Laughter is the best medicine

After a busy PaperArtsy start to the week, there's a more relaxed vibe here at Words and Pictures today.

I'm sharing a hanging combining some of the recent Artistic Outpost releases: the wonderful Hayride set, Chalkboard Wisdom and Chalk It Up.  The weather seems to have taken a turn for the wetter and colder, but I'm holding on to those last days of autumn sunshine in my crafting at least.

I started with a piece of cream mountboard, inking it up with Distress Inks, and then stamping the images in Archival ink.

The large frame is from the Chalk It Up plate, and seemed the perfect home for the Hayride boy.














The boy is stamped in Sepia, the frame is stamped in Potting Soil, and for the sentiment I applied both inks for a shaded look.












The vine holds its position as one of my new favourite stamps to use - just love these twining leaves.












I added some of my rusted embellishments - washers straight from the DIY store and some little resin roses - from a couple of months back.










The corrugated card in the background has had a rough coat of gesso, and then some Distress Ink daubed onto it.  And finally I clear-embossed it for a glossy wet look.  

A couple of eyelets (with a quick dab of paint to make them tone in), some rustic twine, and we're all set.

Thank you for stopping by today, and for all your amazing feedback on this week's creations.

It seems to be taking a while to recover from the last couple of months of frenzied activity, but I'm slowly working my way back to feeling a bit more human.  A few more early nights, and a bit more time at the craft table, and I'll get there.  Happy Crafting all!




A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.
Irish Proverb

If you're too busy to laugh, you are too busy.
Proverb

Laughter is an instant vacation.
Milton Berle

Full House!

Hello everyone!  I'm back with my final PaperArtsy post for November.

Thank you, as always, for your great feedback and support through another crazily busy few days here at Words and Pictures.  

If you've yet to catch up, you can find my November PaperArtsy Project One here - serene and peaceful, the calm before the storm; then the first stages of Project Two for PaperArtsy can be seen here; this fortnight's Fun With ATCs inspiration (and my farewell piece for them) is here; and this week's contribution for Artistic Outpost is also up for grabs today!

Finally, I have the third PaperArtsy sneak peek for you now.  Hop on over to see the Full House... I really hope you like it.  I certainly had a lovely time creating it!

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.
Benjamin Franklin

A Nice Round Number

Hello all!  It's a strangely contradictory post today.  On the one hand, we're celebrating the 100th challenge over at Fun With ATCs - and the theme for the fortnight is, fittingly, 100!

But there's a touch of sadness hanging over the celebration... as this is the final Fun With ATCs challenge.

As it happens, I'd already reluctantly decided I had to leave the team.  I've had a fantastic year, and have loved playing alongside my wonderful team-mates, but time seems to be in increasingly short supply and keeping up with deadlines keeps getting harder.  So the 100th challenge coinciding with my one year anniversary as a DT member seemed to make a nice round number for calling it a day.  

But I'm so sad that this will now also be the last challenge of all.  We've had so many amazing entries over the months from many loyal followers, and it's been great to see all your tiny masterpieces.

So here's my final inspiration piece for you - and in a grand finale, I'm offering you two versions of it! - and you'll find more fabulous makes here to fire your crafty imaginations.

I started by cutting a piece of thick card with the Tim Holtz ATC and Corners die, and then ran it through the BigShot again with the X-Cut Chronology Cogs embossing folder.  I cut the numbers 1, 0 and 0 with the Movers and Shapers Cargo Numbers dies.




As you can see, my brain first of all went to glowing pinks, golds and oranges - using Finnabair's Sunrise, Sunset papers, inked with Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks...

...with a heavy spritzing of Perfect Pearls in Pearl for a shimmery look.

But then it just didn't feel quite "me"... and for my final piece, I wanted it to feel a bit more "me".

Fortunately, I hadn't yet stuck anything down...







So I started over with some paint, and turned the whole thing blue - much more "me"! 

I did lots of dry-brushing once the blue was done, bringing white down from the top left corner, and black up from the bottom right corner to create a shift of shadow and highlighting across the ATC.

No idea what colours I used precisely, I'm afraid - this was made weeks before the house move, and my brain has turned to mush in the meantime!

But I do know that, again, there's some Perfect Pearls mist in Pearl to add a celebratory shimmer.








