Angel Altered Tin

This is my altered tin which I made for our challenge at the Big Art Adventure. It was an M&S mint tin which I sanded and painted with alcohol inks. The image is from Artchix and the quote is one of my favourites from the list below. I now have a pretty container for my sequins!

Angel Quotes

Thanks to all those of you who left angel quotes for my blog give-away. Here they are, in all their glory................


To hear the angels whisper, you must listen with your heart.

Leave room in your garden for angels to dance.

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.

How wonderful it must be to speak the language of the angels, with no words for hate and a million words for love! (The Angels' Little Instruction Book)

Angels have no philosophy but love.

We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels; we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. (Anton Chekhov)

All God's children are angels without wings and their innocence as beautiful as the sweet music of the harp.

I believe friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

I saw the angel in the marble and I just chiselled until I set him free. (Michelangelo)

We are each of us angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing one another. (Luciano de Crescenzo)

All Gods angels come to us disguised. (James Russell Lowell)

God not only sends special angels into our lives, but sometimes He even sends them back again if we forget to take notes the first time! (Eileen Elias Freeman)

All God's angels come to us disguised.... as our friends.

Children often have imaginary playmates. I suspect that half of them are really their guardian angels. ( ‘The Angels' Little Instruction Book’)

I feel that there is an angel inside me whom I am constantly shocking. ~Jean Cocteau

Music is the language of angels.

I'm no angel, but I've spread my wings a bit. (Mae West)

When babies look beyond you and giggle, maybe they're seeing angels. (‘The Angels' Little Instruction Book’)

Anyone can be an angel.

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.

Thorns and stings, And those such things
Just make stronger, Our Angel wings.(Emme Bache)

If one looks closely enough, one can see angels in every piece of art. (Adeline Cullen Ray)

"Try to think that love´s not around, But it´s uncomfortably near
My old heart ain´t gaining no ground, Because my angel eyes ain´t here..."

If we were all like angels, the world would be a heavenly place.

When we were young kids, my Mum use to use this expression quite often...If you look closely enough, you can see an angel in every single person. (Pattie in Mexico)

Be an angel to someone else whenever you can, as a way of thanking God for the help your angel has given you. (‘The Angels' Little Instruction Book’)

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. ~George Elliot

Pay attention to your dreams - God's angels often speak directly to our hearts when we are asleep. (‘The Angels' Little Instruction Book’)


Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly.

Touched by an Angel
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
(Maya Angelou – to read the rest go here http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/touched-by-an-angel )

Metal Arch

Rosie and I were very inspired and impressed by the amazing arch that Sharon made ...... so we decided to have a go ourselves!


First I made a metal frame to practise using the roller wheels and the drawing tool, then I moved on to the real thing! It was wonderful to do and I can't wait to have another go, so will be ordering some metal and tools from LB Crafts very soon. The stamps in the middle are mostly by Paper Whimsy. They were stamped on fabric and then I padded and stitched over it. I used alcohol inks and black acrylic paint to colour the metal.

Making Books

On Sunday I made a stitched spine book at a 'Living Threads' workshop near where I live. I stitched all the pages together then weaved (wove?)into them with a variety of threads that matched my chosen fabric. I made the end papers by screwing up purple tissue, ironing it onto bondaweb and thin card and finally rubbing over with Treasure Gold.
To make covers, I padded the fabric before glueing onto heavy card. The images on the front are from Artchix collage sheets.

I visited Rosie for a couple of days last week and made a fabric journal with her. (I also made something else which I'll show you tomorrow!)

It's strengthened with pelmet vilene and I machine stitched around the edges (about 4 times before I was happy with it!) I've just noticed the front isn't straight...oooops!! I'll put that right tomorrow ( I should have chosen plain fabric!!)

Altered CD

This is the CD I altered for Chriss's challenge on http://thepapergirls.blogspot.com/
I was influenced a little by the style of Anahata Katkin....I just love her collages!

I have become quite addicted to chopping up magazines in recent weeks; I find it quite therapeutic.......

I've had two exciting parcels from Australia this week. I am so grateful to Jacky, who sent me a gorgeous selection of paper napkins to use in my collage work and journaling (much nicer than the ones you can find over here ...as she'll discover when she receives some from me in return!)

And my very good friend Dot sent me some of her fabulous artwork (and lots of extras including a pile of delicious fabric pieces!)

Dot makes lots of these flying birdies in different colour combinations (as you'll see on her blog) - I especially like the Christmassy colours on mine!
And this is the fabric arch she made for our challenge on http://bigartadventure.blogspot.com/
Thank you for giving it to me Dot....its even more lovely in real life (and I just love the bird's legs!)

