Tags from Christmas Past - part 1

Hello, all - hope your festive preparations are going well.  I've been unpacking my storage crate of Christmas and winter creations so that I can decide what gets to go on display this year... and it's not easy to whittle it down! 

(You can watch the unboxing over on my YouTube channel and see all of these as they emerge from storage - and hear a bit more about the products used.)

I've got a seasonal corkboard which can display 21 tags at a time, chosen to reflect the time of year.  Halloween/Autumn had been up for far too long, so it was time to make a change.  But I'm only halfway down the crate, and already I've got far too many to choose from... I sorted them into groups so that I could try to make more sense of them all.

There are the reds... 

There are the blues and greens and neutrals...

And there are the jumbo tags created from the 12 Tags of Christmas inspiration provided by Linda Coughlin, the Funkie Junkie, when she used to share a Christmas inspiration challenge in the weeks leading up to the festival... 

It's a little bit overwhelming seeing them all together... and as you'll see if you watch the video linked above, we're not done yet!  

There are some non-tags in the crate too, and they'll be coming up next, and then there's an Advent set of 25 numbered tags for the final countdown.  

I'll aim to share those with you over the next week or so in the run-up to Christmas.

But in the meantime, which 21 would you put on your corkboards, if you had to choose?!  See you again soon for the next bit of unboxing.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy crafting, all!

Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.
Edna Ferber

It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees. They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
Joni Mitchell

Halloween Storytelling

Hello all, and happy Halloween!  I hope you've got a spooky night ahead on 31st October if that's your thing.  And if so, I just wanted to drop in to let you know that I've got a couple of helpings of Halloween Storytelling for you over on my YouTube channel, Words and Pictures.

The videos are flip throughs of a couple of Halloween journals I've made in previous years, each of which is packed with unnerving tales of the dark side of human nature.

Halloween Storytelling Part 1 - click here!

If creepy stories are one of your Halloween pleasures, then I invite you along for the fireside (or at least candlelit) storytelling.

Halloween Storytelling Part 2 - click here!

If you're of a nervous disposition, then maybe steer clear... you have been warned!!  (Or just come and watch with the sound turned down and enjoy all the Tim Holtz Idea-ology goodies layered up in the pages and pockets and tabs.)

I hope you'll all enjoy celebrating this All Hallow's Eve in whatever ways you choose.  And I'll be back soon with some more autumnal creativity and some more samples from my latest stamp launch too.  Happy Halloween, all!

October was always the least dependable of months … full of ghosts and shadows.

Joy Fielding

Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve.

Ray Bradbury

There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.

From Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Patterned Paper - Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp

I'm thrilled to be back in the Designer Spotlight for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month. It's always an honour to be invited, and to create alongside the amazing design team.  I had a wonderful time creating this collage quartet with Patterned Paper.

Yes, for this week's challenge, my first in the spotlight, the theme is Patterned Paper, with a focus on Stamperia products.  As always, the designers in the regular team have created wonders, so do check out their work.

I had a glorious time creating this quartet of panels with Stamperia rice papers in the background and lots of Tim Holtz goodies layered over the top.

The colours in the rice papers - which come from Stamperia's Around the World A6 Rice Paper Pack - really dictated everything that came afterwards, but since blues and browns are probably my favourite place to play that was fine by me!  I love the vintage style and distressed detailing on the rice papers. 

I glued them onto a piece of A4 card (all four papers fitted on one sheet), cut them into their individual panels and added a bit more distressing around the edges with the blade of my scissors.

I can never resist Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Paper Dolls when I'm collaging - they have such character and so many stories to tell.  And combined with the maps imagery in the rice papers, the gentlemen who started to gather on my desk turned out to be a determined and adventurous lot.

Each of the chaps has a photographic frame to perch or lean on - they're from the Idea-ology Photo Studio collection of frames and panels - and some Paper Strips provide additional structure or architecture for the rest of the collage elements. I love how they spill over the edges of the panels, creating a dynamic energy of expansion and exploration.

I've always loved the Gauge Dials - whether you put them in the metal frames designed for them or keep them just as they are, as I've done here.  There are compasses and speedometers and altimeters... all perfect to measure distance, direction, speed, height, and fuel reserves throughout the journeys these adventurers are going to be undertaking.

