#InkTober2017 6th ~ Love – is all you need!

I’ve not really ‘done’ a Zentangle before.  I’ve dabbled and kind of began drawing one, but begin is as far as it ever got.  Words were said, such as:  “I can’t quite understand the joy of this…”  and ….  “.. it’s pretty … but … I’m not sure I’m cut out for it.”.  And that’s as far as my venture into this unknown thing got.

So when I was trying to think of something to draw for a daily drawing #InkTober2017 and Zentangling popped into my head, I should have wondered why.

What was I thinking?  I know that a Zentangle looks like a quick bit of doodling, but I’m here to tell all those of you who haven’t tried their hand at this form of artwork, that it’s anything but quick.  Of course, it would have been a couple of hours shorter had I not began by measuring it out, cutting the right size of paper and got to the drawing of ‘V’ (I’d already drawn and coloured L and O – I didn’t want to lean on any artwork and dirty it, so thought I’d colour it in one letter at a time) …  and it was after I began to draw the letter V that a slow dawning realisation came about that although I’d measured out correctly the size of the letters, I’d forgotten to add in the space between the letters which I’d require, so I had to start aaalllll over AGAIN!  Grrrr!

To be honest I’m not sure if it’s the planning and sketching out which takes the time, or the then drawing and colouring, but the whole lot adds up to a lot of work. It’s harder than it looks and I now have a new-found respect for anyone who does this as their chosen form of art.  Seriously so.

Anyhoo …  I didn’t get to post a photo yesterday for Inktober 5th so I’m missing a day, but I’m sure I won’t be expelled for it.  So this colourful bit of Zentangled Art is my #InkTober 6th inking.

When I look at it, now that it’s done, I can’t help feeling that maybe this type of Artwork is this modern ages version of Illuminated Manuscript.

I kind of planned it out in pencil before hand, but then added the loops and coils and danglings and curly bits, twirly bits, hearts, dots etc etc, as I inked the words using a Zig Memory System Ink Pen by Kuretake.  Everything was drawn out in that pen.  From thin to thick lines – all the black you see is that one pen.

All the colour on the other hand comes from ‘Kuretake Clean Color, Real Brush’ Ink Pens.  Try as I might I cannot find a better pen than these to colour with ink.  They blend so, so beautifully, and with so little effort on my part.  And clean up is so easy.  If you (for example) use a bright yellow pen against a deep red one and get a dirty brush (nib)  you simply do a tiny scribble on a scrap of paper and the pen is clean again.  VOILA!

Well … that’s my  #InkTober 6th offering which was missing.

Now the observant among you will notice that there was something missing from today.  I’ll give the unobservant a clue:  Today is Friday.

Ding  Ding  Ding  Ding  Ding.

Yup …  there was no Friday Post.  There is a very good reason for that.  A very good reason indeed.  And when I think of it I’ll let you know.

No … actually, to be serious.  The truth is …  [hangs head, looks down at toes and kicks imaginary dirt around with the toe of her shoes] . . .   I er, umm … well … it’s like this … . . . .   I  [cough] …  I fell asleep in the chair and when I woke up I went straight to bed and forgot that I had a date with you.  I’m sorry.  I shall feel guilty for ages about it.  Well … for a moment or two anyway.  I shall make up for it by inviting you all round for coffee and cakes next week.

Until then …

Have a truly wonderful weekend.  May you find something to smile about;  find something to do which you enjoy;  and …. don’t forget to put your feet up at some stage and just watch what’s going on outside … even if nothing appears to be going on outside.  Just keep watching.  Something is bound to happen – even if it’s just a bird flying past; a squirrel running up a tree or a cloud floating by.

Sending love ~

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#InkTober 4th 2017

Well I did say yesterday that I’d be hard pushed to not, at some point, break open a coloured ink during InkTober this year  … and I didn’t last even a quarter of the month.  How dreadful am I?

There are gazillions of the InkTober Artists around the globe all pushing their black ink pens loyally and here I am being the bad girl.  Oooooohhh  but it’s so delicious to be bad sometimes!  😉

And .. I’m not really bad.  Not really … for I still used ink.  I used Brown Ink instead of black, and I used it straight from the bottle.  A proper glass bottle too!