I re-did the numbers with some DecoArt One-Step Crackle over the dark blue paint (Fresco Pea Coat, I think) again highlighting it with white paint to give the sense of that light source from above. 

And the same treatment for the ATC corners to frame the whole thing.






I'm pretty pleased with the finished effect - though it is one of those pieces that changes colour according to the light hitting it, so it's much more fun to have it in your hand and shift it around to catch the shimmer!

Do hop over to Fun With ATCs and then hop around to visit my team-mates - they'd love to hear what you think - and we'd all love to see what you come up with for the 100 challenge this fortnight, all on a 2.5 x 3.5 sized creation of course!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  

If you've nothing better to do I'll be back at 7pm (UK time) with my final sneak peek of the week for PaperArtsy - maybe I'll see you again then?  

In case you missed them, you can catch up with Sunday's post here, and Monday's is here.






Oh, and since it's Tuesday, you'll also find me over at Artistic Outpost today.  It's Sneak Peek mayhem... see what I mean about deadlines?!

But, for now, it's a very fond farewell to Fun With ATCs.  I do hope as many of you as possible will be able to play along and give the challenge a really good send-off.

Farewell is a beautiful and a soft word and yet it is a horrible and a heavy thing too!
Mehmet Murat Ildan

Don't be dismayed at goodbyes.  A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.  And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends.
Richard Bach

Half a sneak peek!

Hello all!  I hope you enjoyed yesterday's project, but it's already time for another PaperArtsy sneak peek. 


And it's a "Part One of Two" peek for a work in progress, the first stages of a project that you won't get to see completed until tomorrow.


Over at the PaperArtsy blog, there's lots of lovely grunge paste, paint, crackliness and rustiness to see - it would be lovely if you have time to hop over and take a look.


The beginning is the most important part of the work.
From The Republic by Plato

A little bit of delight

We're back in one of those Sneak Peek Weeks here at Words and Pictures!  For starters, it's my turn over at the PaperArtsy blog again this week, so here's the first of your sneak peeks.

Scheduling meant these November projects were made right at the very last moment before packing my craft stash for the big move - so what I really wanted to do was allow myself a bit of crafting delight before putting everything away.

And you can see the results if you hop over to PaperArtsy...  Making these certainly offered me a little breathing space and a great deal of pleasure in the midst of house-moving chaos.  I hope you like them!

See you again very soon with another sneak peek!

To business that we love we rise betime,
And go to't with delight.
From Antony and Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare

The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.
Julia Margaret Cameron

Merry November!

Hello everyone!  November?  Yup, it's November - how did that happen?!  And not just that, but it's a Christmas challenge this month over at The Artistic Stamper, so we've got a Christmassy start to November here at Words and Pictures.

Hop over and see what some of my brilliant team-mates have been up to... and here's my little bit of inspiration for you:

For all that I prefer not to do Christmas too early, I did have a wonderful time playing with the Victorian Christmas stamps from Artistic Stamper - such lovely vintage images... and I also got my first chance to get inky with the new Artistic Stamper masks - very cool!

And my Christmas neutrals have finally given in to a touch of traditional colour too.

I started with smooshing the tags into some ink - Antique Linen, Picket Fence and Pumice Stone Distress Stains...








 ... with a hint of sparkle from some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls spritzed onto the mat too.









Next, some inking - plenty of Vintage Photo... probably still my favourite brown - though I do like adding a touch of extra richness with Gathered Twigs these days.



Here come the layers (click on the photos for a closer look):

Some Antique Linen blended through the yummy Splats and Swirls mask.

Some Pumice Stone through the fabulous Chevrons.

And Pumice Stone again, used this time to stamp the Seasons Greetings (lovely delicate flourishy font) from Christmas Greetings #1 as background texture.

Then it was on to the stamping - mainly done in Potting Soil - and using images from Victorian Christmas sets #2 and #3.















Once stamped, I used a white pencil to highlight beards and snowfall (according to the relevant requirement!).















I love that both these Father Christmases look as though they enjoy a festive tipple!








I decided to add some vintage crackle, so it was out with the Rock Candy Crackle Paint to highlight a few areas.  It also gives a deeper richness to the colour of the inks underneath it, as well as that fabulous texture and glossiness.