And of course the Postmarked postage stamps reflect the letters and telegrams they will be sending back to their nearest and dearest to assure them they are still alive and well, and enjoying their travels.

The other ephemera include some of my much loved Snippets Number Strips (always on my desk along with the Curator labels, as I have to have them near at hand!).

There are additional elements from the Memoir Ephemera Pack on a couple of the panels.  And where would I be without the wonderful Small Talk word stickers to let my Paper Dolls speak for themselves?!

Do hop over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge post to see the fabulous Patterned Paper offerings from the team, and for all the details about how to enter your own Patterned Paper projects.

Remember, as always, there's a randomly drawn $25 voucher to be won so that you can go shopping at Simon Says Stamp, as well as the honour of potentially being spotlit by one of the design team, with the special badge to go along with that spotlight moment.

I hope my adventurous gentlemen will inspire you to have a play.  We can't wait to see what you create... have a fabulous papery patterned week, everyone!

I look forward to seeing you next Monday for some more Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge fun. Thanks so much for stopping by today and happy crafting, all!

I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.
Susan Sontag

A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Lao Tzu

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves, in finding themselves.
André Gide

Collage Quartet

Oh dear, I'm so behind here!  It's the 1st of June, and I'm still catching up with sharing what we got up to in April in Fodder School... but I promise it's worth the wait.  It was an absolute creative treat.  The lovely Christine Karpiak offered up so many different techniques and ideas, and the final project was definitely right up my street!

The classes took us through a process of gathering and making fodder in many different ways, and then using that fodder to create a series of dimensional collages.  

My finished collages have a subtle, natural look to them that makes me so happy, but it's easy to overlook just how many different elements went into the fodder gathering and making.

There's clay-work, eco-dyeing, rusting techniques, stamp-carving, several methods of creating fodder papers, nature-foraging... and it was all so much fun.

I did my eco-dyeing with red cabbage... it's a staple ingredient here in the Czech Republic, so I thought I might as well go with the local produce!  

I was astonished at how playing with the acid/alkali balance of the dye created a gorgeous range of colours, so subtle and all beautiful in their own way.

I'm no stranger to rusting - there's usually a bit of metal or two decaying (deliberately) somewhere in my art studio...

... and I really enjoyed incorporating the rusting side-effects into some of the paper fodder making.

Those papers weren't the only ones we made... we also played with other methods of creating delicious collage papers.  As usual, I was working with my happy colours.

And my colour palette was also strongly influenced by my clay pieces, which were actually one of the first things I tackled.  I added a bonus session to the Fodder School classroom on these, as I used a different method from Chris for painting mine.

(If you join Fodder School, you get access to all the monthly bonuses too, of course.)

Just the fodder by itself made me extraordinarily happy, so I knew the collaging was going to be a breeze!  Working in a series is one of my favourite things to do.  And using old book covers as a substrate is another of my favourite things...

I put on some music and just allowed myself to become immersed in composition.  So meditative as a process. 

That word composition is so apt... arranging the elements on the book board substrates is all about harmony and rhythm, balance and counterpoint, just as it would be in music composition.

My quartet didn't feel quite balanced until I had added a significant word to each panel. Tim Holtz Quote Chips to the rescue...

They're positioned for harmony, counterpoint and rhythm, of course, but also for meaning.

Since the collages are mounted on book boards, and book pages play such a significant role...

... somehow I needed words in my final layers too.

Really and truly a beautiful month of creative exploration and joy.  So many of my favourite things, and a few new ones too.

I found myself in that sought-after state of creative flow so often this month, and I think it shows in the final quartet.  They make me deeply happy.

If all this is getting your creative juices flowing then this is a great time to sign up for Fodder School 3.  We're just starting the June classes - which include a mailart swap around the world!  It's only for Fodder School 3 participants, of course, so find all the details for registering here, and you get access to all the classes already available, as well as to those yet to come... including mine in August!

Happy June to you all... I hope you're enjoying a creative or restful or excitingly busy time (whatever you prefer) and I'll see you again soon.  After all, I need to share May with you before June catches up with me too far!  Happy crafting, all.

A word after a word after a word is power.
Margaret Atwood

Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.
Jeanette Winterson