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 ~
Who said you could only have a balloon on your Birthday?Actually .. why have balloons become a special occasion item at all? When I go back to my childhood (not too great a stretch of my imagination, admittedly) I can remember the joy of being given a balloon!
I’d actually seen an image very like this painted onto a birthday cake for a little girls birthday. It had obviously lodged itself in my brain, and because I’d been thinking about birthdays (my own only being a few days away. not hinting or anything), and who can have a birthday without cake? (NOW I’m hinting. Cobs Snr. take note: CAKE – if I can’t have *this one*, then I’d be very happy with *this one* … or even *this one*)
Back to the ATC Cobs! …. … … … with the white mount:
Happy UnBirthday! An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
This little ATC took me a bit longer as I’d over wet the watercolour paper before I began so once I’d sploshed some colour on for the background, I had to wait a while for that to dry. Patience not being one of my strongest points (I try. I really do try) … I eventually plugged my heat gun in and ‘helped’ it to dry. (read: forced the little bu&ger to do as it was told).
Happy UnBirthday! An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
Once it was finally finished I rather liked it. It had a gentleness, which I loved, and innocence – which made me think of me. (yeah, I’m laughing at that one).
After trying the mounts…. I think I actually like it naked.
Happy UnBirthday! An ATC made for #WorldWatercolorMonth
I think I’ll cut off the border(which I leave on so that I can handle the ATC while I’m painting it), and I might even mount this one onto a card. Perhaps a Birthday Card or a ‘hello I was thinking of you‘ card. That sort of thing.
Thank you so much for coming and for sharing a few minutes with me. I so appreciate your company.
I’d just like to say a warm welcome to some new followers which have joined our happy team here in the last few weeks. I won’t mention you by name, but you know who you are. It’s lovely to have you here. Don’t be afraid to comment and let yourself be known. I’ve found that I’ve SO enjoyed some comments on other people’s blogs that I’ve clicked to see what that person is ‘about’, and ended up following them. So please do make yourself known. Who knows … you may end up with a few new followers!
Well … it’s Thursday already. Someone has stolen two days out of my week this week. Tuesday and Wednesday have gone missing altogether. If I catch that little rascal who’s snaffling days out of my weeks I’ll grab him by the collar and shake the little divil until all the days fall out of his hiding places! pffft.
Have a wonderful day. Remember … do it to them before they do it to you … be nice to people that is. Smile at them. PLEASE!!! This sort of thing WILL make the world a better place. C’mon! Let’s heal the world… it has to begin before we can win. Let it begin with us!
I’m going to type this blog post and get it all finished and completed within 15 minutes. Yeah … and pigs might fly!
I got out my paints this afternoon (Sunday) with the intention of painting an Angel … but then a stray little ticklish memory came to mind and I found myself pencilling a flying pig, and so I went with it.
P ‘And Pigs Might Fly’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
It was quite a quick painting project, the longest time was waiting for colours to dry so I could move onto another colour … but my heat gun helped with that just a tad.
Again, painted to the ATC size of 2.5inches by 3.5inches. You can see the exact size in the photo above – the pencil marks around the sides – but I always leave an ‘over-hang’ so that I can touch/hold the painting and move it around without getting mucky finger prints on it and spoiling it.
‘And Pigs Might Fly’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
I tried a white mount around it and quite liked that. But then tried the blue mount and …
‘And Pigs Might Fly’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth
… I quite liked that too. One moment I love it with the white mount … and the next … well … what can I say. I like them both.
What about you? Which one do you prefer?
This really was an enjoyable make. Watercolour paper. Watercolour paints. Some brushes and some water … and VOILA! One teeny pig with really tiny teeny wings. Somehow I don’t think those wings would carry the pig … but hey… who am I to judge? I have no training in these things! 😇
Happy Monday!
I know, I know,you’re not overly impressed with Mondays. Lots of people aren’t. So let’s break the system. Let’s paste a smile on our faces and wear it at every opportunity today. Why? Because it makes everyone wonder what the HECK you’ve been up to. You’ll look like you’ve been up to something or know something. Keep ’em guessing. When they ask you just say “Aw, nothing, really” … but say it in *that* way which makes them think that … you might not be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And that alone will keep ’em smiling. lol
Have a truly blessed day my friends, and wherever you go today, may your God go with you.
