INSPIRATION HAS RETURNED!

I sat down yesterday to make some ATCs but ended up producing this instead - and in my favourite vintage style too! It's been so long since I did much in the altered art line, I was beginning to think inspiration had deserted me. However, after a dry spell, it would appear to be back! This piece is about 4.5" x 4" and is based on a wooden block Linda gave me for my birthday.

I painted it with toffee brown acrylic and then added a paper of Basic Grey paper to each side (don't you just love their grungey papers?). I had this idea not so much about the work/life balance thing that everyone seems to be talking about these days, but the separation which often exists between work life and home life - well it did for me anyway! So the front is about home and family and the reverse is to do with offices and work. I'm SO pleased to have made anything at all, let alone something I actually like!

Most of the elements are from various collage sheets, although the little house on the front is a stamp from Invoke Arts, and the swirly bits are also a stamp. I made the key on the reverse from Delight Clay and painted it with metallic black, then rubbed it with bronze to provide an accent.

NEGLECTING ...

I am very conscious that I'm neglecting my blog, but my oldest daughter is having her third baby this week, which has driven everything else right out of my mind! Even my crafty activities have been mainly geared to baby items. Now that my grand-daughters have gone home (phew!) I am hoping to make some ATCs today ... just for a treat!!

Chapter 18

Chapter 18 has been going rather well, but this does mean that I don't get much time left over for doing arty stuff!

I did however manage this homage to Cath Kidston, in my altered tissue box. We recently bought some very pretty bedding which is sort of son of CK (actually it's V & A Collection) and I was looking at the pattern and thinking "I've got a stamp just like that". So I used whatever I could find to make something in harmony with the design and am delighted with the result. It might need a layer of Mod Podge just to seal it.

Now ... back to Chapter 18, in which our heroine realises she is pregnant ...

MORE FELTING

Still trying to make a felt brooch I actually like enough to give as a gift ... I continued working on the felted jumper I shrank in the wash (deliberately I should add)!! I took some recycled silk sari yarn, undid it a bit from its twist, and then felted it into the background fabric.


Then I threaded my sewing machine with gold and stitched over it - I used a herringbone stitch and just sort of did spirals over the silk yarn


Finally I added an assortment of beads. I still don't think I like the results very much, but this is definitely an improvement on my first efforts, so maybe it just takes time and patience. I've got the time but am not sure about the patience ....!!

LINDA TOLD ME TO DO IT ...

Linda told me I had to put this on my blog! I've seen some wonderful felt brooches around and about and fancied having a go at making one. The felt is a jumper of my daughter's which I rescued from the charity shop bag because a) it was wool, and b) I absolutely LOVE the colour. I put it through the hot wash and it came out shrunk enough to fit a toddler, since when I've been working on pieces of it. I'm not actually going to show you attempt one (too embarrassingly bad) but no.2 above is an improvement. I added a panel of silk taffeta and explored some of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine.

After adding another panel, velvet this time, I took it downstairs and had a go at hand beading and embroidering it. This is the part I'm less pleased with - perhaps I should have had a more definite pattern in my mind for the beading, I just did it randomly and I'm rather afraid you can tell! I don't see it as finished, but am resting it for a while in the hopes that inspiration might strike. What I want to do is how do you do beading "properly" and is there a book I can learn from? Answers on a postcard please ....!!

ANOTHER JOURNAL PAGE

I don't know why it's taken me 55 years to ask for help, but I may (just) have got the hang of it (but please don't quote me on that)! My mum was such a casual, even neglectful parent, that I got used to the idea early on that I was on my own. For a large part of my life I haven't needed very much help, having learned the hard way to be omnicompetent (or to look as if I am). In the 15 years I've had FM I have gradually needed more and more help, and am only just learning that it's OK to ask ... rather than get annoyed when people can't see without me telling them! Too much inner child there I think!!

