Live your Dreams ~ Mixed Media Tag Art

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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Teachers help little ones to Bloom and Grow!

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,  just the 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.  

 

A Ring of Roses!

Happy Monday!  I hope your week gets off to a great start and continues in that fashion.

I’m here to share a little, easy to put together card today.  Although I have a plentiful supply of ready folded and scored craft (Kraft) cards and I absolutely love cards which are made using them …  I very rarely seem to make a card with them.  It’s the strangest thing.  I always reach for white card!  Why is that I wonder?  Bugs the life out of me!

Anyhoo ….  I made this card... consisting of some hand painted  (by me)  folksy style roses on black card, matted and layered onto some die cut white and pink card,  then fixed to a 5.5″ square Kraft/Craft card, and with the addition of a warm pink grosgrain ribbon.

The central ‘picture’ of the single rose, is an enamelled brad,  which I fixed onto a circle of die cut white card,  and then attached it to the inside of the card.  (with the addition of some bakers twine tied into a bow)

Finally, I added some pink enamelled dots to the corners of the front of the card and VOILA!  A circle of roses on a card …. which will fit into a regular envelope!

And that’s all there was to it!

Mondays can be really miserable days …. but only if YOU let them be.  Make up your mind to have a great day today.  It’s a choice.  Make the choice.

I wish you a truly lovely day.  Please  . . .  share a smile with someone.  Your smile could make a whole lot of difference to someone’s day.

Sending you love and squidges …. and sharing a smile with you  😀

Never Stop Making Wishes!

Going through the moving of my sewing desk,  along with numerous boxes of crafty stuff which I did last week,   I came across a long forgotten little blackboard which I bought from one of those pound shops for … yes you guessed it,  a £1.  I can remember that I bought it with something in mind to do with it, however that ‘something’ long ago made its travelling plans and went on a walking holiday out of my right ear and never came back.  So … seeing the blackboard again made me think that I really needed to do something with it.  So I did!

Like the dope that I am   … I forgot to take a photo of the blackboard in its original state, (DOH!)  so I took a photo of the back of it so that you could see the plain wood and what colour it was.

It’s a soft wood, and quite light in weight, so not something that will pull a wall down if you hang it on a nail!

The front … I painted the frame in a deep wine red colour.  It took the paint really well and dried pretty quickly, which I was glad about because I was eager to crack on with the project.

While waiting …  I knew I wanted to put some flowers on the frame, so set about making some roses.

petals in No.1 are waiting to be formed.  Petals in No.2 have been shaped into ‘cup’ shapes.  And finally, No.3 is the completed ‘rose’ flower.

I cut out a variety of sizes of the same flower – one was to be a larger flower and I wanted two others to be slightly smaller.

Once the shapes were cut, I then popped them into a cardboard box which I’d lined with some cling-film (cling wrap), and I lay the ‘petals’ of each flower on it, and then spritzed them with some Cosmic Shimmer sprays, to turn the petals into the colours I wanted them to be.

While these were drying, I went back to the blackboard and did the ‘words of encouragement’ you see in the photo.

Bit of a blurry photo, but the only one I got of it hanging on the wall of my cottage. (The flash wiped out the colours a little and left everything looking ‘flat’)

Once the rose petals were dry, I then shaped them into ‘cup’ shapes, and assembled them, shaping the petals as I went along.  Once all assembled, I then spritzed them again, very lightly, where needed, to adjust each rose colour so that it looked like it had grown on the same bush as the others.  (there’s method in my madness! lol).  Finally, I added a tiny sprinkle, here and there, of chunky ice crystals (like glitter, but not) – just to give them a bit of sparkle.

I die cut some leaves, and a bit of deep ‘greenery’ filler and then built the floral decoration in the top left corner, making it sit upon a little soft cream coloured crocheted doily.

And that’s all there was to it!  Ta Dahhhh!

Happy Monday! 

May I just take this moment to say hello to some new followers.  I won’t mention each person by name, but you know who you are.  🙂  Thank you for joining and coming to visit.  Please feel free to chat away in a comment on any post you’d like to.  Don’t feel shy.  Everyone here is amazingly friendly and you’ll fit right in.

