Thoughtful Monday 163

"Love is fruit in season at all times, and 

within the reach of every hand"

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Hanna's DIY Postcard Swap 2012!

I did Hanna's postcard swap last year and it was so much fun both creating 10 postcards to send out all over the world and to receive them so this year I was thrilled to see that she was doing it again and signed up.  I've had problems with my camera of late and had to use my iphone so the photos are not at all clear (it didn't help that by the time I got to photographing them it was late, the light was artificial and not that good, and I was in a rush!!) but here we are:

 As soon as I thought about how I wanted to create my cards I knew I wanted to use brown paper and red stitching on some of them - don't ask me why, it was just a very strong urge!! So here you see a couple of them with just that plus some stamping too.  The one on the top right was a mix of collage and a distress ink background.  The bottom left was a napkin collaged, some tea dyed paper onto which I stamped a quote and cut it up to stick on, and then added a Tim Holz disc which says 'destiny'.

The one on the left here is a piece of fabric which I have quilted and sewn on to the postcard (it has a lovely quote about tea on it".  The white bit you can see, I distressed with vintage ink and the word 'enjoy' on it.

The one on the right is again a collaged napkin (Chinese style) and the paper flower is cut out of Chinese newspaper, all inked with a plum coloured ink.

The two on the left hand side I did in Traci Bautista style (I just love it) using some spray inks, acrylic paint, black Indian ink  and a white correction pen. Then I added the words, colouring them gently with some vintage distress ink.  The card in the top right has a background stamp, then some Tim Holtz dictionary tissue tape and a little tissue envelope finished with a balloon brad.  There is a quote on the left which you can't see easily in this photo which says "Be bold in the dreams that you dream for yourself" which is a Christine Mason Miller quote.  The bottom left is a again a collaged napkin (I really liked doing this!!) with a die cut piece of music and a Tim Holz disc again but this time in a rectangle and with the word 'wish' on it.

 Then of course there were the envelopes!!  I cut out some fun paper and sewed the envelope shape, adding a cut label (which you can't really see as I wanted to protect the addresses which I had already written!)  For some of the envelopes I used book pages which was an idea I got from the first postcard I received out of the swap from Sweden which I will show in another post.

The envelope on the top right is hand stamped with splatter, leaf and script stamps - love them!

 So off these go now to their various addresses in the US, Australia, Sweden and one here in the UK.
Thank you Hanna for organising this.  I really enjoyed it and 10 is a great number.

Thoughtful Friday 162

“The things that make me different 

are the things that make me.”

A.A. Milne

Desire to Inspire Inspiration deck swap

I am finding that small challenges really help to push me in my exploration of art and mixed media techniques and allow me to experiment and have a lot of fun.  So I was overjoyed to find this swap going on at Jessica's blog - In search of Dessert.  It was  question of finding a pack of playing cards (not difficult as I discovered I had at least two sets in a junk drawer!) and then decorating each one and adding a quote.  This was right up my street so although the deadline was around the time I was in the throes of flu, I kept going.  Here is a peek at the pack I sent off to Jessica.  She will mix them all up and send us each a pack of our own - how fun that will be!!  Thank you Jessica.

I gessoed all the cards first and then painted some with acrylic paint, some with ink, covered some with paper, spray painted some and so on...

Thoughtful Friday 161

"The real things haven't changed.  It is still

best to be honest and truthful; to make the

most of what we have; to be happy with

simple pleasures; and have courage when

things go wrong"

Laura Ingalls Wilder

GPP Street Challenge 60

Another great challenge from Michelle over at GPP Street Team all about honoring what you love!  I chose to include some of my favourite things when it comes to journalling - script text stamps, found words from books, heart stamps, brown paper with red stitching, crochet flowers into a background of gesso and paint giving some nice texture.  The photo could be better for sure but I am late with this challenge as I have been down with flu for a week so don't want to wait until it is daylight!!!

Thank you Michelle for all the work you put into these challenges for us.  I will miss them for sure.

Thoughtful Friday 160

"Comparison is the thief of joy"

Theodore Roosevelt

Thoughtful Friday 159

"Life is your art.

An open, aware heart is your camera.

A oneness with your world is your film.

Your bright eyes, your easy smile

is your museum."

Ansel Adams

Creative Every Day

I had a fun day recently with a new art friend and we decided to have a go at this little tutorial
We started off with some lining paper to try things out first before we got to using our somewhat expensive watercolour printing paper.

Firstly we spritzed our paper very well with water all over then we used sumi ink and a variety of brushes, sticks etc to make lines and wow, see how the ink fuzzied when it met with the water

Then we used circle shapes (the bottom of jars, cellotape dispensers etc) in various places, all the time bearing in mind that this was going to look like a map

Then it was time to add colour!  Jill, in the tutorial recommended we use Twinkling H20s which I think are now rebranded as Cosmic Shimmers but anyhow they are a water colour paint with sparkle.

I only had a few of these paints but it was oh so relaxing just to fill in the spaces with these colours - this one is using the special watercolour paper.  I haven't decided what I shall use this for yet - could be the covers of a book as Jill suggests or a box or something else.  I am down with a fluey cold just now so lots of time to think about it!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Thoughtful Friday 158

"Perserverance is the name of the 

path that leads from

uncertainty to celebration."

Mary Anne Radmacher

Thoughtful Monday 157

"Love is not love

which alters when it alteration finds."

William Shakespeare