Think Monday - Think ATC - Numbers

This is my Think Monday ATC for the current week's theme of "Numbers" - I am just scraping in before the new theme is announced tomorrow! All of the stamps used are from Julie van Oosten's Collections range and I have used one of the oil pastel backgrounds I made last week. You can't see it in the scan but it has a lovely golden glimmer from the Moon Shadow Mist (Medieval Gold).

Well like all good things my holidays finish tonight and I am back to work tomorrow. Getting a cold has slowed me down a bit creatively but overall the last couple of weeks have been a great break. Yesterday was quite warm and sunny, so in between loads of washing I made several sheets of fabric paper (a la Beryl Taylor), coloured some small fabric pieces with Adirondack Color Washes and painted canvas backgrounds. I also lost several hours in the evening reading "The Divide" by Nicholas Evans. I really like the way he writes and I couldn't stop myself from finishing it, even though my intention had been to make it last a week. So tomorrow on my lunch break I will be off to the second hand book store or the library in search of a good novel.

Today (after attending to domestic duties of the most mundane variety) I have finished my mini clean-up of the sewing and craft rooms so that I feel a bit more organised. I ALWAYS regret starting these clean-ups as they ALWAYS take far longer than I my original estimate and I start to feel as though I am never going to finish. I have probably "modified" what constitutes "finishing" but I have stopped and the rooms look a lot more organised than they did a week ago. Several piles of things have just been boxed rather than sorted but if they are lucky they will be first in line for the next clean-up!




The photos are of various stages in my fabric paper making frenzy. No pictures of the final results - I'll see what I can do about that tomorrow night. I think I have made my paper too firm again compared with the effect Beryl achieves - it will be usable but it certainly isn't very pliable. I obviously need to dilute my PVA glue more but 50/50 just seems so wet and sloppy!!

Here is a photo of the canvas backgrounds - needless to say I was having a bright day! I don't know about anyone else but I find it a lot easier to start a specific piece when my background or the canvas is already started. I guess it is my way of handling the white canvas syndrome. Anyway I find it very relaxing to just splash paint around because there is nothing specific intended at the time I am painting. I have a great big bag of painted canvases "ready" for projects - the initial colour quite often becomes irrelevant as I often completely change it once I am underway.