Taking Shape !

Nearly finished,just waiting for it to dry before the last coat goes on, a bit of tweeking here and there then should be finished...... enjoyed painting for a change from sewing and crafting,love to paint in oils,you get a chance to keep going back at it,redoing sections that dont look right,but have to know when to stop !where as Watercolour is 90% thinking about it and 10% actually doing it,you dont get a second chance :)

I,m looking at this Poppy field now and thinking about the background needs toning down ,maybe a bit more work there, and more to do on the leaves and buds in the foreground.........here we go lol

A bit of light relief !

In between painting my Poppies,I,m waiting for it to dry now,so rearranged my craft room so i could get on with a bit of crafting........

I picked up some more silk scarfs from the charity shop,also had some dyed scrim and that sort of braid with ribbons tied in, that all matched perfectly,so made this little business card holder on my embellisher machine, my leather ones falling to bits.The little flowers are silk my friend gave me, so beaded them on,its Saturday,soooo bored,have some lunch then maybe clearup the mess in here lol.

A Change of direction !

Yes,I,m painting in oil once again ! only because i took a class last week,the subject was poppies in oil, my lady wanted to paint a large poppy picture,I really got into it with her,I got my hand slapped for taking over haha...thought i better start my own,which may help her too.

This is as far as i got today the lights bad now at 4pm,so its in its rough stages,looks a bit cartoony,cant have that lol,it must be painterly(is there such a word)so i will plod on tomorrow and promise to show you the finished painting it could take months.........god hope not haha.There is one at the bottom of this page i painted years ago,sold in our local library.

The sewing machine has taken a back seat for this week anyway !

ATC Fabric Holders

ATC Holders
One of the swap challenges for my group hereis to create an ATC fabric mixed media holder,certainly was a challenge as there are numerious ways of tackling this one,I didnt think i would end up making 3 though !

The first i made was the little Vintage girl one,easy to just wrap around an A4 size,all made from scratch,dying the fabrics,embossing the diecut butterflies made with grunge paper ,silk flowers and some beads.

The second attempt was to have a practice on my embellisher machine,I purchased a silk scarf for 50p in a charity shop,I love the result ,inspired me to use my embellisher more ! this wallet was made from A4 size again,just folding and stitching in the 3 pockets,using some rovings on the flap.Pictures below.

The third attempt was more complecated an actual book !
I found some board covers in The Range,ideal size,although inside the pages just hold 2 ATC,s each ... I used the plastic wallets holders,cut up for these.
This one will hold lots of ATC's and you can add more pages ! I have given my partner the option of using hinged rings or ribbons to hold it all together.

Certainly an interesting project,kept me busy all week lol.



Using the embellisher machine





The ATC Book to the left,the hearts on the right side of it, are clay.

Marie Antoinette Mixed Media

I needed lots to do this past week to keep my mind occupied,had my steroid injection in shoulder....ouch..yes it hurt !That was last Monday,Tuesday was agony,couldnt lift my arm,bad day doing nothing.

Wednesday loads better it was working already doc said about a week to feel the benefit,so really happy and decided to think of something to keep busy before my Physio starts again(dreading that!)

So here it is a Marie Antoinette mixed media book (mostly fabric) two sewing machines and both giving me problems,think i should clean and oil ughhh..........
Some of these pages i like and some i dont,the hinged rings holding it together i,m not happy with, may change to ribbons,I,m at a loss what to do,I,m open to suggestions :)


So heres the inside pages ..........with a story of Marie on each opposite page.







SOLD in my Etsy shop May 2nd 2011

From Metal back to Fabric !

And another

This ones for meeeeee lol

A fabric cover dye'd, cotton and Lace..I cut the flower with the cuttlebug and layered them,i,m a bit short on flower dyes i need some smaller and larger ones,that will have to wait i,m spending to much on crafts lately,as we do ! (thankyou Paula for the lace pieces)

I thought as all the pages are watercolour paper it would be a nice idea .....ummm........if i can keep to it .......to paint a different flower each week on each page,then when filled it would be a nice keepsake.

I,m full of these bright ideas till it comes to doing it,this is a summer project lol i have to wait for the flowers to grow to paint them from life ! we will see ...............

From Fabric to Metal !

