365 Journal and stuff

Not much to say about my journal pages.  I'm using an A3 Pink Pig book this year.  Check out Kate's blog for more info and inspiration.

I had a little play yesterday with transfer inks.  They work on polyester fabrics, also on a polyester mix but less well - it absorbs less of the ink.  It works so well on Evolon (a woven polyester fabric) which is the heart labelled number 2.  I also used the Evolon with the plant material.

Basically you paint the inks onto copy paper then iron it onto fabric so you can paint solid colour or paint a design onto the paper or cut shapes out of the painted paper.  With the plant material you place it onto the fabric, put the painted paper on top then iron over it.  Also transferred some of the ink to organza ribbon shown at the bottom here.

I've also made some organza flowers, one made using a tea-light to shrivel the edges of the organza and the other 2 using a heatgun.

Polyfilla.

I was filling a few holes in the craftroom wall with Polyfilla and decided to use some on a canvas.  I used a Stewart Gill butterfly stencil which I've had for many years and the edge of a stencil along the bottom of the canvas.  The canvas measures 5"x7".  The paints are watered down Daler Rowney, with mica powders over the top. The parts of a page is a butterfly description from a dictionary.

This other canvas measures just under 8" square and is a box canvas.  I used gel medium on this one, not Polyfilla ;-)  The inspiration for this was taken from Creative JumpStart run by Nathalie.  It's not complete but I thought I'd show what I'd done so far.  I'm thinking of printing off a bird tuse; do I need a dark; possibly black; image or light?  What do you think?


Also getting a 'jumpstart' from Nathalie's blog I did an image transfer.  I didn't have the transfer medium shown in the video so used gel medium.  My intention is to use the image on something such as a purse, phone case or such.   The dragonfly measures 3.5" x 2" Quite often I'll try out a technique, for paper or fabric, or just have a play if it's something I've done before but not actually make something out of the end result.  I want to try to make more things in future when I've had a little play.  I decided not to trim the dragonfly before transferring it to the fabric, but if I'd wanted a neater finish I would have done.

If you sign up to the Creative JumpStart 2013 you get regular 'JumpStarts' from such people as Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Claudine Hellmuth, Dina Wakly, Nathalie herself and many more.

EDITED 365 Journal and Happy New Year ;-D

Happy New Year to all.  Hope 2013 is good to you.
Something's amiss with Blogger since I was last here :-/ the font is really tiny and I can't figure out how to upload photos from my computer!  It only gives the options to upload from:
This blog; Picasa Web Albums; Phone; Webcam or URL.  HELP!
EDITED 6th Dec
I've installed Google Chrome now and hey presto when I want to upload pics from my computer I get the option to 'Choose Files' which wasn't there before.  Previously it gave the option to 'Browse' but this had disappeared since 'they' have made changes to Blogger.  I know it's an ongoing thing; when changes are made they work ok for some but not others - the changes will be compatible with some browsers and not others and also may be battling against other 'stuff' on your computer.  I'm just glad I didn't have to resort to downloading Picasa as I'd used it briefly once before but wasn't really happy with it.  The other alternative was to upload pictures from my phone but though I could crop pictures before uploading I may want to edit them in some other way which I wouldn't be able to do. Kate is still hosting the '365 Journal' so pop over if you haven't already done so :-D

I made my sister a bracelet for Christmas but remembered she can't wear metal next to her skin (the fastener) so had to make a quick bracelet using stretch cord; I didn't photograph that but here's the original.

I used Chinese crystals - not as good as Swarovski - the bicones are Swarovski however.  I realise now I should have made sure all the crystals were facing the same way as they are coated on one side so don't gleam so much on that side. (I may yet redo it)  It is quite simple to do and if you'd like to have a go check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFbOyFaD9wk&playnext=1&list=PLC29345357827E2E2&feature=results_main [:-/ having another look at this it's so much neater than mine, still it is a first attempt ;-)]

I need to change the fastening as this one is difficult to fasten on your own.

I also made my son a paracord bracelet if you fancy having a go you'll find lots of tutorials on YouTube.



At the doll group I belong to our last project was based on 'I know an old lady who swallowed a fly' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tojKdGW7TBA those taking part had to make a head for the character they chose (mine was a 'cute troll') this was then passed on to another person to make the body, the next person made the fly and spider, the next the bird and cat, then dog and goat; after that when it was passed on we just made one animal.  We never got our 'head' back at all so had no idea what our finished project ' would look like.  There was a stipulation that we had to follow whatever theme the first creatures, for example if they were knitted we had to knit the next creature etc. Some didn't have a specific or obvious  theme (for example after the spider and fly in one collection the next person took colour as the theme) (At the same time there was another project on the go which was to make a house and embellish internally and externally and also make a figure to live in the house.  Unfortunately there aren't any photos of those on the blog).  Pop over to have a look http://craftydollybirds.blogspot.co.uk/

