CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

I have lovingly been given this award by my very first blog friend, Artyjen. She has been so helpful with helping me to learn this blogland process and always takes care to leave comments on my postings. It is great to know people take time to look at what we make.

So I would like to award this to 5 new people who also leave comments and follow my blog. These are:

Sam21ski who is always leaving fab comments

Saskia

Lynn Stevens

Shar 

Hope Jacare  

To all of you because you all take time to visit me and leave encouraging comments.

Many thanks it is always appreciated.

INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

This is my contribution to an Incredible Journey with The Three Muses. I think Alice would have had an incredible journey by drinking from the bottle labeled "Drink Me".

TEAL AND BROWN FAIRY

I started this creation to join in with the Created by Hand Challenge but life became full and I did not manage to meet the deadline. I wanted to create a grungy quirky fairy. Well her she is. Then I saw that she could fit into the Teal and Brown brief with Something Completely Different Challenge.

The "I love Vivienne Westwood" is in honour of my daughter who has just finished her Bronze Arts Award. Part of the award was to research her Arts Hero, which was of course, Vivienne Westwood. I also thought as I was creating her that maybe Vivienne would also lean towards the grungy especially as she created the Punk look. I too think she is unique as a designer. Very individual and outstanding in her field. 

Whilst writing my last comment inspiration came to me. Now I have added the Stars and Moon she can be part of the Created by Hand Challenge. The sun came out when I re-photographed her. Isn't it amazing what a little bit of sun can do to enhance the colours.

I think she should be called "Moon Flower". If you do not know these flowers they are large and white and smell wonderful. Climbers that are faded by morning their delight is at night time. They really prefer a warmer climate than the UK. I have tried to grow them here but not really successful.

NANNY'S NURSERY RHYMES

Then a colleague at work is retiring and I know she is looking forward to spending more time with her granddaughter, so I thought I would make her this little book and use flowersoft for the first time. I was quite pleased with the results but I did find it continued to molt even after the glue had set. I knew this would really annoy my friend, who is ultra tidy and organized, so I decided to spray the pages with a matt varnish. This has cured the petal drop but it has led to the pages buckling a tiny bit where they didn't before.

EDWARD RABBIT

So what else have I been doing?  As you can see Edward Rabbit has come to life.

A friend at work has just become a grandmum for the first time so I just had to get the knitting needles out. The little boy is called Edward. I have had a change of activity as a result.

WHO'S CHALLENGE, WHO'S BLOG?

Well this is very strange. I found this wonderful background paper on a blog. The challenge was to use it in a project. Great I thought, just the colours I have been using. Now can I find that blog again to let them know what I have made?You guessed it. NO! if anyone recognizes the background paper please let me know. The challenge deadline has well gone but it would be funny to let them know.

As the last entry it is very much the same theme going on.

REMEMBERED PAST

Still on my Italian theme. 

This is my contribution to Tag Tuesday to use embossing powder. I wanted a bronze background and to use the embossing powder to represent the patina bronze sculptures are given or obtain over time. The embossing powder is Madonna Robe from the Stampman, which is a two tone powder. I put it over Stream ink from Adirondack. As the powder is quite light I needed to put it over a strong  blue ink otherwise it did not give a strong enough image. I coloured around the image to emphasis the light direction and highlighted the face where the high spots would be.

SPICY SUPPLY CHALLENGE

This is my contribution to Gingersnap Creations Challenge.

I was going through things the other day and came across some forgotten stamps. This being one by Michael Powell. I love his slightly quirky drawings and this Venetian Window really reminds me of Italy and the many terracotta roofs. It was the first time that I have used the distress ink pads and Adriondack dye inks as watercolours, using them as paints to colour the image after the background was first distressed.

BIRDS

Here is my entry for Birds.

It has a distress background using Adirondack dye inks. The stamps used are both Elusive Images from Graphicus and Crafty Individual bird stamps. The eggs are Elusive images and there are 3 egg stamps. One background shadow egg shape and two with varying spots, which you can overlay on each other and build up colours, subtle or bolder. 

In Celebration of the 4th July

Missed the deadline for the Stars and Stripes tag, but tomorrow is the 4th July so decided to add it in celebration.

The most interesting thing about it is that the star is cut with one snip of the scissors. This is achieved by folding the fabric or paper before cutting. It was the way the first stars were cut for the American Flag. I have used blue chambray fabric. A lightweight denim which I always associate with America.

Dans ma maison il y a... de la gaieté

This is the first time I have joined this challenge. I love the concept Dans ma maison il y a ......

Here is my Cheerfulness.

FAIRYTALE FOLLY: Once upon a time...

Just like a book you cannot know the whole story until all is read.

With this you cannot see the whole picture until it is viewed through the window from different angles.

Then it is up to you to make up your own story.

After all every picture tells a story.

Then at the end all is revealed!