Mindfulness (Somerset Studio)

Hello
To start this new week, I am winding the clock back to last year, to Somerset Studio’s Nov/Dec 2016 issue. One of the articles I was lucky enough to have published was centred around a collection of small canvases, all with a message relating to mindfulness.  The introduction in the article is where I speak about the motivation and what I was aiming to creating and how Christen Hammon’s Editor’s Letter in an issue of Somerset Life, was the springboard of inspiration for me.
If you read this post, you will notice that I share a simple presentation idea, this is because I saw the canvases as being suitable as gifts for anyone who might be needing to pause and breathe.

The RELICS & ARTIFACTS hand is only there as a prop.

All of the canvases feature a PaperArtsy Eclectica ESN sentiment. ESN are designed by Sara Naumann, for PaperArtsy and they are probably my most inked up PA stamps.

The sentiments are stamped onto various found papers, nothing fancy, regular papers from around the home.  I also stamped smaller elements either onto more found papers or directly onto the canvas, such as the numbers at the top edge of the Golden Hours canvas.

Simply embellished with crushed velvet ribbon, MOP buttons, rhinestones, etc.

Little layered elements such as the layered found paper which had some gold paint applied, the crushed velvet ribbon and the MOP button.

I was trying to achieve a timeless quality to them, a distressed effect, a timeworn look to the canvases, yet with a hint of old style glamour with my choice of embellishments and use of gold.

The details really are the tiniest of fragments.  Can you see how small those rhinestones are?  Three lined up on the velvet ribbon.

This canvas has numbers stamped onto the canvas to create a border effect before the layers were added.

I so love when ordinary papers and I do mean ordinary, can be given a touch of elegance by the addition of rhinestones or a sweet MOP button.   Funny how details like this can make my heart sing.

A cluster of the canvases, all with simple presentation and each topped with a stamped word from Darkroom Door’s Word Block Wellbeing. For me, Darkroom Door’s Word Blocks are indispensable.  I haven’t yet managed to own them all but some are great favourites, this is one of them as there is a beautiful selection of words which I’ve used on all manner of projects.

A swipe of Gesso highlights the texture of the scrunched paper.

Each word layered with burlap,

with a repeat of details appearing on the canvases.



For variation, one of the canvases is presented in a fabric bag, the mini easel also included.

Thank you so much for your visit. I hope it was a restful post to view and a chance to seek mindfulness during your visit.
Wishes
Lynne

Winter Wonderland … A Resounding Silence (Somerset Studio Gallery)

Hello
Appearing in Somerset Studio Gallery is such a wonderful way to end the year. This assemblage is another piece I am lucky enough to have published as a Spotlight, in this issue.
Tree – Crafty Individuals CI-450
Sentiment – PaperArtsy ESN
Dinky Stencil – That’s Crafty Snowflake Background
I was trying to convey peace, stillness, on a winter day with the low winter sun dancing on the frosted landscape, the only sound the crunch underfoot on the snow impacted ground.To heighten the natural and organic feel to the panel, the tree was stamped onto some mop up/under paper which does result in a less than perfect stamped impression but for this, it was exactly what I was aiming for.
When I first started to stamp, I would have thought a less than perfect stamped impression was good for only one thing, being tossed into the rubbish bin but now, there is great freedom and sense of satisfaction when a perfectly imperfect impression actually adds more to a project.That’s Crafty greyboard snowflakes, oh I just love them.  The snowflake brings the eye towards the textural layers.
With the colour palette silvery white with mere hints of gold, this representing the golden glow of the winter sun.Thank you to anyone who takes the time to visit, especially at this time of the year when there is great demands on your time….so Thank You!
Wishes
Lynne

Winter Chill (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello
Sharing cards made for The Stampers’ Sampler Holiday Happenings Challenge Call.
The stamps are PaperArtsy ESN, designed by Sara Naumann. They are such well thought out stamp sets, with focal images, text/script and smaller elements.  I stamped up sets ESN17 and 18.  Although they appear in the Holiday Happenings challenge results, they are not necessarily for Christmas, the cards could be for winter birthdays, simply ink up different sentiments.
The colours were difficult to photograph, you cannot see the metallic paint which was blended onto the backgrounds.  It is all very subtle, I wanted an almost watercolour effect, aiming for a frosty, wintry appearance with a hint of the delicate.A That’s Crafty greyboard snowflake is layered with a paperflower painted to co-ordinate with a rhinestone adding a hint of sparkle and just a wee dash of glamour!
You probably know by now that I love to add scraps!  This little piece was literally a scrap piece lying around.
The second cardThat piece of gold paper was under paper

as was this piece, torn from,  if I remember, a piece of deli paper which was used as underpaper.  
Another card…

The final card features the same stamp as the first card, this time stamping the little snowflakes/flowers adding tiny pearl stickers to their centres.The sentiment layered with another fragment of under paperwith another piece popping up here.  I particularly like the shimmer on this sliver … I am easily pleased!Thank you for your visit. Even during absences from on-line activities, I always make sure I catch-up with comments you kindly leave for me, so thank you!
Wishes
Lynne

Dreams of Joy & Truth (Somerset Life)

