Happy Flowers

Hello everyone, I have made a quick little card to share with you today. My intention when making this card was to spread a bit of cheer during the lockdown period. I know that I have days when I feel down, and I am sure that it hits everyone else in the same way. If you are reading my post, and you are feeling low, then I hope that you can feel brighter by my wish for happiness for you. Try to look after yourself, and take time out to do something for yourself if you can.

I have taken a piece of Textured Art card, which I coloured with Distress Inks and water. I then stamped the large Fritillary stamp from Happy Flower's Day three times, masking the first image before I stamped the image twice again. I coloured the image with Koh-I-Noor watercolour pencils, and added some water with a brush. I used lots of different colours on the flower, to create a blended final colour, which is a bit more natural than colouring with just one colour. I added some grey for shadows around the stalks and underneath the flowers.

A sentiment from the same stamp set completes the card.

Take care, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by, xx

A Bit of Crocheting Goodness

Hello everyone, something a bit different for you today. I posted a few pictures on Facebook last week of a project that I created for my little Granddaughter, that I have been making during this period of lockdown. I cannot spend time with her, and wanted to give her a gift to let her know that I love her very much. She is eight months old now, and although she won't realise that I am missing her, it means a lot to me to give her something that she can keep from her 'Nana'.

I chose to crochet this beautiful Rainbow Unicorn design from FlyvFlyv https://www.flyvflyv.com/produktside/rainbow-the-unicorn-english as soon as I saw the design I was literally hooked! I loved everything about it, the colours, the size, the look of the embroidered eyes, it is just beautiful. My daughter had asked for a rattle unicorn, so I added rattles inside each of its feet, for an added extra.

I had not realised what an epic project this was going to be, and set out to crochet the unicorn. The main pieces worked up quickly enough, but the mane and tail pieces took ages! The construction was quite a feat, stuffing everything and sewing it all together, as it is such a large toy. I have never made anything like it before, but I was determined to finish it for little Ruby. The crochet flowers look lovely amongst the mane, and I added them almost as a headband at the front, which works really well.

The colours I have chosen are a little bit brighter than the designer's, because I wanted to stimulate Ruby and draw her interest, I stuck to the rainbow palette, and the colours look amazing as you can see from this rear view:

The unicorn has such a happy look with the embroidered eyes, they are really safe for Ruby at her age, and are a lovely feature.

Ruby seemed to really like her new friend, and you can appreciate how big the unicorn is against its new owner:

Ruby will hopefully have hours of fun playing with Rainbow as she grows up, and if it gets a bit floppy, then I will have done a good job.

I have moved on to another crochet project now. I am finding that in these times of uncertainty, crochet is giving me a degree of calm and the mindful nature of the craft is allowing me to process my thoughts. Several years ago I completed the Lily Pond CAL by Jane Crowfoot, a beautiful blanket, and actually learned to crochet along the way. Jane has designed another CAL called the Fruit Garden CAL. I love this project with its Arts and Craft Movement design, and am looking forward to working on the segments over the Summer. I have almost finished the first set of squares and here is a progress photo of how I am getting along:

The yarn is absolutely gorgeous, a new bamboo cotton from Stylecraft, probably the nicest yarn I have ever worked with, it is so soft. This flower has been designed to represent a forget me not, although it is not blue in this instance. If you are interested in finding out more about the CAL, you can go to the Stylecraft website and here is the link you will need: https://www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/Fruit+Garden/0_CAFA122_CAFA150_CAFA233.htm

I hope that you are all keeping safe and well during this time, keep crafting, and look after each other.

Thanks for stopping by xx

Butterfly Mind

Hello everyone, our unusual lockdown life seems to be rather normal these days. Crowds and large gatherings almost feel out of place and it will be strange to go back to a life where we can meet up and see friends once again. Hopefully you have been able to catch Lesley's daily Butterfly Tree Facebook Live get togethers and have been getting lots of inspiration from her demos and tips. Maybe you have made new friends through these virtual gatherings, and do not feel so isolated being able to share in the chat and crafty experience. I have been 'meeting' some of my friends for online video chats, and at least we can still keep in touch with each other. I hope that you are all managing okay and finding ways of dealing with life as we know it right now.

I am sharing a couple of cards today featuring stamps used from last month's TV shows on Hochanda. I actually made these cards a little while ago, but never blogged them, so decided to show them to you this time around instead. The first card features the Bokeh technique on the background, and is a bright, zingy card, sure to brighten anyone's day. It would be great for any occasion, and you could add a sentiment to suit the situation.

I created a background using Brushos, and chose a palette of greens and blues, making sure that I covered the background really well. I dried the background, and then using a range of circle stencils, and white ink, starting with the largest stencil, I stencilled over the background. I added enough of the largest circle until I was happy, then moved onto the medium circle, overlapping some of the larger circles, then added the smaller circle, again overlapping some of the other circles.

The Bokeh technique is used to recreate a photographic effect which looks like an out of focus blur on a photograph. It is great for backgrounds, to then add something sharper in the foreground. I chose to add some of the butterflies from Butterfly Mind. I stamped them onto some card that I had coloured with orange Brushos for a really great contrast of colour, and cut them out. I omitted the stamens. I stamped the butterflies once more directly onto the background, and layered the cut out butterflies over the top. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set.

I did create an alternaitive colour option, using blue for the background, and yellow for the butterflies. A zingy pink background with green butterflies might look equally striking, why not try these out for yourself, and see what you think?

For my second card, I created a gelli print background using Distress Inks. I stamped the large film strip butterflies directly onto the gelli print and stamped the butterflies again onto a piece of coloured card, and decoupaged them onto the background. I added the splatter image around the edge of the background to complete the card.

Take care everyone and stay safe, thanks for stopping by, xx