Pixie Wallow ~ Pixie Crafting with Little Cobs

At my Grandsons, Little Cobs, school they have a ‘project’ which involves a teddy bear called Barnaby.  Each child in the class gets to take Barnaby the Bear home with them for a few days, and Barnaby gets to spend time sharing the family outings, games, toys, meals, visits etc., and the children (with the help of parents, guardians, grandparents) write the story of what Barnaby has been doing while he’s been staying with them.

Little Cobs Daddy (Son in Law) told me about Barnaby, and suggested that perhaps Barnaby Bear would like to come with Little Cobs to visit Grammy and Grandad, and maybe Grammy could do some crafting with Little Cobs and take photographs, print them out and they could then be included in the story book of Barnaby’s time spent with Little Cobs and all the things he did.

And this is the [mostly pictorial] story of how Barnaby Bear came to visit Grammy and Grandad and joined in with some crafting with Little Cobs and his Grammy.

I’ve made little tiny things for years (and years and years – more than I care to own up to).  I love small detail.  And ... I used to make little houses, paint and attach them to various items and used to sell them for just enough money to cover the costs of actually making them.  Now about a month ago, Pinterest (that well known joyful time-waster) sent me an email with pictures of things it suggested I might like.  Among those photos were some little Fairy Houses which reminded me of the Fairy homes I used to make many years ago.  This gave me an idea for what I thought Little Cobs, and Barnaby Bear, might like to make, and the following photographs show you what happened, how it happened, who made it happen, and how it all turned out in the end.

Once upon a time, two and a half weeks ago, there was a boy, a bear, a mug and some clay….

I showed Little Cobs how to make a tiny Pixie House using clay.  My bright little chap got the idea first time and, using just two fingers, he made two perfect little houses, while Barnaby Bear watched and learned.

The little boy then made some Mushroom Caps, and held them up for Barnaby Bear to pass his expert eye over.  Barnaby, as it turned out, is an expert at all things Fairy and Pixie.  What a stroke of luck that was!

Progress  …  Two expertly created Pixie Houses, and two miraculous, magical, Mushroom Caps.

We put the newly made clay pieces to one side and filled the chosen mug and fixed moss in place, to give the feeling of being in Fairy/Pixie Land. (see the Mug Garden over to the left of the photo).  Next came PAINTING!  The little boy – aka Little Cobs, is pretty expert at using a paint brush now and I’m wondering if perhaps I could get him doing a bit of decorating around Cobweb Towers.  Free child labour – and at my favourite price. lol

As you can see, Barnaby Bear was definitely taking his job as Quality Control Bear, very seriously indeed!

It’s a really pretty plate – but not one we use for food.  It just sits around waiting for some passing crafter to blob paint onto it in order to give it a use.  

Once all the paint was dry, and after the artist had had an afternoon snack and a bit of a play, Little Cobs placed all his beautiful handmade pieces in the places he wanted them to be so that he could check for position.  Once perfect, he gave the go ahead for everything to be fixed in place.

A few small resin flowers were added, just for artisticness, (not a real word but it’s so ‘juicy’ that once I’d made it up I simply had to use it), a couple of teeny tiny pine cones and some general florestry bits – just to make it feel like home to any passing Fairy or Pixie who might be looking for a place for the summer.

Barnaby Bear suggested that the whole scene needed a name, so Little Cobs and I came up with Pixie Wallow, and Grammy built a name label on the computer and printed it out for Little Cobs to fix it to the outside of the cup, so that everyone knew what it was.

I’m reliably informed that Barnaby was very happy with Pixie Wallow, and it passed the Inspection Test with a gold star!

It’s ready for a close up, Mr. Demille …  (those who’ve watched Sunset Boulevard will get that one).

All the painting is Little Cobs own, apart from tiny bits where I showed him what he needed to do before I handed over the paint brush, and two spots on one of the Mushroom caps, just to show him how to get that magical ‘dot’ in the right place, in the right size.  He made the houses, the mushroom caps and was the ideas man for how the whole scene was to look.

Little Cobs, Barnaby Bear and myself had an absolutely great time making this.  Lots of laughs and lots of stories about who would eventually live in the Pixie Houses, and who would come and sit on the mushrooms and play in the garden.

Before I go may I share a surprise that I had a couple of days ago.  I got sent an Anniversary Achievement by WordPress . . .

…  four years!  FOUR YEARS I’ve been blogging, and yet if you’d have asked me I would have guessed about…  maybe 2 to 2 and a half years tops.  I can hardly believe it.  Four years,  and I’ve loved every single day of it, and that’s because I’ve shared it with you.

I’ve made so many lovely friends via my blog and have and am enjoying so many blogs which are owned by others.

