The coldness of Winter..felting landscape

This is a small felting landscape piece continuing with my series of trees in the different seasons. It has been really cold here today with biting winds and I am sure snow is on its way. I have tried to capture the swirling cold winds and start of snow on this landscape. I have used bits of wool from an old carpet I was about to throw out..for the rocks near the tree and added hand and machine embroidery around the trunk of the tree. I am really pleased with these little landscapes..might do spring next! If you click on the picture then you can see all the texture better

Christmas hanging box (Sunday Stamper boxes)

Decided to start making some christmas boxes today. This is triangular shaped box to hang from the tree. It features a Stitchels stamped flower ...the centre of which is red but somehow the light in the kitchen has made it look pink!! ded some more bling to the Father Christmas tag with little faux gem stones. The hanging tag has the word Merry Christmas stamped on it. All stamps used available from the Artistic Stamper. Think I will make some more soon now I am in the Christmas mood..now just need to get the tree as its 1st Dec tomorrow!

UKS Day 6 "6 geese a laying"

Used some of my finger painting backgrounds for this. Added a lost coast bird woman stamp and some inka stamped eggs (I used to love this US shop its such a shame its gone). I wonder what next weeks theme will be as its up to day 7!!

finger painting and sponge painting

Yesterday my sons bought loads of stuff at the christmas fairs we went to..my 6yr old bought finger paints and sponges to print with. If there is one way to get rid of being sad and fed up its finger painting! We had a great time messing round on huge strips of paper and making a mess..but it makes great backgrounds. We printed off the main paintings too and played around using our fingernails, edges of paintbrushes etc. I have strung up a washing line which holds up all our pictures..my sons call it the arty line so here is a photo of them in all their glory!

Feeling Blue (Created by Hand Im blue challenge)

Came across a great blog called Milliande..she has lots of excellent you tube videos worth checking out .. . I used her technique with brasso wadding to remove the surface of magazine pictures. I added loads of different paper surfaces, muslin etc and covered the lot with various shades of paint. Check out the Blue Eyed girl blog as that is where I found the Milliande link

I am not feeling particularly blue today as I got some bargains in a shop that was closing down this morning (3 pairs of wellies for the kids, purple hoodie and purple sun dress for me all for £2.50!!!)

Bluebirds and Daleks! (TMTATC bluebird)

This little ATC features a woman stamped and covered with a tape transfer. Have added 2 birds stamped on marbled fabric and some diecut grungeboard swirls to the edges. All stamps available from the Artistic Stamper. It is still raining very heavily here and I think she is hoping to see some sunshine through the grey rain .

A word of caution to all parents be careful how you hide your childrens christmas presents! I thought I had hidden this Dr Who dalek helmet well but when my husband opened the loft door my son spotted it through the loft hatch as he was at exactly the right angle on the stairs to see in!! So here he is in the kitchen exterminating us all!

Bird fabric bowl featured on C&T blog!!

This little bird bowl that I made has just been featured on the C&T site which I am pleased about. I made the bowl following the really easy instructions in Irresist a bowls by Linda Johansen..click on the link as the book is going to be half price soon!!!

UK Stampers Day 5 (5 gold rings)

Here is my interpretation of 5 gold rings for the UK Stampers challenge..its getting more difficullt as next weeks is 6 geese a laying!!

Scraps, Stamps & Scouse & Sunday Stamper..

I love using texture and layers in my work so made some cards with paper, material scraps and threads using the new Mabel Lucie Atwell stamps available at the Artistic Stamper. I have sewn with some embroidery thread over the material and paper scraps to add a little vintage texture. Over at the Sunday Stamper the theme is holly so this second card is ideal for that!

We have just had the church Christmas fair so my sons have picked up lots of toys to occupy themselves on this rainy wet afternoon. We had the best bowl of scouse in Liverpool at the church and my eldest son along with fellow cubs made £9 for the church funds on their duck apple stall!!! We met a lovely Father Christmas who took time to speak to all of the childeren and my youngest sang Jingle Bells with him..it was one of those magical moments that will stay with me forever.

Here is a link to my recipe for Scouse..the longer its cooked the better! Its gorgeous in cold wintry weather like we are having now..

TGIF femme fatale greta garbo

I used an old chipboard tag off a coat to create this fridge magnet. Magazine clipping of Greta Garbo (I think its her or Marlene Dietrich???) covered with tape transfer of Tim Holtz paper with added frame and other stamped images, ripped papers, magnetic tape to the back and the word woman.

