We're in the money!

Hello all!  Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my Eileen Hull Nature Journal.

I'm sorry I'm not managing many return visits at the moment... not only am I in the throes of packing for another stint away from home (travelling today, in fact) but my computer keyboard is having severe migraines, so I'm having to limit my time working on it.

Happily, I persuaded it to cooperate for long enough to write this post and schedule it.

You'll only understand today's title if you look very closely...

Underneath all those layers are some extremely mundane money envelopes - a pack of 250 bought for £1 in a Pound Shop at some point in the dim and distant past.  Nothing much to look at initially, but oh, how I enjoyed altering them.












I'm sharing both of these photos of the complete set as I've been flicking back and forth between them, unable to decide which I prefer, for long enough now, and there's still packing to be done, so you can decide for yourselves.

We've shifted from my actual dolls (see them at Pastime With Good Company) to Tim Holtz's new Paper Dolls... there's considerably less time and stress involved with these dolls!

I'm always inspired by the fantastic sets of ATCs created by Maj at m-1309, and these almost-ATC-sized money envelopes (they're actually 4 x 2 and 5/8) arose out of many happy visits to her blog, though they're not specifically based on any one ATC set of hers.

I've just been to take a quick photo of some of the unaltered envelopes, so that you can see the humble beginnings...













I think it's probably around a year since I created the backgrounds - paper scraps, gesso and Ecoline inks dotted on and spritzed with water.

Whatever I had in mind at the time didn't quite come together (I can't remember what or why), so they sat around near the craft table and waited patiently for me to come back and play with them.













When Tim Holtz's Paper Dolls and new Design Tapes turned up, I thought they'd be the perfect addition.















The little strips of Design Tape add lovely detail without being too in-your-face.














I had a joyous time selecting my characters and adding the simple extra layers of embellishments.

It took a while to sort through the hundreds of dolls to find the ones I wanted at matching sizes.













Almost all of the images in the pack of Paper Dolls are there in multiple sizes, so you can pick just the right dimensions to suit your project.

I love the selection of children I've ended up with, so full of character...













... the serious expressions of some of them, even to the point of definite anxiety in the case of the little girl on the left...















... and then this confident chap, happy to look you straight in the eye from his comfortable perch.















I find that the characters tell you stories as you work with them...













... so that choosing the individual Big Chat word stickers to accompany each of them was pretty easy.















I just listened to what they were saying to me...















... and selected the word which seemed to correspond.







I used some bundled thread on each envelope (something Maj often does).  I have quite often done it myself in the past, and always enjoy the effect, but I seem to forget about it.

I've now put a roll of thread in the little box which sits the middle of the craft table right in front of me, and I've got another in the craft supplies ready to go in the suitcase.  Hopefully I'll remember to use it more often in future!

I kept the embellishments simple - a button and a number brad for each of them...
















... and an inky butterfly each.

The butterflies were punched with Tim's large butterfly punch out of a wrinkle-free distress tag.















I used various Distress Inks, chosen to complement the Ecoline inks already in place from a year ago.















It's great fun varying the positioning, so that each one of the set is slightly differently arranged, but balanced in itself.











And it really doesn't take much more time to make four than it would to make one.

(It does require more photos though, in my world...)













I often work in series and sets with tags, but I can't remember doing it at this size before.

I can see this becoming addictive!








You have to look pretty closely now to see the printing from the money envelopes now, but I promise you it is still there.  (Quite why they won't sit all in a straight line is beyond me, but that's children for you.)

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  As soon as I've arrived, settled in and got stuck in to rehearsals in NYC, I hope to be round for some long-neglected visiting.

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
Dorothy Parker

I'd like to play along at Frilly and Funkie where the challenge is to Put Your Inking Cap On - making anything without using designer paper.  Quite apart from anything else, that's my favourite challenge theme title ever!
This makes entry number three at Mixed Media World for their Anything Goes with an optional twist of Watercolour theme - and finally, third time lucky, there are Ecoline Watercolour Inks involved
And I hope they're bright enough for That's Crafty Challenges where the theme is Bright!

Watercolouring in...

Hello all, I've something slightly different to share with you today.  One of my favourite activities as a child (after reading) was colouring in, so I've been quietly amused by the adult colouring fad which seems to have swept the world lately.

I've always known how relaxing it was, and I was delighted to discover some colouring books printed on watercolour paper so that now, as an adult, I can practise using watercolour paints without having to worry about drawing (a bit too scary to share just yet!).

Travelling as I am this year, I'm having to think very carefully about what supplies to take along for the ride.  In my recent month-long jaunt around Europe - work and play - I had to really keep it down as I was changing country often, and the simplest thing seemed to me to be to take some watercolour paints, a Painterly Days watercolouring book by Kristy Rice, and my much-loved Pentel water brushes.






Here are just a few photos of my first encounters.

The outlines are in a pale grey tone, so they are very subtle.













Obviously I started in my blue-green comfort zone...

I'm not really particularly interested in the flowers, it turns out.












I'd just as happily stick to painting leaves all day long!

I do think the colouring helps with learning the brush sweeps required for shaping a leaf... I'll be braver about my own freehand leaves in future, I think.













I went for a fairly delicate peachy look for the blooms...

... with the occasional bit of bindweed in between.












Mostly, I was using a set of White Nights watercolour pans, but there are also some Ecoline inks involved in places.














The blue sky, for instance, is mainly Ecoline if I remember rightly.  I do like how the leaves look against the early summer sky.














In any case, it was tremendously soothing to do, and I do recommend the Painterly Days books for anyone wanting to play with watercolours but feeling unready with their drawing.

I'm still trying to decide whether to take a more substantial craft kit with me on the next trip, or whether I can bear to stick purely to the watercolours.   Packing is imminent.  Hmmm...








Thanks so much for stopping by.  There'll be a new creation along soon and then, depending on what I decide to take with me in terms of crafting kit, there may be a few more, or we may be back on the Encores... we'll see!  Happy crafting all!

Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists on playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times.
Thomas Aquinas

UPDATE

To answer Yvonne's question below... you can get these books in the UK via Amazon (and maybe elsewhere too), but click to the other sellers, not the main Amazon price.  You'll find the cheapest ones despatched by Wordery.  Here's the link to the flower one, but there are different editions so make sure you find the one you prefer.