Lytes Cary Manor

I spent a lovely weekend in Somerset, where we visited Lytes Cary Manor.

The house and gardens are beautiful.

Tag Tuesday-Garden Party

The theme for our tags over on Tag Tuesday this week is Garden Party.

I have made a very summery tag!

 I found the beautiful image of a hedge gazebo on this week's Graphics Fairy.

 It is from a French gardening book c 1859. This was collaged onto a gelli printed backrgound. The image of the lady and little girl are borrowed from Georges Seurat's painting: A Sunday Afternoon at the Island la Grande Jatte.

I have added garden decor in the form of floral fabrics. stick on butterflies, and a very handsome peacock paper cut out.

Close up

Landscape Collage

Here is a  landscape collage I made in art class.

 I have been busy with the class all school year, and have learned a lot. We have had homework every week, and I have been a conscientious student, and have always done mine. The first term we did Drawing, the second Painting, and now we are working in Mixed Media

The collage is worked in a mixture of painted acrylic and collaged papers. Texture was added with coffee grounds.

Tag Tuesday-Ephemera

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Ephemera.

The  Oxford dictionary definition of Ephemera is "Things that exist or are enjoyed for only a short time"

I was pretty pleased with the subject Ephemera (when I had looked up the definition of it!), as I have a collection of Ephemera, and could probably make tags using only those materials for the rest of the year!! I have gone for a French theme for my tag. It is a collage made from a paper bag, label, paper serviette, drink mat, sheet music, photo, letters in a very faint French handwriting, a lace rubbing, parchment paper and a butterfly.

I photographed my tag against a background of a floral scarf with insects, including butterflies and dragonflies.

Tag Tuesday-Tag on Tag

The theme on Tag Tuesday this week is Tag on Tag.

For my tag I decided to use some fabric tags I had in my stash. The larger one has musical instruments and a musical border, and the background, which is very faint, shows a musical score.

I coloured in the blank space in the middle of the tag, using Inktense pencils, and added a treble clef and stave with a few notes.

The second tag is also made of fabric, and I thought it would work well with the first one. I have stamped MUSIC and a bird in a cage on top on the Inktense pencil colour.

Tag Tuesday-The 1950's

The theme for Tag Tuesday this week is The 1950's

A quick collaged tag for me this week, as I have been busy tidying the storage cupboards in my loft studio. If you do textiles and mixed media, plus craft, you will know exactly the sort of things I keep in there! It is always good to have a sort out, and I found a lot of forgotten treasures in my stash!

I have used a happy 1950's housewife for my theme. The kitchen came from a feature in the April 1957 issue of House Beautiful, which said :-

 Colorful Kitchen

This colorful kitchen is worth your minute study. 

There are no wasted steps in serving meals or in cleaning up. 

A drop-leaf cart carries food from range and refrigerator to table in one trip. 

The folding doors of the dish cabinet open at touch to place contents within easy reach.

I have added a housewife, who is happily baking, and an advert for an iron, in the days when receiving one for a Christmas gift could make you dance around the kitchen for joy! There is a gingham border, because I feel sure that her wardrobe would include gingham somewhere!

The Maharajah's Well-150 years

The Maharajah's Well at Stoke Row was celebrating its 150th anniversary, and was decorated in bunting.

You can find out more about the well and the Cherry Orchard, which ajoins it in my previous blog post here.

The elephant sculpture is a new addition to the Cherry Orchard.