A Minion clay creation!

I had the opportunity to do a creating with clay session earlier in June and my creation was finally dry enough to paint so the last week of school I went back and started painting him.  It was a short session so I did not get it finished but I did manage to bring him home.  I finished painting him at home with the acrylic paints I have on hand and it worked out pretty good.
How did this come about??? 
My friend and neighbour, Alison gave me a call and invited me to come at the last minute to make a clay creation so I headed out with her to the art classroom at her school and was given a large block of clay and encouraged to make something with it.  We had basic tools and mostly used our hands to get the clay to look like we wanted.  There were more than a dozen people there  - staff as well as friends.  With such a short timeline I did not have many ideas.  For some reason I thought a Minion would be good, though as you can see from my creation I did not have the finer aspects of their construction down pat so he is a bit of a hybrid.  I only came to that realization when I searched for an image to get the colours right!!  So this one is wearing a vest over his denim overalls!!!  I had already started with some of the elements the wrong colour so I had to change those but in the end it worked out quite well.  The acrylic paints dried quite quickly so I was able to clear coat him the next day.  I gave him about 3 coats of glossy clear finish so I think that will keep him looking good for a quite a while.  The others in the session were much more creative that I was - Alison made a cute little pig to add to her collection.  There were angels, movie characters, etc!!!  The art teacher made a very well executed Viking!!!!    Therese

Thank you cards featuring hand printed maple leaves, laser printed greetings and some border texture

A couple more Thank you cards!!  I found these printed maple leaves a while back and they have been hovering in my craft room for a bit!!  I printed these a while back using acrylic paint onto my own handmade paper!!  I trimmed down their backgrounds and added greetings - a punched greeting (SU- Word Window) with a copper brad and a vellum greeting folded over the edge of the handmade paper.  I added texture to their borders using an embossing folder on one and my tracing wheel on the other before mounting them onto coordinating card fronts.  Love these printed leaves!!  Therese

First Birthday card of the new year

My brother's birthday is in early January and I should really learn to make his card in early December so it is ready to be mailed to arrive on time.  I am hoping it made it this year!!!  I used a piece of scrap paper which I created in an effort to not waste paint when I was working on other projects this past year.  I just haul out a piece of white paper and keep adding paint until I am happy with it.  Sometimes it takes several sessions to get it to be "right".  I cut the paper to size, layered onto orange and then onto a large white card.  I am hoping to make good use of my large envelopes this year in the creation of my family cards.  I added a sign post (TH) which I die cut from white core black card, embossed and then sanded a bit to age it.  It still needed a bit of something so I added some silver ink which did the trick.  I used kraft cording to tie the chalkboard greeting to the sign and then glued this large element to my card front.  I used 3D foam tape behind the greeting to give it a bit of dimension.  Love the colours of this one!!          Therese

DIY - Washi tape

I have a few rolls of washi tape that I have purchased over the years.  The ones purchased together coordinate but the groups do not coordinate very well so I am often left wanting to use the tapes but not finding what I need in the collection I have.  SO..... I decided more washi tape would be required before I could liquidate the supply I have.  Make any sense?? There is some logic to it but as you can see from the box that by the end of my Washi Tape making session I have pretty much tripled my selection!!  And so it is!  Those with clips have a carrier and those on the tube were made with the medical tape. 

