Snowdrops and a priory

 It was a lovely day today so we decided to head out for the day.

 First stop was Church Stretton in Shropshire for lunch at our fav little cafe Berry's......it's a bit tucked away but well worth searching out.......homemade soup with cheese scone, slice of cheese and chutney......YUMMY!

From there we drove along Wenlock edge with it's spectacular views to Much Wenlock.......a lovely little town with some nice shops including Twenty Twenty Gallery where I bought a nice pair of earrings.

Then it was onto WENLOCK PRIORY......it was lovely walking around in the sunshine......will leave you with some of the pics.

A lovely day:)

Santos

I like SANTOS DOLLS

 So, decided to make one of my own. 

It's been a WIP for quite a while but today it is finished......well, almost, I still want a necklace for it but that will come when I find the right thing for it.

 The crown is a little over-sized but I like that!

 It is made around a cookie cutter

 I used one of those brown papier mache torsos for the body, added a doll head, used some strips of bamboo from a place mat for the struts and a base from an old dressform.

 Lots of paint on the body section and stand

 Crackle glaze on the face.....

I like the randomness of the effect.....some areas crackled, some not.

One glass eye

and four old doll heads! 

 I found these old doll heads today.......all the heads I use for altering so far have been from more modern dolls so I was excited to get these old ones.

I don't think I am going to alter these but find some way of displaying them.

 

The big head came with just one glass eye:)

 

The back of the bog head has these markings.....I looked them up and the MOA stands for Max Oscar Arnold company who made dolls in Germany from 1878-1930......so it is pretty old.

Be my Gothic Valentine!

Had another play with the wax crayon idea today...... a wet weekend and the rugby on TV means I get more time to play! 

Anyway, I saw that the theme on Sunday Postcard Art challenge this week is  

GOTHIC VALENTINE

......which appealed so I had a go.....only thing is I forgot there is a size restriction.....duh. I might just get away with it as each page in this small journal is 6"x4" which is the required size:)

 This image is called AMERICAN GOTHIC so it was very appropriate for this!

Can you tell I REALLY like this wax crayon melting thing? 

Only thing is I'm not sure this journal will ever close again......the wax ran into the spine amongst the pages!

Wax crayons?

If like me you thought wax crayons were more in the realm of kids craft then think again! Yesterday I saw this blog post and was amazed! 

Apparently this way of using crayons has been popular for some time but I hadn't seen it before, if you Google "crayon art" lots of links come up.

 So, this morning I nipped out to get some crayons......these were 99p.....cheap enough to play around with and experiment.

 Glue a selection along the top of your background......I used an old book cover

 Heat with heat gun.......the wax flows out and down the background......it's quite hard to control where it goes!

 I like the way the tubes are left empty with the wax flowing out..............

 added a bit of decoration................

 Next I tried another idea........this time cut the crayons in half and then wrapped them in old book page and glued to a small box.......heated again till the wax flowed out

 Heated a yellow crayon and flicked and dripped the wax over the box......also coloured the little doll figure with a little wax

This was great fun and I think I will use the idea...or an adaptation of it....again.

My heart panteth?

 Everywhere is full of hearts just now, I do like hearts so how could I not join in!

 Just don't expect me to be saccharin sweet though eh!

 Now, bet you've never seen this quote before! Me either, it's amazing what you find when you look!

 and how about this one!!

 

These pages are in this Moleskine journal.....I love them when they get this full and plumptious.....it still has a few empty pages but I think it''s time for a new one!

According to thine own heart

 Something a little different today! This is quite simple for me but I do like the way it came out.

STAMPOTIQUE DESIGNERS challenge today is to use the colours of love......red, white and pink. Rather than go down the Valentine route I decided to go with the Queen of Hearts.

Quite by chance I had a tag from Fat Face sitting on my desk.......the circle round the hole was pink and there was a piece of pink embroidered fabric along the bottom....it was meant to be used!