close to my heart

Good day everyone, how has your weekend been? I'm back for my final share on a lovely Saturday before I head out for some last minute Christmas shopping.

This is an altered clothes hanger I've created for Green Tara. Now this is really special to me 'cos the hanger is somewhat of a relic I got from my dad's little dry cleaning shop. The business has been around for more than 60 years, my dad inherited it from his dad and now my husband is helping out with the biz, hoping to bring it to the next level. Strange how things turn out, and what they say is true - the man you marry is often very similar to your dad. If so, then I'm a really lucky gal 'cos my dad is one of those fathers who don't say much, but are smart and extremely hardworking to make sure that their children (my brother and me) are well taken care of. He believes that the key to success is hard work and prudence, and his joys are simply his twice weekly badminton game, a cup of hot Milo before bedtime, and my two sons. Dad is also extremely down-to-earth, and easy-going despite having really wealthy customers (one of them is an ex-President of the country, several are CEOs of multinationals). Sadly, they don't really make men like that anymore. Anyway, there are about twenty of these hangers in the shop and I've stolen one of them. Dad's not too happy about it actually. The inspiration actually came from SATW's December mood board:

Love the shabby patina frames and the pinks! The ring reminded me of those family heirlooms passed down from generation to generation and I can't help but think of my grandfather and my dad, and how the business has been passed from father to son. And that's how I ended up stealing something from the shop - in the name of art!

So I've done some masking with texture paste and misted it over.

 

 The beautiful ladies from Green Tara. They have just enough texture and yet soft enough to match the shabbiness of the hanger.

 

Hidden behind the Damask and mini-roses is a Gabrielle butterfly from Blue Fern Studios. This is a really sweet butterfly motif which I misted with the same colors as the rest of the hanger.

 

One of the grande bird cages, also from BFS. I had intended it for another project but found that it is the perfect accent for this. Very simple embossing with Ranger's. I've recently received my shipment of EPs from Lindy's Stamp Gang, and I can't wait to see how they work with BFS chippies.

Now that I'm done for December, I'll be back soon to share more new reveals for the new year. Until then, happy holidays and may the new year be full of new joys!

love,

Memories

Hello there! I'm back again for a second day with another reveal from my December Green Tara post. It's another shabby layout, this time using some lovely new papers!

 

 I'm using something from Marion Smith's "Nirvana" collection as well as Kaiserkraft's "Key to My Heart". Both are absolutely delightful! I couldn't resist using gesso to soften the background paper and mix in some random stamping and masking.

 Featuring the beautiful Green Tara wild rose flower. The bejeweled design makes it easily the centre of attention for any cluster.

 As promised, I have the other part of the lattice fence from Blue Fern Studios. I've embossed it with Ranger's distress embossing powder and brushed over with gesso. It adds a nice rugged touch to this little cluster here.

 

Another one of my favourite pieces from BFS. This is a piece from the "Memory frame" set and I've used it here as my title. I've covered the chipboard with gesso before spraying it with chalk mist. Then I went over it with gesso again for a distressed look. 

I'll be back again tomorrow to show you an altered piece, something really special to me. So do remember to drop by the blog!

love,

Shabby love

Hello crafty people! I hope you've had a good week! We are just less than a week from Christmas and sad to say, it isn't one of my happiest ones because of some issues. But with the new year coming, hopefully everything will turn out just fine!

I've got a reveal of my Green Tara DT work for December to show you today. It's an attempt to use up old stash and an experiment to see if I can create something without using gesso *LOL*

 

Well, I stayed away from gesso but I can't resist the Dazzlerz from Shimmerz and I've used some of those with their Spritz and Shimmerz for the background. Then it's the crazy cutting and layering of some Prima note cards, Melissa Frances stickers (I'm not a sticker person!) and a lace thingy from BG.

Those lovelies from Green Tara. How can you resist them? I misted the centre of the Damask flower with pink Spritz so it kind of looks like my bridal bouquet. And ooooh.. those little mini-roses!! Love them so much that I just want to use them everywhere.

Trying to use up tiles and resist canvas again. I've also got a little piece of chipboard from Blue Fern Studios - it's the lattice fence which comes in 3 panels and I've cut them up for two separate projects. I embossed this one with Ranger's embossing powder for a lovely metallic feel. It's not very visible here but I promise you'll see more of it in the next post.

That's all for now, thanks for dropping by!

Love,