You Are Invited To A Private Viewing In My Atelier

As they say, the party is over and you have showered me with amazing Birthday Wishes. Thank You.
It seems like such a long time since I last posted some artwork so I will make up for it with this post. All the artwork I am sharing was made months ago. No, I have no idea why I am only sharing it now!
Towards the end of last year when Suzanne at Oxford Impressions announced a new stamp set in the form of the Dressforms & Corsets set I immediately fell in love with it so you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive it as a complimentary set. Over the past few months I have used this set so many times, making bundles of cards, altered totes, tag art and worked on altered canvases.
Anyway, today there are two canvases and 3 cards using this set. The first canvas is a standard 7″x5″.  I’ve particularly enjoyed working with black and tan, the tan colour achieved through a mixture of tea baths and walnut ink solutions.
All of the stamps used are from this set, adding details such as buttons, measuring tape, a teeny spool where I inserted 3 pins and wrapped gingham ribbon around the spool. I always think gingham ribbon adds a particularly French touch.
At the same time I also altered a smaller canvas
On this canvas I used a couple of stamps from other Oxford Impressions’ sets.
When using tea baths and walnut inks I always make up batches of paper to have to hand, in this case watercolour paper.
By not fully inking up my stamp it gives a slightly faded look on the stained watercolour paper which in my mind is perfect for these cards.
Details added such as a tiny piece of lace attached to a mini safety pin. These are bought from the haberdashery department.
The final card in this trio
The snaps are also from the haberdashery department. It is amazing what can be discovered there, even in a small store and you find that they are far less expensive than the craft equivalent.
It will come as no surprise that I have more corset and dressform cards in the wings but will leave it a little while before I share. Tomorrow being the 1st of June sees the return of another challenge from The Stampsmith so I will return then to show you my DT sample. Lynne x

P.S. My friend Hazel is on a new DT called The Craft Room Challenge. Their first challenge is Anything Goes so I will enter my canvas into this challenge.

Graceful Greetings

I”ve Followed Arline’s Blog,  Graceful Greetings  for sometime now as she creates the most beautiful vintage style artwork and she is also a very lovely woman. She asked if I would kindly mention her Blog Candy. The 50th Follower of her Blog will receive some beautiful goodies. So why not pop on over and visit Arline if you haven’t done so before.  You are also welcome to take her badge for use on your own sidebar.
On a different note, I have been catching up with comments left for me to read and need to say once again a huge “Thank You” for all the warm Birthday Wishes. Lynne x

A Message From The Birthday Girl

 I spent a lovely morning opening up cards and parcels. I am using the word overwhelmed far too much these days but that is exactly how I felt on seeing the incredible handmade cards and an array of amazing handmade gifts and yes, I also received a bundle of crafting goodies. As the handmade items are so special, another day I will share some of these with you.
Now you may be wondering about this beautiful, in fact stunning piece of digital art at the top of this post. This piece of art was my birthday gift from Cindy Adkins. In fact it was Cindy who was responsible for letting the cat out of the bag and announcing my birthday!!  Can you imagine my emotions on seeing this, well I am sure you can. It was overwhelming that Cindy would create something so unique and special.
Today I can say that whether it was a card, a gift, a message on my Blog, an e-card or an e-mail message, you have flooded me with warm birthday wishes and made my day extra special.
Must go as I have a date with a pink birthday cake:)
Wishes and Thanks
Lynne x

Spirit of Friendship

My second post for today is also about friendship.
As I’ve said before, when starting a Blog I never anticipated that I would make a connection with so many people. In many ways, Blogland is a strange land to be part of, a community whereby we will probably never meet the people we connect with but that doesn’t detract from the fact that they do become friends. Many might laugh at the prospect of calling someone a friend when they have never met but I disagree. Bonds can be forged and we do start to care about what is taking place in people’s lives. They are also amongst some of the most generous people I have come across.
Several times I have received gifts of friendship in the mail. Anything I receive becomes a treasured item whether it has been handmade or a gift such as vintage lace, buttons, etc.
This week I received such a gift. Gerri mentioned to me that she was sending something from one of her jaunts to the Flea Market.  I had no idea what the surprise might be, a teeny packet of buttons or possibly a piece of lace. Once you see the photograph of the items I received I am sure you will understand why I was left speechless at Gerri’s abundance of kindness, in fact I actually had tears in my eyes.
First I’d like to share this friendship tag.
Can you see how the flowers glisten?
This photograph shows all the treasures gathered together.
Yes, I actually received all of this.
I said to Gerri that the dilemma which I am always faced with when I’ve received beautiful lace and buttons, do I use them in my artwork or keep them to look at? Gerri’s response “Use them!” Knowing me they will go beside my other treasured stash, just for a wee while!
I know I am not alone with this fixation for buttons and lace. As such items are so difficult for me to obtain it means I appreciate it even more when I receive them as gifts.
Surely the mark of a friend, whether a friend from way back or a new Blogging friend is that they know what makes you tick. For Gerri to visit a Flea Market and make such purchases for me, it is difficult to put into words how that makes me feel. The fact I’ve met such people re-inforces in my mind how important blogging is, it is that special connection with people who “get you”. To have found that I would say I am very lucky indeed. Lynne x 

