Nature gives to every season a Beauty all its own. Charles Dickens

Tuesday, 29 June 2010

More Stencil Paste


Here are the two other panels I made on Sunday. The ginger jar was made exactly like the wisteria vase; I was a bit dismayed when I saw how bright the blue ink was when sponged round the edges, but then I found the exact same shade in my stash of card stock and it made a very nice easel card! I found a blue chalk which toned in well to fill the gaps on the porcelain: it didn't look anything like the colour while in the box, but they merge well.The birthday greeting I had used for the wisteria was stamped in the same ink and the panel raised on the bottom inside edge to provide the support, then a single sheet with a punched edge added above it for the message. I haven't bothered to photograph it (as opposed to scanning) because A. it would be a week before I found the photo on the computer again (see my previous post on 8 June) and B. you can see my earlier easel cards at the post on 25 April.


The new home card didn't set out to be one, but having decided that I needed to mount the gold tree on something and then remembered that I need a new home card sooner rather than later - my friend moves 200 miles away next Monday - I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. It's perhaps 'unusual' for the topic, but the kanji translate as Blessing, Prosperity and Happiness and I think that's a very fitting sentiment for a single lady moving away from family and friends to a place that has been her dream for several years. L has had a very difficult time recently, with divorce and cancer and the death of both parents, and I wish her every happiness in her new life.

Sunday, 27 June 2010

Stories and Stencil Paste

It's been two weeks since my previous post: no cardmaking in that time, but a little creativity in other areas. Last weekend we attended another dance festival, this time in the city of Lichfield which has one of my favourite cathedrals. We had a most enjoyable time and I was so fired up that I wrote a dance the day after we returned - searching for a title I realised that it was the Longest Day, so no prizes for guessing what I named my dance! Unfortunately I also returned with a bout of bronchitis which I'd been incubating the week before, but a dose of antibiotics has finally done the trick and I'm feeling much better. That's also due to having an unbroken sleep last night for the first time in at least ten days because of the cough.

My other creative effort recently has been to write a story for a WI competition. Generally speaking I don't write, although I'm interested in telling stories as a folk art and took a course at the WI college some 18 months ago which was truly inspirational. It also revealed a hidden talent for sounding utterly convincing when telling stories in the first person - both such tales that I told were assumed to be factual even by the tutor although there wasn't a word of truth in either! Thinking about it, that could be bit worrying: I've always reckoned myself to be so bad at telling porkies (pork pies = lies in rhyming slang for those who don't understand English ;) ) that I gave it up at a very young age!

This afternoon I have been amusing myself with some cardmaking. We have 3 family birthdays in July plus several friends' both that month and in August so I need to get on with them. I don't think any of the family are regular readers of my blog so I'm happy to show off the results, but won't specify who they are for... however, I can say that this first one is for a crafting friend.


It's a new (for me) technique using Dreamweaver stencils and embossing paste. I've done the basics for several years but recently saw a demo using two stencils on the same design, dry embossing the outline first then adding an overlay, applying the paste and colouring it when dry. I edged the vase with sage Distress Ink, coloured the wisteria with chalks (I thnk I was a bit heavy handed for this first attempt) then coloured the gaps on the vase with more sage applied very lighly using a cotton bud. It's just enough to make it stand out from the glossy white background and makes it look rather like white marble. I was going to turn it into an easel card but after trying various colour combinations and layouts I decided simple was best. And I have to confess that I'm rather pleased with the result!

I did a couple more stencil paste pieces at the same time (if I'm playing messy I like to make a thorough job of it :)) so when I've turned them into cards I'll show them off here.

Monday, 14 June 2010

Golden Wedding Anniversary card


I've made this style of card many times, because it's so versatile and always makes an impact. Sorry the colour of the scan is poor, it's much too pink for the real thing which is cream and gold! I started with a sheet of ivory pearlescent card, folded and trimmed to 7"x5". I then mixed measurements and marked 2cm (just under 1") from the folded edge for the line between front cover and spine, and the same below the top to trim the front and reveal the 'pages' which are rows of narrow peel offs stuck on the inside. The corners were trimmed to a slight curve instead of straight, the first time I've tried it but it's definitely an improvement (see my blog entry for 14 February for a comparison). The gold panel uses Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page 'Double Loop' set, and the 3D flowers are from a decoupage sheet by Mireille. I only used 3 layers which I think is quite enough, although the sheet provides seven. I added a single sided insert sheet because it has to be quite small to avoid the cutaway sections, and somehow a tiny folded insert looks wrong IMHO. I used the same border punch along the bottom, and a gold peel off anniversary greeting to tie it all together. I hope our friends like it.