Daughter No.2 is Little Cobs’ (my Grandson) Mummy. She’s not been too well and I knew she was in a pickle to get out to buy thank you cards for teachers and helpers at the end of term time for Little Cobs. (Why she doesn’t just get all her cards from me -f.o.c. – is a mystery!). So I offered to make the cards. She needed three altogether and she left it up to me to design and make them. (she trusts me! Yup, she’s crazy, I know!)
So for his teacher,who he loves, worships and adores to the moon and back … I made this card….
… Made using Altenew Stamps (roses). I decided upon the wording first, – oh, and where it says ‘Little Cobs’ on the photo there … in real life it actually has his name there, in the same font as the one I used for the sentiment, just smaller in size. It says beneath his name, if you can’t quite read it: aged 6 – because he is! See … he and I are so close in age (’cause I’m 7 as you know) and this is why we get along so well and understand each other. 😀
Once the sentiment was printed, I stamped the images – 6 roses and some leaves, and then onto some spare card, I stamped two more roses, and fussy cut those out then added double-sided foam tape to the back to fix them to the card, in order to give it a little dimension.
To finish the front off, I added some Aurora Borealis sequins and a sprinkle of pearls in three different sizes.
The back of the card … well I resisted the urge to write: Made by Grammy Cobs …. and instead did the proper thing …
… if you can’t read it, try this one – I blew it up a little ….
And that … is all there was to it! To be truthful, it sounds harder than it really is. There are two more cards, but I need to re-size photo’s of those so it’s just ‘Show and Tell’ for this one today. 😀
There was sadly no painting going on over the weekend as I had a doozer of a headache and even the thought of painting was too much. I doubt I could have come up with an idea to make into a picture other than black, black and more black.
But normal service is resumed today. I began to paint earlier but then ended up having a mega chat via text messages with daughter. It would have been so much easier had I spoken to her on the phone – and darn quicker too.
These kids now, they have this monkey thing going on with their thumbs and can type out a chapter of a book quicker than I can find my smilies on my phone to add to a three word message! I’m just tooo s…..l….o…..w at texting. Typing on a proper key board I’m fine at. I’m a trained touch typist. (not bragging, just tellin’ ya) But longish nails combined with teeny tiny keys and then add a sprinking of idiot to the mix – all that, in charge of a cell phone, – well let’s just say it doesn’t make the perfect scenario!
So anyhoo… … I began to paint, but ended up having to pack things away and continue the hour-long texting session. However, … I’ll be back in my craft room tomorrow and hopefully finish the painting off and photos will follow.
For the girls reading: It’s a watercolour life study of a naked man – Mr.Cobs posed.
For the men … it’s a painting of a Kentucky Fried Chicken Family Bucket, with a bottle of Coke sat next to it.
… (and if you believe it’s either of those things then you’ll also believe I can knit jelly!)
In the meantime … Have a Happy Tuesday. Be kind. Be brave. Be beautiful. Be you. For you are truly amazing,justthe way you are.
Thank you for coming. It means the world to me to see you.
Have a good day, where ever you are. And where ever you are, may your God go with you.
Can you hear dogs howling? Are there rappings at your window? Do you see strange shapes, female like, travelling past the moon with only a broom as transport? Do you have bats in your belfry?
Throughout history, the occurrence of the full moon has been linked to all sorts of strange behaviors. It’s said that some police officers believe that a full moon leads to more crimes being committed.
Me personally? I think it’s all rubbish. The only thing that happens during a full moon is that I can see better in the dark, and I don’t reckon that’s because I ate all my carrots either!
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth – lit with the dullest of table lamps – so that it lights the photograph but doesn’t over light it. It leaves it a little dark and moody.
I was sort of vacant of thought, gazing at the moon through the window and this gave me an idea to paint a [bit of fun] night sky with silhouettes on the ground in ATC size. So I did.
However not only did I use regular water colours, I also used a tiny bit of a different type of water-colours, called Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour – in White Gold. I used this for the moon and a little on some of the stars, as I wanted the moon to GLOW.
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth – This photograph is taken with a bright desk lamp – so it shows the moon being a little brighter than the last photo.
The Gansai Tambi Pearl and Starry colours have mica mixed in with the water colours and can give you a truly lovely glow to parts of your paintings which you want to draw attention to.
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth. This photo taken with the same brighter lamp – but I’ve put a mount around the ATC to frame it better.
