Spring Tea Bag Embroideries

I've been working on these little tea bags this week.  

I started them a few weeks ago and have been finishing them off with

velvet covered buttons, hand embroidery, lace, beads and some water-colour painting.

I'm linking up with Julia and Jan for the 7th Anniversary of WOYWW.  I still have a couple of ATC's if anyone would like to swap.

Cinnamon Bark Tag

While at a needlework fair recently I discovered Cinnamon Bark and I love it!

I've used it for the background on this tag - it is quite textured and has a wonderful warm, spicy colour.   

I wrapped sari silk around the middle of the tag and used a Heartfelt Creations flowers and die set. I added some buttons I had covered myself, as I haven't finished scratching that particular itch yet, so to speak!!    

I have also been making ATC's for next week - I managed to make five extra so if anyone would like to swap please let me know and I'll swap with the first five to contact me.  I'm hoping it all goes smoothly as I've never ATC'd before but I've been assured by Julia that it is easy peasy!

Talking of Julia, I am linking up with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and I am also wishing her a lovely, relaxing holiday before her big adventure in hospital.   And good luck and a big thank you to Jan, who I know will be doing a fab job keeping things running smoothly each Wednesday!

Spring Garden Embroideries

I've been busy making some tiny little embroideries for Spring.  I used some eco prints I made last summer and some bits of old tapestry.

They are mounted in tiny little antique photo album pages, only about 3" across.  

On my desk this morning is this lovely bundle that my good friend Lynn from One I Made Earlier Today sent me - she sent instructions on how to make the little bow and also how to cover buttons without a button covering gadget.  I love the book mark made with that gorgeous batik fabric - thank you so much Lynn!

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

The Joy of Button Covering and WOYWW #361

Me: "I wish I had some velvet buttons for this embroidery"

Friend: "Just cover some yourself"

Me, sarcastically: "Yeah, right!"

Friend: "Get yourself a button coverer!"

WHAT!

 How on earth did I not know about this, how has the whole craft of button covering managed to pass me by?

I went home, searched ebay and picked one up for a couple of quid - I've been covering buttons ever since, and I'm loving it!

 I went a bit mad with my favourite green velvet as the buttons reminded me of cushions of moss.  I also covered some with bits of left over embossed velvet and I added some embroidery and beads. 

I'm linking up with Julia (who knew exactly what a button coverer was) over at 

What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday!

A Spring Collage

Enjoying Spring!

I wrapped some sari silk around a hoop of wire and then loosely wound some vivid green wire around that.  Once decorated it looked rather pretty on it's own and would have looked good hanging on a cupboard handle, but not knowing when to stop I made a background from an old book cover and attached the wire circle to it.  I think I have to make another hoop without a background now!

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

April's Forgotten Stash

My monthly quest to use or move along stash that I've forgotten about is still going strong and for April I've chosen three little leaf stamps by Impress.  I have many leaf stamps but they are all quite realistic and I use them a lot.  However, these are more stylised - when I first saw them they really appealed to me, but I'm afraid I just put them away and forgot about them! 

I decided to emboss them onto my very favourite fabric of the moment - this vivid green velvet!  For anyone interested in embossing velvet I have some instructions on an old blog post here.    

I must admit I'm rather taken with the stamps and am now thinking of other ways to use them, so perhaps they'll stay with me for a little while longer!  The samples will probably end up in my Spring sketch book, or I might make cards with them as they are just about small enough.

   

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

Spring Moss Collage

I'm loving working with this vivid green velvet!  
It's so moss-like and so refreshing from my usual earth tones.  I used a page from an old antique photo album - the shape of the photo cut-outs originally drew me to it, although they are rather ornate for a lot of things I find.

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

A Little Corner of my Studio and WOYWW #357

There's nothing going on on my work desk this week but this is what's going on with my studio cupboard - I've been busy sorting and organizing all the treasures and curiosities that I've collected over the years and I've now utilised my collection of old jars too!   
Here are some of the treasures that were stuffed haphazardly in all sorts of places and are now neatly sorted and easy to find - seashells, clay pipes and pipe stems, sea glass and sea china, chess pieces, antique spectacles and bits of an old dead crab!

Talking of pipe stems by dear blog friend Lynn from One I Made Earlier Today sent me a lovely little surprise gift - this funny little chap is made from an old clay pipe and will now be sitting on my desk keeping me company when I work!  Thank you so much Lynn - I now need to think of a name for him!

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