I did a little bit of research on line looking for Washi Tape tutorials and found quite a few using several different techniques!!  I really like the translucent look of the ones made with tissue paper so I decided to give it a go!  I collected tissue paper, double sided tape, a pair of scissors and a scoring tool (AKA a bone folder).  For any tissue paper that was not smooth I gave it a bit of a press with my iron before getting started.  Once flat, I ran a length of double sided tape over the back side of the tissue paper and then carefully trimmed both sides with the scissors.  Next I burnished the whole length to ensure its adherence and smoothness.  It is best to work on a hard surface which reduces the amount of wrinkles introduced into the final washi tape.  I used clear double sided tape with a substrate as well as a carrier.  Having a carrier works the best when it comes to storing your newly created washi tape because you can just roll it up and it does not stick anywhere you don't want it too.  This washi tape is very sticky and therefore cannot be rolled onto itself like the commercial kind.  It does not tear easily because of the substrate but it has the translucent quality that the commercial ones have. 
For my second attempt I used a more opaque tissue which came wrapped around something and a wider different opaque double sided tape.  These two worked quite well together but the result is opaque and does not tear because of the plastic substrate as well.  It can easily be coloured with ink pads and stamped on to add some texture and designs which means it can be customized for any project.  Using wider tape allows you to cut it down in width and get twice as much washi tape for your effort. 
On my next attempt I used double sided tape from a local store which is very thin and has no substrate - just glue on a carrier!  This one works the best to make nice translucent tape that tears easily!!  You do have to be careful to use the clearest glue you can get.  Yellow glue will show through white tissue paper and affect the look of your washi tape.  Of course, if used on warm coloured tissue paper it matters much less.  Very close to the real thing though you cannot roll it onto itself because it is too sticky!!  I really liked this tape and it was fun to play in my supply of tissue papers!!  In the tutorials they suggested that the single coloured layer of paper napkins can be used in the same way.  Will try that next time!!
On my last attempt I used medical tape!! I laid out several strips on a the smooth back of a plastic place mat before applying colour with permanent ink pads.  I used tiny detailed stamps and coordinating permanent ink colours to add some texture and designs to these lengths of washi tape.  This tape does take colour reasonably well but is generally still quite translucent and when dry is the most like real washi tape as it can be rolled upon itself as it is not too sticky and tears very easily.  It is more difficult to get really bright and contrasting colours on this tape.  I have used watered down acrylics in the past and it works as well as the ink did. You can check out my Faux Washi Tape posting here!!   I will consider a coat of gesso on the tape when I try this next time.  It should give me a bit more opacity but also provide a better surface to which I can add paint or ink and get brighter colours.  This should allow a broader spectrum of ways to finish off the tape with colour, markers, stamping, etc which should provide a wide range of interesting washi tape that would more like the commercial ones. 
So I am very happy with my experiments with making my own washi tape!!  I most like the thin tearable double sided tape on the tissue paper and except for not being able to roll it onto itself it makes great washi tape.  It works for me because of the large variety of tissue papers I have. 
The medical tape works really well too and because it requires ink/paint and stamps it a good option for someone who had an abundance of those instead of a tissue paper supply. 
Be sure to create some coordinating washi tapes so you can combine them in your creative projects!!!!  Leave me a comment and include a link to your Washi Tape fun!!!

Therese

Exchange cards with hand decorated paper

For my exchange cards this month I made some decorative paper by layering several techniques. 

 I started with two pieces of paste paper which I made quite a while ago - one green and the other pink.  I started with a colour wash in a similar colour on both.  Next, I applied a script stamp in a darker colour.  If you check out the green image you can see that the green one was an asian character stamp.  Next, I did all over stamping with a background stamp with clear embossing ink and embossed them.  I used pearly embossing powder and a four petal stamp on the green one. You can see one of the motifs in the scan - it is lighter than the rest.  On the pink one I used a checker board stamp and clear embossing powder which very nicely preserved the pink colour of the original and allowed the texture of the paste paper to show through.  I followed that with a much darker colour wash which provided more contrast with the embossed areas which resisted the colour.  After that was dry, I added metallic acrylic paint with a spongy stamp I had on my desk and added little triangles in between to get better coverage.  I used gold on the green one and silver on the blue/pink one.  
I was not sure exactly how I was going to use them for my cards so I went to Splitcoast Stampers for a bit of inspiration.  I found several cards that I liked that used colourful circles to decorate their backgrounds so I punched as many circles as I could from each piece in four different sizes - 1.75", 1.25", .75" and .50".   I cut two pieces of shimmer cardstock  I created a while back and played with my circles until I was happy with the layout then glued them all down.  I adhered the backgrounds to coordinating card fronts before adding greetings and some embellishments.  I used a green colour printed greeting on the green card and embossed a wooden star with gold embossing powder to use as an embellishment.  The stars have been in my stash for a long time!!  For the pink/blue one I created a hot glue embellishment.  Have not made these in quite a long time.  I started with a little pool of hot glue on a piece of cardstock, poured silver embossing powder over it, shook off the extra and heated it with my heat gun.  Once it was all melted I gently placed a little flower stamp inked with embossing ink into it and let it cool.  Once cool the stamp simply lifts off revealing the embossed surface.  This technique is reminiscent of wax seals on letters in the old days.  I peeled off the paper backing and used hot glue to adhere it over my laser printed greeting on my card front. I added a bit of silver glitter glue to the center of the flower to jazz it up a bit.  
I am happy with these cards but I believe that my inspiration cards were more effective so I will have to go back and have another look and see if there is something about the design that I failed to consider in the creation of these cards.  
My cards are on their way to my swap partners as we speak!!
Therese

Christmas cards with handmade paper trees & sequins

I am behind on getting Christmas cards done monthly this year.  These are technically my March cards!!
I started with some handmade paper triangles which I created a long while back when I was regularly making handmade paper.  I created them on a spare screen sitting on my mould and used a baster to add the paper pulp which allowed me to include a lot of texture.  I chose to let them dry naturally which preserved all the details I had created instead of couching them.  They were needing a bit of touch up in colour so I colourwashed them with green acrylic paint and I dried them with my heat gun.  Worked very well!!
I added a garland using various fibers and stitching and used sequins to simulate ornaments.  They are all different but I generally used the same sketch which worked well with the size of the "tree".
For this one I used red rick rack which I positioned with glue dots and a few dots of white glue in strategic locations.  I added large gold sequins using glue dots and overlapped them over the rick rack garlans.  I adhered the tree to the background paper and added the gold star brad.  I adhered this large element to a red card front and added a laser printed layered punchie greeting on the top right hand corner.