Aw anyhoo, enough of my bad … let’s crack on and talk about todays inky offering…

This drawing (with some painting) was inspired by a handmade card which I made for Beverly of More Ink Please,  – no the name of her blog isn’t made up for InkTober, that really is the name of her blog. Ha!  I sent her the card just over a week ago, and she emailed me to tell me that it had arrived. YAY!  I’ll blog the card probably tomorrow as I have to re-size the photo’s still, but for today I’m sharing my offering for the 4th day of InkTober2017, which was inspired, as I said, by the card I made for Beverly.

Autumn is a much-loved season by me, so it made sense that I would have to do some sort of nod to Autumn, and here is the inking I created…

#InkTober2017 day 4

I started with the acorns on branches, on the upper left corner, and pencilled in where I wanted them to be before using ink straight from the bottle and a fine paint brush to ink up both the branches and the cups and acorns themselves.  The ink used is called Chronicle Acrylic Dip Pen Ink, in Sepia.  (I’ve had this bottle of never ending ink for years, and I’m not even sure they still make it).  I also used a Kuretake Zig Memory System Ink Pen in black, (size 005) to give some dark shadows to places where they would normally fall.  Those two things were the only colours and items used to make the acorn branches.

#InkTober2017 day 4

The Autumn leaf wreath was first drawn out lightly in pencil, then lightly again using a Zig Memory System Pigment Ink Pen, in Chocolate.  I then used Kuretake Gansai Watercolour Paints to add Autumnal colours to the leaves.  I added the twisted vine to the ‘wreath’ using the same Chronicle Ink I’d used on the Acorn branches, and also added some twisted tumbling vines too.

Using the Zig Memory System Ink Pen in chocolate, I added the ‘Autumn’ word, and that’s all there was to it!

It was quite quick to make, the majority of the time seemed to be waiting for parts to dry before moving on.

I’ve told myself that I have to be a good girl for a few days now and not dip my brushes or pens into the blue ink.  So … fingers crossed…. I might be able to do it without falling off the wagon.  (to borrow a phrase from somewhere else.  lol)

Autumn has really arrived to the South of England.  It’s so heart stoppingly pretty here right now.  Green is beautiful .. but ohhh.. the yellows, reds and oranges,  those stunning sunburst shades that only nature can summon up from her paint-box … those colours just make me want to lie down in those leaves and do the snow angel thing.  So yummy!

Hot meals have come back onto the menu, and my soft pashmina type scarves have come out and are enjoying the odd outing now and again.

Did you know …. that today, in 1883, it was the first run of the  Orient Express.?  Well, you do now!  You can go and impress someone with your new-found knowledge and watch them as they try to work out why you’re so amazing!!  You’re welcome.  😀

Have a wonderful rest of your day!  And … when you get there … Sleep well, for tomorrow you will be gifted with another 24 hours (if you’re lucky enough) and you can join the rest of us as we do it all again … with some differences.

Sending squidges, from me in my corner to you in yours.

 

InkTober 3rd 2017

InkTober caused me a moment today.  I began with an idea in mind and started to draw it ….  kind of liked it … but not enough.  So I scrapped it and decided on something different instead. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

Its like knitting … and getting eight rows in then realising that you made a mistake on row 2 so having to pull it all back and re-knit. grrrr!

So anyhoo ...  this is what I ended up painting….

#InkTober2017

 

… but .. that’s not everything …

The photo above was taken with the desk lamp as lighting, but the next photo is taken with the flash on the camera …  and it shows you what the photo above can’t….   that I broke open the Kuretake, Gansai Tambi Starry paints (watercolours) – for just the one colour – White Gold, – so that I could use a teeny tiny bit around the edges of the moon, and onto the clouds.  And this next photo, taken with the flash, shows you the difference that this one colour can make …

#InkTober2017

 

It just gives the moon and clouds a more magical feeling.  Slightly more depth.  And … well, I just had-ta!  lol.