Goodness me - nothing from JRS, no Nesties and no Cuttlebug! No doubt they will all re-appear when I start on my next batch of birthday cards.

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Message in a Bottle


This was a fun project! Frustrating at times, trying to press on unsupported acetate without creasing it, but the result was definitely worth the effort. The bottle template is by Crafters' Delight and the acetate I used is OHP film - firm enough to hold its shape, but flexible when curved and not too fragile. There are 4 pieces to the bottle (neck, shoulder, body & base) plus a green card back. The background bubble paper is from my stash, the cork is a real one and the tropical fish are cut from a sheet of vellum I bought years ago and have wondered why ever since! I must have known it would come in useful one day. I should, perhaps, explain that the dark blue is merely background, the card itself is the lighter blue bit. I have enormous problems with photos of cards rather than scans: I still haven't learnt how to download from my camera and so have to rely on DH. Unfortunately as far as my photos are concerned they jump from the camera into a black hole and it takes hours (and harsh words between us) plus a large slice of luck to locate them. DH's photos? No problem - he downloads, files, edits and labels them, and retrieves them with a snap of his fingers. I have been going round in circles trying to decide where this one might be hiding, and what it might be called. There was no way I could crop and/or resize when it finally appeared - I was just so relieved that I grabbed it then let it go. I shall never find it again!

Next card due is for the golden wedding in a week's time, so watch this space...

Sunday, 6 June 2010

Two cards today


The first is for an online crafting friend who will, according to her birth certificate, be 90 next month, although none of her friends believes it! She's a lovely lady who looks at least 15 years younger and is a real live wire; whenever our craft group organises a get together in the south of England F decides it's time to make the journey by coach from her home in Yorkshire to visit her daughter in Kent so she can join us in exploring the local craft shops.

I know her favourite colour is blue and she loves flowers and butterflies so some of the paper I bought in New Zealand last year cried out to be used for her card. I love the verse I've put on the front (especially the last line, which I think we could all aspire to) but because the Nestie label covers most of the blue paper I used it for the insert as well. It's a reversible design so the upper half of the insert is loose to show the white-on-blue version. The scanner has made the blues look completely different, but I assure you they are the same - the picture of the card front is nearer to the true shade.

The other card is one of my trademark Clean and Simple designs, or is it really Plain and Boring?! For something that looks so very easy it took an inordinate amount of time to produce: I started with the punched edge, discarded my original colour scheme, tried pictures, stamped images, quotations, Nestie shapes, embellishments of all types....and ended up with the absolute minimum! But my DH, whose artistic eye is much better than mine, said firmly that I should leave well alone and he thought it was most elegant (yes, his very words ;) ) so here it is. The recipient is a friend of my sister's and together they make and sell cards for several charities in their village; DSis's style is akin to mine and she leaves G to do the more ornate stuff, so I hope G doesn't find this too lacking in decoration. I'm sure I don't need to enumerate all the bits and pieces I actually used, they're the same as in most of my recent cards LOL.

Friday, 4 June 2010

What happened to last month?!

I find it hard to believe I haven't blogged for a month! May was certainly busy, with visitors, a dance week on the Isle of Mull, decorating our bedroom, and a long weekend dancing at Chippenham Folk Festival. Hmmm, that probably answers the query in the title! But I have been creative, after a fashion: I composed two dances during and immediately after our trip to Mull, one to celebrate our friend Mary's 80 years of folk dancing which I expect to call at her celebratory dance in September. The other I shall dedicate to friends in the local dance club whose surname is England; it's called 'Green and Pleasant Land' (a quotation from Blake's Jerusalem which we sing at our Women's Institute meetings) and each of the four sections in the dance is named for a 'green and pleasant' part of this country. I tried it out last Wednesday and temporarily changed the title and just numbered the figures so it will come as a surprise for T & L when I announce it at a residential course I'm helping to lead at Halsway Manor, also in September. Having been asked particularly to run a workshop of my own 'new' (ie hitherto unpublished) dances I'm planning to launch my third book that weekend, so I have a lot of editing to do over the summer.



Back to cardmaking today, however. I heard on the grapevine that a fellow member of the WI has been seriously injured in a road accident, so I made this card for her using the embossing folder from the Cuttlebug 'With gratitude' set, the Martha Stewart 'Arched lattice' punch, words and border from JustRite Stampers 'Just a note' set cut with a Nestie circle, and my new Lotus pendant, also from Spellbinders. The gold dots are waste from a peel off border - it took a while to apply them using the tip of a scalpel, but I think they really lift the card and it was worth the effort. I still need to make two birthday cards and one for a golden wedding for June, plus cards for a 90th birthday and 3 family birthdays in July, so there will surely be more blogging this month than last!