I'm really enjoying this project, and it will be good to have a solid reminder of all the things I hope I've learned along the way. I should add that the book is relatively small, about 5 x 7 and will be spiral bound when it's complete.

BACK IN VINTAGE MODE ...

I made this for an ATC swap - hope my partner likes it! I've used a scrap of very slightly patterned paper for the background, over which I've stamped an image of a document in brown. I'm quite pleased with the effect that's given. The photograph is from my stash, but reminds me of my grandfather - who I never knew because he died the year I was born. The clock is another stamp, the key is a rub-on, and the words from a Tim Holtz distressibles sheet. I added the treble clef because I was thinking about history, and generations past, and the words "a dance to the music of time" came into my head, but as usual I can't remember where it's from.

I have no idea why I love working in brown vintage style like this - I just do. I've been writing all day and this was my way of relaxing ...

PAPER WHIMSY CHALLENGE

Gale at Paper Whimsy is offering some free images of doors, and challenged us to use the image in our own artwork. How could I resist, especially when I have a thing about doors ...?

I altered the door itself, giving it a posh portico and adding a number, and the grumpy little girl on the step is one of my favourite PW images. Then I couldn't resist added over-sized ivy creeping up the wall and touches of grass. It's quirky but fun!

Her name is Polly and she's standing on Granny's doorstep, having run away from home because mummy is cross. She's rather hoping that Granny will have biscuits and a big hug for her ....

A PRESENT FROM MY FRIEND ...

Just look what my lovely friend and collaborator Linda sent me for my birthday! I opened the box to find a sea of turquoise tissue and shredded packaging, into which were nestled all manner of treasures. Artworks, little things like a reel of ribbon, a tiny bird, moo cards, even blank wooden shapes to play with! Opening this gave me SUCH pleasure and I hope she knows how much I love her! Well she does now ...

ANOTHER JOURNAL DAY

This is turning out to be a really special project for me, particularly since I'm too busy with other stuff at the moment and not getting enough time just to make art. Doing the journal means I have to take time every day to reflect on my life and produce another page, and without it I think I'd be getting frazzled!

We live in a beautiful old house which is desperately cold in the winter, and my heart sinks a bit as we get into September. We'd hoped to have secondary double glazing in the main rooms by now, but this has had to go on the back burner, so we're in for yet another winter of huddling in thermal vests and thick sweaters. Hey ho, it's still a beautiful house and I feel lucky to live here. Maybe it will be a mild winter??

I was so busy dreading the cold days to come that I forgot to notice the mellow beauty of this time of year ... this is a leaf from a vine which grows outside in a corner of the garden. You can eat the grapes and it amazes us every year. It's colours are so beautiful in Autumn, and of course I love this vivid pink, so this is what my page was about .... not forgetting to notice the beautiful.

DAY 3 OF THE JOURNAL

I'm really enjoying the journal project so far, and this is my page from 3rd September. I like it because it's quite simple and subtle, which actually suits what I was trying to say very well. The background is a K & Co paper from the Blue Awning range, which I LOVE. I was prowling around the garden looking for photo opportunities (and there are lots at this time of year) and the grass just looked so inviting and lush, that I took me shoes off. It was lovely ... a little cool but refreshing, and so very soft underfoot. It helped me see that the smallest everyday pleasures are so easily overlooked ....

A NEW PROJECT ...

I do love making mini-books so I signed up to take part in Shimelle's new class "Learn Something New Every Day" which runs throughout September. It starts today so I've spent the past few days working on this set of covers for the project. I've used materials from K & Co's Blue Awning range (just love blue and green), with Basic Grey lettering and a few metal bits and pieces.

I was particularly pleased with the oval embellishment, where the central space for a stone was empty. I painted it blue inside then added layers of Glossy Accents, and now it looks like a proper stone!

I'm looking forward to recording lots of learning with this, and hopefully will be sharing some of the pages I make. Another heirloom for my daughters to inherit.....