The apparent ‘bend’ on the left hand side of the painting, isn’t a wonky bit of water-colour paper, it’s actually how the paper dried.  I’ll bury it between the pages of a book, weighted down by a couple of book, and it will then magically become flat again.

The pens used to create this bit of Inktober Art are by Kuretake, apart from one Sakura Gelly Roll Ink Pen, in white, which I used to add some ‘moon shine’ hi-lights to the trees and parts of the landscape.Pen

So far I’m quite enjoying InkTober  . . .  it’s a bit like doodling, only trying a bit harder.  But I can see me getting tired of black a bit quickly.  But that might just be me wishing to break out and crack open the bottles of blue and brown ink which sit on the side of my desk.  I wonder if that would be against the rules.  I mean to say … it’s still ink, isn’t it?  I could rather go for a nice inky denim blue drawing.  Or a fabulous vintage looking brown bit of fun!

Ahhh .. I’ll be good as long as I can .. then I’ll break the rules and be naughty.  lol.

Thank you for coming for a visit and sharing your coffee moment with me.  I just LOVE seeing you here.  Blog land has turned out to be one of the nicest places on the web.  I’m not sure what I expected when I began The Cobweborium Emporium – certainly not being part of such a great community of bloggers who are truly amazing, and so very talented!  Cooks, Knitters, Writers, Bakers, Farmers, Artists in a variety of forms, and .. well just genuinely nice people.  I’m SO glad that I began this blog, for without it I wouldn’t ever have even known that you existed.  And that thought alone is SO painful to my heart, because I love knowing you.  Truly.

Thank you for being exactly who you are.  For who you are is  . . . perfect.  I tried you on and you fit perfectly, and I love you for it.

Have a truly great day out there!  Sending squidges ~ as always …

 

 

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. 

 

The #InkTober 2017 Initiative.

A couple of weeks ago I read about something called Inktober from a fabulously talented fellow blogger.  She talked about Inktober and gave a link, [Inktober Link – will open in another web page for you] so I went to have a look.

In 2009, Illustrator Jake Parker set out to refine his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits.  That year, for the month of October, he challenged himself to create a drawing every day using only ink-based products.  After watching how his technique evolved, Jake decided to dedicate every October to his passion for ink drawing – and “InkTober” was born.  Since then, InkTober has grown into a worldwide movement with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.

Jake says on his blog that anyone can join in the fun.  You don’t have to be a fully paid up member of anything, nor wait to be invited.  You just pick up your ink pen and draw!  You might not call yourself an artist … but once you pick up your pen and draw … YOU ARE AN ARTIST!

The ‘rules’ are:

You don’t have to do it every day.  You can do it daily if you wish, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. InkTober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.

So … now it’s my turn! 

I roughly pencilled out my drawing first then using my Kuretake Zig Millenium (005 size) in Pure Black (this pen is recommended for drawing and scrapbooking) I drew a Daisy.

But … me being me, I couldn’t leave it there, and I had to add a little colour so … this is what happened:

The pens used in this drawing/picture are all made by Kuretake, and the colouring pens used are called Clean Colour, Real Brush pens.

The colours used are:

• Flesh
• Gray Tint
• Yellow
• Bright Yellow
• Mid Green
• Pale Green

I bought a full set of these pens after seeing them demonstrated.  I’m not a colourist by nature, I’m a painter – and because of that I have a real problem making colourists colouring pens behave in the way I want them to.  But … I’m finding these Clean Colour pens to be outstanding.  There is no need to use those special blending pens which I’ve found you need to use with some other artists colourist pens.  These just know exactly what you want them to do and do it – as if by magic.   And clean up is moments.

So …  now you know what InkTober is about … how do you fancy joining me on a bit of drawing this month?  You don’t have to be Picasso, Dali, or Degas.  You just have to be able to pick up and pen and draw anything you want to.  Boxes, triangles, trains, fish, mouse, sheep, a flower, … anything.

Please ….  come and join me in the journey with a pen.  Any journey is way better when you have a friend to hold hands with.

