The Fairy Wedding Dress ~ hiding inside a little Altoids tin!

You are invited to a very special Royal Wedding….

 

No, don’t get excited. It’s not a delayed in the post invite to THAT wedding, because THAT wedding happened a week ago.   This is a different wedding altogether! 

❤  ~  ❤  ~  ❤

I’ve been trying to share this Fairy Wedding Tin for the last week,  and … well life got in the way and the rest is history.  But here I am now, doing the sharing!  Whoo hoo!

Chatting with another blogger, (Gillyflower)  in comments on my  last Altoids (size) Tin Transformation (<– clickable link)   a couple of weeks ago,  I told her that I had plans for a Fairy Themed Tin …. and began it straight away.  So this is me, sending you an invitation to come and share the secret of the tiny, all handmade (by me), ‘Fairy Wedding Dress hidden inside a Tin’!

Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?

The Front of the Altoids size Tin is the first page of a three page ‘book’  which is an introduction to what’s inside the tin!

The front of the tin is the beginning of the story.  There are another two pages to the ‘book’, which are held closed by a small hidden magnet.

It says:   The Fairy Prince asked the Fairy girl to marry him, and she said ‘Yes’!  So with lots of excitement, a Fairy Wedding was planned.  With the finest silk spiders put to work, spinning the finest webs to make the finest Fairy Wedding dress.  On the opposite page is a tiny sketch of a wedding dress.

Then …  you open the tin to see the Wedding Dress of the Year (well, almost), which was all hand-made by Cobwebs.  er …. using Cobwebs …  ah,  no … er,  umm  ….  aw… just open the tin!

I wanted to do a fancy arty type of photo.  Black and white, but the dress and tree in colour.  Not sure it’s worth the effort, but it was an enjoyable few minutes of play-time.  😀

All the papers you see lining the inside of the little Tin are Graphic 45 ~ Fairy Dust.

The bodice of the Wedding Gown was made from lightweight, air dry clay.

That’s an English Penny you see at the base of the tin, in the centre.  An English Penny is (roughly) the same size as an American penny.

The tin measures 9cm tall,  and 6.cm wide, which is approx or just over  3.5″  in inches tall and 2.36 inches wide,  and it’s just over three quarters of an inch deep.

The Fairy Ballet Shoes you can see hanging from the knob, next to the mirror, are also made by me, and are roughly about a third of the size of a penny.

The dress isn’t dangling on the floor of the tin, as it looks in that last photo.  I can actually put my finger between the ‘grass and flowers’ and the bottom of the wedding dress … which you can see in the next photo .  .  .

… can you see the grass and flowers beneath the dress, in the above (bit fuzzy) photograph?

The dress is festooned with soft pink and red flowers, with bits of greenery here and there.  It has a sparkly ribbon around the waist, and a petticoat made from white cheesecloth fabric.   The skirt of the dress is topped off with two layers of pure white, fine, Tulle. The shoulder straps on the bodice are satin.

The tree which the dress is hanging from was made from a Pine twiggy bit which I found in my garden, which has been drying out for weeks in my craft room.  I didn’t have any plans for it at the time I picked it up (and thanked nature for it), but I knew I’d use it in some way, and ….  this Fairyland Wedding altered Tin is the perfect place!

I really enjoyed making this lovely altered Tin, and would love to make one like it again at some point.  But making a different sort of dress next time.  I have a million thoughts about what sort of dress and how it might look.  But … this tin was quite an intensive make.  All stops, starts and stops again, as I waited for bits of things to set / dry etc, – and I will freely admit that patience isn’t one of my strongest virtues.

 

Anyhooo  … that’s me done and dusted for this lovely Monday. I’m so glad that I finally got to sorting the photos out, and getting to share this Altered Tin with you.

I’ve spent the weekend just gone, trying to catch up with other peoples blog posts that I’ve missed.  Now I think I’m up to date …. but just in case my ‘Reader’ is telling me porky pies, and I’ve missed a blog post of yours, please do let me know in a comment so that I can come and catch up!

Thank you so much for coming, and for having a coffee moment with me.  I love seeing you here.  I’m sorry I’m sometimes missing in action – I have some health issues which are being a proper pain in the ‘you know where’. (not literally, you understand.  I have no problems with my ‘you know where‘).  But …  let’s not bother about the health issues, for they are like dragons.  They’re only scary if you think about them too much!  So we won’t.  😀

As always. . .  I love your company and love to chat with you, so please feel welcome to comment.  Let me know what you think.  Let me know what’s going on in your life.  And … if you’re in the United Kingdom, then today is a Bank Holiday – so let me know what you’re planning to do with this day off work (if you have the day off work – ’cause some folks aren’t able to.).

