First post of 2012

I’ve been very busy arting, but updated my blog this year. Partly because I joined , together with a great bunch of people , a journaling group. This is Book of Days with Effy Wild, and if you want to join in I can assure you that there is a lot to be learnt from it. Guided by the wonderfully enthusiastic Effy, we are making a journal page a day, or whenever we can. As Effy says, there is no behind in this process. Two videos a week, a weekly news letter, and the encouragement of the almost 1000 members and Effy herself. And believe it or not, there is such a thing as a free lunch……..Effy charges not a penny for this! If you are interested details here.
I am not posting my journal pages here at the moment, maybe later.

I have been doing other stuff as well though, postcards, atcs and a book page.
Here are some pics and short descriptions of what I did.

Front of a double sided postcard for an on-going Alphabetica swap.
Background is gesso, stamped into whilst wet with a couple of different A stamps. For the big A I used string which I pressed into the wet gesso. Whilst still wet I sprayed with Aileen’s Colour Sprays, and let them run together a bit before drying.  I stamped a couple of A’s using Stazon gray. The small A is a foam piece stamped and coloured with Stewart Gill Pearl paint. I also used this paint to dab onto the surface of the card.

The back was made from an already made background, to which I added a gel transfer. I then put it through the Wizard using a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, used Treasure Gold to highlight and added the ribbon to finish it off.



Background for B is acrylic paints in blues and purples. I put this through the Wizard using another Cuttlebug folder, and then stamped a similar design using a purple ink (it doesn’t show up here to well) I used Treasure Gold to highlight the embossing. The letters are both grungeboard, which luckily enough had the same swirly design. These were coloured with Viva paints and the embossing highlighted with a Sukura White Gel Pen. German Scrap was added to each side and toned down with a thin coat of Viva.


Background for this is a piece of coloured Lutrador on which I had stencilled butterflies, using moulding paste. I added several colours of treasure gold to highlight the fibres, the word and the butterfly brad. 

Technorati Tags: Book of Days,Alphabetica postcards,gesso,colour sprays,string,stencil,Stewart Gill Paint,Viva Paint,Wizard,Cuttlebug Embossing Folder,Grungeboard,Treasure Gold German ScrapLutrador,Gel transfer

12 days of Christmas Swap 2011

 

We did this swap again this year, and there were some beautiful things made. This was my effort:

 

First off I made 12 sheets of silk paper using Cocoon Strippings. You lay these out on a piece of baking parchment, spray with water cover with another sheet of baking paper and iron until dry. Once they were dry I painted them with a thinned down acrylic pearl paint and again allowed to dry. I stamped using a foam stamp and metallic acrylics, and then, using a different stamp, stamped a smaller design using Stazon. When this was dry , the whole sheet was painted again, using a watered down silk paint, in  similar colours to the paints already used.

 

                        

 

I then free machine embroidered around the larger stamp designs, and did a little hand stitching on some of the sheets.

 

                         

 

The sheets were then cut to size and lined using some of my hand coloured fabrics attached using bond-a-web.

Once that was done I satin stitched around the edges. I now had my covers ready. Next step was cutting and folding the pages from hand made papers. I attached the pages with a wide zig-zag stitch and ribbon.

                         

 

I then used double sided tape to attach plastic ATC holders to each page, and cut some metallic paper to pop into them.

 

The finishing touches were to add the fastenings, and I used Polymer clay pieces and ribbons, which I  attached with Golden Gel Medium.

 

                   

 

                            

             

Technorati Tags: silk paper,cocoon strippings,acrylic paints,silk paints,free machining,handmade papers,polymer clay embellishments,Golden Gel Medium,Stazon

    I also made an ATC, to go along with this:

 

                           

 

              Here they are, all wrapped and ready to go:

 

                       

Tags

 

Jan Hoefler and I arranged a tag swap just for the 2 of us. It was great fun and here are the tags I made.

 

 

                         

                      

                   

ATCs

 

More alphabet ATCs

Q , a mini quilt ATC. Various toned fabrics cut into squares, joined and  free machine embroidered.

 

R for Romance, silk paper background, lace and a romantic image.

 

S for silk paper, stitch and sequins.

 

T – it takes two to Tango, embellished background, image printed onto silk and funky foam letters, painted with Viva Ferro.

Technorati Tags: Silk paper,Viva Ferra,stitch,foam letters,sequins

Autumnal Colours Fabric Postcard

  Made this today for a swap.

                                  

The background was made using silk tops and  non-fusible Angelina Fibres covered with  organza and felted using the embellisher machine. The photograph is one of my own which I played about with in Photoshop Elements , and then adding the quote. I printed it out onto some plain white fabric (poly cotton maybe). The flower was made from various pieces of fabric die cut using a Tim Holtz Die and then stamped with Olive Green and Pumpkin Stazon Inks. This was attached securely and then a wooden button was stitched into place. A couple of beads were then added and the button coloured with Treasure Gold (Spanish Topaz). I used Pelmet Vilene for the backing and machine stitched around using a zig-zag stitch.

 

Technorati Tags: silk tops,non fusible Angelina Fibres,Tim Holtz tattered flower die,Photoshop Elements,Stazon inks,beads.,button,Treasure Gold

3 more ATCs from the same piece of fabric.

 

                                

                              

 

                                  

Playing with fabrics

Last week I decided to have a play with fabrics and my embellisher. I dragged out lots of fabric bits in blues and greens and then got out the embellisher. Oops, I had a problem, my foot control was not working, and there was an ominous rattle when I shook it. So no embellisher, I decided that I would have to sew instead.

This is what I did :I randomly stitched bits of fabric together, using different stitches and either green or blue thread. I stitched on some thick threads too.

I then decided to add some coloured copper curls and to cover the whole piece with some blue organza, which  was attached using the darning foot and free stitching.

 

                                  

 

Here is what I did with some of the piece:

 

                        

 

Beaded inches , using jewels and a couple of circular paper clips, which I hand stitched around. I hand stitched leaves and stems for the flower jewels. I attached them to pelmet Vilene, which on reflection was a little to thick, as I couldn’t stich around the edges. To neaten them I added some cord, which I attached with white glue.

I also made these:

3 ATCs using beads, sequins pieces od silk carrier rods and  threads.

I hope those who receive these in a swap will like them.

 

Technorati Tags: fabric bits,enamelled copper curls,sequins,beads.,hand stitching,silk carrier rods,pelmet vilene.