NB – Although I’ve sung the praises of Kuretake pens, please know that I receive nothing by way of a gift or monies or payment of any sort or description.  I simply tell you what works for me and what I’m impressed with.  I don’t work for Kuretake or represent them in any way.  (It might be a dream, wish or even on my bucket list. But it’s only on a post it note pinned to the wall of my brain.  lol)

Please consider having a ‘go’ at this.  It’s all just a bit of fun and you’re not competing with anyone, and there’s no prize.  It’s just a few minutes of fun every day, while you’re having a coffee.  Do it.  Take a photo and simply post it on your blog!

Happy October, by the way!  WHITE RABBITS!

Have a blessed rest of your day. 

I love you to the Moon and back!

It’s true.  I do.  I really do.  Cross my heart, and pinky finger promise.

I wanted to make a card which was fun, but sweet.  Not sickly sweet, and certainly not cute, but something which had a nod towards the inner child of a ‘bloke’.  A man of years, but still a boy inside.

So I decided that the ‘Love you to the Moon and back’ sentiment sounded perfect … but instead of making the card a more serious ‘love you’, I made one which suggested a rocket …. going forth to the Moon, landing …. collecting moon and star-dust …. and then returning to Earth, spreading sparkly Moon dust as it flew through the atmosphere.

I began by hand painting the background on some watercolour paper, using a combination of purples, blues and white from my Kuretake watercolours.  Once dry I embossed all around the edge with silver Tonic powder, which was meant to look like star-dust and moon dust.

I threw a few pinches of embossing powders over the painted background and then heated them slowly and gently so that they melted onto the watercolour background, and looked like twinkly stars in the sky.

Apart from the  ‘happy birthday‘ sentiment (bottom right of the card), the stamps I used are from Altenew.  But the happy birthday sentiment ….well that came from my ‘sentiment stamps draw’.  I cannot remember who the maker was.  I just knew that I wanted swirly writing, which might look like the trail of a rocket as it swooshed and swooped and looped the loop through the heavens, and that stamp fitted the bill perfectly.

The Moon is stamped using two stamps, and two different coloured inks,  and then using an embossing pen I ‘coloured’ in some areas and then embossed it in Tonic Silver powder.

I used the embossing pen to add a Moon dust trail to the ‘happy birthday’ sentiment.  The words themselves were stamped and firstly embossed in black, then stamped over again, but this time I stamped slightly ‘off’ from the first stamp so that just tiny bits of the black (meant to look like a sooty residue) peeped from behind the silver.

I have no idea if space ships leave a sooty trail behind them, but the idea was ticklish to me so I went with it.  I loved the silver over the top of it because it kind of pushed the sentiment into the whole picture.  Instead of it standing out and shouting, it was just there ….  part of the whole moon dust/star shine thing.

And that, as I am want to say, … is all there was to it!

I trust you are well and that nothing is wonky in your world.  Although …  having said that I know that some of you are having a bit of a ‘wonky’ time at the moment.  Please know that I think of you often, and each time I do, I push a prayer out of my heart and head, and send it heaven bound, asking for help to be given to you.

There are some of you who are missing family members, and I know how difficult that can be to deal with the trauma of losing someone.  My thoughts are with you, and I send you my love.

One of our blogging friends suffered a stroke just a few weeks ago, while she was off on her holibobs with her husband.  There was no warning, nothing odd going on, when suddenly…  out of the blue…  a stroke happened while she was sat there in the car.  Thankfully she wasn’t driving the car at the time. 

I know that there are some blogging friends who suffer with depression, for whatever reason(s), and having a family member who suffers with this, I know only too well how difficult life and times can be because of that.

And there are more … lots of people, who have worries of one sort of another.  A difficult time. Some difficulty that they are experiencing.   Please know that I’m thinking about you.  About you all.  I may not know you personally, but I know you by heart.  By the words you type on your keypad.  And because of that I’ve come to care.

You … reading right now.  I care about you.  I may not always comment on your blog(s), but it’s not because I don’t care.  Sometimes I just run out of words.  Sometimes I think how grand or brilliant you are.  Sometimes I sit here on my side of the computer and smile, giggle, laugh.  And sometimes I cry.

