Tale-ing Fragments #4, Timan Chronicles 1: Brief Meetings Minutes, log entry 267

“there’s time”

he said

“if you so choose”

And vanished.

Do pictures whisper stories to you? They do to me. 

Usually it’s photographs, but this guy, oh – this guy has SO many stories. But he keeps them on the low, let’s out a sentence here, and image there. I’m not sure what it is, the way he does and does not look at you, the way he does and does not smile, the sketchy feel of the image, but I can’t stop staring at him (I have the wood-mounted stamp AND a stamped image I colored on my desk. We star at each other a lot). And every now and then – a whisper.

Expect to see him again.


The details on this one are a bit crazy.
I've taken it as an opportunity to try a whole bunch of new things and because it was in the working for a while kept adding more. And more. And MORE. I'm still not sure if I went overboard or not quite far enough, one thing is sure - I definitely had fun with it ;)

I've entered this work to the Simon Says Stamp 'Grunge it up' challenge on their Monday Challenge Blog. I'd just love to hear what people think :)
Too much? Not quite there? Somewhere in between?

Till next time *blink*

A Valentine’s Tale-ing Fragment (#3): My Sweetheart

Hello everyone,

I know – it’s been AGES… Things got really crazy around the turn of the year. I had plans for a ‘time flies’ sort of post at the beginning of the month, I even started working on it (if you follow my Instagram you may have caught a glimpse of it), but then I blinked and it was mid-February, and Valentine’s kicked my broody time contemplations out of the way – love has a way of demanding attention. 

To be fair, this Fragment has been in my plans for a while, ever since I laid eyes on this sweetheart in one of Tim Holtz's ephemera collections. The expectant look in his eyes and the almost-there-but-not-quite-yet smile made me smile back and he whispered his story in my ear.

                                         his heart full of bright hopes

                                         he waited.

                                         My Sweetheart.

As in all my fragments, the story is for you to complete.

Who is the sweetheart? Is it this young man or the one he awaits?

Who is it he is waiting for? Will they come?

And who is the figure in the window?

I have entered My Sweetheart to this week’s Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge that is themed ‘It Must be Love.’ In my head it fits perfectly with this story, because, well - it must be love, no? I didn’t really use their exclusive products this time around, but felt like sharing this anyway (Sorry! Hope you don’t mind...). 

I went a bit crazy with the details on this one (well, crazy for me), building layer upon layer to create more depth. I originally planned the have text in the background, but then this floral stamp arrived in the post and I could not resist – can you blame me? I swear, after stamping it I just stared at it for a few minutes – so beautiful! And perfect for this dream-ish tale. The house is 3D with textured walls and I sort of let the vines run wild. I ended up raising the frame to create a diorama (I do love dioramas) so I can accommodate everything. To be honest, I did not plan on using all these things (I had a big pile of optional elements/embellishments to choose from and ended up using almost all of it... oops haha), but I rather like the result. What do you think?

The best thing about having lots of details is that they open up new story options. 

I hope you enjoy imagining this story, and maybe come back now and then to give it different ending – that’s half the fun!

Oh and - Happy Valentine’s Day ^^ 💕

Interlude: Tiny Books and Were to Find Them (around your neck)

I had soooo many plans, I even started up a couple of projects, but the pre-holiday-season is definitely one of those ‘expect the unexpected’ times of year… In the last couple of weeks, instead of finishing some project or other, I found myself spending every free moment making tiny books. There is no complaint in that statement, I love making these tiny treasures and I LOVE when they make others smile, so I thought I’d share some of them here too.

As a lifelong (and proud) nerd and lover of stories, it’s no surprise books have always been a great love of mine. I love gigantic old books, but let’s face it – who doesn’t love a tiny book? And I mean tiny, the books I make are 2-2.5cm tall, and I’m always surprised and how much detail they have.

 

Once I had the books though, I started thinking what to do with them and jewellery seemed like a good idea. I started with necklaces and continued to earrings.

Then I thought - why settle for one book? I definitely don't with reading books! And so the stacked-book necklace was born. 

Lately I started thinking of making more specialized designs and started with my new grimoires, I must admit - I adore them 🖤

It’s not exactly hard to make tiny books, but it does take time and a LOT of patience, and they don’t always come out right – a scratch, a paint stain… I make vintage style books (old books are the best!), but there’s a limit to what I can pass as shabby. In every batch there’s a couple of books that don’t pass my ‘pendant quality’ test and I ended up with a small pile of sad books with no purpose – clearly that could not stand! So I found them new purposes. You may have noticed a few of them in “The Witch’s Son” Tale-ing Fragment. I also use them when I make witch’s cabinets. A scratch on the cover of the book was covered nicely by a grinning skull. 

For the Wiccan cabinet I used a couple of damaged books, but also made a spell book that can open – way too much fun there

I hope you enjoyed this tiny-book interlude (with lots of photos), did you like how I used the books? What would you make with tiny books? 

I’ll be back soon (hopefully) with a new project!