Winter Wood and Pine Panels

Hello all!  I'm back in the UK for three months for work, so once again I've had to pack more craft supplies than clothes in my suitcase so that I don't get withdrawal symptoms!  I'll share some pictures of my temporary craft stash if you're interested, but for now I thought I'd show you this pair of wintry panels I created just before leaving the Czech Republic last week.

I wanted the new Tim Holtz 3D embossing folders Tree Rings and Pine Branches the moment I saw them.  I knew they'd make perfect settings for my PaperArtsy botanical stamps, and I just had time to make one panel with each while I was doing my packing.

The first one was this weathered wood panel created with the Tree Rings folder.

I tinted the gorgeous wood texture with Distress Sprays and Crayons - sorry, I can't really remember what colours I used but Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Walnut Stain and Weathered Wood were definitely in the mix...

some pinecones gathered on walks, and real twigs interspersed with die-cut ones...

and of course my EAB Hawthorn Edition stamps.

I kept the colours very muted and wintry - it's all done with Distress Inks, including the new(ish) Lumberjack Plaid mixed with Festive Berries.  The leaves are a combination of Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Weathered Wood.

The quote is from the same set, embossed in Wow Primary Bark powder, and it's resting on some coils of rusty wire.

The second panel uses the Pine Branches folder.

Again, the colours are a bit hazy - there's certainly some Rustic Wilderness, Speckled Egg, Evergreen Bough and Walnut Stain around...

a lovely Idea-ology Quote Token, with Picket Fence Distress Crayon highlighting the words...

the berries from my EAB29 Mistletoe Edition with a touch of Glossy Accents crackled with a heat gun...

background stamping with the theatrical ephemera from the same set...

and some more pinecones.

Of course, the BigShot was one thing I couldn't put in the suitcase (too heavy, too big, too awkward!), but I did pre-press a few more of these panels to bring with me.  Keep an eye out for them in future makes... they're definitely going to become a regular part of my creations.

I hope you like them, and I hope you are enjoying a gentle and peaceful weekend full of good things.  See you soon.

I prefer winter and Fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape--the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

Andrew Wyeth

It's the Final Countdown

Hello all and a slightly belated happy New Year!  (Anyone singing along after that post title is revealing their age!)  Just squeaking in under the promised wire (to share the rest of the Advent Countdown tags before the end of the 12 Days of Christmas - 6th January)... here are the remaining December tags, with a shot of the whole collection at the end.

Here's a sneak peek of the final arrival...

The last of the juniper berry backgrounds (using my PaperArtsy EAB28 Juniper Edition) were the last of the red and green collection... 

And then it really became all about the winter delights of Uncharted Mariner Distress Ink as a colour.  Obsessive, me?  Really?!  And texture too, of course... 

These two don't actually belong together as a pair, but they got made and posted at the same time.  Each of them does have a partner in the collection - you'll see them united at the end of the post.

Some more juniper berries to finish things off... and we all know who appears at the end of the Advent Countdown!

The making and posting wasn't quite daily, but when you work with pairs, trios and groups, you end up with enough to cover the full 25 day Advent Countdown even if you're not making something every single day!

Some of these pairs and trios were made together.  Some collections came about from a bunch of backgrounds all made at the same time, but then each individual tag was finished off separately - but usually done to "match" whatever had gone before.  Batch making does save thinking time!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I know for lots of you Christmas is a dim and distant memory now, but I'm enjoying the final days of peace and quiet by the tree before it comes down.  

Chaos is about to kick in, as I'm heading to the UK for three months of work with the Royal Shakespeare Company again.  I'll be packing a travelling stash, of course, but I don't know how much time or energy I'll have for creating.  Working on a show is always pretty demanding, and I'm going to miss the Czech countryside very much (and my mother too!)... but digging deep into Shakespeare again is going to be a really stimulating and satisfying way to start the year.  

I hope that 2023 is offering you the right balance of peace and excitement, and I wish you all the very best year possible.

Celebrate endings, for they precede new beginnings.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie

And now we welcome the New Year... full of things that have never been.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Counting the Twelve Days...

Apologies all... the days before Christmas got away from me, with all the running around and preparations. I'm sure you know what I mean!  These quiet days after all the hustle and bustle are my favourites - curled up by the Christmas tree, with candlelight, music and good books - time for hibernation and reflection. 

But I did keep up my tag-making over the days of Advent, so I'm here to share those creations in a couple more batches.  Even though we're done counting down to Christmas, instead we're counting the twelve days of Christmas.  Today is the fifth day so, instead of five gold rings, here are some more tags!

The amazing Tim Holtz Layered Snowflake die, and some of my own PaperArtsy text stamps creating detail in the icy backgrounds:

Celebrating some classic Christmas films and film songs - hence the film strip ribbon.  The word stickers tell you what you need to know:

Another of my PaperArtsy EAB28 Juniper berry backgrounds, with some more festive collaging:

Lots of texture in that background, which includes Uncharted Mariner, and some of my favourite Holiday Greens dies in action:

I made several of these starry snowy backgrounds in some mixed media playtime.  Again, it's Uncharted Mariner for the most part (which was fast becoming my colour of the season by this point!)... that beautiful turquoise blue has a gorgeous wintry look when paired with white:

Fussy-cutting is not my strong point, but it's much easier when you leave a white frame - and that works so well for winter.  It was definitely worth the effort to get these sprigs of my PaperArtsy EAB29 Mistletoe layered in with the Tim Holtz greenery (over some more starry snowy backgrounds):

I had no idea where these two were going when I started, and at one point I thought I'd completely overdone it with the layered backgrounds, but it all started to work again as soon as I positioned the two Paper Dolls.  In fact they became some of my favourites of the whole countdown:

That's enough for one go... I'll be back with the rest of the collection before the 12 Days are up (6th January), I promise!

Hope you are all enjoying a peaceful, happy time - and that those of you affected by the winter storms are staying safe and warm.

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.
Winston Churchill

Advent Countdown (part 1)

Hello all!  I'm trying to create something daily during December so I'm here to share the first week's worth.  There are definitely some new wintry favourites among them for me...

I haven't always got as far as a finished tag - so some days are background-creating days, and some days have more than one tag.  Hopefully in the end it will all add up to 25!  Here's what we have so far...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Those silvery blue crackled stencilled backgrounds appearing were actually made back in the summer during one of my first playtime sessions with the (then) new Uncharted Mariner colour.  It's taken until now for them to get their chance to shine!

There are some of my own PaperArtsy EAB28 Juniper Edition berries and text in a couple of the others.  And I think my favourite maybe the layered stamping backgrounds from Day 6.  I'm looking forward to finishing those off. 

I hope you are having a gentle run up to the festive season, and I hope to be back with some more Advent Countdown creativity soon.  Happy crafting, all!

I pray this winter be gentle and kind--

a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.

John Geddes