Happy Day!

Happy Mothers’s day!!…I’m having a lovely pamper day, a break from the renovating the cottage, eating lots of yummy (and bad for you) stuff and of course crafting. YAY!!

This has meant I have actually had proper time to have a play with Less is More’s challenge of masking…naturally my fingers itched to use stamps but actually masking and stencilling is one of the easy ways to make cards without spending anything at all.

So it was back to the felt pens and daubers for this one

Using a knitting needle punched through paper onto a soft mouse mat, created the torn circles. I keep a pot of buttons and coins on my desks as they make handy guides for projects that need small circles. I created three bushes on my tree for Allsorts “three in a row” challenge

            

I then drew a flower pot and using “bog standard” tracing, repeated the design three times to create different elements of the pot.  The layers of colour were created by mixing colours together, then rubbing the ink over the masks, working from one side to build up light and shade. A final bit of texture was added to the tree by stippling the darker shade on with a piece of packing foam. The stalk was added on after the leaves and pot, masking the area required with post-it notes.

          

I did find the dauber created a very subtle shade through such a small gap, so I used an off-cut from a Memory foam insole to get the ink into the gap which worked extremely well.  To finish I grounded the pot with a little bit of shading (masked with torn paper. The greeting was part of a much larger message on a recycled Birthday card.

CONFESSION: I cant even call it a school girl error as I think a school girl would have been more careful!! but I was so eager and gleeful in my extra crafting time I carelessly  wrenched the mask off my card, which I had diligently attached with masking tape…..you can guess what is coming …….there was …a hideous little tear on the side of my card. I had even de-tacked the tape on my p.js (yes I was crafting in my jammies…how decadent is that) but there it was …mocking me…oh well I like matting white on white…so no massive harm done.

After amazing, fabulous Eggs Benedict (cooked by Katie and James…and waited on by hubby Steve). It was straight back to the craft room for another version of the topiary tree. This time with the safety net of creating the elements separately, then decoupaging them onto the card. The message was from the same recycled birthday card but this time it was cut from the inside and pleated to create a banner.

I have only now had the chance to post this, I have spent the rest of the day with Katie and Steve. We have turned an old kitchen shelf into a house sign for the cottage(using my cricut to cut out some lettering)….. we needed a new sign as the old one was attached to the front porch….which got into a fight with a Concrete Mixer Lorry on Tuesday…the mixer lorry won!!! ……and we have all just cuddled up and watched “One Day” with tea and a packet of crunch creams.

My wonderful mum died 16 years ago and today is always overshadowed by not having my daughter Gina here (I craft in her bedroom, so it is a  special place for me) but I am lucky and privileged to have had them in my life.

to my loved ones….Thank you for this special day,

……and to you all who visit ….thank you for popping by and putting up with my ramblings. …..I hope you have had a lovely day.