Peaceful Paloma

Hello all.  It's a slightly different post here today at Words and Pictures.  After the awful events in Paris last month, the lovely Lys of Impression Scrap was moved to create Paloma - a dove of peace, who will travel around the world to spread her message. These are the words Lys used to introduce her...

After the shock, the anger, the nausea... what to say, what to do?

I have only weapons made of paper and words... 

I can face violence only with my values and beliefs.

Freedom and peace are the ones I wished to give today.

So this is Paloma, my little simple paper dove.

For her I make a wish: could she take flight

and give all around the world her freedom and peace message.

As soon as I saw her, I wanted to be part of the journey.  I hope that we can protect her better than the broken dove in this song - La Colombe - which I have known as long as I can remember.  It's a cry of anger and despair at the futility of violence, and it's been running through my mind as I write this post.

You can see Lys's original post here... and I am delighted to be the first host on Paloma's journey.  She's had quite a long stay with me for one reason or another, but I think she was glad of the rest after the first leg of the journey.








As you can read in her introduction post, Lys was inspired by the wonderful journeys of Flat Susan - the brainchild of the lovely Neet at Hickydorums.  For this mission, she suggested taking some photos of Paloma in a place which represents peace or freedom to you.

The times I feel most at peace are when I'm playing with Shakespeare's language as part of my work, and when I'm at my craft table creating. It's easy to take those freedoms for granted - that I can work, play, create without being in fear - so I decided that I would share my crafting spaces with Paloma.

You can spot her right at the heart of this photo - in the centre of my "happy shelves" - part storage, part display.





Paloma was also keen to see the ivy bound tree stump which provides the setting for most of my photos.  Though in fact we're just off a busy road, this little corner looks like we're deep in the countryside, surrounded by woodland.

It always makes me happy when I come out to take the pictures of my projects - especially if there's some sunshine too.

I think Paloma was happy to find some fellow flyers to play with during her stay.

What a privilege to have space for the imagination to play, a place to indulge this new form of expression.  (Given that I've worked with words most of my life, the last few years of visual creativity still feels like the early stages of a journey.)

But now I think she's ready and eager to continue her journey.  I hope some of you will want to host her as she travels onward around the world.

In the little travel journal which accompanies her there is already one address of a willing host - Sara Emily, she will be on her way to you soon! - but I would love to add some more names before she sets off.

If you would like to be included as a rest-stop on Paloma's journey, then leave a comment here saying so, and contact me with your address via the Get In Touch button just below my photo in the sidebar.  I will then add your details to the travel journal.  One day, maybe next year, maybe five years down the line, we hope she will wing her way in your direction!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Martin Luther King Jr

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.

Mahatma Gandhi

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjugate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman, and child. Unless you wish to use such drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms.

Albert Einstein

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

George Carlin

In a cottage, in a wood...

Hello all!  What a week... it's been busy almost daily here at Words and Pictures - from blustery candle jars to garlanded doors to a peek through Father Christmas's window before wandering off into the sparkling woodlands!  And finally we're here on Sunday with a very festive celebration...

We've been playing Secret Santa again this year at A Vintage Journey - swapping cards and/or gifts with one another, with a mystery sender/recipient pairing selected by a random drawing.  Not such a mystery when it arrives, of course!  If you make your way over there, you'll see all the amazing creations which have been winging their way around the world.  But before you go, let me invite you to visit my little cottage in a wood.

I was drawn as the Secret Santa for the lovely Julie of Juliz Design Post (and you can see who my Secret Santa was at the end of the post).  We were both at the Andy Skinner Mixology workshop in Coventry recently, and it was lovely to be creating for someone I'd met in real life!  I hope she likes what I came up with.

I know Julie has a dollshouse and has done a lot of miniatures crafting in her time, so with that in mind I thought one of Tim Holtz's little houses would make the perfect Secret Santa gift for her.






I glued some patterned paper onto card so that it would make slightly sturdier walls and cut the roof out of double-thickness kraft card.

My brainwave for the roof was to use the Torn Notebook On the Edge die to create my wooden "planks".












I stamped the kraft card with the Kaisercraft woodgrain stamp which I always use for dollshouse flooring before cutting the pieces, and inked them afterwards.  I love the rustic look of it.











