Liesbeth's Ladies of Letters Leporella!

Hello and a warm welcome to Magpieheaven, where after a stormy start we've had a sunny day. The evening sunshine is really streaming into the room as I write this! Last week was a hectic time for me, as my students approached the day of their 'A' level exam on Friday. Over on the PaperArtsy blog the Designers were providing some amazing inspiration and I was worried that I just would not have the time to play, especially as I'd also had my friend's daughter to stay from Brussels. Liesbeth's Leporella book really appealed to me! The covers were gorgeous and the images inside so eye-catching; but I knew I would not have the time to create something so detailed. I did need to make a birthday card, though, so in between tuition sessions I got out my Smoothy card and my Distress inks and created an accordion card. If you would like to see how Liesbeth made her delightful little book over at PaperArtsy take a look here. This is my interpretation of Liesbeth's lovely project. it was an ideal project because I do tend to put off making cards, but this was more like creating a quickie book!

 I decided to keep things simple, as this was going to have to fit into an envelope. Liesbeth's covers are really gorgeous and I intend to re-visit her technique for these some time in the future, but I decided to fold a sheet of A4 card accordion style and use Lynne Perrella images throughout. I took for my theme the topic of corresponding so I mixed and matched my Lynne Perrella stamps from different sets, but they all shared a 'letter writing' theme - these are what I call 'Lynne's Ladies of Letters'. Because I was snatching time between tutorials, I have not posted step by step pictures, but I used Liesbeth's technique of misting Distress Inks and then swiping panels of card through them. I also lightened areas by dropping water from a brush onto them. I would love to have used Liesbeth's technique with bleach, but I don't have any Stazon ink and I didn't want to ruin my images stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. I improvised by using Posca white pen to lighten areas.  I made masks for my stamped images and I used a Prima Flourish stencil for my background.

I experimented with different colour combos and chose those which I thought worked best. For my cover Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters and Evergreen Bough with Bundled Sage ink refill scribbled at the edge of the craft mat worked the best.

Inside my card I used a blend of Fired Brick, Broken China, Peacock Feathers and Shabby Shutters and some Chipped Sapphire ink refill.

I was not pleased with all my experiments, some had sections of the panel that worked and others that were a bit splodgy and not conducive to really clean stamped images. I didn't want to waste these, so I punched little Martha Stewart butterflies from them and used some as embellishments. I believe the friend I have created this card for is especially fond of this Blake quote. It's written in such a beautiful script that I think it fits perfectly with these 'Ladies of Letters'! I used a Rebekah Meir doily stencil and some script from LP028 in the background. I really loved the effect of the blended inks on the butterfly wings.

I ran some seam-binding through the misted inks on my craft sheet and used this to tie the card like a little book.

I used some Chatsworth paper, which carries through the writing theme for my backing.

I left a couple of panels blank to write my birthday message and aged the book by distressing the edges with a Prima tool and then sponging with Walnut Stain distress and Soot. Thank you so much for dropping by Magpieheaven today and thank you, Liesbeth for such inspiration. I should like to link my card to PaperArtsy's Challenge this week. Thinking about ladies who write reminded me of Virginia Woolf. In 'A Room of One's Own' she says:
“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. ” 
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
I think that could be extended to creating generally. Whatever you create in the coming weeks I hope it will give you pleasure and make you happy, and that it will be something you created because you wished to - no more and no less!

Dragons' Dream - Butterflies and the letter 'I'

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven. It's time to dream with the Dragons again. Last fortnight  everyone came up with some wonderful interpretations of Music and the letter 'R'. This time we have the lovely and talented Elizabeth and she has chosen 'Butterflies and the letter "I"'. I think that my love of butterflies is something I share with quite a few crafters out there! This ethereal little creature is not only beautiful, but it also symbolizes so much! If you flutter over to The Dragons' Dream TIO, you'll see some of the 'I' words that my gifted team-mates have put together with their butterflies! Flying with the wings of imagination is certainly a popular idea when we look at butterflies; but I will always associate butterflies with Infinity!

At the end of Angela Carter's last novel before she died in 1992, the ageing Chance sisters receive a gift from their long-lost explorer uncle: a myriad Rain-forest butterflies. The narrator, Dora exclaims, 'What a joy it is to dance and sing!' The cycle of life goes on as the sisters near the end of their lives, and we feel that Nature's dance of creation and recreation will extend into infinity! I really wanted to convey something of this idea on my tag this time.

