more wire charms!

Have definitely got the charm bug!! Went to my friend Linda's shop today and made some more charms using wire and various papers. In the spirit of international charm day I gave her one of the charms I made and it is now hanging on the wall for inspiration! She gave me the wire that I used which is very grungy looking and suited me just fine! I have just popped on here as I have finished packing for my eldest son's first cub scout camp trip over the weekend..lets hope this rain stops for him!!

more fabric charms! (wed stamper "orange")

I have never really made charms before but now I am addicted. I wanted to make some fabric charms today as I feel at ease working with fabric and embroidery. The fabric charm I have singled out has a stamped image on fabric with orange embroidery and is on an orange fabric background so I think it qualifies for this week's Wed Stamper challenge.

fabric brooch UKS (crazy amigo "colourful vintage")

On UK Stampers we are having a fabric brooch swap - we were all given the following info..using your six swapped pieces of material make a brooch of any shape and type and using any other materials/embellishments you like. You must use all six fabrics in the brooch. So here is mine..I have stamped a vintage girl on the beige material and I think it qualifies for colourful vintage.

TMTATC "car" challenge

Made a quick ATC using various fabrics, stamped images on fabric and a map.

International Charm Day Tues 28th April

Tomorrow is International Charm Day hosted by the talented Amber Dawn. Here is the link for more details. http://www.internationalcharmday.blogspot.com/

I thought I would make some little altered charms to swap. These are made from fabric flowers that my friend Linda was about to throw away, my youngest son's broken tambourine!!, images, glitter and glaze with a jump ring added. If you want to take part in my little swap just make a little charm up to a maximum size of 2" to swap for one of my charms. Please leave a comment but make sure I have a way to contact you to swap charms. I will make 5 charms to swap (if I have over 5 comments then names will go in a hat).

I just love blue dont you?

I have got some lovely bluebells growing in my garden at the moment which my Dad gave me a couple of years ago. Continuing with the blue theme I made another fabric bowl today..this one has a crafty individuals butterfly stamp in the middle. If you want to know how to make fabric bowls click on the link to the C&T shop (blue bird badge to the right). Quite by accident I found another great way to make sure you get all the details from a rubber stamp. Ink it up then put your material over the stamp face up then press it with a hot iron..this makes sure you get a great image and heat sets the ink!! I also made another fabric vase last night as a present. I am off to Aintree (which is about 10 miles from me) tomorrow for the creative stitches show and am looking forward to perhaps taking part in a few workshops on fusing fabric etc.

Theme Thursday "famous faces"

Audrey Hepburn pic with acetate coloured with alcohol inks.

TMTATC,Wed Stamper & UK Stampers challenges

Yesterday it was earth day and I planted a load of vegetable seeds..it was lovely to spend some time in my garden in the sunshine. I am taking part in a flower twinchie swap on UK Stampers hosted by my friend Linda. I have made these twinchies using the alcohol ink/foil method from the TMTATC challenge..I loved this unusual technique. Wednesday stampers challenge was "earth day" so I guess flowers fits this.

Pretty Punk (Crazy amigo challenge)

did another quick pastel drawing this morning..she turned out all punky looking with her blue and green hair and mad eyes...hence "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". I like working with pastels as being a busy mum of 3 it saves having to put all my paints away when its time for the school run! I have been sorting out all the summer clothes today for the 3 of them as its been so hot here. My 5yr old is wearing a crazy frog t-shirt so I am listening to the crazy frog and trying to cook tea while I am typing this.. check out Spotify as its excellent for all kinds of music!

Mixed Media Monday "mermaids"

Managed to get some decent oil pastels today from PERC which is a play resource centre in the city. I also got some window crayons which look like the stage makeup but they are a great creamy pastel that is excellent for blending. My youngest was putting loads on the till and was very pleased with his paint set and papers all at bargain prices!! So had a go with pastels today to draw a mermaid. She has glitter in her hair and is surrounded by a sea background with fishes and rocks from a napkin. I would recommend getting the softest blendable pastels you can find as often the ones that are sold are too hard to blend. I enjoyed drawing this piece in my garden this afternoon in blazing sunshine. I am listening to the Cocteau Twins now which is quite fitting for such a dreamy sea picture.

Saturday workout "muslin bandage background"

Decided to do a quick canvas tonight..this has layers of acrylic paint, a bandage crumpled up, painted flower, stamped swirls etc and a little girl.