I used the same woodgrain stamp for the porch step, but for the door I glued the kraft down in narrow strips to create my wooden look.  The door knob is one of the Idea-ology Mini-Fasteners.

You probably saw how I used a picture frame to create the base for my musical window box... well, this was the original inspiration for that move.

I've done my usual DecoArt chalk paint crackle to zhuzh up what was a pretty cheap frame, and added washes of paint over the crackle to grunge it.

The crazy paving (do you call it that anywhere else but the UK?) is very simply done - I just inked through the Crocodile Layering Stencil.

I can't remember now whether it's Walnut Stain or Ground Espresso going on to the kraft card - it's probably a bit of both, with some Vintage Photo thrown in for good measure.










And now I have a yard, I need a fence...















Happily the lovely Picket Fence On the Edge die turned out to be just about the right height for the job when tucked down into the frame.













And in the yard stand a couple of fir trees - I think the cottage is probably in a clearing in a fir forest, and these two have just encroached a little too far!














I thought about decorating them as I did the ones standing outside Father Christmas's window, but I decided I preferred the natural, snowy look for this particular creation.














And of course there's a little LED candle to go inside, so that there's a warm welcoming glow after dark.











I love the angled views, especially against the ivy, which delightfully give you that sense of catching a glimpse of light through the trees... such a welcome sight for a weary traveller.











I've always had my doubts about the fate of the rabbit in the rhyme at the end of today's post, though - the old man is a little too eager to welcome him inside, I feel.

I suspect that it's the little old man who's going to have the best of the happily ever after.






So that's my little rustic cottage - I hope you like it, and I especially hope Julie likes it!







And what of my gift?  Well, I was thrilled when my parcel arrived, beautifully addressed (even the postman commented on the lovely handwriting!), and I opened it to find this amazing hanging from the brilliant Brenda.













It's full of fantastic rusty effects and crackled delights and cool finishes - a real treat for the eyes and for the fingers - so tactile.












You'll see more of all the amazing details over at Bumblebees and Butterflies, but I had to share just a couple of my favourite parts.












There was also this stunning card in my favourite blues and greens...

Both the gift and the card are just fantastic - and clearly so carefully thought out for the happy recipient.  How well she knows me!





I hope you'll have time to visit A Vintage Journey and hop around to see all the wonders created by and for my lovely team-mates.  There are plenty of treats in store, I promise, and we all need a break from the hectic Christmas preparations occasionally!  For now, after this ridiculously busy week, I'll leave you in peace for a little while.  Happy crafting all!

In a cottage, in a wood
Little old man by the window stood
Saw a rabbit running by
Knocking at the door

"Help me, help me!", rabbit said
Before the huntsman shoots me dead
"Come little rabbit, come with me
Happy we will be!"
Traditional nursery rhyme

In a simple and a peaceful cottage with a beautiful view, you will not be dreaming about the palaces or the heaven, because you already have a perfect thing.
Mehmet Murat İldan

Magic Faraway Trees

Hello all!  Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my Blustery Candle Jar.  As promised, I've got some bushier branches for you today.  However, they're not here I'm afraid... you'll need to hop over to the Country View Crafts Projects Blog.  I've been playing with Tim's new Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust for the first time, and after a brief skirmish with the traditional red, green and gold, I'm back in my Christmas neutrals comfort zone today.

I hope you'll have time to hop over and check out my sparkling woodlands... I think the Glitter Dust does make them slightly magical, and they're not really that far away either (but I couldn't resist the Enid Blyton reference).  I hope you're all enjoying a lovely weekend... not many of them left before Christmas now!!  I'm back tomorrow with a very festive post, so happy crafting until then.

The best Christmas trees come very close to exceeding nature.
Andy Rooney

UPDATE 2019: You can now view the full project as an Encore Post right here at Words and Pictures - Encore - Magical Trees

A Blustery Day

Hello all!  I'm here with my second offering for Rachel's lovely Create A Scene theme at Country View Challenges this month.

And, yes, I know we're well into December, but I'm clinging on to the last of autumn just as some of the trees are clinging on to their last leaves.

