Thursday 6 October 2016

The Village Green

It's going to be interesting to see the entries at CD Sundays this time, because the theme is Country Living and life in the countryside varies so much from country to country.  In fact it varies even within the same country but here in England, the common features of a country village are still the church, the pub and the village green, all of which can be clearly seen on this image. The sign post and pump are traditional too, although nowadays if you turned the other way from the viewpoint, you'd probably see a bus shelter (disused), a Chinese Takeaway and a Tesco Express.


I had ever so much fun making this card! First of all I chose and printed the decoupage, from the CD The best of La Pashe 2014. The image is in the "Men's decoupage" section of the CD, although I'd be equally happy to use it on a card for a woman, I think it's a lovely, genderless scene.

Next I made the background by spritzing a sheet of dark green card with bleach and leaving it to dry, which then gave me the darkest green of the tree speckled with the blue of the sky.

Then I made the stone wall by using texture paste through a stencil onto pale grey card and then giving it an aged mossy look by sponging it randomly with olive green and dark grey ink.

Finally I assembled the decoupage which was slightly more fiddly - and therefore more interesting - to cut out than La Pashe usually is. I had to get the fine pointed scissors and the tweezers into action for this one! The layers don't really show on the photo so here is a close up taken at a slight angle.


Just look at those place names! My non UK friends might not know what strange place names there  are in rural England. Although I don't think any of those on the sign exists, we really DO have a Nether Wallop here in Hampshire (it sounds like a smack on the bottom!) and down in Dorset the River Piddle flows through places like Tolpuddle, Piddlehinton and Piddletrenthide - the Piddles and Puddles. In Kent we have Pratts Bottom while in Norfolk there is Little Snoring. Oh I love place names, I could go on all day! I think my favourite is Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, not because of any rude connotations but because nobody seeing the word for the first time would guess that it is pronounced "Ozzletwizzle". I seem to have strayed a long way from crafting - I hope you enjoyed our little diversion!

13 comments:

Barb said...

Evening Jane, Your card is absolutely fantastic and I can see why you had so much fun making it. You've really used some great techniques. That wall looks amazing. The decoupage aspect looks fantastic too. Great fussy cutting. I'm guessing that wasn't a quick job!

When you mentioned the strange names we have in this country my first thought was Little Snoring! Years ago I used to keep a list of interesting names in a notebook which I kept in my handbag - sadly it's long since been lost.

We live opposite a green which has a signpost on it just like the one on your card. Nearby is a replica of the old pump with the fence round which used to stand there. The replica was put up for the millenium.

I really love this card Jane. It's so pretty and lots of fun. Barbxx

cotnob said...

This is a fabulous card Jane, such a wonderful village scene. We live near to Nether Wallop and we have Middle Wallop just down the road as well.
Thank you for joining us at CD Sunday.
Pauline
x

Jocelyn said...

I love the signpost. Place names are always interesting. We came across Hoggrills End Lane, Nether Whitacre in our travels.

A lovely card and I like the way you have used bleach on the backing paper. Makes a great effect.
Jocelyn x
CD Sunday DT

Margarets designer cards said...

Lovely card, I love your signpost and I have been to Middle Wallop, we have some wonderful names in Somerset along with some even better pub names.
I tottally love your image and very much country life,
Margaret
CD Sunday DT

Di said...

Lovely card Jane - and so rural! How I laughed about the disused bus shelter and Tesco Express - so true! I've been lost around the Wallops (Over, Middle and Nether) in floods whilst driving my much loved - and sadly now gone - cousin to see our countryside. In the end we followed a fire engine to drier land - he was terribly camp and thought it hilarious that we ended up racing through the country lanes following a load of hunky firemen! Miss him still!

Hugs

Di xx

Wynn said...

Sounds like a fun day Di and my sort of day!! Think I too would have loved your cousin xx

Wynn said...

A fabulous creation as usual Jane. Your post made me smile .....loved your place names 'chat'. Love the scene on your card and how you created the textured stone wall. Thank you for a trip down memory lane and for joining us at CD Sunday. Wynn DT

Jane Willis said...

I'm loving all this chat about place names. We used to keep a little book about the meanings of place names in the car, so when we came across a strange one we could look up the derivation, but we lost it several years ago - I fear we may have sold a car with the book still in the glove compartment.
Jane

meg said...

A fantastic scene and lovely chatter about place names thank you for joining in at Cd Sunday this week

crafty-stamper said...

Absolutely brilliant,fabulous decoupaged scene and love the sky and brick wall we have some weird names near the Yorkshire moors too
Carol x

Seafield Jo said...

Your card is beautiful Jane. You can see that a lot of time and effort has gone into making it. There is a small village in County Durham called No Place. I know someone who once lived there.

I really enjoyed reading your post.

Jo x

Carol said...

A great card Jane. I love the wall effect and the discussion of funny place names. We certainly do have a few in Britain. I have always liked 'Come to Good' in Cornwall.
Thank you for your continued support.
Carol xx
CD Sunday DT

Pamela said...

A brilliant card for my first theme choice. Thank you for supporting the challenge. I'm currently on holiday in the Lake District and on our journey we went past a signpost for Unthank! I wouldn't want to live there!
Pamela
CD Sunday DT.