Bleach backgrounds (lots to do) and a twitter bird...

Decided to have a play with a bleach pen that my US friend Lisa sent me I havent found these pens in the UK yet) . I tested it on various painted and inked backgrounds and so far it seems to work best on distress ink backgrounds. It works well with foam stamps rather than detailed rubber stamps (with both stamps you have to clean them really well so its best to use unmounted). With the bleach pen it is quite easy to do writing and doodles so have played around with some painted journal pages. I quite like the effect and will probably try bleach on fabric next. The challenge this week at Lots to do is backgrounds so my experiments with bleach fit.

I am on Twitter (loveofcollage) and recieved this lovely painted card and twitter bird from Alyice all the way from Sioux Falls in the US (you can see its on my atlas where my sons had fun finding South Dakota).

Romantic Roses (sunday stamper & mixed media monday)

Decided to make a little ATC for a change..this one features stamped roses and various painted background images. The challenge over at Sunday Stampers is roses and the Mixed Media Monday is romance..to think this ATC fits both with its romantic feel

Things I love fabric postcard challenge

The theme for this months fabric postcard challenge is Things we Love. I have used some of my favourite fabric postcards to make some fabric art journals ..check out my Etsy. I have used some hand dyed fabric with stitching for the journal and used a variety of my painted and printed fabric to make a collage on the front.

bird journal cover and playing with pastels (3 muses challenge)

I made a little fabric notebook cover today with the dyed fabric I did last week..the front is covered in painted and printed fabric with lots of free motion stitching on it..have added it to my Etsy store as I have sold most of my items! Planning on making some more fabric journal covers soon so keep checking my Etsy ..you will find it just to the right!

Had a play with the pastels I recently recieved and decided to do some really colourful pages as everyone needs lots of colour in their lives..quite like the effect of scratching away the layered pastels to reveal the page underneath. The pages were inspired by a song I was listening to while running in the gym the other day.."its a new dawn, its a new day and I'm feeling good...." dont you just love that song and the meaning behind it...

Romance Gingersnap Creations Challenge

Here is a card I have made for the Gingersnap Creations challenge as part of the Artistic Stamper Design Team. It features various painted papers and I have stamped the 1920s lady on to a painted book page. Have added sewing to add texture and to link the hearts...I haveused my favourite sequin stamp again on these hearts...all stamps from Artistic Stamper.

Today I was very pleased as my friend Lisa sent me a parcel containing portfolio pastels (which I have found impossible to get in the UK), clorox bleach pen, kool aid for dyeing and cray pas pastels..so looking forward to having a play in my journal with these later. Lisa has just opened a shop so check it out as it has some lovely products in it.

Love hearts (Sunday Stamper)

I really like doing washed out pale painted cards at the moment. Here is one layered with various painted papers, wallpaper fragments, lace, pastels, charcoal and sewing..dont think I will ever do flat cards!! I quite like the heart on this one as it uses a new stamp range which saves me using scraggy bits of bubble wrap. I have added a lady with an elegant hat possibly looking at her mum's portrait and the word Love. Over at Sunday Stampers the theme is hearts so think this fits in nicely.

Travel around the world swap arrives in Liverpool..

Katrin is organising a Travel around the World swap and this month it is my hometown...Liverpool. I have used various painted and printed fabrics for the background and printed the images onto cotton. The first card features a picture of the ornate bridge in Chinatown..I love parking in Chinatown and walking through to the city as its such a lovely place full of character overlooked by the old Anglican cathedral. Soon its going to be the Chinese New Year and I will take my sons to see the dragon dance and very loud fireworks! The second card features a view of the Liver Buildings from the Albert Dock. Now to decide which one to send to Germany! My young son wanted to make a fabric postcard to keep..check his out on his blog its fantastic...

Pale and interesting cards (theme thursday busy)

Decided to make some cards with some pale blue, green and white paints. I have stamped the images onto painted old book pages and added a ripped painted and inked bookpage as the background. Have added some sewing for further texture. These beautiful vintage collage and flower stamps are available from the Artistic Stamper.

The challenge over at Theme Thursday is busy so as these cards are busy with lots of colour I think they fit the theme....

One World One Heart "Love Bird Fabric Postcard"

The One World One Heart international blog giveaway is here yet again.

(please click on the blue words for all the info to take part)

In the spirit of this event I am giving away this love fabric postcard. It is made with various painted and printed fabrics with freestyle machine embroidery added to it. Please leave a comment linking me to your blog with a way of contacting you should you win. The event ends on February 15th so I will select a winner then...good luck and be sure to check the hundreds of other blogs taking part..it may take you all week!!

It worked..first attempts with procion dyes..

I bought some procion dyes last year off ebay but have been plucking up the courage to finally have a go. I thought I would make a mess of it from early experiences of dyeing when I was about 17 trying to dye all my clothes black they all ended up a horrible navy colour!! Anyhow I followed some instructions off the Talking Threads programme featuring Myfanwy Hart. It involves scrunching up material into plastic glasses and adding diluted versions of the dye along with some soda and salt. I am really pleased with the results. After I rinsed the dye off I washed them with ordinary detergent then ironed them dry as I am impatient. I have read your supposed to use synthrapol to get the last bits of dye out but dont know what that is ..so if anyone does know can you let me know. Have tried it with some chinese red and yellow to produce gorgeous orange patterned fabric..I have got some more "brewing" at the moment in red and blue shades..its great waiting to see what happens!

