ATCs

Miss Peach's momma, Karla, encouraged me to join an ATC swapping group that she's been a member of for a while. I'm really enjoying it :) 

Here are the ones I did for February's swaps...

Theme: "Yellow and Orange" 
I didn't sign up for this one originally, then I thought "Aha! I know: A ginger tabby!" and then I HAD to do it... This pusscat is a "Magnolia" cat stamp, and I drew the rest. He is sitting on the wall on 3D foam pads and he's holding a silver charm fish. For colour, I've used Promarkers.

Theme: "Children With Wings" 
I love doodling stained glass....
I found a website that gives free vintage photo images. You can't make them very big but they're ideal for ATC size...

That's my Indigoblu gilding flakes on the wings there...Promarkers again for the colouring, little paper flowers and baker's twine.

Theme: "Nautical"
I covered the card with gloopy PVA glue, then stuck some kitchen tissue onto it, and pushed it about, squishing it and moving it, leaving raised, squashed ridges in it. It had a pattern of blue and purple squares on it and I used this to form a suggestion of blue ocean, or perhaps the distorted view of mosaic in a swimming pool..... then added some acrylic bubbles... I like this one.

 

Theme: "Wordsworth"

I didn't want to do daffodils, I thought that would be too obvious :) so I looked up some more of his poems and found one called "The Wren's Nest", in which the little nest is hidden from predators by a primrose... I used an old farthing for the bird as these cute little coins had a wren on them. The flowers & leaves are made with a small cutting die (I've acquired a die cutting machine at last!) and as I didn't have yellow paper I used a post-it note pad :) In the background, I originally went over the card with blue Promarkers and then stuck a gold skeleton leave to it.
Ah yes, and this is Little Baby Bear Bob Jr, or Elb, for short.

 

I'm pleased that for this first swap, I am partnered with Karla :) I love her style and all her arty stuff, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what she's made. It's lovely to be looking forward to your mail in the morning, isn't it?

Thanks for getting me involved, Karla!! :)

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

For Miss Peach

The princess of blogger cats has curled up her tail and snuggled down for the last time. Poor, dear Miss Peach, whose gave us so many smiles and, at almost 19, gave me so much hope when my own, shall we say, 'more advanced in meows' cat, Scooter, was unwell.

Dear Miss Peach. Thousands of miles away, yet her peachiness, gentle, yet knowing and strong, reached all the way to Colchester.

I was late discovering she had moved on as I'd been unable to log on.... I only found out today and have wept buckets for my dear friend across the pond.

I wore my peach coloured scarf when I went to the shops, and chose some flowers... which ones, I thought, as I walked round the flower stall.... suddenly the absolute perfection in peachiness appeared. A mixture of pink carnations and orange roses. Who on earth would normally put those together in a bouquet? Yet together they were perfect- peachy.

I have placed them in a vase near an orangey pottery cat. Nearby, little Fluffy's precious ashes, and a candle for each of them.....

 

I'm alone tonight with my Scooter, as Luvbug is away in Ireland. But Scoot has taken to snuggling next to me and stretching out under the duvet with me. I'll appreciate his cheekiness and warmth even more tonight.

Getting more lovely things in the post :)

That cat stamp arrived!
So I've been colouring a few moggies in...So far I have only used one, and this I have set leaning on top of an address label on a parcel to someone :)


The fancy edging is courtesy of another parcel that was waiting for me when I got home on Monday- I've at last been able to replace my broken cutter:This Woodware one has lots of different edging blades that you can collect. You get a straight one and the wavy one in the initial pack. I've been cutting up every scrap in sight. It's so smooth and satisfying to use. I'm easily amused, aren't I?

Next, an intriguing parcel containing this wee box:It was from Miss Peach and her lovely Mum, Karla!
Look what she sent me!-Two multi-coloured stamp pads, a lovely Valentine ATC and some clear stamps.
Can you see what she's written? "4U because you have a..." and the stamp says LUVBUG. LOL!!!!!!
She said that when she saw it, she knew I needed it.
THANK YOU, Karla!!!!! I haven't had time to nip over to your blog yet, but I hope my card to Miss Peach gets there OK. It's quite pink and peachy so she should like it :)

And then, today, what do I wake up to but this-From Lorianna :) I love cards with birds on. I think I've said this before. Don't know why, even, but they always look classy and interesting. And the choccies survived the post! (There were three, but the third didn't survive the Luvbug.)