I recycled part of a box, cutting it into a tag using my Tim Holtz Bigz die. I then tore parts to reveal the corrugations below. I stuck my corrugated card tag onto some plain card to give it extra strength then Gessoed it. I also stuck some book text - a Shakespeare sonnet onto the card. Eventually the butterflies took over, but I think you can just see a little bit of the text here in the top right hand corner. I wanted plenty of blue on my tag, as this colour suggests infinity to me. I used Mermaid Fresco, Chartreuse and some Inky Pool blended together. For my poem at the centre of the tag, I took a torn piece of card and swiped it through Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Broken China, Peacock Feathers and Evergreen Bough, spritzing and flicking to get a watery effect. I used Classic Treasure Gold to accentuate the corrugations on my tag and to accent the curled edges of my focal text. This is a lovely quotation from William Blake and part of Lin Browns' Eclectica Flower Sentiments. I stamped onto the blue background with Potting Soil Archival ink by Wendy Vecchi.

Here is my letter 'I' from the Tim Holtz Tattered Alphabet that I love to use for these tags! It is stamped in Potting Soil then embossed onto stacked pieces of scrap card edged with gold UTEE and Shabby Blue Frantage. I frantaged the corrugated card in places too! My theory is that you can't have too much Frantage!

I wanted my butterflies to look as if they were ready to fly away into an infinite blue sky and to create as many different effects on them as I could. The large one is a die-cut painted with Brown Shed Fresco and then covered with a combination of clear UTEE, copper Frantage and gold UTEE. Some of the butterflies are punched from PaperArtsy Chatsworth paper; some are painted and then stamped with PaperArtsy Minis 26 and 30; some are from stencilled card and some are created from recycled Baby Wipes, which I use as mop-ups! I also stamped a little script on my background and made it look worn by not using a block.

 It was completely serendipitous that the words 'hour' and 'age' are just visible at the top right of the tag: do you ever find that this happens? I filled a tiny bottle with what I hope look like grains of sand! They are actually grains of yellow embossing powder; but they symbolize the infinite number of grains of sand on the shore. I attached the bottle with some frantaged curly wire and layered more butterflies on it! 

A little punched out lace book text completes the tag. I do hope you will feel inspired to join the Dragons and dream with them this fortnight. Take flight on butterflies' wings and dream of the perfect word beginning with 'I'. Remember to include at least one stamp on your tag, but apart from that the possibilities are infinite!

Artsy Stamping

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven. Some of my favourite roses have burst into life at the end of the Magpie garden; but it's been raining all day so I haven't been able to take a photo to show you them clustering around my purple shed. I must add that they do look wonderful with the raindrops on their petals! I did manage to pluck one lovely bloom and use it as a table decoration on Monday and it's still looking radiant.

This has inspired me to create something for the Simon Says Monday Challenge - The Artsy Stamp. I love the way Nature has blended the colours on this flower and I wondered how I could convey something of the texture, colours and the way it makes me feel in a project that included some 'artsy stamping'. I wasn't quite sure what was meant by this term, but I checked with Tracy Evans who had created a superb piece of inspiration for the Challenge and I decided it was just the kind of stamping I like!

Because I love those roses so much, it seemed that a heart was the best place to begin as a surface for stamping! I used a wooden 'folk art' style one; as I prefer this shape. To make my heart fly just as the roses do, I took some wings, a gift from a great crafting friend, Kerry Ann. I painted both with some PaperArtsy Blush, Fresco Finish Paint.

Next step was to apply a thick coat or two of PaperArtsy Blood Orange. I wanted somehow to capture the radiance of these roses, which I think are known as 'Dawn'. The wings had feathery patterns embossed into them, so I made a mental note to accent these with some Treasure Gold eventually so that they would not be lost under all the paint!

After applying a thin layer of PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze to these, I put them to one side to dry. Now it was time for the first piece of artsy stamping. Another lovely, crafting friend, Lin had given me this little Frozen Charlotte she made from a mould. I painted her with PaperArtsy Bora Bora (The Frozen Charlotte - not Lin!) and then, with the leftover paint, covered some ordinary white tissue wrap. When the paint was dry, I stamped a script stamp, a PaperArtsy mini over it using Wendy Vecchi Cornflower blue Archival ink. I heat-set this and then covered Charlotte in tissue text, using PaperArtsy Satin Glaze. I placed the tissue onto the surface and then applied glaze underneath, pressing down carefully from the middle: a hint from my very dear friend, Lucy here.