Playing round with Picasa

put one of my paintings in picasa and played around with the colour and saturation settings..quite like the mad finished effect

sunshine and utee!

Went to crafty chatter this morning and my friend Pat showed me how to do utee stuff. I made some beads, faces, filled a memory frame and bottletop..I particularly liked the black utee..its great to have a play in good company sometimes. This afternoon it was a beautiful hot day so took the kids to the new play area on the back field and had a great time having loads of turns on the zip line!! I dont know who had more fun them or me!!

free quilting arts & cloth paper scissor mags

Its been the Easter school holidays for the past 2 weeks so havent had time to create much. Thought I would pass on these links though that I got in my email. The first link is to the present issue of Quilting Arts and the next to the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/interweave/qa_20090405/index.php#/0

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/interweave/cps_20090506/index.php#/0

fabric vase

had a go at making a mini fabric vase tonight. I think I will use it to put my pens in as it is about 5" high. I got the idea for making this vase from fabric vases by Linda Johansen..its on offer for under $3 ..click on the bird badge to the right to get to the C&T shop for details

burning dream (theme thursday "sewing")

Did another canvas page tonight. The background is made up of burnt, foiled lutradur cut and burnt away with a heat tool. The image is a transparency covered with burnt chiffon and the whole page has gold metallic embroidery thread to add more texture. I quite like lutradur as you can paint it then layer it and carve into it so all the layers show through. If you want packs of lutradur check out the link to the C&T shop

Italian memories (wednesday stamper "italy" challenge)

This is quite a sombre canvas page for the Wednesday Stamper "Italy" challenge. It is dedicated to all those poor people who lost their lives in the recent earthquake. The background is a mixture of material, napkins and lace. I have stamped onto metal and embossed an old coke can for the shrine. The image is printed onto fabric and is surrounded by black lace as it reminds me of the black mantillas/headscarf that Italian widows wear. I have stamped used teabags with a church and some latin phrases and have sewn them on.

Spring ATC (created by hand challenge)

Everyone needs new clothes for Spring so here is a spring dress ATC. Think I need some new clothes so might treat myself soon!!

more fabric bowls (mixed media monday "stripes &dots"

Made some more fabric bowls today and used a selection of material. To have a go at making these for yourself click on the "I heart fabric art with the birds" badge to the right on my blog and this will take you to the c&t shop which has great books on making fabric boxes, vases and bowls. The material I have used has a mixture of stripes, dots and various patterns so it qualifies for this challenge. I might put these on etsy once I have worked out the postage price!!

Let's dance felted brooch (awfully big art adventure "felt")

I went to a textile/felting group today and my friends Linda & Pat also came along so it was even more fun. Pat was selling some arty girlz charms so I made this brooch using a needle-felted background (using her embellisher!), charms and thread. I have put it on my denim jacket and it looks oool! I also made some felted beads and made them into a bracelet.

where has the music gone???

I was having problems with my playlist.com so have removed music from my blog. Sarah told me about a great website called Spotify which is great as you can listen to all the latest tunes etc for free whilst you surf the Net..its definitely worth a try.

TGIF "secret garden" & Green Pepper Press no. 30 challenge

Decided to combine two challenges for the 3rd canvas page of my book. The theme for Thank God its Friday was secret garden and I am sure that in everyone's garden there is a magic secret garden where the fairy folk live!! The theme for this months Green Pepper Press team is to use words & journalling on your work. The various words on this page read "celebrate faith hope trust nourish grace and devotion". Words which I think we should all live by. I have made the background with various scraps of material and a lovely sari satin ribbon that came from my mum's loft. I have used broderie anglaise lace threaded with wool at the side for texture. Vintage buttons complete the page..I especially like the lilac "simon" button off one of my old "simon shirts" that I used to wear in the 1970's!! (courtesy of my mums collection of old buttons that I wont let her throw out!).

and now for something completely different!!

For the second page of my canvas book I wanted to have a go at drawing with sharpies and crayons. She turned into a mad picasso type character with a bird. The background is various papers and torn bits from magazines all sewed down with thread onto canvas.

Numbers and painted canvas

Went to the crafty chatter shop today and they all loved the number that I made for the door - it looks great with the light shining through it. I decided to have a mad painting day there today so I painted and stamped on a load of canvas. I am going to cut these up and use them as backgrounds or fabric bowls etc.