Let it snow......

Well I hope everyone is coping ok with the snow...wherever you are in the world (ok; so not my friends in Australia!) I thought we were having a snowy time in England until I saw Patty's photos here - all I can say is WOW!!!! Too deep to even make snow angels!
Talking of which....my current favourite album is Tori Amos's 'Midwinter graces' - have a listen to 'Snow Angel', then search for 'Pink and Glitter', 'A Silent Night With You' and 'What Child, Nowell'......just wonderful. What a voice she has......



There are so many art projects I want to get started on - but for the past couple of weeks I've only managed to make felt flowers .......
.....but after Christmas I will be doing DJ Pettitt's digital art/Photoshop workshop and I CAN'T WAIT!! Click on the picture if you want to take a look.
And I have also subscribed to Suzi Blu's Angel Workshop...so excited about that as well. Again, you can click on the picture to find out more.
Hopefully I can get back to regular posts in January. Mum is getting stronger and will soon be able to manage on her own (thanks for all your good wishes BTW).
So till then.........

Merry Christmas
Happy New Year

to all my wonderful blogging friends.
I wish you love, peace and joy..........

Busy, Busy...........

Life has been rather hectic just recently....mum was in hospital for a while having a (second) hip replacement. She was lucky enough to get a place as an NHS patient in a private hospital but it was quite a long way for us to travel. Now she's home she needs a lot of support and she's missing having dad around to help her. But we are managing ok and I was very grateful that my sister came up to help over the weekend.
I recently did an inchie swap with Rini and can you believe it took my parcel 4 weeks to reach her in Holland! (First class post?!) We got so fed up that I sent her another parcel last week - then, of course, the original one arrived.
Anyway......these are the felted, embroidered inchies that I sent to her.
I've been making Christmas cards in between visiting mum. Used Angelina fibres, Christmas stamps, beads and needle-felted fabric.
Lat night I had fun at the Beetroot Tree Gallery making Christmas tags with my class.
A couple of weeks ago I bought some plain wooden decorations at the German Christmas market in Nottingham.......then painted and embellished them.
And I couldn't resist buying this nougat at my local delicatessen shop (despite the price...eeeek!) I'm thinking of using it as inspiration for a future piece of embroidery! It tasted so good I went back and bought another piece for my mum.
I hope you're all enjoying your Christmas preparations......have fun!!!

Princess......

(click on picture)

This is a page from my journal that I completed yesterday. I found this poem by Barry A. Lanier a few weeks ago and have been wanting to use it in some way. When I saw Milliande's new video using magazine pages and something called 'Nevrdull' I felt inspired! Despite not having the required material (I believe Brasso may be a good substitute although I haven't tried it) I decided to try transfer solution instead...a lethal substance, so on went the mask!!
I rubbed at a magazine page (a Vera Wang perfume advert) and the ink began to wipe off and smear - I was left with a lovely smudgy effect with just the face and the word 'Princess' left showing (which I altered using a white gel pen) .
I then added a lovely piece of lace given to me by Jean (see post below)....plus some machine stitching, gemstones, coloured AppliGlue blobs and so on......
In case you can't read my writing, here's the poem http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/b-princess
(A 'godet jumlo' is an elaborately decorated, knee length dress from Kohistan.)

Here's another poem (haiku?) that I rather like by the same author ....its lovely to read out loud!

Three Winds

Dans l'orage vent
Mer et terre
Une danse merveilleuse

En la tempestad del mar enrolla
El mar y la tierra
Un baile maravilloso

In sea storm wind
Sea and earth
A wonderful dance.

Finally.....here's another magazine page that I attacked with the transfer solution. I think it was an advert for a caribbean island.
Ready for another poem I think............

Peace........

This is another felted/Angelina piece with an old Christmas stamp stitched in the centre, slightly bigger than a twinchie. I had problems capturing the colours with my camera.....they aren't quite right here somehow.
Have you seen this years stamps? They are similar to this one - and very beautiful. They feature the work of pre-Raphaelite artists. You can view them here.

