Crafting from the Sofa #4 - Hearts for CVC

This is a panel for the pink journal, created in stages whilst I am recuperating from my broken ankle and it also serves as my DT piece for the new challenge at Country View Challenges - which is HEARTS chosen by the lovely Hazel.

For this background I began with the splat stencil and fired brick doxide. I replaced the stencil over the patterns and rubbed in some distress glaze aiming to keep the splatters looking clear and defined as I added other watery layers.

And so the fun started dipping the media paper into fossilized amber and spiced marmalade LOTS of times, heat drying between each dip. This really looked like molten lava to me but the splats remained and didn't get washed away with all the dips and spritzes of water.

Next I stamped the half tone stamp to create some visual texture and blended the orange and yellow colours around the edges.

This was all a bit fiery for me so I finished by dipping it in some watery gesso to tone it down somewhat.

Well I thought I had finished it, that was until I started gathering the elements to use. 

The story behind this is that about 10 days after I broke my ankle my gorgeous daughter Maddie and her lovely partner Tom took a long weekend break to visit Rome, she thought it was just that, a mini break, but he had other ideas. The outcome was she said YES and they are now engaged and of course we are all thrilled for them both.

So back to the panel - Whilst looking through a tub of vintage photos I found the married couple - remember I have only brought limited supplies down into the conservatory but this one spoke to me and linked to the engagement of these two special people. I stamped and cut the flowers and pen nib and punched the hearts and found some lovely appropriate remnant rubs. The oval is waxed paper and was used to help diecut the stitched ovals when Nikki came to visit, I decided to keep it and glad that I did.

So here's where I needed to add some hearts to the background too. I blended worn lipstick doxide randomly then replaced it again and with a water brush and some vintage photo doxide painted it over the ink to get some hearts that blended into the background perfectly.

Great, I inked and painted the flowers, edged all the pieces with walnut stain DI and collaged the elements together.  

After I had added it I thought the pen nib fitted for signing the register lol. It fits in the journal perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll pop over to the Country View Challenges blog to see what other hearts projects my fabulous teamies have come up with it and maybe we will see you take part.

Hopefully we will get some lovely weather for June.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxx

Crafting from the Sofa #5 - missing my frappuccino

I was sooooo missing my Starbucks caramel frappuccinos and when I realised I had some stamped mini blueprints in the media pad I had put in one of my supply boxes beside the sofa it reminded me and made me long for one (I have to say since writing this post both Ken and great friend Nikki have brought me one). But as I couldn't drive to get one there was no other option to record how I felt.

For the background I dipped my media paper in pistachio, worn lipstick and spiced marmalade watery distress oxides, when dry this was followed with a dip in peeled paint . But I wanted it to look darker so next came faded jeans and walnut stain, blended with my finger and then a couple of dips in faded jeans only.

I drew out the Starbucks logo and painted it with watercolour paints using my little Sakura travel box, but dimwit here didn't look at which way to paint and the light and dark colours and reversed them, but hey ho we have artistic license don't we?

I took one of the stamped frappe images and painted it again using the watercolours.

So here we are with it assembled, I had a little box of peg stamps to make my own title and cut out some of the words from Tim's stamp to use as well. I also painted a small piece of the media paper with the same dark green and used Tim's punch to add the stars. I have loads of the real Starbucks corrugated sleeves in a drawer so it was easy to cut and add my own.

Nothing left but to put it in the journal, which is getting filled nicely.

So you've probably worked out that I regularly pop over to our local Starbucks and grab a caramel frappuccino, they know me in there lol.  With 6 weeks and no driving it's up to hubby or my friends to keep me supplied - thanks again Nikki.

Thanks for taking another stop on the 'Crafting from the Sofa' series and for all the lovely comments.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxx

Crafting from the Sofa #3 - layered tags panel

I am still playing with the distress oxides as I love the results and they are easy enough to use with a craft mat on a lap tray. I have decided that the double pages in my Midori notebook are going to have similar colours to them so after #4 is finished I shall go back to #2 and make another vintage one and mount beside it. Here's #3. Please note this post was written on the 11th May, one week after I had broken my leg and scheduled for today.

Ok you have probably realised I am writing this blog post as I complete stages to the project, so this is #3 and the background was created by dipping media paper in watery vintage photo, worn lipstick and fired brick distress oxides, dried off and dipped in the same colours again. For some reason I decided I wanted it a much richer red so it got a coupe of dips in fired brick on its own and when dry splattered with walnut stain, dried off with a piece of kitchen roll and splattered again.  I thought I had photographed this stage but I can't find it, sorry.
I then gathered some tags and started looking for elements to add.

You know when you have limited supplies and are not able to go looking for something else I decided to make my own focal elements and tore some scraps of leftover media papers and drew some flower bases and stems to go with them and cut them out ....

.... and started arranging the bits.

I cut the panel to size and started putting the layers together with the mini attacher.

I really liked the way it was going together.

By the time I'd added it to the cvc flower journal I used remnant rubs which actually express how I feel even with a broken leg and not being allowed to move off the sofa.

Thanks for stopping by and for all the lovely messages I have received by various means - they really mean a lot and help to keep me buoyant.

