Digital Equinox

Now that the Macmillan events are out of the way I've had time to create a piece for my 'year in the life' journal to remember Mabon (Autumn Equinox). Not only was it the equinox, it was also full moon so the nights were wonderful.

As I mentioned in my "Balance" post I intended to be in a field somewhere, and I was :)

On Monday I stocked up on food, wine and fuel and headed down to Somerset, to a campsite I know. It's a back-to-basics site with a couple of water points, toilets and that's it. What it also has is lots of greenery, birds and pitches where you can have an open fire. I arrived to find I had the whole site to myself, so after finding a nice spot it was time for dinner and a glass of wine, then set a fire and sit and watch the sunset and moonrise (accompanied by Jupiter). There was hardly any breeze and no need for a jacket - perfect :)

On Tuesday I headed in to Glastonbury. After wandering around the town and buying a few things (small Buddha figure, couple of books and some Glastonbury biscuits) I went to visit the Abbey ruins. There's something very peaceful about old Abbey ruins, and Glastonbury is probably the best. I spent most of the afternoon bimbling around the Abbey and chilling out before heading back to the campsite for a repeat of the previous night's activities.

Wednesday was time to head home after a good breakfast watching the birds and a visit from a Raven :)

This piece is a mix of 4 photos from the trip (night, day, Abbey tree and candle light) with wording added in MS word. I don't normally do digital work, but I couldn't get the effect I wanted any other way. Software used is Paint.Net

Cake, coffee & art (part 2)

If you missed part1, it's here.

So, today was a re-run of the big coffee morning for those who have to work on a Friday (it's as good an excuse as any other). Paul was doing some jewellery making again, there was cake decorating with Leanne from "Bake me, I'm yours" and we should have had a 'make & take' with Sarah Anderson. Unfortunately Sarah wasn't able to make it due to ill-health, so That Woman (aka Suzanne) stepped in with some card making. There were only a few stamps, but in another moment of serendipity one of them was the large Stampotique Bee which matched perfectly with a poem in an old book that I was using as backing paper.
The stamps on the other two cards are a Stampotique girl and Agapanthus from Stampendous.

Cake, coffee & art (part 1)

Yesterday (Friday) was the World's Biggest Coffee Morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, and as usual the Cubby Hole played host to one of the events. Aside from copious amounts of Tea, Coffee and cake, there were opportunities to be creative.
Sue Roddis showed us how to make magnetic bookmarks, there was bobbin lace making and Jean from Fineart 53 did a watercolour session. This is what I came up with under her guidance, not bad for a first attempt. No doubt it will appear on a Christmas card soon :)

Come back later for part 2 :)

A birthday card

Stunning title or what :)

This is my entry for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge. Not much else to say about it really, just a few bits I had which matched the colours.

Balance

Wednesday is the Autumn or Vernal Equinox, also known as Mabon, Meán Fómhair or Alban Elfed. It's the time when day & night are equal, as we pass from the long days into the long nights. It is a time of balance, of taking stock and realising that for everything in life there is an opposite.

I was going to post this on Wednesday, but I'm on leave for a week and as the weather appears to have picked up I'm off to spend a couple of days in the van somewhere. Hopefully on Wednesday I'll be sat in a field, with a fire and a glass of something warming as day gives way to night.

It's one of 'those' cards....

....the ones that I don't normally start thinking about until at least the end of November. Unfortunately when I saw the red & green in this week's Play Date Cafe challenge the first thought in my head was "Holly", and it refused to budge. Tying in the black & white was fairly straightforward, but the turquoise took a little longer.

Holly and snowflakes are courtesy of Cuttlebug.

In which our hero becomes Paymaster

A quick addition to the Steampunk journal of Captain James P Hemmings,
21st (New England) Engineer Regiment.

A little bit of 'culture'

This is my entry for this week's Play Date Cafe 'colour splash' challenge, which requires us to use black & white, plus a splash of Pink, Gold or Copper.

Normally when I try B&W it comes out a bit too fussy or too dark, so I was wasn't sure about joining in, until I was inspired by this wonderfully simple yet elegant entry.
The next step was to find the right stamp, which turned out to be the outlined lady I had recently bought (no maker details). As I stood there holding a blank card and the stamp, Handel's "Wher'er you walk" came on the radio and in a moment of serendipity all became clear.

So, there you have it. I guess I can do B&W minimal(ish) after all.

Now for the culture bit:

Autumn's Beauty - PDCC45

It's that time of year; the leaves have started to turn, the nights are drawing in and at night (or early morn) you can sense Autumn has arrived - it's not a smell as such, more like 'something in the air'. And I love it! Gone is the harsh heat and light of the summer, instead there's a softer, more mellow feel to the sun's light, and the verdant greenery is starting to be replaced by a much richer pallet of colours; yellows, oranges and reds, with some of the dark evergreens thrown in for good measure.

Needless to say, the first thing I thought when I saw the latest Play Date Cafe post was Autumn Leaves. Actually that was the second thing; the first was that I'd made the Fab Four - W00t!
Anyway, enough blethering, here's my entry for this weeks's challenge. I needed to make a card for a friend, and I'd had a vague idea of autumn fairies so it was 2 birds with one stone. It's an asymmetrical card, mainly because after I'd scored it to fold as A6 I found out it wasn't an A5 to start with, D'oh!

Come said the wind to the leaves one day
Come o're the meadows, And we will play.
Put on your dresses, Scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone, And the days grow cold.

Fairy - Crafty Individuals
Leaf - Tattered Angels
Leaf border - Hero Arts

Colours - Wild Honey, Victorian Velvet & Antique Linen.
Sprays by Sticky fingers

Chinese whispers...

... that's how this came about.

Over on the Crafts by Carolyn forum we have an occasional Chinese Whisper challenge. The first person in the chain is sent a template/sketch and from that they create a piece of art (in this case a scrapbook page). They then send a picture of their work on to the next person, who uses it as a template for their piece and so on. Eventually it reaches the last person and all the pieces are revealed, to see how the original sketch has evolved during the process. For the latest chain, I'm the last link, so I don't have to keep my page secret. The original has yet to be revealed.

The photo's on this piece were taken at the Summer Solstice, and you can find them here. I hope you like this piece, and I wonder if you see anything in the small pic of the stream (bottom left) or if it's just me?