Moving Away from Neutrals!

 On my desk is a little needlecase I made this week.  Last week I was wanting to move away from the neutral colour palette that I work with so often,  but despite envisaging a bright and colourful week of embroidery, somehow it just didn't happen!   

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week

Paper Flower Cards

It's been such a long time since I blogged, and far longer than I originally anticipated, but what with school holidays, child-minding, summer holidays and trips out it's been a quite hectic and I've had no time for arty crafty stuff.  On top of that it's been quite a struggle to get myself back to feeling positive and motivated after a fairly long bout of feeling out of sorts.

Anyway, here are a couple of birthday cards I made - I'm rather keen on the Nuvo Crystal drops I've recently discovered (on the bottom card), they look like raindrops and I am having to stop myself adding them to everything at the moment!
  

And some close-ups...

Over the summer I received this beautiful pendant made for me by my very talented blog friend Terri, over at art-life-rust.  What an amazing artist she is, and how thrilled I was to receive it.  Thank you again, Terri - it's stunning! 

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW, and must just say thank you to all the lovely deskers who sent messages as I was awol for so long - thank you xx

Paper Roses

I don't think I'll ever tire of making paper flowers - they are so relaxing and satisfying to do!  Here are a couple of tags I've made - both flowers are made in the same way using the Tattered Florals die.  I just creased and curled them in different ways.  I love Peonies and old fashioned cabbage roses, anything where the petals turn inwards and make a 'bowl',  which is the look I was trying to get with the peachy flower.

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW, where you can see what other people have been up to on their work desks this Wednesday!

Summer Of Color Week 4 and ICAD

Well, this weeks colours of charcoal grey and pink for the Summer of Color challenge have been an unmitigated disaster!  I have long had a love of Japanese gardens - I think the order and symmetry appeals to my slightly obsessive compulsive personality!  To me the colours conjured up the simplicity and tranquility of Japanese gardens, and I tried to capture the essence of it, leaving some areas unworked and keeping the design quite minimal.  However, what was going on in my head wouldn't transfer down through my hands into the work!  I don't think my ideas gelled really - the colours are too 'thick' - maybe a more watery delicate background, like a translucent colour wash would have worked better.  I don't like feeling this is unresolved so I might have another go at it!

I'm also linking up to the index-card-a-day challenge over at Daisy Yellow.

COLLAGE OBSESSION - A GREY THEME

This week Collage Obsession tempted me with the theme of 'grey'.  It's a colour I love but don't work with that often.

I decided to put together two grey photo collages, using photos from my archives - one based on sewing and the other based on the beach.   

Why not nip over and visit other grey-themed work at Collage Obsession.

TAG TUESDAY AND BUNTING

The theme for Tag Tuesday this week is bunting.  With all the preparations for the Jubilee going on I think I have rather over-dosed on red, white and blue lately, so I decided to keep the colours simple and neutral.  I wanted to make a summery tag using grey, beige and black - a colour combination I particularly like but isn't very summery!   Here's the result, and there are many more tags over at Tag Tuesday.  

  

TAG TUESDAY - HEARTS THEME

For this week's tag I wanted the heart to really stand out, so I decided to keep the background a simple black and white.

 It gave me the opportunity to use a beautiful antique print of a moth that I have, and I stitched the red heart on to the wing, just where a heart-shaped marking would be. I added washi tape down the side of the tag and used some Sticky Fixits to elevate the wing and give a 3D effect.

The idea originally came from the Butterfly Alphabet (www.butterflyalphabet.com). 
I love the different images on the wings and how every letter of the alphabet is represented by markings found on actual butterflies and moths. This gave me the idea to stitch the little red heart when I found my antique moth print had a heart shaped marking on it.

Sample of the Butterfly Alphabet

A WALK ALONG THE BEACH

Although it wasn't really the day for a walk at the beach we went for it anyway.

The sky was dark and moody and it looked like the heavens were going to open on us at any minute.

However, for a few brief, wonderful moments the sun shone out from the darkness and yes, I actually had my camera handy (so far, so good with the New Years resolution!).