Theme Thursday Lots of colour skinny & Berlin

I have never made a skinny before..it measures 3 x 5. The theme was lots of colour so I put loads of colour on this piece and then added some brushed paint. Added a piece of scratched foil to the top.


I recieved this lovely Berlin postcard off Sigrid today all the way from Germany..love the Tim Holtz stamps on it...thanks Sigrid

Tim Holtz Mirror (a homage to the king of grunge)

More Tim Holtz..managed to finish my grungy mirror today. Covered all the papers with wax and ink to age then added bottle tops.. I added my one and only Tim Holtz stamp of a little winged boy given to me by my friend Pat the other week. For an added bonus you have even got a view of my kitchen's artex ceiling..dont you just hate 1980's artex!

Berlin and a little jar

I am taking part in the Travel Round the World Swap again..this time its Berlin. This card is on its way to the groups organiser Katrin in Germany. It features images of the Berlin wall which celebrated its demolition recently. I have added my fav little Tim Holtz boy who is flying away to freedom..the whole lot is covered with wax to age it.

I took part in an upcycled packaging swap on UK Stampers and this lovely little jar arrived in the post off Sid..thanks Sid love the use of alcohol inks on it.

Autumn felting landscape

When the weather turns cold I love working with wool..last year I was knitting loads of scarves for the family but this year I think it will be needle felting. This is a little landscape where I wanted to capture the movement of swirling wind blowing the last remaining leaves off the trees. I have added some machine stitching and hand embroidery for added texture. I am very pleased at the way it has turned out and think I will start on another....

Stamps and Silk painting..

I wanted to have a go at silk painting as soon as I saw these little bird and heart stamps from the Artistic Stamper. They are designed by Hels Sheridan and are just perfect for the outlines needed for silk painting. Simply stamp onto silk using a pale colour dye ink then fill outline in with gutta making sure there are no gaps. When dry fill the centre with silk paints. To get the marbled background shown here just sprinkle some rock salt on to the wet silk paint and it makes this gorgeous marbled pattern. Here I have made a little quilt square but silk painting would make lovely cards.

Its time to celebrate being way out! (UKS Day 4)

I am reading the True Colors book at the moment which has all these mad collaborative journals in it. In the spirit of wackiness I thought I would do an over the top layered page for this Sunday's UKS challenge.

marbling with shaving foam...

Had a mess round with shaving foam and inks this afternoon. You put a layer of shaving foam in a tray then put some thinned out inks, paints, dyes etc onto it and make a pattern with a stick. Layer some thin fabric or paper over the top..scrape off the excess foam then hang up to dry. When its dry iron it to fix the paint etc and you have some unusual fabric. Make sure you cut off the surrounding white bits as your eye will fix on them instead of the possibilites of the fabric pattern. I think I might machine embroidery over these pieces as I have been watching Talking Threads and have been inspired by lots of techniques shown there.

more fabric bags...

I have added some more little fabric art bags to my Etsy shop. These bags are provisionally reserved and if they sell I am sure to make some more soon.

New blog ..Collage Arty Kidz

Please check out my new blog that I have created to show my three sons art work! They do so many great drawings that I wanted to share them as they are always saying " Mum can you put this on your blog or can we have a blog Mum" so I thought why not have your own blog! just to show artwork. It would be great if you could leave a comment.

http://collageartykidz.blogspot.com/

Arty Letter Rack (Theme Thursday patterned paper)

I went to my friend Pats yesterday and she kindly gave me a letter rack to alter. My friend Linda has already altered hers. I am reading Tim Holtz Distressables book so as I am up to the chapter using bottletops I decided to use some on this piece. I thought I would add the word "arty" as that describes me! The theme over at Theme Thursday is patterned paper and as this has a load of inked Tim Holtz patterned paper I think it qualifies.

We shall remember them (Created by hand remembrance)

Made this quick ATC featuring some of the images from my cigarette card collection. So many men and women fought bravely in the world wars. This ATC is also to remember all those killed trying to escape over the Berlin wall which celebrates its demolition this week. Whatever you think of the current wars in the world..just take a moment to think of all those families torn apart by the devastation of wars and how lucky most of us are that we are not living in a war zone.

Getting grungy with grungepaper..

