Dedicated to one life as an....(wed stamper eggs)

Wanted to do a surreal fabric postcard as whenever I think of eggs it always reminds me of when I visited the Salvador Dali museum in Spain with its roof full of eggs. This card features various dyed and painted fabric and a rather peculiar scrollswork stamped bird with her eggs. I found this monty python type of hand and thought that would fit in with the man with the egg on his head..sometimes its great to do wacky way out art just for fun!!

Cool2craft TV

I joined in with this US show last night and it was great fun. It shows at around lunchtime in the States so its 5pm in the UK or about 6pm if you live in Europe etc. I was even mentioned in the first 5 mins of the show by my friend Lisa who did a great demo on alcohol inks. Check it out its great fun and full of ideas http://www.cool2craft.com/ for info and to see archived shows etc. You may see a green light on your webcam when you sign in but dont worry as unless you specifically ask to speak no one can see you!

angel card (lots to do vintage challenge)

Used lots of my papers for layers on this card and some distress inks to age the papers. I have stamped the floral background then added some lace and a nice stamped vintage child image and angel word. I really like old world images so glad the challenge over at lots to do this week is vintage.

first arty tote bag finished...

Finished my first arty tote bag last night. I have used some of my procion dyed fabric with some of the painted fabric I did the other day. I will make one for my Etsy shop soon...so watch this space. Off to a little textile show now called make and knit so hoping to treat myself to some goodies to put in my new bag!

Tea dance card (scrollswork no 4 & three muses challenges)

Used some of my new scrollswork stamps this afternoon to make a little card..it has the lovely quote of may you dance lightly through life..anyone remember afternoon tea dances. I have never been to one but loved the tea dance scene in the film Scent of a Woman.

This morning I dyed some more fabric with my friend Pat..we have got quite good at it now as we were really hesitant at first. Here is a photo of some of the fabric we dyed last week...arent the colours wonderful.

In the UK we are having our typical spring weather which means rain and yet more rain...here is a photo of my new bistro table and chairs that I was going to use all this week to drink my morning coffee whilst watching the birds feed on the huge pile of bread we leave out for them but typical it has rained and rained since last weekend....but at least the narcissi and muscari are blooming

Make do and knit fair in Liverpool this weekend..

just been sent an email about this fair which is taking place at the Bluecoat School in Liverpool. It looks great as its a textile craft fair, fashion show, haberdashery sales etc..thought I would blog about it just in case anyone wants to go.. http://www.makedoandknit.com/ its only £4 to get in or £6 for weekend ticket..cant wait as I love shows!

Spring Lady fabric postcard (wed stamper spring and Leahs monthly postcard challenge)

I quite like making fabric postcards as you can use them as toppers for cards, embellishments for bags, journal covers etc etc. I have stamped an elegant lady on to some of my dyed fabric and surrounded her with stamped swirls and grass. I have added the word dream and some stamped fabric painted flowers. The challenge over at Wed Stampers is Spring so think this fits in with all the spring colours. Over at Leahs monthly fabric postcard the challenge is words to live by..well I think dream is a pretty good word to live by..without dreams we have nothing after all...

I was listening to the radio today and it mentioned ladies day at Aintree races which takes place every year the day before the main horse race. I think this lady is dreaming about going to the races to drink pimms and champagne all day..(this has never appealed to me as I am too much of a tomboy and I dont like champagne!)..are there any events near you that are like this? I think I must be in a summer mood as I am listening to some Black Uhuru reggae even though its raining yet again outside.

playing around with fabric...

today I had a play around with painting some fabric with random patterns. I have started on a bag that I want to make with my dyed fabric mixed in with the fabric I painted today. Its going to be an oversized big arty tote bag so this is the start of it...

bird twinchie (small world of inchies & twinchies) & me in a yellow hat!

I havent created a twinchie for a long time so as time is always short of a weekend I had a quick go making this twinchie this afternoon. It consists of various printed and painted papers and little stamped bird punched shapes using a new martha stewart punch

Last night I had a great time collecting for the Marie Curie cancer research dressed in a yellow hat giving out daffodils..think I managed to raise quite a lot. I stood in front of a huge daffodil created by the organiser..hope they managed to raise lots of funds over the weekend..

Time for Art steampunk style (Theme Thursday masculine)

Decided I would make a little circular book like my steampunk style box. The background is Vivo Ferro paste which I have stuck old coins, rusty washers, guitar wire & a rusty nail in. This collaged man is one of my fav stamps and I have stamped an ornate key and old vintage clock to go with the theme of time for art! The challenge over at Theme Thursday is masculine so thought I would be early for a change.

I have been spending lots of time in the garden as it has been such nice weather. I bought a little greenhouse last month so managed to potter round in it this afternoon planting up some hanging baskets that will hopefully bloom in the summer..hope its nice weather where you are?