And the winners of my 'give-away' are.....

Last night I wrote everyone's name (who had left a comment) on a piece of paper and put them all in an empty tissue box (sorry it wasn't very high-tech!) My husband drew 2 names out and they are......... Anna

and Shelly!!!!

Well done to them...and thanks very much to all of you who joined in.

I will put all the angel quotes on my blog tomorrow.

Inchie Challenge

Our challenge on the Big Art Adventure this week is to make a set of inchies.

I decided to do a 'celebration of women' and thought I'd use yet another chunky block from the pile at the side of my table (thank you DH).

My starting point was my mum....I've been thinking a lot about her recently and the amazing way she copes with my dad. Dementia is bad enough, but dad has physical problems as well and can't really do anything for himself. Mum is almost 80 and you would not believe the things she does for him. Not only that but she seems to have more and more patience with him as his condition deteriorates. So....one of the pictures on the block is of my mum. She likes seeing my artwork every time I go round (I always take my latest efforts in a little bag to show her) so I hope she likes this.

Before I go...... I want to thank my Suziblu workshop friend Shonna for giving me this award. Her paintings are just gorgeous and she is doing some wonderful things for Christmas. I recommend you take a look.

Woodblocks and Pincushions

Today I'm making pincushions! Well it makes a nice change....

I like doing these...the possibilities are endless. I've been out and bought lots of pieces of different coloured felt. Do you remember the link I gave you a few weeks ago........

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/945/how-to-make-pretty-pincushions

Here are some more.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/verybigjen/sets/72057594091530588/

I'm also still painting woodblocks.....

I used the new Paper Whimsy Christmas digi sheet to cover the block, then I sanded all the edges, added lace, words and snowflakes.

Hope you're having a good day.......

Madame Butterfly

I made another doll yesterday.....decided to call her Madame Butterfly.
I think she looks a bit of a madam.........

Thanks for all the comments and wonderful angel quotes on my give-away post BTW!

Paperclay and Give-Away

I promised a blog give-away a week ago when I reached 12,000 visitors. Well I am so proud because the counter has now reached 13,300. I want to thank everyone who visits my blog, I am honoured that you are interested in what I do and I am very grateful to those of you who leave comments.

In just over a weeks time (16th) I will draw two names at random from the comments box and I will share these out between the winners.....
There are Christmas brads and stamps, paperclay angels (painted and unpainted), a woodblock painting, two small Artchix shrines, two paperclay icons and some angel decorations.

I will paint another small woodblock to make it fair - plus there will be a few other surprises.

But there is a small catch!

I love quotes and phrases...especially ones about angels.

I like the phrase Rosie chose for her chunky ATC here.....'Angels in the Architecture'.

My own favourite is .........'Leave room in your garden for angels to dance'.

I'd like you to leave me your favourite angel quote or phrase, please, in the comment box (you can make one up if you like).

Then I'll aim to post them all on my blog.

I've been playing with paperclay and Das this week (as you may have noticed).

I made 2 icons....

......and some tree decorations......

I hope you like them - (if you don't...best not leave a comment, LOL!!!)

Hope I can keep going for another 12,000.....

Love Linda xx

Kelly Rae Roberts

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to the new Kelly Rae Roberts book 'Taking Flight'. I've enjoyed learning how to paint faces, thanks to the Suziblu workshop, and now I want to find out more about the subject.
The book is gorgeous, very inspiring and guides you along your creative journey. Today I decided to follow her instructions for a collage project using postcards and letters as a background.
I used an ACT-sized woodblock to work on (more about those on the Awfully Big Art Adventure very soon!)
First I covered it in (reduced-sized) postcards, old letters and stamps.
Next, I painted the whole thing with brown and green acrylics and wiped a lot of it off to reveal some of the text. Then I drew the figure and painted it in.

Finally I added words, lace and gold pen. I've tried to make my faces different from Suzi's and Kelly's.
It isn't finished though - there's still the other side to do!

I am entering this piece of work for Jo Wholohan's 'Embrace the Face' challenge - the theme for this month is lace.

Pink Woodblock

I made a rather wistful-looking 'Pretty Girl' (Suziblu workshop) yesterday. Again, its on a very small woodblock - 8cm x 4 1/2 cm.

I was very happy and honoured to be mentioned on a new blog I've disovered called Beadbag.... http://beadbag.blogspot.com/

It showcases lots of different blogs - I recommend you go and take a look.

Before I go I want to thank Mary at http://maryshunt.blogspot.com/ for awarding me with another Arte Y Pico Award. It is always such an honour to be thought of in this way by my blogging friends. Thank you Mary xxxx.