If you can’t work out where the comments section is …  go to the top of the post you want to comment on and find the title of the post (eg: for this post the title is  Never Stop Making Wishes) … just over to the right of the title is a pale grey speech bubble which will turn darker when you hover your cursor on it.  Click that speech bubble and it will take you to the comments section and you’ll be able to read and write there.  😀

So anyhoo ….  This is the last Monday in April….  so let’s make it a great day!  Plaster a smile to your face and each time you catch yourself without your smile, paste it back there and try to keep it there.  If nothing else it will make people wonder what you’re up to!  lol

Have a truly lovely day my friends,  and …  be good to each other.

Sending squidges by the bucket load ~

 

 

Happy Mothers Day!

I couldn’t post this until today because I had to make sure that the surprise wasn’t spoiled.  I don’t think anyone would have shown my gorgeous Mother in Law a picture of her card,   but … well I felt it would have been kind of a bad luck thing to have posted it before today.

Cards which I’d embellished to within an inch of their lives and worked for hours on over a period of days, had gone missing in the post before now, so I decided that I would make a pretty, ladylike card this time, but I’d make it so that it slipped into a regular envelope, as I thought that maybe I would be in with a chance of it getting there.  And …  we had a text message from my lovely sister-in-law (Mr.Cobs sister)  letting us know that the card had arrived.  WHOO HOO!

Taking photo’s of this card were nigh on impossible.  I made it so that it had a ‘see through’ front, made from Acetate.  So I tried various things in the hope of getting a decent photo which would show that see through bit.  I failed miserably. 

What you have here are a selection of photos which are pretty rubbish but they’re the best I had out of about 20 photos.

To make the card:  I removed a section from the front of a scored and folded 6×6 and replaced it with the acetate.  I then fussy cut into some papers for the top and bottom of the card front, and added some more fussy cut roses and leaves for the ‘spine’ edge.  Added a sentiment to the front, and then turned my attention to the inside. 

The inside is actually a large die cut central section, which you can take out and use on the card by itself, but I so liked it as it was that I fixed it in place using strips of double-sided tape, and then trimmed it to size and adhered it to the inside.

I was so happy with this card when it was finished as it looked so pretty and I knew my much-loved mother-in-law would like it as it was a little bit different – having the see through front.

As a gift to make her smile and say Thank You for being such a wonderful Mother, we’ve sent her an arrangement of pretty cottagey type flowers, all yellows and lemons and greens, which we arranged to be delivered today, Sunday 26th March ~  which is Mothering Sunday, here in the United Kingdom.   The colours of the floral arrangement were so cheerful and bright that they made me smile, so I knew they’d make her smile too.

Although I know that Mothering Sunday happens on different days in different parts of the world, it’s Mothers Day here, so to all of the Mothers around the world, I wish you a very happy, warm and loved up Sunday.

To those who aren’t Mothers, through choice or circumstance, I wish you too a happy, warm and much loved up day.

And… just because it’s Mothers day …  we have:  Jokes!

A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along when suddenly a cat attacks them. The mother mouse shouts “BARK!” and the cat runs away. “See?” the mother mouse says to her baby. “Now do you see why it’s important to learn a foreign language?”

~   ❤   ~

Son: “Mom can I get twenty bucks”   . . .  

Mom: Does it look like I am made of money?  . . . 

Son:  “Well isn’t that what M.O.M stands for?”

~   ❤   ~

Q: Why is a computer so smart?

A: Cause it listens to its motherboard.

~   ❤   ~

Q: Why did the cookie cry?

A: Because his mother was a wafer so long!

~   ❤   ~

Q: What did mommy spider say to baby spider?

A: You spend too much time on the web.

~   ❤   ~

All mothers have intuition.

Great mothers have radar.

~   ❤   ~

And finally … 

here’s a card idea that I know would have made my mom laugh like a drain … so … this one is both for my Mom,

and for your amusement.  😀

Have a truly lovely Sunday, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.  Stay safe,  play nicely,  and …  be good to each other.

Orthopedist? … or a CARD-iologist?

One of my fabulous blogging friends, Paper Puff,  told me on the 10th of Feb  – in a chat we had via the comments on one of my blog posts –  about her lovely mum who had broken her ankle.

The next day Paper Puff published a post on her blog in which she told all her lovely followers about why she’d been M.I.A, and about her moms accident, and also told us all about the little matter regarding her Ninja cat (that’s not his name, that’s his skill level – read her post and you’ll see).

You can find her post here:  “Broken bones, real and imagined. And a ninja cat”   .. it will open in another window.