Avoid the next bit if you hate injuries .............


I had to have my cast changed yesterday as my leg was swelling a bit, just look at the amazing colours one week later.

I also saw the x-rays and where the breaks are, a spiral one in the lower shaft of the fibular and another small one in the posterior malleolus which is the very end of the tibia, clever aren't I?

But I'm staying positive and have a wonderful hubby, family, friends and neighbours who are looking after me.

hugs Brenda xxx

Gardening cabbage card

Hi It's my turn to share a project over at Country View Crafts Project Blog and I've used a new set of stamps and a stencil from Scrapcosy at PaperArtsy.

More details and photos are available on the CVC Project Blog if you are interested.

I thought I'd also show you me getting my cast changed last tuesday, but it will be off again on wednesday when I visit the fracture clinic again. Last week the consultant confirmed I have a broken ankle (not leg). He frightened me to begin with as he talked about maybe needing an operation but after having some weight bearing x-rays I came home with a full plaster cast and instructions to move around more and to try putting a little weight on it, but he still wants to see me again on Wednesday for another check up. So although I was hoping to get back on my feet quite quickly the news could have been worse, I've just got to take next steps he's told me to do and I'm taking it all in my stride lol. Just gotta keep going!! 

The old cast coming off.

The swelling and the bruises are going down.

This time I have a fibreglass weight bearing cast put on .....

.... and have a little shoe to wear with it lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Crafting from the Sofa #2 - fearless and independent panel

I'm back with another journal panel created whilst I've been keeping my leg up with my broken ankle. I blogged all about my predicament on the last post if you missed it.

Just a few steps to outline the processes this went through -

1. I dipped 250 gm media paper into very watery wash of vintage photo and walnut stain doxides and let it dry (I didn't have a heat gun at this stage of my sofa crafting.

2.I repeated step one three more times to build up layers.

3. Still using the vintage photo doxide I stencilled on some circles .......

4. ........ over that I used the walnut stain and stamped some more circular designs and splattered some watery ws with a brush.

In my supplies I had grabbed some collage bits, vintage photos, some small paper pads and punched circles and gathered these bits together.

Here's how I am managing on my lap.

When I came to make up the panel I found and added the triangular bunting and also added the Small Talk sticker.

I'm really happy to have such a wonderful hobby and 'job' creating what I like.

Thanks for stopping by and for all your lovely comments and well wishes, I so appreciate them. Blogging friends really are the best.

Including these two lovelies who have visited me this week. Nikki from Addicted to Art popped over to see me on Monday bringing me a much needed caramel frappuccino (wait till you see my journal page I did last week).

Later she sat die-cutting, some for me and some for her lol.

Then yesterday I had a lovely visit from Jane, you'll know her from Jane's Journal, Jane brought with her stamped sentiments for my journal, ones that I don't own, some lovely flowers and her expertise. As a physiotherapist by trade she was able to teach me how to get around only partially bearing weight on my broken ankle, how to get up and down the stairs and also how to get up and down the steps at my front door without any help. Yay freedom, I can get around much better now and what a revelation.

Jane is also a keen gardener so she popped up the greenhouse to check on my cuttings and seeds and watered them for me.

Thank you lovely ladies for taking time out of your week to come and see me, I really appreciate it.

And thanks to all of you who are here now stopping by to see what I've been up to and if you have time to leave a comment - thank you for that too.

Have a great weekend everyone.

hugs Brenda xxx

Crafting from the sofa #1 - Wildflowers panel

I have a new, hopefully short, series of projects specifically as the title says. Here's my project today but please be aware I'm not at my desk and I certainly haven't got many supplies around me ........

I'm having to craft on the sofa and if you're not friends with me on Facebook you may not have heard that I broke two bones in my right leg two weeks ago. I've been walking three or four times a week since January trying to keep fit(ish) and certainly didn't expect to take a tumble on a crumbly path and head straight down a bank towards a ditch. See those two small bush stems growing up? On the way down my right foot got caught on them and my weight went straight through that leg - ouch! 

So now I am in a cast and during the day my leg has to be kept up and I can't put any weight on it.

But with a very helpful, sensitive and 'tired' hubby (yes tired running around after me bless him), I have been able to gather a few supplies around me and have been determined to try and keep myself creating and making, albeit it simply.

No tutorial today, I just got out the journal I have been making for this months Country View Crafts challenge sample that was published in the last post and decided to do a section in it and call it 'Crafting from the Sofa' hence the title of this post.  I have been making a few more panels and will be recording them here at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

This was made using some media paper dipped into watery distress oxides, Tim Holtz stencil and butterfly stamp and some of the lovely wildflowers that had been cut for another project and not used.

The sentiment from Tim's Small Talk stickers is just perfect - I'm luckily not in pain and being in the conservatory during the day means I can look out on the garden. Yes I would like to be out in it - but hopefully it won't be long.

Here's the panel added to the midori notebook in the journal.

The photos were taken on my iphone 7+ and adjusted in Snapseed before importing over to my laptop and resized in a very early version of Photoshop Elements, but the process worked.

I have an appointment at the fracture clinic tomorrow and this cast will be removed and my leg reassessed as to what the next step is (excuse the pun). I'll let you know soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx