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. 

Books to be read

I mentioned in my previous post that I had a pile of books to read and these would be the ones to start with this year.  In fact, I have many, many more books than this, waiting to be read, but these are the chosen few at the moment (until something else distracts me...)  I am pleased to announce that I have read the first one, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd since Christmas. So, in case you can't see what they are, we have from the top:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (it is always interesting to see how much a dramatisation of an Agatha Christie story changes from the book - this one did).

The second book is a craft book I received for Christmas, Mandalas to embroider and initially, I was a little dubious when I opened it as I have not done that much embroidery and don't really like too many complicated stitches.  However, on looking at the book, the mandala patterns are pretty and straightforward, with only a few different stitches needed, so I think, on reflection, this book will suit me very well. I look forward to having a go at some of these.

The next is a book I had had for years, but never read, so 2021 is its time!  A History of English Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright.  I am interested in social history, which is probably why I bought it in the first place.

The Diary of a Modern Country Gardener is a book I am in the middle of enjoying, but I kept getting distracted by other things and so it kept getting put down.  I will finish it!

Written in bone is the second book by Sue Black and I really enjoyed her first book.  I did an online course in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology last year, which was a bit over my head at times, but was very interesting.  If nothing else, the course gave me a new respect for what these people do, which is incredibly complex.

The Well Gardened Mind is another book I have started, but then put down. It deserves my concentration and I will read it this year.  I bought a copy as a present for a colleague at Christmas so it will be interesting to compare notes when we have both read it.  Gardening is a wonderful hobby and its effect on mental health cannot be underestimated.

So, there are my first few books for this year. No doubt there will be many more to come...

Happy New Year 2021

(Big Ben at midnight off the TV)

 Well, after the year we have all had, it is good to welcome a new one and hopefully, a better one. Photos below are from the frosty garden yesterday morning.

As has become a tradition for me with the first post of the new year, I will review my aims for last year and think about ones for this year.

Read interesting books 

 I have continued this but haven't read so many books this year.  I think this is partly because I have been working from home and haven't used my lunch hours for reading, which I do when I am at work.  Some of the highlights have been: 'All that remains: a life in death' by Sue Black; 'Fifty Fifty' by Steven Cavanagh; 'The Thursday Murder Club' by Richard Osman; 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' and 'The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy' by Rachel Joyce and re-reading some old friends such as Miss Marple.  I have a stack of books I really need to sit down and read, so they will be my first aim.

Be Creative (using what I have) 

 I have continued my creative journey into art journaling and mixed media and successfully completed my ATC challenge.  I have also signed up to a year long art journaling mixed media course which starts now.  I have bought new stamps and dies, which I just had to have, but have now realised that I don't have the storage for any more, so from now on, it needs to be 'one in, one out'.  I really don't need any more, but no doubt will see something I just have to get...  

I haven't done much sewing this year (except for face masks) and still need to make those two pinafore dresses.  I also haven't yet attempted sewing with stretch fabric, so that would be a good aim too.

Get rid of or donate things I do not want or need 

I did get rid of a few bits and pieces to charity shops when they were open during the year, but I have a long way to go.  I do have too much stuff and could do with emptying everything out of a room and then only putting back what I actually want, but unfortunately, there isn't the space for that.  I must try to make more of a concerted effort on this one over the next year.

Take more notice of nature

Like many people this year, I have been so grateful for my little garden. Sitting out there has given me much pleasure.  I love gardening, so am attuned to the changing seasons but I need to be much more aware of nature and its joys and not take them for granted.  I bought a few new plants last year and will enjoy seeing them grow and flourish.  I have a few more in mind for 2021, but need to remember my lack of space in the garden too.  I also need to give some established plants more TLC and repot a few.

There we are.  Lots of good things from last year, a few not managed, but there's always this year to try again.  I hope that 2021 will prove to be an encouraging and hopeful year for us all.

Merry Christmas 2020

 Merry Christmas to all blog readers and commenters (who celebrate this festive season).

(One of our rather quirky angel decorations)

As has become my Christmas tradition, I quote from on of my favourite Christmas carols, "It came upon the midnight clear", written by Edmund Sears in 1849.

"Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled 

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing."

To end on a positive, I again quote from Desiderata (a 1927 prose poem by Max Ehrmann):

"...And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful, Strive to be happy."

