Bank Holiday Monday

I made this little collage for an engagement card, I thought the two cats holding paws was just adorable. My friend's daughter got engaged last weekend and plans to marry next summer. They've asked me to make the wedding invites and a scrapbook/journal for the wedding memories. I'm so excited for them and me, really looking forward to making something special for them. The theme is vintage with pink roses, right up my street. So if any of you lovely people see any gorgeous pink rose images please tip me the wink ;)

A little while ago I got my hands on the winter 2011 edition of Sew Somerset and Anne of Nana GoGo fame asked if she could have a peek inside, so here are a few shots of some of the projects it contains.

I loved it so much I've now set up a subscription via Rainbow Silks for this bi-yearly magazine, it's just so inspiring, packed full of wonderful projects by some very skilled seamstresses - is that the right word?

Lastly, here is a sneaky peek at my journal, it's getting fatter as I decorate the pages. I've nearly done the pages and have picked out the fabrics for my cover so I hope it won't be too much longer before I've finished it. I'm really enjoying it!

I hope you're enjoying what you're up to. We had typical Bank Holiday weather here today, it tipped it down with rain, but a day off is a day off and I always enjoy them :)

PS I checked on my post last year for my favourite rose, see last post, and last year it didn't bloom till right at the end of June, spring has just been so warm and the roses are loving it!

Favourite Rose

My all time favourite rose opened out yesterday - Jubilee Celebration. I smelt every rose at the David Austen rose centre, and believe me there were hundreds and this one came out on top. I love it's colour and fullness and when it fades it is just as delightful, delightfully shabby chic one might say :)

I'm having problems with Blogger but I don't seem to be alone. I've 'lost' all my followers, I just can't see all you lovely people. Hoping that the Blogger geeks get their finger out because it's just not nice. So big wave to you all out there and particularly if you've only just recently followed me, unfortunately I can't pop over to your blog to say hi.

Have a great weekend, whatever you're up to!

Think I'm addicted

To both pomanders and little fabric collages. Found this lovely pomander for the princely sum of 75p in a local charity shop. The rose petals in it has long since given up their smell and as it has a plug I could easily empty it and refilled it with lavender and it sits prettily on my marble wash stand. I'll have to get round to photographing some of my other pomanders, so out of fashion now but reminders of my youth when your auntie, who wasn't your real auntie, would bring you one back from their seaside holidays.

As to the collages they are beginning to be a kind of creative warm up exercise before I get on with something else more involved. Just loving them.

A very warm welcome to bloggers coming to visit from the Graphics Fairy. I was featured on Karen's Graphics Fairy craft blog with some of my earlier collages and some bloggers are then finding their way to my little blog. In answer to a few queries, the transfers are onto fabric and I've used TAPs, Transfer Artist Paper to do them, so quick and effective. Then I'm hand sewing them together and adhering them onto cards using Golden's regular gel medium.



Yup, had to do another cat card, lol.

And have started experimenting with wedding cards, this one along the theme of 'something blue'.

In other news I got a bargain of a welsh dresser with a rounded top from another local charity shop and managed to get it home in my little micra, not an easy feat, luckily the top detachs from the bottom and my dad was on hand to add a bit of muscle. It's a very dark wood at the moment, sorry no photos yet, but planning to paint it antique white and use it in my studio. I got inspired by watching Cristina Zinnia Gallihers inspiration video set in her studio. She has it arranged so prettily that you cannot fail to be inspired just by setting foot in it, so as and when I spot a piece of furniture that is both functional and pretty I'll be replacing tables and cardboard boxes in my studio. Watch this space!

Blossoms

My peony is out and blooming marvellous, sorry, couldn't resist it. I just love the big blousy flower heads. I've had enough flowers this year to fill a vase and still have flowers in the garden to hedge my bets with the rain showers that can wreck the blooms in an instant.

I thought I'd share some other blooms out at the moment, from this dark bluey-purple grannies bonnet - don't you just love that name

to my clementis and on to

a close up of a peony bloom. Planted two pink peonies this year so hoping for more blooms next year.

Talking of the future I was potting up my winter greens earlier on this week - dwarf kale, italian cabbage and rainbow chard, little pots of texture and colour. Just got to keep the slugs off them, grrrr .....

