Heat

cheering in the ninth

from hot and muggy Iowa

created by K

~

Just as I was putting together a post about iHanna’s Post Card Swap and simultaneously wondering what on earth I was going to photograph for our Photo Challenge prompt of HEAT – what should come skidding through my door puffing and panting but this postcard all the way from Iowa! Serendipity!

The ninth to arrive out of a possible 10 – and a very welcome addition to the collection with perfect timing. Here are the other 8:

This card was sent to me by Kirsten in California- I love a good quote. It was one of the first post cards I received in the swap which I wrote about back in May.

This one came from Emma in Rapid City, South Dakota. I have never been to South Dakota but my son went to a rodeo there when he was on his gap year back in 1998

It feels so good to be connecting with other creatives from all over the world and getting these gems through the post.

We are all given 10 addresses and so should receive 10 cards in return, if all goes well, but sometimes I guess life and other commitments get in the way and this year eight 9 little works of art have arrived.

Going clockwise from top left, these cards came from Valerie in California; Kirsten in California; Gertrude, Lake Ontario; ‘Fanciful Flutterbys” by Judith Pennsylvania; Emma in South Dakota; Julie in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Pam from Fargo, North Dakota and the hearts from Tina in Florida.

This one by Gertrude seems to be made in a similar way to my post cards. Such a perky little bird drawn on layers of collage, painting and stamping. I like its interesting background and the simple cheerful design. I also like the way Gertrude has gone all round the card’s cut edge with black pen, I’ll try to remember to do that on my cards for a good finish.

This one from Tina uses layers of stamped and printed designs for the background, creating a similar effect

and comes from sunny Florida where in May, Tina wrote, it was already ‘too hot‘, but she was enjoying seeing the ‘neat birds and gatars in the back lake’. A wonderful glimpse into her world.

Joining in with Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge, where he is celebrating his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RON!

prompt words: CHEER and BIRTH

cheering in the ninth from hot and muggy Iowa

from hot and muggy Iowa created by K

I have used ‘created’ as a word connected with ‘BIRTH’.

and

our 52 Week Photo Challenge, created by Cathy, Jane, Melissa and me

Join in any time, next week’s prompt is

PLAY

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May Post Cards

I always look forward to iHanna’s Post Card Swap, I think this is the fourth I have been part of.

You make 10 postcards, Hanna gives you 10 addresses from around the world and then, when she fires the starting pistol, you send them off and await for 10 wonderful works of art to glide through your letter box. It’s magic!

I have used one of the collages done at the beach hut for mine this Spring Swap. You can see the start of it by clicking here. Gosh, that is about a year ago!

A large piece of card, approx  A1 size, gathered from the Dorset Scrapstore, gets covered with a fairly random assortment of pictures in a chosen colour theme – this time, yellow for Spring!

Then I paint over it, and machine stitch (inspired by Tammy at Daisy Yellow – see link on the blogroll on the right).

I love the way the stitching looks on the reverse side

Greta, a recipient of one of the cards called this ‘sewed on gold’ – LOVE that!! Thank you Greta.

Then cut them into post card sizes

And add an edging

in this case a leaf design on sellotape

Ta dah!

And off they go!

You can see links to other participants posts here – what a beautiful bountiful bunch of inspiration!

Happy Winter Solstice!

A time of shifts and changes – the longest night, the shortest day

– from now on the days get longer, the light returns. I am feeling such a sense of celebration and wonder –  of the seasons turning in continuous motion – beautifully and symbolically represented in the ‘Never Ending Card’.

A Magical new discovery courtesy of my You Tube feed – find a tutorial and demo here .

I was looking for a break from yarn based activities and along comes a little bit of simple magic just in time to make a birthday card for a very dear friend

you just keep turning and folding the card and more patterns and appear – like magic!

This one is 6″ square.

just had to make some more

This one is 4″ square

and now I have found a use for some of my pages and pages of black and white doodles

which are cut into 6″x 3″ and 4″x 2″ and will appear as Never Ending Cards soooon!