I’ve been using these types of ‘twinkly’ water colours for a while now…. I found my very first set years and years ago, packaged up as ‘children’s paints’ and I bought them for just £1.49 from a shop here in the UK, called The Works. You can see a little ATC here (click and the link will open up in a new tab) on which I first used those mica paints to paint with.
But the paints I used for brightening the moon in this painting was part of a boxed set of 6, made by Kuretake.
I LOVE Kuretake products. The company was sited not too far from where I used to live, and every year they would have a monster sale and invite crafters to come and buy. I must have kept that company going for years! I spent somuch money with them, and learnt so many amazing techniques from their fabulous staff, to do with paints and pens. They are very much a company who I highly recommend. BUT… although I know you can buy from that well-known TV Craft Channel (Create and Craft), I urge you to shop around before investing your money there, as I’ve bought some Kuretake products for half the price that they’re selling them on C&C, AND – I’ve got FREE postage on top too! So do please shop around if you decide to buy any of the Kuretake items. The company itself is truly brilliant. Their customer service and the products are perfection. —>Link to Kuretake website HERE.<— (You can buy direct from them on that website too – check-out the sales items!)
This last photo was taken with the flash on as it’s the brightest light I had on a dark evening a couple of nights ago. I so wanted to show you how the light plays with the Gansai Tambi Starry water-colours and makes something so simple become something quite stunning….
Lunar C. … an ATC for #WorldWatercolorMonth.
… and … what you see in the photograph isn’t the true story. That moon looks like MAGIC! So magical that it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck!
The only thing I would change about this tiny ATC (2.5″x3.5″) is … that I wish I’d have gently dotted stars into the scene, instead of dragging my fingernail over the bristles of the damp brush to get the ‘splots’. I totally forgot that I was working small-sized and because of that I should have dotted the stars in individually using a tiny brush or dotter. tsk tsk. By the time I’d got to that part, I couldn’t change the dots as it would have spoilt the sky … so I left it as is. But to be honest .. in real life, the dots aren’t as ‘in your face’ as they appear on the photo’s. It’s my own fault for being away with the fairies as I was painting. lol
The next full moon, here in the UK, isn’t until the 7th August 2017 – so make a note and … don’t forget to howl at the moon! (Google will be your friend if you want to know when the next full moon is where you live).
Thank you SO much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. It’s so fabulous to spend time with you. If you fancy a wee chat, then please leave a comment in the comments box below and I promise I’ll reply the very next visit I make to the blog here. (and I come here regularly – so you won’t have to wait long! 😉 )
Before we part … I need you to know that I receive no incentive, payment or encouragement from Kuretake, or any other company, when I recommend products to you. I speak to you as a fellow crafter, with many years experience. I research and buy all my own supplies – and if money would allow I’d buy even more supplies just so that I could share them with you and share the results I get from using them.
Of course, if Kuretake, or any other craft product company, happen to be reading my blog and would like to share some of their products with me so that I can share [honestly] the results I get from using them, with you – then I’d be more than happy to do that. (but the chances are very slim that any craft company will be reading my blog so I won’t hold my breath!) 🙂
Have a truly brilliant Saturday. I hope the weather is just right for you – not too warm that you’re uncomfortable, and not too cold so that you require a hot water bottle for your feet! May your day end with you looking back over the hours, and smiling a satisfied, contented smile.
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!
Happy Tuesday! As you can see I’m attempting to continue with the World Watercolour Month Challenge, and todays offering is done with a big nod to the fun aspect of doing this challenge.
Can you work out why I’ve titled this little, two and a half inches by three and a half inches, ATC/ACEO ‘Snail Mail‘?
Here … take another look…
‘Snail Mail’. An ATC / ACEO Painted for #WorldWatercolorMonth
… worked it out yet? I’m sure you have but just in case there’s someone who’s still half asleep and not got their brain up and running yet … That thing on the side of the snail … is a Postage Stamp. It’s even got a teeny tiny painting of the Queens head on it, and she’s wearing a crown!
So … it’s a snail, which looks like it’s going to be posted somewhere because of the postage stamp … so it’s +Snail+ Mail= Snail Mail! 😀
You’ll never guess what I did though. Do you remember that I painted a Rooster (Rodney) a few days ago … but painted him just a little too big for the mounts I like to use around ATC’s/ACEO’s? Well … I did it again … take a look…
#WorldWatercolorMonth
See … didn’t I tell you I’d do it again! I’ve cut his BTM off! How on earth is he going to leave that magical fairy trail behind him now?! Did you know that a snail leaves that Shimmering Fairy Trail so that he can find his way home again? It’s his personal SatNav. Snails had SatNavs loooong before they were thought of for us!