Now a few more bits and pieces have been finished! You'll see I kept the flower nearby as my inspiration. I coloured some seam-binding with Frescos and Distress Inks (Fired Brick and Vintage Photo on one and Broken China and Peacock Feathers on the other.) I also painted a sheet of heavy card with Snowflake then Yellow Submarine and a little Tango. I stamped my script with Wendy Vecchi Red Geranium Archival. The circles were stamped by dipping a bottle cap into puddles of paint. You might be able to see in the background that I have applied a peach colour to the wings and the heart and they are drying nicely, ready for some Artsy Stamping! Here is the final piece! I have decided to call it 'Le Spectre de la Rose.' I dry-brushed the edges of everything with Blood Orange, a touch of Yellow Submarine and some French Roast Frescos.

As you can see, I die-cut my heavy card into wings for the Frozen Charlotte. It looks as if her wings have been tied on with that seam binding! The little blue butterflies are punched out from a Martha Stewart punch, painted with Bora Bora and then stamped with Wendy Vecchi Archival Cornflower Blue. I wanted those 'pops' of blue because my roses look so beautiful against a bright blue sky. I added a few touches of Sapphire Treasure Gold to my Frozen Charlotte.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a ballet dancer. There was no money for ballet lessons, but my mother would always buy me a ballet annual for Christmas, and I remember reading of one ballet, featuring, the Great Nijinsky. In it he danced as the spirit of a rose from the bouquet given to a young girl at her first ball. I should like my 'make' to symbolize the spirit of my rose.

I hope that this photo shows how the Treasure Gold (Rose Quartz) picked up the feathery embossing. To create the colour of the rose, I mixed Blush, Yellow Submarine and just a touch of Tango together. I was really pleased with the way the Blood Orange showed through the Crackle like the veining on the rose. I used a Lost Coast stamp of a butterfly girl for my focal stamped image! These are wonderfully, artsy and quirky stamps. I stamped her onto wrapping tissue with the Wendy Vecchi Red Geranium, heat-set her and then adhered her with Satin Glaze. I also added some script stamping in Potting Soil Archival and Red Geranium to the heart and wings respectively.

I was really pleased with the aged effect on the wings and how the stamped image on the heart blended in. Nothing can be as lovely as those flower petals, but I hope that when I look at this project I will remember their subtly tinted petals.

I didn't want the back of the project to be neglected, so there's some Crackle and  stamping on this too: a wash of Blush over the Blood Orange. You might have noticed I removed the string and replaced it with stamped seam binding.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and looking at my project. I should like to enter it for the Simon Says 'Artsy Stamp' Challenge. Have a great day wherever you are. I hope the sun is shining on you gently!

Make a Little Bird-house!

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven. It's been rain interspersed with sunshine today in my Magpie Garden. These are some of my favourite roses - they fade so fast, I just wanted to share them with you before the wind and rain takes away their beauty!

I've been thinking a great deal about gardens now that the Summer approaches, and that combination of pinks and oranges and greens with the blue of the sky that always suggests summer days to me!

I'd wanted to decorate my own bird-house for some time so I was delighted when I picked up a  reasonably priced one at Ally Pally and I decided I wanted to re-create some of those garden colours on it. Also Fashionable Stamping Challenges were asking for 3D creations this time, so I wondered if I might be able to enter my bird-house in their current challenge here.

After sanding down, I applied a couple of coats of Little Black Dress as a foundation. At this stage my son asked if I was creating a funeral parlour for the birds! I had a plan, I told him, which included Crackle Glaze! Now I have to admit to being completely carried away and sadly no 'Work in progress pics' were taken. As I worked I found myself singing the old They Might be Giants song that was a favourite of my son when he was four years old: 'Build a little Birdhouse in Your Soul'. Do you remember it? You can find the lyrics here or see it on You tube. Surreal madness, or is there some method there? Maybe I'm going crazy, but I suggest the singer represents a little blue nightlight and he asks the child he protects to have a special place for him in his or her heart/soul: a metaphorical bird-house sanctuary for the blue 'canary' glowing nightlight that watches over the child while he sleeps! Anyway, I think I put something of my soul into my birdhouse and I tried to make it represent a magical haven!

