Something to keep you going

Tomorrow I'm off to Exmoor to spend the weekend with a wonderful bunch of people. After that I'll be touring for a couple of days, no idea where yet, but I've packed some crafty stuff in case the muses join me.

For now though, these are a couple of cards I made last weekend at the Cubby Hole during one of Sarah Anderson's workshops.

Have a good week everybody.

Heaven & Hell

After the deepness and soul-sharing of the last post, normal service is resumed :)

This piece of light-heartedness is inspired by a line from a song I was introduced to by my youngest, Terror - My Ruin. Not my normal listening tastes, but it's a powerful song and some excellent lines for artwork :D

Images are from Stampotique.

The Magic Box & Me

I finished this last week but I had to keep it under wraps until today.

It's my entry for the latest swap/project at the Cubby Hole. You can find out more of the background here, but in a nutshell, the challenge is to create your own version of the poem and then place it in your magic box.

The box began life as a cheap wooden trinket box with a 99p sticker on it. To prepare it for the words it's been coated in acrylics, Stuart Gill 'Alchemy' paints, UTEE and a couple of layers of rainbow embossing. I think it's now about 1/4" bigger than when it started!

In a way it's a change from my usual work. Some of my pieces are done just to match a theme for a swap or a challenge; but the others reflect part of me - the quirky side, the slightly silly stuff, and the pieces which draw on my beliefs, but this is probably the first piece which is ME.

The words were written whilst I was away camping over the Solstice period. I'd woken early to watch the dawn and then spent the rest of the day in peace and quiet, listening to the sounds of nature and enjoying the solitude. At some point I picked up pen & paper and started writing. There was no thought to it - it just flowed, and apart from rearranging a couple of the lines this is how it came out.

So there you have it, a little piece of ME - treat it with care :)

The Magic Box
I will put in the box
A walk in the silence of a moonlit foggy night
The gentle hiss of falling snow in a silent forest
A hawk's plaintive cry above a deserted moor

I will put in the box
The intensity of a love so strong it hurts
The gay abandon of a barefoot dance in the rain
A smile on a gentle face that brightens even the darkest day

I will put in the box
Wraith-like faces in firelight's warm glow
The enchantment of music under a starlit sky
The first bright ray of a Beltaine sunrise

I will put in the box
A stream's twinkling laugh as it plays among the rocks
The unconditional love in a dog's brown eyes
The rhythmic patter of rain on canvas

My box is made from the new life of autumn and the lazy days of winter,
The first fallen leaves of spring and the finest summer snowflakes,
All held together with spider tears and gossamer butterfly wings

I shall travel in my box along the Web of Wyrd,
Following each and every strand, through the dark and the light,
Until I dance with The Lady under the stars

Fabric

That's the theme of this month's ATC swap over at Crafts by Carolyn.

The background is heavy card, coloured with acrylics and then wrapped in very fine nylon gauze which came direct from Italy. The image is stamped through the gauze onto the card.

The image is Puccini's Muse from Stampington & Co.

A bit of silliness

Another page in Kersten's Raven book.

Nobody else had used the last page, and I couldn't resist :D

No longer in progress :)

It's complete.

This is the second page in Kersten's Raven journal, to balance the dark side here.

Work in progress

Still a way to go with this, but it's one of those pieces that's just flowed, so I thought I'd share :D

It's not 'cute', it's 'whimsical'

That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

Today was Art Journalling III at the Cubby Hole with Sarah Anderson, and much fun was had by all. The aim was to add envelopes, mini-books and other bits to our journals. As usual there was plenty of creativity, quite a lot of hilarity, and more chaos than you could shake a goblin at. Also, we were the first to find out about this year's must have for Christmas - sprouts and festive weasels :D

Anyway, somewhere in the confusion I came across this little stamp which I really liked, even though I don't normally do cute. I think she's called Moonfairy or Moonchild, but not sure. I added her onto my envelope, and then needed a page to add the envelope to. Luckily the colours matched a "here's-one-I-made-earlier" page and that was that. All that was needed then was a story line, which is where the prince came in.

I don't know what's going in the envelope yet, but "Little Miss Wistful" is now on order!

Errrrr, ok.......

This is my first page in Kersten's raven journal. The idea originally started out as something totally different, but somehow took on a life of its own. I wonder why?

P.S. One of these days I'll learn to draw a decent face