Saturday 24 May 2014

From my holiday.....


 ancient Masada .......








old Jerusalem ......





Bauhaus and market stalls in Tel Aviv.....





and a cat, some sweet corn, flora and a bicycle.....





I had a great week but my feet needed a little help by the end.....


PS  Thank you everyone at 'A Vintage Journey' for walking me through making a link from my post and for giving me a pinworthy badge. I am honoured! 


Sunday 11 May 2014

Fond Memories


My dad was a gardener by preference and a master butcher by trade!  I have fond memories of his Derbyshire garden - meticulously planned and  nurtured to maximum productivity, it was marvellous.  He worked in shirt sleeves, braces and a flat cap and there was usually a 'Woodbine' at the corner of his mouth. I remember watching him pricking out bedding plants, bent double planting seed potatoes, tying blown up paper bags around chrysanthemum flowers to protect them from the rain and appraising his geometrically arranged summer flower bed.  I remember the smell of freshly picked tomatoes and I remember being young.

The pocket envelope and the ATC and 'seed packet'  inclusions were made in praise of him and I was inspired by the latest challenge, 'fond memories on the ' A Vintage Journey ' blog http://www.vintagejourney.com/2014/05/challenge-5-fond-memories.html

I cut the pocket envelope using the TH die and paper from his 'Seasonal Stash'.  I added some texture paste, coloured with Distress Paint in Ripe Persimmon, through the Dot Fade stencil and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I finished the envelope with a photo of Dad, some torn dictionary paper, a little garden string and some brads as a fastener.







I cut the ATC using Tim's die and after covering it with printed tissue paper, I inked the edges with Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo ink.  I then layered on a flower card from one of the Ephemera packs, an old bus ticket, a larger photo of Dad in his vegetable garden and a word band tied with more garden string.  





 On the back, is a little more information about him. 




 I can't remember where the kraft glassine envelope came from but I filled it with seeds and layered it on a little more of the Seasonal paper and music script.



Really liked making this!



Monday 5 May 2014

Nature's Glories

I've made this hanging for this month's Country View Challenge, 'Nature's Glories'.

I started with a scrap of procion dyed fabric - where a fern leaf had acted as a resist - and a piece of cardboard.  I added a bit of hand stitching  and a little using a machine, some stamped images, distress inks, a dab or two of gesso and an old photograph.  This is what happened.....





Here's a close up of Auntie Grace, Mrs Huckerby, Mrs Brentnall and Grandma Dexter stepping out for a day in Skegness.




 This is some of the hand stitching....




and this some done on my sewing machine - I really like the curl of wire near the zig zag stitch.



I used a leaves stamp by Dyan Reaveley 




and finally I added a small bunch of rusty keys.



It was great fun!