Mini book Soul Whispers

I recently took part in a Facebook swap to create a mini book which would fit into the palm of your hand. I don’t think I’ve ever made a book that tiny before! I used water colour paper for the cover and, pages and also scraps of patterned paper for pages. 

I die cut some hearts to make into balloons.

A little pocket holds a mini tag 

I used one of my bubble backgrounds for a page

All of my images were stamped and watercoloured.

I included a little pocket in the centre pages to hold a little surprise 

There are lots of fun swaps and challenges on Facebook. 

My pages were 5cm x5 cm 

The recipient of my little book thankfully loved it, and the one I received in return was just brilliant too. 

The final page. 

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely day xx

I would like to enter my mini book into the following challenges 

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge

We Love to Craft Anything mixed media

The Brightest Star

Hello, I hope all is well with you. Today I am sharing a picture  which I created for the following challenges, Countryview Challenge Stencil, and Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge 

I am not sure if I will make it into a card or just keep it as picture to put on my wall. A friend sent me some of Tracey’s lovely stamped images. I used watercolours before  fussy cutting  them and  adhering with sticky pads. I created the background with Brushos, regular watercolours, lots of glitter and stencilled in a few stars. 

Stay safe, not to sure about all of the Covid restrictions being lifted in England.  Those  of us who are disabled and ill will probably have to continue to stay in. xx

Imagination Can Take You Anywhere

We will be spending another summer stuck at home, it is the safest thing to do really. This new variant is sadly getting out of hand. Goodness knows what will happen if social distancing and mask wearing cease on June 21st.  In the meantime my imagination can take me anywhere. 

I used watercolours for the background and to also colour the girl, and paper pieced her dress. I covered the chipboard toadstools with gesso and then watercoloured them too, 

I would like to enter  the following challenges. 

Paperbabe Stamps Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour 

Unicorn Challenge For A Child 

Cardsz4Galz Summer Fun

Send a Smile 4 Kids

Hare Again

Well this lovely hare is back again! This time on an oval canvas, I think I purchased it in the Tiger store back in the day when we could go to the shops! Well I know we can go to the shops now, but we have decided not to. After being told to stay at home for over a year, I’m not going out shopping now when we sadly have a new variant nearby, even when  I’ve had both jabs. 

I made this canvas for a challenge on Facebook. I used acrylics, to make the background, and watercolours to colour the hare. I also used some of my chipboard toadstools which I’ve been hanging onto as they are too nice to use, but I actually managed to use them ! It is silly to hold onto things, it’s fun to use them and then you can just  buy more :  )

I’m not sure what everyone else is going to do about the feedburner for blogger, I started to follow the instructions and it said to download 1,391 something subscriber  addresses most I suspect are spam. I didn’t want to do that, and you have to be so careful with other peoples data because of the data protection act of 2018. You can’t use or pass on peoples emails to others.There seems to be more and more problems with blogger every day, blogs seem to be old hat now  and most things are on social media. 

Thank you for stopping by, stay safe xx

The forest at the bottom of our road, looking forward to the weather improving, so we can go for a stroll.

My Support Bubble

Hello, I hope you are doing ok, such sad news we heard on Friday about the Duke of Edinburgh. We were all in tears, but he enjoyed a good, long life, and helped so many people by his good works. 

  Today I am sharing an art journal page which I created a few weeks ago. I should explain  that in the UK people who are living alone can create a “support bubble” with one other household. So this was my reason for creating this page. I used watercolours to bring Tracey’s lovely Characters to life.

Stay safe, covid numbers are at last improving in the UK, hopefully it may be safe to go out again soon... Sadly other countries are not doing so well and facing a third wave. Hoping so much that things will improve for the whole world very soon. 

Thank you for visiting xx 

I would like to add my art journal page into the following challenges. 

Happy Little Stampers 

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Crafty Creations

Unicorn Challenges include an Animal

Buy Now Or Cry Later!

Hello how are you today? I have been taking part in a Just One Stamp Challenge at UK Stampers,  where a group of us exchange a stamp each month. This month I  am using Sid’s stamp, it is the background one. I love the sentiment I have used with this card  : ) 

I had a lovely  surprise yesterday when  I discovered that My Artist Trading Coins had won the Crafts Beautiful star prize! Thank you so much.

I am still having problems being able to comment on some peoples blogs, I just can’t work it out. Blogger seems to be making things more and more difficult all the time!

Thank you for stopping by. 

Alice In Wonderland

I have of course returned to creating an Alice In Wonderland whatnot again. It will be the first of many this year, as 2020 is the anniversary of Sir John Tenniel’s  birth 200 years ago. He was the artist who so beautifully illustrated the Alice books.

I turned one of Tim Holtz hare dies into the white rabbit, and several of my other Alice stamps joined him too. I used watercolours, and polychromo pencils for my colouring.I used a little piece from a paper doily to make Alice’s  apron. 

Thank you for visiting xx 

I would like to add Alice to the following challenges.

