Friday 30 October 2015

A quick and easy card





Just a quick update on my latest card.

The background is actually tissue paper (covered in, I presume fake advertising) that I bought for £1 at the scrap store for about 1" thick of A4 sheets-bargain!

I then stamped a greeting (masking the flowers off the stamp as I didn't think it suited the card) and inked the greeting with distress ink which I flicked water over to lift off some of the colour.

I then matted and layered it on black card.

A nice quick and easy card.
Happy crafting
Kyla
 

Wednesday 28 October 2015

WOYWW

 Happy What's on your Workdesk Wednesday where across the globe many of us (led by Julia, there is a link on the right) bare all and share our desks of shame.

This week is almost the same as last weeks as I have been busy being social instead of crafting.  On my desk are the left over supplies from making a few tags for the crop and a recent purchase.
 
 I don't often buy a magazine just for the cover freebie but this months Simply Craft and Papercraft has an embossing folder and these stamps, which I think are varied enough for me to get quite a lot of use out of them (I try not to purchase more stash unless I can think of 3 uses for it).

 In case you were wondering what I made last week for my friend who is moving to France-well we put together an emergency kit (chocolate, candles, matches, bin bags etc...the sort of things you have no idea where you packed them).

I also bought a small tool box and converted it to an emergency stash box....
 

 filled with chocolate!!!  I have taped a sheet of acetate over the top so Bex will have to cut the chocolates out!!


 This is the card I made from a recent die I bought (I thought I could use all the different layers for so many ideas, hence I bought it).

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are 'Scam Nurse Stabs Lawyer'!!!

Happy crafting

Kyla



















Friday 23 October 2015

A new baby blanket

 Something a little different today. 
 5 years ago my brother was living in Ecuador and skyped me to say he had met the love of his life!  He was living up a volcano working for a charity that ran schools for local children where he met Zoe.  I was expecting a local girl....but she also lived in London, only a few miles from my brother!!  Such a small world.

They are now married and back in London and have just had a baby girl, Emily Sisa Rose.

Now, my crafting is not really child friendly (I will have to wait until she is older so she can get messy with her Auntie Kyla) but my mum is a talented knitter and I wanted to share what she made them.

This is a knitted blanket.  The hearts are embossed and debossed on each and every square

 The colour is not a very good rendition as it is not this blue it is more a pale green/blue

I wish I could knit like this, but every time I knit my tension squares differ and there are more holes than a string vest.

Happy crafting
Kyla
 
 

Wednesday 21 October 2015

WOYWW

Another What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday where we bare all (desks that it). Some messy, some tidy (they freak me out a bit!) and some with gorgeous storage (can you guess which one I fit into?).

 So on my messy desk this week: In the middle (slightly hidden) is a box I am doing up as a present for my friend and fellow crafting coven member.  Bex and her hubby are leaving the UK to live in France, we will all miss them but the Coven will especially miss Bex.  On top of the box is the card I am making for her (all will be revealed when I am sure they have opened them!).

The rest are supplies for a few Halloween tags for the WOYWW crop at the end of the month (I only plan on making about 4 or so as I know my time is limited over the coming weeks).

My "Man Bites Dog" cards are 'Actor Weds Fake Priest'.....ooh, I wonder if this will be in the headlines this week?

Happy crafting

Kyla
 

Sunday 18 October 2015

Malta roundup

One of the reasons I haven't blogged for a while is because we went to Malta for a well earned break.  My parents and grandparents both used to live and work there so it does feel comforting when I walk around.

The weather was lovely and warm (in the 80's) but there were a few days of heavy thunderstorms and downpours (but hey, if you are swimming you are wet anyway).

We were staying in Floriana (just outside the city gates of the capital Valetta) and knew that they had a street art festival (similar to the one we have in Bristol) back in the summer so we headed off walking the streets to see what we could find-and boy did we find some amazing pieces.  This is just a small selection:

These were down by the lido (where we swim if we are there in season but as we were just out of season it was closed, so we swam in the sea off the rocks with the locals instead.


This gent was HUGE and was painted on the roof of fishermen's huts
 


!!This was painted on the walls of a local cafe
 
These were next to the lido on the roof of their bar/changing rooms.  The jelly bears are larger than a person and when you walk amongst them it is difficult to tell what they are....but climb up through the streets and peer over a certain wall and voila, 3D jelly bears!  Several people were there and taking photos of the lovely harbour view but not looking down!  That soon changed when they heard us "oohing and ahhing"!



This large 3D melting icecube complete with trapped blue bottle was next door.  It almost felt you could reach out and touch it.

A short water taxi to Sliema and we came across even more

This one was 3 storeys high

The eyes on the skull cleverly used the drainage holes in the wall
 

So many colourful pieces all hidden under a walkway next to the sea, the only way to view them was to climb down when the tide was out and look back towards the town




I think this was a really old painting looking at the weathering 
 
From the road you wouldn't know any of this was here



Some stunning work and not what I expected to find

Back in Valletta we came across new bars and galleries since our last visit as it gears up to be the 2018 European City of Culture

Tables have been upcycled with handpainted tops



Locals have embraced the anarchic nature with "this is a piece of art!" we found in the street

Whilst we were there it was the 10th Anniversary of the performance and arts festival Notte Bianca where 60,000 people descend on Valletta for one evening.  These were Mdina Glass light shades suspended along one of the streets.  There was so much to see and do, 
such as crafts,


like this weaver
 
ancient and public buildings (including the Prime Ministers private office!!  The queues for that were massive) threw their doors open (free entry)

There were lots and lots of art installations such as this bedsit covered entirely in paper

These were small diarama's made by prisoners depicting what time in cells meant to them
 
We explored the WWII bomb shelters where my nan probably spent some of her time whilst she was on the island.  As you can see it was VERY far down into the depths of the island.
 
We then walked to the far end of the city to Fort St Elmo.  This was only recently re-opened after refurbishment and not somewhere we had been before so we took advantage of it all being open for free, with bands playing and lovely light displays
 

With rows of giant floor lanterns once again made with Mdina Glass

Then there were the fireworks....which carried on,
 

and on for almost 6 hrs!!  There could not have been any gunpowder left on the island!
 

We did some tourist things such as visiting the markets and Mdina (the silent city)
 
The biggest change we noticed were the new city gates in Valletta which are a stunning execution of stone masonry.
 
If you like your street art and are looking for somewhere sunny I thoroughly recommend the capital of Malta.

Kyla
 

Wednesday 14 October 2015

WOYWW

 Finally I am able to do another update-sorry it has been so long, the pay the bills job and a holiday to Malta (some fabulous street art which I will blog about soon) means I have not been about much.

On my desk this week is some colouring.  Now, I know colouring is taking the UK by storm but as many of you will know my tastes are not conventional so  I was pleased to find this colouring book:

 Much more my style. Each page is a vintage comic cover.

I wish I could draw like this but instead I can have fun colouring.

So what is on your workdesk this Wednesday?

Kyla