Making my own labels - a mindful activity

Two of the makers I follow on Youtube have been using a stamp set (Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz - Curator) to create their own labels.  One was Alison Bomber from Words and Pictures here (from around 46:39 minutes in) and the other is Toni from Crafty by Toni here (at about 4:00 minutes in).

I stamped the image and then used watercolour to colour them, which was very relaxing and enjoyable. I have done some more neutral colours using Payne's Grey and Quinacridone Gold, but here I wanted some more colourful ones.  I have since had a lovely time cutting them all out and now I have a good selection for whatever I want to add them to.  I can thoroughly recommend it as a mindful activity!

Colourblock

I recently treated myself to a small piece of Tim Holtz's cotton called Colourblock.  (It's no good, I can't bring myself to spell it the American way!)  When he showed the lovely things his talented team of makers had made, I was inspired.  He also explained the the material was based on a colour swatch of his ink pads which he had then grunged up.  It had been scanned and digitally printed on the material. If you would like to see the video, it is on Youtube here.

I decided to make my own version, using some of my ink pads and some watersoluble crayon to give me the grungy look on the edges. The back of this is some packaging cardboard. All the lovely colours make me happy and I really enjoyed making it.  I haven't decided where I'm going to put it or what I shall do with the material yet though...

Crafting and Baking

I have been making a card for my sister's birthday and went full on mixed media for it - hope she liked it! It has a die cut leaf which I coloured with acrylic ink and then clear embossed, so it looks as though it is wet.  The background is a mixture of book pages and collage papers and the envelope has leaf stamps on it.

I have been inspired by some Youtubers - I think this one was Ceri Griffiths.  I made three postcard sized collages using lots of bits and pieces of papers and stamps and the odd digikit thrown in..

The inspiration for these was Crafty by Toni here - inking and then stamping onto self adhesive labels.  I used Tim Holtz stamps 'Field Notes' here.

This stamp set was another Tim Holtz set called 'Eccentric'.  I really enjoyed this and now have some lovely bits and pieces for art journals or cards.

I tried a recipe for Devon Apple Cake which was on Corners of my Mind blog here  It was really easy to make, smelled beautifully of cinnamon and mixed spice and tasted even better!  It is great as a pudding with custard, or with cream or yogurt or just on its own.  As it has apple in it, it won't keep for that long, but that wasn't a problem in our house!

Latest card makes

These are a few cards I made last year and one from this year.  Above is one I made for my sister's birthday.  It is a Woodware stamp designed by Jane Gill and I really like her designs.  I have amassed quite a collection!

This was for my good friend Alison's birthday, using Sizzix dies (my latest favourite!)

I use this 'happy' die a lot.  I like the font and the way the letters aren't straight.

Here's the 'happy' die again, taking centre stage this time.

The card was for my other sister and I gold embossed the flowers stamp and watercoloured the flowers, which was a lovely relaxing activity.

I added a few butterfly stamps to the back as well.

A card for my sister-in-law, using gilding flakes, sizzix leaf dies and an embossing folder to make the background.

Another embossing folder background with a leaf cut out of gold card and coloured with alcohol inks.

This panel was the second I made using the flower stamp and watercolouring the flowers. I haven't sent this one to anyone yet.

This one was using sizzix leaf dies and I coloured the panel behind.  This card was for a colleague at work who likes bright colours.

She also likes cats...my favourite stamp sets of the moment - Tim Holtz's 'Snarky Cats'. (I have got the Snarky Cats, Snarky Cats Hallowe'en and Snarky Cats Christmas. They appear quite often in my cards!)

Even the back of her card was given a Snarky Cat!

A new stencil enabled me to have a play with inks, for a birthday card for Chris.

A Snarky Cat appeared on the inside too...

...and on the back.  I added the little party hat from another stamp set.

Finally, here is my most recent card, for a friend's birthday last week.  Although the photo doesn't pick it up very well,  the pink panel is all glittery.  She loves pink, so I hope she liked it!

In other news. my art journaling/mixed media course is going well and I am really enjoying it.   I will share the first four pieces I have made in a future post.