I've been looking after a poorly husband this week.....and making Christmas tags! The first three have images from Lynn's lovely collage sheets which you can find here. The Father Christmas was cut from a piece of scrapbooking paper....and the 'Noel' tag is really red, not brown!







Before I go, I just wanted to show you my parcel of goodness from Jean....I really love the colours she uses in her work. I'm so happy with our 'trade'; thank you my friend!!

Icicle Gift Box

My lovely friend Lynn has been busy creating collage sheets for Christmas - you can find them in her etsy shop here. I decided to decorate an icicle gift box using some of them.... below you can see it spread out. I used Distress Ink pads for the background and a PaperArtsy stamp. If you'd like the template for the box its here......I'm going to add side flaps next time I make one.
Lynn has created some fabulous tags and gift cards; I recommend you go and see them on her blog (and don't forget to check out her etsy shop too).
I'm in the middle of making some other things using her collage sheets......more tomorrow.

I spent the weekend in Knaresborough with my husband; we were visiting friends who have recently bought a cottage there. It's a really beautiful town with an old railway viaduct over the river. This is the photo I took from the castle.......click on the pictures.

Here's our hotel (right next to the railway station).

We walked quite a few miles with our friends and saw this tiny chapel cut into the side of a rock in 1408. See a better photo here on Wikipedia.

All around the town there are Trompe l'Oeil paintings in false windows....these are on Blind Jack's tavern.

Finally.....a gorgeous bric-a-brac shop with Green Man plaques and gargoyles outside. (You can see the price if you click.)

Our last few hours there were spent watching a wonderful Remembrance Parade go through the town and as we walked back to our hotel we could hear everyone singing 'I Vow To Thee My Country' in the castle grounds. If you'd like to read the rather poignant words, they are here.....

Still Practising....

Still practising the needle-felted birds. (Which reminds me I must check my tetanus jabs are up to date.) Lynn suggested making a nest....but I think I made the wrong size. A snug fit, you could say. I tried making wire feet but couldn't get them right....so this one is sitting on a twig. (I thought I'd better make that clear because my DH took one look at it and said its feet are at a funny angle. Grrrr....)


The lovely Rini and I have swapped inchies this week. She sent me these gorgeous blue and gold ones which I absolutely love. You can see better photos of them on her wonderful blog here (my camera just wouldn't get the colour quite right today.....I think it was probably the light).

She also very kindly sent me a dangly charm which she made herself. It has a special fragrant stone in the middle.......which smells wonderful and goes beautifully in my bathroom (which is where Rini suggests putting it - see her blog).

My third gift is a friendship pillow....what a wonderful idea! I shall definitely make some of these in future. Thank you very much Rini; I hope you like the things I have sent you!

This year Halloween was a bit of a non-event in the area where I live....we didn't have one trick or treater! My son and daughter managed to have some fun though..... they went to (separate) parties over the weekend. You can maybe guess who they dressed up as (I spent about an hour drawing tattoos on Liz's back and arms).
I'll be posting the ABAA Challenge tonight because I'm away for the weekend and won't be able to do it tomorrow. Here's a sneaky preview of one of my pieces. Its just 2" by 2"..........
Hope you'll come and join us!
(PS You don't have to use fabric.)

Felting Frenzy!

This week I've been having some fun with knitting and felting. I've seen felted animals on etsy and thought I'd have a go at making a bird.
I didn't really know what I was doing and it didn't look too promising at first......

.......but it grew......
......and finally ended up looking something like a bird!


Here are the knitted flowers before the hot wash.......

..............and after
I've made these before and added beads, but this time I decided to do some needle-felting onto them (after the wash).All the flowers were made from the same ball of variegated Noro wool.


The bird was made from wool top bought from Wingham Wool.


And finally......
I treated myself to a second hand Cricut machine this week - and cut all these out this morning. What fun!!!!
My intention is to scrapbook the huge pile of photos we have........(when I get a spare minute or two).