Yoohoo is there anybody there? 365 Journal

Long time no blog.  I was late starting November pages as I got mixed up with the actual pages in my journal - I had to paste a blank sheet on the inside cover and found it too much effort (lazy slob!)  At least that's what I thought at the time.  In actual fact I'd started to prepare Nov pages long before and it was for Dec that I needed to add a sheet to inside back cover, so I didn't have to start on a new journal; doh!  Also I was having problems with my camera; first it died then came back to life but has died again; I think it's finally kaput.  My old phone wasn't much good for pics, well they weren't too bad but couldn't take many; I now have a new phone.
I'm not happy with the colours for Nov but as it took me till about halfway through the month to do the daily squares and start writing I decided to just leave it.

Grandkids dog and one of their hens :-D

366 Journal

Still in it and up-to-date!  If  you want to know more about this challenge pop over to Kate's blog.  Not much to say.  After colouring Oct pages; I can't remember what with as I did them some time ago; I added white paint through 2 stencils and used up an old sheet of 12x12 paper for the daily squares.

I was asked to make another of the Woodland Nymph dolls with a pink/cream colour scheme.  I've promised my youngest granddaughter one for her birthday, which is this month, too and I think I'll have had enough of making them!!

NOT DUE TO FLOODS read below

I went to see '42nd Street' at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford with a couple of other ladies from the tap dance class, it was a fantastic production - lots of tap dancing; if you don't know the show.  It was the Curry Festival that weekend so I took a pic.  The fountains were on (are they fountains if they are spurts of water coming out of holes in the ground)?  There's a dip in the ground to contain the water but no wall round.  There were quite a few kids having great fun getting wet.  You can see some of the stalls in the background where you could buy curry dishes.  Bradford was crowned the Curry Capital of Great Britain in 2011.

366 Journal, doll and cakes

Firstly my completed pages for August.  If you're new to the 365 Journal (366 for this leap year) challenge pop over to Kate's to see more.

Next up my prepared pages for September - a little blurred.  I had to take all these pics with my Nokia phone as my camera isn't working.  For some reason the Sept pages have turned out blurred, I did take the picture twice and both times it was blurred so I'm leaving it as is.



It was my birthday in July and I went for lunch with a couple of friends, this is the huge meringue I had for dessert - it measured approx 6" high; now that's what I call a dessert :-D

Then we have some cupcakes I made for my granddaughter's birthday, the butter icing's a bit wonky on some but they all go down the same hehe.  Some have glittery pink sugar on which doesn't show up very well.

It was another of my granddaughter's birthday in August and I made her this Wood Nymph - pattern by Julie McCullough.  Her face isn't brilliant but is actually better IRL than it looks here.
In case you're wondering why the writing on my table cover is back to front it's because the colours are reversed on this side and I like to have a change.   My son bought this for me when he lived in California for some years.  Not sure what it's purpose actually is but I like to see it so use it on my table.  The design; of cats; is by Laurel Burch for those who may be interested.

366 Journal - August

Nice and early with my 366 Journal.  Not much to say about the pages for August.  I used Koh-I-Noor water based dyes (' 'Dense vibrant colours, for sketchbook and design work. Exciting results when bleached'') which I also used to colour some copy paper for the triangles.

Monochromatic

Some weeks ago I decided I'd get some fabric and stuff out and make something without having a clear idea of what.  I couldn't decide what to use as a base but I bought some cheap cleaning cloths made from recycled materials, not for this project but ended up using one for the base.  They were soft and a reasonable thickness but had stitching all over.  I decided to take all the stitching out, as they were that type of 'chain' stitch that undoes easily it didn't take long.  However that was when I discovered the reason for the stitching - the cloth was very much like cotton wool with a gossamer thin fabric enclosing it; the stitching basically held it together :-/  So decided to felt it on my much underused Embellisher (needle-felting machine) and add bits and pieces using the embellisher - organza, tulle, angelina, shimmery polyester fabric, lace and some handmade paper.  I did some random, free motion machine stitching all over then added beads, hearts made with angelina fibres and sequin type butterflies and leaves.  The fabric still isn't very robust but I intend to use Bondaweb to fuse some fabric on the back.

I had another little play with fabric and paints, this time using transfer paints.  These are great, you paint them onto copy paper then iron onto fabric.  You can paint a design or picture onto the paper then iron that onto fabric or do as I did just painted randomly onto paper.  Then I got some leaves, placed them onto the fabric and put the painted paper over the top and ironed over it.  This left the leaf design on the fabric.  On another piece I cut out some paper shapes and placed them on top of the fabric before placing the painted paper on top and ironing.  Transfer paints are meant to be used with polyester fabric for best results but I've used cotton fabric with the leaves, the other with cutout paper shapes is polyester.  The plan is to add some machine stitching to these and do something with them.