But then … there are those of you who are SO amazingly talented that I just sit here wondering how I can possibly tell you how brilliant you are without sounding like I want to stalk you;  or those of you who I want to kiss all over the face, leaving visible lipstick marks,  for making me laugh like a drain.

Y’know … you’re all uniquely, amazingly, incredibly wonderful.  I’m SO so glad that I began blogging, for I’ve found a world of the most fascinating, beautiful people who I never knew existed.  Crumbs …. how did I ever get along without you all?  My life is so busy now, keeping up with you, sharing your days, getting to know you, your families, your ‘stuff’.  I have no idea what on earth I did before blogging.  I must have had hours wasted,  doing nothing at all!

Blogging really is a magical thing.

So … thank you.  Thank you for being the most amazing person.  Thank you for keeping me reading, entertained, teaching me, and giving me something truly extraordinary.    What would I do without you.? [shakes head while smiling to self].  I’d be terribly bored, that’s for sure!

I am so very blessed.  Thank you.  Each and every one of you.

Have an incredible day.  Be good to yourself….  and to everyone else you meet.

Much love from me in my corner to you in yours.  ~ 

 

Believe

I visited the Kuretake website  (crafty goodies manufacturer) a couple of days ago.  They’d updated their website and I couldn’t get into my account, so a quick call to their office sorted out the problem for me, and I got the new website address.  As the page loaded there was a handmade card on the site which caught my eye, and I thought I’d have a go at making my version of that card … and here it is.

The die cut word, ‘Believe’ was one of a choice of two different makes of dies that I have which say the same thing, but in different ways ….

I cut them both out so that I could actually see what each of them looked like on the front of the card.  I chose the Creative Expressions die – which I’ve had about a year and never, until this moment, used it!  (No idea why … it’s so pretty, and cuts really well).

You’ve heard me say before that I’m a crafter, not a photographer – and these photo’s prove that I’m telling the truth.  They do nothing to show you how pretty this card actually is.  So I’ve taken some close-ups to try to share some of the details...

Once I’d die cut the word, I used a fine nibbed glue pen and added some crystal glitter to the whole of the word.  I worried at first that it might look a little Christmassy, but I wanted something to ‘speak’ to the silvery painted feather – and this worked really well.

Painted in Gansia Tambi paints, in the  ‘Starry Colours’ selection.  These paints are all made by Kuretake.

Each feather is painted a different colour.  One silver (in the centre) and the remaining two feathers are painted in different colours of the Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints, ‘Starry Colours’.  The feathers were die cut using a set of Todo feathers dies.

I added gold sequins … and a string ‘bow’ (very fine string) ….

. . .  And that’s all there was to it!

I did share the link to the Kuretake a couple of weeks ago, but they’ve changed their website, so I offer the updated link just in case you can’t find it:—>  Kuretake.

I highly recommend this company.  Their products are second to none, and their customer service is the best.  I’ve been shopping with them for …  oh …  practically since dirt was invented, and I’ve visited the companies UK branch, when they used to have yearly sales there.  I’ve contacted them from time to time for information, help or advice and each time I was breathtakingly amazed at how truly wonderful all the members of staff are there.

Please know: …. I’m not employed by Kuretake, I’m not paid in any way and have not been given any products in order to recommend the products or the company. 

Everything I own is because I bought them in exactly the same way that you or anyone else can buy them.  I only recommend them as much as I do, because I’m SO impressed with the quality of all of the products I have (and I have a lot), and love the customer service I receive from this company.

I’ve been doing a bit of crafting this week and also trying to keep on top of all the blogs I follow.  I’m still having the odd problem with my reader — I’ll think I’m up to date and suddenly there appears a post from ‘A’ and another from ‘B’  in the middle of all the posts and blogs I’ve already visited!  eek!  So … if you’ve posted something and I’ve missed it and not commented when you know I normally would have, please give me a poke in the comments here and give me a link to the post so that I can catch up.