For the one on the left I added white fiber for the garland gluing the ends to the back.  I added iridescent white sequins with glue dots.  I glued my tree to a white shimmery embossed background then added a white snowflake brad at the top.  I tucked a laser printed greeting just behind the tree and embellished a clear iridescent sequin which I applied with a partial glue dot.  This large element was mounted to a deep plum card front.

For this one I used shiny thread and some copper blending filament in my sewing machine.  I cut a length of each and wound them onto an empty spool so I could feed them into my needle at the same time.  It worked well though I was going very slow because I was incorporating the sequins as I went.  I started at the lower right hand of the tree and started my stitching.  Next, I positioned a sequin and manually adjusted the machine to stitch just before the sequin, in the middle of the sequin and just past the sequin. I continued to stitch in a zig zag pattern up the tree adding sequins (large blue, gold and copper) in the same manner.  I returned to the bottom in the same manner but did not add any sequins on the way down.  I really like the look of the blending filament and the shiny thread!!  I glued the tree to my decorative paper and added a gold brad at the top.  This one was coloured with a gold paint marker to coordinate.  I added a laser printed layered punchie greeting to finish off my layer and glued this large element to a rust card.

For this one, I stitched a garland with white shiny thread using a long zig zag stitch.  The tension was off a bit with the top thread being a bit tight so the zigzag is not as apparent as I was expecting.  I added four small fiber snowflakes using iridescent glitter glue then added dots along the garland as well.  While they were drying I layered my decorative paper over a snowflake punched border and glued this layer to a dark green card front.  I glued my tree to the decorative paper and added an iridescent snowflake charm to the top of the tree using a glue dot.  I added a simple laser printed punchie greeting to the top left.  It still needed a bit of something so I added a dot of  iridescent glitter glue to the centers of each snowflake in the border and I like that much better.

For this one, I added a garland using silver cording gluing the ends to the back.   I added tiny silver and blue sequins using partial glue dots in a bit of a random pattern.  I glued the tree to my soft blue floral background then added a silver star sequin using a silver brad.  I glued this large element to a blue card front.  I layered a laser printed oval greeting which I had sponged with a bit of green ink over a scalloped oval of blue cardstock.

It was great to use up these little trees and get some Christmas cards made!!  I have a few more ideas so hopefully this month I will get caught up.

Therese

Birthday card with embossed foil

I created this card for my brother who has a birthday in early January.  I started by gluing foil to a 4.25" x 5.5" piece of heavy cardstock using a glue stick and folding the edges to the back and gluing those down as well.  I embossed it with a gears embossing folder and then applied several layers of ink, paint and permanent marker.  I wiped off the excess in between the colours/mediums and also sanded the high spots a couple of times.  I found this ART stamped image in my stash and embellished it with several layers of watercolour and stamping before I embossed it with the same embossing folder and then ran a brown stamp pad over it to highlight the embossing.  It was too bright so I toned it down with another layer of brown colour wash which resulted in more the look I was going for.  I glued it to my embossed foil layer using double sided tape.  I trimmed and watercoloured the coffee cup image and layered it onto black.  I cut two flags to layer onto the back - one from wood decorative paper and one from the same cardstock I used for the card.  They also seemed too bright so I toned them down by stamping them with a background stamp and some brown ink.  I applied this focal element to the right hand side of the card and added my layered greeting to the left hand side which allowed the large wheel in the embossing to show.  Very happy with how it turned out and will be sending it on it way today!

Therese

"I AM - LOVE IS - YOU ARE" ART Canvas

I created this "I AM - LOVE IS - YOU ARE" art canvas for a fundraiser happening in the next couple of weeks.  The word collage features a list of words which appropriately follow  "I am...".  "Love is..." and "You are..." and is a reminder of our commitment to the ones in our lives that we love!! 

I started this deep 8" x 10"canvas a while back by painting it with pink and purple acrylic paint in a very colourwashed way.  I used Modge Podge to layer on some single layer heart images from a paper napkin leaving them a bit wrinkly and textured.  It has been sitting for a few months and when this fundraiser came up I thought it would be perfect for doing an image transfer of this love collage!!  The word collage was created in Corel Draw using a wide variety fonts and a few heart images.  