After hearing about her moms accident I asked if perhaps I could send her mum a card wishing her well,  just to make her smile. It was all arranged, and I made a card, then sent it to P.Puff so that she could hand it over to Mrs.Puff Snr.

And this … is the card I made:-

How do you say I hope your broken ankle heals soon?  Well that question gave me a real moment of puzzlement.  Then as quick as a flash, I KNEW what I needed to do.

Now … where to get big enough cutters to cut a leg off Barbie?

I tried.  I really did try.   I took the cutters and offered them up to Barbie’s leg.  I think it was about 4 times I did this.  I even managed to press on the handles just once.  Enough to see the ‘skin’ on her leg ‘bend’ under the pressure of being pressed.  But I failed.

Mr.Cobs was summoned, and he arrived in the craft room with the most amazing  BIG BOY TOOL.  An  ENORMOUS  pair of wire cutters.  SURGICAL Wire Cutters!

We donned our surgical gowns, and put on our face masks, then I, as the dutiful nurse on duty, marked the patients leg to show where the cut had to be made.  The Senior Surgeon took his  Big Boy Tool  in his hands and ….. with one smooth, scissor like motion ….  he amputated the lower limb of the patient in one clean-cut.

She didn’t feel a thing.  Totally oblivious to the whole procedure.  Although mind, she was seen having rather too many pink cocktails with Ken earlier, so she was more than likely under the affluence of incohol.    (constantly in the grip of the grape from what I’ve heard from some sources!)

On Duty Nurse, Cobs, made bandages, wrapped the broken ankle in a bandage, then covered it in ‘plaster’, and added more bandages where required.

Obviously the patient had to have a few flowers, so paper ones were made – because, it must be remembered,  this card was being sent to Mrs.PaperPuff Snr. – so Paper flowers were a major requirement!  😀

A little sentiment of Get Well wishes was added to the inside of the card, then finally …  the card had to have a box!  You couldn’t send a broken ankle in an envelope after all. A box was of great importance….

. . . .   and that’s all there was to it. A card for a lady, which held a giggle and a laugh, and also a wish of health returning soon …  and keeping it feminine and lady-like too!

I love quirky cards.  (just in case you hadn’t noticed. lol)  They bring such an element of fun and lots of smiles for the receiver, and I find them so pleasurable to make.  Maybe it’s because I’m quirky.  Or maybe it’s just that I’m as mad as my two girls have always told me I am.  lol.  Bless them. ❤

Hoping the card made you smile too, and also hoping that your Sunday is peaceful, warm, and that you know you are loved.  Even if it’s only by me.  You ARE loved.

Oh, and regarding the title of this post . . .  I’m a CARD-iologist …. an Orthopedist is a doctor that specializes in the treatment of bones and muscles, joints, nerves, ligaments and tendons.  😀

Thanks for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  Don’t go breaking a leg now!

 

Guess How Much I Love You

Well now that Valentines Day has been done and dusted I can finally share the ‘card‘ I made and has now been given and proudly on display.

It’s not actually a card though.  This year I thought I’d start a new ‘thing’ for us.   A new Chez Cobs tradition.  A Memory Book for each Valentines Day  – and this is the first one.

It’s made in the same tried and trusted way I make mini Albums – but with just a few ‘pages’, as it’s meant to be a Valentines Card/Memory Book. so it has to cover the dual aspect  –  if you get what I mean.

Rather than try to explain how I made it, I took photo’s of each step of the making so that you can see how it comes together…

Using 12″x 12″  Chipboard, I cut three sections – measurements for my ‘book’ are as in the photo above – but you can make an album/memory book in any size you want.

Pieces cut, and placed in position so you can see how they go together.  I’ve written on the individual parts in pencil so that it just makes everything doubly easy.

Cover the front and back in your chosen papers.  All the papers used here are from the First Edition Papers, by Trim Craft, in the Love Story 12″x12″ pad and cut to size.

The ‘spine’ is covered in Card – by Anna Marie, and some plain red papers which I had in my stash.  Each of these were decoratively cut using 2 different Spellbinders Dies, which work together and come in the same set.

Fixing the ‘spine’ to the book covers.  I’d fix the spine chipboard to the papers/card first,  once in place,  you can then fix that whole spine section to the covers.  Make sure that you leave enough space for the book to open and close.

Outside done …. now for the inside.

