Thursday 26 February 2015

Tag Tuesday-In the Style of

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is:-
In The Style of.

It took me ages to choose a style for this
week's tag, but in the end I went for
Vintage Victorian, as I wanted to use my new
stamps! I think they are a bit Steampunk too!
A simple tag from me this time, with
a stamped text for background and a lace trim.


Monday 23 February 2015

Spring is Coming!

Snowdrops at the weekend, now here are some other Spring
flowers I spotted, bringing colour and cheer to a dreary
February.







Sunday 22 February 2015

Snowdrops at Swyncombe

A couple of years ago, we accidentally came across the Norman church of St Botolph
 at Swyncombe when the snowdrops were out. You can see my post about it here.
It is a beautiful sight, to see the churchyard covered in a carpet of snowdrops
and aconites. I was rather charmed by the idea of Snowdrop Sundays, when the
church is open for tea and cakes for visitors who come to view the snowdrops, and
now it has been extended to Snowdrop Weekends.
Here are the photos I took yesterday.












Wednesday 18 February 2015

Tag Tuesday-Text

I liked this week's Text challenge on Tag Tuesday, because it gave me
the opportunity to use an old book, which
I found at a church garden party. It is called A book of Scripts,
by Alfred Fairbank, published by Penguin Books in 1952.
It has some wonderful examples of calligraphic styles,
and a lot of information.
The text I used is from Magnum in Parvo or the Pens Perfection (sic)
Invented, written and engraved in silver by Edward Cocker, London 1672,
V and  A museum.
I loved the style of the capital L, and the alphabets underneath.
I didn't do much to it, just copied it, mounted it, and gave it a corner
frame and some scroll decorations. The photo was taken on the book 
itself. 
By the way the church garden party is held every summer, right on the banks of the Thames, and includes English traditions such as Morris dancers and tea and cake.The book stall is always a good place to find treasures.
The wording on my tag is:-

Let every day produce some curious Lines
That may commend thy Genius,& thy Pen,
Let all the Undertakings and Designes
Tend to God's Glory, and the good of men.





Wednesday 11 February 2015

Tag Tuesday-Valentine


The theme for our tag this week on Tag Tuesday is Valentine.
We are all having such fun with our tags!
I enjoy coming up with an idea for a theme, then
playing around with different techniques and producing
a piece of finished work, but I also enjoy seeing everyone
else's tags in the group, with their individual ideas and techniques.
For my Valentine tag I have used traditional hearts,
but have avoided too much pink! I seem to remember
making one last time we did Valentine's which was totally pink!
Here I have added hearts stamped with a wood block to a textured
background, made by printing through a stencil with gesso.
I added some lace, both real and stamped, and washi tape hearts.
Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Monday 9 February 2015

Caversham Bridge on a Sunny Winter's Day

Yesterday it was so sunny, that I went for a walk by the 
River Thames at Caversham Bridge. After the cold
weather we have been having, it was very pleasant,
and a lot of people were out enjoying the warmth.
Caversham Bridge
Feeding the birds
So much excitement!
All the birds are joining in!

Calm again

Caversham Court

From Caversham Bridge



Wednesday 4 February 2015

Tag Tuesday-Blues and Feathers

This week the theme on Tag Tuesday is Blues.
Last week's was Feathers.
I am a bit behind with my tags, so am posting two in one
go. Whoever started that idea was quite brilliant!
I had a busy week, as it was my birthday, and had lots
of lovely celebrations  with friends and
family, so it was a bit like Christmas again!

I decided to look through my printed papers for my Blues
tag, and to see what looked good together.
I found some papers that I had stamped with a sunflower
theme, and liked the look of them . Also blue sunflowers seemed 
rather an unlikely subject, which appealed to me.

Blue Sunflowers
Close up of Blue Sunflowers

Here is last week's Feathers Tag.
I followed some ideas for Feathers
from Alisa Burke. I really like her blog, and
her vibrant style. I had been saving the ideas for
creating with feathers for the right time!
The background was created by rolling feathers
around in acrylic. I added a line drawing of a feather
from my feather duster, and gave it some corners.
I found the feather braid in  my ribbon stash, and thought
it would be a suitable addition.

Feathers