'What you do speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday 21 May 2021

 Thought I'd shock you and post next day 😍

I found my photos of the book I made for an old friend...a friend I really love and respect, to be honest.  Although more my mum's age than mine, her youngest son is the same age as my younger son and they were best friends at school, until we went to live in France, many, many years ago. She's now one of a group I belong to in the church I'm currently at, and always someone to turn to - a real spiritual Mum. Because of lockdowns, we obviously haven't been able to meet up for the last year, communicating via Whatsapp  instead. The first day we were able to meet up again - socially distanced, in our Community garden - was her birthday, so I was asked to make something for her. 

It was a disaster from beginning to end. I started by trying to make someone else's design - very NOT 'me'. Because of the mess I was in with medication problems I had, I tore it up and restarted it 3 times and was tearing my hair out by the time I finished it, crying every time I went into my craft room.. So, I decided against the die cut book and made a concertina. I still tore out pages and started over again a couple of times, but that was mainly because no matter how hard I tried, I ended up with marks on my white space every single time I touched the book. So by the time I gave it to her, some of these pages were missing - mainly tag pages - but  I'd added a couple, too. I did a LOT of die cutting, as you can see - plus all the pages and layers I threw away!

Front of folded book

Page 1


Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Book open on one side, with the die cut tags for the ladies to each write their birthday messages. I sponged and stencilled the backs, having glued two different sized tags back to back, and added ribbons/threads. Unusually, I used patterned papers to cover it.  Sorry, but you'll have to click to enlarge in order to see each page - though you've seen them all above, really.
So this is what probably put me off going into my craft room - along with the mess I created when I decided to clear a lot of the stash I no longer use, but taking up too much space. That's still in project, though I'm beginning to yearn to get back to creating again 😊
So, still one more 'Janet Klein' book to upload, then I'll have more or less cleared my folder for now.
This is definitely 'for the ladies' so I'm going to enter a few challenges, because that seems to be a common theme at the moment, for some reason. 

Challenges I'm linking to:-
As You Like It - Favourite Colouring Medium and Why
I used Prisma Pencils because I find I have way more control with them than with pens or paint and can vary the shades more by blending and/or shading.

Stinkin Inkers - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Try it on Tuesday - Make it Feminine

Crafty Gals Corner - For the Ladies

Crafter's Café - Feminine - Girls or Ladies

That's all for now. Thank you so much for coming over today! 

Back soon

Blessings

Cath
xxx

Thursday 20 May 2021

Just been catching up on a friend's blog posts and thought I'd put some more up here. I've done so little since Christmas, other than a few important occasion things. Life has just been focused on other things. I'm also still 'sorting out' my room and getting ready to clear all the stuff. Some of it is photographed and ready to upload. I just brought in the dies so I can take photos, but not in this dark, dreary weather. I'll have to wait until it's sunny again.

So here are a few things I made earlier 😊

This is a card I made for my bestest friend - using the colours we both love to use.

This is the inside. I only added the purple card because I managed to get a tiny bit of ink on it - and then I didn't notice that the scanner had added its own little mark - duh! I really must clean that scanner bed again.

This is one I made simply because I was doing my best not to throw away the background. Why, I don't know. I do love this Katzelcraft seagull, though. I managed to stain him with a bit of blue ink when I left him on my work surface for a couple of days, but I thought it actually looked appropriate. Birds often get bits of 'stuff' on their feathers and it always tickles me 😁


A more recent creation - made early April.
I love these ladies and had a great time colouring them.
I made it for a birthday card, then decided on another one, so it may actually go out as a mingle this week.

This stamp I fell in love with because I'd been reading and reading and reading and so enjoying my books that it fitted my mood at the time. Since the medication affected me so badly, I've read very little - which is sad. My 'to read' pile is still growing as I add to the already big enough pile from when I stopped. I love books, so this actually upsets me if I think about it.


And just one more to get it out of the folder... made for a Coffee challenge, of course - very simply.


It doesn't look as if I have the last little book I made in my folder, though I do have one more to share. It must be on my phone, so I'll try to get round to uploading it to my laptop ASAP.
I'll just check current challenges to see if there's anything I can enter today...

Try it on Tuesday - Something Feminine 
(I hope the girlie card counts cos that's the mingle theme, too!)

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Blooming Beautiful

Paper Funday - Anything Goes, Optional Flowers

Stamping Sensations - Beautiful Blooms


Creatalicious - For a Woman

Sweet Stampers - Bird, Butterfly or Animals


Thank you so much for calling in today - I have missed you all so much!

Back soon-ish

Blessings

Cath
xxx