Doesn't time fly

When you are enjoying yourself, well I think I have been.  I've done very little since the wedding and as the official photos won't be  picked up until next week when they come back from honeymoon its going to be a little while before I can show you any more.

I've done two workshops in the last 8 days, not finished anything I started on either of them.  The first was one of our Plus4 day workshops on transfer paint and seeing what happens when you apply it to various surfaces.  Got a lot of blue lace, I seem to have used more blue paint than anything else.  Think I must have the next four 'blue' CQ journal page challenge on my mind.  I must admit my mind is blank at the moment but hopefully one or some of the transfer painted pieces will inspire me.

The second workshop was with Jenny Burns doing something much more traditional - Hardanger.  I enjoy doing the more traditional stuff now and again.  However, counting threads all day has really made my eyes tired.   It will take me a night or two to finish it and then I'll post a photo.

I have however finished my last chunky book page for the Surface Design group.  This one was "The Beauty of Nature".  I thought about this a lot while doing the daily chores.  I like the idea of a rainbow and started pulling bits and pieces out to create one.  Then I picked up a packet of seeds and thought seed pods are beautiful so here it is.

It started out with a photo of  a poppy seed head, this is all that is left of my garden poppies.   I created several layers in PSP, blended several layers using different blend modes.  I flattened the image and applied a couple of special effects.   Before I flattened the image I added a rainbow gradient to the background layer.  

I printed out the original piece but thought it too dark so I took off some saturation and printed it out for the background of the page.   I've used lager cans for the seed pods and added other types of seed pods with stitches and flower stitched rings.  The lace is metallic paper.