Camera Time at the Beach

 Today was a great day for heading to a favourite beach with my camera.  Low, low tide so lots of new spaces to explore. Love the little crabs that hide among the crevices. Beautiful summer colours with the low waters letting the sandy spaces show up.

Crab by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Crabs by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Water Ripples by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Footwear by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Rocks by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Beach Colours by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Limpets by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

What do you like to take photos of? What are the colours of summer for you?

52 Tags Challenge - Tag 6

Tag 6 - Bevy of Buttons by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 6 of the 52 tags challenge was entitled a bevy of buttons and the simple challenge was to add buttons to the next tag. This involved heading to the button jar and having some fun looking through the assorted collection. The bear button looks well loved as it had many trips through the washing machine on one of the dressing gowns I sewed for my children when they were much younger.

Button Jar by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

I also had some fun with my Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks to create the background. Fabric medium is used with the pencils or blocks to fix the colour to the fabric and I think that I could dilute it more. The fabric was calico and once it had dried it was very firm and felt more like canvas. 

Do you have a button jar or collection? Where have the buttons come from?

My collection is an assortment of inherited buttons, those that have come off clothing before the cloth becomes rags and new buttons. There are so many beautiful buttons out there begging to join the collection.

Check out some of the other participants of this challenge by searching Instagram for the hashtag #52tagshannemade, or go to Anne Brooke's Youtube channel to see the weekly challenges. 

Some are blogging or creating videos about their tags. 

a case of the Crafties 

Elsie May and Bertha

All of Me

Jenny of ELEPHANTZ

Chela's Colchas Y Mas
 

Finding a Creative Challenge

 

52 Tags Begins by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

As we settle in to our new home there is time to explore and rediscover treasures in the sewing/crafting stash. What to do with these....

I came across a delightful challenge in several ways over the last few weeks and have decided to have a go at the #52tagshannemade challenge. First of all I read about it via Jenny of Elephanz’s blog and then at the local Stitching group I have joined one of the group shared their first tags. Luckily I had a tag die for my Sizzix so that I could create some tags.

Each week Anne Brooke, a textile artist in the UK, is posting a video prompt to create a tag using things from your stash.The prompts so far have been great fun to think about and then create. I have caught up and am now waiting for the next prompt to be uploaded.

Tag 1 was to use all whites. I wanted a little flower and did not have one in my stash so I crochet one using a pattern I blogged about on the Crafty Bits and Bobs blog that my DD and I created some years ago to share our crafting creations.

Tag 1 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 2 was a heart. I wanted to carry over some of the ephemera from Tag 1 so I used some more of the flower lace and a heart button as the other tag also had buttons.

Tag 2 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 3 was entitled "scrappy". It was a more dimensional tag that explored adding fabric scraps to create a closely stacked group of small fabric strips. Again a little bit of the flower lace and a button to link to the two previous tags.

Tag 3 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 4 was about learning an embroidery stitch - fly stitch. I had not used fly stitch before and very much enjoyed learning a new versatile stitch. The variation I liked the most was using it to create leaf shapes.

Tag 4 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

Tag 5 was entitled kisses as in the crosses used in hugs and kisses. Piecing together the background at this small size is interesting and again a button found its way onto the tag. The large cross of fabric gets a little lost amongst the background fabric and might have been better in a lighter colour. What do you think?

Tag 5 by MrsSOnline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

There have been many tags shared online. On Instagram search for the hashtag #52tagshannemade to see how others have interpreted the prompt each week. On Facebook Anne has a post dedicated to each prompt where you can share your tag in the comments and admire the work of others.

What creative challenge will you join this year? Would you like to join in the tag making fun?