Arty Crafty Workshops

We’ve been having fun at our Arty Crafty Workshops in the Village Hall.

In the first session we talked about altered books and making our own stamps and stencils:

For some it was hard to tear out the pages of a book but everyone seemed to enjoy messing about with paint.

Introducing the magically relaxing game of doodling was generally thought to be one of the favourites.

One of the most satisfying comments, for me, on the feedback forms was “Very enjoyable, brought out my inner child” – Hurray! – that’s what I am aiming for – makes me feel all warm a fuzzy inside!! And one feedback form even had some doodles on it – fabulous!

This week, ‘Granny’s Crafty Tricks’ was designed as a workshop for grandparents to have a few craft ideas up their sleeves for when the grandchildren come to stay – especially as the days get shorter and we are looking for things to do inside.

I chose crafts that I have done with my 6 and 4 year old grandchildren, that have a touch of magic about them, and that can also be done in a more sophisticated way with all ages and for oneself if you don’t have any kids to play with.

First tattoo a banana!

 

 

here’s one I did earlier, using the picture of a butterfly laid over the banana and going round the outlines with a pin.

 Everyone went very quiet as they worked on their designs – and as the Hall has Wifi, I could show all the amazing designs and even some videos on the internet.

And LOOK!!!

 

a bit of magic for teatime!

Onto pop-up cards – a bit more of a brain tease, but worth it in the end …….. I hope!

 

A really wonderful group – up for having a go!

We then played around with names, letters, sigils and mirror writing with some doodling thrown in. As ever, time ran out really quickly and there was just a few minutes at the end to demonstrate decorations that can be made with an empty loo roll. And again I was able show the fabulous examples one can find on the web.

Next week: Messy Play and Sticky Fingers!

Can’t wait!

Preparation

I have been preparing for an Arty Crafty workshop I am running on Thursday. We’ll be doing some Art Journal style album making and I’m getting some examples ready by Gesso-ing lots of altered books

 

making up little packs of stamping and stencilling supplies

 

and at the same time …… gardening

I seem to have to grasshopper about – it drives other people mad but it IS part of my creative process and I’ve had to learn to live with it!!

One of my most long-standing and greatest friends gave me a wonderful garden based cornucopia of gardening bits and bobs for my birthday and in it were these cute seed packets

 

from a Somerset company, Pennard Plants.

I didn’t get to sow them this summer but have just sown the half- hardy annuals in one of the veg trugs.

I mixed them with sand and sprinkled them in clear shapes as advised by Monty Don (swoon) of BBC2’s Gardener’s World, so that I can see what the young plants look like when they come up. Then they will be all ready to plant out in my new beds in the Spring.

Back to the altered booksA page from a gardening book I am altering, leaving some of the flower pictures shining through.

It got me thinking – I love the Art Journal style but I don’t really want to keep an Art Journal which is why I do photo albums for my grandchildren – BUT a Garden journal – hmm – now that might be something I would like to do – a place to keep all the seed packets and a record of what I sow. Now that feels exciting!!

and a way to keep all these lovely seed packets

oh more hours in the day please ……..

 

Celebrating

We have a lot of anniversaries in our family in July (and then another batch come along in October).

On Friday it was E’s birthday – I have been a Granny for 6 years!

Instead of a card I decorated an ‘E’ for her

Our local Art shop sells these hollow cardboard numbers and letters for just under £2 each.

I gessoed it first and then painted it with acrylic paint mixed to Elfie’s favourite colour – a turquoise blue

Then with a touch of stencilling and doodling she has her initial that she can hang on her bedroom wall.

album

Inspired by the Art Journals i see on other blogs, i have started making the photo album of Rocket’s Christening.

The diagonal lines on the left were done with a stamp i made out of an eraser. And I used a ‘pointy circle’ Balzer Design stencil to compliment the church window shape.

Hope you like it! Rocket’s Mum does and gave me permission to post the page.