So thank you, dear reader, for filling my last four years with joy and fun.  I’ve loved getting to know you and hope to continue doing so, and also hope to get to know all the new people who join The Cobweborium Emporium,  or that I find in blog land.

Thank you so much for coming today and sharing Pixie Wallow.  Have a truly blessed rest of your day.

 

 

 

 

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Once upon a time . . .

Are you sitting comfortably children?  Then I’ll begin . . .

Once upon a time …  when I was a little younger than I am now,  …  not much younger you understand,   just a little, … I was watching daytime TV when all of a sudden what should appear on the screen than some darling little houses.  Just for a flash.  A moment.  The longest, they were on-screen was about 3 seconds.  BUT … I saw them and that’s what’s important here.

I tried to find the little houses on the internet, by doing a search for the TV programme on which they made their momentary appearance, but, sadly, it was not to be.  I discovered that they were never featured within the programme, so they were just there in the introduction as a colourful addition to the film sequence which ‘introduced’ the programme.

BUT ….  I’d seen them,  and once seen, they could never be forgotten.  They were imprinted upon my brain.  Well … my one brain cell had drawn them on a  post-it note and pinned it to the wall of my brain so that I remembered them.

They were on the ‘back burner’ of my mind for the longest time, when one day, some weeks ago I mention\ed them to Mr.Cobs. 

Mr. Cobs has a collection of scrap bits of wood – off cuts of this, that and the other which he cannot bear to throw away.  As a crafter I can fully understand this behaviour.  I ventured down the garden, pretending to look for one of our cats, but I was sneakily peeping through the windows of his Man Cave.  He caught me at it!

A voice boomed from somewhere and made me jump:  “What are you up to, young lady?”.  I gasped, audibly.  Was that God speaking to me?  A ghost maybe? (because we’re pretty certain we have one – along with many ghosts of cats).  I looked towards the house but could see no one there.  Again, the voice asked “What are you doing?” … only this time I knew where the voice was coming from.

…..  “I was just looking in the shed windows.  Y’know….  like y’do.”  I said, feeling that would be enough of an explanation.  But it wasn’t.

Mr.C wandered into the conservatory and I instantly knew I was ‘in trouble’.  He was putting on his gardening shoes, and that meant only one thing . . .  he was coming out!  I’d been caught in the act, and I was going to have to explain myself.

Now Mr.Cobs is a ‘stamper’.  Not a crafting stamper you understand, but a  ‘BANG HIS FEET DOWN ON THE FLOOR AS HE WALKS BECAUSE HE A HUGE BEAST OF MAN’  stamper.  He’s on the other end of the scale when it comes to ‘Ballerina’. In fact … he’s totally off that scale.  Think more Sumo Wrestler – but slimmer.  He’s a tall chap, and does carry a little more timber around the middle than the Doctor is happy about, but he’s not huge.  However …  he’s going to totally stuff up the internal ‘shock absorbers in his legs’ with the way he walks.  He can’t do anything light-footed.  He can’t creep, and I swear to Dog that he can’t walk gently.  He  S.T.A.M.P.S  his heels down with the heaviest feet in the whole wide world.

He exited the conservatory.  The ground was shaking as he approached.

“You were looking for something – I saw you.  What are you looking for?”

“I was just gazing in the windows.  Just, y’know ….  gazing”  I replied.

“So you weren’t hoping to go into the shed to find something and remove it then?” he said as almost an accusation.

“Uhm .. well, no, not quite  ….  not now you’re here.”  I said, grinning,  and feeling the warm glow of guilt coming to my cheeks.

“Oh, right, well then I’ll go away.“  He said, pretending to turn and walk away.

“Well … actually….  since you are here….”  I ventured, in a cajoling tone…. 

He turned is body back around and lent his head to one side, in a questioning sort of angle – his eyebrows raised, clearly (voicelessly) asking … “What?”

“….  I saw something on TV a little while ago, and I would rather like to make some of them”

“So you WERE looking for something then!”  He said, accusingly, but with a laugh which also showed as fun on his face.

“…..  Welll … Yes  …   I was really.  Sort of.  I need some little bits of wood”.  I said in my most Sunday best, angelic voice that I could muster.

“Bits of wood?  What for?  What do you want to make and what size of wood are you hoping to find?”.  He was warming to the subject matter, I could tell.  Bits of wood are Mr.Cobs ‘currency’.

Lifting my hands to demonstrate,  I said:  “Well, I need three bits ….  around this sort of size”  … (making box shapes with my hands).  “I want to make some little houses”.

“Little Houses?”   He repeated, while his brows furrowed….

“Yes.  Simple, rustic looking little houses, out of cut wood, and I will paint doors and windows on them!”

