Beatrix Potter & Tussie-Mussies! - Saturday 14th March 2015

Hello Friends,

Well it was good to visit all your blogs yesterday after being missing for yet another week - nothing seems to be going as planned this year so far. I needed to get a lot done at work and one of the days I was in was meetings all day, which means you lose a lot of office time when you're just part time anyway. The good news is that we have another three years funding, it's a bit less than before, but that was to be expected, so I'm quite happy about that. The bad news is that my throat/cough is still rather a nuisance!

Anyway, I came back to blog land yesterday to discover that my butterfly Venetian Mask has been chosen as the winning entry in the Artful Times Challenge for last month...great news!

Nicecrane Beatrix Potter image sheets

Today I am posting another Design Team creation for Nicecrane Designs. This time I have been working with some pre-coloured Beatrix Potter images....

Firstly I made boy and girl nursery wall hangers. I die cut the frame using Spellbinders polka dot frame die on heavy card and then die cut again with checked card and covered, inking the edges with Worn Lipstick distress ink.

I printed the Jemima Puddleduck image and cut out. The image was adhered to pink card and then given a coat of clear Mod Podge to speak. I punched two holes at the top to thread the gingham ribbon through and tied two bows. To finish I added a die cut flower, lace and buttons.

For the second hanger, I used the image of Peter Rabbit and made the frame in the same way as above.

My final project with these images is a Tussie-Mussie or nose-gay. These posies actually date back to the 1400's and nose gays were carried for their scent..a way to make life smell better! In Elizabethan times judges carried them into court to ward off 'gaol fever' and apparently Old Bailey judges still carry out this tradition 6 times a year.

The popularity of Tussie-Mussies really swelled during Victorian times, when they were given to suitors at the beginning of courtship and that is when the art of Floriography really took off...that is to send messages in flowers, with each flower and herb having its own meaning -  floral dictionaries were written, a few of the meanings are rosemary for remembrance, ivy for fidelity and basil for best wishes. Today these lovely posies are used at weddings, celebrations and for general well wishes.

I printed some of the Beatrix Potter images from the clipart collection and cut them out. I drew a cone shape on some plain card and cut out, then folded it into a cone. I then adhered the images to the cone using Mod Podge to stick and seal.

I decorated around the top of the cone with lace, which I hand-sewed in place and I die cut various Spellbinder flower dies with wool felt in pink and deep purple. To add some streamers, I cut narrow strips of pale pink paper and and curled them, just by running them through my finger nails.  To finish I added some ribbon to hang it.

These lovely Beatrix Potter images come on a sheet as show below and are available from Nicecrane by clicking on the  image or on this link: http://nicecranedesigns.com

They are also available as Vintage Postcards, bookmarks and picture packs

I have scheduled this post as we have a busy day, but I will catch up with you all later and will be back tomorrow to show you the Mothers Day card I made for Tom's Mum.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Love and Hugs,
Carole X

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