Crystal – The Art of Cobwebs

I don’t venture this far into Mixed Media normally but I needed to break away from the madness of Christmas Card Making (yes, it has begun). There’s nothing like getting almost all your crafty stash out on your desk in order to choose bits and bobs to team together so you can make a bit of Mixed Art, to stop you from becoming stir crazy when trying to produce many greetings cards which are all different, but on the same ‘theme’.

I began with a plain tag. The tag itself is quite a large-sized plain Kraft tag, from a book of Tags made by Craftwork Cards – which I bought quite some time ago, and am just coming to the end of the book.

To begin with I applied Gesso all over the tag, followed by; crackle medium; paint; some gauze; and once dry, I added a variety of doodads, trinkets, baubles, etc, in wood, metal, plastic and added a variety of sizes, shapes, and colours of pearls and glass beads.

I then used Brusho’s Crystal Powders (which I’ve talked about before on the blog here so won’t bore you to death banging on about how brilliant they are) to add colour and give the tag added depth.

The ‘Live Your Dreams’ message looks like a printed bit of paper in the photos, but in fact it’s actually an acrylic cabochon, which has a ‘diamond cut’ effect. I managed to take a close up with the flash on and I think you can see it a little better here….

…. all those white diamond lines are the ‘cuts’ of the cabochon.

I know the finished tag looks like it would be really thick and very weighty, .. but it’s actually not. Take a look …

I don’t often wander into Mixed Media Art, simply because I have no idea what to do with the art after it’s all finished! Although I love to play and make it … it doesn’t really ‘suit’ my wee cottage . . . so I have no idea what I’m going to do with whatever I’ve made, and … there are only so many bits of stuff that I can pass onto family before they begin to groan at the words: “I’ve made this thing … and I wondered . . .”.

So … I have another bit of artwork to add to the box labelled: ‘Pop it in here for Now’.

Anyhoo . . . HAPPY MONDAY! Thank you so much for coming for a visit. 🤗 Monday hugs to you. …. and … a joke: What do you call a tick that lives on the moon? A lunatic. Think about it … think some more … THERE Y’ GO! (I heard the penny drop from here!!)

I hope you have a truly great start to your week. May the rain (if you get any) be soft on your skin. May the sun warm up your world in such a way that it makes your mood bright. And may you find plenty of places to discover joy, love, kindness and gentle words.

Be nice to each other. It makes the world a far happier place to live in.

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Hello. Happy Wednesday all! Did you see the BIG MOON a couple of nights ago? We couldn’t see even the glimmer of it where we are. The sky was SO cloudy that it hid that moon totally! Monday’s moon event was billed as the biggest and best moon in a series of three ‘Supermoons’ this year. The first was on October 16, the second was Monday, and the third is due on December 14. Afer that there isn’t going to be another till 2034.

↑ An aeroplane flies past the London Eye on Sunday. Credit: TOBY MELVILLE

The Moon rising beyond the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, Great Britain. Credit- Peter MacDiarmid

↑ A jet flies in front of the moon on its approach to Heathrow airport in west London Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS

Anyhoooo . . . enough mooning around, let’s get crafty…

About ten days ago (or so, – I’ve totally lost track of time) I made a card to send to a fabulous fellow blogger in a wee parcel I was sending to her, so couldn’t post about it here on the blog, until I knew for sure that she’d received it otherwise it would have spoilt the surprise! But I know it’s safely arrived and so can now share the card.

It was one of those lovely, enjoyable to make, quick to pull together cards that seemed to almost make itself. I knew I wanted to send a warm smile and visual hug – and as I was sat there trying to summon up what a smile and a hug would look like on a card – suddenly the Sunflowers I’d seen at the supermarket when I walked through the door a couple of days previously popped into my mind. They’d me smile instantly when I walked into the store and I even commented on them to Mr.Cobs. They kind of welcomed me in and made me feel all warm and snuggly … so what better ‘thing’ could I put on a warm, sunny Hello card from me, but Sunflowers!

a-sunny-hello-2 — Closer up of the Sunflowers

For the centres of the sunflowers I used a lovely warm shade of brown, and on some of the petals I added Tonic Studios Nuvo crystal drops in two colours – a pretty lemon and a slightly more warm orange colour. I also added some pale green to the leaves, but to give the leaves a little ‘movement’ I sprinkled a little green Wow glitter so that it added shade and highlights in the right places as the card was moved.

a-sunny-hello-3 — *Photo taken with no flash & just light from the window*

I added two lots of three pearls – bottom left and top right, then some seeds in random places; along with some ‘leaves’ flying around the card, as if whipped up by a passing breeze, and finally the little envelope for which I made a folded tag for the envelope, on which I wrote a story about the meaning of the Sunflower. Then, once the sentiment of ‘hello’ was added, the card was finished and ready to go!

And that, as they say, is all there is!

Wishing you a truly wonderful Wednesday. Play safely. Be nice to each other, and … if you can … pray for the next person you see. (or push a wish out of your head/heart, into the world. Hoping for something good for that person).