He’s that used to my hair brained ideas for crafting things – I’ve been a crafter all our married life, so he’s used to me now – that he didn’t flinch or give me one of his  ‘Are You Totally Mad, Woman?’  faces that he can do sometimes.

“Ok…  I think I can do that.  But … what about the roofs?  What are you going to do for those?”  He asked.

“Uhmm … ….  paint them I suppose.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Ok.  Give me a little time.  I’ve got to finish getting the garden in order and  . . . ”  … he reeled off a list of VITs  (Very Important Things), and ended with:  “…  and then I’ll get to your wooden houses.  OK?”

During the weekend just gone he presented me with three little blocks of wood.   I took my pencil and drew how and where they’d need to be cut in order to give them a roof.  He took the blocks of wood away and a few minutes later he presented me with these:

Three almost but not quite little houses.

I painted them with an under-coat, and as I did so, Mr.Cobs appeared back in the craft-room and asked me again about the roofs,  telling me that he had some ‘slates’ left over from when we built our porch.  “I could cut you some of those slates to the right sizes, if you’d like Slate for the roofs.”  He said.  I jumped at the chance!

He measured up the little houses and went away humming to himself, and a little while later he came back and gave me six individual little pieces of slate – all cut to the right sizes for each of the houses, and with little holes in them, so that they could be fixed in place!  And this is what they now look like:

Little Pink Painted House

 

Little Yellow Painted House (a farm-house, maybe?).  You can see, over to the left as you’re looking at this photo, a steel rule which is showing (as best as can be) the height of these houses. They’re measuring at roughly 4″ tall (or 10cm)

Little Blue Painted House.

I painted the backs to look different from the front ….

The backs of the Little Houses

…  so that you can compare the fronts and the backs . . .

The fronts of the little houses

And that’s how the adventures of the Little Houses began.

They’re not Fairy Houses, and they aren’t houses which go in the garden.  They’re rustic, little cottagey type houses – the type of cottages found by the seaside here where I live in the South of England.  They’re just for decoration inside our cottage.  To look sweet on a shelf somewhere, or on a table or bookshelf.  These three are going to sit on my coffee table.

I’m already planning to make some more…. only the next one’s will be a bit different to these.

Thanks for coming and spending some time with me.  I love your company.  But  then …. you know that already.  ❤

Be good to yourselves this month.  Give yourself a smile in the mirror every now and again.  A REAL smile.  One which reaches your eyes.  And …  don’t expect so much of yourself.  It’s great to have goals and ambitions, but sometimes, a body needs to know it’s loved.  Love yourself. Because if YOU don’t love you, how can anyone else be expected to love you.  (But please always remember that I love you in spite of yourself! lol)

Sending love, from me here in my corner, to you there in yours.

Tag Art.

Back in 2014 I began the Tag Art category here on the blog and although I did post Tag Art from time to time,  I didn’t post in that category all that often except to add a bit of something or other, every now and again.

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a change around in my craft room and came across the box labelled ‘Tag Art’, and I realised that I hadn’t done any Tag Art in …  well I couldn’t even remember when!

I thought I could perhaps wake it up and see if I can interest anyone in trying a little tag art too.

If you haven’t met Tag Art before then can I suggest that you read the opening post in the Tag Art category on this blog, which tells you everything you might need to know about Tag Art.  (There aren’t any rules).  You’ll hopefully find suggestions to get your mind working and your arty fingers itching.

You can find that opening post here:  We’ll start with a Basic (little) Tag … With a (little) basic art.  

The photo at the head of this post is of a Tag that I made ages ago for one of the first posts on Tag Art here on the blog, but felt that it would be nice to begin with an oldy but goody.

I’ve also taken some photo’s of Tags I still have in the box to share with you.  Some are there because I kind of liked them.  Some were ideas for a tag which I never got around to doing anything about.  And some are there because I didn’t throw them away. . .  … and there are a few photos.  So in an effort to take away the mystery and show you that anything YOU make on a tag is great!

Ho Ho Ho.

A card tag, grunged up a little, with a panel of fabric sewn to it.  Halloween!

Made using a blue card tag and two colours of a Kuretaki calligraphy pen to make the bamboo tree trunks

Practise tags.  I was trying to work out the best way to draw a sunflower using my Kuretake Calligraphy pens.  I got there in the end, but sadly forgot to take a photo.  (Margaret is my neighbour)

Of course .. you just KNEW there HAD to be a fairy here  somewhere or other.  lol  She was an idea I had for what a particular type of fairy might look like for another project I had in mind.

