Lanscape collages II

 These landscape collages are a continuation from last week's post where I randomly picked the words 'landscape' and 'brown' from my prompt jar as a starting point for a series of collages.  I decided to carry on with the theme and use up some of the papers I had made, this time working a little bigger and marking out 6 squares in my sketchbook instead of 9.  I think I might work into these a little more but will wait a while and think about it!

I worked these directly into my sketchbook and at some point during the process I decided to work both vertically and horizontally - I wanted to move away from the horizontal horizon line in each one.  However I think individually or paired up  some look better rotated.  Below are the collages as made in the sketchbook and   above are the pairings which include the 4 rotated ones.

I am linking up with Sarah over at WOYWW this week.

Mini Grid Collages - Landscapes and WOYWW

It really has been a struggle lately to find the motivation to be creative - I've had a lot of other things going on and and my studio has been sadly neglected.  However I decided to use my little pot of prompts and this set of mini collages developed from the theme of landscapes and the colour brown - two prompts that so nicely went together!  I have a feeling I'll continue with this as I enjoyed the colours so much and have an awful lot of left over home made papers!

 

I'm linking up with Sarah for WOYWW this week.

Collages and Stitch

This week I've been keeping the creativity going and out of the prompt jar came the theme of Samplers and the colour Orange.  I chose to do a different embroidery stitch on each little collage square, and I'm using bits of dress pattern and some vintage embroidery transfers that I've had for absolutely ages! Still a few squares to go, and in case anyone is wondering what the sellotape is for, I use it to hold down the threads on the back when starting and finishing, instead of using bulky knots.

 

 My prompts are written on different colours of paper to depict themes, colours and techniques.  I haven't used the technique prompts yet, they are an extra help if I feel uninspired!  I know a couple of people have wanted to know what my prompts are so for anyone interested here are the lists.

Themes: birds, tree houses, seasons, landscapes, maps, text, gardens, samplers, beach, shadows.

Colours: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, neutrals, pink, grey, turquoise.

Techniques: tissue paper, wax, metallic, stencils, teabags, stitch, watercolour, pastel/chalk, photographs, die-cuts

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week

Finger Paint Collages

I've just finished off two collages that have been hanging around half finished since October.  The prompts I've been following are from The Collage Workbook by Randal Plowman.  This prompt was all about adding finger painting to a collage.  

And now on to the absolute disaster that is my desk this morning - it's very unusal  for me to have anything on my desk as I always clear away as I make - but yesterday I decided to use a stamp for an idea I had.  Despite the fact my stamps are all catalogued and can be found by drawer number and then inside the drawer by a specific box number, the stamp I wanted was missing.  I couldn't find it anywhere so decided to have a combined search and sort out of all my stamps.  This is drawer 1 and I have a small pile of stamps 'to go' by my radio and an overflowing box of stamps that I don't know if I want to keep or not but will probably let go.  I can forsee regret in the future!

The catalogue pages are bottom right and new pages are being made with tiny stamps that I never bothered cataloguing in the past - after all if I'm doing this ghastly job I might as well do it properly!

I'm joining in with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Stamped Collage and Mono Printing

 A busy desk this week! 

A collage from the Collage Workbook challenges - this week incorporating stamping - I used some little seedling stamps that I hand carved a long time ago and gold leafed a few -I meant to gold leaf just one as a 'statement seedling' but I find it hard to stop leafing whenever I start so it reached 7 before I found my self-restraint!!

I also did some mono printing - here are a few that are still on my desk, out of what felt like hundreds I had printed!

And I received the last of the happy mail from the ATC swap - Jan very kindly sent me a replacement ATC as it looks like the original got lost in the post - I'm so thrilled to receive it and what a gorgeous card too - an absolute treasure, thank you so much Jan.

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Stripes Collage and WOYWW

What a strange week it's been - the Hubster and I had our 4th jabs this week and he's absolutely fine, not a single symptom and yet I was laid out for nearly three days with nausea and flu like symptoms - very different from the last three jabs but I'm not complaining as I'm very aware I'd rather have those than the actual virus!  

While feeling rather weakened I've done a little dabbling in the studio and completed a very simple little collage from the Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman.  The objective was to make a collage using two images torn into strips - even I could manage that I thought - however it all started going askew, obviously the strips weren't completely parallel to each other but to be honest I'd expended so much energy on it by then that I just didn't care - normally I'd start again so you can judge how wiped out I felt!

Not quite a desk shot but one just to the side of my desk. Earlier in the week (pre-jabs) I tackled the ghastly mess that was my 12x12 papers - they are now sorted - some have gone to local ladies who craft, the rest are in colour groups, labelled and sitting in these wonderful Ikea magazine racks that have grown over the years from just 6 to a whole wall full!

