Whimsical Collage: 2

Back in November I went to a fabulous 4 day Mixed Media Collage Workshop led by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach. See my first blog post about it here.

It was such fun getting messy and creating colourful papers in readiness for our first 6 collages. We used pages from old books we had been supplied with – books that would otherwise have gone to landfill. The print adds a layer of texture and interest.

And the books themselves make perfect little sketchbooks to carry around for those odd doodling moments

Julie and Nathalie have a great way of introducing the theory of colour and composition in fun bite-sized exercises. In this one we were mixing tones of one colour using black and white

no paint was wasted, we cleaned our brushes on more paper

and then experimented with stamps, building up layers of marks, pattern and colour – my memory is a of a frenzy of fun and activity as we all dashed off all these wonderfully inspiring pieces without really thinking

In this way we gradually built up supplies and confidence, moving towards creating pieces we were pleased with.

The background of this one is the newspaper I was using to protect the cloth beneath. I think at this stage it reminds me of textiles …. still more to do in those blue squares, but I’m not sure what yet……

I wondered about adding a little knot of silk remnant

and maybe some stitching …… hmmm …. not there yet.

Julie’s first Blog post about the workshop  explains the format of Day One and Two.

There is a picture of me (the 8th one in) in pink Tshirt, working away, ( and a couple more later on) plus loads of pictures of fellow students and their work. This blog post alone is inspiring enough to keep me busy for weeks as I remember all I learnt and discovered.

And then we were ready to work towards some finished pieces.

Next up –  working in a series: six collages on 6″ x 6″ card

Julie’s second Blog Post: Whimisical Collage in the UK Part Two shows lots of these from the group. You might be able to spot mine in amongst them.

The best part – building the layers with stamps and oil pastel lines and scribbles

The next part is wondering if they are finished or not

The 4 on the left have a story attached to them, but that is for another day ……

Joining in with Kate and her Scrap Happy January band of happy scrappers.

 

 

 

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Wordless Wednesday

Silly Saturday at the Sales

January Sales

Miss Shelma received her weekly pay

And decided to spend it on a lovely day.

With her handbag swinging she strolled into town

Thoughts of the high street banishing her frown.

~

Out of the hairdresser’s and back into the shops

Shelma looked radiant in her little white frock.

She was having a blast in the January sales

Snapping up bargains and browsing the rails.

~

Hundreds of dresses, thousands of shoes

Shelma was verging on January sales blues.

She hailed a cab: ‘ To Sheldon Street’, she cried

And collapsed with all those lovely bags by her side.

~

 poem by  Sue M

shell picture by Sandra D

~

A guest poet today, my dear friend Sue. We have known each other for over 40 years. She introduced me to Dr. John Cooper Clarke’s poems and occassionally we have poetic exchanges via email. Sue is not a blogger and doesn’t follow blogs but we share a love for all things arty. I was thrilled that the shell collage inspired her to write a poem and name this little person Shelma from Sheldon Street.

~

Have a fun filled and Silly Saturday!

Joining in with Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge.

Card

A textile birthday card

With a pocket where a piece of card can be inserted with a message written on it.

And another piece of decorated card behind it,  left blank so that this card can be re-used

Joining in with our Photo Challenge prompt of CARD

Please leave your links in the Comments.

 

 

 

16 for 2016: October

Here are the targets I set myself for 2016, inspired by Cathy at Nanacathy

16 WALKS (of more than an hour)

13 done, 3 to go.

Walk 11. Glorious October afternoon walk with my walking buddy, on Maiden Castle, an Iron Age hill fort just a few miles from me.

Walk 12. 2 hour Beach clean walk on Ringstead Beach with Master R in his beloved Woodland Hoodie .

Walk 13. All day on Brownsea Island, walking, wonderful day with my daughter and her 3 kiddlies, we even saw a few red squirrels and some goooorrrrrrrgeous trees.

This oak got first prize as far as I’m concerned

I only had my little pocket camera, so the pictures don’t really do them justice

and the sweet chestnuts – wow

a feast for the squirrels.

15 HANDMADE GREETINGS CARDS

12 done, 3 to go

A card made out of two collaged postcards taped together with a duck tape hinge.

14 NEW ITEMS IN MY ETSY SHOP

8 done, 6 to go

I added this wig

13 SWIMS

11 done, 2 to go.

12 GARDEN POSTS

6 done, 6 to go.

The least said about this the better!

