Rain, rain, go away......................

Well, it's October, and it's still raining!  What's more, it's bloody cold as well!  Spent all of last week crafting cards, but sold two today, gave away three and left the rest at a friend's business, to see if she can sell them (she offered!). Didn't even take any photo's of 'em before taking them out of the house! Have started to paint another Italian scene - an alleyway; I have blocked it in in sepia, and tried to get the perpective correct before beginning the task of painting it using a glaze or medium in the paint other than the turps which I have been using to date - mmmmm, could be exciting or disasterous. What is interesting is I have been 'allowed' by my teacher to move onto this method of painting!

I made the following card a while ago now - when I was practicing working with embossing and sponging ink.  It is made from scraps of paper and card, some buttons from my mother's old button box and a rub-on. The ink I used was a Tim Holtz distress ink on the edges of the rub-on and the brown was from Timber Brown Stayzon. I used  SU Glossy White paper to stamp and then emboss with white ink (Brilliance - Moonlight White) and clear embossing powder. The stamp was a foam freebie from somewhere that was one of my first stamps and I used with acrylic ink before using it here.  Once the brown ink was sponged on, I used a tissue to carefully wipe the excess ink off, and polish the surface.  Despite the fact that the embossing powder stuck to the surface and that it is a bit 'rough' looking, I like the look of it still. It was made when I was first beginning to 'play' with different styles!

The card below was also made ages ago - before I got a stamp for a bird that is similar to this, so this bird is drawn freehand, and coloured in using various inks.  The legs are drawn freehand on the ruled paper, and the 'for you' is also written freehand with a black pen. The ribbon is one that came tied around a present for me, and the scrap paper is stamped with SU Peaceful Wishes; the tail feathers are covered with glue and purple glitter, and the green background paper is one from a pack given to me by family - in other words, I have no idea what label it should go under!  The card is a Bazill card. I have edged the papers with SU Wild Wasabi ink.