Brocade Notebook

Not material again! Nope this brocade is very different. It is made from polymer clay. I had a piece of embellished wools that had a couple of contrasting threads embellished on it, and I thought it would be great to use it for a book cover if I could get the brocade right!

It is actually fairly easy to do. You need to get your clay conditioned ' and roll out with a pasta machine or the Wizard will work if you don't have a pasta machine. Paint clay with a metallic paint very thinly. Allow paint to dry and paint again very thinly. Do this 4 or 5 times . Dust your chosen stamp and impress into the clay, roll it once with a rolling pin. Now add another colour or two to the raised image and roll flat. Cook according to directions on the clay packet. A melt pot works brilliantly ;)

My book cover was made using my clay piece and on the back I stamped and embossed the same stamp.

A Folded miracle- Mini Booklet with 5 Compartments

Well anyone who knows me will know that I have difficulty with cutting straight lines, let alone folding them! So I was really pleased that I was able to actually complete this project.

Books similar to this were used in china to hold embroidery threads.

It consists of five paper compartments, and the folding has to be pretty on the nail, If anyone would like the instructions I can let them have them. I added bits and pieces into the compartments.

The cover was made using embellished fabrics, sari silk and stitching. The closure thread was made with sari silk which I sewed along several times with a zig zag stitch.

I added a hand made bead and a bead from a broken necklace to finish it off.

Lutrador and puff paint

Two ATCs made using painted lutrador and puff paint. The leaves have been made using a stencil with the paint, which when heated puffs. It's a delicate balance using the correct amount.....it puffs a LOT! I added touches of glitz with transfer foil on the puff paint, but it doesn't show too well in the photos

More Textiles

A Post-card holder book.

Ages ago I had bought several damaged photo albums, meaning to utilise them for gifts or swaps. Well, that day actually arrived this year. This was made as a birthday gift for a friend. I used a combination of embellishing, fabric and stitching. The ties were made of sari ribbon (the purplish colour) and stitched around the whole book, under the embellishments. The embellishment on the front is made from either polymer clay or air dry clay. The picture of the lady was printed onto printable cotton.

Two needle cases. The blue/purple one was made by embellishing various threads onto pelmet vilene. This was then embellished again using the fabric I used for the lining, picture three. I then couched (see I'm even getting to know the right terms for this stitching lark!) the silver thread on, lined it and stitched around the edges. I added a polymer button from my stash and silver thread to make the closure. The inside 'pages' are made from black felt stitched into place.

The black/white/cream was made using pieces of patterned fabric embellished onto pelmet vilene, and some bits of it were covered and embellished with bits of nylon lace. I then machined stitched the pattern, added the lining as before and satin stitched around the edges. The closure is made from a button from my stash and some black sheer ribbon. The inside 'pages' are again black felt.

This started out as a piece of sateen curtain lining, which was coloured with distress inks. I used a texture plate with a fabric crayon to give me a pattern to follow. Using a backing of felt or pelmet vilene (can't remember which) I stitched over the lines using a heavy cotton thread. I then 'scribbled in the shapes using a heavy gold thread.This was lined with some of the fabric, and satin stitched around the edges. The fastening was made using a polymer button and some of the thick cotton thread. The inside pages were stitched into place and I added a few beads to finish it off.

Fabric, threads and a sewing machine

No idea how this has happened. Me the absolute sewing phobic has become obsessed with all things fabric. I even went out and bought a sewing machine. Not the all singing dancing one I might have liked to buy, but one that meets my needs at a much lesser price! Whilst I was at it I bagged an embellisher for my Christmas (2009) present from DH, and they have both had plenty of use.

My first fabric postcard swap. Crazy patchwork, with fabric flowers cut from organza using a soldering iron.
This one is layers of organza,stitched with different threads and cut away in places. Centre of the flower is a largish bead surrounded by small ones.

Oh my, this has changed a lot since I last posted on here! It took me ages to actually get into my blog! I'll need to have a good look around to get familiar with all the changes!

In the meantime I thought I might post some pictures of what I've been up to in the last few months (years!) These wont be in any order, but I will try and give details of what I've done.

Long time

It's a long time since I posted to my blog, my how time does fly. I do intend to get up to date, or at least post some pics of art I've made.
Actually my new laptop has nudged me to get on here, there is a feature called Live Writer, which means I can write my blog and upload pictures without actually having to go to the blog. The programme then uploads it when you say so. But, when I tried to set it up, it recognized that I didn't have an active blog , so like a good little girl I am doing as I am told and posting so that it now becomes active. LOL