William Morris' Red House revisited

A couple of years ago I visited Red House,William Morris' Arts and Crafts home built in 1859. It was commissioned and lived in by William Morris and was a haven at the weekends for his visiting Pre Raphaelite brothers including Rossetti and Burne-Jones. If you would like to read about my first visit there is a link to it here. Last week I revisited it with my Mum and Dad.

The house has a very gothic feel.

In it's time it was in the middle of fields but now it is in busy suburbia. It really is still a haven though in such a busy spot and so quiet.

The gardens are tranquil and even have bee hives

I loved this gorgeous rose

and this rose trellis.

The National Trust now owns the property and since our last visit the house and grounds have been further improved and other treasures discovered. It was described by Burne-Jones as " The beutifullest place on earth"(stet) and is a real gem.
We took a guided tour. The staircase is original and solid oak.

They literally decorated everything with their art

I love this unfinished piece

This amazing fireplace has the Latin quote "Ars longa vita brevis" which translates as art is long, life is short. What a legacy they left us.

Below is the very window at which Morris sat at looking down into his garden where he got so much of his inspiration. There are a few original wood cut blocks on show in his studio. 

There are also samples of some of his famous designs. Below is one of my favourites and I decided to use it as my inspiration for today's creation. I decided to make a Moment for my Journal.

I wanted to combine a few challenges so I used several techniques. The colours and techniques I used are those in a Craft Stamper Masterclass piece in the March edition by Anna-Karin Evaldsson called creating texture; pages 69-73 .I thought the colours used were gorgeous so out came my mustard seed and salty ocean DIs. I used the wrinkle free technique and loved the way they combined to make the green.

 I did some partial stamping with some Crafty Individuals floral stamps

 I also used my Visible Image rose stamp which I painted with distress inks and then fussy cut out. I also  used the wonderful Bronte verse from Visible Image to stamp and then embossed it in white 

I also added some crackle paint to a trellis die cut to give the impression of the thorny stalk.

 Next out came my Grunge paste which I added some blue acrylic to for colour and used a floral stencil to add textured flowers.

So here is my finished Moment.

 Here are a few close ups showing the extra elements I added. The leaves are Cheery Lynn which I die cut from hand inked card and edged with vintage postcard DI.

I used the Latin quote from the top of the fireplace in Red House.

I would like to enter my Moment into the following Challenges;

Art Stamper Magazine Take it make it, any technique from 2014. Mine is the March Masterclass; creating texture by Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Our creative corner summertime

Country View Crafts word play

Visible Image anything goes

Natalie and Amy die cuts and flowers

A creative romance fun in the sun

Fussy and fancy words

Totally gorjuss floral

Cheery Lynn anything goes

The artistic stamper anything goes

Stamp and create anything goes

Bearly Mine anything goes

How wonderful that the William Morris and the Pre Raphaelite brothers have left such a legacy...the Arts and Crafts movement really did change art.

It's the last few days of my 4th Bloggerversary anniversary giveaway. All the details are at the top of my side bar and the link is here  Everyone is welcome. Life has been incredibly busy this end so apologies for my lack of commenting. Good luck everyone and I will be sometime  next week with the winners.

Inspiration really is all around us...keep creating, keep enjoying life.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x