White Lovliness

in the garden....

and a little in-progress stitched piece...

From my holiday.....

 ancient Masada .......

 

old Jerusalem ......

Bauhaus and market stalls in Tel Aviv.....

and a cat, some sweet corn, flora and a bicycle.....

I had a great week but my feet needed a little help by the end.....

PS  Thank you everyone at 'A Vintage Journey' for walking me through making a link from my post and for giving me a pinworthy badge. I am honoured! 

Fond Memories

My dad was a gardener by preference and a master butcher by trade!  I have fond memories of his Derbyshire garden - meticulously planned and  nurtured to maximum productivity, it was marvellous.  He worked in shirt sleeves, braces and a flat cap and there was usually a 'Woodbine' at the corner of his mouth. I remember watching him pricking out bedding plants, bent double planting seed potatoes, tying blown up paper bags around chrysanthemum flowers to protect them from the rain and appraising his geometrically arranged summer flower bed.  I remember the smell of freshly picked tomatoes and I remember being young.

The pocket envelope and the ATC and 'seed packet'  inclusions were made in praise of him and I was inspired by the latest challenge, 'fond memories on the ' A Vintage Journey ' blog http://www.vintagejourney.com/2014/05/challenge-5-fond-memories.html

I cut the pocket envelope using the TH die and paper from his 'Seasonal Stash'.  I added some texture paste, coloured with Distress Paint in Ripe Persimmon, through the Dot Fade stencil and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I finished the envelope with a photo of Dad, some torn dictionary paper, a little garden string and some brads as a fastener.

I cut the ATC using Tim's die and after covering it with printed tissue paper, I inked the edges with Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo ink.  I then layered on a flower card from one of the Ephemera packs, an old bus ticket, a larger photo of Dad in his vegetable garden and a word band tied with more garden string.  

 On the back, is a little more information about him. 

 I can't remember where the kraft glassine envelope came from but I filled it with seeds and layered it on a little more of the Seasonal paper and music script.

Really liked making this!

Nature's Glories

I've made this hanging for this month's Country View Challenge, 'Nature's Glories'.

I started with a scrap of procion dyed fabric - where a fern leaf had acted as a resist - and a piece of cardboard.  I added a bit of hand stitching  and a little using a machine, some stamped images, distress inks, a dab or two of gesso and an old photograph.  This is what happened.....

Here's a close up of Auntie Grace, Mrs Huckerby, Mrs Brentnall and Grandma Dexter stepping out for a day in Skegness.

 This is some of the hand stitching....

and this some done on my sewing machine - I really like the curl of wire near the zig zag stitch.

I used a leaves stamp by Dyan Reaveley 

and finally I added a small bunch of rusty keys.

It was great fun!

First Challenge

I made this so that I can take part in the latest challenge, Spring Flowers,  on the  'A Vintage Journey' blog......

I used Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Shabby Shutters and Seedless Preserves for the background and the 'sticky powder with glitter' technique from Creative Chemistry 102 on the stamped seed heads and the flowers - these were made using the mini tattered florals die.  So, I hope, enough Tim Holtz inspiration to meet the brief. I think the seed head stamps are from Inkylicious and the rabbit and dragonfly from Crafty Individuals.  Apologies if I'm wrong - I've had them a while.

Think I need to improve my photography skills! 

a little bit of paper crafting

I haven't done much paper crafting lately but I very much enjoyed making these 3 mini postcards and a (long overdue) ATC for a swap with the Vintage ATC group.  We are asked to use some Tim Holtz products and to give at least a nod to his style.  Eventually, the postcards and the ATC will embellish the tags we made to begin with.....

Tim Holtz Distress inks, a selection of his papers,stamps and embellishments and Lisa's Altered Art sayings.

Tim Holtz distress inks, embossing folder and embellishment, a 'winged cutie' from Artchix Studio, Lisa's Altered Art sayings and some tissue tape.

Bradford Industrial Museum

Really great place.... visit if you can and marvel at the spinning and weaving machines.

 great texture in this uncleaned wool