This altered jar celebrates just this moment, when the last of the leaves are torn from their moorings by a strong wind, and hurtle through the air for one final dance before falling to earth and becoming the mulch of humus (no, not the chick pea sort!) to nourish next year's new growth.














Trees and branches are a bit of a theme here this week, especially bare ones.  You may already have seen the Those Who Wander tag, and there are some slightly bushier versions on their way at the weekend.













The branches on this jar were created using one of Tim's new punches - the little branch.  It makes a great bare tree if you're working in this smaller scale, and you can layer it up to get a bigger tree too.













I started very simply... To get my cloudy sky, I simply spritzed a bit of DecoArt Mixed Media Mister in White Shimmer around the jar, and tilted and dabbed with paper towel until it was dry.  I love the misty autumn morning look.












The houses are cut with the fabulous Townscape On The Edge die.  They're made from kraft card, stamped with a tiny alphabet stamp and inked for a grungier look.












It took nearly two whole townscapes to get round the whole jar.

The leaves being blown gustily around are punched from some wax paper, so they're slightly more translucent than the kraft houses and trees, which gives them a more delicate look...














... especially when you light the candle inside.















The candle inside?  But of course... why else would I create my scene on a jar?!












I tied some raffia around the top.  I'd completely forgotten about raffia.  I used to use it all the time, but it had somehow slipped out of my mind.  I was reminded of it by Lisa Minckler's astoundingly lovely altered jars, and went straight to get it out of hiding!











And round at the front (if a round jar can have a front) I added some autumn gatherings.  When I shared my wandering tag earlier this week, I told you I was using leftover leaves... well, this is what they were left over from.














They're cut from kraft card and stamped with some more of the tiny alphabet...














... and I added a Philosophy Tag, altered with alcohol inks.

One of the pleasures of this is seeing the warm glow once it's all lit up...

And again, I'm sharing a couple of different lighting variations over the course of the post so you can get the general impression of the effects.  Check out the shadows the houses cast too!

I hope you like it, and I hope you'll be inspired to come and Create A Scene with us at Country View Challenges this month.  As always, there's a generous prize voucher from our sponsors, Country View Crafts, with the winner randomly selected, and the honour of being one of our Top Three or our Design Team Member's Special Mention also at stake.  Hope to see you there soon!

A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things.
From A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Those who wander...

Hello again, and welcome to the second wandering post today.  It seems a long time since we've had anything which I've made just for fun... Deadlines and DT makes and flattering GD offers pile up, and I'm very grateful for the opportunities, and so happy to be on the teams, but I think one of my New Year's Resolutions is going to have to be about being careful how much I say yes to!



Anyway, I spent much of Thursday and Friday last week trying to bring some order back to my craft room where chaos was taking over.  I finally bit the bullet and chucked out almost two cratefuls of scraps and snippets and half-made tags which have been gathering over the last three years.

Many of the scraps made the move along with us from our old house more than two years ago, and I haven't so much as looked at them in that time.

In the end, I couldn't bring myself to just tip the whole lot in to the paper recycling without sorting through it, and I ended up keeping enough to fill a couple of A4 plastic wallets... so it did still gain me some much needed storage space.

This tag is made from some of the things I fished out.  It was really almost done - it just needed a few additions gathered from some of the leftovers sitting around the craft table.  And I rather like the result.








As I say, most of the main elements of the tag were already in place when I pulled it out of the scraps crate.  It looks like a wrinkle-free distress background to me, with some ink blending, and then there's the stamping of some of my perennial favourites in Jet Black Archival.

I put it straight on to the craft table, knowing I'd want some play time as a "reward" for all the sorting and tidying.

The girl also turned up in the clear-out.  I'm pretty sure she's a Nicecrane Designs image, dating back to when I was working on that design team.  She's printed on acetate, so I'd obviously had some idea for using her which never came in to being.








Now, though, she seems right at home on this tag.  The slightly haunted, yet quietly determined look in her eye seems to reflect the words of the quote printed at the foot of the tag.













Ah yes, those words... so powerful (and I guess I have wandering on the brain a bit at the moment!).













