Postcards

Postcards I am taking to The States with me to post thought I might try posting without an envelope cant remember the term for doing that. I might call them plastic lace as they made from carrier bags strips woven with strips of material and lace then ironed to hold it altogether I then hand and machine embroidered them They came out quite well.

STAR Little Monster

This is Star Ive made him for my granddaughter who is just starting her first teaching job straight from college this must be quite scary but she is in a small village school. She wanted me to make her something to give one of the children to take home for the weekend if they had been specially good. I wanted to make something the children would really like to take home. I came up with this baby monster but I was inspired by Denise at grrl+dog click on the title Star. He or maybe she I did find making one that the boys would like too was a bit restrictive but it was fun to make. I would like to make one that is a bit more wild like the ones Denise has made. I do find it hard to let go and do wild and frayed

Another Altered Book Page

The title for this book is Beautiful Creatures.
I thought the ballet is very lovely and chose Swan Lake for the beautiful swan. The pages are collaged with paint papers and finished with the pictures and oil pastels. I like collage messing with paint and papers the only thing is its time consuming getting all your stuff out sorting and then getting more out putting it all away and then clearing up the mess.
This spread has turned out very well it all hangs together.

Altered Book Page

Altered book for Becky the theme was along the lines of sending a letter from yourself when young and then from older self. I thought this was a bit scary when I first saw the theme but it was quite a fun one to do. My thoughts went back to when I was 16 I left school at 15. Remember my grandmother telling me she left school at 14 and thinking she was still a child. My granddaughter has just finished college to start teaching and she is almost 23.I collaged about what was big in my life then I headed the page Return to Sender Address Unknown that let me out of writing a letter much to busy having fun at that age.If you look there is a picture of me at 16 on the little book we even looked innocent in those days. The second half you can see is not so busy but life is good and the heading is One More Step Along the World I Go with a book of quotes that have helped me through difficult times.

Boy Embroidery

My grandson Ciaran has been visiting me for the day it was too hot to go further than the local swings and while he was watching TV I was sewing I could see him watching me and eventually he asked if he could sew as well. He drew a picture and I traced it on to the material and with a bit of help from me he spent quite some time sewing. He had already sewn a ghost with me a few weeks ago and seems to get very involved in the process. He made a very good job of it considering hes only six. His sister who is ten wasn't interested and stayed inside to read her book Emily isnt very interested in sewing but will take part in any other craft.

Bedford River Festival

This is the River Festival in my home town said to be the second biggest festival in the UK after Nottinghill Carnival. I think this year there were more people than ever maybe because of the weather. The parade was great and there was a great crush down by the river with all the stalls and events. My family had a get together in the evening there were about 20 of us we had a good evening. My brother and his wife came to stay for the weekend and we made a great collection for the bottle bank. On Sunday we visited a cousin I hadn't seen for about 40 years when I was her bridesmaid. What a weekend I'm still recovering.