A bit of ginger joy on a tag.  I painted LOTS of these tags a while ago, and put them all on the front of some plain white cards, and sent them out for Christmas.  I loved the fabulous little ginger faces SO much that I decorated some circles and stars shapes made from wood, with these wonderful happy faces and hung them on my christmas tree.  I still have them today, and still hang them on the tree every year.  Love them.

If you make Tag Art, you must make sure that you sign the back (and date it) so that your tag can be seen to be made/painted by you.

I bought the ‘Tag Art’ stamp as an unmounted red rubber stamp, and the moment it arrived I went routing around the scraps of wood in Mr.Cobs shed, found this piece, inked up the stamp and pressed it onto the back and then glued the stamp to the other side.  I’ve had this stamp for about twelve years now.

Tag Art is anything you want it to be.  It can be painted, drawn, stamped, coloured with pencils, felt tip pens, specialist colouring pens, or left with no colour at all.  You can glue things, attach things – lace, ribbon, adornments, bits of wood, leaves, acorns, feathers, anything.  Anything which you want to fix to your tag you can.  (Obviously you can’t attach something which is too heavy – no sticking a car engine to a tag, because it’s just not going to work! lol).  You can add paste – maybe through a stencil to give a texture.  Glitter, small dolls, toy soldiers, plastic animals,  flowers, (pretend and pressed) … anything.  Do anything you like to get the result you have in your head.  Make it complicated or make it simple – like the tag at the head of this post – the one with the blue flower on it.  Just make some art, because it gives you a ‘high’ which you won’t get anywhere else.

Here’s a tag I made especially so that I could include it here.  It’s a simple tag … and to prove that it’s simple I’ve taken photographs of each step along the way which I did to make the tag.  Here’s the finished tag . . . .

The finished tag measures 9.5inches or 24.5cm x 5.4″inches or 13.5cm.

I measured out the length of card I would need to put the image of the Angel onto the card, cut the card to size and then gave that card the pointy top you see in the photo.

I stamped the image and began to paint her colours . . .

I decided to keep her colours to greys and blues in order to give this a cold winter breeze feeling.

I coloured up the background with a watery wash of pale grey.  Then turned my attention to the edges and echoed the denim blue of her jacket and wings.  I then added the snow at her feet which she was stood in,  and added dots of snow as it fell from the heavens.

image taken from a different angle so that you can see the ‘snow’

Mounted the image onto black card to echo the black of the stamped image.

Added lengths of lace at the bottom, and towards the top of the tag.  I added charms to hang from that lace – these are made from Tibetan Silver, and the angel coin in the centre at the bottom has a more vintage look about it.  It has an angel cut from the centre, and around that it says ‘You are My Special Angel’.  I embossed all around the edges of the Tag in Silver Embossing Powder.  There are little ‘feathers’ at each end of the lace, along the top of the tag.  These are made of velum.  The card then was mounted onto some royal purple coloured card.  I punched a hole towards the top where the point is, using my Crop-a-dile, and added an eyelet, for the ribbon to hang by.

The Tibetan Silver Feathers and the Angel coin hanging at the bottom of the Tag.

And of course .…  don’t forget to sign your Tag Art on the back …  and perhaps date it, even give it a name and any other details you feel you want to add to your art.

The end of a really simple bit of Tag Art.

What do people do with their tags once made?  Well you can do pretty much anything you have a mind to do.  I have a tendency to mount them on or in cards, or use them in scrapbooks.  However, I also keep some of them because I fall so deeply in love with them that I simply can’t part with them.  So I store them.  I have a box, and some big clippy pegs which I use to hold bits of art.  People also keep tags in Library Drawers. They make a particular sized tag so that they can be stored in that special draw which they have.  I’ve also seen tags hung on a wire coat hanger, and they look spectacular like that.  I can imagine them hung on a wall in the house, and one tag could be chosen to ‘speak’ for a few days, and then move it along the hanger and choose another tag to display.

A dandelion wish, and a wish-bone wish!

A Tag, which has some surprise Tags!

Make your tag(s) about anything you want.  Anything you have an interest in.  Anything which would make you smile.

Just a crocheted flower on a plain tag … draw a plant pot and a stalk and you’re done!  Maybe a picture of a bike in the newspaper?  Or an advertisement for perfume, hair spray, cosmetics, fishing equipment?  Anything.  Anything at all.  Then build your tag up a little – eg. if you chose the fishing equipment, you could perhaps add a bit of netting somewhere on the tag, or a plastic fish you’ve ‘tidied up’ from your children’s games, maybe a photo of a fish which you fix to card (for stability) and then fix in place using foam tape to give the tag a little depth.  Add ribbon and anything else you’d like and VOILA!  One Art Tag!