I am saving them for Easter. I am using the season of Lent to focus on not eating sugar or wheat. I THINK I have more energy when I don't eat these. I THINK. It's a sort of experiment, really.

Anyway there is a tag inside, tied with an organza ribbon:The camera didn't pick up the gold, or the glitter very well but you get a wee taste of how lovely it is. What a nice surprise! It really gave me a lift. THANKS, Lorianna!

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Lorianna is going through a deep blue patch at the moment, battling depression as well as terrible pains form her arthritis. Please nip by and leave her a cyber-hug if you have a moment. Send some positive vibes her way. Just think of the nicest, biggest chocolate cake and then think of her. I think that's how it works :)

Updates..... and a bit of crafting =) and trying to draw Miss Peach!

The beautiful leaf colours around tell me that autumn has finally arrived here, yet today was like a spring day. Luvbug and I went off for a bike ride in just jeans, T-shirts and jumpers. -Still no need for coats for jackets.

This time of year has a strange light in the afternoon. It makes the late flowers glow, especially the red hot pokers, which seem to fluoresce.

It was nice to cycle past fields being ploughed- with flocks of gulls following the tractor along. And passing under trees as leaves are shedding and fluttering down.... it was all very Enid Blyton! When we got back, we worked out from the map that we'd done about 8 1/2 miles. That meant huge mugs of tea =)

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Thanks for all the messages! The cold or flu, whatever it was, is out of my system now, I think.

I saw the doc aweek ago to get my test results, which were negative for everything. So no diabetes or any further thyroid problems. Hmmm. No clearer, then, as to weight gain and strange goings on in the running-to-the-loo department. As I had already noticed that wheat and sugar seem to make things worse, Doc advised I try strictly cutting these out.

So this is what I've been doing. I did it successfully for 8 days. I did fell less gurgly, less bloated, and the route to the loo was definitely less trod.

THEN! Oh dear. The "certain-time-of-the-month" demon crept up, whispering into my ear "SHOOOOOOOOOOGAR......SHOOOOOOGAR..... you MUST HAVE IT! YOU MUST!" and so on and so on till I gave in, some time in the middle of Friday night. (Sigh). I made toast- with non wheat bread- but slavered it all over in ginger jam. MmmMMmMMmmMMmm scrummy. Then, after about 15 minutes, it was HEY PRESTO! Gurgle gurgle, then orange poo. WHAT the????? I had to retreat to bed in a jumper and with a hot water bottle, as I was so cold and shivery, too.

Hmmm. A bit of a mystery, yes?

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Here are a couple of Christmas cards I made this week. The poinsettia is an outline sticker, stuck onto coloured paper, then cut out and layered up with silicone glue.
The bear stamp was free with a magazine. Isn't it cute? I coloured it with water-colour pencil, but left a lot of it as pencil rather than wetting it. I love the way the cat is clearly happy, but the bear looks a tad annoyed with having to pull the sledge!
Here are two dragons, stamped and coloured with Promarkers. The larger dragon is a Whiff Of Joy stamp. Not sure about the other, as I bought it used, on Ebay last year. Does anyone know of a "how to" video on Promarkers? I'm sure I could get more out of them than I do, I'm not too good at shading and highlighting at the mo.

Lastly, I'm trying to draw Miss Peach:I'm not completely pleased with it yet, so I'll have another go. But as the first cat portrait I've done in a while, I think it's quite nice =)
I've also been working on tag books and I'm going to do a how-to post on them soon, but I want to send off the one I made for a present first =)

I am definitely in an 'up' in the zig zag at the moment. I am doing so many things all at once!!!

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Hope you're all keeping warm and busy!
We are finally getting our central heating fixed- yippee! They start on 2nd November. This means it will be in by my birthday, the 8th. Luvbug even suggested it could be my birthday present. HAH! Nice try, buster!!!!