May I take this opportunity to say a warm  ‘Hello‘  to some new followers.  I won’t name you individually … but I welcome you in and sit you down at the table while I get you a coffee (or tea) and bring out the cakes and biscuits.  Please feel right at home to join in the conversations we have here.  We’re a noisy lot sometimes and we all like a bit of a giggle from time to time, but we love new people joining in.  Don’t be shy.  Just jump straight in and say hello … or comment on a post…  or include yourself in a conversation which is going on in the comments.  Please don’t be shy…  speak up and make new friends.  It’s how it works here.

Have a blessed rest of your day today, (Thursday).  Enjoy it – for it is the last day of August this year.  So make it a memorable day.  And … if you can at all ….  Make someone smile today.

Sending squidges your way ~

 

Flower Power in Faiyland ~ a hand painted Card . . .

Have you ever wondered where Fairies get their Fairy Dust from?  Well wonder no more dear reader, for I think I’ve found out.  But more about that in a moment  . . .

I need to share with you something which I discovered last month in Aldi.

The photo above shows a large, A3 size, pad of 40 sheets of Watercolour Paper, of 100gsm, which I found in Aldi last month. (July 2017).  When I spotted it and had a feel of the paper I have to admit that I wasn’t overly impressed in any great way.  I’m too used to my usual thicker, water-colour paper.  So I put the pad down and went to walk off. But … this sneaky little thought popped into my head: “hey, it’s just £2.49.  Give it a try.”  … So I bought it.

Because of a move around in my craft room (and the chaos which that sort of thing creates) I only got chance to have a play with it yesterday, and I’m rather glad I decided to buy it.  It’s not the sort of watercolour paper which you can flood with water, as its a finer paper and the water will eventually be soaked up and will then wrinkle your page, but if you know where you’re going, have a plan and don’t soak it, then you can get some decent results.  Added to that  . . .if you’re putting the resulting painting onto a card, then it doesn’t add any great weight to the card, which is perfect.

Using Kuretaki Gansai Tambi watercolours, and also their Starry watercolours, and with the help of a bit of acetate, I created the background you see above.  Because I used the Starry watercolours – in 2 colours of Gold, it was a little difficult to capture all of the patches of gold using my camera.  If it were a video, I could have moved it a teeny bit so that you’d have seen the light catch all the areas of the fabulous gold paints. (Anywhere which looks like wet paper, or like I’ve spilt tea on it is actually twinkling gold paint which the light didn’t catch)

After the background had dried (with the help of my dear friend – the trusty heat gun!),  I went to work on the flower.

Most parts of the flower were hand stamped, but some parts were drawn because I didn’t have a stamp which was either the right size or shape, using my friend – Stamp Perfect – a stamp positioning tool.  (A Christmas present last year, and I love it for moments like this) .

What you’re looking at in the photo above is my Stamp Perfect, with a stamp attached to it, ready to stamp on to the background.  The top half of the Fairy Flower had already been stamped, and I was adding the curled back sepals.  If you haven’t met a stamping positional tool before and want to know how it works I found a video on You Tube which will help way more than I can here, and be far more entertaining than me too:

 

The photograph above is the flower after I’d finished stamping, (and drawing parts of it) and after I’d watercolour painted it.

Finally … I embossed around the edge, using a little Tonic Embossing Powder, and then adhered the flower to a 6″x6″ white scored and folded card, added a ribbon and Voila!  One hand painted Flower Power Fairyland Card.

 

And that’s all there was to it!

Apart from explaining the Fairy Dust  …. 

Do you see at the top of the flower as it’s opening … with what looks like wiggly lines and dots?  Well  . . .  That’s the Fairy Dust,  escaping from the Fairy Flower Power Pod.  See?  THAT’S where Fairy Dust comes from.   I know this to be true because my Unicorn,  which lives in my back garden,  told me so.  🦄  🤣

Happy Wednesday!

Did you know . . .  that according to research by a tanning company, women look oldest at 3.30pm on Wednesdays?  Now I KNOW this to be an outrageous lie because I know that you girls and I look terrific at all times!