 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.  

Sorting Yarn

I still can't get to my desk this week, but a crafty/woolly sort-out is taking place from my armchair! 

  My yarn baskets are stuffed to overflowing, and my studio is still full of boxes waiting to go back into the eaves. During this chaos and with the merest tap against the baskets, I've managed to send balls of wool rolling all around the limited floor space, channelling quite a few along the narrowest of gaps to hidden corners of the room.  It's one heck of a job to find them all and even now I suspect some are still lurking under my desk and cabinets!  

The plan now is to reorganise, rewind and hopefully reduce the quantity in each basket so it becomes less precarious and more manageable - definitely an 'in front of the TV' job!

 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Colour Charge Collage!

I'm still working my way through Randel Plowman's Collage Workbook and challenge 4 is called Colour Charge   - add a colour to a black and white collage. 

 For this collage I used Fluid Acrylic in my favourite colour of Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold.

Piled up by my desk are a bundle of old magazines a very thoughtful friend has been passing on to me, so today's task will be be browsing through them for images for my next collages.   

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW

Card Making and WOYWW

 I've been missing in action for a couple of weeks - nothing interesting going on, just couldn't get myself together enough to craft and post!

However, I have made some cards recently and I also have some leftover backgrounds on my desk waiting to be used up.

I added some foil to a couple of the backgrounds here but it's difficult to see. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

A Summer Tag and WOYWW

The mojo is still going (just!) and I made a tag this week.

Well, I made the background for the tag last year, I pressed the Mombretia flowers earlier this year, then this week I glued one to the other, added enamel dots and a ribbon and Hey Presto - creativity at it's minimum!

However, having had raging toothache and a course of strong antibiotics I feel pleased that I achieved anything at all!  

It is still sitting on my desk like this as I haven't had the impetus to tidy up yet and put things away - maybe that will come later, you can't rush these things!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Orange and Duck Egg Tag Cards and WOYWW

    Using my favourite tag stamp again and some left over bits and pieces.   

I found the rolled paper beads on Etsy and fell in love with them - I always knew I'd find the perfect use for them one day!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW - why not pop over and see what other people have on their desks this week. 

Midnight Garden Tag and WOYWW

I've been on a bit of a roll with these garden tags - I love the garden at night and this is another play with my favourite tag stamp (the other two are here and here).  I've enjoyed gently playing at tag making while my hand recovers but I really should move on to birthday cards soon as October is a hugely busy month in our family and I'm currently crafting quite slowly!  

I'm linking up with Julia this week over at WOYWW

Resist Stenciling Cards

Despite being gardening crazy at the moment I managed to get some crafty time in and I turned a couple of backgrounds into birthday cards.  It was a continuation of my 'playing' with the Distress Micro Glaze resist technique. I can't seem to resist resist at the moment!

The top card has some gold embossing paste thinly stenciled on top of the resist stenciling so it's slightly translucent.  It's a little easier to see in the close up shot further down the post. 

The one below used just two colours of spray, pink and a honey gold but when sprayed on top of each other they made a very pleasing deeper burgundy.

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Three Little Collages

I was intrigued to find a piece of old crackle glazed sea pottery with what looked like a raised flower stem on it - I knew I had use it, and these three little card toppers, made on blank ATC's are what resulted.  

I lined up the little ridge in the pottery with the stem of the die cut flower, and I used the orangey/blue colour of the old crackle glaze to influence the background inks and the crackle stamping on the the die cut stems.

I'm linking up with Julia this week, over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Spring Flowers Tag

Not much art going on this week as we are decorating.

However, I needed a tag for an engagement gift and this is the end result. 

 The background is clear embossing and distress inks, and I was very pleased with the flowers I made from scratch - I found the idea for them through Pinterest and a blog called Such a Pretty Mess.  I made up my own flower centres as I didn't have the right punch but I think that makes them more unique!  

I received the prettiest little ATC this week too, from Fiona (Staring at the Sea) - the background stamp is just fab and is now on my wish list, and I just LOVE the little seed heads - another obsession of mine!  Thank you Fiona.

I am linking up with Jan, who is Julia for a few weeks, over at WOYWW.

Autumn Postcards

A couple of small autumn postcards needed to be finished off, but that is all that's been done at my desk this week - Christmas festivities are taking over!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Autumn Art

Time to leave my summer/night garden behind.

I''m being overwhelmed by spectacular autumn colours - so I decided to celebrate the season with vintage postcards, thermofax screens and embroidery threads!

This has to be my very favourite time of the year!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW for another week of sharing what's on our desks!