Vintage Christmas Cards

Here's some of the vintage cards I made for christmas...

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Cards

I actually have been quite busy crafting over the last few months, and here's a selection of the christmas cards I made to prove it ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

12 Days - Candles

I took this shot for Cheryls 12 Days course. The background is actually a mirror, there are actually only 3 candles in the shot, but it worked really well. I like the serenity of this shot.

12 Days - Spell It Out

Another festive image - it really is beginning to feel a lot like christmas

12 Days - White Balance

Todays exercise was testing out the different white balance options on your camera to see the difference. And it really is something worth trying out, especially for christmas shots, where most of the shots are indoors in poor light.

While I was playing I took this shot which I really liked as it has a real christmassy feel.

The picture was shot completely in the dark, using a flourescent white balance setting, a 30" exposure and using only a flourescent torch to light the subject, which I moved around slightly to light up the different elements.

Off now to finish off the wine - well couldn't let it go to waste ;-)

Festive SP!

Cheryl Johnson is running a new Free Festive Photography course, and I was really lucky to get a spot on it ;-)

Our first task before class commences is to take a Festive Self Portrait, so as its Saturday night, I got made-up and did my hair, and stayed in!!!!

Dreams

Here's the birthday card I made for the lovely Karin on her special day.

Believe

We need to believe. Sometimes when things are bad and we feel down, we need to remember that they will get better. Even though I was working on this as the Autumn seemed to turn to winter, its definitely a spring piece. I kept thinking how even though things die and fade away they will always bloom again.

Altered Canvas - Pink

I've been wanting to try out Goldens Digital Grounds for ages. So finally got around to it a few weeks ago, after breaking my printer and fixing it again, I finally got some good image transfers working and have made some altered canvases using the images and different textured bases.

This is the first one, which is sweet and simple - unfortunately the colours don't really come out so good here.

Artsy Crafty Weekend

I was given the most amazing gift of attending the Artsy Crafty weekend by my dear friend Kaz. Sadly due to personal circumstances she wasn't able to join us, which did put a bit of a damper on the weekend for me, but I realised that I had to honour the kindness shown to me and really make the most of the weekend.

It really was a great weekend, so much thought and attention went into it by the organisers LB Crafts and Paper Artsy stamps. The venue in Newport Pagnell was perfect for the event, providing wonderful food and a cosy atmosphere.

The ladies responsible created some wonderful projects for us including a stunning clock, a fun box, and a fab embellishment. And we got right down and dirty making them all. Of course the shopping opportunity was pretty great too!

I've never really worked with metal before so learning some of the techniques was a wonderful opportunity and very inspiring, but I particularly liked playing with the textured paint techniques as this is a current passion of mine.











Thanks again to Kaz for being such a kind and special friend, to the organisers for their hard work, and sharing their knowledge, and to all the lovely ladies who made the weekend such fun.

Karins Tiles & Carries Card

Karin was the last to receive her tiles for our forum swap. She choose vibrant blues and greens and once again I had a spare tile, which became Carries birtday card.

Carols Tiles

These are the tiles I sent Carol in our swap. She left the theme / colour open, so I went for one of her favs - green ;-)






I actually made 4 tiles, so Carol got 3 and I still have one to play with ;-)

My Tiles

These are the amazing set of tiles I received from our swap. I've framed them to hang on the craft room wall as soon as all the work is finished - I think they look absolutely amazing. Thanks so much everyone for your beautiful work ;-)

Emily Brady RIP

Its been a while since I blogged, but the real world took over recently with some major events.

One of these events was the passing of my Gran Aunt, "Aunty Emily". My Grandads sister was a very big part of our lives and she died on 13th Sept aged 94. Thankfully she passed peacefully, with her family by her side.

She was a wonderful lady, very loving, the centre of her family and now sadly missed by us all.

My Grandad, Tommy passed away on the 11th March 1989. He was a very special person to me, and still 20 years since his death I miss him very much. This is my favourite picture that I have of him, it really is how I remember him.



I'm also very lucky to have this very special picture of Tommy and his sister Emily taken when they were children. I'm guessing this photo was taken around 1920.



This is Emily and Nellie, my Grandads two sisters. Nellie died in 2001 and was also a very special part of our lives.



Emily was the last of the siblings to leave us, and as such, her loss was a reminder to us of those who had gone before her. But though they are gone, they will live forever in our hearts.

Gran - KC Collage

This is a really special piece of work for me that I want to share with you. My wonderful friend Kaz signed me up for the KC Willis Collage camp some months back, and it was the most amazing gift. I've been tentatively buying fabrics for a while, looking at some of the amazing artwork Carrie creates, but didn't know where to start myself - but the KC camp really got me moving.

The image I chose to use for my first piece is a picture of my Gran when she was young, she's 87 now and I've included a photograph of her I took a couple of years ago. Any of you that know me well will know just how special this lady is to me. She was a huge presence in my childhood, she cooked my lunch every day from school, and babysat us every Saturday night until we were old enough to go out, by then my friends and I would go round hers for a few drinks and a sing-song ~ she is better known as Gran to many people in Cork, than as Maureen or Mrs Bruton ;-)

Today she is still one of my best friends and she has always encouraged me to be who I want to be, and still praises my artwork like she did when I was a little girl, and I guess her approval is more important to me than any would be art critic. I took the finished work down to Cork to show her before I blogged it, and she loved it, and poured over all the little details.

The finished work evolved over many months, I really don't rush things ;-) But it was worth the time and effort. I love this piece, and as I am usually my own worst critic, this makes it pretty special for me. My craft studio is undergoing some serious refitting at the moment, and this piece is ear marked for pride of place once the work is complete.

Pennys Tiles

Here's the next set of forum tiles - Pennys choice was Hot Orange with blue accents.

Suze's Tiles

My friend Suze is ill at the moment, and while sending her our best thoughts, we thought we'd make her next on the list for the Tiles and send these along too.

I hope you like them Suze!

PWL - Human Cloning ;-)

This weeks assignment is Human Cloning - I've had great fun already (although anyone looking out their window now knows I'm mad!). I definitely want to try some more of this.


Audrey's been a bad girl.....

My Tiles

This time it was my turn to chose the theme colours - and my choice was cream and brown. Here are my tiles.

PWL 2 - Water Works

This weeks assignment is to play with water close up. Its a really hard assignment, and my camera just doesn't have the macro capability for it! oh I so want a macro lens!!!