Oriental Canvas Panel

Creating this canvas panel made a nice change ,I have been wanting to try out my Byzantia chips by Stewart Gill,I decided to use them on this,first using a primed canvas,I glued the chips onto it ,then I painted it all over with black acrylic paint,my intention was for some of the black to show through the next layers of bronze and gold metallic paint,that didnt happen I get carried away lol.

So now to alter the jigsaw pieces,I had some small pieces of fabric paper over so used that to cover them,then stamped oriental faces with Stazon,edged with black Sharpie pen.

I next used Anita's 3D clear gloss finish to cover them,while it was still wet,I laid my beads gently in,and the coin,the two long pink and black objects are handmade and painted beads in the same colours as I used in the fabric paper.I managed to sew then through the canvas instead of glueing.

Enjoyable project !

Lutradur covered Notepad

My first experiment with a material called Lutradur,its the background of this altered beermat notepad,its to add texture onto fabric ,canvas etc.........I,m trying to makeup my mind whether I like it or not.....

I bought an A4 sheet of Lutradur,cut a small piece off,painted it with Luminere paints then used the hotgun to burn holes in it which should give a lacy effect,well that was what I was aiming for lol,whether I succeeded I'm not sure :-]

I then altered a puzzle piece,covered it with Fabric Paper which I had fixed onto felt for padding,then added embellishments,ribbons and beads,after putting it all together with my Bind it All machine.

"Flower Garden"

Another Altered Jigsaw piece !this time with Fabric Paper which was run through my Cuttlebug machine.All hand sewn,machined round the edges,padded with felt.

Summer Garden

Altered Jigsaw piece

I have called this "Summer Garden" as i,m into this fabric art now,I thought I would try altering a jigsaw piece with Fabric.

First to dye some cotton muslin trying to portray landscape colours with Brusho,making a template with felt from the jigsaw piece then sewing that to the muslin,cutting all round.so all I had to do was sew the beads on before attaching the piece to the jigsaw bit........ummm I might do another its a bit fiddley,enjoyable though,makes a change from stitching books lol

Materials used=
white cotton muslin
Felt
Brusho for colouring fabric
Beads and buttons
Eyelets
Gems
gold wire for hanging at top
Old jewellery for hanging at bottom.
and of course a large childs Jigsaw Piece !

Notepad with a difference !

Notepad with a difference !Top photo cover on the left,notepad on the right.

I was running out of ideas for making useful presents,when this brainwave hit me lol
Remember those notepads that had fancy covers where inside was a slit ,the back cover of the pad slid inside,so you could renew it with another when that one was all used up.........

This is my version :-]
The last of my fabric paper to use up,but first I had to make a cover,,I measured out two pieces of stiff card 5"x5" ,laying down some pink satin material,measuring 11" all round the two pieces,cut round so it was all one piece I could just wrap round,I,m hopeless at explaining ,so hope you are still with me lol.

Then doing the same thing for the inside cover,I stuck these on with tape just to hold down ready for the sewing part,I used an over stitch with beads, inside.

As you see I made a square with fabric paper edged round with zigzag stitch onto felt for padding.........dyed some lace to match in,I have used the fabric side alternate with the paper side ,paper side being more colourful,the heart is made stamping into airdry clay then painting with Luminere gold.All the beads are the ones I bought in Hastings !
I also run a piece of fabric paper through my Cuttlebug machine with the new Victorian embossing folder,that piece you can see on the far left of the cover.

When I put all this together before fixing, I did'nt like the pink satin underneath,out came the Brusho paints to dye it lol,I was so suprised it took beautifully.I did the inside too.

Then I needed to make a cover for the cheap notepad,easy ,watercolour 140LB weight,using the salt technique,mixing the colours to match in.

I,m quite pleased with the outcome,its all hit and miss ,oh forgot to say those larger beads top and bottom,I just had to use they are so pretty,but to fix them was difficult so I wrapped round some gold wire,glued onto squares then stitched.

I have just purchased some Lutradur material,never used this before,cant wait to try ,its in A4 sheets you can use it for texturising,blast it with a hotgun it makes lacy effects so they say,we will see haha...........Watch this space !!

If you have problems following the way I created this piece just email me,I will try to help :0),I should really take pics of each stage,it would make things easier...to late now :-]

More Tagbooks

First being create something useful using Fabric Paper,so thats my effort on the left........the second one is to make something for my partner using crafting tools, ie Cuttlebug/Sizzix etc,I have used both.must have some stamping on too,the butterfly is metal run through the Cuttlebug machine,coloured with alcohol inks,then beaded.The top book is not quite finished,I need to braid and bead it.

I think this will proberly be the last of my Tagbook fetish lol,I had to use up my bits of fabric paper on these.

