Something entirely different - colouring Mandalas

When I was a kid I LOVED colouring... the more intricate the design, the better I liked it. My father brought us home a whole book of Celtic knotwork, and I hoarded those patterns for years, colouring them as slowly as I could to make the book last. Every now and then I get the urge to revisit my childhood and do some colouring (tiny mandalas or other small pieces of hand-coloured clip art make GREAT card decorations.) but I haven't done any for a long time. When I got some birthday money this year, I put a book of Dover mandalas into the Amazon basket, and it arrived at the perfect time - not two days after it arrived, I put my back out and any movement was excruciating. Sitting at my desk colouring was a good way to keep from going insane with boredom. These are full-sized mandalas, so it took me a couple of days to colour each one. The first one is coloured with assorted markers, and the second has some gel pen added for glitter. My gel pens are very elderly and alas most of them had dried up, so that's given me the perfect excuse to order a replacement set, and yet another colouring book... I've also bought a couple more copics - the smooth-flowing brush tip is just brilliant at colouring in the larger background segments.

Quick and easy cards

I know it's a VERY long time since I've used this blog... but I've had the misfortune to become chronically ill, and crafting has dropped way down my priority list. When I do craft I'm going with very simple designs that use premade decorations wherever possible to minimise the amount of moving around I have to do. I found these gorgeous flowers in Ross, and they inspired me to make some cards using a vase stamp and a leaf punch.

The first is a get well card for an elderly church member who broke his hip. Paul's eyesight is deteriorating, so I went for bold bright colours to make it easy for him to see the card and to cheer up his hospital room.

I also had the sad occasion to make a sympathy card for my brother-in-law's wife... I used the same tools, but added a filigree cross stamp for a background and used a sympathy prayer. I made it in two colours because I wasn't sure which background would work better, and I put a pre-printed sympathy poem on the inside...