Have a magnificent Monday, whatever you’re doing, and a truly blessed, wonderful week.  Sending much love to you ~ 

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Wishes of Joy, Love and Peace via a Christmas Card!

I received an email telling me that another of my cards, which I’d made and sent to the USA, had arrived!  I cannot begin to tell you how filled with gratitude I am when I hear that something has arrived.  I think maybe it’s more of a joy to me when I’ve actually made something and put all my love into making that item for a special person.

This card was made for my most favourite of Rabbits.  Rabbit of  Rabbit Patch Diaries.  She’s a wonderful writer and has this magical way of picking me up and carrying me along with her as I read her posts.  Aww, I love her to pieces.

I wanted to make her a card for Christmas and send it to her, so I asked if I could, and she said yes!  I went to work and this is the card I made especially for my fabulous Rabbit blogging friend….

The hearts, reading Joy, Love and Peace, are hearts I made myself, from a very lightweight, white clay.  Once they were dry (I always leave it for 24 hours), I coloured up the hearts using ‘Buff It’ (made by Pinflair).  The ‘Joy’ heart was done in Gold Buff It.  The middle (Love) heart was coloured using Red Buff It, and the ‘Peace’ heart was coloured using Pearl Buff It.

The Poinsettia flowers are handmade, with yellow glass beads at their centres, and they were kissed by the snow.  (Or rather: stuff I used as pretend snow).

Behind the flowers and leaves is a little muslin, some loofah strands, green moss, and some twigs – which are from my garden.  I was helped in the collection of said twigs, by Little Cobs.  He wasn’t quite as selective with the size of the twigs as he was with the collection of “tiny pine cones”, which I told you about a couple of days ago.  I was getting what could only be described as branches.  Large branches.  The type you’d make a fire with, but not the type you’d glue to a card.  Bless him.

There are pine cones fixed to the card, and you can just about see them in the photographs.  These pine cones were collected by Little Cobs, in his tin bucket, from the garden.

Finally …  I added a string of creamy pearls in different sizes.  Just to add a touch of ladylike glamour to the card.  What can I say….  I’m a twin set and pearls sort of gal.  And then I ended the card making session with ‘snow’.  (The same ‘snow’ which kissed the poinsettia flowers earlier on).

And that’s all there was to it!   😀

The card was my way of saying ‘Thank You’ to Rabbit for all the enjoyment I get from reading her posts.  So .. Thank You Rabbit.

The joy I receive from your blog posts is beyond measure.  Each post is book ended with love, and, when I get to the end of each post, it leaves me both filled with peace, and not wanting it to end.  Almost like a book that one is enjoying so much, that one doesn’t want the books final page to arrive.

Thank you Rabbit, for the wonderful reads, and ….oh,  for so, so much more.  May God Bless and keep you, my friend.

And … Thank You  my lovely reader, so much for coming and sharing some time with me.  It’s especially lovely to see you here I think because it’s Christmas.  It’s always so lovely to see friends at any time, but to see them at Christmas time is like a gift.  You  and your time, are as a gift to me.  So thank you, from my heart, for coming and spending some of your time with me.

Sending love, squidges and Christmas wishes ~

 

 

InktTober the 2nd ~ 2017

The second day of InkTober and I decided to go with another floral inky draw, but there was good reason for this.

I decided a couple of months ago that I should make an Art Journal.  I had no idea about what I should do to make one, but having had a look around the interweb I realised that there didn’t seem to be really any rules about it, so decided I’d make my art journal my own way.  And the reason why I decided to go with another floral inky drawing today – was so that the two facing pages of the art journal would have something in common.

Something that they could talk to each other about when the book was closed and on the shelf.  They would whisper to each other about things they knew about and they had a common language in order to do this.  … but ssshhhh…. don’t tell – because this is a secret!

So anyhoo –  …. this is what I did for day two of InkTober  .…  Firstly, I roughly pencilled my idea, then I inked the drawing so that it looked like this  …

. . .  thereby fulfilling the required rules for InkTober  … but … as you know, I can’t leave things like that.  I have to add a little colour to make things smile. . .  and since the first page of my new Art Journal was going to be the Inktober Daisy (from yesterday) . . .

. . .  then some happy colours were called for on this second page . . .

