - does anyone else find the powder gets everywhere, or am I just a messy worker!

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

Summer Nights

While wandering round my local DIY store recently I discovered some new style paint sample cards, and they looked perfect for little pieces of arty crafty stuff!   Laid out in colour sequence they were totally irresistible to me!  

Working on my theme of the summer garden at night, I thermofax printed on them, used Infusion powders on clear texture paste and stitched velvet flower buds on top.  I wanted the effect of twilight sweeping over the garden, so I smudged the Infusions with a baby wipe, which I then didn't like as it just looked a mess, so that's why the other two look 'cleaner'!

 I forgot to initially coat them with clear gesso, so some of the texture paste flaked off - I quite like the effect though!

And here are the cards on my work desk!  I chose some lovely rich shades of red for Christmas, the blues for the summer night garden, yellows for spring, and a few pales that were actually to help choose paint for our dining room walls!

I'm linking up with Jan this week (who is doing a superb job of being Julia) for WOYWW.

Spring Tea Bag Embroideries

I have been finishing off more of my little mossy tea bag embroideries this week.

These two became little ATC's!

Some close-up detail:

I'm so thrilled to have received another little batch of ATC's in the post this week - and what stunners they are - the beautiful triptych from Angela at Felix the Crafty Cat, the exquisite print of her work from Sandra de and the lovely heart from Lunch Lady Jan - thank you so much ladies!

I'm linking up with WOYWW this week and am so happy to hear that Julia is now on the road to recovery after her successful operation - sending lots of love and keep getting stronger Julia. 

May's Forgotten Stash

Each month I'm rooting out forgotten and never used stash with a view to using it or moving it along.  For May I found a set of little frames by BLine Designs.  They came on a cube and there were four of them originally, but after peeling them off many moons ago I seem to have lost one!  

It was hard finding a project for them but I decided they would be little windows onto a Spring garden.

I am joining in with What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday this week and before I do anything else I would like to send Julia a huge Get Well hug - I am so glad her surgery went well and I am sending positive, healing thoughts and lots of love her way.
Last week was the ATC swap and these are the ones I sent out (I made 7 but somehow only photographed 6)....

And these are the ones I've received so far...

The wonderful bee, so happy and sunny, from BJ (BJCraftcorner) and the beautiful heart from Shaz (Silverwolf) - I am loving that heart stamp!  Thank you so much ladies, it was a joy receiving them through the post.