From my past experience (see this canvas) the transfer works better with a smooth surface so I sanded the canvas to smooth out as many of the wrinkles as I could.  It worked quite well and I did not lose as much detail as I thought I might.  I laser printed the word collage mirrored onto white bond and used Modge Podge to adhere it the sanded canvas.  I applied the Modge Podge to the canvas with a foam brush and then carefully placed the trimmed down printed sheet over it making sure that the edges were even to ensure that the words would be straight across the canvas.  I gently rubbed the paper all over making sure its surface was in contact with the glue on the canvas everywhere.  I let it dry overnight to make sure the glue was completely dry.  To reveal the words I applied water to the paper and gently started rubbing it off once it was soaked through.  It is a bit of a process making sure that the paper is removed across the whole canvas and that the words are left behind. I did find some of the words had pieces missing because they were stuck to paper napkin that released from the canvas surface with the water.  I had not anticipated that situation but once the paper with the toner was gone there was not much that could be done. I let the canvas dry and used a fine tip Sharpie to fill in the missing parts of the letters.  It worked quite well though the ink was a bit more shiny than the toner.  That contrast disappeared after I applied the final coat of Modge Podge to seal the surface.  

I was not sure just what to do with the edges - they seemed too plain!  My sister suggested that I splatter them with black paint so I dug out my supplies  - black acrylic paint, a bit of water and my spattering tool.  I applied a little paint to the bristles, inserted the rod and turned the handle. It took a bit of practice for me to get the spatters where I wanted them but I did eventually coat all the sides and a bit of the front with spatters. Thankfully I had spread out papers to catch the off spray because there was paint everywhere!  I am very happy with how this art canvas worked out.  I added a hanger on the back so it is now ready to be dropped off!
Therese

Anniversary card with hearts and embossing

I needed an anniversary card for today so I snuck a card kit from this week's class to create what I needed. For this one, I wrapped a long length of gray/silver fiber to a white embossed layer (CB - D'vine Swirl) and tied a knot.  I layered a deep silver heart punchie over a die cut embossed navy heart (SU) and used 3D foam tape to adhere it over the fiber.  I adhered a navy embossed punchie overlapping it  and added my little laser printed greeting just below to the right using 3D foam tape.
Card are so quick when you start with a card kit with all the elements ready to go!!!

Therese

Embossed metal heart with ribbon on a hot glue stenciled background

Created this anniversary card this morning to be sent out next week.  I used another background from my stash that was created using spray inks, hot glue stencils and photo paper.  I love this bright background and it worked nicely with the gold leafed heart which I received in a prize package a while back.  I layered a red embossed metal heart over it.   The metal heart was cut from a coloured aluminum tin using a Sizzix heart die.  When I auditioned the heart on the background it needed a bit of something so I when looking for a yellow ribbon.  I found this one in my stash and decided to create a flag instead of laying it across the front as is my usual habit.  I stitched the flag on the fold and used double sided tape to adhere it to the back of the heart and then to adhere the whole element to the card front.  I watercoloured the laser printed fussy cut greeting (CLKER) and mounted it to the card front using 3D foam tape.
I am really liking the artsy look of my cards so far this year!!

Therese

A fun card with a star theme!

I made this card for a friend who has a birthday soon!!  I started with a collage scrap paper background I made a while back.  I used the other half for this card.   I added some burnt orange cardstock to the back then added a piece of brown vintage seam binding to the upper portion adhering both ends to the back using double sided tape.  I tied on a short length to simulate a bow.  I added my layered focal element over the seam binding to the left of the "bow". I created the focal element by layering a brown and gold textured circle of paper below a gold round punchie which was die cut with a star.  I also snipped the edges of the paper circle to give it a bit more texture.  To create the star accent I punched two circles (1.25"), layered them and used a star die (SX) to cut out the star from the center of them   I then layered the silver star in the gold punchie for this card.  I have a gold star in a silver punchie to use on another card.  I layered this whole element onto a beige card front which I had altered with some sponging and stippling with dark brown ink.  I added a layered laser printed greeting which I created using a window punchie (SU) and an orange modern label punchie (SU).
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Can you guess what the brown paper circle was before it became part of the focal element for this card???? Leave me a comment with your guess!!  I will be checking regularly and will leave a few hints if it takes too long for you guys to guess.  
Looking forward to your guesses!!!
January 11 - Thanks to CraftyD for her guess!!  A cupcake liner is close but not quite there.  Here is a hint - it has housed a tasty treat!!
January 18 - Just wanted you all to know that I have posted a collage button tutorial and it uses another of the items that housed this tasty treat!!  You can check out the tutorial and the other item here.
January 22 - Sylvia has correctly guessed!!  It is the paper wrapper from Ferraro Rocher chocolates!! Needless to say, I have a little collection from Christmas!!
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Thanks to everyone for taking the time to leave a comment.