I had wondered whether to paint directly into my new journal (which wasn’t really new at all.  It was a book I’d had for a gazillion years but never used,  because . . . I didn’t want to spoil it.  yeah .. I can hear you laughing from here), or draw and paint onto watercolour paper and stick that into the journal.  I decided I’d try drawing and painting directly into the book, to see if it would work ok…  and it seemed to.  So once I’d snapped the photo above, I then felt free to ‘decorate’ ….

Gesso (white) was applied around the sprig of flowers, and once dry I sprayed some mica sprays, in 3 different colours from Lindy’s Stamp Gang, unfortunately the photographs don’t seem to pick up the mica which is held suspended in the liquid so I tried tipping and turning the book to try a capture the glimmer … this next photograph is probably my best shot.  It shows the mica the best on that lower blue flower . . .

. . .   Can you see the magical twinkle on the petals there?  Teeny tiny littl droplets of gold?   Looks like Fairy Dust!

While that was drying I got to work on the Daisy from the first day (yesterday) of the Inktober challenge.

I tore around the edges of the daisy and then fixed it in place.  Then carefully applied Gesso all around the page….  and once dry I treated the page to the same mix of Lindy’s Stamp Gang sprays and left them to dry.

Looking at the pages I knew I wasn’t finished with them  …  there is something calling to me, and I think I know what it is …. but for now, I’ll concentrate on Inktober and the pen and ink drawings …  when I’m not making a card or something, naturally!

The items used in the creation of the little sprig of flowers are:

• a Kuretake Zig Memory System Ink Pen in size 005;
• and the colouring pens all came from a selection of Kuretake Clean Color, Real Brushes Pens,
• and finally – a selection of 3 different colours of bottles of Lindy’s Stamp Gang, Starburst Shimmer Sprays.

As always, please be assured that I am not employed by either of these companies, nor do I receive any payments in money or products in order to promote any products for the companies concerned, I’m simply sharing what works for me.  (Of course, if Kuretake or Lindy’s Stamp Gang want to offer me some products to try, I’d be more than happy to try them and report on my findings.  Who am I kidding?  They don’t read my blog for goodness sake! lol).

Thank you so much for coming, and before I go . . .  may I just take this opportunity of welcoming some new followers to the Cobweborium Emporium blog.  I won’t name names but rest assured that I will recognise you if you comment at all, and can promise that you’ll always receive a reply.

Thanks to these new followers WordPress sent me a congratulations a few days ago telling me that I now have over 500 followers. Now considering that I don’t ‘do’ the Facebook thing and I have no family followers (no seriously.. I really don’t.  Only three members of my family know I even keep a blog!), I think that 500 people is quite an achievement .  So I mentally gave myself both a high-five and ate a cake! ( …. well, it was my unbirthday!)

So a big HELLO to the lovely new people reading.  Thank you for clicking to follow and joining us all here.

I wish you all a blessed rest of your Monday.  May Tuesday bring you smiles, warmth and a few laughs along the way. 

 

Meadow Flowers 2 – The Reality

Some of you may remember that a few days ago (during The World Watercolour Challenge Month of July) I did a little ATC watercolour painting of some Meadow Flowers(<—click) and told you how I’d been inspired to paint that particular little painting.  (click the link and it will open in a new window to actually read that post if you missed it).

The original ‘Meadow Flowers’ ATC (sized 2.5″x 3.5″inches)

I said in that post that if I got the opportunity I’d take a snap of the flowers next time I passed them.  Well I drove past them yesterday (1st August) and before I turned the bend I had a very heavy heart, telling myself that they’d have all been drowned by the awful rains (and the winds) we’ve experienced here in the last few days, ….  however, as I drove around the bend my heart began to flutter like a butterflies wings.  Yes, the rain had given them a bit of a knock and nudge but there they stood, nodding and swaying in the wind.  I pulled over and very quickly snapped a couple of pictures on my cell phone.  One through the open passenger side car window – so it was nice and crisp and clean … and another through the windscreen – which gave the photo a bit of a white haze … but you can kind of see them.

taken through the open car window.

This photo was taken through the windscreen of my car.  Hence the white haze

What you’re looking at in the last photo (above) isn’t the full length of the Meadow Flowers planted – there’s roughly about half as much again which I couldn’t fit into a photo.  So you can imagine what a total blast of colour and joy it is to see each day.

I saved these photo’s as quite large ones,  (so that everyone would be able to see the meadow flowers properly)  and I know I used to be able to open up photo’s by simply clicking on them here in WordPress, and they would open up in the larger size.  But … I don’t seem to be able to do that now … so if someone knows how to get them to open up in their larger (saved) size then please could you let me know so that I can let everyone else know.  Many thanks!

