January Artist Trading Card (ATC)

 Here is the first in my ATC project over the next eleven months.  The first is for January and was ready for the first of the month, but I have kept adding little bits and pieces.  I made the card and then had a brainwave to use some of my gemstones and to also include the month's birthstone as well.  For this card, there is a haematite round, clear quartz, sky blue apatite, white moonstone, turquoise and rutilated quartz, with a garnet charm at the bottom.

 The card itself has acrylic paint watered down and dripped over a texture paste pattern, then silver embossed shapes and grey stamping.  The colours are silver, grey, white and turquoise.

 On the back, I added a verse from the seasons rhyme I knew from when I was little - 'January brings the snow...' and some silver glitter die cut snowflakes.

 Here's a close up of the verse.

The ATC goes really well with the Scandi inspired felt birds and balls on the seasonal tree, alongside some rather glamorous glass bead snowflake decorations which I bought in a sale last week.
February's ATC will involve grey, white and purple, raindrops, a heart and amethyst...
edited to add...
I am going to enter this ATC in the Craft Stamper Take It Make It challenge over at Craft Stamper.  Wish me luck!

Felt making again - at last!

It has been about six months since I made any felt pieces and last week, I finally managed to pick up my carding combs and make something.  The photo above shows the piece in process and I really liked this combination of blues and turquoises and teals, so had to stop to take a photo.

The piece was based on one I had previously made, taking my inspiration from the sea lavender on the marshes at Saltfleetby, on the Lincolnshire coast.  The original one was fine but I decided to make the colours a little deeper in this version. 

The felted piece, showing how the wool exerts its own influence.  The horizon was a bit more dramatic than I would like, but the colours have worked together well and have given the slightly impressionistic effect I was aiming for.  Now it needs to have the embroidery added, to give more definition to the sea lavender.  That's the next job.

Jewellery (and problems with comments)

 Although I haven't been doing much felt making at the moment, I am making jewellery.  I love the way you can create a piece of jewellery and wear it the next day.  Above is a bracelet I made for my friend from Canada who has just been visiting England for the first time for three years.  I used amazonite, mother of pearl, labradorite, botswana agate, shell and zebra jasper, all in neutral shades.

The necklace is for me and is completely different from anything I have made before.  Usually, I have much more delicate designs, but I was trying to make a chunkier piece.  Initially, I tried to make an assymmetric design, but it just wasn't me at all, so I had to revert back to symmetry.  This design has a lot of different gems in it; lapis lazuli, keishi pearl, jade, blue-green jasper, shell, fluorite, labradorite, turquoise and kyanite.  I hope it will complement a lovely blue-green cardigan that I wear for work.  I am going to make an amethyst necklace next, leaving the wire showing at the back and maybe even plaited.

Incidentally, just to let my lovely followers know, I am having trouble with the comments on my blog.  For some reason, they seem to disappear and just show a white screen when you click on them.  I am hoping to find out what is happening and get it sorted as soon as I can.  (Technology, eh?  Brilliant when it works and a complete pain when it doesn't!)

Jewel colours

Owing to my recent felt making, I had to check my stock of lovely merino wool and ordered some more to replace some I'd run out of.  When I opened the box, I was greeted with this selection: turquoise, aqua, sky blue, purple and royal blue.  In gemstone colours they would be: turquoise, amazonite, chalcedony, amethyst and lapis lazuli.  What a gorgeous treasure chest of colours!