Therese

Mixed Media fabric wall hanging with a quote

I have finally finished my wall hanging.  It has taken longer than I expected but there were several times in the creative process that I had to wait for inspiration to come.  That is as it should be!!
I started by sewing blue, pink and patterned fabric scraps together to create a panel in a bit of a log cabin style layout.  Next, I played with a variety of elements to see how and what I would use to create my piece.  I eventually decided to add my quote to a non running fabric (Windex wipes) using a fine tip Sharpie.  I printed rhw quote onto paper and was able to see it well enough thriough the fabric to trace it.  I trimmed the edges of the fabric, stitched it to my panel and then used the overcast stitch with black embroidery thread to secure a larger fiber over the machine stitching.  Two squares seemed quite jarring - they were pretty much too light for the rest of the piece so I watercoloured them in blue, masked them off and added stippling in navy ink.  That toned them down considerably.  I started auditioning trims and eventually chose the two pieces of cotton eyelet lace and the pink fabric trim.  The pink was not quite the right colour so I added a red acrylic paint colour wash.  That was better.  I sewed on all the trim using white thread in my sewing machine.  To add yet more texture I added some white hand stitching over the pink trim adding pink and white glass seed beads as I went.  That worked out very well.  Knowing that I wanted to add some floral elements I auditioned some silk flowers and really liked these blue ones.  I added blue flower sequins to their centers, some silk leaves in behind and added a tiny yellow seed bead to the center as I stitched them into 3D embellishments.  Next I played with placement of my flowers until I was happy with the layout.  Two of the smaller ones were used to disguise the two squares that had been toned down as they still contrasted too much with the rest of the piece.  That worked out well.  Before sewing on my flowers I played around with how I would finish off the edges of my hanging.  I finally decided to lay the front face down on the back and stitched around the edge leaving a gap to turn the whole thing inside out.  I did remember to add two white bias tape loop hangers to the top before I stitched it up. Very happy with how that worked out!!  I stitched up the gap, pressed everything very well and added a row of machine stitching all the way around the edge which stabilized it very nicely.  As I was getting ready to add my flowers I decided that the quote needed to have some flowers on it.  I dug through my stamps and found this doubled ended flower stamp (SU).  I coloured the areas with markers, huffed on it and stamped them in place - one on the left and the other on the right.  To add texture, I added french knots to the flower centers.  Very happy with that!! Next, I thought maybe the back and the front needed to be attached more closely than only on the edges so I added hand stitching (not all the way through) to all the pieces generally adding thread in the same colour as the fabric was printed so that the only effect I created was texture on the fabric.  I added pink french knots to the little roses on the fabric on the left hand side.  I like the way that turned out!  Finally it was time to sew on my flowers!!  I stitched them on by hand using yellow embroidery thread.  The result did not please me as much as I had hoped it would.  It still needed a bit of something!!!  I auditioned a wide variety of options and finally settled on leafy green cardstock die cuts.  I watercoloured them with yet more green, dried them and moved them around my flower until I was happy with the layout.  I took a photo with my camera to use as reference before I stitched them around my flowers.  That was much better!!!
Here is a photo of the first one I made where I used much more of a collage technique.

Here is the back of my wall hanging.  It features hand painted fabric which I made myself.  I started with a piece of white cotton to which I applied several colour washes of acrylic paint in pink and blue. Once dry,  I added a layer of batting which I stitched into place using blue thread in a diagonal grid pattern.  I added white dots to each space using acrylic paint and a little round foamie dot.  I added four blue loops at every other intersection and pink french knots in between.  I had made it large enough so I could  just fold over the edge and stitch it in place had I decided to finish it off that way.
 I am happy with my wall hanging!!!!  I will be writing my credits on white cotton, stitching it to the back then packaging it up and it will be off to my swap partner on Monday!!

Therese

Art Charms - houses & hearts

Art charms for two special people!!  On my Art Charms group the moderator is putting together a gift for daughters of a former member and I decided to participate.  We were to create house or heart charms so I decided to make two of each.  

