Card

Card.

Christmas card

Christmas card.

A small memory book of my favourite toys.

Bang on the Door babies which we call aliens. When Mum phoned the company to ask for brown ones they said "but they are aliens" . We didn't quite got for that but they became aliens to us who act like really incompetent adults .

Sorry Holly this should be on my blog !!

I am sending it over but refuse to remove it ,mum x

Illustrated books.

It was high time I changed my space a bit and instead of being surronded by perfumes, knitting yarns and beading I re-discovered some of my favourite books. I first started buying illustrated children's books when I was about 18 with Nicola Bayley's fabulous Tyger Voyage . I became a firm fan and many more followed . I loved Lisbeth Zwerger on sight , P.J Lynch , Christian Birmingham are just a few others.
                     This meant when Holly was born I had quite a library but for a small child there was Tony Ross, The Ahlbergs ,Inga Moore ,Shirley Huges and countless more .I loved reading together but there was one book that I could never read well as sobs choked me : Rumer Goden's " Holly and Ivy" .My daughter was named after the Carol The Holly and the Ivy which I find deeply mystical and spiritual .It combines pre-Christian symbols with Christian ones and I howl if I hear it ...but then I howl over Little Town of Bethlehem and There is a Green Hill Far-Away . This puzzles some people as the lump in my throat rises.
             I howl when watching Che's remains arriving by air in Cuba , R.F.K's funeral train ...sigh.
I am sure I was the only Quaker who one Sunday in 1997 was thanking God for returning Che to his family and adpted country . As I felt moved I nearly stood up and asked the Friends for thanks but somehow I never felt they would understand.After all one or two told me that there are such things as Conservative Friends and as the late John Smith said you can't be a Christian and  Tory.

Candy hearts in various stages of construction.

Sorry this picture isn't so good, basically for these I used pre cut wooden heart ornaments covered with red and white stripe candy-cane paper. Then I took some victorian postcards, isolated the areas I wanted, figures who looked like they might be carolling or bringing home the tree then printed them out at the right size. You can guess the next bit... I cut them out , glued them in place covered the whole with crackle accents added festive banner phrases and edged them with garnet glitter. The idea is that they'll look like cracked candy hearts hanging on the tree.  

Sweet!

Because life isn't all about Christmas...

I have also been working of this beautiful book about roses and romance, love and love of flowers. A favourite vintage card provided the central image framed by gold leafing and a silk spine got extra pizzaz with a rose trimmed from a pair of dance pumps and some vintage lace. I used Distress inks to give it a lost in the attic look .

Christmas Cards 2010

These two card's mix vintage images with gorgeous papers and a hint of crackle accents from Ranger, a pretty stunning product! They also have some of my favourites brads and glitter to give a hint of sparkle. And of course I've used my 'hero' glitter, Martha Stewart! 

So busy making Christmas cards,decorations etc...

That I havn't had time to work on this site ! Holly.

Victoriana Christmas mini-book .