I’ve blurred out the background properties which face onto the green, as … well, they aren’t my properties and I don’t have permission to put them on the web.  So just being polite.

I missed the final days of the Watercolour Challenge as we had Little Cobs come to stay, and quite frankly, he’s enough to keep a whole host of Angels busy!  By the time I’d managed to get him into bed of a night-time and read him a story (or two), I was so plumb tuckered out that I felt like I needed putting to bed myself!

But today I had to take him home again.  My loan of the Grandchild time had come to an end.  So we made the best of the last few hours we had together by starting with a thoroughly unhealthy breakfast … of Toast (not me, just Little Cobs) followed an hour later by … McDonald’s breakfasts!   Then we played Lego (which I am totally useless at but I try my best);   then we made a packed lunch and took it to the sea to watch the boats, the waves and look for Pirates.  However …. on the way there, we just HAD to take a slight detour and visit Toys R Us,  with pocket-money supplied by Grandad, to buy as much as we could possibly buy and pile into the car.

Then it was off to see the sea. 😊

We couldn’t go and sit out as the rains had made everything so wet we would have got soggy bottoms – and it was still a bit windy, which Little Cobs hates  …. so we ate a picnic in the car with the windows down a little so that we could get that fabulous air and actually smell the sea (which I love)  …. and gazed out onto the water, as we played with some new toys.

This was the sea and the sky of blue with its cotton wool clouds….

picture taken 1st August 2017

…  that isn’t an x inside a circle, printed on one of the clouds … it’s the reflection of the corner of my parking permit.  lol.

Normal service will now resume, once I’ve got my body back,  because some bu**er has stolen my youthful, joy filled, light as a feather feeling body, and replaced it with some old duffers body,  – and they have to be at least 120 years old, by the feel of the body which mine has been swapped with.  This one is creaky, old, positively broken in rather a lot of places and totally damaged through over-use (see definition for ‘knackered’ – which OBVIOUSLY isn’t a word I use,  being as it’s such an unladylike word and all that).

All I’ve done is taken responsibility for a 6-year-old boy …  so it’s obviously while I was distracted that someone broke into my home and swapped my own body for this load of carp which they’ve left me with.  I don’t know who I complain to.  I mean …. would the Police take this seriously?  I doubt it.  In fact … I feel like I can hear them laughing from here!

Suggestions for getting my  “OOooooNLY 27 YEARS OLD”   body back would be much appreciated.  For I have a birthday … as you know … and I shall be  “OOOooonly 27”  again, so I need my  “OOoonly 27”  year old body back… because that really was some body, and this one I’ve got now is ….  broken in 50 Shades of Busted!

Till next time …  …  I send you squidges,  mentally.   … I just can’t seem to get up from my seat at the moment to squidge you properly  …  actually, I think my arm has just dropped off   … ut ohhhh . . . .   I think a leg might be about to follow it!   Oh gawd,   …  what next?!!   I DEMAND THE RETURN OF MY BODY!   (or at the very least … a new one).

 

Meadow Flowers ~ ~ an ATC for World Watercolour Month

Where I live, I have a different routes to drive home if I’ve been out gallivanting.  On one of the ways I can come home takes me past a big stretch of  green grass in front of some houses.  On this stretch of grass the council planted some seeds for meadow flowers to grow in order to encourage and help bees with their jobs.

They’ve actually done this all over the Dorset area in various places, which I’m so thrilled about – but this particular area, being probably the biggest ‘patch’, takes my breath away each time I see it and makes me slow my car down just so that I can drink in the wonderfulness of it and nature in general.

So, when I sat down in my craftroom on Friday afternoon for a bit of watercolour painting on an ATC, I wondered if I could capture the mass of colours and beauty as they swayed in the breeze, of all the meadow flowers which always took my breath away.  And this is what I managed to bring about via a few paint brushes and some colours.

Meadow Flowers with a white mount ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth

I began by first working on the background which I desperately wanted to fill with the glory of the almost mental array of incredible colour which my eyes and heart registered as I came upon the flowers.  It was difficult to pick out particular flowers as it was all such a wonderful sight.

Meadow Flowers with the green mount ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth

Once the background colour was done (and I’d waited for it to dry  ….  helped after fifteen minutes of waiting – which is the limit of my excitability, patience wise) I then was able to pick out some of the colours and turn them into flowers.