My Saturday Suprise !!

Is'nt the internet a wonderful place for us Artists and Crafters.....

LOOK what I received in the post this morning from Daniela in Palic,Serbia !she created this stunning work of Art, a pendant for me, as a swap with one of my Tag Books.

You can find her amazing work here

The corn posy was created by Daniela's friend,who included it as a prezzy for me ! another talented lady.

The package took three weeks to get here,we both thought it had been lost in the post,so you can guess the excitement this morning when it finally arrived here lol,even my postlady was excited haha.

Daniela I thankyou so much for this lovely work,it will be cherished,I shall only wear it for very special evenings out,so beautiful !

CD Holder

CD Holder
For my yahoo swap group...Fabric Paper Swap

I had loads of those plastic inserts that hold CD,s so thought I would make the outside hardback covers for a little book to hold favorite music CD's maybe.

First I covered in muslin dye'd material as a background,added some lace onto the fabric paper, then a fabric image,topped off with eyelets and beads.

I had a small piece of fabric paper over so cut into squares and run through my new victorian Cuttlebug embossing folder,then sewed some beads round,used 2 clay buttons I had already made,painted with Luminere paints to match.

Punched holes in side for ribbons to hold the whole thing together.

I think it works :-] says she whos running out of ideas lol

Second Hand Rose

Yes.....soon I will be called second hand rose lol....

Today my friend and I spent the day in Hastings second markets and Antique shops;-]
We had a wonderful day just browsing all this second hand stuff,the weather was beautiful,the fish n chips on the front yummy lol.

The birdcage I bought for my son as he has reared a day old sparrow who is now 2 weeks old and flying round the living room !!his home just a cardboard box,Gary was desperate for a cage,as Jack the sparrow is not ready yet for the wild if ever,and today he actually piggybacked a ride on Garys dog (sheepdog called Holly)then landed on Gary's shoulder !! anyway I think I done him proud with this posh cage for just £12 !

The other pic is all the beads and old lace I bought,fantastic bargains,so I came home a happy lady :-] this will keep me going for agesssss.

Monet's Water Lilies in Fabric

My take on Monet's Water lillies,Thankyou Sherry for putting the idea in my mind..

Fabric Paper,stitched then painted over with Luminere Paints,using up all my leftovers from previous projects for the water lillies,sewn down with beads,I love the metalic sheen of the background,which the photograph does'nt show to well.....

If i had a free embroidery foot for my machine I would have like to have sewn round each lily,I enjoyed playing around with what I had to hand,whether it works I dont know,but its pretty lol.

Saturday Blues

Saturday Blues in more ways than one :-](The middle Pic is the back of my book)

Saturdays are always quiet for me,so a good day for crafting,with no interruptions,I bought a new book on Mixed Media Fabric Art by Angie Hughes called "Stitch,Cloth,Paper and Paint" fabulous book so inspiring,had to try some techniques out today... this is the result,not perfection,its all a learning curve but enjoyable.

As you know i,m into fabric art at the moment,this lady works a bit different to the way I have been working making my fabric paper,I did try to follow but went my own way as per usual lol

I used cotton muslin (forgot to use the Gesso as she had !)brushing with PVA glue but instead of using paper collage on this i used lace,fibres and scrim,then another layer of PVA then tissue paper,instead of using Brusho paints I used Acyrlic paint thinly...I loved the effect.

My sewing machine came into play next as you can see,(still practicing),on the front cover I made a heart out of lace, I sewed on, then added a fancy dry clay heart/pendant,painted with Luminere paints,then added beads sewn by hand.

The buttons were the only way I could think of fastening down the book it works,with fibres wrapped round to the back button !

Inside I lined with dark blue silk sewn by hand, I cant believe I did that lol,didnt take long,then used Beryl Taylors method Pamphlet stitch to tie in the inside pages.

I think I still like Beryl Taylors method of working,as Angie Hughes makes her complete piece first including all the sewing then paints the whole thing last,its a great way of doing things,I like the way the machine stitching is painted to blend in,I may try that next,it takes longer,I just need more patience :-]

I,m really pleased with this little sketch book,I,m getting quite a collection now lol !

About Angie Hughes...here and here

Saffie (my cat) is now home from the vets !she has to go back for checkups though.

I cant stop !

Sewing Booklet
Link for making Fabric Paper here

This is becoming an obsession,I,m loving making this fabric paper so much,cant stop making stuff with it lol........
Materials=
Fabric (Organza) Paper
Beads
Felt
Fabric flowers


Each piece of fabric paper is so original,(used Brusho Paints for this one )I loveee the way the colours merge together,this little sewing book is for my yahoo swap group,thats if I can bare to part with it lol.