Alpha / Dictionary Challenge

A few of my friends on the Cardmaking Paradise mentioned a new alphabet/dictionary challenge for 2016, over on the
The Craft Barn blog. Every two weeks a new letter of the alphabet will be picked and you then have to chose a word beginning with that letter for your project. You can use an old dictionary, ATC's,
tags,postcards or even an Art Journal if you prefer,the choice is yours,the only rule is that the letter or word should appear on whatever you choose to create, along with the dictionary definition for that word. 

So with this in mind I chose to use a 
13 cm x 21.5 cm journal,not a special Art Journal,just one that I found a while ago that I liked the cover of. I found that the pages were a little on the thin side to use as an Art Journal,so I went through the journal sticking two pages together, in readiness for using at some point in the future.

Here is a photo of my first double page spread.

The letter for the first week is letter 'B'
 and I chose the word 'book'. 

Here is a close up of the inside pages of the miniature book that you can see in the above photo, and tucks into the little envelope whitch I glued to my journal page.

I hope that you will hop over to The Craft Barn and join in with this fun challenge.
Thank you for visiting my blog I do appreciate you 
taking time to do so. 

A few Mail Art creations . . . . . . . . .

Over at Cardmaking Paradise,the theme for

 this month's Members swap was another of Sara's brilliant ideas,'Mail Art' envelopes.  Although I had seen and heard of Mail Art, I had yet to try it out.I had a wonderful time creating my envelopes, so much so that I made quite a few extras.  Members from around the world joined in with this swap and I'm sure it made the 'Posties' smile. I know that the ladies at my local Post Office were very curious about them. 

 Here are three of the envelopes that I made for my swaps.

Front view of my "Sunflower Collage" envelope

Back view of my "Sunflower Collage" envelope

Front view of my "Get Happy" envelope

Back view of my "Get Happy" envelope

Front view of my "Vintage Keyhole" envelope

Back view of my "Vintage Keyhole" envelope

 I had such a fun making my swaps, and see how they could could easily become an addiction,that I'm hoping we will do another one next year.

I am always looking at new and lovely blogs and found

 Astrids Artistic Efforts 

one a while ago, but hadn't put a link on my blog yet, so here you are - make yourself a drink and settle yourself down to enjoy Astrid’s beautiful blog and her gorgeous creations.

Faux Leather Notebook Covers

Recently I held a workshop for one of my ladies and her two charming granddaughters, who were visiting with Grandma for 
the half term holidays.  It was such an enjoyable afternoon 
spend in  delightful, keen and enthusiastic company. 

Comparing work so far

Working on drying out some colourful inking

Having a giggle with Grandma

Concentrating hard while drying out some layers
of paint for extra texture

The three finished works of art

After some careful cutting out, strengthening with iron on stiffening and finally some machine sewing, you can see their amazing faux leather notebook covers. I am sure you 

will see why all three were extremely proud and delighted with their beautiful creations.

A peek at some background journal pages .......

I mentioned a back that I would post a few photos of some of my Art Journal pages that I have I've been dabbling with over the last year or so. One journal I made using water colour paper, having watched Teesha Moore's brilliant 2 part video on how to make your own Art Journal. 

  here is a link to part 1 :- 

Teesha Moore

 part 2 follows on afterwards. 

This Hearts spread was inspired by a lovely 

You Tube video Life On Hold'

 by Rach0113

I wasn't quite happy with how it looked,I wanted more texture, so I went back and I worked on it some more, using gold acrylic paint to fill in the hearts and added a Helen Keller quote and was much happier with the look of it.

This is another page from my handmade journal I colourised the paper with watercolour paint. I found this 'half butterfly' image in a  Pheonix Trading catalogue and I loved the colours and the fact that it appears to be flying away so thought it would work well in my Art Journal.

The pages in the journal I bought had a a very glossy finish, which did not work well when painted onto directly, so I've started using other papers to make the backgrounds on which can then be pasted into the journal. Here are two background pages that have been stuck in to the journal, and I will complete later.

I'll post some more pictures when I've had a chance to add journalling. 

ATC's using the 'Metal Tape Technique

At our last ATC class we made our ATC's using the 'Metal Tape Technique'. For our Metal Tape Technique we started by covering our mount boards with aluminium foil,that had been backed with wide double sided tape. Our ATC's were then popped into various embossing folders and run through a Big Shot Machine, painted with black acrylic paint, which was then left to dry for a few minutes then rubbed off in places with a baby wipe and finally colourised using alcohol inks.  Here are some photos of the results, they all worked out so well.

Suzie's Metal Tape Technique ATC's

Marie-Pascaline's Metal Tape Technique

Sue G's  Metal Tape Technique ATC's

My Metal Tape Technique ATC's

There are some very good tutorials on You Tube and websites with details of how to do this fun technique here is one You Tube video that I've watched, enjoyed and recommend watching too:-

RachO113

There's a  great photo tutorial over on  www.cardmakingparadise.com

 I think it's accessible for members only, but  but I can certainly recommend joining  because it's a brilliant website with loads of great  templates, tutorials, and  projects which are free, as well as a selection of lovely challenges, swaps,  and a friendly forum  to join in with too. You can choose from monthly membership or register for a whole year.

Cards made over the summer

It's been a busy fun filled summer here, with the children having almost ten weeks for their summer holidays, how lucky are they (they go back today),and as a result I haven't posted as often as I would have liked too. So to play catch up, here are a few snaps of some of the cards have made over the last few months.

I loved making these cards and,
 was on a roll with them, so I managed 
to run up a few in one sewing session.

  

 

Here were a couple of gents cards 

This was for my nephew in

 the UK using a lovely template 

from
www.cardmakingparadise.com

I made this card for our young 
neighbours who were married
 in August. It was inspired by 
 a card I saw on Pinterest -
I adapted the Template slightly to fit
 the card size I wanted and 
then used a TH 'On The Edge' die on the 
inside of the card. 

A girlie card for 
a friend's friend

These two were a way great to use
 up tiny bits of card stock.

This was for my very dear friend Suzanne,
with whom we spent such a delightful
 afternoon recently. 

I've been working on some backgrounds for my Art Journal pages too, but as they are still waiting to be finished off with some journalling,I will make a start on journalling these pages so that  I will have some more pictures to up load and post next time.

A delightful afternoon with two very dear friends

My daughter and I spend a delightful afternoon recently with two very dear friends, Suzanne and Michael. Suzanne had cut some lavender stems, from her garden earlier in the morning, so that we could make some gorgeous Lavender Wands, with her kind and clear instructions.

Here are our Lavender Wands which were so
 much fun  but simple to make and 
delightfully scented.

We were then treated to a delicious

 and beautifully presented summer's
 afternoon tea - Suzanne's special recipe of
 Raspberry Tiramisu, was served with a 
lovely chilled apple and raspberry fruit juice
 followed by fresh plums from her garden.

I love this little poem Suzanne has 
displayed on her veranda
Translated it means :-
"If you want you garden to flourish -
 first prepare it in your heart."
How beautiful is that?

The amount of  love and care spent tending to their plants is certainly evident here,in these photos of their beautiful garden. 

Sometimes we are lucky enough to share very special times with very dear friends - this was certainly one of those days and one which will stay with me always.