Pingu & Co.

Having just spent a week and a half in bed with a mystery illness there has not been much going on in the realms of artiness. I have been trying to catch up with a few random ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while though.

There is a growing trend on internet craft sites for making decorative paper arches. The arches come in a variety of sizes, from long and thin to small a squat and every other variation in between. Some are vintage, some are modern. I happened to come across this phenomenon a few weeks ago and thought I would have a go myself. My first attempt is small in size and Medieval themed, including one of those ubiquitous Medieval birds. It all adds a bit of variety.

Inspired by the arch theme I also made an architecture themed ATC. I love the randomness of using embossing powder with a glue stick. I got some great bubbles in the bottom left corner.

I also took another route in my papercutting adventure. My penguin is made up of layers of cut paper - a full bottom white layer, a black layer cut to the shape of the black on the penguin's body and an inlaid piece of hand painted paper for the yellows. I am quite pleased with the result and have been trying to come up with some other ideas that might work in a similar way.

Finally, my little bee heart. I don't actually like hearty, romantic themed crafts but I had some chipboard heart shapes that I was given and have been trying to use them up. The bee was a painting I did ages ago. It dawned on me that I can scan my art work, print it out and use it as images for my collages. The only trouble was that it was too fiddly to cut round the legs so I cut them off and redrew them once I had stuck the image down.

Papercuts and washers

I managed to take some photos of the washers and mosaic tile I mentioned yeasterday. Still not wonderful but better. They are ideal for use on cards, ATCs or larger pieces of art. The washers were painted with alcohol inks, rubbed on an embossing pad, sprinkled in odd places with copper detail embossing powder then with a light sprinkling of UTEE. It gives a colourful and water splashed effect.

The tile was covered in glue and dabbed with pearl ex in various colours. One dry I added a little Lumier paint in gold - just patted on with my finger and left to dry. Then came a coating of Ranger crackle accents.

More papercuts too - a framed 3D piece inspired by the work of Helen Musselwhite and a smaller 3D piece of a fox. The fox has been sitting around for weeks waiting for something suitable. At least he has some landscape to run around in now.

Snowy art

It snowed for the first time yesterday so I was inspired to do some snowy papercraft. The picture does not do them justice (once again! - maybe I should find out how to photograph my work properly?). The papers are painted with metallic paints and the bird one has gold leaf. I also made some lovely decorated washers and glass mosaic tiles but they don't photograph well. I will keep trying though.

Glasgow

Glasgow won the bid for the Commonwealth games today. Nigeria was the loosing side which I find a terrible pity. Africa has never hosted the games and considering that London has the Olympic games in 2012 maybe it would have been fairer to let Nigeria see what she could do. Still, it means jobs and investment for Scotland as well as increased tourism during the games. However, with the mess over the Scottish Parliament building going massively over budget I dread to think what kind of mess Glasgow will get into.

Bonfire Night

Tomorrow night is Bonfire Night in the UK. A night for fireworks, bonfires, hot soup and sausages. Well, not necessarily the hot soup and sausages but certainly the other things. In memory of this I produced an ATC and for those who are not familiar with the celebration I have added a little history.

Guy Fawkes night is an commemoration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. A group of Catholic men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament in retaliation for the persecution of English Catholics but were undone by one of their own. The group accessed 36 barrels of gunpowder and stored them under the Houses of parliament, waiting for the moment they could destroy all those who stood against Catholicism. However, some of the conspirators had second thoughts. It is said that one of them wrote a letter warning of the plot. That letter reached the King and unfortunately for Guy Fawkes he was found with the gunpowder when the guards stormed the basements. He was arrested, tortured and executed. On the night of 5th November 1605 bonfires were lit to celebrate the safety of the King and thus the date became known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated with bonfires, fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes.

Today the Queen only enters Parliament one day a year and the Yeoman of the Guard still search the basements before her arrival.

The whole occurrence was immortalised in a nursery rhyme:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot.

We see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

For more information take a look at: www.bonefire.org

Thank you

I would just like to say thank you very much to everyone who leaves a comment on my blog. I do not always get the opportunity to thank everyone personally but all comments are greatly appreciated. It is always nice to know that something I have produced creates its own reaction in people.