Meadow Flowers with a blue mount ~ An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth

I began with the blues and turned them into cornflowers.  Followed by the red poppies, and lastly the tiny buttercups appeared low down.  After this I just added some colour – mostly a watery green, to add to the depth and try to give that feeling of what it looked like as I slowly drove past this wonderful display and gift from nature.  It truthfully takes my breath away each time I see it, as if I was seeing it for the first time.  Just incredible.

Meadow Flowers, painted using Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolours.  ~  An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth

All of the flowers were painted using the box of paints you see in the photo above (yes, that’s my desk….  and my mess).  This was taken just after I’d finished painting the ATC and before I’d cleaned up my three water containers.  One a large pot thing which has a brush scrubber at the bottom, a second pot which is what I rinse my brushes off in, and a third pot for cleaner water which I can dip my brush in if I require just a little more ‘wet’ to my paint(s) if the colour is drying out.

An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth

And that’s all there was to it!   🙂

Well now ….  time for some coffee chat  …. Happy Saturday!  It’s so lovely to meet up with you for a coffee today.  I have some biscuits (‘cookies’ for our USA folks) in the cupboard … shall I get them out for you?,  or perhaps you might like some buttered toast?   We can all eat, enjoy and chat around the table together.

Thank you so much for coming for a visit.  It’s a total delight to see you here and I’m so glad that you dropped in and shared a coffee with me.  I hope you have a truly lovely day, and that when bedtime comes, you feel that today was a great day to be alive.

Sending squidges to you in your corner,  from me in mine ~

A Flowerpot of Flowers for the Teachers Assistant.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I’d made cards for Little Cobs to take to school for the end of term, to say thank you to his lovely teacher, his teachers Assistant, who helps Little Cobs with any problems he faces – (Little Cobs has Cerebral Palsy, so does encounter some problems).

I posted pictures of the card which I made for his teacher, a couple of days ago (you can find it  —->HERE<—-)

Todays ‘show and tell’  is the card I made for the Teachers Assistant, who is Little Cobs helper.  Daughter No.2 tells me that she’s a bundle of fun and that Little Cobs loves her to pieces.  So … I came up with this card just for her….

 

The flowers are crocheted with a sort of cotton mix wool.  They’re lovely to feel.  The flowerpot was a stamped image, and I painted it with watercolours it to make it look more ‘real’.  The card is quite dimensional, and the flowerpot stands out proud from the card, curved, just like a flowerpot would be.

I tried to capture the depth I managed to get to this card, (by curving the pot),  but couldn’t seem to find the right angle  ….  this photo probably is the best shot out of them all, but even this one isn’t great… 

Although you can’t see it in these photo’s, the pinky red heart was given a little dimension too by the addition of Anita’s 3D Clear Gloss – more expensive products which do exactly the same job are available, but quite frankly, I think I’d rather save a couple of pounds and buy this one which I get from ‘The Range’.  The 3D clear Gloss gives the ‘lipstick drawn heart’ (not really lipstick – I printed the heart onto the card) a kind of ‘wet lipstick look’.

I’ve removed Little Cobs real name from the front of the card in these photo’s but the card front reads:  “A Simple Thank You but with a lot of”  ❤  …   then it has his name, and under that it says ‘Age 6’.

And that’s all there was to it! 

It was a total joy to make and so simple too.

Well, all that’s left for me to say is  …  Have a wonderful Thursday all.  😊

Sending love and squidges, from my corner to yours ~

Auriculas – ATC/ACEO – because July is World Watercolour Month

I found out, from my dear blogging pal,  (click—>) Tom,  that July is World Watercolour Month.  I didn’t know this, so I clicked the link in his blog which told me all about it.  The link took me to a fabulous blog called  Doodlewash(<—-click) and I thought:-   if Tom could do this, (as much as he could)  then perhaps I should have a go at this (as much as I could).  Now I know I won’t be able to do a watercolour every day, but I will try as hard as possible to do one on as many days as I can.

I painted my first one late on Saturday evening, so July 1st.  But … I didn’t get to post it till now, and here in the UK it’s now gone midnight, so I’m already behind in effect as far as my clock is concerned.  But I know it’s still the 1st of July somewhere in the world so I’m going to pretend that I got this first one in on time.  😉

Auriculas are one of my most favourite flowers.  You can grow them in hundreds of different colours, (I might be slightly exaggerating the amount of colours there)  and they’re such adorable, friendly looking little things and I just love them.  They’re Primulas, but with personality!

