When the news is so grim ... do what makes you happy

Self care can mean many things, from yoga to meditation, prayer to taking yourself off to a spa. It's important to find joy in small things, and to find opportunities to do things that make you happy. That may seem like fiddling while Rome burns to some people, but we all take our different paths through life, don't we?

Which is why I spent yesterday morning crafting. I'd watched a video on (inevitably) YouTube, by Erin at eb_mixed media. She was showing how to make flowers from painted paper which could then be used in collages, art journals or on handmade birthday cards. So I thought I'd have a go.

I rifled through my storage tub of offcuts from gell prints, and pulled out greens and blue/greens for leaves, also pinks, oranges and yellows for flower petals.

I cut vaguely flower and leaf shapes, and got out the glue, sticking them on to a backing of either white copier paper or brown kraft paper.

It's simply a case of using a black pen to draw a spindly stem and to outline the bloom and leaves. Then the completed piece is carefully cut out.

As the stems are so thin they're rather fragile, so you need to handle with care until you've applied the piece to a suitable background, either a card or a journal page.

I was really pleased with how these turned out, and I ended up with quite a production line of 'em.

I think these work best if there's additional interest rather than flat colour to the leaf and flower. Some shading, stenciling or glimpses of text beneath the paint (where I've printed over a book page).

Well, that's how I spent yesterday morning. Oh, and I photographed my bed!!! Yes, weird I know, but it was looking pretty colourful, laden with quilts. Don't you think?

I'll certainly be cosy when the winter weather comes.

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Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

Another week's flown by ...

Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

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