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour

Craft Stamper Anything Goes

Artistic Stamper Words
Happy Little Stampers with Dies

Flower Meadow

Hello, how are you? Thank you for stopping by xx Today I can share my card, which was in last months Craft Stamper. The new edition is out this month with lots of wonderful articles in!

A meadow full of wildflowers is one of my most favourite sights to behold! I created the background for my 7in/7.78cm square  blank  card by using Aquamarkers. I scribbled them onto a splodge mat, following with a spritz of water.I laid the front of the card  into the colours, and lifted it up to reveal the pattern. If I wasn’t  happy with the result, I would have let it dry and repeated. 

I used the ink pad to stamp out my chosen stamps, which I watercolured before fussy cutting. I shuffled  them around my card without adhering, until I was happy with the result. I could then see where the most suitable place would be to stamp the sentiment.

I used foam pads to adhere the girl and flowers to the background. I created the meadow grass by cutting a piece of card 7in/17.78 cm x 2in/5.08cm and then cutting a fringe along the length. To give the grass a more realistic look I snipped diagonally into the grass blades, and curled some of them a little. I adhered it to the bottom of the card, and placed another flower in between the grass blades.

I was surprised and delighted a few days ago to discover  that a card I made for a family friends 91st birthday had won a prize in Papercraft Inspirations! I am happy to say she loved her card, and I will send her the page from the magazine, she will be thrilled!

Thank you so much for visiting, take care xx

Birth of Spring

Hello how are you today? Hopefully Spring is not too far away, and this little one is ready to welcome it’s arrival!

This cute stamp is by lost coast designs, and I would liketo enter it into their challenge this month 

Hip to be Square

Thank you for stopping by xx

Alice in Doodle Land !

Hello how are you today? Did you also have the terrible thunder storms? Hopefully summer will arrive shortly! 

I don’t usually share my art journal pages as they are for my own personal scribbles, but this months Paperbabe challenge is Doodles. So what better place to doodle than in your art journal. I have not done much doodling before except while waiting on the phone! 

I love Alice in Wonderland so I decided to do a quick scribbly sketch of  her. It was the  first time I had used my water soluble  sketching pencil, it worked quite well. Although I was a bit heavy handed sketching in places so the pencil did not blend completely.  I used Watercolours to give Alice some colour. Of course Alice’s roses are meant to be red,  but I don’t have any red ink. So I loaded up pink in my pen, but it must have mixed with some residual blue as it came out a sort of purple! Oh well never mind ! 

My writing is terrible but I included my favourite quote by Lewis Carroll 

“ imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality “

There is an actual Offical Alice day every year and this year it is on 7th July. I think I should blog something special on that day. Would anyone like to join in, I know lots of us love Alice?  

Thank you for stopping by today, happy crafting! 

Lavender Fields

This Majestic Deer stands proudly in his field of Lavender. He also loves to sleep in the Lavender field too as it soothes him to sleep.

I created  the background with water colours, and stamped the Lavender with two colours of Adirondack inks. I have heard a lot of good things about the new Distress Oxides so I am thinking about trying them out! I fussy cut some of the Lavender flowers and adhered them with foam pads to give some depth to the picture.

I hope you are all enjoying the summertime and all of the glorious flowers in bloom at this lovely time of year.

Thank you for stopping by xx

I would like to share this with the following challenges.

Stamping Sensations Anything with Flowers

Happy Little Stampers Watercolours/ Twist Blue

Craft Stamper Anything Goes

More Mixed Media Option Pastel

My Time To Craft In The Garden

Spring Fawn

 

I enjoyed making this Springtime background to compliment the lovely Lavinia Stamps.The mother and fawn are enjoying  a spring time wander in the forest.

Is anyone going to Ally Pally this weekend. I am looking forward to going and seeing all the lovely crafty whatnots. I will take photos to share!

Thank you so much for visiting today.

I would like to enter the following challenges

Lavinia Stamps Buds and Blossoms

That's  Crafty Foliage and Flowers

Artistic Stamper Backgrounds

Stamping Sensations Anything Goes

Penny Black All Things Spring

Creatalicious Challenges optional add flowers

 Craft Stamper Anything Goes with stamping 

 

Christopher Robin

 

 Christopher Robin, Pooh, and Piglet are enjoying the Spring sunshine in Ashdown Forest. I removed  a page from  my "The World Of Christopher Robin" book, and adhered it to a small canvas. The branches wer ecreated with texture paste and detailed with paint. 

After stamping  this lovely Pooh swing stamp I coloured and  fussy cut them. I hung the Happy group from the branches festooned with die cut blossoms.

Thank you for visiting us in Ashdown Forest today.

I created this page for the challenges below

Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge Books

Artistic Stamper Springtime

Mixed Media World Anything Goes

I was very lucky to have received this recently from Frilly and Funkie

I also had a lovely surprise this week, when a project was returned to me from Making Cards, and I received these lovely goodies below, totally unexpected! Many thanks to Sally Jarvis. 

Tweet Tweet It's Spring

 

As March arrives, we are celebrating the arrival (hopefully) of  Spring! I am thinking about  Springtime and Easter decorations to bring some colourful cheer to our homes. 