Nooooo don’t be so gullible …. that’s a pile of pooh. I made that up so don’t go round repeating that as a ‘fact’ – because the whole world will believe it! (Actually … that could be really funny. The whole world believing that a snail has its own SatNav! LOL The more I think about that the funnier it gets! LOL … I’m actually sat here typing this and giggling my head off! Ahhh I do love funny!).
I get so ‘into’ what I’m doing when I’m painting, – especially so when I’ve only got a little bit of time to do something in, – and all the plans and pencil guidelines all disappear into thin air and I go crazy with the paint! tsk tsk. Maybe it’s the paint fumes? Those watercolours …. they must give off paint fumes. That’s what it is. It’s not me being a dope. I’m obviously high on watercolour paint fumes!
(and if you believe that, you’ll believe that I can knit jelly! – ‘Jello’ for our USA friends).
Anyhoo… I painted a snail. Watercolour paper + paint + brushes + water! And that, as they say, is all there was to it!
Wishing you a Tip Top Tuesday! May you have a truly happy day, and may you share your smile with others. How about paying someone a compliment today? It can be a ‘You always look so great!’. Or … ‘Your hair looks lovely.’ Or … ‘I really like your car. It suits you. Great choice!’ Or … anything. Like someone’s shoes. Tell someone how much you admire their dedication. Tell someone they look brilliant in *that* colour! Like someones perfume.
Anything … You know what you feel comfortable with. If you just aren’t into giving compliments, then make someone a surprise cup of coffee or tea. Or buy the section you work on at work a pack of biscuits for afternoon tea. Just make someone smile!
From me …. to you … I think you’re amazing. You come and visit me nearly every time I post something and I adore seeing you. So from me, to you, a BIG…
… THANK YOU!
I really appreciate you coming and relish having you as a blogging friend. Sending much love and squidges, from me in my corner, to you in yours. Have a truly blessed day.
Mrs. Craft of: craftandothercrazyplans totally made my day by nominating me for this ‘Blue Sky Tag’ award. Thank you Mrs.Craft. I’m truly honoured and totally cock-a-hoop at being bestowed such a lovely award. It sort of lets me know that I must be doing OK’ish’ for you to have thought of me. Bless your heart. I’m so very grateful to you. xxx
The task I have to complete in order to win the award is…
Answer a set of questions which have been set by Mrs.Craft.
Nominate 5 other blogs/people for the Blue Sky Tag award
Set 5 Questions for the people I’ve nominated to answer. (it was supposed to be six, but I felt Five questions were more do-able, any more could be a pain. So five is what I’ve kept it to).
And that’s it. Nothing more to do.
Soooo… I’ll jump straight in and answer the questions Mrs.Craft has set, and I hope to both make her proud of her choice, and also give you a little entertainment along the way. 🙂
What time of day are you most creative? In the afternoons, leading into early evening. Never in the mornings, unless something is pressingly urgent. ... for that read: I’ve forgotten someone’s birthday and can’t simply buy a card because I know there are expectations for me to have made one. A special one. A VERY special one. More special than anything ever seen before. And I know that if I don’t come up with the goods, then someone is going to feel really upset and even quietly cross, that I didn’t obviously care enough to go the extra mile. (Guilt plays a HUGE part in my life. I am a slave to Master/Mistress Guilt).
If you could try any new creative art, what would it be and why? Well, I’ve tried rather a lot of them. You see … I’ve been a crafter almost all of my life. I’ve done: Card Making; Pottery; Jewellery Making; Knitting; Sewing; Embroidery; Felting; Scrapbooking; Melt Potting; Painting – on canvas and paper; Painting – decorative painting for house things; Wreath making; Floristry; Tag Art; Stone painting; Decorative Painting on walls (I even painted a woodland scene on a reception wall at my daughters first school). ATC’s and ACEO’s. … Oh heck … there’s more but my brain is beginning to hurt now as I’m trying to rememberise all this stuff! lol … But –there is one craft which I’m currently trying to master, and that’s Crochet. I’m teaching myself and I have had a little bit of a success, but my efforts do not live up to my aspirations. So work continues. lol
Evidence that if something sits still long enough, I’ll paint it. This is now rather an old stool. We tried to work out how old, and we think it’s between 15 and 17 years oldI took FLASH ON and Flash OFF photo’s and none of them were particularly any good, but I’ll share them both with you so that you get an idea.A happy little chicken keeps guard on one side of the stool.A funky chicken keeps guard on the one side of the stool.Getting close up and personal!Two hanging hearts, hanging from a (painted) nail.