So anyhoo … I thought ‘d take the challenge, but I would take it one step further.  I’d paint in ATC/ACEO size.  2.5″ x 3.5″.  I’m nothing if not daft.   I had Little Cobs with me all day Saturday, and once he’d gone home I thought I’d get into the craft room and paint.  There I was, totally worn out, with two pots of water,  trying to find my favourite little brushes, and …. let’s not forget …. the wonky eye!  ….  and I thought this was a great time to try to paint??.  Did someone say mad?

A tiny bit of watercolour art sized at two and a half inches wide ….

…  by three and a half inches tall.

Painted using Reeves Watercolours – which I’ve had since dirt was invented.

I used 5 different colours:  Permanent Green Light;  Sap Green;  Colbolt Blue Hue;  Medium Yellow;  Chinese White (Zinc),  and painted on  140lb Water Colour Paper.

I love putting my ATC/ACEO’s behind a mount,  as the mount can bring everything together, and makes the painting more ‘tidy’ …. so I thought I’d try different colours to see which I liked best ….  a Blue mount?…

…  hmm.. the blue is quite nice.  How about a creamy white ……

….  ah now that looks  ‘clean’ and kind of smart.  Hmm… what about a Green mount  . . .

. . .   oooOOOOooo!  …. yes, I think I rather like the green frame around it.  It kind of has a conversation going on with the leaves, while the flowers just do what they’re supposed to do: look pretty.

What about you?  What do you think?  Which mount do you prefer?  … do tell!

I have to admit that this really was a bit of a challenge, as I couldn’t get any detail into the flowers, but (even with the wonky eye – which is on the mend by the way – thank you for all your good wishes and prayers) … I was kind of happy with what it turned out like.  It’s SUCH a long time since I played with watercolours, and I’d forgotten how sweet they are.

Well…  here where I am, (in the UK)  it’s now half an hour into the new day of Sunday … so Happy Sunday!

May this new day bring you hope to your heart, and love into your life.

Please, whatever you’re doing today, . . .   please be the reason someone else smiles today.  It will take very little effort from you, and I promise you that it will be so very worth the effort.  Make someone smile today.

Sending special Sunday squidges your way ~

 

 

Happy Anniversary! I pegged on a Chalkboard.

Before we begin …. 

This little chalkboard is proof, if more proof were needed, that I’m a ‘fricken’ rubbish photographer.  You see … in real life, this little chalkboard is so sweet.  So lovely.  Incredible in fact.  Something I was so proud of making,  and still am proud of making.  But in  all  the photos (and there were a LOT of photos taken) there wasn’t one good one. Not one.  🐻  (I wanted an emoticon with steam coming out of the ears but couldn’t find one, so you have a grumpy bear instead).

It was Mr.Cobs and his enchanting  sweet  charming  wonderful  captivating  rubbish photographer wife’s (me) 36th Wedding Anniversary recently and I wanted something other than just a normal card for him.

I know, 36 years!  I heard you gasp when you read it the first time.  It’s hard to believe isn’t it,  because I look so young in my Gravatar photo. What can I say …  he was a cradle snatcher, but I’ve grown accustomed to his face now so I won’t bother causing a fuss.

I went in search of something which would stand up on the shelf or coffee table, but which wasn’t made from a card or paper product.  I found the very thing. A little Chalkboard!

It came as four unprepared pieces – so that you can do whatever you wish to them.  A front and a back piece – which are identical.  And a frame front section which goes on top of the front piece – so forming the frame around what will become the chalkboard, and finally – a smaller piece which will give you the little shelf for the chalk.

I waded straight in and painted the section on the front piece, in black paint to make it look like the black of a chalkboard.  While it was drying, I glued the ‘chalk shelf’ to the frame.  Once the paint was dry, I then fixed the frame onto the front (chalkboard painted) section, and held it tightly using some craft clamps and clips.

I painted the legs, frame and back of the chalkboard in Amish Blue paint, then once dry I coated it in a crackle glaze – which I bought many years ago (about 25 years ago) by the bucket-load, (well no, about 15 large bottles of it).  It was a new thing on the market then and I loved to crackle crafty stuff.  I had a couple of bottles left . . . . 

I got a bottle out of my cupboard while chewing on my lip, telling myself that it would be no good.  It would have gone off after all this time.  BUT … IT HADN’T!!!   Ohhhh Joy thy name is Crackle!  I duly painted a coat of the crackle glaze, and once dried, I gave it another coat of the Amish Blue.  I didn’t want the ‘white peeping from behind the blue, or black or red etc’ thing that everyone seems to do.  I wanted a crackle which I could rub some antiquing medium into the cracks so that it had that old cracked varnish look like you find on things in posh shops.

