Catching up...

Am well ahead all of a sudden - have even got today's DAC uploaded!! Not feeling terribly inspired but still managed to throw together a couple of collages. Used the waterlily stamp again (can you tell I really like it?) this time on fabric and that worked quite well. I really wanted to try an image transfer over the top but didn't want to risk messing the whole thing up so bottled out. Lots of goodies arrived in the post today, embossing paste and stencils (messy!!), three new stamps, lots of Utee, some mountboard shapes (to go with the utee) and some nice art nouveau images. Off to have a play now!!

Rain, Rain go away.

Well they say that into each life a little rain must fall but I'm sorry I've had enough of it!! Got soaked on Sunday and Monday, and the rain was so heavy and thundery last night I couldn't sleep. I was already feeling a little bit antsy due to problems on a garden site that I can't resolve (they are kind of out of my hands but doesn't stop me worrying), then I went to finish an ATC off last night and completely ruined it so was feeling pretty fed up. In the middle of the night gave up trying to sleep and came down and got the urge to finish this mailer which I started ages ago. It's not a very complicated one (you can only do so much heat embossing at 4 in the morning) but getting it done made me feel a bit better. Not a total waste of a day. I'm conscious I've been neglecting my blog a bit and it's nice to get messages from people so please please don't stop!! Sometimes I don't really get the chance to speak to many people in the day who aren't after something or bending my ear about rubbish - it's a relief to come on here late at night and see some cheery comments even if I don't feel like posting.

Retirement Album

I was asked to make a retirement card for a retiring member of staff (actually that is a very inapt adjective to describe the individual concerned!) Obviously there are loads of people to sign and there's going to be a party etc etc so it needed to have a lot of space but I hate big cards - you can never seem to get a heavy enough card in the right size. So I decided to alter a boardbook to make a very personalised card/album. It has a sentiment at the front with six pages for messages, then a 4 page photo montage with a further 4 blank pages either for extra messages or photos from the retirement party. I have personalised the front with pieces of text and music score that I think he might appreciate if he notices and made lots of silly comments on the photos. The line drawing on the front is just from a photo and then triple embossed to make it into a glossy tile. I hope he likes it one is never really sure if people like the fuss. The photos were a real pain as some were very old but in the end I think it looks quite good.

The last garden?

For anyone who is interested this is the garden we have been making this week. The weather has been appalling, either scorching or pouring, neither the best to be planting but it is now (almost) complete. The water feature isn't running in the photos but is quite impressive. Carried in and planted all the plants myself (I have to admit the biggest one defeated me, couldn't even lift the pot) plus put down mulch all while trying nor to tread on newly laid lawn or sink into the quagmire that was the borders after torrential rain. Plus having to navigate the deck structure like a gazelle before the boards went down. Heavy, heavy clay and I'm really feeling it, I can barely type my hands are so stiff, and think I might be getting too old for this lark.

Final set!!

The third set for my image transfer swap. These are both new ones - I have 'transferred' the image of the couple before and it always seems to work well. Got everything in the post so that is one thing crossed off my list thank goodnees.

More image transfers...

Trying to get all these ready for this swap so they can be posted off - have two partners in the states and one in Germany. First ones arrived today so must go and get on the appropriate site and say thanks - gets so confusing doesn't it!! Anyhow these are the second set once again one is an 'old' one (Can you see the deliberate mistake with the clock image lol?) and the oriental lady is the latest. I put her on to black card with a quick wash of H20s and then overstamped with some oriental text and added an embellie. Simple but I think quite effective.

Image Transfer Swap

I have joined an image transfer swap with an ATC group on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/artisttradingcards/). I have to produce three sets of two and this will be the first set. One is one of the first transfers I ever did (History) and the second is one I finished today. I am very pleased with the way the cherish ATC has turned out. The background is simply some direct to paper inking, the image and the word 'cherish' are transfers and I have done a small amount of stamping over the top with a complementary image. I haven't had a chance to look properly at the people I am swapping with so I hope these will be good enough. Am definitely coming out of my comfort zone again!!