that’s all folks! 😀
Which famous artist/author/crafter would you like to meet? Oh My Goodness! Coo that’s a question and a half. There are TONS of crafters I would like to meet. Far too many of them to list just a few, and it would be awful to miss anyone out, so I won’t name any names as I love too many. (is it possible to love too many crafters? I think not). 😀 Authors … ahhh now then,I could begin in my childhood and continue through to my daughters childhoods and name tons. An elderly neighbour, Mrs. Cooke, from my young child years got me reading Catherine Cookson books from around the age of 7, and I ADORED them and her style of writing. She has such a wonderful way of ‘writing a picture’ and I could see everything inside my little head as if I were stood quietly in the corner watching things unfold. From that came a life long love of Catherine Cookson … and I cried when they announced that she’d passed on, back in 1998. I had at that point, every single book she’d written. As I bought the books, I read and kept every one. With my first weeks wages I earned, the first thing I did was go into town and buy a Catherine Cookson book. And I never stopped buying until she passed away. After that, books began to be produced, still in her name, and written in the same way and style, but they weren’t HER. So I simply couldn’t buy them. A few years ago I decided that I needed to pare down the books I owned (not just Cookson – I read a LOT), and I chose certain books which were my absolute, never to part with, favourites as my ‘keeps’, and gave all but a favourite few of my Cookson collection to the secretary at my daughters school. Her mother (the secretary’s mother) was living in an Elderly Peoples home, and the residents didn’t have a great selection of reading material at that point. They were trying to build a library for the residents, so I donated all my Cookson books to that library, and apparently they went down a smash hit with the ladies there. But I still own my favourites and still read them – even though I know them like the old friends they are. Now we come to Artist …awww again, I have a selection…. One would have to be Beryl Cook.
a painting by Beryl Cook – titled ‘A Full House’
If you don’t know who she is, Google her name and then view ‘Images’. She paints in quite a naive(ish) sort of way, but includes such a ton of fun into her fabulous cheeky pieces and they tickle the heck out of me. I think she and I would have got along fine and dandy.Also Stanley Spencer – another English artist, who had such great talent for detail. (Something I love). His paintings can keep you looking, and looking, and looking – until you don’t realise how much time has passed and you’ve been hypnotised to the spot and held captive.
a painting by Stanley Spencer – entitled Angels of the Apocalypse
Of course … there are the world known (paint) artists such as Raphael, (The Deliverance of Saint Peter is a fabulously pure work of heart)
a painting by Raphael ~ The Deliverance of Saint Peter.
Then there’s Michelangelo who I’d love to have met and watched working. I could add also Walter Crane – who’s paintings can make me gasp with delight. And Theodor Severin Kittelsen … such a huge talent and fabulously rich style. Aw heck.. I could go on. Please do Google any names you’re not familiar with and take a look at their art.
What has been your longest craft project?Me. I’m my longest craft project. I’m continually trying to make me a ‘better’ me. It’s a never-ending project.
What injuries have you sustained as a result of being creative? Oh Lord! My most continual one has to be the HOT GLUE GUN! People out there who have never used one …. I give you the biggest tip I can give to anyone … When you plug in your glue gun to heat up, in the time you’re waiting, go and half fill a bowl with cold water. This is so that when you get that hot glue on your fingers (and particularly your finger nails) you can instantly plunged the affected part into cold water and hold it there for a time. You will never know pain like hot glue until you learn about it and feel it for yourself. This tip is a SERIOUS ONE. No jokes.
What was your first ever creative project?Probably painting when I was little. Or … maybe pasta shapes stuck to card. Something like that I would guess. But my first serious one was making myself a nightdress out of one of my mothers old sheets. She was going to throw it out and I begged for it. She didn’t have a clue what I was going to make, but coooo – was she surprised when, some weeks later, I’d finished my project (which I’d been doing in secret) and put it on to show her. It was all hand sewn, and even had little flowers and leaves which I’d embroidered, at the neckline. I was so chuffed with how that turned out, and I wore it until I eventually grew out of it.
Now it’s time for the nomination of 5 Crafters ….
