Made with Mica

I spent a happy afternoon playing with the mica backgrounds I had put together.  I had decided that a little stamping would work well, so I inked up (fingernails are still very dodgy-looking) and here are the results:

Birds on the Estuary: Eight of the Water Suit - Playing Cards 2011

Blossoming: Three of Earth - Playing Cards 2011

I think this needs something else, but I'm not quite sure what yet.  I'll let it mull for a bit.  Perhaps a bit more dimension with the flowers???

A Page for my Travel Journal 2011

ready for my July holiday (paid the balance today, and am now all excited!)

First Draft of July 2011 Calendar Journal. 

I was feeling kinda retro by this stage, hence the life rings, bathing suits, bags, surfboards and cocktails.  It's not finished yet, but I'm quite amused by it so far, particularly as it's so not me...

Mica Love

Welcome to one of my new favourite things: Cosmic Shimmer Mica Watercolour Paints.  

Are they not delectable?

I bought a small selection last week, and I'm already hooked and have ordered more.  Just dip a wet brush in the pot and away you go.  Here are some ATC backgrounds, some with a very light wash effect, and others with a deep accumulation of colour.

And some close ups.

These will be part of the 2011 Playing Cards Challenge for the water and earth suits.

2011 Calendar Journal: The One In Which I Got Overexcited

and made more months than I intended.  Check out the challenge at the Kathryn Wheel button to the right.

Here's April...first the original...

Then after I started playing with words, inspired by the concept of April showers.

If you can't quite read this, it says:

The rain it raineth on the just, and also on the unjust fellow

But chiefly on the just, because the unjust steals the just's umbrella

Then I broke into an exuberant May, full of butterflies and flowers with a funky striped background:

Then June was made up of a series of luggage labels, ready for the July holiday!

New Tree-Dwelling Beast

There has been building work going on at the end of the road for some time now.  So I wasn't unduly surprised when a sound like a dentist's drill permeated the air on Friday morning.  After it went on...and on...and on... I decided to investigate further, only to find we had a new tree-dweller (albeit temporary) across the road.

Here's where we started:

With the lesser-spotted tree surgeon hanging from the branches...

And denuded and stumpy (the tree, not the surgeon), before the trunk was felled.

I can't say I'm happy to see it go, but I hope it will give the deciduous trees that are next to it more room to wriggle their toes.  And seeing the tree surgeon at work was fascinating; he was veritably scampering up and down the trunk with his spiked shoes and the strap to sit on.

Since it was felled, the pigeons (who fortunately were nesting elsewhere) have been extremely annoyed.  They have been sitting on the telegraph pole or the lamp post and exercising pigeon vocabulary in displeased tones. I reckon they are missing their fun, as they used to bounce on the branches gleefully, as though it were some kind of pigeon amusement park.