Friday 7 January 2011

Wired and Re-wired

Happy nearly new (slightly used?) year. My blogging attempts have been frustrated due to the fact that no sooner had the old year moved out than the electrician moved in. So we are half way through the rewire and our lights are no longer lethal. We have been spending our time rushing around the shops looking for wall lights, spotlights and bathroom mirrors with shaver points. Exhausting.

Next week, the sockets will be done and the bathroom begun (luckily the electrician and the plumber often work together and they assure me that it will work). I'm thinking of leaving home. All our time will be spent making tea!

Back to things of a stitchy nature. Emma http://emma-alittlebitofeverything.blogspot.com/ who won a birdie brooch asked me how I made the background for the birdies - she thought that it might involve intricate work with printer and tissue but I have to confess that it was this stamp. Sorry - the pics are not good - I'm not back in production yet so it was taken in the dark with the iphone.

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I took a very weighty sheet of watercolour paper and tore off bits around the edge to reveal the layers. Then it was stamped with the words, using a black Distress Ink Pad. I then used a lighter Distress Ink Pad, rubbing it over the paper, especially the edges. When dry, a little metallic wax highlighted the torn layers.
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I also have a script style stamp which is in French. Most impressive until you translate and realise that it says, 'Thank you for your letter of the ......'. Not very romantic.
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Thanks for all the lovely good wishes. Busy Lizzie - I so love my handy postbox and sometimes pop across the road just to give it a little pat on the head.
Carol - I drive Clive mad in just the same way. He now gives me warnings, telling me that it's getting complicated and we both need to watch so that our combined intellects can be applied (we share a brain cell these days).
Welcome Lynda - good to meet you.
Thanks so much Ellen for the praise of the book. So glad you like it. I'm having a lot of fun putting the first class together - it will be a mixture of Isobel and me. I'm working on the image, below, together with water-soluble paper and silk paper and embossing powder. I expect to go live with the classes towards the end of the month - watch the blog or the d4daisy site. www.d4daisy.com.
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For those who don't know what I'm wittering about, these are free on-line classes for folk who have bought the Mixed Media: New Studio Techniques book. We have a Yahoo group and chat and play and show results.
Will be back next week to escape from the hell of the bathroom - might even give you a quick flash of the tiles (if I can find the camera).


7 comments:

Julie said...

Happy New Year Maggie and to Clive too. I don't envy the bathroom. Ours needs doing desperately but I keep putting it off at the thought of not having a loo for the day while they're working. Not sure the neighbours would welcome me banging on their door every 5 minutes to use the loo. lol

Robin Mac said...

Happy New Year to both of you - how on earth do you stay sane with all that going on around you!!! I am so glad you are working on the classes though, the sample looks exciting. Cheers, Robin in sunny (for the moment) Queensland

solange said...

Happy New Year to you too.
Thank you for your explanations. Very nice brooch.

Heather said...

Happy New Year to you both and good luck with finding the lights, etc., that you need. When you feel like running away, just think how lovely everything will be when all the work is done. Looking forward to the online classes - I need an inspiration boost just now.

Sharne Gregory said...

Happy New Year to you both!! I dont envy you all that work going on aroind you, but it will all be worthwhile WHEN it is all finished.

Diane said...

A very happy New Year to you and Clive. Your good luck has rubbed onto us - we have sold the house. Now to do something about the bathroom in the house we live in and then see if we can get rid of that and buy something more suitable for our ages!!
I have just about completed the last module of my C&G level 3 of machine embroidery and now look forward to doing more things out of your latest book - not to mention the free workshops. I do enjoy your books.
Floods are dreadful. We arrived in QLD at the beginning of the 1974 floods and lived just outside of Ipswich and were isolated for several weeks - well I was. Brian disappeared for several weeks on flood relief! It was quite an experience.

Anonymous said...

I've enjoyed reading your blog, Maggie. Thanks for sharing your birdie background technique. I have that French script stamp too, incidentally, and hadn't realised it translated to something so mundane!