I chose PaperArtsy Bora Bora Fresco Finish to give that blue sky feel to the roof - all that black now shows through the Crackle to create contrast! My butterflies are die-cut from a Sizzix die in thick card and then painted and stencilled with a mix of Cheesecake, Yellow Submarine and Tango Frescos with Inky Pool to edge them. I then stamped with Lynne Perrella images from the PaperArtsy LPC range before dipping them into Versamark, sprinkling with clear UTEE and Shabby Blue Frantage and melting them until they were glossy. Their centres are cocktail sticks coloured with Sapphire Treasure Gold. To give a weathered, shabby impression, I stamped over the roof with PaperArtsy script stamps from LPC028 and an Ink and the Dog mini script stamp. I was beginning to hope that little birdhouse would strike a chord with someone!

Here is the door into the soulful bird-house! It looks big and heavy, but the ancient keys are in the lock and it's easy to step inside - art unlocks everything! I used Grunge Paste coloured with a little Guacamole Fresco paint and then sprayed with Hey Pesto and Tinned Peas to create an impression of grasses around the edge of the building.

I cut the door from corrugated card, using a Tim Holtz arch die-cut. The sentiment from Lin Brown's PaperArtsy Eclectica range was stamped using Potting Soil Archival onto tissue and then fixed to the door with Satin Glaze by PaperArtsy. I used Grunge Paste for the tendrils about the door. The butterflies are punched out of card using a Martha Stewart punch.

I hoped this flower with its beautiful Lynne Perrella lady at the centre would echo my orange climbing roses as they stretch towards the sky!

From what exotic lands has my resting blue butterfly flown?

 I took what my son was now calling The Butterfly House into the Magpie Garden where the idea of the 'bird-house in your soul make' was born! Here you can see how I used Tim Holtz's trellis, painted with Yellow Submarine and embossed with Verdi-gris embossing powder. There are images of different Lynne Perrella ladies on this side. There are some Tattered Pine Cone Roses; some Retro Cafe Art Gallery toad stools and more butterflies - including one on a curly wire like a cuckoo from a clock! Just like the song, my bird-house was turning a plain wooden bird-house into a fantasy creation.

Pictured on my glass-topped table it could be a boat-house in the centre of a lake!

Another side view!

Back indoors to photograph this side, as the sun became so bright the shadows were making it difficult to get a clear photo!

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch 
Who watches over you 
Make a little birdhouse in your soul 
Not to put too fine a point on it: 
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet 
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

I had such fun creating this 3D piece, I should like to enter it in The Fashionable Stamping Challenge #73 to create a 3D make, which you can find out about here.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Magpie Garden today. Have a lovely weekend! If it's a Bank Holiday where you are, i do hope the sun shines brightly for you on Monday too!

Music and the Letter 'R''

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven! It's been great to see how folks interpreted the last recipe at Dragons' Dream. It was such fun getting to choose a combo to challenge you and you created some wonderful tags in response. We'll be announcing the Dreamboat 3 soon. Meanwhile, this fortnight it's the turn of the very talented Jax and she has chosen 'Music' and the letter 'R'. I have to confess I scratched my head over this one! I love listening to all kinds of music, but I don't have many stamps that evoke anything musical. Then I put my thinking cap on! I love world music and ever since I was a teenager I've been fascinated by the sound of Indian music. Now there's something that says India to me when I look at the new Lynne Perrella stamp L2PC028 and this is what I came up with. Click here to see the gifted Dragons' interpretations of Jacqui's recipe.

Raga is a kind of Hindu, religious music, which calls for great skill on the part of the musician and terrific improvisational powers. I think there is something of the Goddess about this LP lady. Maybe she is the musician's muse and she has inspired an incredibly complex Raga with as many twists and turns and intricate notes as the patterns on her elaborate headdress . I placed her right at the centre of my tag!

I created a painty background, using light Fresco colours like Cheesecake and Nougat to start with, then layering on translucents like Yellow Submarine, Hey Pesto and Inky Pool. I then stamped my LP goddess, straight onto the tag, using, Onyx Black Versafine Ink. When she was heat-set, I added circles using a fabric conditioner cap, dipped into Inky Pool, Bora Bora and Concrete Frescos. If you look closely you will see that I stamped some music notes from a Sara Nauman Eclectica plate in some of the circles.

I have a few tiny mirrors in my stash so i used one ot these to suggest Indian mirror work, at the centre of this Prima mechanical.

