Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath

 Not a crafting update but I thought I would share some photos I took recently on a walk one crisp morning around a local cemetery.

 The gravestones in the early morning light really showed the frost off and they sparkled like they had been dusted in glitter!

 The architecture in this cemetery is truly stunning

 The buildings are made of Bath stone, that instantly recognisable warm honey stone

The views across the city of Bath are truly spectacular, there are many churches in the city so you often see one of them as you gaze across the city

 Here you can see the golden dome of Beckfords Tower at the top of Landsdown.  Built in 1827 this 120 foot tower is open to the public and you can climb the steps to the top (I haven't, but my husband has).  Its golden dome dominates the skyline.

We have some fantastic cemetery's in the West Country (I plan on going to Arnos Vale in Bristol) and they have some great photo opportunities, stone carvings and structures.  It was too cold to take my sketch book so I only took photos.

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW

 Another What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.  The excuse for us to bare our desks, good, bad or indifferent!

On my desk this week is my carving from the other week (haven't had time to do much crafting so its still sat there).  At the front is a card I have actually had time to make (shock horror!) and on the left are some recent purchases.

The card has an alcohol background and an octopode stamp of the crow and visible image text (I do love their text stamps).

 

 My new purchases were from last weekend.  We went to a local antique/flea market and I bought some old photos (I am a sucker for old 'miserable' photos)

and some old postcards (not written-I like to post vintage cards to friends, much funnier than modern ones)

 

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week....'Nude Judge Nails Blonde'.....well, not much I can comment on that!!!!!

Happy Crafting

Kyla

 

365 Challenge Year 4

I often beat myself up for not sticking to things but one thing I have stuck to is Kate Crane's 365 Journal Challenge.  Every day you jot something down about the day, or even a small drawing to represent the day.  It only takes one minute which I think is why it works.

I have been doing this for four years now!  I know!!! Get me, actually sticking to something.

January's page is coloured with Dylusion sprays (I still love these products, such bright colours and water reactive) and the fir trees are made from a stencil I made by punching trees from some waste card and inking through.

I added some snowflakes, stickles glitter and flicked some white watered down acrylic paint across the pages.  The 'January' is die cut from an old cereal box, coloured and stickled so it screams bling and sparkle! 

The pages are filled in up to date, but I tend to take a photo before I start filling them in...lets be honest the daily humdrum life is of little interest to me let alone you!

If you have made any new years resolutions (mine are the usual, work less, create more, be kind to myself etc) then I hope you have made a good start to 2016.

Happy crafting,

Kyla

Baby quilt

 My brother and sister in law had a baby girl back in the autumn and this gave me the ideal opportunity to have a go at making a small baby quilt for either the cot, car seat, floor...where ever they needed a small soft surface.

I used some bright owl fabric with an organic bamboo batting and a yellow fleece for the backing.

 To keep all the layers together I hand stitched around a few of the owls

It was lovely to be able to give my niece a handmade gift at Christmas.

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW

It is Wednesday again so that means crafters across the globe take the lead from the lovely Julia and bare our desks......be them clean, messy or like mine....devoid of any work!

On my desk this week is not much!  My stamped image I made (see my earlier post) is propped at the back and the rest is just bits and bobs that I need to put away.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are 'Blind Suspect Strikes Priest'!

So, do you dare to bare?  If so then you can find all the details here 

Happy crafting

Kyla

Misfortune stamp carving

 On an earlier post I mentioned that fellow coven member Anna bought me some 'misfortune cookies' and Doug (Shaz silverwolf's hubby) suggested they would make a good stamp so I thought I would give it a go.

First I hand drew an image based on the cookie and transferred the image using carbon paper onto a rubber (the fake £50 note...no I am not made of money but these large flat rubbers are perfect for carving and only £1 each).

 Then I carved the image out of the rubber

 I inked the stamp and made a few first impressions to highlight areas that I needed to tidy up and finish off carving. 

 and there you have it, my new stamp

Thanks to Doug for the idea, now I have a new one off stamp and used up some of my ever expanding stash!!

Happy crafting

kyla

Sugar and spice and all things nice

 I thought I would share some of the presents I have made this year (now the coast is clear to share them!).

I made a few of these small lined zipper bags.  Some I stuffed with shop bought goodies others with vouchers.

 I also made several batches of Elderflower cordial this year and also sloe gin (the sloe gin I give as gifts has been maturing for a couple of years, I never give this years as I like the flavours to develop and mellow).  I also made another batch of spiced sugar (with bay leaves from the garden, cloves, cinnamon etc)

Hopefully people like the gifts, they usually ask if they can have some more so I am assuming they do!

Happy crafting

kyla

 

Last desk of shame of 2015

Happy WOYWW the last one of 2015.

So my desk is looking totally uninspiring devoid of crafting with only a few scavanged ribbons from various presents and wrapping and some tags from the homemade sloe gin, elderflower cordial and spiced sugar I give as gifts which I will try to blog later.

The black empty wrapper on the top left is from a misfortune cookie that I blogged about earlier in the week. Doug and shaz suggested they would make good stamps so I thought I may give it a go, or at least an interpretation on the theme.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week spell more doom for our Mayor!!

I hope you all have a wonderful end of year.

Kyla 

Nac Mac Feegles, Birds and a Krampus

 We received many fabulous cards again this year, some handmade, some bought (charity or storebought) and some handmade by artists.

Here is a selection of just a few that really summed us up well!

A friend I have known since School (Sammie) bought me a Terry Pratchett card with the Nac Mac Feegle (both Sammie and I love Discworld and they have a shop in Dorset where Sammie lives)...Sammie also made me a shortbread christmas tree but lets be honest...that didn't last more than 48hrs after she gave it to me!!).

 Ju (another school friend) has recently returned from a trip to Japan and kindly brought back some Japanese spa products (one was a collagen mask in the shape of a face!!!! It was lovely to use but there are NO photos of that one!!) and this was the fabulous Christmas card. 

An original lino cut of Krampus from http://boswellart.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 The final card to share is from my Mum.  She didn't paint it (though she is a very talented knitter) but she did buy it from an artist selling paintings and original works direct to the public in a park in Sidmouth, Devon.  Once a year artists sell direct to the public from around the bandstand and flower beds!

So just a few cards I thought I would share.  Each very different but each celebrating art in various forms.

Happy crafting

Kyla

Coven Crafty Christmas

 Merry Christmas to all my followers.  I hope you are all having a lovely Christmas and New Year.

I had a break from blogging for a month as the pay the bills job was taking up too much of my life and any crafting I did meant I couldn't blog as it was for Christmas presents!

One thing I can share though are some of the presents I got at the Coven party.  Each week for about 7 years we meet and craft and this years Christmas 'do' involved pressies and curry!  

It was our first Christmas without Bex who moved to France a few weeks ago (waves manically to Bex via our skype chats!!) and some of the presents were homemade fudge and peanut brittle (thanks Julie and Jane-none left to show!) and then.....

 These misfortune cookies from Anna!

 The fortune cookies inside were black too!!!

 This wooden spoon was from Chief Coven member, Jill.  Loving her pyrography work.

Then we were all stunned when Arlene (who makes miniatures) presented each of us with one of these......

Each one was modelled on us (Julies had red hair!) and Arlene got my hair colour spot on and even included my white shot I have had at the front of my hair since my early twenties!  She included a pair of scissors on the hat too-simply stunning.

I hope you have had some great gifts this year and I look forward to spending some time crafting over the holidays.

Happy crafting

Kyla