Arty Girl Doodling (lots to do white)

Playing around in my journal today with a black pen doing some doodling. Arty Girl emerged creating calm out of chaos with her bohemian imagination!

This weeks challenge over at lots to do is white so I think this qualifies and its mostly white!

Art..theres no time like the present (Sunday Postcard)

I have really appreciated just a little time to create something today. Unusually for me I wasnt well last week and am just about over a nasty bout of viral conjunctivitis when my right eye was very red and painful so couldnt really do anything...Its times like these when you really appreciate your health and have increasing empathy for those who are not so fortunate in life. I would like to thank those who all wished me well

For this fabric postcard I have used some of my painted and printed fabric pieces for the background. I have included various clock stamps which I stamped on fabric with dye inks. I really like these solid flower stamps as they are ideal for fabric stamping either using dye inks or paint. The stamped words read "There's no time like the present"...all stamps from The Artistic Stamper.

"123. journal page..." theme thursday fav number

I have been playing around in my journal again as havent been well this week to do much..I think the expression on her face sums up my week..fed up of feeling so lethargic and achey. My favourite number is 123..as it usually signals the beginning of something..

Just had to share a little drawing my eldest son gave me last night after doing his writing practice..so thoughtful and kind and accompanied by a big hug

"Dream Grand"..playing around in my journal...

finished pastel drawing

cover the blank white page with any kind of paintings..

another page I am working on at the moment with lots of layers underneath

Havent been feeling too good today with my backache so we had a chippy meal tonight and I have just been playing around with my journal. To get over the blank white page fear I tend to just stick odd bits of paintings I have done when playing with paint with my sons. I then like to go over the swirls etc with pastels, charcoal and see what comes out....The bottom photo shows another page I have just started I dont really have any set ideas how this is going to turn out..

Waiting for Spring (created by hand challenge)

Some of my favourite flowers are bluebells and muscari..I love their blue colour. I have drawn a bluebell on this little house and arranged various butterfly, heart and flower images around the main image. The background has paint, pastels and charcoal..really like using these at the moment.

Fly away negativity..mixed media monday "wings"

Had a go with embossing powder today after seeing a tutorial by Hels. When I have previously tried embossing the powder goes all over the place so this time I heated the card from underneath and it was a lot neater..thanks to Linda for that tip! I wanted my heart to look grungy so rubbed away some of the powder. Have added paints, pastels, charcaol and some stamped images to the background. The words read "Let your imagination soar fly away negativity". I put it on the front cover of a little notebook that I got today from Paper Artsy. The winged heart stamp is from Lost Coast. I have photographed the notebook cover next to my old mug (the words "Iechyd da" mean good health in Welsh..which is funny as it is full of coffee and baileys at the moment for my backache!)

"Spring Peace" fabric postcards

I think we are all fed up with the heavy snow ...I never thought I would enjoy seeing a downpour of rain yesterday but I was so glad that it washed away all the snow slush. I am looking forward to Spring and noticed some little crocus tips trying to poke through in the garden. I have changed my blog background too so its nice and fresh looking rather than wintery grey..

I made some more fabric postcards today using some lovely botanical stamps stamped onto fabric using dye inks. The backgrounds are made up of painted and printed fabric and images printed off on Claudine Hellmuths canvas sheets. These canvas sheets are really good as you can sew through the canvas and they are easy to put through the printer plus you can stick them anywhere as they are sticky! I have added some very mad wavy freestyle machine embroidery. I love adding some sewing at the end as it adds further interest..I dont think I will ever be a person who sews straight lines as I just like to sew wherever the needle takes me.....

Just discovered blog radio....

My friend Lisa Fulmer from C&T publishing is going to be on US blog radio soon. Check out the upcoming show where she is going to talk about surface design techniques etc. I have looked at the archives and they have had Jenny Doh, Crafty Chica on in the past and they have shows on all kinds of crafty stuff. Its great that its on the Net as that means we all have a chance to listen to it! Havent had much time to create anything today as Fridays are for doing the big weekly shop, washing all the clothes etc etc plus I have been trying to figure out how to work out my new phone (I think I must be getting old as I can hardly read the manual as it all written in pale grey!!)..it does take great photos though with all kinds of special effects. I will show you them once I have worked out how to get them on my computer with blue tooth..another new thing to me!

Valentine Houses (UK S, Gingersnap Creations and Theme Thursday Challenges)

My friend Linda is organising a house swap on the theme of Valentines over at UK Stampers. I have been browsing through the book In this House which features lots of intersting collaged houses. So I have had a go at making three houses in slightly different styles . Over at Theme Thursday the theme is hearts so I think these qualify...

mosaic of old transparency prints of my paintings layered over a gaby cajubrasil image with silver embossing powder frames

The theme over at Gingersnap Creations this week is embossing powder so this is my entry.

lots of layered paint, tissue paper, pastels and charcoal

textured painted wallpaper, scratched paint writing, pastels and charcoal

More fabric bird postcards (2010 monthly experiments at Fiber Arts)

I have joined the 2010 monthly experiment group over at Fiber Arts and Mixed Media. This months challenge is to go through all our magazines and books etc and actually use some ideas from them. I thought this was a great prompt as I have got stacks of books and magazines full of amazing art and I always just flick through them saying.."I must try that one day!!". So this month I decided to alter some fabric with paint and print out some of my paintings onto material. I really love making fabric postcards as they are such a neat size and dont take too much time once you have the initial idea! I might use these to make some items for my Etsy shop as its looking a bit empty at the moment!!