Little Houses

These are some houses I made at a recent Workshop at Paddy's Stamping Place in Prestwich, Manchester. The workshop was called "Down Our Street" and the tutor was Sue Roddis - I just love her quirky approach. She never does cute, but often does whimsical, which is something I aspire to myself but never succeed as well as she does! Have a look at her blog - Jabberwocky - by clicking on the link down the left of this blog. I'm sure you'll love it. We had a great time playing with these houses, everyone did something completely different. Sue had brought in lots of samples to inspire us, and they did. I managed to finish one on the day, and have been finishing off the second and working on the last today - it ended up being a boathouse, inspired by the heron! The door is made of broken up coffee stirrers, thank you Subway, Starbucks et al. There is a tiny drawing of a boat on the horizon - thats as near as I get to freehand! I couldn't find a boat stamp small enough. It's hidden by a reed, just as well!

The dangly key and lock are Tim Holtz's idealogies, most of the stamps are Elusive Images or Paper Artsy, but I also used a Tanda one designed by Jane Daffern which is polka dots, and the image is designed to be variable according to the amount of pressure applied - uneven pressure gives a fabulous uneven result. Clever Jane!

The last one has a little story attached - (for you Paddy) - the big bird is a cuckoo and she has just laid her egg (the top one) in the other two's bird house (nest house?). She's hiding on the roof so they don't know! the trim across the bottom is a little row of beaks, waiting to be filled. Sorry about that, but I like my little rationales.