Blog tutorial...

Hey ppls, i have uploaded [with lots of Lucy's help] a blog tutorial for my atc backgrounds.

A few people had 'enquired' so i thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about the box.net widget!
These are the same method that i did for the Audrey and Irish cards.

Anyhow i think it has successfully worked, its on the sidebar. let me know!

If you do any, i would love to see too.

Here are some better pics to give you an idea, you can click the pic for a close up.
Mind you, if you are on dial up these pics are huge! new camera!!

Happy St Patricks Day....

Top of the morn traded

Enough green for you ....

made for an irish/green challenge.... used Dover free images and fabric pastels for that gorgeous rich color....

more fun with fabric......

Made these three atc's from a sample piece thats the same method as my full bloom one.

This one i used burgundy felt and cut out flowers from a hand dyed variegated fabric. sprinkled threads over the top and added a dusty pink organza.

Stitched like mad and then sizzled it!!!

The felt shrunk more and the flowers are quite bubbly which makes them pop!!

I tried to burn the off the felt and leave it more holey[by burning it from the back but wouldve ended up with a big black mess.] The felt was really resistant, it must have had some wool in it.

On the home front its that time of the year again. The entry forms have arrived for Elmore Ag Art Comp. Argggh, i will be demented by October!!!!

Work has reopend and not without a few hiccups but its been a pretty good week.
Its quite changed as we dont have individual departments anymore so i get to work with lots of different[and NICE] people. Amazing how one nasty person can upset the dynamics of a workplace.

.....and then my baby came home with a stud in her nose. Its all happening when you turn 16, first the L's, then the nose done!!!! I am wondering whats in store when Luce turns 18!!

Have a good week everyone.... jenxo

blog award and audrey love...

Traded

Traded

She was just so classy and elegant and beautiful and funny that when i did a movie star challenge, she had to be it!!

However, there were too many gorgeous photos to choose from so instead of 1 it blew out to 7.

The background is so luscious, i just love it. Its heaps better in the flesh!

I collaged papers and bits of open weave muslin [this looks great when you highlight with gold paint]and used sequin waste and some holey ribbon for the stencils. The vibrant color comes mainly from the water soluble crayons blended over white paint.

I made a discovery too. [i like discoveries!] I used my black stazon ink pad and because i had gelled the atc all over first, if i made a mistake i could erase it using the stazon stamp cleaner on a cotton bud!

Thought i'd pass that one on because its handy if you spell something wrong or run out of room, something i do frequently!

The first two are traded but if you are interested let me know, i do love to trade!


I have been very slack in following this up but Diane has given me my very first blog award!!

For being gratefull and/or showing gratitude.

I am supposed to pass it onto 10 people, but i am taking the cheats way out and nominating everybody who reads this blog!! [Mainly because of time restraints at the moment!]

But thank you Diane, i am very grateful!

Fabric Atc's....

These are my three fabric atc's that i sent to Dot.

This first one has a needlefelted background. It was my second practice with my embellisher, the fisrt one went to holes. I discovered that if i put a layer of fabric over the felt base then embellished bits of lace and fabric, you can punch it to your hearts content!!!
The other thing i have been dying to try is drawing with the machine, ever since i saw the last issue of cps mag. i found the cat in another mag and loved the shape so i stencilled the shape onto calico and then stitched it in sections. NO 2 discovery, back the calico with interfacing first!!!

Joy.....

This was great method and i loved how it came out. This technique was in Beryl Taylors Mixed Media Explorations book. I started with felt then added circles and dropped threads all over it. Then came layer of sparkly tulle and organza. i didnt use vliesofix tho, i had some quilt basting spray and it worked fine. Then i just machine stitched around the shapes and randomly. This should have been the enjoyable part but with a borrowed machine again and no free motion foot, it was a bit of a challenge! But, and this the best bit, get a heat gun and burn away the organza. The tulle was quite resistant to burning so next time, [discovery no 3] i would put the organza underneath so it leaves more of it showing.

Full bloom......



Regeneration....

The background to this one is layers of ribbons, threads,wool, sequin waste and angelina dropped onto fabric and then water soluble romeo sandwiching it all together. The leaf is made from Textiva and some gold organza. i am hopeless with a rotary cutter and it turned out to be a blessing because Patti's piece painted serviette looked beautiful as a frame behind it!!



I called this regeneration because its amazing how quickly the bush comes back after a bushfire. There is already green showing thru the burnt land near work. Its about hope too, that people can pick up the pieces of their lives too and move on from this.

I loved swapping with Dot!! It was just i needed to try some different techniques and even do a bit of beading!! which i quite enjoyed ;)