My take on Steampunk..(FAMM embellishment and Sunday Stampers challenges)

I really like steampunk with all its quirkiness so thought I would have a go at decorating a ready to go box that I got here. I have used some Ferro paste to hold all the embellishments (old Spanish coins, bottletops, ring pulls, electrical bits, rusty washers, an old bracelet, broken toy chain and a rusty nail). The main image is a of a bird cage lady from Scrollswork and I have used their stamps for the saying to the left "I create, therefore I am". Behind the acetate window I have stuck some cuttlebug diecuts arranged in an arch. The inside of the box is painted black then sprayed with cosmic shimmer inks to give it an aged effect. I am going to use this box to keep all my odds and ends that I find ..it has a magnetic closure to keep all the contents safe!!

The challenge over at Fiber Arts Mixed Media is to use unusual embellishments and this weeks Sunday Stamper is bits & pieces..so think this box suits both

its midnight here so...just checked out scrollswork blog and am very pleased as have won some more of their stamps for winning the sketch no 3 challenge with my rabbit card..so expect some more wacky creations coming here soon..goodnight everyone!

Boring Friday but featured artwork on Milliande!

Dont get to do much creating on a Friday as its washing, big shop, clean the house, family games at the gym with the kids..etc etc etc...however my needle felted landscape was the featured artwork of the day over at the Milliande artists community so very pleased and the stamps I won for a Scrollswork challenge arrived..lets hope the Spring weather continues..have a good weekend everyone...

Fused fabric art birds (Theme Thursday Spring)

After dyeing fabric this morning went round to Lindas and finished some fabric art birds. I have used the fused fabric I made on Saturday and added some metallic free machine embroidery, beads and wire...very spring like I think!

I'll have 15 pints of dye please and a packet of crisps!!

I've always liked drinking pints!!!

dont forget to put your pink marigolds on Pat

anyone for a dye party

I went over to Pats house this morning and we had a great time playing round dyeing fabric in plastic pint pots looking like a pair of dye witches!!. Pat has hung the fabric out to dry on her washing line (click the link for a picture) so cant wait to dye some more next week..we used our collection of procion dyes and just haphazardly added the dye to scrunched up fabric.

go ask Alice...

just come back from watching Alice in Wonderland..thought it was a great film but it did remind me of Lord of the Rings! I wouldnt recommend taking young children as its quite dark, gothic and certain parts could frighten youngsters (so glad I went alone). I thought it was more of an adult rather than a childrens film especially as it was directed by Tim Burton. Hope you like my new blog background..

Sunday Stamper rabbits and scrollswork no 3 challenges

Made a spring rabbit card using some clean fresh papers and an Inka rabbit stamp..I love doing different styles..grungy one day and clean the other! This card is for Hels Sunday Stamper challenge and the Scrollswork no 3 challenge

Got a nice surprise all the way from Indonesia today..isnt this a gorgeous painting print and a lovely collagey tag from Ria Nirwana..I won her OWOH giveaway

Childhood innocence (lots to do distressed challenge)

I decided to start on a couple of tags inspired by the new Tim Holtz book that I treated myself to the other week which has the wonderful title of a compendium of curiousities. I quite like the grunginess of Tim Holtz and love his new 2010 range of inks and embellishments. Played around with distress inks and water to create the backgrounds. For the Angel tag the stamped background features flourish and lace stamps. I have stamped a botanical image in paint then put distress inks over the paint for the childhood dreams tag. For the darling child tag the background has distress inks layered over a lace resist stamped with embossing powder then melted away with an iron. The boy tag features a stamped lace background ..all using distress inks and childhood images from The Artistic Stamper.

landscape finally finished....

Went to the textile group today and finished the needle felted landscape I was working on last month...quite pleased at the way its turned out and I have now hung it up in the kitchen. It reminds me of Wales which is what I had in mind when designing it..cant wait to go there camping in the Summer again..

Took along my fabric master iron and was pleased when a lot of the group had a go rummaging through my fabric scraps box and fusing the material together. I am going to add some free machining on top of these pieces and see what they evolve into.

behind blue eyes...and snowdrops (three muses oh man challenge)

Decided to draw a young male face for a change tonight with a study on the eyes..its named after The Who song.."behind blue eyes" which is one of my fav songs..the journalling in his hair reads "no one knows what its like to be the bad man, to be the sad man behind blue eyes..but my dreams they arent as empty as my conscience seems to be..."

On a lighter note....we all went to the park after school as it felt quite spring like

today and we saw these lovely snowdrops in the woods which I have never really been able to grow but they always look better in a woodland anyway..I think Spring is on its way at last..hooray!

Just had the most lovely surprise from Germany..

I am sitting here not being able to do much as my head is full of sinus pain..all of a sudden there is a knock at the door and the postman gives me a lovely beautifully wrapped parcel! I am thinking what it possibly could be and quickly open it.. I left a comment on martinas blog stempel-gerwerkel about how I loved her steampunk matchboxes and she sent me one complete with a lovely bright card, little address moo and lovely letter. It has really cheered me up ..so big hugs and thanks Martina. I will send you something nice soon when this sinus pain has gone..you meet some great people through blogs

Sinusitis but have won a load of stamps!!

yeah..my Alice woodland book that I made last week has just won me $25 worth of scrollswork stamps..so am very pleased. My head is full of antibiotics at the moment to clear sinusitis pains..so I am looking at everything in a haze rather like yesterdays drawing