Stay safe and here's to a better 2021.

December in the garden

So far, December has been pretty wet, mild and dull, although we have had a few sunny days.  One of these was yesterday, so I headed into the garden with my camera.  Above is a new winter flowering hellebore called Winter Princess 'Victoria'.   I found her at B&Q - a DIY store - and was intrigued that the label said she would flower through December.  I have several hellebores in the garden, but these are all late Winter/early Spring flowerers.  I can report that she has been in flower since we bought her, in November, I think.

This nemesia 'Confetti' is also still going and this was one of the cuttings I took in the summer, which were my first ever successful cuttings.  

Irises in pots and snowdrops are starting to grow.

Camellia buds are plumping up.

A self-seeded primula is flowering on the patio.  I haven't had any coloured primulas for years so am not sure where this one has come from.  Perhaps it has just been waiting for the right time.

One of my autumn fruiting raspberries is still fruiting too and I ate a raspberry as I wandered round the garden. It still tasted fine.

My small winter flowering jasmine is flowering, but that is more to be expected at this time of year.  It is still a young plant, but is brightening up this part of the border.

Camellia Yoimachi has flowered once this winter, but there are more buds.

This is hydrangeas 'The Bride' which has one flower still looking good.

Snowdrops in a tub.

Camassia starting to grow - I think this is much too early, but they have been enjoying the rain.

Snowdrops in the border.

Another hydrangea, giving really good value for money is Coco - lovely white flowers in summer and then a range of colours as the flowers fade.

More Coco...

...and again.

Winter flowering honeysuckle is in flower and on a sunny day, the scent is lily of the valley.  Again, this is flowering quite early for me - it is usually in January or February.

Small, insignificant flowers, but the scent is wonderful!

To finish, here is a flower from the new hellebore - Victoria.  She is giving me a lot of pleasure, as are all the featured plants.  

Advent Calendar Journal

I have been busy taking part in a free online course by the organiser of Wanderlust 2021, Kasia Avery.  Although it is described as an Advent Calendar, it doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas but is more about making a piece of art everyday for fourteen days.  There are prompts and there is also a video each day.  The first prompt was 'Wasting Time' and you can see my page above.

The next page I am sharing was 'Art is Freedom' where we had to choose a piece of art and then create something inspired by it.  I chose the 'Wilton Diptych' - images are from the National Gallery website.  I have seen this in the National Gallery and have always been struck by the colour.

Here's my piece, based on it - patterned gold which is in the background, the blue, roses which are in the angels' hair and a sort of feather pattern.

This prompt was 'Don't complain' - where we had to think about something we have found out this this year.  Having taken part in another course, I was encouraged to think of myself as an artist - someone who creates art - so I thought I should do something based on this.  The image is a gel press print, using soft pastels and a stencil.

Here is 'Bring some colour' where we had to have one colour we liked and then create different colour palettes around it.  The top one is the colours I would naturally be drawn to. I used a colour wheel to help me find split complementaries and triad colours.  

These are colours I would not naturally put together, so some experimentation is needed now, I think.  The course is certainly giving me some challenges.

Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - December

Here is the final ATC in my monthly project.  I am sad to have finished this project as it has been really enjoyable, but I have my year long mixed media course to look forward to and that starts in January 2021.  I used paint and stencils to give the tree branch effect and then added clear texture paste with glitter added to give the effect of sleet.  I think it has a suitably wintry feel.

The back shows a Christmas star and some presents, to echo the verse, "Chill December brings the sleet, Blazing fire and Christmas treat".  I think after the year we have all been through, a Christmas treat will be very welcome.

The gemstones also echo the wintry tones, with rutile quartz, white moonstone, rainbow moonstone, amazonite, sky blue apatite, tanzanite (also a birthstone for December) and black snowflake obsidian.  The charm is a piece of turquoise.

Here is a photo of all the cards together - not the best quality photo, but you can just about see them all.

Here's the backs of the cards.  It was a lovely project to do and I now have a set of decorations for my seasonal tree which I shall use every year, with great pleasure.

Edited to add:

Amanda asked whether I will display the ATCs and so, for her and any other interested parties, here is how they are displayed.

Here is my seasonal tree with its winter decorations, with the December ATC in the middle.  The tree will get Christmas decorations on it briefly, but will then return to winter.