For my Card/Memory Book I took three 6×6″ ready scored and folded card blanks, then fixed them together using red tape and glue.  I then fixed the very back page of those now glued cards to the back, inside cover (which I’d already fixed decorative papers to in readiness).

Then basically, you’ve got your ‘book’.  Now you just have to go to town and make it pretty and put into it what you visioned it was going to be!

I decorated each ‘set’ of pages in pairs.  Each page which faced another page was decorated in the same paper.  That way they kind of ‘spoke’ to each other.  BUT … you can decorate you pages in any way you want to.  Different colours, looks, designs etc on each page if you wish.  It’s your book.

On some pages I just had a sentiment and some decoration.  On others, as in the above photo,  I fixed a little envelope which had a little ‘billet doux’ (love letter) hidden inside it.  I made sure that there was plenty of blank space on the envelope for it to be addressed to the receiver.

There are hidden tags (see the page on the left as you look at the above picture);  places for a photograph – either one already taken, or one taken on  *that*  day;  and tags fixed into place which held their own message, but one which could be added to in order to personalise that particular message in some way or another.

A Blackboard, in the shape of a heart, on which a personalised message could be written.  Bunting ‘strung’ across two pages saying:  ‘HAPPY  ❤  DAY’ (happy hearts day – or happy valentines day) …  and a set of golden keys.

As you can see in the above photo, there are places all over the Memory Book where you can write little messages.

There are hidden tags, and tags which show you where they are.  The tags are of a size that you can write messages or memories on them, and also fix photographs to them – so that all the messages and memories all come together inside the Memory Book.

And finally …  I decorated the outside.  I knew exactly what I wanted the front to look like, and because of that, I left it till last so that I didn’t crush the roses or accidentally pull something off!  (I’m such a klutz and knew I’d do it, so took precautions and decorated it last of all).

I was so thrilled at how this came together and so pleased that, although filled with love, it wasn’t ‘mushy’,  but had a charm and clearly showed a true friendship,  which spoke volumes.  Oh… and I can happily tell you that the Memory Book/Valentines Card was very well received and is being proudly displayed on the dresser.  😀

I hope your Tuesday was a lovely day – whether you celebrated Valentines Day or not.  It was just a day which happened to be the 14th February.

Did you know:  That academic studies have shown similarities between falling in love and obsessive compulsive disorder, taking cocaine or eating chocolate?

And ….  Research (in 2012) showed that when a loving couple stare into each other’s eyes for three minutes, their heart rates synchronise. 

oh … and:  Research also suggests that the average person will fall in love seven times before marriage.

Also:  A recent survey reported that two per cent of couples have fallen in love in a supermarket.

And finally …..  Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary defined love as, “A temporary insanity curable by marriage”.

See?  You didn’t know that you didn’t know that did you?  And there you are again!  PROOF … as if proof were needed, …  that The Cobweborium Emporium (i.e. this ‘ere blog)  is very much an educational tool.  You get educationalmalised every time you pay a visit!  Bit like reading a book while you’re on the loo!  LOL

And now we’ve reached the depths of my sense of humour,  I shall send you love and plenty of happy squidges.

Have a truly wonderful Wednesday,   with love    ❤    from  ~

 

A moment lasts all of a second . . .

. . .  but the memory lives on forever.

 

I made a card based around one I saw in a magazine a few weeks ago.  It was the sentiment they’d used on the card which struck me and I wrote it down in my note book, hoping to use it at some stage.  I went on-line to check that this sentiment didn’t belong to a crafting company – a stamp or something like that,  and it didn’t  – (yay!).

I printed the sentiment and cut it out using an oval die from a set bought  a while back from Tattered Lace.

The card is pretty much self-explanatory if you look at the selection of 4 photos in this post.

The papers I used are from a selection of left-over scrapbooking papers – the two different prints were originally from the same book of papers.  I layered them up on top of a soft rosey pink paper to pick out the lovely pink in the roses, then onto white card.

Made on a white 6×6″ card – the front of which I scored down the centre and folded it back on itself so to give that an extra dimension to the card. The oval sentiment is mounted onto the folded front of the card.

The adornments – the roses, the star, and the Angel bunny inside the card, are all from a selection of Tilda adornments, which I’ve had for ages.   I tied a bow of pink satin ribbon from my stash and . . . .  Voila!  That’s all there was too it!

