MEET VIOLET!

4 x 4 is the theme over at Theme Thursday this week - no not the cars, the paper size.

Meet Violet - the wording is from an old piece of sheet music I had which was already torn- I think the song was The Snowy Breasted Pearl - an old old song. I'd had this stamp I'd not used yet and wanted to include in some challenges and the words in the song "but she's like the Violet blue" seemed made just for her. The extra stamps of the flowers are actual violets - which are the flowers for February - well according to Stampin Up they are as its their stamp!

HARES

Over the past few years - I have started to have a great pull towards Hares and have started to collect them. Not real ones you understand, though we do have their wild cousins, rabbits, in our garden. I have been lucky enough to catch sight of hares in the fields where we live in Hampshire. I wanted to share with you some of my hares:

My first is a gorgeous wooden hare made by the talented British Artist Karen Davis. Karen has an uplifting blog you'll find here called Moonlight and Hares - I don't know where I first came across her blog but was so glad I did. She also has an etsy shop and I bought one of her wooden hares - he sits over my aga in the kitchen.

My other hares are bronze hares - the smaller one in the middle is very special as he is solid bronze and my favourite.

My hare picture came from Wendy Andrew - you'll find her here - she does gorgeous artwork and if you like your Goddesses and Mythical Images I would suggest you take a look.




I've just noticed that Karen has a Lunar Moon Hare calendar for 2010! I've just let my fingers do the walking on paypal! lol!

I don't have an association with any of the artists I've mentioned here - I just think their work is outstanding and want to give them extra recognition.

Oh, apart from this one artist: This is a moon gazing hare done for me by my daughter Emma Whitehead. She's only 18 and does the most fabulous digital art - normally horses but I asked her to do me a hare. I keep telling her she could do this professionally but she doesn't believe me. You'll recognise a hare in my blogger header - this was also done by my daughter.

INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG - MEN

MEN is the theme over at inchy challenge blog this week - here's mine:

WOYWW

Have I lost you? WOYWW - stands for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and is run by a friend of mine Julia. Check out her blog here - we are supposed to show our desks in all their disarray - but would you believe mine is tidy cause I tidied it for my friends coming at the weekend and somehow I haven't messed it up yet!

I can actually find things!!!! How great is that!

KNOCK YOURSELF OFF!/AWFULLY BIG ART ADVENTURE

Thanks to my good cyber friend Rosie's blog - I found the GPP street team and was fascinated by the challenge they were setting: take an old piece of your work and re-do it.

I decided to take an old canvas I had done - which looked so boring - and revamp it. I added extra stamps - I cut out the trees because I wanted to add some Tim Holtz crackle paint to it - to give the tree trunks more texture. Some of the birds are stamped and some are cut out to give it a more 3D effect. Stamps are Tim Holtz, SU and Cherry Pie.

BEFORE

AFTER
The challenge over at Awfully Big Art Adventure is to do something with Birds so this fits the bill nicely.

INCHY CHALLENGE - CIRCLES

Oops - forgot to put my inchies up for inchy challenge blog this week. The theme is Circles - as its the anniversary of the moon landings this week and the moon is a big part of my life, I thought circles may be appropriate.

Here are mine - look not a moon in sight - doh!

MONDAY'S CHALLENGES:

The Moon is the theme over at TMTA - here's mine using Cherry Pie stamps. A slightly different man in the moon than Buzz and Neil!

Vintage Children are the theme on Sunday Postcard Art - I don't have any collage images as are often used - so went with something I did have. I think she looks very grumpy!

Wednesday Stamper - Dream

DREAM is the challenge over at Wednesday Stamper this week

Simply Stamping

I was inspired by Ann's blog to do some simple stampin - so got out my SU stamps and had a play:

This last one can be included in Theme Thursday's challenge this week which is stripes. The paper has stripes on it!

UK Stampers/Created by Hand

Another tag today for the UK Stampers Challenge which is F for face. I've used a fave Cherry Pie stamp here.

Fairy is the theme over at Created by Hand this week - More Cherry Pie stamps here - plus a 4 x 4 altered backing paper I received from the swap at UK Stampers.

TMTA - FLY

The challenge over at TMTA is Fly - I've used some Tim Holtz stamps here:

INCHY CHALLENGE - GUEST DESIGNER

We have a fabulous Guest Designer with us at Inchy Challenge blog this week - the very talented Joanne Wardle. Pop on over here to see her design for our theme this week which is TEXT.

Here's mine:

GO MAKE SOMETHING - RUST

I've just done some altered background papers on UK stampers this week and the challenge on Go Make Something is to use Rust - their example is rust papers - and that's just what I did for my altered papers. I've used one as the background with keys, cause old ones are often rusty!

THURSDAY CHALLENGE - IN THE PINK + BROWN!

The Challenge over at Theme Thursday this week is to use the colours Pink and Brown. I've done a tag/picture frame - not sure where I got this stamp from - it was quite difficult to get it to stamp but I persevered! Such a great image.

FAUX LINEN TECHNIQUE

I saw this technique on my travels around craft blogs and thought it looked lovely. I've made mine using Stampin Up products. The butterfly is clear embossed and then coloured in with marker pens and a touch of sparkle - which isn't showing up.

LOTS TO DO CHALLENGE

The Challenge over at Lots to Do is to add stamping to your work - easy peasy for me.

I used a Tim Holtz Stamp and a Cherry Pie stamp. I wanted to use a different TH stamp but I just couldn't get it to stamp nicely so gave up in the end - grrr!

Art - The Journey Awakens the Soul

WEDNESDAY STAMPER - FLAG COLOURS

Wow a tricky request over at Wednesday Stamper this week -they asked you to use the colours of your flag. My flag is Wales so my colours are red, white and green. I couldn't not put a dragon on there somewhere !!!! I haven't used Mulberry paper in ages!

TMTA - WHAT'S IN YOUR GARDEN?

I'm doing a nature swap over at UK Stampers forum and the challenge this week on TMTA is in the garden. This ATC combines the two - the background flower stamp and Summer word stamp are from Stampin Up - the butterflies' wings are rose petals from the garden and its body is a leaf. Its antennae are clematis stalks. His right wing stretched out a bit when it dried.

INCHY BY INCH CHALLENGE - BUILDINGS

A BIG TOOT TOOT FOR MY INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG TODAY AS WE'VE BEEN FEATURED IN CRAFT STAMPER! - THANKS TO ALL THE INCHY ENTHUSIASTS WHO JOIN IN EACH WEEK. THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE IS BUILDINGS:


Created by Hand are also asking for inchies this week - great to see inchies becoming so popular