I trimmed her edges a bit before deciding on the precise placement.  And of course the main thing I love about the acetate is it gives her that now-you-see-it, now-you-don't effect which I love about light-reflecting elements.  It's why I so often go for clear embossing - there's something about the tantalising changeability of it which delights me.












Bare branches are a definite theme here this week, as you'll see soon... but I don't think any other versions I have beat this Tim Holtz stamp.  I love those delicate intertwining twigs.











There's my absolute top favourite script stamp in the background - love how you can see it through the girl's skin too - the one from Tim's Apothecary set.














Its spidery antiquity is perfect for the feel of this tag.














The leaves were hanging around as leftovers from another project - you won't see that until later in the week, though, I'm afraid.  They're kraft card with a hint of alphabet stamping on, and some inking to warm them up.

My favourite birds are heading off to wander in search of warmer climes... and I noticed when the sun came out as I was taking photographs that there seems to be a touch of sparkle, probably Perfect Pearls, in the background too.

Of course there had to be rusty wire too...













I added a Big Chat sticker to a little kraft tag and inked over it because the bright white text was a bit too in your face.  I wanted it to be strong, but not that strong!!










So just a quick bit of leftovers playtime, a reward for all the hefting and clearing and gritted-teeth disposal of unneeded clutter.  I hope you like her.

As I say, I'll be back later in the week... in fact, I'll be back several more times!  Sorry, it's just one of those weeks, but I couldn't resist sharing this one with you as soon as she was ready.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope to see you again soon, either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

She was free in her wildness.  She was a wanderess, a drop of free water.  She belonged to no man and to no city.  She knew nothing of borders and cared nothing for rules or customs.  "Time" for her wasn't something to fight against.  Her life flowed clean, with passion, like fresh water.
From The Wanderess by Roman Payne

Last chance for bargain wandering...

Hi all, thanks for your lovely feedback on the recent "architectural" posts.  If you've not been Through the Square Window, or knocked on the garlanded door, do take a look.  You'll definitely be welcome!  For now, I just wanted to remind you that there are only a few days left to get next year's online creative journey, Wanderlust 2016, at the bargain early bird price.

If you book before December 15th you'll get the twice-weekly videos from some amazing teachers (more than 50 hours' worth of inspiration), plus challenges, giveaways and retailer discounts all year for just £65 (about $100/€89).  After that date the price goes up to £99 for the year.  You can find out more about the course here, or simply... 

Click here to sign up for Wanderlust 2016 now

As Jamie and Kasia at Everything Art say: 

Join 26 amazing teachers on this year long class about mixed media and art journaling.  Being a member of the class also gives you lots of other different kinds of activities on the Everything Art online community - creative challenges and exercises with prizes, interaction with teachers, motivating discussions, creative games, topics that will help you understand art and find a best way to express yourself, as well as discounts from our partners.

Just to clear up any confusion - I'm not teaching on the course, but I'm along for the ride as a participant and helping to promote the course as an affiliate (many thanks to all those who have signed up through my link - so happy you've decided to come wandering!).  I can't wait for it all to start in January... Andy Skinner, Finnabair, Kasia Krzyminska, France Papillon, Kate Crane, and so many more, offering up creative inspiration and tutorials.   Hope to see you there!

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter his house of wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.
Kahlil Gibran

Wolcum to Calico

Hello all and welcome, or wolcum, if you prefer (you'll see what's up with that if you go hopping!).  I hope you've had a lovely weekend, and I'm so glad you enjoyed going Through The Square Window for another glimpse into my fevered creative process!

Today I'm sending you through the ether to the Calico Craft Parts blog... but only if you want to go of course and, rather than peeking through the window, this time we're knocking on the door!

I'm over there with another festive make, and for once I'm eschewing my customary Christmas neutrals or blues.  If you ever want to see me working with traditional red, green and gold then do hop over to Calico... this could well be your only chance!  Of course there's some rusty wire too, just to make me feel better.

For now I'll love you and leave you and wish you a wonderful week, whatever you're up to.

Symbolising eternal hope, the wreath goes round and round,
And where it starts or ends cannot be found.
Woven of things that grow - for life - and hung for holiday delight,
The wreath must be left in place from Advent through Twelfth Night.
Anonymous (who evidently wasn't very good at scansion or rhythm)