Lazy Sunday Afternoon !

Hello ! What a gorgeous Sunday, hope it's as lovely where you are ? The title implies that I am having a day off today but actually Sundays tend to be very busy for me and I have lots of things I would like to achieve by the end if the day! Do you find that you set yourself just too much to do and feel a failure when you don't get everything done from a list that was just too unrealistic to achieve in the first place !!! I have solved this problem ! Stop making lists of things to do ! Life is too short, even at my age (very early 50's !) I find that given the chance, my diminishing brain cells can function quite well without a list and I feel I achieve much more without them ! Cannot manage without a diary though !!!


Anyway, enough of this waffle and back to the point of this post which is to share with you a little journal and card I made featuring a lovely little bird template. Search around on the web, you can easily find templates which kind crafters are happy to share for your personal use. I found this one years ago and thought the shape was so lovely and I have used it quite a lot.

This is an A5 card and has an inked background where I have blended two or three colours together and then stamped over in three colours and used a swirl and a flower sprig stamp to make a detailed background card. The scalloped circle has inked edges and then I cut out my birdie and edged him with faux stitching after having used more stamps to add detail to the body. The flowers are home made and ready made and add dimension to the card. This piece has a lot of work in it but the concept is still very simple; the success is in the placement of the elements and getting everything balanced. I spend a lot of time looking at other crafters work; we can all learn a lot from each other !

This journal started life as a chipboard blank and I covered the covers back and front, inside and out with a favourite paper and then sanded the edges with a file to make them smooth and add a bit of interest. Similar to the card in many ways but with the addition of some vintage mother of pearl buttons and pearl beads. I have stamped on patterned paper for both these projects and like the finished effect.

 I have used a very subtle colour pallet and mixed sage greens with coral and stone with a little duck egg blue thrown in with some sepia. Getting the right colours is so essential to your projects and this is where so many fall down. As you can see I tend to like vintage and subtle shades as a rule, but I do step out of my comfort zone and play around with different combinations. If you are new to crafting I would suggest you work in tried and tested combinations like shades of a single colour and an accent colour eg. shades of cream beige accented with sepia brown, charcoal grey or maybe even black. Of course classic black and white is always a winner but you could add in some shades of grey or even a silver metallic or pewter. Other classics are red, white and blue and to be different you could use vintage shades of these colours. If you are really struggling, find a colour wheel online that shows opposite colours that make striking combinations like orange/coral and kingfisher blue/green, use these with a neutral and you will have a successful combination for your project.

I really hope you find this info of some use, I want to try to give you the confidence to be creative and not be afraid to experiment and find you own unique style !

Thank you so much for stopping by, do come again !

Hugs Jane x