Once everything dry, I added some white stencilling paste around the corner of the chalkboard to give it the suggestion of chalk dust sitting on the side.

Then I turned my attention to fixing the chalkboard back and front together – with soft white string as you can see in the photo’s.  And also make the ‘note’ which I wanted to fix to the board.

 

Next was the turn of the decorative paper flowers to the lower left corner.  White paper roses, some Prima blue daisies, and Prima pink roses.  Moss, and a few other bits of floral decorations and the corner was done!  (The twigs and the teeny pine cones came from my garden).

I added the sentiment – on some lovely striped paper from DoCrafts, in their Floral Muse range (which I ‘vintaged’ using brown ink and a duster brush), and fixed them in place using the two pegs (now glued to the board) and a dab of glue to the back of the ‘note’ to make sure that it didn’t try to make a get-away!

In case you can’t read it, the note says:   Happy Anniversary!  You are my best decision EVER!

 

And that’s all there was to it!

Explaining it makes it sound really complicated, but it really wasn’t.  Truthfully.  If I made it then any idiot with some glue, paint and a brush can do it.

Oh … and yes, he really was.  My best decision,  ever.

After the three photographs you’ve seen here …. (and remember, these are not good) …  this was the next best one….

Look how blurred that is!!!   When I first opened up this last photo, I initially took my glasses off and rubbed them with the hem of my t-shirt which I had on!  I thought it was my glasses…. then my eyes …. and only after that did I realise that it was my fantastic talent for taking shocking photos.   (And if you think this one is bad you ought to see the ones I WOULDN’T show you!  lol).  But … if you look really carefully to the top bar, over the chalkboard, you can just about see the fine cracked varnish affect I got from using the same colour over the top of the crackle glaze, and then rubbing antiquing medium into the cracks to make the cracks show up.

Ah but anyhoo …

Before I go I have something I just have to share this with you.  Mr.Cobs reads a little selection of newspapers on-line and he popped over to the Daily Mail to glance down the main home page to see if there was anything he’d missed from elsewhere.   I came in from my craft room to find him laughing so hard (yet trying to keep it under control) so much that I thought he was about to have a fit of some description.  He eventually calmed down enough to show me what he was laughing about.  When I looked at it I too began to giggle, then laugh, eventually having to grab a tissue to wipe my eyes so I could continue to read.  I thought that I would love to share this with you because … well, there’s so much in life to give us a frown right now that if I can make just one of you smile even a little then grabbing the link to this would be very much worth it.  So, with my love, and with the advice of making sure you too have a tissue ready ….  I share this link:  Daily Mail UK – Answers Children gave for Tests.   It will open in another window for you. 

Enjoy!

Thanks for coming for a visit, I love to see you, but then, you know that already.  ❤

Have a blessed day.  Be good to each other.   See you next time.  

Four tiny works of [he]art, called ATC’s / ACEO’s

Morning all, and a very Happy Monday!  Something a little different from the norm today.

Some folks might already know exactly what an ATC or an ACEO is,  but some may not,  so I’ll give a short explaination to make sure that we’re all reading from the same hymn sheet and no one is at a disadvantage!

ATCs and ACEOs are  2 1/2  x  3 1/2  inch  works of art.  The only real difference between the two is the commercial (for sale) intent of the art piece by the artist.

• ACEO = Art Cards, Editions, and Originals are virtually the same as ATCs, EXCEPT  they were created with the intent to be sold.
• ATC = Artist Trading Cards were created with the intent to trade them only. (i.e. given as a swap with someone else, and no money changing hands).

While art is subjective, the quality of craftsmanship and materials used are important, so there are guidelines:

Examples of ‘Sub-par’ works are:

• Collage elements falling off / poorly glued / glue showing
• Cards of the wrong size  (It’s a very strict size of 2.5″ x 3.5″)
  
• Computer print outs which haven’t been made by the ATC maker, and poorly drawn over.
• Cards created with little to no thought (i.e. a sticker or rubber stamped image on a plain piece of cardboard with little to no extra effort)
• Scribbles on a plain piece of paper

Basically you should make what you would dearly love and want to receive.

Ok .. schools out.

I like to paint my ATC’s & ACEO’s – but have been known to make the odd fun art card which may have beads, images, book pages, musical manuscripts and all manner of other things attached to them.  It’s just as the fancy takes me.  However, these ATC’s / ACEO’s which I share today have all been painted, on water-colour card, pre-cut to the correct size.

