Other cards this year

I like to post photos of the cards I make, as a reminder of what I sent to whom, as well as a record of what I have been making, so here are some more from this year.  Above is a simple stamped and watercoloured card. These clean and simple cards are often more tricky - all it takes is an inky finger print and you have to start all over again!

Easter cards are enjoyable to make and these were made using stamps, dies and stencils with pastel coloured backgrounds.

I made a couple of these for my cat-loving friends, using stamps and dies.

As this stencil and dies set from America cost me a fair bit in tax, I am determined to use it as much as I can.  It is a good one for using scraps and here there are embossed bits as well as scrap book paper.  

This one used some of the slow drawings I do on a Wednesday evening. I have amassed quite a collection of these little pieces, so it is good to use some of them.  

This one used embossing folder for the background, and some die cut flowers which I watercoloured.  The recipient is a teacher, so the letters and vintage book page number strip seemed appropriate!

I enjoy looking for themed supplies - hearts are a good one.  Here I used an embossing folder and a heart which had metal foil applied to it.  Simple, but effective, I think.

An embossed frame and stencilled image made this card.

I saw this inked technique demonstrated on TV and knew I wanted to try it.  I think it worked really well. The image is stamped onto watercolour card with Distress (or other water based ink) and then sprayed gently with water, just enough to react the ink and start it spreading.

Another simple card with a gel printed heart in the centre of the embossed background.

Finally (and well done for making it here!) is this card which uses one of the pieces I made in an online course I did in the summer. Lots of layers of paint and ink in this piece with a stamped butterfly as the focal point.   I have a couple of birthday cards to make for male family members and I find cards for men are a little more tricky but I have ideas of what to do, so watch this space.

Blogger, Compost and flowers

As you may know, if you have a 'Blogger' blog, it is not updating the posts from blogs we follow,  so we are all missing each other's new posts, unless we go over to their blogs from our reading lists.  Please keep visiting and I will keep visiting too.  Hopefully this may be sorted, but it has been going on for a while, so who knows?  On the whole, I have found Blogger to be pretty good, but this is first time there seems to be a major issue which isn't being resolved. 

On to my actual post.  

I have what is affectionately called a Dalek compost bin (the alien enemies of Dr Who - see here for further details), which has worked really well and provided me with lovely compost for the last couple of years.  I thought I had cracked the composting recipe and had been busy filling the bin with green and brown waste through the year.  It got very hot here and I covered the bin with a white sheet during the summer, to try to keep the temperature down a bit so that the worms wouldn't be cooked.  

It came time to empty the bin - a tricky task, as I don't have a lot of room for such shenanigans.  Unfortunately, this year something has gone seriously awry as I had slimy, smelly half- decomposed stuff all the way through the bin.  No nice, sweet-smelling crumbly compost for me this year.  So, I refilled the bin, aerating as I went, mixing in whatever brown waste (cardboard, egg boxes, paper etc) I had to hand.  

What have I learned from this experience?  Composting is an art as well as a science. I need to ensure I have 50/50 green and brown waste when I add some to the bin.  I also need to empty and then refill the bin in Spring, to make sure it is aerated, something I neglected to do this year.  Oh well, as we gardeners are so fond of saying, there's always next year!  

In order to cheer myself up, I took some photos of flowers in the garden, Above is Rose 'Eyes for You' which has been fantastic this year.

This is Anemone Ruffled Swan, with the frilly edge to its petals. 

Rose Dannahue, which has valiantly continued to flower, despite not enjoying the heat.

Helianthus Lemon Queen, normally really tall and with slightly thuggish tendencies in the right spot (it's fine in this garden).  It struggled with the heat too, is much smaller this year and has been slightly later to flower, waiting for the much needed rain we have had.  It is such a cheerful plant and I love to see it in flower.

Finally, a bee of some kind enjoying the pollen/nectar from the Helianthus.  

Changing season - welcome to Autumn

Thankfully, it is now much cooler and you can feel the season turning.  I, for one, am relieved, as I have really struggled during the heat of this last summer.  I enjoy Autumn, so look forward to greeting those plants which come into their own at this time of the year.  Above are cyclamen hederifolium, a sure sign that Autumn is here.  I have several pots of them on the shady patio and they seem to be happy there.  The flowers come before the leaves and the leaves have beautiful marble patterns. 

Here are some others.

Also in a pot on the shady patio are some japanese anemones.  I think this may be Pretty Lady Susan, but am not sure at all!  It is flowering away well.  My usually very reliable japanese anemone Bressingham Glow, which is in a border under a jasmine, has not enjoyed the heat and lack of water. It is flowering, but is a lot shorter than usual and with fewer leaves and flowers.  

This japanese anemone was sold as Ruffled Swan, but I think it is Wild Swan, as it doesn't seem to have the ruffled edges.  However, it does have pretty lilac backs to the petals.   

It used to be in a south facing position, but hated the intense sun, so has been moved. It does like to be well watered and is quick to wilt, but that is due to it living in a pot (and probably needing to be divided!).

On the whole, it is an undemanding and rather lovely plant, brightening up a shady area.