The base of the heart charms is wooden heart shapes. I painted them red, stamped them in black using the heart stamp I used for this card and then embossed them several times with clear embossing powder.  I drilled a hole and added a jump ring. Changed it up a bit for the house charms.  I cut two wood shapes from thin strips of scrap wood for each charm using my exacto knife and sanded them so they would fit together nicely.  I laid an eye pin on one of them and hit it gently with a hammer to indent the wood so they would glue up nicely.  I used multi purpose glue and clamped them with bull clips until they were dry.  I covered one in printed tissue paper (came wrapped around a bottle) using the same glue as before.  Once it was dry, I sponged the edges with brown and then black ink.  I added a silver heart using a glue dot.  Thinking it needed a bit of anchoring I cut down a flat head pin so I could use it like a nail to attach the heart.  I coloured the head with a black sharpie.  I wrote HOME on the front and "a house with heart" on the back.  For the other house charm, I used an alcohol ink background and trimmed two pieces to fit the back and the front.  I coloured the edges of the wood charm using a black Sharpie and then glued my little rectangles in place.  I added a dimensional silver heart charm on this one and also used a cut down head pin as a nail to finish it off.  Used the same technique for adding the words.  

These are headed to the moderator in the next couple of days.  It was really fun creating these.  I have heard from a few in the group that they display their charms on a chain in their craft space.  What a good idea!!  My last swap partner put lobster claws on her charms so they could easily be attached and removed.  I thought that was a really good idea.  I need to source them out here for my next swap.  

Therese

An Art canvas with a life quote

I created this art canvas for a young woman who is graduating from high school in June and attending university away from home.
I gave the deep 8" x 10" canvas a teal acrylic paint colour wash on the front and sides then added a few blue spatters before leaving it to dry.  I cut the letters from black art paper using a set of Cookie Cutter alphabet dies and used a piece of low tack masking tape as a line to set them all in place and adhered them with white glue applied using a fine tip bottle.  After drying it overnight, I stamped flourishes around the front edge using black Memories ink and a small flower/flourish clear stamp.  I had to apply a little support from underneath in a few places to get a full impression.  I used my stipple stamp (SU) and the black ink to add a bit of texture within the flourishes and the lettering.  I used a black permanent marker to colour the back portion of the sides and used masking tape to ensure a nice straight line.

To seal my canvas I applied a coat of matte Modge Podge to the sides and the front. Once that was dry, I added a length of black cotton lace to the front portion of the sides using a thin piece of double sided tape on the back of the lace to keep it in place and stapling the two ends at top center.  This beautiful fabric flower covers the staples.  It is held in place with a glue dot and a couple staples in the outer layers to ensure it is secure.  I used a black sharpie to colour the staples so they don't show.  I added a hanger on the back and signed it. It is ready to go!!    Really enjoyed making this canvas!!
Therese

Fun themed "D" postcard

I created this fun postcard for a "D" themed postcard for a swap on one of my groups.  We were encouraged to be creative so I played around with a few ideas before I decided to create this card with lots of D words. I have provided a list of the ones I thought of as I went along in an envelope on the back so that the recipient can take up the challenge of guessing them before they dig it out.  I used a book page as my base and added a bit of paint and ink.  A bit of stamping and drawing, fabric and punchies and finally my nicely decorated letter D.
Had a great time making this postcard and I hope my partner will enjoy the D word challenge!!

Therese

Monoprinting using a gelatin plate

My sister was here this past weekend and we played with the gelatin printing plate that I bought a while back.  We hauled out all sorts of paint, marking tools, stencils and paper and got started.  We had watched a couple of online video tutorials earlier in the day and we quickly realized that it was not as easy as it looks!!  All in all, we were happy with most of our prints.  She managed enough pieces to use in her next card making class and I have several sheets of background paper which will be added to the stash and used in future projects.  We used old greeting cards, maps and brown paper as our substrates.  We used glaze and acrylic paints for colour and a variety of items as stencils to make marks in the paint before we made a print.
The plate I bought is made by Stampendous and is about a quarter inch thick.  It has a plastic protector on both surfaces.  We just peel off one of them before we started printing.  It worked reasonably well but I am wondering if the GelliArt plates work better because they are thicker and therefore a bit more flexible.  It is possible that our results were more about the paint we were using rather than the surface.  We will try it again and may have a better perspective then.
If you have not tried monoprinting, consider trying!!  It is a lot of fun. You do not need a gelli plate to mono print - you can easily use a white garbage bag or a silicon sheet on your kitchen counter as your plate.  I like the unique look of the papers that we created which I digitize for future use before I use them up!!

Therese

Subway canvas - Love is . . .

I have been wanting to make a subway art canvas for quite a while and in the last few days I have finally managed to get all the elements together and make it happen!

I bought an 

8 x 10 art canvas at a local discount store and painted it with red acrylic paint in several shades and added a few gold highlights.  I created the subway art in Corel Draw using a wide variety of fonts with the theme of Love is. . . .. 

I reversed it using the Reverse Function in the laser printing process which worked great.  I applied a generous coat of Modge Podge to the canvas and laid my printed art carefully over it (printed side down) and rubbed gently to make sure that the two surfaces were in contact everywhere.  I left it to dry overnight. On hindsight, there was a bit too much glue in some places which created a few ridges.  Those ridges dried and became permanent fortunately they do not detract from the look of the finished piece.  