Once I’d figured it out, and chosen the papers I wanted to use, – the actual making of the card was really quite quick.

Well …  It’s Wednesday again!   I’ve not liked Wednesdays very much since I was at school. 

On Wednesday (when I was at school)  we had:-  a whole morning of Cookery.  Loved Cookery!  Then after lunch we had Double Geography (which I didn’t like),  then a lesson of History – which I quite liked,  and finally, at the end of the day, was a Double PE  (physical education).  Having PE  at the end of the day  Was. A. Nightmare! 

Our [meany] PE teacher wouldn’t end the lesson until five minutes before the end of school bell rang.  This meant that we had to: Get stripped off;  take showers;  get dried;  get dressed;  and get out of the door and run the length of the playground and to the bus stop,  all within those five minutes,  or the chances were that we’d miss the bus and have to walk home.  She was a real pain and wouldn’t listen to us when we begged her to give us ten minutes instead of five, to wash, dress and get out to our bus.  Hence …  I hated Wednesday, and after a gazillion years of not being in school, I still have that ‘droopy mood’  feeling about the day.

What about you?  Do you have any day that you don’t like very much?  Or days you remember from school which you didn’t look forward to?  Do tell and share with me.

Aaanyhoo …..  Wishing you a truly lovely day.  May the weather be warm, may the wind be gentle, and may you get out of school in time to catch your bus!

Sending squidges from my corner to yours ~

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Tea or Coffee, my Fabulous Friend?

Personally, I’m a coffee drinker.  But I’m more than happy to make you tea…  or  –  we could go out to that lovely little tea room, here in town, where everything feels like it belongs in the 1940’s and 1950’s?  There’s even a good old-fashioned Globe of the World in the window which has paled with time, and harsh sunshine.  They have cakes under domes, and table cloths, and it looks kind of kitsch and is painted all lemony.

Remember those carnival type ornaments which we were told were precious (when we were little), but they were actually made of a chalk like substance and if they got chipped, you could see the white chalky ‘stuff’ inside.  They have some of those there too, decorating the walls or placed around the tea shop in strategic places.  (I’m not sure if they really were worth something – a genuine ‘collectible’  type of thing, – or if they were just precious because of the memories attached to them).

Or, we could go round the corner to that much-loved cottage tea room, which has a courtyard garden.  It’s very lovely in there and just a little bit ‘vintage swish’ too – and we can sit in the garden if the weather is good, or inside if it’s a little chilly!

OK.. so I’ve got mine,  . . .   what are you going to order for yourself?

Anyhoo . . .

I made a card asking my fabulous friend if you’d like to share a coffee, or a tea, with me… while you peruse this latest offering from the Cobweb.

The paper in the background is just so lovely.  Just the right blue, with little circles made from pearly white dots,  and perfect for what I needed, but I don’t know who’s paper it actually is.  It was still in it’s ‘book’ – but the front cover has disappeared  –  leaving me without even a note!  tsk tsk.  The cup and saucer are Tilda.  Yes indeedly doodly!  None of those cheap market stall cups and saucers for you!  However, I fussy cut into parts of it in order to make it what I needed it to be, then covered the original ‘picture’ of a glittered star (in the saucer) with proper glitter, in two colours to give it a little more depth.

The doilies, flowers, cotton muslin (behind the flowers) and the hat pins all came from my stash.  The Pearl Strand of small, medium and large pearls which trails around the card, is by Anna-Marie Designs.

soft little fabric roses all sewn onto a ribbon of net.

The little fabric roses (shown above) – which run along the top and the bottom of the card, actually came from The Range.  I’m hoping that The Range still has these in stock (I doubt it) because I absolutely love them.  They’re so soft, so pretty and so light weight.  They go into envelopes easily but then pop back up again upon opening, and they don’t add any weight to posting a card either.

And that, as all the very best Magicians say, is all there was to it!

Happy Wednesday all!  Monday and Tuesday just flew past and I now find myself in the middle of the week with what feels like a gazillion things which I need to do, and not enough days left in this week in which to do them!  Honestly, I swear to Dog that since we moved to the seaside, someone is taking whole chunks of hours, days and sometimes even getting very cheeky and stealing a whole week out of my time, for time, apparently, flies past like it’s on the wings of a jumbo jet!  Aw, enough moaning Cobs!