This shows the painted paper and the cutout shapes after ironing - (the paint having been transferred onto the paper shapes)  The paint is darker on the copy paper than when it's ironed onto fabric.

Sun Printing on Fabric

Thought I'd share my little piece of sun printed fabric.
(I was just trying out some fabric paint to see if they worked).  There are specially produced paints for this; Pebeo Setacolor Soleil being one; but I'd read that you can use other paints.  The yellow I used is Dylon Fabric Paint and the green (though it looks more turquise here) is Colourcraft Opaques Fabric Paint.  If you've never done this before it's very simple.  Just wet your fabric (don't saturate it) then brush paint on.  Place a stencil, leaves/grass, cut out paper shapes, anything you like really that will create a pattern, on top and leave it in the sun till the fabric is dry, et voila!


Also sharing a card I've made for my friend.  I printed the greeting on the computer using the 'glow' facility in Word which adds a little glow round the letters, added a bit of distress ink to the centre of the card then stamped the owl with black ink.

366 Journal July. No Olympic Torch!

Nice and early with my 366 Journal :-) I'm not too happy with the colour scheme for July but decided to leave it.  I used Ecoline inks and salt (if you want more info about these and how best to use them check out this blog http://stampingmathilda.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/ecoline-and-stamping.html; while you're there have a look round her blog, she does fantastic stuff) For more about the 366 challenge pop over to Kate's and find out.

On Monday I watched the Olympic Torch passing from Dewsbury on it's way to Wakefield.  I managed to get quite close to the carrier (sorry don't know who it was even though I've looked online as several people carry it through each town) I had to stoop and squeeze between people and got a really good close-up.

This is the picture, no, really! - it's just that she happens to be behind this lady who walked past just as the shutter on my phone camera went off unfortunately it's a slow shutter speed
 :-(

Then I tried again and got the policeman.

Some of the crowd lining the street.

EDITED: Oops the eagle-eyed amongst you may notice I've got the dates wrong :-/ I have amended them now.

A Splendid Little Chap

At the doll group (or rather Craftydollybirds group) last Sunday some of us started to make a bird out of a lightbulb!  This was a project by Christine Lehto in 'Cloth Paper Scissors' - March/April 2012.  Who would look at a lightbulb and think 'that would make a fabulous body for a bird'? - well obviously Christine did and I'm so glad she did as I love my little chap.  Christine used paperclay to cover the lightbulb after attaching wings and tail; I've used an airdrying clay called DAS as  you can see in one pic.  I bought mine at 'The Works' (but I seem to remember from reading comments somewhere in Blogland that this isn't a countrywide company).  The project suggests using acrylic paints for the bird but I decided to decoupage mine - the papers are from Decopatch.  I keep thinking you could use paper napkins as Decopatch papers are a little expensive but I've never seen some of the lovely designs they do in napkins plus the printed side of the papers is coated which I think gives a little bit of strength when wet.  He's 53/4"

I asked for and received a lovely 'dumfling' from Jo so thought I'd make her one of my birds as a thank you.

I belong to a small but select craft group, hehe, that meets once a month in Brighouse, West Yorkshire.  We sometimes have challenges and for this month it was to make something 'red, white and blue' because of the queen's Jubilee.  I made a little felt bird.

SuperLambananas

Went to see DS and granddaughters yesterday :-)  Grandson Lewis came with me, but Robyn doesn't like the long drive, thinks she's going to miss something at home (even though there was nothing exciting going on) and as DD was working yesterday morning she would've wanted to be in when her mum got home; even though she then plagued the life out of her mum as is her wont!  The weather was miserable, chucked it down while we were on the motorway and there was fog, mainly when we were passing the moors.  We went to Liverpool where luckily we only had  a little bit of light rain.  We visited the New Museum of Liverpool not a nice looking structure IMO.  And though there are lots of new 'modern' buildings in that area I feel they could've been built to fit in more with the beautiful old buildings around them.  I snapped some of the SuperLambanana sculptures that are dotted around.  You may have seen some previously on Jo's blog and if memory serves also on Donna's (I stand to be corrected though).  Apparantly the original one was created by Japanese artist Taro Chiezo to warn of the dangers of genetically modified food.

 Distant view of Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral; yes we have 2! I've included the other pic (not taken by me) as you can see so little in mine.

The Albert Dock

Statue of Billy Fury (1940-1983)

The River Mersey was quite choppy.

SuperLambananas outside the New Museum of Liverpool

View of Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral (It was much further away than it looks) completed in 1978 (the foundation stone was laid in 1904) is the largest in the UK and the fifth largest in the world

Embroderies in the museum depicting images of Liverpool (there are 2 others either side of this)

A lovely SuperLambanana in the museum, her name is Mandy

Laser cut corrugated card depicting important events - see the info.

Amber, the youngest, decided to squeeze into one of the lockers after DS had retrieved their coats and things.