I generally followed this subway art tutorial at Full of Great Ideas  but I think it is absolutely necessary for the glue to be completely dry before you begin to remove the paper.  As it was, I did lose some detail in some of the letters as I was removing the paper which I touched up with a black fine tip Sharpie.  I followed that with a coat of matte Modge Podge which blended the colours in the letters and covered up any little bits of paper that I had not removed.  I am a happy crafter!!  I will be adding a ribbon hanger and it will be good to go.  I will certainly be making more of these in the future.  

 This is loosely patterned after the bible verse but the verse has so many nots in it that I went looking for words that portrayed positive attitudes and attributes that would provide inspiration for everyone.  I added the I AM and the YOU ARE at the top as a reminder that we must set these goals for ourselves and it behooves us to appreciate these qualities in those close to us.  It is also a reminder that it takes two to create a good relationship and both have to work at it regardless if the relationship is with our spouse, partner, parents, siblings, extended family, friends, etc.  

Therese

Fairy Door

 A fairy door!!  

Everyone should have one just to stay in touch with the other dimensions of life that blur in our awareness as we grow older!!

I did some research when I joined this swap because I had never heard of them before.  What a cool concept!  It keeps the child in us alive!!

It took several weeks to really work out the concept of how I would create the different layers and what features I thought would be necessary in my creation. 

I finally decided that my door would be able to physically open.  I wanted it to open into a world that was airy and not defined by me so I decided to use metallic cardstock behind my door so the world everyone sees when they open it will be of their own making.  I found one on line that had this feature and I liked the idea of it right away.  I wanted my door to have a window to provide light for the world that lay beyond.  I wanted the frame to have a peaceful greeting.  

So last week I started on my door.  I cut two pieces of light weight chipboard to 5.5"x 8.5".  I painted all four sides with black acrylic paint.  While they were drying I went looking for the pieces I would need.  I found the little strip of wood that I used on the frame of my door.  DH is always bringing me little scraps of wood from his shop knowing that I like to add them to my creations!!  It was about two feet long and a 1/16" thick.  Perfect for the frame of my door.  Next, I located the tiles for framing my opening.  I have a stash of letter tiles I have collected over the years from games, etc and so I started there.  I had originally thought I would use Scrabble tiles to keep wood as a theme but when I found these black letter tiles I decided these ones were "the ones" because they would make the words much more subtle.  I laid them on my chipboard and figured out that I needed 22 to go around so started working out a saying that would work with that many letters.  Needless to say, the paint had long been dry but I now had the wood for my door and the tiles for my frame so I could figure out how big my door was going to be.  I measured three times and cut once!!  I cut both pieces of chipboard with the same opening and marked the backs of both of them so I could keep my layers in proper order.  My tiles were a bit shiny so I decided to paint them black with the bit of acrylic paint I had sitting from painting the chipboard.  Dulled them very nicely but not completely - perfect!!  I decided to build my door first.  I measured and cut my wood strip to make the frame all the way around.  I sanded their edges and dry fit them until I was happy how they went together.  Once I knew how much room there was between the frame pieces I decided on my window size - 1.25".  I used my circle cutter to cut the hole in the top layer, placed it on the back layer, traced the hole onto it and used the circle cutter to cut that one too.  Once I laid them back to back I was pretty close so I just tweaked both of them a bit with an exacto knife.  I decided to add some words, so I found a book page that would do and trimmed it to fit under the wood frame.  I found a scallop punchie in kraft and black (prize on one of my groups) and cut a hole in it as well to create a frame for my window.  Next, I worked on the hinges.  I originally thought two would be enough but when I got to this step I decided that three would be better.  I cut them using a latch die (SX) from leather using my Big Shot.  Perfect!!  I knew that I would need just a bit of play in my door to accommodate the hinges so trimmed just a smidge off the door.  Fortunately, I had allowed a border all the way around my wood frame so I did not have to change that.  Next, I dug out my jewellery findings in hopes of finding something that would work as a handle for my door!!  I found an old earring with this beautiful hoop and with a bit of jigging I made myself a door handle!!  With all the pieces of my door ready to go I started assembling.  I started by gluing my book page to the front of my door.  I cut triangles in the window opening and glued all of them to the inside front of the door.  I glued my wood door frame in place using double sided tape and then used a small drill bit to make the holes I needed through all the layers for my brads.  I drilled holes because I did not want to split the wood which easily happens when the wood is so thin.  I used tiny black brads.  They look like bolts!!  I positioned my hinges, used my awl to mark the holes, drilled them out, attached the hinges with double sided tape and added the brads.  Added my little door handle and glued the frame around my window.  I then glued the back to the front which left the inside of the door neat and clean with all the brad tangs hidden between the two.  I used a black permanent marker on the cut edges to remove the kraft colour of the chipboard on those edges.  Once the door was finished I completed my frame by gluing those two back to back.  Onto my tiles!!  They were hollow at the back so I needed to work out a way to glue them to my frame.  In the end, it was an incremental process.  I glued small squares of cardstock to the inside hollow using hot glue then added a square of 3D foam tape to that which gave me the correct depth to attach to my frame.  I positioned them on the frame to find that I had made a slight error - I had not trimmed my chipboard before I created the door so now I had a half inch on both sides of the frame that was untiled!!  I went looking for something that would do the job of filling that space.  I found a bike reflector (found object on one of my walks) that was the perfect size after I cut it out of its holder and trimmed it in half using a hack saw.  Sanded the edges, added several cardstock layers to the inside and two layers of double sided tape and they were ready to be added to my frame.  I laid out all the tiles and made sure they were all in the correct order before I started gluing them into place.  I started in the top left hand corner and did all that side applying LOTS of pressure to get the foam tape to stick completely to the chipboard.   Next, I started in the right hand corner and started placing tiles.  On my fourth tile, I realized that the last two were flipped though it was difficult to tell because they were an "H" and an "O".  I immediately applied some heat and gently lifted them up.  They did tear a bit of the chip board's painted surface but I was able to repair that and reposition the tiles!!  The little reflectors fit just perfectly at the bottom of each frame and will allow the door to been seen at night!!  A feature I had not intended but adds nicely to the design of my fairy door.  I cut a piece of silver metallic cardstock just slightly smaller than the back and glued it in place using double sided tape!!  The door jammed a bit after it was all assembled and I trimmed it a bit.  I should have waited a bit longer because after everything dried for a bit it may not have been necessary after all but what was done was done - a lesson learned.  In the end, the gap between the door and the frame is a little larger than I would have liked but it works well which is the important thing.  So, it has been pressing for the last day.  I will be packing it up today and sending it on its way to my partner!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating this little door and I look forward to finding a place in my craft room for the one I will be receiving in return!!

