Anyone else having trouble posting - this is as far as I can get!

Art Block

This is the 'art block' I made for a swap with the lovely and very talented

Jan of Jan's Arty Journey.

I didn't actually make the wooden block itself of course, it started off like this

It originally had a rubber stamp on, which I pulled off.

The letters LOVE were made with a metal punch kit.

I painted the whole block with white acrylic first.



So far, so good, it was all going well.

Then I had to paint a face ....... eek, not as easy as I thought!

I had several attempts, painted over them and eventually

settled for this one.

I used a combination of water colour pencils, acrylic paint,

pastels and rubber stamping (for the background).

The top I decorated with paper and fabric flowers

and in the centre a glass pebble with an image below.

I added more glass pebbles on the sides

(with script under them) and a band of wide pink

lace at the back extending around to the front.

I added two little game pieces for the feet.



I painted Glossy Accents over the eyes and mouth to make them shine.

I pleased to say that Jan has now received the block

and likes it!

I can't wait to receive her one so I can see

in person how it should be done!

Thanks for the challenge Jan, I really enjoyed it!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, Week 140

This is what my desk looks like at half past midnight -

I really should be in bed now as the alarm will go off at 5pm,

but I've been messing about on the computer trying to

understand what Pintrest is all about - I keep seeing it

everywhere and set myself up on it a few weeks back.

I've only added one pin from elsewhere so far apart from some

of my own paper dolls - is that allowed, pinning your own stuff!

Anyway, I'm digressing, back to my desk - it isn't really as dim

as it looks, it's much lighter than the photo shows.

What's on it?

This is what the postman delivered to me at half past four

this afternoon (who remembers when we had two post deliveries

a day, the second arriving about 11am!!)

I was thrilled, no, ecstatic to receive this wonderful altered book

from my good blogging friend

Mrs A of It's An Alien Life

The photo really doesn't do it justice, it's totally

beautiful - full of decorated pages, tags and lovely embellishments.

This was for a 'four piece swap' we did, each sending the other

4 items to be made into something.

The something I received was this wonderful book

 to record my life's journey.

I took some photos of the inside earlier - 

Didn't she do a wonderful job on it!

Thanks again Mrs A you're the best - and if you're reading this -

I still haven't found the 'wally button' yet!

Also on my desk at the moment is this

This part work magazine was out a few weeks ago and I thought

I'd missed my chance, but last Saturday it re-appeared in WHSmiths -

only 99p for the first issue, worth it I thought for the freebie

fabric, cotton and needles. 

Well that's about it for now - except, do you want to see

a snow photo - I took this last Sunday after the heavy

snow fall on Saturday night - through the bedroom window

of our garden.

The snow has melted from the greenhouse roof and the patio

now, but the grass is still covered.

I hope you're safe and warm wherever you are,

and if you're wondering why I'm showing you my desk,

it's all down to

Julia at her Stamping Ground

go and take a look, I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

It's now after 1am - all is quiet apart from the

humming of the computer,

the snoring of the husband

and the howls of the foxes outside

I'd better turn in now....

'Night All xx

'Diana' - Paper Doll

This is a paper doll I made for a one to one swap

with the sweet Jandee.

Her name is 'Diana' - the Roman fairy name meaning

Goddess of the Woodlands.

From the look of her hair (fine silky yarn)

it seems she's been frolicking around in the woods!

We decided to make a 'ribbon' doll, so there are

no legs involved (don't know how she's been

frolicking around then - ah, but she's a Goddess so

she can do anything!)

Her bodice and sleeves are sari ribbon.

The cuffs and neckline and part of the skirt are

fibres from a ball of polyester yarn.

There are other pieces of ribbon in the skirt too.

This is what the back of the doll looks like.

Hope you'll like her Jandee.

As always, thank you for looking :)

Four Piece Swap - Mission Accomplished!

One of my dear blogging friends

Mrs A of It's An Alien Life

recently challenged me to a four piece swap.

The idea being we send each other 4 paper crafting items

of our choice and then each add a few items from our own stash

- make something with it all and send it back.

I'm always up for a challenge so of course agreed!

Here's what Mrs A sent to me

- sheet of designer paper

- pink fabric flower

- glass beads

- metal butterfly

It took me a few days before I decided what to do with it all!

It was the fabric flower that spurred me into action.

Look how pretty it is, so what did I do?

I took it apart - as you do!

Once the petals were separated

I had the idea of making them into little hats.

I was going to use clay heads at first, but changed my mind.

Very fashionable, wouldn't you agee!

I stuck the hats onto a (7" x 10") canvas board -

after adding two stylish ladies -

I wonder who they could be - lol!!

I glued the designer paper onto the canvas first with Paper Mod Podge

then gave it a light brayering of white acrylic paint to tone it down.

The ladies were pieced together - their faces, arms and legs

were drawn onto book text then painted a tan colour.

The clothes were pieces of scrapbook paper.

At the bottom of the canvas, I stuck on some tissue tape

and coloured it with water colour pastels.

The metal butterfly, I coloured with alcohol inks and it became

a hanger at the top of the canvas.

The Coco Chanel quote, I found on t'internet - printed onto

copy paper and stuck onto the canvas with more Paper Mod Podge.

Thus far I had used three of the four items

 - the designer paper for the canvas background

- the pink flower for the hats

-the metal butterfly for the hanger

This left the glass beads and the only way I could incorporate them

I thought was to just hang them from the canvas - but that seemed

to be a bit of a cop out to me.

After several days of thinking about and playing with

the beads I decided to make them into a necklace -

but not one for wearing!

I had a wooden heart blank in my stash and drew

on a neckline - so the heart effectively became

a sort of torso / bodice hanging.

I stamped versamark ink on the lower part of the heart,

applied several layers of embossing powder and heated it up

- whilst still warm, I pushed an acrylic stamp into it.

I painted the top half of the heart with tan acrylic paint

and then a coat of Sparkle Mod Podge.

The finishing touches were a row of stickles at the neckline

and the lace around the edge.

Phew, all finished!

The worry now was would Mrs A like what I did with

her four pieces.  I'm pleased to say yes, she did!!!

Here are the four pieces I sent to Mrs A -

- scrapbook paper

- lace

- ribbon

- beads

I can't wait to see what she makes of them all!

Finally, here's the inspiration for my canvas piece -

the two fashionable ladies with their fine hats!

A book called 'Collage Couture' by Julie Nutting.

It's full of wonderful ideas and I'd thoroughly recommend it.

Thanks for looking :)