Seeing Little Green Men!

On Saturday, we were invited to dinner at the home of my Other Half's colleague, B.  B is a lovely, warm and very creative lady, who also happens to be a Pagan. Her home is filled with paintings and carvings, most of which are her own works of art. We had a lovely evening, with good food, good company and good conversation.  Now, I'm a lover of thank you cards - I like to receive them and to send them, which, of course, gives me an opportunity to break out the crafty stash and make them!  I decided that because B was Pagan, I would use the Green Man as my starting point, as she has several of these woodland spirits on her walls.  I have a beautiful A5 stack of Hot Off The Press Earth Tones, which included a beautiful bronze paper and a co-ordinating green/brown, which gave the feel of looking up through autumn foliage.  Next I used some pearlescent sage green (bought some time ago from The Paper Mill at our local shopping complex) and cut out several oak leaves, eight large and eight small.  I burnished these to curl them a little and then applied some green chalk to the edges for definition.  I also marked in some veining with my bone folder, just to give them a little texture. 

My original idea was to draw the Green Man and simply attach the leaves around him, so, with this in mind, I googled a few pictures for inspiration.  One of the images was of a stone carved Green Man and I was very taken by the three-dimensional representation.  So, I set to work and tried to create my own version.  This is what I came up with:

Unfortunately, the photograph really doesn't do it justice - it makes it look a lot less sophisticated than it really is and the colours aren't quite rich enough. But you get the idea.

Anyway, I added a few circles for berries and mounted it with ribbon on the Earth Tones papers I had picked and the finished result looked like this:

I couldn't put it in an ordinary envelope and I didn't have any card to hand thick enough to make a box, so I decided to create a box-a-lope - a cross between the two - and tie it with ribbon.

It was fun to make something a bit different for a change and I was actually quite pleased with the result. My Other Half took the whole thing into work for B today and she was delighted with it, which is what counts, don't you think?

And There's More ...

... because I only posted quickly this morning.  This won't be a long one, either, but I just wanted to show you: 

Wreathabella

and

Car With a Tree On Top

These are my first two Chrimble cards and I can't wait to get stuck in to the rest of them. Wreathabella is sitting on papers by My Minds Eye, from their 12 x 12 Laundry Line stack and Car With a Tree On Top is rolling along my favourite Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly.  I've used my new cutty machine (my Wizard) and Nestibilities and, of course, my darling Prismacolors.  I must say, my recent splurge has paid off and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself!

As well as my Bellas I have also got my Pink Petticoat images to work with and I have a few ideas ready to burst out, when I find the time.  That's the problem at the minute - time - but I shall have to find some because you can be sure that Christmas will be here alarming quickly.  Oh well, I'll just have to make time to stamp, won't I.  It's a hard life, but someone's got to do it!!

MFT - One of My Favourite Things!

Just a quick post this morning because I've just found 'My Favourite Things' on the web! (I know, I'm a late starter - everyone else probably knew already.)  And it is now one of my favourite things, particularly as they have started to do digistamps.  I love digistamps.  I love the immediacy of them - no waiting for the postman (impatient, me?) and no need to get out all the inks, blocks and stamps just to have a few images to colour.  Not that I don't love my usual stamps, of course, but digistamps are cooooool!  Just one tip, though, invest in some fixative if you're using an inkjet printer to print out the images - it ensures that the ink doesn't run if you're using watercolour pencils or the Sansador technique.  You need to spray the image and let it dry a while before you can colour, but it gives a much better result.

My other favourite digistamp palace is Pink Petticoat.  The range of Lola stamps is lovely and the digipapers come in so many colours that you're bound to find one you need.  I'm about to break out my Christmas Lolas and make some cards for Darling Daughter to send to her new university mates, so I'll post one or two when they're done.

Have a good day!

Poorly Baby!