I will admit that when I stumble out of bed in the morning, my hair looks like five miniature kittens have been playing in it all night – but that’s easily calmed down with a comb.  And … I do seem to have bought a couple of  really spiteful mirrors which are obviously designed by cosmetic companies to try to trick us girls into thinking that we have a spot on our chin which is being kept company by a hair to the left of it.  But .. I decided quite a long time ago that I would no longer look in those mirrors,  and from that moment on I’ve looked practically perfect in every way! (so long as I don’t have my glasses on).

Oldest at 3.30pm on a Wednesday?  Don’t make me laugh.  I’m ONLY 27 years old – as we all know, for goodness sake!

Did you also know:   that a recent(ish) survey in the US reported that bosses are most receptive to requests on a Wednesday?  Now I can’t prove this, buy hey, what have you got to lose?   Obviously asking the boss when he plans to leave as you want his/her job, might not go down terribly well, but I guess you could give it a go, so long as she/he has  sense of humour!

[. . . thinks:-  . . .] . . . 

• “I wonder if anyone is still reading? 
• Maybe I should buzz off and stop sitting here like a target. 
• Oooo, what are they talking about on the TV? 
• Do I need to turn those curtains up?  Hmm, I don’t know… what if they shrink when they’re washed? 
• Aww, look at the dog, she’s so cute when she does that. 
• Uh Ooooo, here comes Alf Capone (used furniture dealer – but actually a cat), he looks bored, and that means he’s going to cause trouble by playing Cowboys and Indians throughout the house,  and trying to get Maisie or Belly, or both, involved in the game.
• Coffee…. do I want another coffee, I wonder?”  eeek!

I have to agree with that last  ‘Did you know?’  for I am, (easily distracted) and I do (talk to myself).

Aaanyhooo – that’s enough from me.  All that’s left for me to say is:  ….   Have a wonderful Wednesday.  Find the joy in each moment.  😀

 

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 Bathing Belle ~ an ATC painted for World Watercolour Month

The inspiration for this ‘Bathing Belle’ came from an [unused] sticker in my Craft Room.  I’ve had this lovely sticker for about 7 years – bought in a sale at Hobby Craft here in the UK.  It’s quite large compared to this little watercolour painting.   I came across the sticker a few days ago and thought it would make a lovely image on a little ATC (sized at 2.5″x 3.5″).  However … I changed the style of the dress part of her bathing suit.

‘Bathing Belle’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

Originally the dress was more puffed up and ’rounded’ in it’s design, but I wanted to make a play on words for the Bathing BELLE (Bell) so thought I could change her slightly and turn her actually into a Bell shaped Bathing Belle.

I changed her hair also, from a deep, warm brown colour, to a salt and pepper (or rather more salt than pepper) bathing beauty.  After all, Grandmas, Nanna, Nanny and (in my case) Grammy’s can be just as glam as any young thing, so I thought I’d give a shout out for those of us who have a bit of stray grey going on!

The last photograph above, was taken with a light from two desk lamps – one either side of the painting – shining onto the ATC and mount.  However the next photo has no desk lamps on, as I wanted to use the flash on the camera to try to make the ‘Starry’ water colours put in an appearance and I think I managed it …. take a peep …

‘Bathing Belle’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

… if you compare this last photograph with the one before it, you’ll see that the sea has sparkling white horses to the ocean.  The sand has some sparkling wet sand, and our Bathing Belle has a twinkling sea-horse hair ornament.  This sparkle and twinkle comes from using Kuretake,  Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour paints.  When they dry these paints have a  fabulous twinkle and sparkle to them.

‘Bathing Belle’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

Because I changed the shape of her dress, to make her look more ‘Bell’ shaped like,  if you use your imagination now and cut the ATC at where her dress ends at the bottom …  you’d find that you had a Bell which you could ring by grasping hold of her head!  LOL!!

But of course … we’re not going to do that.  We’re not savages!!  Grief!  😀

Bit of paint.  Scrap of Watercolour Card.  Tub of water.  And that’s all there was to it!

Happy Sunday!  May today find you happy, healthy and with few jobs or chores to do, but lots of happiness waiting for you to discover it.

Sending you Sunday Squidges, and lots of lovely love ~