WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look what I got today.  This was 2nd prize in the Particraft blog candy prize draw.  I haven't won anything before.  These stamp sets are fantastic - thanks once again for picking me out xxxxx

There is more candy up for grabs when the followers reach 1000.  Check it out, you might be a winner too.

Lutradur

I've been playing with a piece of Lutradur.  Firstly I covered it with different pieces of lace which I attached with a gel medium paste and left it over night to dry.  Then using my new eco friendly paints, I randomly painted all over it.  I used a dark purple paper for the backing of the image which is one of the printed canvas etched pieces I'd previously made. I added mesh, ribbon, fibres, gems and a button. 

I've not been very good lately at making actual pieces, I've played around trying new things out, but not actually made anything with them.  So, this time I decided I should make the Lutradur sample into something, and this is what I came up with.

Icicle Doll

Chris came over to see me at the weekend and brought me this lovely gift.  I have to admit, I didn't know what it was, but she told me it was an icicle doll and it's fab. She dyed the fabric and all the sequins are hand sewn. I just love that hair!!!!!!

Doncaster Dome

Have been far too busy just lately to fit any crafting in but I did get to shop today.  Went to the Stamp Magic show at The Dome and picked up these goodies above.  All of which you understand I NEEDED!!!

Yes Kate, before you ask, those beads and buttons are PINK!!!!!

Lotstodo - Architecture

This weeks Lotstodo challenge theme is 'architecture'.  The background is brayered with a big n juicy 'mountain' ink.  All the images are from Sheena Douglass's Creative Expressions 'lost garden' plate.  The colouring for the ivy has been dragged from the inked image using a paint brush.  I hope a stone arch and a statue count as architecture!!!!!

Fabric Slashing

I started off with a piece of blue fabric which I completely covered with layers of scraps, fibres, ribbons and the like, everything really.  I covered them with a piece of cream coloured fabric and using straight stitch created panels of lines and boxes.

Using a pair of small sharp scissors I slashed the fabric, by cutting in-between the lined panels and cutting crosses, diagnals and lines in the square panels.  This revealed some of the underneath layers.

Inspiration for this piece came via a link that Chris sent me by textile artist Fay Maxwell

Bleaching Felt

I've been playing with bleach, felt and stencils today.  I know this is hard to see as it wasn't the best colour of felt to use.

I hi-lited the hearts with a gold leaf pen.

It shows up better on the brown felt.

I used a white paint pen to hi-light some of the hearts.

This came out quite well on the lime green.  Unfortunately I don't own any decent stencils - yet!!!!

I hi-lited the petals with a black sharpie pen.

And lastly, an orange one, again hi-lited with a black sharpie pen, but I decided it do the little flowers around the edges too.

Just Playing

I wanted some foam stamps to paint and stamp onto fabric.  Zoe came up with a fab idea of making my own. I ran some sticky backed foam through the bigshot a couple of times using T!m's dies, mounted them onto pieces of wood and now I have myself a flourish, half a garland and a couple of flower foam stamps.

This is a piece of calico that I dyed using broken china distressed ink.  Although it looks creased I did iron it before I stamped onto it, but it's just how it's dried.  I used stream acrylic dabber and my new flourish stamp.

Lotstodo - Quotes

The background was brayered using the big n juicy 'waterfall' ink pad.  The quote is from the Tim Holtz 'just thoughts' plate.  The ivy is from the Creative Expressions Scene 'lost garden' plate and the crackle at the bottom is from Tim Holtz 'ultimate grunge' plate.  I used a paint brush to drag some of the ink over the ivy and as some of the ink was still wet I covered it with clear embossing ink and it just caught where it was still wet.

Theme Thursday - The Colour Green

Well how could I pass this one up, thanks to everyone who let me know.  I did an atc, postcard and 4 x4 using a mixed combination of my Art Journey stamps.  I used green tones of distress inks and water for the backgrounds and various shades of green for the stamping.

Canvas Collage

All the individual pieces are sewn to a piece of calico.  I used one of the small canvas pieces I was playing with on an earlier post when I was etching into it as the main focal point.  The tumble dryer sheet, top right, has a heart melted out of it using the heat textile tool.  The bottom right piece is a section left from my abstract postcard. I tried to turn the edges over to finish it off, and although they are not that straight I am pleased with them!!!

Stuffed Heart

I cut a heart shape from yellow felt.  Free motioned around the edges a couple of times, leaving a gap at the bottom to fill it with.  I stamped the word believe with black stazon. Filled it with some toy stuffing (thanks Jo) and sewed the gap up.

Wall Hanging

Using the orange coloured felts I made 2 loops, attached them to my layered fabric piece and added a hand made bead to the centre.  I found a piece of twig whilst out walking Fraser to hang it from.

Felting Wool

Amongst other things Jo picked me up a bundle of felting wool.  I pulled some off and dyed 2 pieces with spiced marmalade re-inker , 2 more with dusty concord and left one natural. I then tried to plait them all but it didn't work as they just sprung back into the positions they are now!!  So I emailed Jo for some help.

Good job as I wouldn't of had a clue.  Anyway after following her fab instructions, this is what I now have.  I am going to try and plait them later.

Layering Fabric, Ribbon and Fibres

I decided to have another try at creating a background using fibres, ribbons and strips of fabric.  This time I chose more bold colours.

I fused some Angelina fibres.

Laid them on top and fused them to the fabric and fibres.

