Birthday Blues and Browns

How are all of you?  I hope you are staying safe and well and maybe finding some creative time and energy too.

I'm celebrating my lockdown birthday today with a tag which uses my favourite blues & browns combination.  I started out by calling the post Birthday Blues - but then I added the browns because the melancholy implied by that phrase simply wasn't accurate.

Despite everything going on right now, I am finding many ways to be happy in the moment.  And thinking about the longer timeline, I really feel incredibly lucky in my life to have been able to pursue my passions.

The question of what I would like for my birthday really stumped me this year.  I don't feel in urgent need of anything right now.  I'll settle for some blue skies and sunshine and the continued good health of those that matter to me.










Though this quarantine puts me in a state of physical confinement, my imagination is still free to fly without limits, and I'm determined to come out at the other end of this crisis (whenever that may be) ready to leap into action again with all the plans that are currently on hold.  So that's what this tag is celebrating too.










I've also been re-creating connections made in real life in virtual form.  I decided to invite actors I've worked with over the years and across the continents to join in virtual breath, voice and text work sessions with me several times a week.  (Voice and text work in the theatre is my "day job", for those that don't already know.)










Lots of the actors were in shows which closed with little or no notice, or had jobs (a precious commodity in the acting profession) about to start rehearsal which will now never happen.

A couple were even already in costume for that evening's performance when they were told it was cancelled - which leaves you with a huge adrenaline hit and nowhere to release it.











We know there are people dealing with far worse things as this pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, but the sad probability is that a good many of the smaller theatres and theatre companies - often in precarious financial positions at the best of times - simply won't survive this crisis.














It felt like the least I could do to try to offer some good vibrations to help us stay connected while we wait to see how things pan out.











Virtual voicework is not the same as being in a room together, or a rehearsal process, but it is a way to help keep the muscles of the body, voice and imagination active and "in tune" while the theatres are closed.













I wasn't sure how doing the kind of work I do would feel when you mostly can't hear the other voices, but it's surprisingly moving and uplifting.















And in a celebration of the boundlessness of the internet, the actors are really enjoying playing with each other across oceans and time zones, and getting to work with and talk to people whom they otherwise wouldn't encounter in their normal working lives.  The sense of connection and positivity is really heartwarming.














I haven't talked about the tag much, except that I think all that optimistic energy and determination to keep looking outwards and forwards is part of what fuelled the whole thing.  It has a very positive strength about it, don't you agree?

But just so you know... the snippets of rusted die-cut are leftover from The Golden Hours so hop there if want to see how I did those.  The Paper Doll is perched so as to take advantage of them, both underfoot and to lean on.

The background is a combination of Micro Glaze stencilling, Distress Inks and Oxides, and the metal elements are altered with alcohol inks and Distress Paints.

I'm sure you can pretty much work it out yourselves from that!








I'm going to love you and leave you for now... I'm off to enjoy several virtual birthday celebrations!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Stay safe, stay well, and I'll see you soon.

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.
Emily Dickinson

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
Mae West

I'd like to share this over at Tag Tuesday where for this fortnight Anything Goes
At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge they would like us to Create A Scene

Some light relief...

Hello!  The last post found me in a grey mode and mood, and although I really love the Gently Grey cards which resulted, I thought we could do with a touch of light relief so I'm just here to share, very quickly, another little play I was having with the crazy birds.

In fact, this one started before my Bird Crazy version of Tim's July tag, and I'd already stamped, coloured and used the Micro Glaze on these two before Tim's tag even appeared - so my choice of stamps for that was pretty obvious after all!

Like the ones on my July tag, these are also watercoloured with Distress Stains - splodged onto the craft mat and then applied with a water brush.











And I took a leaf out of Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries's book (she's been doing wonders with the birds - and here and here - for some time now, and is probably one of the main tempters behind my caving in to them)...








... by adding Glossy Accents to the eyes for an extra goggling look.















I love that the Micro Glaze means you can then blend inks around your main image without affecting it.














As well as straight inking, I added some splotches and blotches with one of the layering stencils...













... and over the top of that I used Tim's great crackle background.












I remember I had some thought about eggs cracking, or some such, but when it came to looking for some words to go on the tag it became evident that my subconscious was way ahead of me!













A little bit of Vintage Photo around the edges, some JOFY grasses for the birds to stand on (as well as some shadows to give them a bit more substance), some twine through the hole, and we're done.






I hope that's put a smile on your face after the grey gloom (though I notice the actual words are probably not that reassuring... see, the truth will out, even in the light relief).

Starting to think I may need a holiday...

I'm interested in people's darker side, the ones that aren't easy and well balanced.  The cracks.
Noomi Rapace

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.
Bernard Meltzer

Gone Crazy!

Okay, okay, I admit it, I caved... I bought the Bird Crazy stamp set!  Well, it just looked like everyone was having such fun with it.  And I've been having fun with it too, even though it may not be in my usual vein.

I do love to watercolour with Distress Inks but I don't have many blueprints, so when Tim's new inspiration tag for July popped up, I thought I should go a bit Bird Crazy and here's the result. (Also, we're not so much for the 4th July this side of the pond!!)

I won't go through the how-to with you.  You'd do far better to hop over and check out Tim's fantastic tag and instructions.

But, as is my wont here at Words and Pictures, I've got a few close-ups to share with you nonetheless.

As well as the crazy birds, I've been playing with some of the new Distress colours for this tag.  All those blues and greens - I'm a happy woman, and now impatiently awaiting the arrival of the new Blueprint Sketch colour in the UK.  







For now it's a combination of new and old.

We have Faded Jeans, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Shabby Shutters and Mermaid Lagoon all putting in an appearance... 










... not to mention the Frayed Burlap for shading.  (Oh, and I used Hickory Smoke for my stitching - hickory stitching!)

Since the birds are fairly large, I've ended up working on one of the jumbo, jumbo tags, 10.5 x 5 inches in size.









It's covered with one of the text papers from the Wallflower set.  I started out with a very full-on background from Lost and Found, but decided I'd rather let the watercolouring take centre stage.

The micro-glaze is fabulous stuff.  I nabbed some as soon as it was released, but this was really my first chance to have a play with it.  As you know, life's been a bit busy!










Happily I was able to find lots of winged words amongst the Small Talk stickers...














... one for each of our nervous flyers.















Perhaps they will take flight one of these days!














If they decide to, there are some metal wings to help them out, altered with Mushroom alcohol ink, which means they tone in with the Frayed Burlap beautifully.











I had a ball creating the stripy ribbon.  We're on blues and greens again, I'm afraid, but with such limited time at the craft table, I'm afraid I'm leaning to my favourites rather than experimenting when I do get there.

Oh, one more thing - it's not actual stitching (sewing machines and I continue on terms of enmity), but uses the stitching wheel recommended by the lovely Jenny of Pushing the Right Buttons. Then you just join up the holes with a pen.  Much easier!


You can just about see the gleam of the Glossy Accents applied to their eyes in the photos below...

There's a flurry of posts coming your way over the next few days, starting with a VERY exciting one later today (and back in a more vintage style), but I wanted to sneak this in.

It'll probably get lost in the rush, but so be it.  I had great fun making it and I wanted to share it right away.  I had such a lovely time watercolouring this characterful trio and I suspect they'll be back.

Hope you'll pop back and see all the excitement to come, but for now I'll wish you a lovely Sunday.

I'd like to enter this as my July Tag in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015.

And since we're in lighthearted vein...

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week,
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.
Dixon Lanier Merritt