Enjoy your Sundays wherever you are. I'm hoping to get some creative work done today as not been able to get in the studio all week and boy have I missed it x

More Dying and Collages

I've been playing around with fabric, images, vintage buttons, lace etc and been having fun :)




One of my friends went on holiday to Wales and brought me back this lovely mosaic coaster, it twinkles with glittery bits, that don't show up too well in this photo. My mug of tea now looks great on this, thanks mate

I decided that I was going to try dying some more fabrics, laces and artificial flowers with the humble tea bag.

The results are all hanging up to dry, just hoping that they are alittle lighter when dry.


And I had to do a cat collage of course. I think all the images I used are from The Graphics Fairy, a great blog for vintage images.

Small Fabric Collages for Cards

Lucky Me

I had this tonic of an ATC come through my letterbox yesterday. I won it in Laura of Artfully Musing's monthly drawer. Do pop over to her blog and have a look at the wonderful work she does and she showcases others work as well. I love this ATC and will have to look for a suitably grand place for it to be displayed.


Out in the garden things are growing rapidly. I still get a kick out of my seedlings coming up, no matter how many times I see it. Here I've got beetroot Bulls Blood - grown for it's leaves in salads, dwarf kale and italian cabbage to keep up my iron levels in the winter, lol, all to be grown in amongst my flowers and shrubs.

It's hard to believe that in the space of a few short months it's gone from this.....

To this rather uninspiring bald look.....

To this, full and lush, with green and flowers everywhere. Still got to mend my arbour where the front support came off, luckily no one underneath when the wood split and then thinking of some sort of hanging for it...... more to come on that

My Mary Rose rose was the first one out

Followed this week by my lovely Zephirine Drouhin, clambering nearly to the top of the archway in only it's second season. Both of them have incredible scent but I have yet to smell them - I'm still blocked with this cold, so looking forward to having a good old sniff of these :)

Look who I spotted lurking amongst the chives, my old boy Mickeylove. He does tend to nibble the chives and the bamboo. 'You maybe black and white but you're not a panda!' I can be heard crying quite regularly, wonder what the neighbours make of that!

Definitely turned a corner with the old cold lurgy thing and feeling a lot more chipper. My computer didn't mind me coughing etc so I gave this little old blog a bit of a revamp. Let me know what you think all you lovely readers out there. I've also been able to catch up my telly viewing, one day just slumped in front of iplayer and watched 5 episodes of Spiral - anyone else a fan?

And more importantly pay visits to my favourite blogs, lots of beautiful blogs and bloggers out there. Blogging has opened up a whole new world for me, finding like-minded people, on the same wavelength and sharing our art, snippets of our lives, triumphs and tribulations. If you've been thinking about blogging, do it, just jump right in and go for it, you won't regret it. Maybe that's just too much at the moment but maybe make contact by commenting on a blog for the first time, go on, dip that toe in, I dare you :)

Fab Snail Mail Day

I had a lovely surprise when I got home tonight, the wonderful Anne of Nana Go-Go fame had sent me a great parcel out of the blue. Lots of lush fabric scraps for me to use in my artwork, all tied up with a pink ribbon :)

Some wonderful tartens and a lush tweed. I'll definately be using them in something soon, thinking cap on, muse charged with coming up with something fab. She's a real sweetie.

Then I knew that the next package, from Canada, would be an artwork from Nina. She sent me this lovely watercolour in a 1 for 1 swap. It's called 'My Soul Sings in the Night', I love it. I'll be on the lookout for an appropriate frame to put it in.

Then, earlier in the day, I'd had this magazine delivered to work, from the States. I got it on ebay (if anyone knows where I can get it over here in England, please let me know because the postage is sooo high). I'd read alot about this publication and from my brief flick through I'm not going to be disappointed. Off to bed now with it and a hot milk, might have difficulty sleeping due to a rotten cough and cold so at least I have something good to read :) Hoping you've all had great days wherever you are!

It's My First Time

It's my first time using Transfer Artists Paper and I'm loving it! It's like magic :) I was introduced to it on the Journal Making class with Carole at Madness and Mess

I think my Vintage journal has morphed into a Pre-Raphaelite journal, not that I'm complaining. I'm also having fun rediscovering the joys of handstitching, it's so calming and restful.

Even taught myself a new stitch, fly stitch I think, it's not very neat but I'm not after neat thank goodness.


Just adore this little birdie.

The only thing I used scissor on Carole was the 'imagine' tape, just couldn't rip it, honest. Gosh, she's a stickler for no scissors, lol