Hello
Stampington & Company’s Somerset Life is quite unique, they call it “authentic and creative living”, with exceptional photography and beautiful articles guaranteed to cover all styles and topics, it makes it such a gentle read.   In 2012 I was published with a Creative Living idea, that one time made me so happy, it was a dream fulfilled of being published in Somerset Life.  I genuinely never expected to be published, it wasn’t a magazine I submitted to and it just seemed a dream too far to expect to submit an idea that would catch their eye.  Little did I know that 2016 would transcend any such dreams.
This particular article in the Summer issue features three pins where torn fabric and a sentiment stamped onto fabric is the feature.
The bezels are quite small so it was a matter of seeking stamps that would fit the dimensions especially as I wanted the floral background fabric to also be seen.
As a really quick way to present the pins and a practical way to prevent them from tangling up with each other as they made their way to the Stampington offices, I made use of shipping tags.The pins are easily detached to be pinned onto clothing, etc.The doming effect can be seen better in this photograph.The fabric was frayed within an inch of its life before being encapsulated.Joy and Dream are PaperArtsy ESN stamps.
Many thanks for your visit today.
Wishes
Lynne

Garden Delight (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello!
After being involved with creating samples for PaperArtsy, for what were at the time, new releases, two sets designed by Sara Naumann.  One of the sets was ESN15 and for the samples I played around with the bird, in particular using his wing to form a flower.  I wanted to play around further with that wing, the following cards are the result of that playtime.  They had gone completely out of my mind until they made an appearance in the summer issue of The Stampers’ Sampler.
Bird stamps are amongst my favourites although he is more whimsical than what I usually ink up.The wing was begging to be made into a daisy style flowerand tulips!The backgrounds are heavy in texture with Grungepaste and Fresco paint,
with an ESN handwritten script stamped here and there along with circles stamped with Frescos.The wing makes another appearance!A lone daisy.Looking at the cards after all this time, I wish I had included a sentiment, even just a word.  At the time I played around with a stamped sentiment and remember ruling against the addition as I wanted the background to be seen and I could not settle on placement of words/sentiment but now I look at each card and they are all lacking “something”.Stamping with paint brings another wonderful layer of interest to mixed media backgrounds.
The final card sees the birdie making a return appearance.Making my own flowers allowed the freedom to create slight variations.Thank you to The Stampers’ Sampler for their feature.
Also, thank you for visiting this blog post. I tend not to mention my life beyond crafting but I wanted to explain that health matters are hindering me from visiting your Blogs and other on-line activity but I am trying to build up my on-line time and sure do hope to get “back on track” soon.
Thank you for being so loyal.
Wishes
Lynne

Written In The Stars (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
Sharing four cards which were made in 2015!  At that time I made them to answer a challenge call at Take Ten magazine, the theme, stars.  When the challenge results were published and no sign of my submissions, I thought they hadn’t made the grade so it was lovely to see them appear as a feature with the July/August/Sept issue of The Stampers’ Sampler!
All four cards feature PaperArtsy stamps from one of my most favoured designer collections, ESN, Sara Naumann.A star is the focal for each card, in keeping with the challenge theme I was submitting to.
Two Frescos, which had been transferred into spray bottles, were all I used for the backgrounds, applying them for a muted, diffused effect.  With the ten minute cardmaking time limit, I was conscious that I could not devote much time to the backgrounds – even though they were published in Sampler, it was Take Ten that I was submitting them to.The almost marble effect on the background is achieved with the Pewter Fresco.
One of my favourite way of using words from ESN collection is mixing them up.Each star is slightly varied but essentially, I only used a handful of elements for this collection, they are very minimal!On this card, the mica flakes flow across the cardbase as though a sprinkling of starlight has fallen from the night sky,catching the light beautifully.Soon I will share some Mixed Media panels which are similar but “more”.
Thank you so much for your visit.
Wishes
Lynne

Spools of Positivity (Somerset Life)

Hello Everyone
This is another catch-up post, for something I had published as far back as Spring, in Stampington & Co’s Somerset Life magazine.. Somerset Life is one of my all time favourite Stampington titles. It is not a stamping magazine, it is an everything magazine.  Stamped projects might well appear along with fabric, mixed media, presentation ideas, it truly is a lifestyle magazine, to lead a Somerset Life.
As much as I love this title, it was only recently that I submitted to a Challenge Call, Bookmarks, which I shared HERE. On reading in that particular issue that there was to be a new Challenge Call for Torn Fabric, well I couldn’t resist. I don’t own a sewing machine and I don’t sew but I love fabric. As is often the case with me, the idea came about by pure chance when some fabric happened to be beside some wooden craft spools. To have my bookmarks published was a dream come true, but to have that followed with another article in Somerset Life, let’s just say, I am running out of words to express what it means to me!
I would like to share three pendants that are presented in the article. You will appreciate, I do not want to give instructions as they are printed within the actual article. The trickiest part of all was finding words of a dimension to suit the craft spools.  I am lucky to have lots of positive words in stamp form but most of them were too large for the purposes.Each word stamped onto fabric, an absolute favourite of mine when it comes to stamping.The chains were deliberately made simple as I didn’t want anything overly fussy.The stamps are from Darkroom Door (Bliss) and Joy and Dream are from PaperArtsy ESN.  Words stamps have to be amongst the most useful stamps we could own.Each pendant was presented in its own fabric roll which again tied in with the challenge theme of torn fabric.With pretty floral fabric bringing contrast to the calico and also acting as a closure.Thank you to Christen Hammons, the Editor-in-Chief, for publishing my pendants and thank you to all of you who continue to be friends of my blog, it is always appreciated.
Wishes
Lynne