Seasonal Tree Late Autumn

Brrrrr! We certainly know its approaching Winter here in the UK.  We've had gales, flooding (in some areas)and icy mornings to wake up to.  I thought it was about time I updated my Seasonal Tree wallhanging as last time I showed it to you it was in its warm coloured Autumn coat. 

Today it looks like this:

It has lost all its leaves (again) and now they have all turned brown and are lying on the ground. (Don't know about you, but I simply can't resist kicking up leaves as I walk through them, even when the kids aren't with me! ;-)  )

I got an extra bonus when I was doing this project today, I was using my cut & dry with an inkpad to change all the paper leaves brown onto a piece of scrap paper and when I lifted the leaf it left a lovely pattern on the paper.  It created another piece of artwork worthy enough to frame!:

Before I took all the leaves off I photographed the stage before this, when a few leaves were still on the tree:

With their cosy warm colours

I've been sitting here writing this whilst getting colder & colder, (central heating gone off)  think I'd  better go and put the gas fire on, Brrrrr!

Thanks for looking and for any comments

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave

November Autumnal Fun

We are now into Autumn on our tree wall hanging:

(Just a little late, the last time we saw this, most of the leaves were green)

Last night, I put the TV on and watched the film, 'Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde' (Aaah!) whilst reddening all the green leaves with my red distress ink pad.

This is how it looked yesterday:

and as you can see, there are less leaves on the ground. Today I got out the other colours:

and added Brown (Rusty Hinge) and Yellow (Momento Dandelion) and went over all the leaves.

For those of you that have joined me later on in the year, this tree is an african wallhanging that I have in my lounge that I have been changing through the changing seasons.  It had no leaves on it, so earlier in the year I stamped out lots and have been slowing 'seasoning' the tree, as the year goes on.   It will soon be time to take all the leaves off and maybe add some snow....

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My boys had their last day of freedom today, lol, for it was a teacher training day at their school, following the half term they've just had. 

We went to the park to feed the ducks, geese and squirrels:

My eldest wanted to watch a squirrel tackle a walnut, like the ones on Willy Wonka, one of his most favourite films ever.  This one ran off with it soon after having its picture taken.

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I forgot to show you him (my eldest son) in his halloween outfit yesterday:

..as one of the characters from Harry Potter

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My husband has gone back to working in Germany today, seems as though he will be working there for a while, instead of China, which is better for us.  He will even be coming back weekends, yay!

Thanks for looking and for any comments,

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave

Leaves and Fudge

Here we have it - the finished Late Summer 'Winter' Tree:

Can you spot the little burdie? :-)

I thought I'd made quite a lot of leaves for my tree wallhanging yesterday.  I came to put them on the tree and there were nowhere near enough - so today out came the production line leaf make with one worker - me!  And I made another enormous page of green leaves.  This time I was much more efficient with the space, I wouldn't have got even one more (double) leaf on this page:

Here is an 'in progress' shot taken earlier today when my children were in school (yep, back today - now in Years 4 and 6!): 

This time I put each leaf on with painter's masking tape - the easily removeable type, this was a much cheaper option than the temporary sticky dots I used before. 

* * * * *

The other 'crafty' thing I did today was to make chocolate fudge with my elder son.  I have never made it before and was amazed how much sugar, butter and chocolate the recipe called for!

 

Am not sure whether we made it right, but all it tastes of is sugar!  Think I'll be sticking to healthier recipes in future.

Thanks for reading and for any comments you may leave,

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave

Graphic Bookmarks and Autumn Leaves

When I was looking at the picture of the journal I covered yesterday with the wallpaper samples I decided that the design lended itself to making bookmarks.  The designs were even bookmark shapes, so that is what I have done tonight:

Just need to add some ribbons.

Long term followers of my blog may remember a Winter tree wallhanging we have in our sitting room and one of my projects this year was to add leaves to the tree, appropriate to the changing time of the seasons.  Well, the last time I updated it was in May when the blossom had just fallen off. 

My younger son reminded me the other day that I hadn't done Summer - with its abundance of green leaves so tonight (a little late!) I set about making some.  I printed (rubber stamped) lots of blank leaves - and a little birdie:

Then I stamped the leaf colour inside - green

...and because the leaves are starting to change colour again now I overstamped some of them with orange, yellow and brown:

I haven't cut all of them out (there's stacks!) but I've put some on the tree:

...and will be showing you the completed tree soon.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave,
See you tomorrow,
qwiksave

Springwatch

Today it was time to make the first adjustment on my seasonal tree calendar  (See this post).  When  I went out with my boys today though, it wasn't like Spring, more like Winter!  Brrrr!  On our travels we passed a lovely tree with loads of blossom on it and the wind was blowing really hard so lots of the blossom was blowing around and there was a blanket of it all over the floor.  The boys, being boys, decided it made excellent snow and decided to chuck it at each other! 

It's snowing!

So I have made the first alteration to my tree:

..Some bits of blossom on the floor.

I haven't had chance to do a major craft today, my husband is coming back from China on Tuesday and I'm catching up on all the housework  making the house spick and span!

I did, however, alter some more pages of my filofax (remember that?)

This time I used some craft punches on some of the pages.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave

Spring Tree Part 1 Blossom

Own up! How many projects have you got on your 'I must do this craft' list?  If you're anything like me it will be tons!  Now, out of that list, how long have these crafts been waiting for you to get started on them?  Today's project, shock horror, has been on my list for getting on for 18 years!! 

But, of course, I've been waiting for the right time to do this, and now is it!  I have also been waiting for the right materials to come along (My mother always said that I could write the book of excuses!)

Anyway, this is the project:

Well, not quite.  I didn't make the tree, its an African wall hanging we have had in our sitting room for 18 years.  It's really cleverly made, and I got it from a World Craft Fayre all those years ago.    This project, which I have been meaning to do all this time is to explore the Seasons with it.  It has always been stuck in Winter...

Until today....:

(Click pictures to enlarge)

..I've added Blossom to some of the branches. 

The project I've been rambling on about, is to show the tree throughout its various seasons with blossom, then leaves, the leaves changing colour and falling off and maybe some snow...

Thats why I mean 'this is the right time'. This year I have remembered! And I remembered at the right time of year too, the first dramatic change in a tree's life cycle.

Here is a close up of the blossom:

It's just pink tissue & crepe paper stuck on with temporary glue dots.  (I've never had 'temporary glue dots' before so could never work out what to use as I didn't want to spoil the tree with permanent changes).

Hopefully you will join me throughout the year as I make the various seasonal changes...

but meanwhile....

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave

x