Swimming in winter

Hello, crafting friends!

 

First of all, here's a message for the lovely lady who asked me what I meant when I used the abbreviation OH. I do hope you see this!

 

When I arrived in Blogland, I too saw people using OH and DD and wondered what they meant. By context I began to understood that DD was Darling Daughter. From there it was clear that DH was Dear Husband. But OH? I could only suppose it meant Old Husband which seemed a bit irreverent but then a friend told me it was Other Half and all became clear. I use OH now because it makes me giggle (but don't tell DH!!)

Okay, let's move onto a little light crafting! There are a couple of challenges in Blogland calling for things with wings, which encouraged me to pull out a favourite stamp set by Craft Consortium called Riverbank featuring a beautiful swan.

My Arteza watercolour brush pens were on my desk jumping up and down shouting 'pick me'!! So I went and got my jam jar of water and my brushes, and used them to create a simple background for the swan. First I stamped the swan on watercolour paper, then I dampened the paper around the swan with water. It is so easy from there to add strokes of colour with the pens and move it around on the paper to give the illusion of cloudy skies or water. I added some simple green shapes for the river banks too and left it to dry.

 

The swan was easy to colour with the same blue grey. I left that to dry while I stamped foliage and twigs and trees over my bank shapes to add detail. After all that, I went in and added darker details and finished off the swan with an orange beak and black accents. The sentiment is a favourite from Uniko's Floral Vines. I trimmed my panel and mounted it on brown card before attaching to my card front.

CHALLENGES

Stamping Sensations' February challenge is all about Animals, Birds and Creatures so I'm linking up there; Liz has chosen the theme of Things That Fly for Allsorts this week and although Mr Swan is currently swimming, I am sure he could put on an impressive display of flying if he chose!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The swan stamp I used today came into my mind when I took the golden girls to walk by the river. I deeply regretted this because although the flood water has receded, the banks are knee deep in mud. That's fine when you have canine claws but not so much when you are wearing old wellies!! We had the place to ourselves (as everyone else had the sense to walk somewhere else!) and half way up the river, we came across a pair of beautiful swans gliding up the river. Eva learned a long time ago that swans are not to be messed with, but I'm afraid having a naughty little sister emboldens her to imagine she is a fearless huntress! I had to be quite stern but we walked past the swans with the dogs on lead and me explaining how we just have to be Grown Up Lady Dogs sometimes and behave with Dignity and Decorum. Needless to say, when we had safely passed the swans and I let them off lead again, dignity and decorum were the last things on their minds! Sigh.

Sending hugs,