Well, Darling Daughter recently went off to university and within a week had succumbed to 'Freshers' Cold', although I'm not convinced that the poor darling didn't have a dose of swine flu! She sounded (and looked, on the webcam) really poorly but, bless her, she dosed herself up, took plenty of rest and is now back to normal.  But I must admit I found it really difficult not to rush off to her bedside!  They never stop being our babies, do they?

So, I decided that the best thing to do was to make her a card - and here it is:

Feelabella

Daughter had new bedding to take away with her, in colours not dissimilar to those on the card - without the glitter, of course! I simply couldn't resist adding a bit of sparkle. I love this Bella - she looks so sorry for herself.

The dotty paper is My Minds Eye and the other bits are what I already had in my crafty stash - I think the burgundy is Bazzil.

Couldn't resist doing a couple of others, though, while I had my Prismacolors out:

Maisy Ketto

Ivy Ketto

I just love these Ketto stamps from (of course) Stamping Bella (told you that name would pop up a lot, didn't I).  They are so delicate.  Maisy Ketto is happy on papers from Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love Mini Deck, whilst Ivy Ketto is at home on DCWV's Latte collection.  I love the aubergine, purple and green combination on this card. I used my Sakura black glaze pen for the hair on both girls, so it really has some definition. I love them both - they are so sweet. 

I don't always get the colouring quite right and I'm sure I've got a lot of practising ahead of me, but I am pretty happy with the way that I'm using my Prismacolors with Sansodor (gamsol) - I'm definitely beginning to achieve some of the effects I'm after.

Anyway, Darling Daughter has received her card and is delighted with it - it went straight on her pinboard.  A little bit of home in her new exciting world. Now, I just need another excuse to send the next one!

Don't Stop Me Now! (I'm having such a good time)

Yup, I'm having such a good time with my new goodies (when do they stop being 'new'?).  I'm loving the Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor (gamsol) technique, although I need plenty of practice, I reckon.  But, for the first time in a long time I'm back in the swing of things with my card making and really enjoying myself.  Unfortunately, the front room looks a bit like a bomb has hit it! I don't have a studio or craft room to myself, where I can shut myself away from the rest of the house, so I tend to prefer to be in the front room, with all my things spread out on the coffee table, making the place look untidy. But, hey, life's too short for housework when there's cards to be made, don't you agree?!

Thought I'd try out my lovely robot stamps from Stamping Bella (you'll see that name in almost every post at the moment) - they are sooo cute.  I came up with these:

Molly Watt 

Cakey Watt


   
 
 
 
 











Kilo Watt

The greetings aren't quite what I'd set out to do but, still, I would be happy to receive any of them, which is my rule of thumb when I'm doing anything.  If I would be unhappy if it dropped through my door, then I don't keep it or I re-do it until it passes the test.  It's only fair, I think.

Papers are mostly Cosmo Cricket and My Minds Eye (again) but the top paper on Molly Watt is just plain paper that I drew lines on with my glue pen and then covered with Glamour Dust. After shaking the excess off, I was left with this rather nice (I think) glittery criss-cross effect - just the sort of thing I was looking for.  I'm going to try the same technique but with swirls, or something similar, perhaps, just to see how it would look.

I've had an e-mail today to say that the rest of my Bellas are on their way, so I'm really excited.  Don't know how long it'll be before they land on my doorstep but I wish it could be in time for the weekend - it's World Card Making Day on Saturday and I'm having a crafty day in with a friend (we're sending our partners fishing together). What fun it would be to be able to play with my new Bellas.  I've already promised her that she can try out my new 'cutty machiney thing' (Spellbinder Wizard) but I don't know if I'll let her get her hands on my Prismacolors - a girl has to have boundaries!  I'll have to see if some of my other pencils will work with Sansodor, so at least I can show her the technique.  She's new to card making and she's coming to get some tips from an old hand.  So glad I've found the joy again before she arrives. 

So, it's now time to get some shut-eye.  Tomorrow's Friday (woop-woop) and I think I've earned my weekend this week.  Night-night all.