Card making

Collage 'J' card by Jenny Stacy

Collage 'A' card by Jenny Stacy

Collage 'B' card by Jenny Stacy

This week I've been making cards. I think this is a good use for my pieces of painted paper.

It's great when you feel in the mood to do something creative. It doesn't happen every day to be honest,especially at the moment with the world battling our invisible enemy...

Then snow came and for a moment we forgot our problems and just stared at how pretty it made everything look. Snow pictures next time.

Go carefully.

The Latest

Still addicted to painted papers. Simple beads.

Purple carrots. Never had those before.

So many berries on the holly. Hard winter?

I've realised that I can't get a blog post published with more than three pictures and that's ok. I'll post the other pictures later this week.

Most days during this lockdown I get the paints out as you can see above. The simple beads use some of my painted papers. You don't have to use painted papers... gift wrap, magazine pictures, drawn on paper, anything you fancy will work.

Today I'm planning to make collage cards out of painted papers too.

Are you finding enough things to do while living with these restrictions?

I've been making up stories for a grandchild in which he is always the hero. He loves it. I'm wondering if I could illustrate a story using collage somehow.

I try to shop for food as little as possible now. Yesterday the death figure for 24 hours in the UK was 1,610. I think that's a record. So many deaths daily. It does feel that staying in is best with an hour's walk at some point during the day.

I spotted purple carrots in Marks and Spencer. Never tried those before. They were in a mixed bag containing white carrots and orange carrots.  When I added a sliced purple carrot to my usual vegetable soup I was amazed to see the soup turn purple. All that colour from one little carrot. But it tasted good. Even better than usual.

I saw this holly bush while out on a walk. So many berries! I've always understood that lots of berries signals a particularly cold, hard winter.

When the weather is cold and (worse) rainy we just have to try extra hard to stay cheerful and spread some positivity to others.

I smile at everyone I see while out walking. They probably think I'm eccentric but when you get a return smile it just makes your day.

Thinking ...

Sending you love and good wishes with this heart I made a while ago

A truly beautiful card made by my friend Bee Mellor which arrived from Australia this week.

Peonies that I dried last year in May when the bushes bloom in my front garden

This week the UK's death figures passed 80,000. The highest figure in Europe. It feels like the walls are closing in to be honest and it is hard to still think positive. I feel lucky that I can lose myself in painting or making something and it is always fun to plan projects for future happy times.

What are your dreams? A friend looks forward to being beside the sea.

I look forward to seeing family again and giving friends a cup of tea and biscuit inside my home.

We are being urged to stay at home but to preserve our mental health we all need contact with other people. And some elderly people aren't able to communicate on Zoom or Face Time or WhatsApp. How is society looking after them? That is something bothering me at the moment...

On a more positive note. Now is the ideal time to improve our cooking skills and to read books we've always meant to read but haven't had time to do so. To thoroughly clean and sort where we live (this is my unrealised dream as yet!)  Maybe to re-watch the incredible wildlife photography in David Attenborough's tv series.  But I don't find any of those things satisfying enough. My joy is to walk in the countryside or a  park and hear the birds singing and see the seasons unfolding and buds unfurling, taking us forward to better times.

This Week

Volcano painting inspired by David Attenborough's 'A Perfect Planet'

Favourite pictures from 2020

Inspirational colours in a brick wall

I made painted papers into beads for this necklace

Another necklace using my painted paper

The best tv I've seen in ages is David Attenborough's latest series called A Perfect Planet. The first episode is called Volcanoes and inspired me to paint this picture after seeing it. Truly spectacular... I highly recommend you watch it!

I realised one night this week that if I painted my painted paper with wax it would become robust and waterproof and could then be used in jewellery. I glued it to card as well and made these two necklaces along with painted wood beads. I'm going to try out different bead shapes now.