Tag Tuesday-Christmas Tag Swap

  Here are the tags  I received in the Tag Tuesday Christmas Tag Swap. It was a wonderful idea of Carolyn Saxby's , and so exciting to receive a parcel containing these lovely little works of art.

 Beautiful vintage style tag 

by May O'Connor of Mayshappydaze.blogspot.co.uk

Cute little reindeer tag  by Valerie of

itsanalienlife.blogspot.co.uk

Gorgeous star tag  by Susie J of scrapbooksusie.blogspot.com

 Cheery gingerbread man tag by Carolyn Saxby of 

http://carolynsaxby.blogspot.co.uk/

 Wonderful vintage layered tag  by Diane 

of http://lydiaspost.blogspot.co.uk/

Christmas Tag Swap

A Christmas tag swap was organised by Carolyn Saxby for Tag Tuesday.

The participants each made 5 festive tags which were sent to Carolyn and then distributed to other people. It was great to make tags for someone else and such fun to receive a parcel of tags in the post,

Here are the tags that I made. I will be posting about the ones I received too.

 

Workshop on the web

I have just received my Christmas present from my sister-in-law, Rosemary, a year's subscription to Maggie Grey's Workshop on The Web . If you follow the link it takes you to the homepage, where you can check out a free taster session. I had quick look (as I want to save it for Christmas!) and I can't wait to try out December's workshops. Thanks for a great present, Rosemary, as you can look at back issues too! I think it will keep me busy!

Cranberries

Here is a seasonal photo for you. I was making cranberry jelly and thought the contrasting colours of the cranberries and oranges was a dramatic combination.

Tag Tuesday-Deck the Halls

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Deck The Halls.

For my tag this week I have drawn a front door and made a tiny wreath to hang on it. I seem to be working in miniature at the moment, the wreath is about 1 inch in diameter. 

The garden in snow

We had a very light covering of snow this morning, so I rushed out to take some photos. The leaves look amazing with their white frosting.

Christmas cards

  I have been making some Christmas cards using ideas from Clare Youngs' book Christmas Crafting in No Time. See the link here to see the post I wrote on it.

Old signs in Reading town centre

Always on the look-out for interesting textures to photograph, I came upon these signs in Reading town centre. There are quite a few old shop signs dotted around, if you look carefully, and I think it is good to preserve them for posterity. 

Tag Tuesday-Winter Landscape

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Winter Landscape.

For this week's tag I have drawn a winter scene, using fine liners and coloured pencils. A sprinkling of snow was added with acrylic paint, and the painting framed with a great image from  The Graphics Fairy.

Japanese papers

These lovely Japanese papers are from Crafty Computer Paper and are hand stamped. I am looking forward to using them in my papercraft projects.

Tag Tuesday-Keeping Warm

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Keeping Warm.  I kept thinking about warm jumpers and wanted to knit a miniature one-I don't know how I think of these things! I remembered I had a knitting pattern for a tiny jumper made of wire in the book I posted about the other day, you can find the link here. It is Knitting With Wire by Nancie  M. Wiseman.

Frost

It looks as if winter is truly upon us now. Today's frost was heavy. The velux windows in the loft had a thick coating of ice, and this is how the grass looked.

Caversham Artists Christmas Gala

Caversham Artists are having a Christmas Gala on 9th December at St Andrew's Hall. I always like to support local artists and will probably be buying some presents and cards.

The River Thames at Caversham

I took these photos at Caversham Bridge yesterday, in the gap when the rain had stopped for a short while. The River Thames is very high, and I hope you can see from the second photo how fast flowing it is. 

Wire Knitting

 I dusted down the cobwebs from my bookshelf and took out this book Knitting With Wire by Nancie  M. Wiseman, an old favourite of mine. Watch this space to see my wire knitting !

Book -Clare Youngs Christmas Crafting in No Time

I have bought another book by Clare Youngs-Christmas Crafting in No Time. I was so thrilled with the ideas and techniques in her Papercrafting In No TIme book, that I wanted more! There are another 50 projects in her Christmas book .There are cards and gift wrap, decorations, gifts and cooked treats . I was very interested in the variety of crafts in the book. The only problem is I want to make all these, as well as the 50 in the Papercrafting book! Big mistake buying both books so close together, as I keep looking at them and can't decide what to do first!If you like Clare Youngs' books, she has actually written several more, but I am not going to buy any more at the moment!

Tag Tuesday-Music

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Music. I have made a collage using images of sheet music and a violin advert from The Graphics Fairy . The flowers and floral background represent the song which is about sending flowers to a loved one. I photographed my tag on the piano to keep in tune with the theme.

I am having a busy family time at the moment as all of my four sons are at home, so it can be a bit hectic, and I am a bit behind with my tags and haven't been posting as much as usual.

Photography Courses by Jo Andreae

I have just had an e-mail from  local photographer, Jo Andreae, about the photography courses she is running next year. For details here is her link :-  http://www.oneworldonecamera.co.uk/forthcoming_courses_planned.html.

This link takes you to her web-site where you can check out her beautiful photos. Jo lives in  Upper Buckleberry, which you have probably heard of as it is where Kate Middleton,  the Duchess of Cornwall comes from.

The River at Henley

It was another extraordinary autumn day on Sunday. The river at Henley was looking particularly pretty in the warm sunshine. People were sitting out to have their lunch, which is really unusual for November. However we are back to a dark, rainy, windy day now, more typical of the season, and the leaves are blowing off the trees.

Christmas at Studio 21

I found lots of textures at this lovely art show. Wonderful hand stitched handbags by Vicky 

Baker-I just love the shapes , carved wooden fish by John Parrey, ceramics by Sally Bettridge, paintings of local scenes featuring geese by Michael Norcross, childrens' 

books by Susan Rollings.

Open till 5:00 today, Sat, and from 10:30 to 5:00 on Sunday

             Check out the link:-
              Christmas at Studio 21
 http://christmasatstudio21.blogspot.co.uk/

Book-Clare Youngs Papercraft

 I have just bought this wonderful book by Clare Youngs , Papercrafting In No Time from Amazon. I have posted about her before, as I really like her book Scandinavian Needlecraft and have made some projects from it. Her Papercrafting book is full of great projects to make out of paper-50 of them! I can't stop looking through it, and it was hard to decide what to make first. In the end I decided upon the owl greetings card for my friend's birthday.

Textures at the Arboretum

I found these living willow sculptures at Harcourt Arboretum, with such beautiful shapes and textures. I thought they looked at their best in the sunshine.

 I also liked the textures in this wood pile, which is used to burn charcoal at the Arboretum.

Harcourt Arboretum in Autumn

 Harcourt Arboretum is glorious in Autumn, and I have been waiting to visit until the conditions were just right. Yesterday we had a beautiful, mild, sunny autumn day which was perfect for a visit. The leaves were such glorious colours. Here are some of my favourite acers, which are vibrant with colour.

Tag Tuesday-Celestial

 This week's theme for Tag Tuesday is Celestial.  I found this lovely image of a stone angel on Graphics Fairy and collaged the angel onto his celestial background  painted  with acrylics and added a string of sun, moon and stars beads. 

Book to read- Drawn To Stitch by Gwen Hedley

I am enjoying this book at the moment "Drawn to Stitch "by Gwen Hedley. Textiles people will understand when I don't say that I am reading it, more looking at it. The subtitle is "Line, Drawing and Mark-Making in Textile Art" and just about sums up what this delightful book is about.

More autumn colour

The colours of autumn are changing all the time. I noticed this pretty vine and loved the striking colour combination.