A Pre-Birthday Surprise

Cindy Adkins is a name I mention often on my Blog. Why? Well for any of you who have never visited Cindy’s Blogs let me say that she supports our community like no other. Cindy is herself an incredible artist, creating Mixed Media and collage artwork with  Shabby Chic perfection and usually with a hint of the Parisian. Not only does Cindy dedicate her time to creating art, through both of blogs but mainly Cindy Adkins’ Whimsical Musings on-line magazine (see my sidebar for all links) she selects artists to be featured. It was an honour to be selected as a Featured Artist earlier this year.
Today I received such a wonderful surprise, a surprise that touched my heart. Cindy dedicated the post on her Blog to me, in celebration of my birthday (on the 30th). During a conversation I obviously mentioned my birthday and my love of books and this is why Cindy is special, she retains such facts storing them away to use at a later date. Please visit Cindy’s Blog and all will make sense.
Cindy, thank you for your friendship.  Wishes Lynne

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A Souvenir From Paris

The altered box I am sharing brings together two favourite topics of mine …… pink and Paris! I never need an excuse to use pink or to add a touch of Paris to my artwork but this was made with two link parties in mind, Pink Saturday and a new link party on the block, Link Party Paris Simply Irresistible. If these names are new to you let me tell you that today is a special day for both. Over at Pink Saturday, Beverley is celebrating 3 years! I wish I could say I’ve been part of this since day one but I am very, very new to this link party and the person I have to thank is Cindy Adkins. Simply Irresistible is celebrating the City of Lights.  This is Anita’s baby. She wants us to celebrate every aspect of Paris whether it be food, poetry, photography, special memories and of course artwork. Click the above links to take you to each link party.
Onto the altered box. This was a brightly patterned box where I stored my Caran D’ache watersoluble crayons (H 2.5″ x L 6″ x W 3.5″), a box I had intended on altering for sometime so this was the perfect opportunity. Immediately I knew I would be using one of the most adorable images I’ve come across which is available from Trishia at French Kissed Postcards called Paris Souvenir Victorian Child.
A postcard was another addition I wanted on this box so by printing Paris Souvenir Victorian Child   onto a transparency I was able to layer it onto a vintage postcard.No, don’t worry I didn’t use the original postcard, I scanned and re-sized the vintage postcard (also from Trishia) using only the postcard back. Normally at this stage I would reach for my Vintage Photo ink pad but to keep with the pink theme I used Victorian Velvet to ink the edges of the postcard.
The photograph below is a detail of the edge of the box. Lots of tearing, inking and gluing required for this project but that is my idea of relaxation.Text from a French book and piece of text from Divas D’Este’s French Receipts and Script. Once dry I randomly sponged Victorian Velvet onto the text then added two types of lace to the sides of the box. The broad lace was adhered to the rim of the lid. By slightly overhanging  the lace it creates the pretty border around the image on the lid .Beautiful alphabet stickers spell out “Paris”, using silicone glue to give them dimension.
For a friend’s birthday, back in March, I used this same image for a birthday card.This time it was printed onto regular photo paper and teamed up with K&co papers. To tie in with the Parisian theme I stamped images directly onto the paper (from various Oxford Impressions plates). A favourite “Paris” stamp was used to stamp onto the ribbon prior to scrunching.
When you visit Trishia’s Zibbet store and also her Blog her passion for postcards shines through. Every Monday she is generous enough to provide a free image for use in your artwork. Lynne x

Nature’s Way

Friends of my Blog will know by now that I tend to work with a vintage theme usually femmes, dressmaking, travel, etc and as a stamper those are the types of stamps I zoom in on but for a very long time I’ve had my eyes on Stampington & co Fresh Flower Elements stamps. A few months ago I was thrilled to have the winning bid on E-bay for this collection of wood mounted stamps and I do mean collection. I doubt I will ever have such a good buy as I did that particular day. As soon as I received them I set to work making cards for friends, three of which I am sharing, finally, today.
The three main stamps are:-Beaux Iris, Poppy Pods and Elegant Stems.
I was always drawn to the collage nature of these stamps.
The watercolour paper was painted with Caran D’ache water-soluble crayons and Twinkling H20’s, the Twinkling H20’s creating a lovely shimmer to the paper.
The second card is a variation on a theme using Poppy Pods.
Using the Trims stamp (four separate stamps on one wooden block) I created collage elements for all the cards. Stamping onto painted watercolour paper, tearing pieces, inking and layering to card along with paper flowers and painted scrim. Adding the paint “flicks” softens the white area. The stamped handwriting in the corner of the card is from the stamp cube from the same collection.
The final card, Elegant Stems
With such stamps it is all about the stamping. Normally I don’t shy away from the use of embellishments but I would say with all of those stamps it is best to let the beauty of the stamp do the talking.
Often flower stamps are very feminine and although I used what would be classed as feminine colours on all three cards, these stamps would also look stunning using more masculine colours. More recently I used the stamps for 2 Deco pages (for a Deco Book Swap at KCUK) and using different colours and elements from nature the outcome was so different.
So that was my little dip into nature but I am sure normal service will be resumed shortly as I have corsets and dressforms to share with you. Lynne x