This and That!

This is a little bag I made out of flower paper. It was very easy to do and would make a nice container for a gift. I had forgotten I had it and it was only when looking through sketch books that I came across it. I must make a note that this would be a good thing to do for Christmas pressies. It is such an enjoyable thing to do making flower paper and it can be used for so much, from little bags like the above to stitched over embroidery pieces. And it makes lovely cards too.
Like this piece with hydrangea petals and machine made mesh. This piece on pink hand made paper is drawings of lily flowers using wax pastels and then a marigold captured in transfer adhesive. This method has retained the brightness of the petals which ordinary pressing of flowers doesn't do. The petals at the bottom right were also put between two layers of transfer adhesive.

These were lily petals that I covered with transfer adhesive and then rolled round a knitting needle to make beads. Before I took the roll off the needle I just touched a hot iron to it and it melted the transfer adhesive so that the layers all stuck together thus giving me a bead. The long petals of lilies make wonderful beads. And there are so many colours to choose from. The tiger lily makes the most interesting bead though I think.

Well I have just been randomly selecting pages from a sketch book because I have to say I've done nothing today! Lets quickly scan over that and then ignore it. After all it is Wednesday which is Martin's day off and I always find it hard to work when he is at home. I did manage to get some drawings done though in the latest sketch book for my water and reflections piece and I think I know where I am going with it. I shan't make it very large mainly because of the constraints of space but also because if it is a medium size there is every liklihood that it will be finished. I know my limitations. When I was in Falmouth I treated myself to some new pencils and got some lovely pastel crayons. I like working in pastels even though they are messy and need to have tissue or tracing paper over them. I fix with hair spray as it so much cheaper than the real McCoy!

This time next week I shall be well on my way to Scotland. We are leaving on the Wednesday morning to visit our son Andrew and his partner Mel in Edinburgh. Well actually in Dalgety Bay but Edinburgh is close! We will spend Wednesday night in a hotel near Preston so as to break the journey and allow us to take our time. Altogether we will be away for 8 or 9 days. I'm really looking forward to it and as we are driving up there will be lots of photo opportunities. While we are there we hope to go up into the Highlands as I haven't been above Edinburgh before. So quite exciting!