You can buy your tags … or you can simply use card and cut tags to the size you want them.  Round Tags, square, triangular, kite shaped, banner shaped.  Anything you like.  Oh … and I almost forgot to say … once you’ve made it, you can also use it on a gift just like a normal gift tag, so when you hand your gift over, what you’ll be giving is actually two gifts.

Go on.  Make some Art.  You KNOW you want to.  Do it.  Go do it now!  Have some fun!

If you’d like to have a go at Tag Art, do it today.  Don’t put it off till a week next Tuesday, do it now while you have the inspiration bubbling inside you.

You can buy tags almost anywhere and for a small amount too.  Add some PVA glue, an empty cereal box so that you can back some images and give them support (for things like pictures cut from magazines and newspapers), and you’re good to go.

We’re only given so many tomorrows and at some point those tomorrows run out.  So do it now.  Enjoy yourself now.  Have a little fun.  You never know, you might like it so much that you decide to buy some proper card to back your pictures/cut-outs and from there … the sky’s the limit!

Have a truly blessed rest of your day.  May you end the day by looking in the mirror and smiling at yourself.  And . . . . Let’s make a brand new rule for life;   as from tonight, always be a little kinder than is necessary.  That’s all the world needs to begin repairing itself.  Us to be a little kinder than is necessary.

Sending my love ~

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Believe in the Magic . . .

In a comment on my last Fairy Dress bit of artwork (an A.T.C. – you can see it  HERE  –  it will open up in another window for you),  I received this message … or maybe it was a letter … 

Dearest Cobs,
I would like to place my order for a lovely fairy dress in my size. I would also like it to have a bit of magic in it so that it makes my size be about 5 sizes smaller. And if I’m going to ask for some magic I should also like the feathers to be completely functional so that I can lift my skirt and fly away whenever the mood strikes me!
Sending you the fluffiest of fluffy feathered blessings!
~ Tami

Well, this young lady didn’t discuss colours, she only mentioned feathers, and a magical dress which would make her look at least 5 sizes smaller.  But … I don’t think it would be small enough for a real Fairy Dress in Fairyland … so I’m going to have to wave a Magic Wand over Miss Tami and simply change her into Fairy Size.  However, I have made her a dress which has a feathered skirt, – the feathers of which have been kissed with colour by a Kingfisher as he flew past.  As Fairy Tami flies, the feathered skirt will simply brush away from her legs which will allow her to land easily.

The Fairy Wings are the most beautiful of feathers …. but they’ve been died, cut and tinted to make them look like a butterflies wings.

The Skirt …  has been adorned with Diamond like Crystals, which can also be found on the bodice, at the centre of each flower.  The Bodice was all hand painted.

Above the Fairy Dress is a crown of gold ….  again decorated with Diamond like Crystals, and placed at a slightly jaunty angle, as I feel that Miss Tami would wear her crown at a slightly jaunty angle to show the fun side of her character.  (And believe me, that gal has a MAHOOSIVE fun side!  lol).

Although the four photos might appear to be exactly the same, they actually aren’t.  I tried my best to show the little details of this card so had to use different lighting in the hope of drawing attention to things so that you got a full idea of the whole card.

The Fairy Dress and Wings are mounted on an 8″x8″ plain white card blank.  The Teal colour around the edge is actually called Aquamarine, and is made using one of my most favourite crafty products – Pinflair Buff-it.  I LOVE this stuff and have it in about 8 different colours.  You can buy it direct from  Pinflair HERE –  I’ve shopped with them for many years now and cannot fault their service.

After I’d applied the Buff-it and polished it to a shine,  I then applied wriggly lines of glue all over the card and added very fine glitter dust to that glue.

I fixed the Dress and Wings in place;  fixed the crown at a jaunty angle, and finally fixed the word ‘believe’ to the bottom right hand corner – which I’d printed onto some thin white cotton.

And that’s all there was to it!

I do hope Miss Tami likes it.  Of course… she’ll have to have a fitting to ensure that it fits OK, but personally .. I can’t see a problem.  I think it will fit like a glove.

All that’s left for me to say now is ….  I hope your week is going well and that it’s not too hot, nor too cold where ever you are right now.  Here … well it’s a little humid in my cottage, but I’m sure it’s like that for a reason …  and being England, the weather will change if you blink so I’m sure it won’t last for too long.  (Although it’s three days here in the South Coast, and I am getting just a little fed up of feeling like a wilted flower).

Have a wonderful day, whatever you’re doing.  And whatever you’re doing, be nice.  Smile.  A smile costs nothing, but it can change a person’s whole day.

Squidges, from me here in my corner to you there in yours.

Birds of a Feather flock together….

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 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…

…  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.

 

It’s Only a Paper Moon ~ an ATC painted for World Watercolour Month

Hello again!  Happy Sunday.  I hope that I find you in full health and ready for a bright day filled with some smiles and a little love wherever you happen to be.

I’m still dedicated to the World Watercolour Month Challenge, (as you can see) and I’m here with another little ATC moonlight painting, only this time it’s shining over the sea.

Before I began I knew  I wanted to paint:- a moon, the sea and a wee little sail boat/dinghy bobbing on the ocean.  So I had a plan.

As I painted, the fabulous song from ‘Paper Moon’ came back to me and I ended up singing to myself.  It seemed like the perfect title to use for this post, so I did use it. As you can see!  lol.

Not sure if many of you remember ‘Paper Moon’ – both the film and the made for TV programme.  It starred Ryan and Tatum O-Neale, and even though I was just a little child, I can remember how much I loved watching it.  I’d never seen anyone doing any of the things this father and daughter team did …  and it totally fascinated me.  It didn’t encourage me to try to do things like they did, I just found them both so lovable and funny and loved their love for each other.

Ry “It’s Only a Paper Moon”  .  .  .   an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth

The above photograph was taken with just the over-head lights to light it. So it just looks like a moon looking out over the sea, painted using regular water-colour paints.

‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’  . . .   an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth

However … when you add more lighting, the moon begins to glow.  This is down to me using some Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour paints, in ‘White Gold’ for the moon, and ‘Blue Gold’ for the glow off the lamp which is hanging on the mast of the little boat bobbing on the ocean.

A tiny section of the painting: ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’  . . .   an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth, painted by Cobwebs of The Cobweborium Emporium.

The above close up of the boat shows that the boat is actually sailing away from you in the painting.  You’re looking at the back of the boat nearest to you.  It also shows the little lamp which has been hung up on the mast of the little sailboat.

‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’  . . .   an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth

Finally, I placed a mount around the painted (and dried) ATC of  ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ in order to frame the painting properly and draw the eye into it.

I really enjoyed painting this one.  It was lots of fun and such a happy subject matter.  Loved it.

And … because I have the song ‘Paper Moon’ buzzing around my brain now, I felt it was only proper to share  (as good friends do) so I visited You Tube and got the song just for you.  See how much I care about you?  🙂   It’s only 2minutes and 37seconds long.   You can thank me later.  😊

 

Well … all that’s left for me to say now is …    and that’s all there was to it!  🤣  LOL

Have a truly blessed rest of your Sunday.  Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee with me.  It means more than you’ll ever know, so thank you.

Sending love, from me here in my corner, to you there in yours  ~

Just Watching the Water! ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

One of my most favourite pastimes is to drive to a particular car park in Dorset, where I can park right by the edge of the sea.  It’s just behind a low wall.  If I get out of my car and walk a few feet to the wall then it’s down a few steps and I’m on the beach.  When the tide comes in it comes right up to the wall.  Only ever coming over the top of the wall when there is a particularly bad storm.

I don’t care what the weather is … it can be full sunshine or persisting down with rain …  I’m happy to sit with the window down a little so that I can hear and smell the sea, and just listen.  I don’t need to talk and I don’t need a radio to entertain me.  The most noise I need is the sea, doing what the sea does naturally.  I love to watch the water.  To be at peace and at one with that magnificent force of nature that the sea is.

SOooo many brain cobwebs can be blown away by a visit to the sea.  I can sit there for quite some time before I eventually say goodbye to it and start my car up to drive home.  But …  as I leave I have always found that I have this sense of inner peace and the knowledge that whatever happens, everything is alright with my world.

I visited the sea yesterday . . .  

I’d been grocery shopping.  NOT my favourite thing to do.  All that time choosing, shopping popping things in the basket.  Then taking it out of the basket, putting it onto the conveyor belt.  Then putting it in a shopping bag, then bringing it home, then unpacking it … and for what?  It all gets eaten and I have to do it all over again!  Dogs Sake!  It’s about time they banned shopping and just chose healthy stuff for us to eat with recipes on cards, (so that we knew what we were supposed to make with the purple sprouting Gourd-like Carbeet Skins) and just charged us a fee for the pleasure.

Actually … better still… let’s all just stop eating.  Yes!  They could invent something that would replace eating and keep us all slim and shapely so that we all look exactly the same on the beach!  PERFECT IDEA!

But anyway (sigh… I do seem to keep wandering off the subject today)  … we’re here to look at a little  painting.

#WorldWatercolorMonth

A little ATC which measures 2.5inches by 3.5inches, painted with watercolours on 140lb  Watercolour paper.