So … what about you..  what are you up to today?  Going anywhere?  Doing anything?  Supposed to be doing something but want to do something else instead?  Go on, tell me all about it.  It’s just you and me (and a few others), and I’m not going to tell anyone!

Wishing you a truly Wonderful Wednesday.  May the sun shine, if the wind blows, may it blow softly, and may you end the day with a gentle smile and the knowledge that life, even if a bit tough sometimes, is still good.

Sending you my love, and a special Cobs squidge!

 

 

A Fairy captured in a Fairy Jar

 

When you capture a Fairy, you capture a moment in time.  For you don’t actually capture the Fairy herself (or himself), what you’re actually catching is a fairy shadow.  You see … a Fairy moves far too quickly to be caught in a jar, for no sooner have you got her inside the jar, than she’s popped out before you’ve even managed to even think about putting the lid on!

And back in the room again … (smiling here) ….  Well I said that I’d like to make another Fairy in a Jar, and so I did.  Only this time I remembered (mostly) to take photographs of each step as I did it, so that means this post is a little photo heavy, so because of that I’ll try to keep the talking to a minimum and just give you the point by point things which will explain what you’re looking at or need to know if you’re going to make a Fairy Jar yourself.  Get ready… here we go….

I found a lovely new jar in Mr. Cobs shed which  I swiftly took ownership of before he noticed it was gone,  he kindly donated (cough) and I decided that this would make a fabulous fairy jar.  I assembled everything which I’d need and began.

In the beginning  …. the was a jar.  A nice, clean, unused jar waiting to be loved.

Add grass (of the card kind) using glue to stick it in place … only …  this is where I found I’d run into a problem.  I couldn’t get my hand into the jar.  This is a very important point:   MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET YOUR HAND INTO YOUR JAR BEFORE YOU BEGIN.

• If you’ve found a jar which is narrow necked and too long for you to reach the bottom using your fingers, or tweezers … then may I suggest that you buy some extra long tweezers before you begin.  You can find them in .. Pet stores (particularly ones which sell Lizards or food for Lizards).  Or you can find them on Ebay, or at some Kitchen/Cake making supply stores.

 

I didn’t have extra long tweezers at the time I was making this Fairy Jar,  so I did my best with what I had.  (And made an unholy mess too! – see inside the jar!)

Because this particular jar wasn’t straight sided down to the bottom it meant that there was a gap between the bottom of the ‘grass’ and the base of the jar (which would have let the light shine out and it would have looked odd) .. I remedied this by twisting a little bit of black tissue paper and glueing it in place.  Again … a mess happened, but I used glue which dries clear so I knew that it wouldn’t be seen once dried.

While the glue dried, I turned my attention to the lid ….

I didn’t want a shiny gold lid,  but wanted something which looked old and almost creaky, so wanted to ‘rust up’ the jar lid. I used a tried and trusted method, using Rust-it, made by Pinflair which always gives great results.  One coat works well, but two coats really takes it to town!  (And each coat dries really quickly – so you’re not hanging about all day for it to dry.)

Two coats of Rust-It, and it looks like I found it in a good old-fashioned English, secret, walled garden. Perfect!

Although it was now lovely and old-looking, I wanted to give it a little something to make it more special….

Glitter Paste by Pinflair, in Aqua and Copper.  The paste looks thick when you open the lid but it’s a lot more ‘fluid’ when you start to use it.  It spreads very easily, so apply a little at a time as it goes a long way.

I missed taking a couple of photographs at this point as I got carried away with myself … so I’ll have to catch you up with words … 

By this time you should have chosen your fairy and are ready to add her to your Fairy Jar.  Simply choose the position you want her in and then using an instant fix glue (we call it Super Glue here in the UK.  It bonds in seconds and can be used on paper and glass amongst other things).  This will hold your Fairy in place.

Once you’re happy that she’s not going anywhere …   you’re ready to adhere some tissue paper to the outside of your jar.  You can simply use PVA glue for this, and just one sheet of tissue paper. (one sheet thick – if you need more tissue to go around your jar, obviously use more.  But only one sheet thickness).

Spread PVA over part of your jar,  (make it a full bottom to top section, but not covering the screw part where the lid fits, obviously) then lay the sticky part down on your sheet of tissue paper, lifting it up straight away, otherwise the glue will quickly make the tissue tacky and it will stick to your work surface. eeeek!

Do this all over your jar, in sections at a time, until you’ve covered the whole of the jar.  Allow it to dry.  (Give it about an hour).  Then you can begin decorating the outside.

