It's Beatles Week! Monday 10th June

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend filled with sunshine and a little crafting at least! Thank you to those of you who left such lovely comments on Friday's workshop post...I am so pleased Amy and I started these classes last year, they are fun, we all  learn from each other and we have brought new techniques to quite a few ladies, who now use them all the time. We are repeating Thursday's class with a different group in a few week's time and I'm really looking forward to it and more interpretations of the design.

So, you may well be asking what this 'Beatles week' title is all about...I'm not a big fan, they weren't really my musical era, but of course, nevertheless, Lennon and McCartney are songwriting legends.

I live a few miles away (walking distance if you've about 40 minutes to spare or 5 minutes by car!) from a small mediaeval and very pretty little town on the edge of the Cotswolds: Chipping Sodbury. It has one main shopping street running through it, with butchers, bakers (did you see the Fabulous Baker Brothers on TV?, well their main baker and butchers is here), Amy's shop 'Out of the Blue' is there and it's where we hold our craft group ...all in all, it's quite delightful! Every year is the annual Festival running over two weeks - lots of events and entertainment and culminating in a Carnival parade and the new Carnival Queen. The Festival always has a theme..this year, in celebration of the Beatles 50th Anniversary, they are the theme! 

On Friday afternoon Amy and I are holding a special Festival cardmaking workshop and our card has a  Beatles Lyric theme, but you'll have to wait until Friday to see my workshop card...until then I thought I'd have a week of cards using Beatles songs/lyrics as their inspiration. I only had this idea Saturday and made all these cards at the weekend, so there isn't anything difficult about them. They weren't 'quick' cards, but only because I find it impossible to make a card quickly!

So here we go with number one, inspired by the song 'Blackbird'.I've tried to do a bit of delving into the interpretation of this song and most writers attribute it to being about the civil rights movement, others say they treated it as a simple lullaby loved by their children and even more a song of hope. For the purposes of this card, it's just about hope and  change of fortune...wishing someone well for the future..

I started with a  6x6 square of Kraft card, and matted and layered with a square of  Kanban card with a rose design  from stash, on which I'd printed the words from the song, typed on my computer. 

I also cut a border using a Spellbinders die and kraft card.

The blackbird is an embellishment I made using a mould and paper moulding clay. I have quite a few moulds and do make embellishments using the air dry clay quite a lot (well in phases!) and since Christmas they have had a new lease of life with the melt pot, but I had never used this 'paper' clay  from Martha Stewart before and I have to say it's absolutely gorgeous..smells and feels lovely! I left the bird and branch overnight to dry out and whereas the air dry clay feels hard when dry, this feels soft, like foam and it think would be less inclined to damage if posted. Whilst I was using it I got all my moulds out and made a selection of embellishments, so you'll be seeing them in some future projects.

Before matting and layering on to the card blank, I tied some vintage gold ribbon to the front and tied in a knot, then I added some stick pins (although the photo makes two of the pearls appear black, they are all brown!) and a little bird cage embellishment, coloured with gilding wax was tied to the front with bakers twine.

To finish off, I added an insert typed with more lyrics from the song: 'All your life to  you were only waiting for this moment to arise'

Looking at the rest of the cards I've made, I think they all have a fun element, so don't worry I'm not getting too deep here!

Tonight Tom and I are off to the Festival Wine Tasting - an event we have been attending with our friends/neighbours for several years now and I hope it stays dry, because we all take the 40 minute walk there and back!

Thanks for stopping by,

Love and hugs,

Carole X

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