Grungepaper 2

              
                            
I wasn’t particularly happy with my first effort, so thought I would have another go. I had a ready to go canvas, one which had been covered with various mediums to give texture. It was not quite the colour I wanted , but I changed it by using Starburst stains and Treasure Gold Copper to highlight some of the texture.
I cut out the hearts coloured and then embossed them, using a small Sizzix embossing folder.I stuck the hearts together and used a star sequin and a stick on heart shaped jewel to finish off. I used beaten copper wire  and attached the hearts with super glue.
This is going to Adrienne , along with the bookmark when I see her next week. We are off to have a week-end of friendly plastic fun with the amazing Liz Welch.

Fabric Paper hanging

I made this fabric heart hanging for another swap on UK. I started off with some fabric paper which was almost white, not very inspiring, so I painted it with Golden Fluid Acrylic, Irridescent Gold. I was a bit heavy handed and didn't like it at all, so applied a thin coat of gesso and then wiped it straight off with a baby wipe. Much better! I added some Treasure Gold , Amethyst to highlight the creases. I then used another piece of fabric paper for the mount, and free-machine stitched with a metallic thread, and satin stiched around the edges with varigated thread. The heart  was made from yet another piece of fabric paper and stitched around with metallic thread, and edged with gold Krylon. Tiny flowers were punched from scraps of the papers and attached with a small bead to the corners of the mount, which was stuck onto the background using Golden Regular Gel Medium. I attached the embellishment to the heart, again with small beads.
The darker small tags,with the hearts, were made from scraps of the fabric paper. The lighter coloured tags were made using painted bondaweb, ironed on. The tags were attached using eyelets and ribbon.

Experiments

Experiments, don't we just luv 'em! Lots of failed ones and sometimes wonderful results that you wonder how on earth you will ever be able to incorporate into your work. Here are a couple I liked a lot, but haven't really used. Have to get my thinking cap on.This piece is made from lutrador. I used a stencil and applied a thin layer of moulding paste. I sprayed with colour whilst the moulding paste was wet, waited for it to dry ( I am usually to impatient to wait, but for this it was important to do so!) I then zapped it with my hotter heat gun, which is a 350w Creative Craft Tool, brilliant for fabric zapping. The result as you see is a lacy effect. I used some treasure gold lightly to highlight.

This was done at a class I attended, Stitching on Metal. It was a fun class and I love the lacy effect that I learnt to do around the edges. I started off with a piece of copper metal and a piece of stabiliser which I stamped with the flower stamp, chosen because of its simplicity lol. The whole lot was placed in an embroidery ring , stabiliser on top, and stitched with the feed dogs down. You need to do this the opposite way to free embroidery i.e slow machine! I then drew a rough scallop pattern on some cold water dissolvable stabiliser, and randomly stitched within the pattern, making sure to catch the edges of the metal and to leave no loose ends.