I love the magic of crackle effects - here it's still not quite fully dry in places... you can see where the crackle has yet to creep across the smooth glossy surface.

The finishing touches are really all courtesy of the lovely Nicola at Paper Profusion.  (If you've never seen her beautiful work, it's well worth popping over to take a look.)  She won my candy back in the summer, and said she wanted to send me a little thank you for it.










I was absolutely blown away by the amazing package of goodies which arrived - including these lovely Christmas berries and branches, as well as the delicate fine twine and many, many other delights.

I added the Idea-ology trinket pins to the mix, and then realised that there really needed to be some colour elsewhere on the tags too.

So I got out a few Fresco paint colours and used a very fine paintbrush to add some colour detailing to the berries and leaves on the corner flourishes and on the Merry Christmas greetings.












And since they're all "natural" colours, I almost feel as though I haven't departed from my "neutrals at Christmas" kick at all!












Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Shakespeare and disrupted train journeys have kept me away from my computer and my craft desk more than I'd've liked this week, so I still haven't caught up with Craftyblogland - bah, humbug!  

The time will come...












In the meantime, I do hope you'll find time to hop over and see what my team-mates have been up to, and that you'll be inspired to join in with the Christmas challenge this month over at The Artistic Stamper.  

Look forward to seeing you there!









The mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak wall.
From The Mistletoe Bough by Thomas Haynes Bayly

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things - not the great occasions - give off the greatest glow of happiness.
Bob Hope

The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
George Carlin

Live in the moment...

Hello all!  Well, we've got a lovely interval of sunshine in between the tempestuous winds so I dashed outside to grab some photos of my first make in my new craft space.  

Guess what?  It's a tag.  

Oh... and anyone who was concerned that I ought to bring some ivy with me from the old house, you can relax, as you can see!

I've got a heavy (but probably very enjoyable) work week coming up, so I haven't been able to get my head round any complicated crafty projects (though there are several brewing in the darker recesses of my mind!), but I had to break in the new room, and here's what arrived.

I also promised you some pictures of the glass cabinet - still empty when I showed you the room - doing its proper job of displaying something, so if you scroll down you'll find a few pictures of that too...

This tag started with a background of Distress Paints - Salty Ocean, Picket Fence and a touch of Broken China - sponged on using a natural sponge.  I think it gives a lovely fluffy cloud sky effect.

The sentiment is definitely one to live by, I think.












I added multiple stampings of some of the Tim Holtz meadow flowers, from the small size sets, stamping in Sepia and Coffee Archival inks.












I added some tiny heads of blossom around the place using the Inkssentials white gel pen.














Around the bottom of the tag I used Potting Soil to stamp the little texture stamp to give a real sense of the earthy undergrowth.













I used the same texture stamp, stamping in Broken China, around the edges of the sky for a bit more depth.














The birds were stamped in Black Archival, and then the white pen went into action again to add some feathery detailing - the only thing I'm in two minds about here - I loved them in plain black too.












I added a tiny shadow of Vintage Photo for definition, and then some distressing with the paper distresser around the edges.












A natural topping of raffia and very fine twine, and we're done.








So, on to the display case...

I actually feel a bit uncomfortable having my stuff out on display for some reason (though I can see it's a pity to have it huddled on shelves and in boxes as it has been)... 

... but the rest of my family all love how it looks in the glass cabinet, so I've yielded... 

... and probably reluctantly accept their verdict! 






















Besides, it was interesting to see what made the cut as far as I was concerned (there's still a fair amount in boxes!)...
















... and it's also really nice to have a visible record of previous work to remind me of ideas and techniques I'd already forgotten about!














Sorry about the reflections in the glass.















I also took a few with the doors open so that you can see what's in there better.













(Remember you can click on the pictures for close-ups if you're curious.)

Not much doubt about my favourite colour palettes...

















Or my tendency to work in threes!













It'll be a quietish week here at Words and Pictures as I'm going to be hurtling up and down to London delivering workshops for my "day job", but I'm planning to fit some blog-visiting around the edges so I hope to see you soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a lovely Sunday!  

I'm off to enjoy some more moments...

Forever is composed of nows.
Emily Dickinson

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.
Henry David Thoreau

“What day is it?"
It's today," squeaked Piglet.
My favourite day," said Pooh.”
A.A. Milne