I would like to nominate the following 5 crafters. It was a tough job to get it down to 5 as I personally would want all the blogs I follow to be awarded solid gold stars, simply for allowing me to follow them and putting up with my ramblings when I comment on their blogs. Believe me … they need awards for that alone! 🙂
Congratulations all! You all have such fabulous style and I really enjoy and love your blogs.
All you now have to do is answer the 5 Questions below in a blog post on your blog. You have to link back to this post, so that any of your readers can follow the chain and read other blogs so they’re not missing out on even more crafty fun! After that you yourself get to nominate 5 blogs you follow and set questions for them!
Now I have to set 5 questions for these blog owners to answer, so listen up you folks, you have to answer these 5 questions:
When the crafting bug bit youwhat was the first thing you made which gave you a sense of joy when you looked at your creation?
Do you drive anyone in your family crazy with your crafting? And if so … why?
Do you buy anyone elses hand crafted items, and if so, what is that item likely to be?
I have no doubt that you craft for other people … butdo you ever make anything for yourself? And if so … what things have you made for yourself?
Do you sell your items, and ... Where do you sell them? Perhaps you could give us all a link so that if we’d like to buy from you we can! (go on … advertise yourself!)
And that, as they say, is all there is to it. Once you’ve done this, you can then pick up the Blue Tag award from the top of this post, and take it to your own blog to use as the head of your post, and also put it in your awards over in your widget bar, if you do that.
Thank you so much for coming and having a bit of a read and a coffee with me. It means so much to me and I love seeing you. I normally try to post something crafty which I’ve made on a Monday, but I thought that I really should work on this nomination as I’ve had it for a whole week (or so) and really shouldn’t sit around crafting when I have something of importance to do. tsk tsk Cobs!
Have a wonderful Monday – whatever you’re doing, wherever you’re doing it, and whatever the weather is like. And remember … be good to each other.
Welcome to Cobs weekly confessional about the things I’ve learned this week.. I’m going to dive straight in . . .
I’ve learned (for the millionth time) that I just am not good in hot weather. I get terse and grumpy.
Hello God, … it’s me again. I’m here asking for the same thing. Could you please turn down the heat? You know that hot weather just makes me grumpy and miserable, so please could you turn down the heat – even just a few degrees would be welcomed. Thank you ~ Cobs. x
This week I’ve learned that there are some projects that just don’t photograph well, and because of that I can’t blog about them until I learn how to go about getting a decent photo. [big – s.i.g.h]
I’ve been playing with some mediums which are new to me, learning and testing them out to see how they perform and what works with them (and what doesn’t). These products are: Buff it, by Pinflair; and Brusho.
Brusho = little pots of amazing Water Colour Ink Crystals (little pots of powders to you and I) which can be used in loads of different ways.
You can sprinkle a very SMALL amount onto some watercolour paper and spraying it with a fine mist spray of water.
watercolour Brusho crystals sprinkled then sprayed
You can either then just leave it to do its own thing, or you can move it around by the use of a paintbrush or even picking it up and tipping the paper to make the colours run the way you want them to.
Wet water-colour paper, sprinkled with brusho’s then dragged across the card. The sentiment actually says: Live Every Moment. Laugh Every Day. Love Beyond Words. (but I stamped it in the wrong place and you can’t read the final line. But since these are only ‘playing’ it really didn’t matter.)
You can paint with the Brusho – and the colours are wonderful! Again, you only need to use the tiniest amount. If you add a little to some water, in a spray bottle, you can then use it as a colour spray and add a spray of droplets to your project.
Now onto my second new crafting product..
Buff It is like the most incredible wax that you’ve ever seen BUT … it’s NOT WAX! I would guess that a greater majority of readers have a pot or two of wax which we use in our crafting. But … the problem with these waxes is that they smell to high heff! Coo do they stink. It’s Paraffin. However Buff it doesn’t smell at all. You could (if you were crazy) pour a whole tub of Buff it onto your project and still not have to fling the doors open in order to get fresh air so that you don’t collapse. Again, this is another product which you only need a tiny amount of.
You can use it ‘as is’ … or you can add a little water to it. A LITTLE water. It dries quickly – so remember to take out what you need, then close the lid! Work a little quickly with it, but if it dries out too quickly you can use a fine mister spray and add just a tiny bit of water, and it’s ready to go again!