I know .......I just felt like a change and as i was awake at 6am this morning,having thought of this idea, as i,m at a loss of what to create lately,also my memory was jogged that i had a Cuttlebug lol,so out came the embossing folders, beer cans and all those scraps of watercolour paper left over's,some alcohol inks,that havent seen the light of day for ages,this is the outcome ! not a wasted morning after all :)will make a nice gift for someone in the future.
Ohhh and a broken chain with a silver metal heart on which i coloured with inks to match !

Art Quilt and Abstract ATC's

An 8x8" quilt square for a swap with my UKArtSwap group Once again a fabric quilt made from scratch all fabrics dye'd with cosmic shimmer sprays,images are transfered onto fabric with freezer paper technique through my printer.
The large flowers are made using Crafty Notions Fusible Film,then diecut.
On the left the squares are fabric paper with paper flowers and beaded.
cloth buttons dyed.All backed onto strong Vilene

The Abstract ATC's are for another swap with the same group but using different patterned fabrics,and gems.

Awards

Thankyou for this award Jinny !

here

Now that I have it I have to tell you 8 things about myself and then pass this award on to 8 others. So here we go.............

1.
I only started crafting about 9 years ago after my hubby passed away,thank God for it,helped me through a difficult time,before that i was a published Artist,painting and drawing was my life after leaving Art College,in later years my claim to fame was being commissioned by Royal Doulton to design a set of mugs and landscapes for their plates,a great honour.

2.
I,m 72 years old,5ft.3" tall.and blonde lol(at the moment haha)
3.
I have 2 sons,2 grand children,and 1 great granddaughter ,they all live in my town..
4.
I read a lot mainly when i go to bed,love Saga's,Modern and crime,favorite author Susan Lewis.
5.
I live on my own with Pippa my cat we have a love hate relationship lol,she trys to rule me........
6.
I have travelled a lot since Bills been gone with my friend Joan,met some of my internet friends in the US ,been to Venice,Portugal,Paris,Italy,Poland,Malta,etc.
7.
As you see by my blog Fabric Art has taken over my life,I love the work of Beryl Taylor,mixed media artist.
8.
Like Jinny I also love the work of Tim Holtz,brilliant artist *bow's down lol.


Now i'm going to give this award to 8 other fellow bloggers and all you have to do is the same as I have.

So my awards go too.....

Adrienne
here/
Annie
here
Sam
here
Deb(Aka Rustycage
here
Jan
here
Sherry
here
Maureen
here
Annie
here

Lace Book Completed

Cover
Finished at last,I am quite happy with it but struggled with putting it together,its quite large 8x8",I didnt want to use my Bind it all machine,thought it would spoil the look,the first attempt did'nt work out so i had to remake the edging ughhh,it ended up like this which i thought after was a bit over the top,but will have to do.
I get to a stage where enoughs enough lol.Sewing not perfect but achieved the look i wanted :)its all a learning curve.

Below are all the pages,front and backs.

Project in Progress !

Lace Book
Just a preview of my new project,a lace fabric book,i have such a lot of lace stashed, thought this would be a good way of using it up and keep me busy,really enjoying myself,if i can do at least one page a day i will be happy !

Back soon with the finished item i hope :))..........

Art Journal 2011

Art Journal 2011
I promised myself to start an art journal this year,to put down something each day inside, no matter what, be it a doodle ,a writeup of something crafty i have bought and maybe a sample try out of a product,or just a little poem or quote i come across.............just about anything really that i have done that day.

This book i bought in Covent Garden a couple of years ago,it caught my eye,just a plain blank notebook, but all the pages are like brown paper,dont ask why i bought it lol,i just thought that will come in handy one day,and now it has ! I love anything a bit different.

Of course i had to cover it with fabric,but this time i thought i would try the bleach technique with cotton material,wish i never bothered :) but after embellishing it and making pen pockets i quite liked ,I used Cosmic Shimmer sprays to dye it in peacock blues and greens.The lettering i embossed using mica powders.

I have started a new regime of Physio with a nice young man,who has scrapped all my shoulder exercises,for a new lot,I,m in more pain but thats the idea,Pain before gain i guess lol,back to see the surgeon early Febuary,I have a feeling i am going to end up on the operating table anyway *sighs............

Happy New Year to all and Happy crafting,bet you all have lots of new goodies to play with,i did get a couple for Christmas,but have been Ebaying,bought a couple of Tim Holtz masks,Mica powders and dyes,so all stocked up.... oh and some of his Mini Misters,love them,they dont clog up !