This first one was inspired by the Lavender plants in my garden.

The colour of the mount is actually more like the green in the photo at the head of this post.  The flash has changed the colour here and made it look more like a sage green.

The mount in the photo (the surrounding green board) is from a selection of different coloured mounts I asked a framer to make for me, in the right size, with the ‘hole’ cut to the correct size to take the ATC/ACEO.  The mounts are not a requirement for an Art Card – but personally, I really love having the mounts if I want to frame a card.  The Art Cards themselves are so small, they could easily get lost inside a frame, so I love to use the mounts to draw the eye inwards to the art.

This next Art Card is again inspired by my garden (and again, the green mount has been washed out by the flash):

Bluebells.  ATC/ACEO – 2.5″ x 3.5″ in size.

I have Bluebells in little groups of flowery hats for fairies,  all over the garden.  When in bloom they look like a fairy milliner has set out a selection of different sized Bluebell Hats, ready for any passing fairy to try on for size.

Of course .. there are some Bluebells which are of the larger size … and I should imagine that the Fairy Dress Designer is kept busy making beautiful skirts and frocks for those fairies who wish to be dressed by the best!

This next Art Card is something from the Fairy Gardens up and down the lands ….  It’s official name is Taraxacum –  or – to you and me: –  a Dandelion Clock.  But you and I know them as they really are:  Fairies, or Fairy Wishes … which are meant to be picked and blown whilst making a wish!

Make a Wish!  An Art Card ATC/ACEO of 2.5″ x 3.5″ in size.

Although it first appears to be painted simply in black and white, it has three different greens, two different whites,  a very soft grey colour and black.  It also has some cheeky dots of glitter dust.  Well …  it’s a Fairy Wish …. it would have been rude not to include glitter dust!

Information about Dandelion plants from that font of knowledge Wiki:

Taraxacum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelion.  They are native to Eurasia and North America, but the two commonplace species worldwide,  T. officinale and T. erythrospermum,  were imports from Europe that now propagate as wildflowers.  Both species are edible in their entirety.  

I’m teaching my Grandson, Little Cobs, this poem (which I loaned my Art Card to, as a background)  and trying to get him to remember to say it before he blows a Dandelion Clock and makes a wish ….

Dandelion poem written by S.A.Hall.

And finally, in this set of four ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards – aka ACEO’s) is a little bunch of Delphiniums, tied up with a bow of green …

ATC/ACEO – A Bunch of Delphiniums,  painted in the size of 2.5″x 3.5″

The spring green coloured bow is something which is allowed in an ATC/ACEO.  It’s all part of the art.

If you’re interested in finding out more about ACEO’s/ATC’s,  and perhaps making some yourself then there are lots of forums which are dedicated to this art form.  One here:  ATCs For All .com  and I’ve also found another site which gives information which you might find helpful here: artpromotivate.com  …  but Google will be your bestest friend if you’d like to see more.

There are also a bucket-load of video’s on You Tube which you can watch – ranging from a couple of minutes to …. oh, well, how long is a piece of string?!!!

Some people take their Art Cards extremely seriously and will spend hours on them.  Some make them for fun and to pass a bit of time doing something which has no stress.  Other’s make them for no reason, and some folks make them, and swap them with other makers.  Some people make and sell them … and some of these artists have quite a following and can command quite high prices for such a tiny piece of artwork.  And then there’s me …. who makes them and will either keep them, send them to someone as a surprise, or I’ll use them on a handmade card … or even use them in scrap-booking.

Have a go!  You don’t need to paint, you can glue, stick, draw, … anything!   Just do have a go  … and if you do … please blog your lovely artwork and let everyone see it.  You might just be the person who inspires others to take up this fabulous little pastime,  and you might also find out that you really like playing in this tiny frame!

Before I toddle off …. 

May I take a moment to say HELLO  to some new followers who no doubt will become friends with us all eventually.  I won’t name names, but please feel welcome to comment on blog posts and introduce yourself.  If you have a blog yourself you can bet your sweet bippy that people here will come and visit your blogs and you might even pick up some new followers yourself too!

Anyhoo … Happy Monday  and …  have a truly wonderful week!   Thank you so much for coming and joining me in having a coffee round the kitchen table.  I love seeing you here.

Sending squidges and lots of Monday love to all.  Be good to each other,  and  … may your God go with you.  ~

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They Carry Secrets in their Wings

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.

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.

Have a truly blessed day!

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