11 HAND MADE TOTE BAGS

Zero

10 TYPES OF HANDMADE BEADS

This one was made by simply sewing two crochet circles together an stuffing with yarn offcuts – simple!

7 done, 3 to go

9 PIECES OF TEXTILE ART (started)

3 started, 6 to go

None this month. This feels more like a wet weather project and the weather has been glorious! I was gardening in T-shirt and shorts today – bliss.

8 MORNINGS of SORTING and STORING

5 done, 3 to go.

Two more done this month: a weekend spent sorting out my workroom. I am trying to get some order in there. Trying, but not succeeding – I need someone organised to come in a set up a storage system – it is plainly not one of my skills.

7 PAINTINGS (or other pieces of art)

4 done, 3 to go

You can see them here.

6 BUS RIDES using my Bus Pass

2 done, 4 to go

None this month

5 NEW TYPES OF EXERCISE TRIED

4 done, 1 to go

No new ones this month. So far I have tried Pilates, Belly Dancing, a Dance Class, a Zumba-like class.

I think this target will probably stay at 4!

4 NEW PATTERNS for my ETSY SHOP

1 done 3 to go

At last! I have put a pattern on Etsy (and Ravelry and Craftsy)

No prizes for guessing which one …..

A couple of seahorses made for my sister to hang on the cute little tree in her kitchen. The house is a sewing box and the cupcakes are pincushions.

3 MASSAGES

1 done, 2 to go

2 WAYS TO HELP REFUGEES

The plight of so many people fleeing for their lives hurts my heart. The way our government behaves towards the refugees in Calais, especially unaccompanied children, hurts my heart. That I can do so very little hurts too.

Energetically I feel I am still recovering from a month spent by my mother’s bedside, in and out of hospital. I now know that I will not be going to Calais or Greece to volunteer as I had thought I would back in January when I made this list. The situation has not gone away, nor will it for many years, so there will be other opportunities in the future.

I will continue to crochet blankets and collect clothes to send and wait to hear what Liz Clegg does next, now that her Children’s Centre in Calais has been closed.  I am sure she will pop up again somewhere and when she does I will make another donation.

This article in the Guardian tells of her work.

Money is a form of energy, so although, I have not done what I set out to do, I will say that for the purposes of this challenge, donating money to Liz’s work, and to Calais Kitchens and sending blankets, squares for blankets and warm clothes are ways I have helped – even though it feels so sadly lacking.

1 NOVEL READ

DONE!

Hurray! ‘Enchanted August’ by Brenda Bowen got me there.

0 BEADS BOUGHT

Zero

Thank you Cathy for this idea, it is good to look over the things that have been achieved and review what hasn’t. I’m already compiling 17 for 2017.

Paint Party

Joining in with Paint Party Friday.

I’m still playing with this one, so nothing is fixed yet.

Acrylic on triangular canvas with pieces picked up on the beach whilst dong a Beach Clean.

See the picture’s development so far here.

Birthday Card

I made a birthday card for a friend, bringing my 16 for 16 target of 15 up to 12, only three more to go – I should manage that quite easily.

I used the retro Dymo gadget to type the words, and pinking shears to cut the Duck Tape hinge for an added retro component.

The card was made from two off cuts left over from my Post Card making

and popped into this sweet pocket I bought in Japan, which is meant for wrapping snacks or cakes.

Vase on Monday: Primrose Day

Big Sister is 6 on Primrose Day, tomorrow. So in her honour I have decorated a cardboard letter and filled little vases with primroses, pulmonaria and forget-me-nots.

First I painted the A in deep pink acrylic paint..

when the paint was dry I painted the top and sides with Decoupage Medium, and laid the patterned layer of a napkin over the A. It works just as well with PVA glue, although PVA might need a little thinning with water.

I painted over the top of the paper with the Medium.

and added some butterflies from another napkin.

Oh the softness of the primrose……….. mmmmmmm …….. they taste good too.

Primrose Day is the anniversary of the death of British statesman and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, on 19 April 1881. The primrose was his favourite flower and Queen Victoria would often send him bunches of them from Windsor and Osborne House. She sent a wreath of primroses to his funeral.

Joining in with Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Cee’s Flower of the Day, and In a Vase on Monday

Excitement

crazed muse moves the pen

scrimbling with excitement

creates peaceful mind

~

Joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge: MUSE and PEN

The two sentences work like this:

crazed muse moves the pen, scrimbling with excitement

scrimbling with excitement, creates peaceful mind

Did I manage to have opposite meanings in the two sentences do you think? I think I did – that, to me, is very exciting! (but not the main reason I’m excited this week)

Maybe it also conveys a little message – not a traditional moral tale or words of great wisdom perhaps, but that scribbling and scrimbling can be like a meditation and a stress-buster.