Another plant which has been doing sterling service and flowering for a long time is Clematis Wyevale, a herbaceous clematis, again in a pot.  It will let you know if it needs watering too, but just quietly flowers away, with a slightly soap-like fragrance on warm days. 

The hydrangeas have flowered but fading much more quickly then usual and the asters and helianthus Lemon Queen were also affected by the heat and drought, so are smaller than usual, but with the recent rain, they have perked up considerably.  There is still lots to enjoy!

Slow drawing - more double page spreads

I am still filling my slow drawing journal with patterns and here are some of the latest ones.  These are taken from the slow drawing lessons by Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio.  She usually has a lesson most Wednesdays from 6-7 pm in the UK (unless she is taking a break, in which case she leaves the most recent pattern available).  The videos are available for two days, unless you have a paid membership (which I don't).  The pattern above is called 'Bean' and I am considering whether to colour/paint in any of the shapes.

This is one of the most recent ones I have done (Botanical Watercolour for Beginners) and it was so relaxing - slow watercolouring, adding more water, then less water to the pigment as the shapes are layered up.

This one was inspired by one of Amy's patterns, 'Spirit',  but then I made it my own.  Cells? Tiny creatures? Seeds? 

Another one of Amy's called 'Grecian' but I started with one full circle and added the leaves/scales all around it. 

This pattern is called 'Prickers' and I love the complicated end result with the depth of the layers.  It was actually relatively simple to do and it built up quite quickly.  I still have a few single pages to go before the journal is full.

A little garden review - late summer

Considering how dry it has been over the last two months, there are some plants that have coped very well.  Above is the triple coloured hibiscus, although I think there are only two colours on it now.  It is in the sunniest part of the garden and has not been watered at all.  Below it is an agapanthus which has flowered really well but which is in a pot, so it has been watered.

Here is the hibiscus again, showing the pink flowers and some of the white ones.  

The other hibiscus, Syriacus Oiseau Bleu, in the north facing border, has done very well too, again, no extra water from me. This is one of my favourite plants and often features in my blog.  Roses in the borders have done well, with no additional watering but those in pots have needed a weekly and sometime twice-weekly watering to keep going.  My ferns in the north border have suffered a lot, despite me adding water bottles near them to try and help.  I am not sure they will come back but we shall see.

We have now had some rain and temperatures are a little cooler,  for which I am very thankful.   

In other news, my cosmos have finally decided to join the party and start flowering.  Hopefully they will go on into the Autumn.  Above is Cupcakes Blush which is one I haven't grown before.

I'm not quite sure what this one is - but it is pretty.

These are at the front of the house - Candy Stripe, which I think is pretty reliable.

Candy Stripe again...

...and again. I like that the flowers are all slightly different.

As all of us need to do, I am thinking about how to adapt what I grow next year.  Cosmos Candy Stripe and Cosmos Sulphureus Polidor have both done well considering and I think perhaps I need more verbena bonariensis. I have some white foxgloves seedlings coming along and have three teasel plants growing on.  

I have also just ordered some tulips - Finola for the front, Ronaldo and Princess Irene for the back. They should arrive September/October time.  

The other thing I need to do is cut down the number of small pots of things I have.  Lots to think about and always lots to do!

Accordion mini journal

For those people who expressed an interest in seeing my accordion journal for the Inchie Challenge, (I am looking at you in particular, kjsutcliffe!) here it is.

It is small and unfolds with the pictures on both sides.

You can also keep it 'closed' and turn the pages like a book.

The simplicity of the green circles for Eucalyptus is probably my favourite from this challenge.

Closely followed by this one, where I took the idea of a circle and complicated it with lots of pattern. I do enjoy drawing mandala-style images.

Inchie Challenge 2026

I have just finished the Inchie Challenge for 2026 - seven days of prompts using little watercolour pieces, two inches square.  This is run by Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio and I have been joining in for a couple of years. She is still offering this for free  She also offers Slow Drawing most weeks (you need to be signed up to the free tier on her site) - she does take the occasional week off!  She also offers much more on the paid part of her website, such as an extended Inchie Challenge, but I have not signed up to that.  

This year the prompts were (from left to right): Wildflower; Sprinkle; Blue; Landscape.

(From left to right again): Lines; Eucalyptus; Complicate.  What would you have drawn/painted?

Slow drawing is about taking your time and not rushing to complete something. The patterns are usually based in nature and open to interpretation; in fact, Amy encourages us to make the patterns our own and explore.  Materials are few - watercolour paper/card, a permanent ink pen and watercolours.  It is an hour of quiet concentration that I really enjoy each week.

Another art journal

 I've been working on another little journal as a spin-off from one of the lessons from the art journal course.  It's something I work on every now and again.  

The cover is a 'ghost print' from a gel plate printing session.

This page started as a pastel watercolour background which was decorated with drawn flowers.  The rest of the background was painted with dark blue acrylic paint.

On the right hand page I cut some flaps and added a stamped image.

This page started as a gel print, which was stencilled over, adding paint pen marks and gold squiggles. 

On these pages, there is a collage and a page with a pocket.

Here is the pocket page without the folded paper.  I really enjoyed drawing all the different lines within the circles as it is a very meditative activity.