Add some magic to the outside of your jar using glitters and anything else you feel will give you the result you want.  Here you can see that I’ve used a mixture of Pinflair Ice Diamond – which is really chunky type glitter – but it’s not twinkly like normal glitter.  It’s got a fabulous magical feel to it.  I also added just a tiny bit of Pinflair Snow Dust – just to give the outside a sort of crisp look.

For this jar I tied string around the neck,  however you can use ribbons, straw, or anything which gives you the look you’re after. (On the previous Fairy Jar I made, I used a hessian ribbon – which I loved. You can find that jar on the Cobweborium blog).

Then …  add your flowers … or anything else you’d like to have on your Fairy Jar.  You can personalise it in a gazillion ways.  Whatever takes it in the direction you want it to go!

There are many things you could add to your Fairy Jar.  Here, on this, (2nd) Fairy Jar, I’ve added a ‘Key to the Land of the Fae’, and a tiny vial of ‘Fairy Dust’, which has been corked and then sealed with pink wax.

The Key to the Land of the Fae, and a glass vial of Fairy Dust.

One side of the Fairy Jar ….

The other side of the Fairy Jar …  but … this jar has a secret ….  and it’s on the back …

Hidden within the jar isn’t just a Fairy, but it also hides a Fairy Wishing Tree!  On the outside of the back of the jar, I added some nature, some nurture and some love.

Time to add a little magic.  Shall we?

 

The inner light, although magical looking, is made by T.Lights.  BATTERY operated T. Lights.  Please, please don’t use real candles.  Paper, card and candles don’t mix well.  Only ever use battery operated T.Lights inside Fairy Jars.

The Fairy Wishing Tree, lit from within.

The side of the Fairy Jar …  but do you see what I see?  There is one light at the base ….  and another light half way up the jar.  How can that be?  Is it floating?  Is it … MAGIC?

If you’re making a Fairy Jar for yourself,  you’ll find that it’s best to use smaller fairies as the lights from your T.lights will only shine and flicker at the base of your jar.  However, I wanted to use a larger fairy,  so had to figure out a way to let a light shine further up the jar.  I could have bought some of those short lengths of craft lights – a little like Christmas Tree Fairy Lights – only made for crafters and operated by battery,  but I wanted that warm glow that you get from a candle so … I found a way of making that happen. ….

I made a little gizmo out of Florist’s Wire, which I loosely wrapped around the ‘flame’ of the lower candle and then supported another candle which kind of hovered about it.  I’ve taken more photos from other angles so that you could see how this wire frame works…

Make sure, if you make one of these, that you bend the end of the wire at the top so that you don’t put your hand inside the jar and get stabbed by it.  It would be jolly painful!  So bend it over and make a sort of handle so that you can easily lift it out of the jar to turn the candles on/off.

Photo taken from ‘underneath’  showing how the wire is bent under the upper T.Light,  to support it.  Then shaped around the outside of the T.Light and over the top, and around the ‘flame’ to anchor it.

Photo taken from over the top of both of the candles.  You can see that the candles pretty much line up, and also how the wire extends over the top of the candle and wraps gently around the flame to just keep the wire in place.

This wire support isn’t made of stiff wire, but it’s ‘bendable’ wire,  so take a little care when using it.  But if you knock it out of shape when you’re turning the T.Lights off and on, then you can easily just fiddle with it to make it stand up again.  Once you get used to the way it needs to be bent, you’ll get the hang of it.

I loved making this Fairy Jar and particularly loved the little roses I chose.  They were exactly the shade I was thinking of in my mind, and as if by magic … there they were!

Well that’s me done and dusted.

Hope you’ve had a good weekend, and that your week ahead turns out to be a happy one without too many problems or struggles, and that any problems you come across aren’t anything which you can’t handle.

Thank you SO much for coming and sharing some time with me.  I so enjoy your company.  Please feel welcome to leave a few words via a comment, and I promise to reply.  I love your comments as it gets us all chatting to each other, and other people reading get a feel for what you’re like and will want to come and visit your blog too.  It makes blogging world go around so well!

If there’s anything which I’ve forgotten to mention and you’d like to ask about, please ask away.  I’m more than happy to help if I can.

Well all that’s left for me to say is … Have a  truly Blessed rest of your day!

Sending crafty hugs  . . .