All the details of how I created Tweet,Tweet Sping its Spring, can be found on the Indigoblu Blog

Thank you so much for visiting : )

I would like to enter this into the following challenges.

Stamps and Stencils Birdsong 

Creative Embellishments Something that Flies

Creative Artiste Mixed Media 

Artistic Stamper Springtime

Stamping Sensations Close To Nature

Penny Black Anything Goes

Frilly and Funkie Welcome Spring

Craft Stamper Anything Goes

Rubber Dance Everything Spring

Products used

Mardi Gras

 

There is a wonderful Blog Challenge called Words to Craft By  Each month they give you a poem to create with. This month the verse is 

"It has been said that a Scotchman has not seen the world until he has seen Edinburgh; 

and I think that I may say that an American has not seen the United States 

until he has seen Mardi-Gras in New Orleans." ─ Mark Twain

I have a friend who plays Dixieland Jazz, and he has visited New Orleans many times. I have the trumpet player stamp just to create cards for him! I added lots of streamers, stars and glitter in the traditional Mardi Gras colours. Unfortunately the photo makes it look paler and less vibrant than it is in real life.

I created this card especially for the Words To Craft By Challenge. Why not stop by and join in the challenge too!

Thank you so much for visiting me today.

Pride and Prejudice

 

This months theme at Indigoblu is All You Need Is Love.

One of English Literatures most famous romantic writers was Jane Austen. Amongst many other classic novels she of course wrote "Pride and Prejudice".I thought that it would be fitting to pay a her a special tribute, she did give us Mr Darcy after all!

You can read all the details about how I made this tribute on the Indigoblu Blog

Thank you so much for visiting.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges.

Artistic Stamper Love,Hearts

Simon Says Colour of Love

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge Optional Twist die cuts, my background, flower and leaves were all created with watercolours, and Jane Austen's signature is die cut.

Card Concept Love and Romance

Stamps used.

 

Down the Rabbit Hole

Everyone wants to go down the Rabbit Hole with Alice. So we are going to create our very own Rabbits Hole card using pages from a vintage Alice in Wonderland book!

If you don't not have any old books, you can easily find them in charity shops, Jumble sales, and online auction sites.

I carefully removed 7 pages from an old vintage Alice in Wonderland book

I cut a circle in the first page and decreased the size of this circle on each following page.

I edged the inside of the circle with brown ink and adhered the pages on top of one another using clear 3D sticky pads

I watercoloured my stamped images of Alice, Leaves and a small Butterfly, and fussy cut each of them.

I mixed some Ruby Slippers paint into a spoonful of fine texture paste and swept it into one of the roses on the stencil.

I used a versamarker inkpad to stamp the script onto my 7x7 card blank. I used Teal luscious over the versamarker dabbing it lightly with a brush.

When the Rose was dry I brushed ultra thick Slap it on over it to give it a glossy finish.

I adhered Alice, the leaves and rose onto the Rabbit Hole

I adhered the rabbit hole onto the card and arranged the leaves and butterfly around it.

I added a finishing touch by stamping Alice onto the front of the envelope.I think I may add some colour to Alice...

There is lots more inspiration on the Indigoblu blog

Thank you so much for coming down the Rabbit Hole with me today. I hope to see you again soon.

I would like to enter my Down the Rabbit Hole into the following challenges

Craft Stamper Anything Goes

Artistic Stamper Anything Goes

Rubber Dance

Artistic Inspirations Anything Goes

Products Used

 

Meet Me Under The Stars

I am starting the fourth week with this rotten virus,it seems to be doing the rounds and just wont go away! Today I was able to play with my new Lavinia Stamps which I had for Christmas, aren't they lovely!

I used watercolours to create the background, and I flicked white acrylic paint with some irresdescent medium mixed into it for the stars.

I stamped and fussy cut the foxes and used 3D sticky pads to adhere them to the background.

Thank you so very much for visiting me today, I hope you have escaped this virus!

I have entered this into Lavinia Stamps Starry Night Challenge on Facebook

I would also like to enter It into the following challenges.

Craft Stamper Anything Goes

Artistic Stamper Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolours

 

Happy 2017

Healthy and Happy 2017 !

My year with The Mixed Media Mojo Design Team has concluded, and this is my final project.I used the White Rabbit from Alice for my first project, so I thought I would use him again for my final project.

I carefully removed a page from my old Alice in Wonderland book.In the bottom left hand corner I used super thick Slap it on through the Indigoblu Rose Stencil.

I stamped Alice and the White Rabbit onto card and bought them to life with watercolours, and fussy cut them.

I randomly stamped some clocks and also added 2016 and 2017. On the top of the page I stamped some cascading raindrops.

I added some glossy accents over the top of the raindrops.

 

When dry I coloured the Rose blue, and adhered Alice and the White Rabbit onto the book page.

Play along with Mixed Media Mojo Challenge this month the theme is New and the twist is Clocks. There is a whole new Design Team so be sure to pay them a visit.

Thank you for visiting, may you enjoy every day of the new year.