The Garden Year: April 2024

Welcome back to this month’s Garden Year linky - the first one of 2024. If you’re joining for the first time, you’re very welcome. The linky will stay open for the whole month, so I hope you’ll pop back during the month. I’m looking forward to reading about your garden projects and garden visits.

With Easter early this year there’s already been an early opportunity to get out into the garden - did you manage to start gardening? I’ve been away visiting family, but I’m hoping we’ll start to see some warmer and more Spring-like weather to help out with that. I definitely need my garden to dry out after what has been a very wet winter. The extent of our gardening so far has been moving around pots of daffodils, and welcoming the tulips - that’s it, so a very slow start to the gardening year for me!

I can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to, but if you need a nudge to get out into your garden, or out visiting those around you, here’s some links which may help.

Advice, inspiration and places to visit

“TheGardenYear

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Using my Gelli Prints

While creating the gelli prints is good fun, and slightly addictive, I knew that I needed to actually use them or otherwise you’d find me under several reams of them, and before long I’d probably need rescuing! The last class on the course was all about turning these wondrous prints into even more wondrous hand crafted items, and I left with quite a bundle of handmade items, some of which I probably wouldn’t have thought of or tried at home:

Using the gelli prints on (clockwise) a handmade notebook, a card and two bookmarks

A HANDMADE NOTEBOOK, A CARD AND TWO BOOKMARKS - THE GELLI PRINT WAY!

Though I was rather pleased with them, and I’m already using the bookmark with the orange tag in my book - and in case you’re wondering the orange tag is repurposed from a Superdry tag. I can definitely see that I’ll be using scraps of gelli printing alongside many other items I’ve saved for crafting - and I’m already wondering how small is too small for saving these scraps!

But anyway, inspired by the series of four classes I took in Newark and knowing that if I just put this to one side it would probably stay there for a while, I wanted to set about creating some more cards. I’d already toyed with strips of gelli printing and liked that so wanted to try blocks as backgrounds, with a design on top.

SIX pink/peach gelli print blocks with a gold and black floral design over the top on a white background

Both of these cards use the same concept but have turned out very different - and I like them both. I used a stencil for the outline of the floral and meadow designs and then adapted these, so they’re less stencil-like, using my knowledge of plants and flowers.

Six pink, white and blue gelli plate blocks arranged on a blue card with a meadow scene in black and highlights with pink and blue on top

And didn’t they work out well?

I wanted to try using some of the smaller scraps, and so that’s where gift tags came in. I think these were also successful and I used some scrap ribbon on both, and those black diagonal stripes - well they’re old dymo tape that I found in one of my many craft room boxes.

Two gift tags using scraps of gelli printing, some ribbon and washi tape (on the left hand tag) and dymo tape on the right

These three gift tags were originally intended as a card, however I realised my knowledge of birds is lacking and one (now cut out and discarded) wasn’t right at all. Not wanting to lose all of my work I repurposed these further making gift tags and adding ribbon saved from Christmas crackers many years ago as ties - and I’m not sure you’d know if I’d not told you.

A gift tag to complement the card - both use green, yellow and orange gelli printing. The card also has scraps of ribbon and paper, a strip of map and a button

My final make was again to avoid throwing away small scraps leftover from the card - and another gift tag. I think I could quite get into having coordinating cards and gift tags, though I’m not sure anyone other than me would notice!

I just know that there’s so many more uses for all of the gelli printing I already have, let alone the ones I’ve yet to print. I’m also pretty sure that this new craft is here to stay!

PostCommentLove

Post Comment Love 22 - 24 March

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

I’m not sure where the time has gone this week, it’s flown by. We’ve been busy in the house - our new bed was finally delivered, and I’ve got some pinboards up in my craft room which I can’t wait to share here, so perhaps that’s it and we’ve also had a night out in Nottingham - this time to see The Stranglers - and it’s when I took the photo I’m sharing this week. I love how it’s lit up against the twilight sky.

I’m hoping to plan my time better in the next few weeks - wish me luck though as with Easter on the horizon (how already?!) we’re meeting up with friends and family. We’re also taking a two week break from our fabulous linky, so we’ll see you back here on 12 April, and in the meantime have a great Easter.

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