Aiming for completion : December

Wow - it's December tomorrow! When I shared my list for completion a couple of weeks ago - these projects had a deadline of the end of November :
iHanna's postcard swap - done HERE

Some batches of cards : details HERE

and  I've turned the rest of my postcard bases into cards (see my next post for details)

I would have liked my Christmas cards made by 30 November but all I've managed to do is some gathering. I'm sure they won't take long once I get started - blank cards at the bottom of the picture

My next deadline before Christmas was making a couple of Christmas tree skirts for presents, but we have all decided to only give presents to the children this year, so I'm taking that off my list. So now I'm concentrating on completion by the end of the year :
+ making my Christmas cards (completion by 6th December would be awesome)

+ finishing my Full Tilt Boogie journal

detail shot of the next page I'm working on

+ finishing my stitched paper daily journal. I'll be moving to December themed pages from tomorrow. Here's my latest pages that bring you up to Friday :

I enjoyed the postcard swap so much I included one of the serviettes in the page above, and one of my base cards ended up stitched to the page below.

If you are looking for a fun challenge, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is having Carved December - carving a stamp every day in December and you can join in - see all her ideas for stamp carving HERE

....and then you can be inspired to use them creatively by links from Roben-Marie Smith's blog about rubber stamps HERE.
Also still available is Alisa Burke's free inspirational online class - perfect for December.

and Joanne Sharpe's Five Golden Letterings - also free online :-)

Hoping you have a December full of family, love, happy busy times and some time to breathe, glue and stitch (and maybe stamp). Talk to you soon :-)

Postcard swap

iHanna regularly organises an international postcard swap - and this time around I've joined in. As soon as I signed up, I made a list of the elements I'd like to include - sprays, stencils, stitch, found words, serviettes, butterflies, sari ribbon. These are all part of my artistic language. In early November, I had a play using my "go-to" method of creating card bases - sprays and stencils down - soaking up spray by laying more card on top

I cut the bases to postcard size - decided to go with 4.5" x 6.5"

Next layer was glued down serviettes...here's an example of how one 1/4 of a serviette design ended up on 3 cards - you remove just the top layer and I use gel medium to glue it. When dry it's lovely and transparent so you can see the layer underneath.

Click on any photo to see it larger.

And here they are at the end of that stage - you can see that many of them now have the "butterflies" element I wanted.

The swap requires 10 postcards, but I cut enough to use up all my card backgrounds. I'll share what I did with the remaining cards later in the week : Go HERE
For my 10 swaps I added found words, stitch and, in most cases, a bit of sari ribbon for added texture and general yumminess. Here they all are - I can't decide which one is my favourite :-) Click on any photo to see them larger.

My great grandmother collected postcards which are now mine. There were a couple without writing on the back, so I have been able to alter one to use on the back of those that I am sending :

original postcard back

Here's what it looks like printed with my personal details and stitched on as the back of a postcard ready to be written :

Got my 10 addresses today so these will be posted on Monday, and then I wait for happy mail in my letter box :-)
PS if you want to see what other people have been creating for this swap, go HERE.

Stitched paper daily art journal : pages 23-24

Been reading some good Fiction from our lovely library lately

Read the plot summary at Book Depository

This book had great characters and interesting plot and much of it was set in a Shaker community which was interesting in itself.

click on any photo to see it larger

If you missed the  blogpost about the star book go HERE, and the cards are HERE. For my next page I just cut a piece of soft & pretty patterned scrapbook paper to size

By the time I reached the end, there wasn't much of it showing, but I still love the ethereal effect it lends to the background

One learning/reminder - straight stitching (with an increased stitch length) and zig zag is usually okay on one thickness of paper, but I needed to add an extra layer behind for my decorative stitches. In the photo of the back of the page below, the decorative stitch at the top of the page tore the paper - I covered that up with tape on the front. After that I just lay some scrap paper down and stitched over both layers.

I laughed out loud - and often - while reading "The Rosie Project". Highly recommended.

Read the plot summary at Book Depository

Hope you have time for creativity and laughter in your weekend :-)
See all the posts about this journal HERE and in my Flickr Set HERE. 

Art journal pages : 74-76

Another 3 pages in my Full Tilt Boogie journal. 

I forgot to take progress shots for the left page : this is it complete below

click on any photo to see it larger

but I did take a photo of the items I used to finish the page when it just needed "something" : stencils and ink pad applied with cosmetic sponge

Remembered to take progress shots of the next pages

Sometimes Often found text is just the right touch for me to finish a page

I enjoyed the effect of pens on flowers so much on pages 64 and 73 that when I put in this gorgeous green gerbera, it had to receive similar treatment

Green Pen : Sakura Gell Roll Moonlight pen

And at other times, once the collaging is done, there's no need for words for me to feel the page is done :-) 

Now those are completed I've only got 15 pages to go! You can see all the Full Tilt Boogie journal pages in my Flickr Set

Card creation

I made a batch of 4 cards at once this time around. Started them with spray and stencils/masks as is often my habit. Sorry, no progress shots with these.

2 bereavement cards

click on any photo to see it larger

2 birthday cards

Here are the four together so you can more easily see the common elements/techniques :

I've stamped with the same turquoise ink, used a cosmetic sponge to apply distress ink pad over the butterfly mask, glued down serviettes, and used found words. The final butterfly/flower one looks a bit like the odd one out, but has the same turquoise stamped butterfly as the one beside it, and the flowers are serviettes. I'm especially sorry to give that final one away.
It was such fun to make these, I may need to make some more....of course I can play similarly with my postcards for iHanna's swap {ideas starting to swirl in my head}



Stitched Paper Daily Art Journal : pages 20-22

Fun with lettering on my first page for November. I started by using large letter stamps in black.

Then had great fun doodling on them with my favourite white pen

click on any photo to see it larger

I love how stitch can add just the perfect finishing touch to a page :-)

See all the posts about this journal HERE and in my Flickr Set HERE.