Lovely post from 'Very Mary' - Textured Vintage Cards

Life is not an exact science, it is an art.

Samuel Butler

I like today's quote of the day don't you?  The art that came in the post from the USA was a wonderful surprise - and showed me a totally different art form - and I can't wait to try to make one myself.

How's this for a textured card - it's brilliant in real life, and cleverly sewn

The cards are so 'touchy feely' with lovely textures and all vintage.

I just went to my followers list to add a link to Mary Ann - and all of my links have disappeared!

Edited to say that they are all back now - blogger must have had a glitch!

Have a peek at Very Mary's Etsy sites - she has the most amazing things!

Thank you so very much Mary Ann - you made my day!

A cloud of butterflies

I have spent a lovely day just messing about in my studio, under strict instructions from my husband - and I am definitely steering clear of the places they lurk, and staying in the safe pools of water!

This parcel holds something I made today which I can't reveal until it reaches its destination

I really enjoyed the few hours spent making it and forgot all about the crocodiles!

I have mentioned my dear friend Maxine who lived in Australia before on here, and the fact that she said she'd come back and visit me as a butterfly.

Well she is back again this year - and it fills me with joy.

Since she passed away quite a number of years ago now, each spring in our garage, a Peacock butterfly has been seen fluttering on the window of the door that opens next to my studio.  Patrick saw it yesterday, and it wouldn't go out until I opened the door for it today and it fluttered around and about me a bit before it flew off into the garden.  

Of course logically there must be a butterfly that manages to get into the garage to lay eggs which turn into pupae and hatch this time each year.  But I am always baffled as I never see any caterpillars, nor are there any opening windows in there, and the doors are kept closed so that the chooks can't get in. 

It's a wonderful mystery that it arrives at the same time that the Forget me nots start to flower in my garden, which they are just starting to do.  The plants I leave to self sow each year, as the original seeds came from her Forget me nots in Australia.

So what's all this waffling about then - it's supposed to be an 'arty' blog.   Well I was just setting the scene and my mindset this afternoon, sitting in the studio, the sun shining, birds singing, chooks chasing around after insects etc - and I felt so happy that I made my own cloud of butterflies

 

I played about with different inks, techniques, and colours.

There are no two alike.  I stamped butterflies on printed historical paper,  and I inked, and stamped and painted and embossed to my hearts content.

And now I am floating off indoors on a happy cloud to make tea.

So if you get one of my butterflies in the coming months, popped in with a swap or a little gift, you'll know that it was made on a lovely sunny Spring day, whilst I was looking out of the window  and not forgetting the Forget me nots!

Normal service will be resumed soon

Well in case you missed me - I have been off line since my last post. 

1. My broadband has been down - now rectified yippee
2. I can't be on here long due to eye problems - which I hope will settle down in the next couple of weeks.

So I have been spending my time baking lots of tasty cakes and cup cakes - and freezing them (my gorgeous bantams are laying like the clappers at the moment)

And as I have been doing a bit of gardening I have been finding eggs under bushes,

 in a flower pot,

on a pile of empty potting compost bags under the lean too - and some actually in the nesting box  where they should be!

The fresh stalks of rhubarb are up in the garden

.

so I have been making tasty pies topped with puff pastry

I have been doing a bit of pottering about in the garden, weeding

Spreading and digging in my compost

All sorts of things to keep me happy until my vision improves

Taking time to look at the spring flowers

And marvelling at the different shades and patterns on the hellibores

And trying to see where these sneaky game birds are going to lay their eggs.

Sorry there are no arty crafty things to look at - fingers crossed the eyes will improve soon so that I can get back to playing in the studio.

Until then - you'll find me singing away in the garden, or sowing seeds, or just sitting in the shade, watching my chooks, and listening to the birds.

Have a great weekend and hope to be back to normal service and visiting all your blogs soon.

Flower Arranging Friday

I did another flower arrangement on Friday - but it was hard to photograph as it was a dismal afternoon.

This is a modern take on a traditionl triangle style

It is another tall one - over 3ft 6in high

I cut the phormium from my garden

In fact all the foliage came from my garden, including the dried flowers

which had dried outside over winter

The flowers I used are Shamrock chrysanthemums

Gerbera, and pale green carnations

I enjoyed making this, and manipulating the foliage.

It smells divine and looks so much better in real life.

You can see all the different textures so much better.

It's in the hall now - so I pass it many times a day, and stop to take in the aromas.

Today when I went out in the rain to see to the chickens, I picked up some flattened daffodils lying in the soil.

I cut a few bits of foliage from the garden hedge to pad out the vase,

and added the few carnations I had left over from the other arrangement

The perfume from these fills the lounge and smells so fresh!
I just can't bare those artificial air fresheners.

Charming? I am not sure!

I have been making charms today - some of them I am not sure about. 

I don't like sending anything out that I would not be happy to receive myself - so please help me to decide which ones are sent and which ones should not.  I have enough time to make some more and these were my first attempt.

1

These are close ups and much bigger than the charms themselves as the charms are less than an inch square

2 and 3

These are highly magnified!

Stamped into and painted 

4

These have been made out of Friendly Plastic and painted

5

Melted and poked about a bit

They look very shiny in real life

Like black polished pebbles

6

With the exception of the leaves the backs are all this pattern

Sorry about the glare reflection - its shiny and difficult to capture.

7

Roll, squashed, poked about and painted

8

Same method but no two are the same

9

I am not too keen on this one - so I think it will be rejected

I did the veining with a pokey tool and it looks a bit thick

10

The charms are going on a silver bracelet

11

As before, squashed and poked

12

Extra painting

13

Unlucky for some - this is headed for the bin I think

14

I copied a dried seed pod- think it didn't translate too well

Maybe I need to paint the pod in the middle - pod colour!

15

I enjoyed making this one - but now that it is enlarged a great deal - it looks like a beheaded beetle's belly with a six pack!

That's it for now folks.

Please leave a comment on the ones that are rejects.  I really do truly want to know - and I have plenty of time to make some more.

Thank you

Experimenting - making cards

I have joined a Forum 'Birthday Club' and it's great as it forces me to make

cards each month for whoever is on the list.

It seems easier when you have someone in mind for the card rather than just trying to make one for the sake of it.   This lady speaks fluent French - she is also brilliant using inks to make backgrounds.  So I tried my best to do the same.  Of course the main part of the card is on pre-printed paper, but I did enhance it with chalks here and there to give a bit of 'depth' to places.

I also inked on top of the matted cards, and coloured a bit of the stamped image.

I know I have a long way to go until I can perfect my cardmaking skills so that it comes easier to me - but at last now I am starting to enjoy the challenge.

Two more to do soon.

Pizza Box

I made this little pizza box from a template in this months online at Time for Crafting 

 It was the first time I have tried a template and it was fun to do.

I used pre-printed paper as it was my first attempt.

There is also a template for 'MUM and 'MOM' so I had a got at that just for fun

I added a little ribbon tab to make opening it easier and this is what it looks like inside

It's a great size to fit all sorts of things in - and you can tailor make it to suit the gift.

I also made another little one - and used it to send one of my UTEE Vintage pendants to the USA.