I bought some grungepaper pack and thought I would have a play with it today. Its really easy to cut, sew, works well with distress inks and can also be easily manipulated into shapes. For the pieces featured here I coloured it with distress inks and stamped an intricate botanical stamp using ranger archival ink )

I really needed a watchstrap as my other one was falling apart..as you can see its really easy to sew. I also decided to make a bracelet and this has a fastener from Tim Holtz Idea-ology range and uses some flower power stamps as does the dream coaster above.

UK Stampers Day 3 (3 french hens..)

Here is my take on 3 french hens for the UKS Sunday challenge. It features 3 eiffel towers on the stamped background. I have added the words rock n roll as currently my sons are playing along and singing to The Beatles rockband they have just got for the Wii...its never quiet in our house!!!

Applique bird cushion

Managed to finish my cushion tonight. I have never done applique before so I drew a picture of a bird and sewed it on to the quilted cushion then used chain stitch around it. The quilted cushion is made up of little squares and triangles using lovely liberty print fabric given to me by my quilter friend Liz. I went to the local park today and saw some lovely swans, coots and geese on the pond so that is where I got the idea for the design for. I also picked up some beautiful orangey red leaves that I am drying at the moment ..so hopefully will be able to use them soon. I love going to the park at the moment as the colours of the trees are so autumnally beautiful.

7 gypsies bracelet..

I found a 7 gypsies naked charm bracelet kit in my stash tonight. I altered the bright silver with a bit of alcohol ink and added some crafty individuals pictures, black beads etc. I am quite pleased with it as it only took me about an hour to make.

more useful art..cute little tins

I love making these little tins as you can fit little collages on them and they are a nice size to hold. The stamp at the bottom is a Tim Holtz one given to me yesterday by my friend Pat who I havent seen in a while as she is renovating her house. Its good to catch up with friends and have a good natter. These little tins would make ideal little presents I think. I am making a little quilt cushion at the moment so hopefully will be able to work on it later once my children are in bed..what are you working on at the moment?

I am this weeks featured artist in this new e-letter!!

My friend Lisa over at C&T publishers has compiled a new e- newsletter that features lots of arts and crafts info. I am the featured artist in the first issue so click on this link to see what its all about....
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs055/1102797715835/archive/1102799544362.html

Breaking free...(theme thursday borders)

Thought I would add a masked border and butterfly to this drawing I did last night.

Feeling blue or feeling happy..pastel drawing practice

Found my charcoal and pastel crayons tonight so had a go at some drawings while watching the funny Bill Bailey on TV.

Crazy cosy home (gingersnap challenge cozy home)

..even though she lived in a crazy home she was loved! Loads of layers and stamped images for that feeling of craziness! Do you to live in a crazy but cosy home?

Dreaming of the Orient (Wed Stamper Asia)

This piece started off with the alcohol inked background for the oriental lady stamped image. I then added more layers including papers, flowers, dream transparency and fibres at the edge. I am enjoying playing round with alcohol inks at the moment as they make great backgrounds.

Christmas Fair ideas that young children could make..

I have been working out some ideas this morning for little gifts that cubs could make with some help to sell on their christmas stall. I think sometimes its quite difficult to translate crafty ideas into something an 8-9yr old could make easily. The photo shows some of the ideas I have come up with!

Baked bean tin little Christmas cakes..just clean out tins thoroughly then add cake mixture. Poke little knife in cake to make sure its cooked..takes around 25 mins. Allow to cool then decorate tin with some Christmas paper

Christmas notebooks..how about decorating some cheap notebooks with nice christmas paper.

Christmas Peppermint creams in a nice bag..make some peppermint creams then dip them into chocolate and staple a nice topper to the top of the bag made from cardboard and Christmas paper. The bright paper I have used here is from the DCWV Christmas range.

Black n white scissors & pen case (MMM opposites)

For the background I used some of the fabric that I printed last night using my home made print blocks! The image is printed out on canvas and have added ribbons and buttons. Makes an ideal case for scissors and pens...a nice little gift

router cut wood print blocks

My husband has just bought a router to cut grooves into his various guitars..he asked me if I wanted to have a go to see what I could create with it. I just had a play and managed to cut these wood blocks..I am quite pleased with them. I have put black paint on them then printed on material and paper. You have to put the material on top of the wood block then press really well with the brayer...dont know what I am going to do with the prints yet...but I love learning a new creative process.