Birds – The Art of Cobwebs

A couple of days ago, here on the Emporium blog, a couple of other bloggers and myself were chatting, via the comments thing, and wondering where one of our much-loved bloggers, PaperPuff, or, as we call her, Puff, had disappeared to.

We knew that she was going to be having a short time away from blogging because she had to look after someone she cared about for a while. However, that was three months ago.

I along with other bloggers have left little messages on her blog, saying hello, sending good wishes, love and … I let myself in using the spare door key under the mat and ate a pack of biscuits …. then Flo found the key and broke into the house and found some more biscuits … (obviously, we didn’t really break in…. we were just playing about and hoping to make our mutual blogging friend laugh if she was reading. Flo and I are both gigglers – can I say ‘two peas in a pod’?).

I do have her email address, and emailed her about a month ago, but haven’t heard back from her.

Sooo when SamanthaMurdoch wrote asking if I’d heard from Puff or if I had any means of communicating with her, it was this question which made me check my emails to see if I possibly might still have her address there. I couldn’t believe it when I found I still had it. You see, I delete all emails containing snail mail addresses after I’ve used the address for sending out ‘Giveaways’ or cards for some other reason, so to still have it was like finding a gold nugget.

I told Samantha that I had the address, and wondered if perhaps I should send her a little card or something through the snail mail post to just say hello, or something like that.

Samantha and her friend Gillyflower said yes! Do it. So I made her a quick, but fun card today.

Birds of a feather A — Birds of a feather flock together…

Using a few different colours of watercolours, I dabbed some colours onto the card and once dried, I turned them into birds (apart from one, which I turned into a funny furry mouse), and then around the edge, beginning on the left hand side of the card I ‘wriggly wrote’ the message…. “We’ve Looked High and Low …..

and then on the inside…

Birds of a feather B — … and we can’t find YOU!

… it goes on to say …. and … we can’t find YOU! Again … with a little, long-legged, watercolour bird on the inside. It’s all done in a fun, casual, smiley way. In a way which I know will make Puff smile when she sees it.

I thought I’d send it to Puff, saying that Samantha Murdoch, Mrs. Craft, Gillyflower and myself were all thinking about her, and hoping she was well. (or something along those lines … perhaps a little more of a smile in the words somewhere). If there are any other of Puffs friends reading who would like their name to be included, please say so, before the end of Friday night at 11pm UK time, via the comments section of this post, and it shall be done.

Before signing off …

There will be no regular ‘Friday Post’ this week. Time has run away from me this week and I’ve found myself to be plumb tuckered out trying to chase after it. So I decided that going to bed was my greatest need over building the Friday Post, (yes, I know … I’m shocked too! I’ve never deserted my post before!), so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m off to bed. A bed covered in freshly washed sheets which were dried on the line outside and smell so pretty. Ahhhhh…. I can feel that fresh cotton on my legs right nowzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Ooops. ‘scuse me! 😳

So we’ll look on it as a little holiday. Normal services will be resumed, when normal reappears. 🙂

In the meantime, sending love and squidges … oh … and, as the famous Jimmy Durante once sang: … make someone happy. It’s so important to make someone happy. Then you, will be happy, too. And he was right you know. It really does work like that.

Hello, good morning and …. Happy Monday! Hope your weekend was good, and a handful of smiles was found among the hours.

I made this card (above) about two and a half weeks ago, but I couldn’t blog about it until it had been received by the recipient – a fellow blogger, who I wanted to send a surprise smile to through the post. Now it’s safely in her hands, I can share it here.

Made on a 6×6″ scored and folded card, I firstly fixed the blue background you see in the photo. After that I distressed and inked up some pretty script card, and added some vintage blue baby bobble trim across the top third (ish).

I then turned my attention to making the flower …. Start with a circle of card, onto which glue some stamens or small flowers, and, if you have it, a little dried gypsophila, just to give it a bit of movement and depth. Then add a piece of frayed muslin or loose weaved fabric. Finally add your flower to top the whole lot off. You can’t see it in the photo but I gave the flower a very light touch of clear glue, just in a few places, then added some chunky clear/ice glitter (not really glitter but I’ll have to call it that) which gave the flower just a bit of dusty looking interest.

I then added the whole of this built up flower to the top of a bright blue, crocheted doiley.

The sentiment on the card was one I stamped, but it began life as one long sentiment, and too long for the little piece of script card I wanted it to go on. So I stamped each word separately, cut the words out, and then placed them onto the cardstock and glued in place. The sentiment is held by a Tim Holtz memo pin, which I poked into the blue doily, but it’s held in place with a little glue.

I fussy cut the birds and butterfly out, but wanted them to have an ‘old’ look, so very loosely coloured them using some water colours, and by holding a water brush to add the colour – but holding the brush at the very end, so that I didn’t apply much pressure, and also couldn’t make them look too ‘painted’. I needed them to look old, so that ‘not quite coloured’ look did the job.

Secrets in their Wings Final — taken with the flash on, but it’s kind of whited it out a little.

And basically …. that was all there was to it! 🙂

I’m sorry about the blurry photos. They are the best of around 12 pictures which were all rubbish. [sigh] … I’ll blame it on my staff. Yes! It was the Butlers fault! lol.

If there’s anything I’ve missed or that you want more information on, please just ask away in a comment, and I promise to answer.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. I love seeing you … but you know that so I won’t go on. 😀

I wish you a fun Monday. May the birds sing, the sun shine, and … till we meet again, may your God hold you in the palm of His hand.