I think this time I am going to leave the piece as a whole and as someone suggested with the purply one, create a wall hanging.

Vilene Etching

I'd already dyed a piece of vilene interfacing with various colours of distressed re-inkers.  I low tack taped a brass stencil to the piece above and using my heat textile tool melted away the sections.

Here I've just put it behind a piece of coloured card so you can see the effect better.

Etching on canvas

I had a play with etching into painted canvas with my heat textile tool. I tried all of the interchangable ends to see how they performed!!  The best one was the fine pointed one.  The thicker the paint, the harder you have to press and the slower you have to drag the tool.

Using canvas sheets, I printed some images, tore them to give ragged edges, painted the edges and used the heat textile tool to create the patterns

Fabric Postcard and Atcs

This is what I made from my WIP background.  A postcard, which I'm going to use for a swap.  I just cut it to size (6" x 4") from the original piece.  I did a bit of free motion stitching all over, added a piece of mesh and a button which I threaded a piece of purple hemp through.  I attempted to make some fabric beads and used the blue velvet one on this piece.

I also got 2 atc sized pieces out of the remainder.  This one I sewed a piece of netting over the top, did a bit more free motion sewing and used my heat tool to burnish the materials. I threaded a piece of the remnanets through the mesh and added another hand made fabric bead.

And lastly I added a piece of netting and left it in tact, added a piece of wire mesh and a hand made bead

Painted, spritzed and stamped background

I painted on the sunshine yellow and sunset orange with acrylic dabbers.  I then spritzed the material with broken china, mustard seed, spiced marmalade and dusty concord re-inkers mixed with water and left to dry. Hmmmm........what to do with it next!!!

I decided to randomly stamp it using black stazon.

Lotstodo - Birds / Wings

This is my piece for this weeks Lotstodo challenge. Corrugated background covered in white gesso, outlined with black acrylic and image stamped in botton left corner. T!m's alteration dies used and gems added to the crown. The wings have been stamped with gold brilliance ink on a crackle stamp.

From Scratch - WIP

Using a piece of fabric stabiliser I created this background with fibres, ribbons and strips of fabric.  I then added skeleton leaves and feathers.

I fused some white Angelina fibres, laid them on top and fused them to the background.

And that's as far as I've got!!!!

Fabric Postcard Swap

I've made this fabric postcard for a swap.  The theme was abstract, I'm not sure if it is abstract or not but it's my take on it anyway!!!  Was quite pleased with the result and especially my free motion sewing.  I hope my swapee likes it and isn't too critical!!!!

Fabric Charms

Remember my strip of layered fabrics which I wanted to turn into fabric charms, well my ruler arrived today so I was able to carry out the next steps and this is how they turned out.  I am quite pleased with them for my first effort.  They are for a swap so I hope they are ok!!!!

Fathers Day Card

I made this fathers day card at Maz's this morning too.  None of it was my idea, she had them all lined up when I walked in her craft room and I liked it that much that I decided to make one too.  Obviously it's slightly different, but the original idea was all hers, thanks for sharing Maz.

Tuesday Taggers - All that Blooms

This weeks Tuesday Taggers theme is all that blooms.  I was inspired by this idea from Alison and her summer fete brooches.  I made them this morning whilst crafting with my friend, Maz. I used her PA die to cut the large metal flower shapes, then when we were at the show in Lincoln a couple of weeks ago we got instructions on how to stamp the dies in the right place!!!  So I gave the stamping a go and it came out ok.  I used black stazon.  I stamped the smalled flowers onto the metal and cut them out.  I curled the edges over a paint brush, sat them inside each other and added a brad or a button for the centre piece.

Layering with Tyvek

Been playing with Tyvek which Hilda kindly sent to me, as I can't source any locally. I painted 4 pieces of tyvek in different colours using acrylic dabbers. Once dry I stacked them on top of each other, firstly sewing around the edges to secure them and then I carried on with a random pattern. I then pinned the tyvek to a piece of material to keep it flat and then I pinned that piece of material to another piece!!! I placed everything on top of a heat resistant sheet and started to melt the tyvek with a heat gun.

If you don't pin the tyvek down it will all shrivel into nothing.

Lotstodo Challenge - Bees Wax

This weeks Lotstodo challenge is Bees Wax. So this afternoon I got my meltpot out and had a play. The background was run through an embossing folder, coloured and scrunched with distressed inks. The brown diagonal square nestie was sewn on. The quote is stamped in pumpkin stazon, cut out, chalked over and attached and coated in bees wax. The edges have been decorated with zig zag stitiches.



I burnt around the edges of a piece of corrugated cardboard with a candle flame. I dipped each side into a bowl of water to put the smouldering out!!! and then dried it with a heat gun. I covered the whole image in bees wax and when dry scraped some of the wax off their faces. The 'when?' is also stuck on with some bees wax. Finally I attached a piece of string for a hanger and applied wax to the knots.

Squares & Rectangles

This is a collage of squares and rectangles using fabrics in neutral colours. I used various different stitches to attach the pieces.

I then took it one step further and hand sewed on some beads and buttons. I also stamped the word 'alternative' in timber brown stazon on the top left hand piece of fabric. I really like how this piece has been transformed.

I am entering this piece into this weeks Wednesday Stampers challenge with a theme of squares.

Buttons, Lace and Leaves

I think this piece will look better when I've worked out how to finish the edges off properly. I also need to get some purple thread to do it. But I was just having a play, quite like how it turned out though for a first attempt at putting veins on leaves!!!!