It’s not a painting of an area where I live, but just an idea of a fabulous place to perhaps live and see the view of from your kitchen window.  Cooo … wouldn’t that be a great place to live?  Perhaps an old cottage built from stone.  With deep, thick walls so that the windows could all have window seats built into them.  Gingham curtains.  Thick Pine table tops, and ….  oh heck!  I’ve gone off on one now!  tsk tsk.

Back to the topic Cobs… 

I really loved painting this little ATC for World Watercolour Month Challenge.  It just seemed to paint itself.

#WorldWatercolorMonth

And that … is all there was to it!

Thank you so much for sharing some time with me.  I love to see you.  I did ask this last week, and I’m going to ask again …  Are you joining in with the World Watercolour Month?  If you are and I don’t know about it, please give me a bit of a poke with the end of your pen and show me where I should go and see your wondrous creations.  I’d SO enjoy seeing what you’ve painted – or coloured with watercolour pencils.

Thank you for coming.  Love seeing you.  Have a truly blessed day!

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Rodney Rooster – 4th ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

Did you know that this year, 2017, is the Chinese year of the Rooster?   It began on January 28th, 2017 and lasts till February 15th, 2018.   The Rooster is the tenth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign.

So … what else could I paint for World Watercolour Month but … a Rooster!  Rodney Rooster in fact.

When I paint an ATC (ACEO) I cut a piece of watercolour card bigger than the required size – this is because the size, (2.5″ x 3.5″) is a little small to hold, and you don’t have any ‘spare room’ to hold onto the piece.  So I will measure and draw out the exact size of the ATC, but then cut the watercolour card bigger, so that I have places to hold onto the bit of watercolour card, without getting my thumb prints all over the places I’ve painted.  BUT …  doing this can sometimes be my downfall...  as it was with Rodney the Rooster here.

Rodney Rooster – a hand painted ATC/ACEO #WorldWatercolorMonth

The above photograph shows Rodney the Rooster painted on a piece of watercolour card, which I cut a little bigger than the required 2.5″x 3.5″.  But if you look carefully at the photograph, you can see that I measured and drew in the ‘box’ of the exact size of an ATC, so that I wouldn’t paint any of the details outside the required size.  All well and good so far.

Once I’ve finished painting, and the paint is fully dry, I then cut the ATC’s to the correct size and all’s well in ATC land.  BUT … can you spot where, in my gung-ho state of  ‘lets get this painted’  I made one of the mistakes I am sometimes known to make?

I painted to the size of the ATC …. rather than paint  within  that size.  I’ve mentioned in previous posts about ATC’s,  that I love to ‘frame’ my ATC’s/ACEO’s with a mount – and even sometimes frame them behind glass (raised up off the painting to safeguard the painted picture), and because of this, I have my mounts cut to just a tiny bit smaller than the required mount size, so that everything tucks nicely behind that tidy mount.  And that normally works perfectly,  [sigh] …  but not today.

Rodney Rooster ….  was too big for his boots …. or rather, just a tiny bit big for his mount!

Today I had obviously left my brain on the pillow when I got out of bed this morning.

I had a choice.  I could either hide a bit of his beak behind one side of the mount.  Or hide some of the ends of his feathers on his tail.  Neither was acceptable.  So … I went with choice three…  I used a heavyweight textured paper mount which was cut to the exact size of an ATC/ACEO so that none of his feathers were hidden.  Problem solved.

 

#WorldWatercolourMonth

I prefer the wider mount (the blue one) – but needs must.

Lesson learned?  I doubt it.  I’m a total numbskull and I’ve done it before so I’ve no doubt I’ll do it again  (and again! lol).

But y’know …  maybe I like him without a mount at all.  Ahh, Cobs…   it’s just an ATC/ACEO ….  not World Peace!  Stop fretting.

Thank you so much for coming and allowing me to introduce you to Rodney.  Mr. Cobs is going to have a surprise when he reads this blog post on Thursday morning . . . .  he thought I’d said that I’d painted  “a cockle”.  Bless his bad hearing.  Always thinking of food is perhaps more like the problem!  LOL

Have a truly blessed Thursday.  Be good to yourself.

 

 

I’m a LITTLE Teapot! 3rd ATC/ACEO painted for World Watercolour Month

And she is!  LITTLE, I mean.  The Teapot is a LITTLE teapot.  Painted on 140lb watercolour paper cut to just  2.5″x 3.5″,  and using watercolour paints

This is an ATC/ACEO hand painted for World Watercolour Month – which runs for all of July.  (you can find out more about this, here:-  Doodlewash<— click – and it will open up in a new page for you).

