Crafty As L

My friend and I were going to visit Dougie, one of the veterans from Project 71, and he kindly lets us stay in his static caravan, which is in a glorious position mere metres from the coast just outside Cardiff.   We like to make his something as a thank you and this time we decided to make a cushion.   Each of us would make a side, not disclosing what we’d made until it was finished. Dougie sometimes stays with us when he comes back for events so I decided my side would reflect what he gets at our house, namely cats and music.      He used to have cats and enjoys playing with ours and he also likes to listen to me playing the organ.   I bought the Four Cats Quilt Block pattern from Etsy but each of the finished blocks were too big so I had to redraw them to get the block to be 15” finished size.   I added the seam allowance and cut out each template. The first step was to make the intertwined tails by starting with the small squares. Next, t...

Our DT theme this week is Autumn Harvest & Thanksgiving and my brief was for a ‘Clean & Simple’ make.   After looking through my stash for what to use, I realised that I’d not yet used the TotallyToadstools stamps and dies which was handy as they fit the theme perfectly. To begin, I stamped the toadstool and large grass tussock using Versafine Onyx Black ink and added some colour using watercolour paints, as they were out on my desk! After using the co-ordinating dies to cut them out, I added Xmas Red Stickles to the toadstool cap and set aside to dry. For the background, I cut a 5¼” square of white card and stamped the various grasses and mushrooms along the bottom in black ink. Next, I blended Pumice Stone Distress Ink through The Forest stencil in patches around the panel. For the sentiment, I stamped using Versamark, heat-embossed in white and cut them out at deliberately jaunty angles.   Each word was glued onto black card and each of these were c...

In the Visible Image fans Facebook Group, each month, lovely Jane organises an ATC swap and gives a theme to follow.   This month’s theme is “All About Books” and gave me the perfect excuse to use a page from one of the French novels I got from a swap box whilst on holiday in France – I left them an English book! To begin, I blended Mustard Seed, Peack Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Oxides through the A to Z stencil. I glued the ATC onto the back of the stencilled page and carefully cut around it and set it aside to dry.   From the remaining page, I tore a strip and glued it onto a 5¼” square of white card.   Once dry, I stamped and clear heat embossed some of the elements from Free Your Imagination . I wanted the book pages on top to be white so I stamped them again on a scrap of paper, fussy cut the two centre pages and glued them in place. Using the remaining scrap of the stencilled page, I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment.   I cut out eac...

This past week has been about remembering those who served and, sadly are still serving, in the various wars.   We were delighted to have our dear friend, Dougie, a WW2 veteran, staying with us for a few days and we had some lovely trips out together.  My crocheted poppy  wreath  was also dug out of storage and hung on the front door. On Monday, it was my Visible Image DT post which remembered the role of animals during conflicts.   I go to a local art group on a Monday morning and I didn’t have anything sketched so I had a go at copying a painting I saw on Facebook which accompanied a very poignant poem called “One Thousand Men Are Walking”.   I can’t credit the artist as I can't find the name anywhere.  Anyway, here is my version. On 11 th , Project 71, the veteran’s group where I volunteer, were invited by the Royal Navy to a remembrance service followed by a lunch in the wardroom at HMS Excellent on Whale Island.   One of the ve...