Hello friends, and Happy December!
This year seems to have flown by and suddenly we are in December and the countdown has begun to the 25th. Are you ready? I am happy to say that I have all the cards and gifts ready and won’t be doing any last minute shopping or making this year. That’s a nice feeling for a change lol. I can take my time writing out cards and wrapping presents instead of running around frantically like a headless chook. I am also hoping to join in with Carve December this year. It’s something I wanted to do last year but I ran out of time, and didn’t plan for it, so this year I am making a plan and with a bit of luck I will have 31 new stamps by the end of the month!
So here’s to a creative month ahead! Since it is the 1st of the month, I wanted to share my DT inspiration project for the December Main challenge at More Than Words. The challenge this month is as follows:
I knew instantly what I wanted to use for my page, as it just popped into my head without me having to think about it at all. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride is an old Scottish saying that can be traced back to the 1600s. I guess a more modern translation would be “wishing doesn’t make it happen” but I prefer the old version. I changed it slightly from beggars to all for my Christmassy winter fairytale themed page as I wanted to use this little stamp of the four tree girls to represent all rather than beggars.
Here’s more information that you probably want to know about this saying: The first known reference to it comes from a book called Proverbs in Scots, collected and arranged by James Carmichael as was as follows: And wishes were horses pure [poor] men wald ryde. Carmichael died in 1628 and it is believed the collection was published during his life. There is also the full nursery rhyme version dating from around 1840:
If wishes were horses
Beggars would ride:
If turnips were watches
I would wear one by my side.
And if if’s and an’s were pots and pans,
The tinker would never work!
I painted the background with some lovely dark blues to create a wintery fairytale sky which makes me think of Christmas time of course. Then I drew the trees and the ground, I wanted a tiny forest on one side so that the horse could fly over the top of it. Then I worked out the space where I could write out my quote, and then carefully wrote it out with my gold pen.
I wanted to use this new Lynne Perrella stamp set – I really love the horse – and I could see him flying through the sky with these little tree girls on his back. If you look very closely you can see that the little girls have trees instead of legs. They are partially hidden because I have tucked them in underneath the horse’s mane.
You can see the little trees on this end girl. I also added some Stickles bling to the girls, the horse and to add some sparkle to the night sky to make it more magical and Christmassy. The night sky also has white paint splatters and tiny hand drawn gold stars dotted across it to represent more stars. I wonder where they are off to all dressed up in their sparkly clothes? A fabulous fairy Christmas party perhaps?
I added some finishing touches and a black border around the page and the date and that was it finished. Hope you feel inspired to join in the challenge this month. Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading!
Ingredients
my handmade journal, watercolour paper, white card, Black staz-on ink, Paperartsy Lynne Perrella stamps and Fresco chalk paint – Southern Skies, Twilight, Glass Blue, Black stabilo all, white paint pen, gold pen, stickles, Pitt artist pen,
Challenges
More Than Words – December Main Challenge Country View Challenges – Christmas Anything Goes
You might also like . . .
This is very beautiful and so unique! Love it, Elle!
Thank you so much for joining in with us at Country View Crafts. Have a wonderful December, Evelyn xx
This is beautiful, and SO unusual! Thanks so much for joining in with us at Country View Crafts and have a great December, Sue xx
My goodness, you do beautiful work!