Brusho and Buff it used together. That’s the most incredible Gold colour not sunflower yellow as it looks in this photo. I so wish I could have got a better photo. Mr. Cobs saw this at this stage in the making and (in his words): Wow, it looks like the Cosmos! And I have to agree that when you see it with the naked eye, it actually does!
But … some of the projects I tried with these two wonderful craft magicals, just don’t show the real beauty which you can achieve with the products. You can ‘see the things’ … but the camera just doesn’t pick up the magic.
Moving on … Question for you: When is a Sapphire not a Sapphire? ……. [I’ll let you think about that one for a moment] ……
….. [still thinking? — Ready to give in? … ok, read on] . . .
I’ve learnt that . . . Sapphires and Rubies . . . are . . . the sameGem!
I know!Surprised me, I’m telling you!
Collectively Sapphires and Rubies are known as Corundum. Their only difference is their colour!
Also … Sapphires don’t just come in blue. Natural Sapphires can be found in pink, white, yellow, green, orange, brown, cognac, black and purple! (Did you know that you could get Sapphires in all these colours? It was a real eye opener to me.) BUT … Not only that …
Very rarely but . . . Sapphires can change colour. Colour Change Sapphires will typically be blue to violet in daylight, but will look purple to red indoors.
And a RARE PHENOMENON found in Sapphires is asterism. This is where a gemstone exhibits special optical phenomena. A six (or very rarely a twelve) pointed star will appear on the surface of the gem, that will move as the stone moves in the light.
And finally …
I’ve learned this week ….that you don’t have to be using paper to get a paper cut, and neither do you need to be in your craft room!
Out shopping I wanted to feel the softness of a bathroom ‘rug’ (a mat for when you clamber out of the shower) – so with finger and thumb I kind of ‘pinched’ the mat so that I could get a feel for it. But … (be honest, you knew there was a ‘but’ didn’t you) … in ‘pinching’ the bathroom mat, I lifted my other fingers out-of-the-way. Now that seems like a safe enough thing to do doesn’t it? [shakes head] nope. It most certainly isn’t!
The bathroom mat had a large piece of folded card over the top of it, where a hanger was for hanging the mat up for display purposes. In feeling the rug/mat, I caught my middle finger (left hand) on the really thick card, and instantly felt the pain. I looked down at my finger to see a gash with blood gently pumping out of it.
Now come on!Who would have thought that you could get a right ol’ paper cut from thick and chunky piece of card?? I could not believe it.
Mr. Cobs didn’t, in my opinion, take this injury at all seriously.Do you know what he did when I showed him my life threatening injury? He peered at my bloodied finger, pursed his lips, looked at me, made a ‘huhm’ sound, turned to walk off and as he did so he said: “Well you won’t be doing that again, will you!”
I stopped in my tracks, mouth agape, eyes as wide as saucers, … I called after him: “You do know that you can be replaced, don’t you?” … he ignored me totally, and from the shaking of his shoulders I could tell he was laughing at me. The cheek of the man!
The thing is … he knows I won’t ‘replace’ him because, quite frankly, I couldn’t bear to go through all that training again. The man couldn’t boil an egg until I whipped him into shape. He can now cook a complete Christmas dinner with very little input from me. He’s amazing. But look .. if you see him, please don’t tell him I said this because he’ll only get high with delight and strut around like a rooster in a hen-house!
Well that’s me done and dusted and now it’s over to you. What have you learned this week? Do share … not because I’m nosey … but because … no… actually … it’s because I’m nosey. So do share what you’ve learned this week via a comment in the box below …. and none of us will judge you. We might laugh at you … or we might cry with you. But we’ll certainly make you feel welcome.
Ohhhhh… I think The Lord may have heard my request because the rumbling of thunder can be heard. Maybe he’s going to cool it down by watering his garden. Oh my goodness … BIG thunder and crashing lightning! Ooo.. the lights have all dimmed, the TV has lost its signal …. awww, and the dog has come to sit on my feet as apparently I’m her best hope if something bad happens. I’m going to get this post saved and posted before I lose the computer too! eeek!
Wishing you a very happy Friday, and a wonderful weekend. May your troubles be few and your happiness be high.
Oh .. and … be nice to each other. Sending you squidges ~
Bless me bloggers for I have sinned ... I didn’t show you the Christmas Cards I created and sent to my neighbours last Christmas. [hangs head in shame]. But I’m here and able to post them now. (Wouldn’t post them earlier in the year because it felt almost obscene to post about Christmas too soon.)