Therese

Tree Fabric Collage - How to

I created this fabric collage of a tree and thought I would provide a bit of information for anyone who might be inspired to make one themselves.

I started with a floral bed sheet!!!  I cut two 9" squares from it and then cut a piece of batting just slightly smaller.

I laid the fabric on a piece of plastic and applied acrylic paint colour washes in blues and greens to create a landscape back ground for my tree.  Once the fabric was dry I used a hot iron to heat set the paint.  I do not expect this piece will ever be washed but I thought it would be best to do it anyway.  I painted both pieces similarly though there is only one in the photo.

 I found a piece of brown fabric in my stash and cut out a tree trunk, pinned it to my front piece and used my sewing machine with brown thread to sew it in place.

 Next, I dug out scraps of green and brown fabric and cut out, by hand, LOTS of leaves - really just pointy ended ovals about 1.5" long.  I used a glue stick - yes the kind you use for paper - to glue all the leaves in place making sure that I distributed the different colours through out the tree.

Once they were all in place I used my sewing machine with green thread and sewed down the center of each leaf to securely attach them all to my fabric.  Next, I created the little quilt by placing my back over my tree with the right side facing down and positioned my batting over that.  I sewed around the perimeter using a half inch seam allowance and left a 2.5" opening in the seam. I then turned it right sides out and pressed it.  I hand stitched the opening closed and then top stitched about 1/8" all the way around the edge of the piece in green thread.
I began the process of adding stitching and beads with the trunk and then did all the leaves.  I used what I had in my stash of beads - mostly round seed beads and a few longer thin ones.  I mixed the colours and tried to coordinate them with the leaf colour.  I used brown, green and blue embroidery floss to stitch on my beads.

You can check out the final project here.   It was a really fun project and I expect I will be making a few more!!  If you are inspired I hope you will give it a go!!

Therese

Fabric collage - a beautiful tree!

 On AFTCM, I joined a fabric collage swap!!  I was very excited about the possibilities because I have been enjoying making these little quilties inspired by Teesha Moore and a bigger piece just seemed like it would be more fun!!!  It is 8" x 8" and features hand painted fabric, fabric leaves, floss and beads!!!  I sewed the foundation together and then embellished it by adding hand stitching and beads.  Here are some close ups of the beading!!

I download some embroidery stitching instructions off the internet which was very helpful in figuring out how to get the beads on as I was stitching.  It was totally fun and I love how it turned out!!  I believe there will be a few more of these stitched projects in my future.
Check out my next post to see how I created this piece!!

Therese