Painting a watercolour for World Watercolour Month doesn’t mean you have to paint on such a small size as I’ve done here.  You can join in and paint in any size you feel like and on anything you’d like to.  So if you want to paint the empty cereal pack, then go ahead!  But do test your water colours on the medium you’d like to use, to ensure that the effect you get is the one you want.

I chose to paint ATC‘s (Artist Trading Card)/ACEO‘s (Art Card Originals and Editions) just for the extra challenge, and because I rather enjoy creating on a small-scale.

The only ‘rule’ for painting or creating an ATC or an ACEO is the size must be no bigger or smaller 2.5″x 3.5″ inches.

Because I know that when you’re sitting on your side of the screen it can be difficult to imagine the size of an ATC I thought I’d take a couple of photos which would give you a rough idea about how small an ATC actually is.  This first photograph shows the painted Teapot next to a regular sized pen….

Shown next to an ordinary, regular sized pen so that you can see the actual size of the little painting.

…and this next photo shows the card next to a regular sized ‘business card’…

shown along with a ‘business card’  for size.

This is my 3rd hand painted ATC/ACEO  for  World Watercolour Month –  if you’ve missed the first two you can find them here—> ATC’s & ACEO’s  – You can scroll down the page when it loads, to find even more!

If you fancy having a ‘go’ at painting a watercolour, or two, you can buy a box of watercolours, (here in the UK)  at ‘The Works’ –  who sell a box of Boldmere watercolours  – 12 tubes of different colours, in a box, for just £3.00.  They also sell brushes, watercolour paper, watercolour pencils,  and other various arty items. Outside the UK I’m afraid I’m of no help as I don’t have knowledge of your art supplies stores.

Well, today (Tuesday) has been a beautiful day – not too hot, but warm, with a gentle suggestion of breeze.  And, as the sun shone, we were at Little Cobs School Sports Day!  I had such a good time watching him running, and joining in with all the races – from the bean bag on top of your head race – and the ‘Up and Under’ race – throwing the javelin (a long foam tube with ‘flights’ at one end — no one could get injured by these javelins!) – to the final race of running from one end to the other of the little field.

Having Cerebral Palsy, we knew Little Cobs wasn’t going to be the fastest runner, but he was most certainly the most ‘tried and succeeded, in a joyful manner‘  winner!

We’d never been to school Sports day before.  It was a joy to see how many people (mummies and daddies) knew Little Cobs by name, and when they spoke his name it was always spoken with a warm affection.  And… even when he came last in some races, all the mummies and daddies hung about at the finish line and cheered him on and clapped loudly for him when he finally finished.  So heartwarming, and I was so, so thankful to them.  Such beautiful people.

Today has been a total joy and a day of making memories with our fabulous Grandson.  When we had a picnic on the field (along with all the other parents and grandparents and their little ones),  he was so full of happy bubbles that he wuffed his picnic lunch down and joined some other children in his class, doing the running races all over again – only this time,  ‘free-style’.  I worried that there’d be a collision – but thankfully they managed to avoid each other really well!  LOL.

May your own day today be a good one.  May the sun shine warmly upon you, and may someone smile in such a way that you feel the warmth behind it.

Be a blessing in someone elses life.  Make them an unexpected cup of tea/coffee.  Give someone a card just to say ‘Hello’ and make them smile.  Write a little message on a post it note and stick it to their computer/desk/mug!   Thank someone properly.  Go the extra mile and make someone feel that they matter.  Just make someone feel like they count.

Your smile might be the only good thing they’ve had to smile about all day.  Be a blessing.

Thank you so much for coming.  I love to see you here.

Have a truly blessed day.  Squidges from me here in my corner, to you there in yours.

Petunia Piggy – ATC/ACEO No.2 – for World Watercolour Month

In case any of you missed yesterdays post, July is World Watercolour Month.  You can find out more about this, here:-   Doodlewash   <—click.  The challenge is to paint a watercolour a day for the month of July.  Now I know I won’t be able to paint a watercolour every day, but I’m going to try my hardest to paint as many days as possible and share them on the blog here.

Yesterday was a pot of Auriculas. Today is the turn of …  Petunia Pig.

Petunia is a folky sort of girl, a Gloucestershire Old Spot (a pedigree pig) –  who has a love of grass and any thing she can eat in order to keep her fine figure.

Petunia, with all her brothers and sisters, and her mummy.

Aw, enough of me waffling.  I shall share Petunia with you …  She’s painted in watercolours, on 140lb watercolour paper,  and she’s in ATC/ACEO size – so just 2.5″ x 3.5″.

July 2017 Watercolour Challenge PETUNIA PIG #WorldWatercolorGroup

No longer the baby … she’s a big girl now.  😀

Hope your Sunday was peaceful and that you found something to smile about.  Have a lovely rest of your day!