 The Tim Holtz trellis die, painted with Bora Bora and then frantaged with Shabby Blue was also given the mirror treatment with some pieces die-cut from metal card.

I created a loop from some Indian mirror-work braid in Peacock blue. The little gold necklace is a jewellery 'finding', painted and then accented in Classic Treasure Gold. The pediment dies top and bottom are created from corrugated packaging glued onto card. I apologize for the shadows in this last image; but I liked the way the light caught the mirrors in it. Please drop by the Dragons' Dream TIO blog here and see the delights the other team members have dreamed up and then why not add your own interpretation? Remember to include at least one real stamp on your tag as well as the letter 'R' and something musical. Good luck with the Challenge and thank you for popping into Magpieheaven today.

Lynne for all Seasons!

Hello Followers and Friends and Welcome to Magpieheaven. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week with a virus I just can't shift. Nevertheless, I've been crafting away and it's taken my mind off feeling poorly! Focusing on 'Nature's Glories' on this canvas, which I've created to brighten up my Mum's flat, has lifted my spirits so I should like to enter it for the Country View Crafts, 'Nature's Glories' Challenge here.

 My plan is to see if I can eventually create my Mum four canvasses corresponding to the Four Seasons. This canvas is not exactly Keren Baker's CAS style, which is amazing and has to be checked out; but the lady at the window was inspired by Keren's wonderful 'cut out' technique featured over on the PaperArtsy blog here. This is where I began.

I took a very inexpensive, discount art shop canvas and added as many different textures as I could before covering it in a good coating of Gesso. Here you can see I used die-cuts; Grunge Paste through stencils; masking tape; a Prima topiary tree and some punched out leaves to create my background.

In this close-up you can see the effect of Gesso over masking tape - a tip from Gabi at Dusty Attic. Her incredible video is well worth viewing!  At the very top of the image, you can also see the effect of squeezing Grunge Paste through gauze.

I built up my canvas, adding a range of embellishments: Tattered Pine Cone Roses; Tattered Florals; Prima flowers and resin birds and a beautiful cherub given me by my good friend, Lucy. Everything was given a coat of Gesso!

I made sure the sides of the canvas had texture added too.

While everything was drying I painted my window die-cut with some PaperArtsy Little Black Dress. I didn't stick it down, but every so often I would place it onto the canvas to remind me of what I wanted the composition to look like eventually.

This is a huge jump, I know, but I think that photographing every step would have taken ages, so I apologize for a leap - or should I say 'a spring' - forward in time? I wanted to evoke the light of one of those evenings in late spring when it doesn't get dark until well after eight and summer is almost here. I mixed little mister bottles of PaperArtsy washes in Guacamole, Brown Shed, Hey Pesto and Inky Pool and thoroughly enjoyed myself spraying to my heart's content. I think that the spray painting technique gave a soft, twilight feel to the canvas. I then accented areas in paints and Treasure Golds in Sapphire, Green Amber and a limited edition purple.

I am indebted to the brilliant Keren Baker for my Edwardian lady gazing out at Nature's Glories in her garden of endless Springtime. I stamped her onto card first washed with PaperArtsy Vanilla. I used Versamark, Onyx Black and once this was heat set, I dabbed on Blush and Brown Shed with a baby-wipe to create her skin tones. Then it was time to take the scalpel and cut away her gilded cage! The top of the cage becomes a pretty lamp, only just lit for the evening and she gazes out of the window into a world of endless possibilities! The wall-paper is PaperArtsy Chatsworth and she has a curtain of a little tea-stained lace. The embellishments on the window include a painted resin flower arrangement; tiny punched out butterflies, a jump ring and some tiny rusted keys - I love this charm given me by Lucy: maybe they are the keys to the lady's studio where she has been creating with the sun streaming in.

The butterflies are painted and stencilled card or punched out of Chatsworth paper and the Tim Holtz trellis was embossed with Verdi Gris and Copper Frantage.

I continued my trellis over the edge of my canvas. I should like to have included a sentiment from one of Lin Brown's Eclectica ones, but those roses just went wild and left no room for anything else! Sorry, Keren, if this isn't quite in the spirit of CAS; but I did enjoy cutting that lady out of her cage and you were the inspiration! I should like to link my canvas to PaperArtsy and Country View Crafts Challenge for May. Thank you so much for stopping by to peep into the Magpie's Nest today. My next canvas is going to be Summer. I do hope you have a wonderful, creative week and that all your crafty projects flourish.