Have you heard of ‘scrimbling’ it is a kind of two-handed scribbling that Miss E did at school to help with learning to write and well as to calm the mind and help with concentration. Perhaps that was what Jackson Pollock was trying to do – to calm his troubled mind

I found scribbling and scrimbling on a large (A1 or larger) piece of card to be very freeing and wonderful to do.

EXCITEMENT is a very timely photo prompt this week! I’m VERY excited as I am preparing to go away to the land of the Haiku!!!

I am going on an organised textile tour and will be visiting artisans in their workshops. We have been told that the Japanese like to swap business cards, so I made some to take with me.

First I collaged one side of the large piece of card

So relaxing to do – just tear up old magazines and place randomly til the whole area is covered – I did this whilst sitting in my sweet little caravan in the garden, called Pippin.

When the card is covered and the glue  has dried doodle all over it with a silver pen

It is great to know that it will all be cut up anyway so you can just do loads of random doodles.

Then came the delight of scribbling all over the back of it – gosh it’s good to do this – taps into the inner child and feels SO relaxing and silly and fun all at the same time.

 

I cut the card up into business card sized pieces and printed out my details to stick on the back with the scribbling as a background.

 

To do this I used this wonderful little gadget – ooh I do love a crafty gadget

A Xyron sticker maker. I also have a 5″ wide one as well for making bigger stickers, called a Xyron Creative Station. The grandchildren LOVE them.

You push in your artwork or printed paper one side and pull it out the other and hey presto! it is sticky on the back – magic!

 

We have been told that the Japanese also like to give little presents so I’m making some little crochet offerings to take with me

Have you been to Japan? Any timely tips?

Joining in with Bluedaisyz Photo Challenge: EXCITEMENT

Next week’s photo prompt: SHARP

Pop on over to bask in Cathy’s ‘excitement’.

And for a beautiful, romantic Haiku see Liz’s, here.

Local Village Shop

Swapping little gems of art from across the world is a joy each Spring and Autumn and they start their journey from our wonderful local village Post Office, run by Pascal.

The postcards had to be weighed as with all the collage and stitching they needed a higher postage than standard postcards – something to think about for next time.

This is a gem of a shop with gorgeous local produce and people from the village at the till

 

Pascal always does inspirational window displays and is keen to advertise village events – in this case the upcoming Open Gardens on 25th and 26th May

If you want to hear the latest news the shop has a Facebook Page.

It sits close by the world heritage Jurassic Coast. How lucky am I to live here!!!

So perfect to pop in for picnic ingredients if you are off for a walk around Lulworth Cove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to go and see the spectacular array of postcards others have made, click here for a feast of inspiration!

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!

Post Card Swap! Nov 13

This is my third iHanna Post Card Swap.

I LOVE making all these wonderful creative connections across the world. During your visit to this blog, it would be fabulous if you would be able to take the time to put yourself on our Map. It is fun to see where everyone comes from.

Here are the cards I have sent this year – all made from A1 size collages cut to post card size and further embellished with doodles, paint and washi tape.

And you can see cards from my previous swaps here, here and here!

Go over to Hanna’s blog and see all the links to all the other fabulous swappers, truly inspirational!

Arty Crafty days continued – Collage

The wonderfully relaxing art of collage …. there is nothing I find more relaxing than spending a couple of hours leafing through magazine pictures gathering pictures for a paper collage

I seem to take ages doing it as I go into a sort of trance, so I wondered how much could be achieved in our workshop as we only had just over an hour after our mandala painting – I was amazed …….

Jill was delighted to find this ‘creative thinking’ piece for her collage

Pat chose a wedding theme

I can’t remember if this was themed by subject, but I love the colours Joan put together, and the touch of paint added to bring the whole together

Pat’s had an Indian feel, and used flyers of events that had happened, or were about to, in the Village Hall

and here is Sue’s festive feast!

What a BRILLIANT time we had!

It was great to be with such an enthusiastic group – up for trying all the diverse crafty ideas I threw in front of them – AND they plan to continue to meet to have time to pursue some of the techniques over a longer period of time – HAVE FUN you wonderful women! I’m sure you will!

And a BIG thank you goes out to Pat for getting us all together – thanks Pat.