Made with a little help from a kit bought for me as a gift, from: Folk It, which contained all the colours of paints which I needed, (and I only already owned the one colour (white)), so I was happy to have the kit just to get everything there in one place. If you haven’t painted before, or even if you have and need a little encouragement for whatever reason, I would thoroughly recommend their kits to you. They don’t just come with the paints and a couple of brushes, (and a dotting tool), but they come with everything you need to make at least one project, or in the case of the cards – you would normally get around 4 or 5 really good quality cards & envelopes, a little booklet which helps you, plus it comes with a CD Rom that you simply put into your computer (in that little draw which you use to hold your coffee cup – just joking. I don’t do that. At least .. not for a few months now. lol), and you watch as the delightful lady on-screen as she not only tells you what to do, but demonstrates IN REAL TIME as she teaches you – so you can watch, pause, paint, and then move on (but I’d recommend watching the CD Rom all the way through first … don’t run before you can walk, eh?)
Aw anyway .. you want to look at the piccies… so without further ado ….
Angels, stars and snowflakes. With the addition of an ‘angel feather’
All of the cards you see here, have that central panel with the painting on it – which is a piece of mount board, already cut to size for you. But, you only get a certain amount in the kits which will help you to make the projects in the kit itself, however, you can purchase more of these cut to size mount boards from them directly (pack of 25 for £5.00). I recommend their ready cut mount boards because I know how difficult mount board can be to cut. (oh boy do I know!). So if you can buy it ready cut then it removes the struggle.
Another Angel card, this time with an embossed background.
Mistletoe … PUCKER UP PETALand brace yourself, I’m coming for a smacker! … Good grief!! Cor … you can run faster than I thought you could just by looking at you!
Ok … you might have got away that time … but . . here I come again …. [flicks the light switch and everything goes black] .. you’re not getting away that quick this time kiddo!
A snowflake … on a chalky blue background. The painted snowflake was sprinkled with very fine glitter before the paint dried, so that snowflake twinkles merrily when the light catches it.
Another snowflake … only slightly different from the last. I think I must have had a glass of wine too many when I took this photograph because it’s drunk and leaning! LOL
Now I did a snowflake on black... but I should have taken more care as I slightly wandered off the straight and narrow, but I kept it anyway and was so glad that I did because at the last moment I realised I’d forgotten a card for the Postman! So I quickly mounted the black backed snowflake onto a card and ran it past Mr. Cobs who said … “It’s fine! Stop worrying!” … so I tucked an ‘internationtionally accepted gift card‘ (i.e. [in this case] money) into the card and sealed it just in time before the postman arrived…..
Can you see where I wandered off the path of good and true?Look down in the bottom left corner as you’re looking at the card right now. It doesn’t end in the corner. [sigh] … But, in crafting, just as in life … It’s the mistakes we make which teach us the things we need to learn. … Because this was for the Postman, I stamped a postal franking image on the envelope. lol.
To mix it up a bit, I turned the mount boards so that I was painting on the diamond rather than the square and this time it was a wreath. Once the painting was dry I added a little satin bow in a deep vintage colour red. (The berries are paint … not stickles).
And we end where we began … on a wreath, this time a thicker, fuller wreath, mounted on a square of mirror card in deep blue, which I punch around the edges of with a little hand punch.
Better late than never … those were the Christmas cards I posted to my neighbours last Christmas. What am I going to make for them this Christmas? Well, right now I haven’t got the foggiest notion, but as soon as I’ve decide and have made some, I’ll share them with you!.
Happy Monday all. The start of an all new, shiny, fresh out of the box, week. Enjoy it. Make a memory happen today. One that your mind reminds you to remember. Remember *that* moment. A moment in time is just a moment in time … unless you remember it. And then, it becomes a very special moment. A magical moment. A memory.
So … when you go to bed at the end of today ... just as you lay down to go to sleep … inside your head, remember something which happened during the day which either made you smile, laugh, or even something which was just an enjoyable moment in time. A few seconds even. Then remember what it was that made that moment a memory for you. What special thing was it? Fix that memory to the wall of your brain. Put it up there on a memory post it note and pin it there with a pin, to make sure that it doesn’t fall down. Now look around at all the other post it notes inside your head. All your memories or moments. Coooo … there are a lot. Have a look at them as you drift off into sleep.
Sending big squidges from my corner to yours where you’re sitting right now.
So work continues. lol
The Art of Cobwebs 