Christine Benson card

As I mentioned I took a workshop with Christine Benson and I made a card. She gave us a pack of bits and I chose a copper and blue one. The workshop was all about composition and tonal values. I really enjoyed it but would have loved more insight into her work as I think they are so beautiful. Here is what I produced. I think I was the only one to put in a dimensional piece.

New blogger and my finger out at last!

Hey all I thought I would start this post out with a new link to add to your blog roll, My friend Michelle from my C+G class has just started a new blog. It is very new at the mo but i know Shell will show you her stuff soon, it is gorgeous. Michelle is most definitely a colourist, she puts together the most stunning colours. bear with her while she finds her blogging feet but well worth checking out.

http://gathen788-shell.blogspot.com/

Now to me and my finger out, well i went to the Knitting and Stitching show yesterday with the aforementioned Michelle and another girl from college , Cath. We had a lovely time, despite being the last day of the show, which is apparently not the best day but I found it far better than the Saturday i went on last time as there were less people and you could really see the work then. I saw some really stunning pieces, the 21 group were very good as was the Val Cambell Harding just so stunning to see all that work together and so close up., well done Maggie, and if your reading this i totally chickened out of saying hello!
I spent a bit of money but didn't go mad I bought:

• Moonshadow inks in turquoise and sepia
• 2 perle balls in a variegated blue and orange
• 2 £1 packs of aluminium sheet
• Some Grillon thread to try
• and some lovely copper and turquoise beads and glass beads

So not overboard. THE most important things was I got to meet in person my bestest internet friend Jan. I can't tell you how pleased I was and so happy to see her, she has become a surrogate auntie to my littly Ellie and a trusted friend and creative and emotional sounding board. We met over a year ago online and have chatted and phoned each other regularly since but to met her and work along side her at a workshop was just a treat.
The workshop was with Christine Benson, who was lovely and gave us an interesting exercise in colour and design principles. We were using a variety of papers and fabrics to make a layered card. It was quite challenging and thoughtful despite on the surface looking simple. I have to finish stitching mine and then I will post a pic.

In the same vein i decided to bit the bullet and do something, so i painted some papers for transfer printing tonight. i have to try and find some polyester now as I don't keep any at home, mainly prefering to dye and therefore have more natural fibres. Again when i sort it i will show you. I have a quilty and a postcard to make and I am going to use my fabrics from the course i went on last week.
Until all this planning actually gets full filled I will leave you with a picture of my last finished Dotee dolls for a swap on textile challenges.

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Sorry i have been away so long - and fabric painting.

Hello all, sorry I have been away so long. After the holiday I have been a bit blue, and I really don't know why, that coupled with the start back to school has me staring into space every evening! I thought I would show you what little I made while I was away. I put the bones of this needle case together before I went to hold my needles and scissors and I embroidered the decoration while I was on the sunbed!
These are 2 of my 4 Dotee dolls for a trade on Textiles Challenges, have to get my finger out and finish the last 2! They don't take long, but as i say i have been in a malaise of late!


I have been on a course today on fabric painting. Some of the lovely ladies in my C+G group had the inspired idea of forming a group for workshops. That way we can teach each other and also get some bigger names in for a more reasonable price. This was the first meeting and Deb O'Hare took the first workshop, she has just finished part 1 C+G with us. She was fab and showed us lots of interesting ideas with fabric paints. This is Deb with one of her art quilts.


These pics are a bit out of order but anyway, she showed us how to use tissue that is not colour fast to dye the fabric.And here is my finished dried piece of fabric.

And another!
Then we used the pebeo seta colour , both the transparent and the opaque to sun print. These are Deb's demo results, she made paper masks.Here are all of the participants results hanging to dry.

and more....
more.....
She showed us how to use pleating and scrunching to make marks on the surface, the paint gathers in the folds and makes stronger marks. Here are mine.
Here is my sky effect drying.

I had a great time and it enthused me to do more, I want to redo some of mine now and think of things to make!!! I think I will use some of the fabrics for the quilty swap I am in and to make postcards.

Had to have a go!

Saw this on Carol Clapers blog and had to have a go! Funny as I do love Purple!

What color is your soul painted? Purple Your soul is painted the color purple, which embodies the characteristics of sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, mystery, enlightenment, arrogance, gaudiness, mourning, confusion, pride, delicacy, power, meditation, religion, and ambition. Purple falls under the element of Earth, and was once a European symbol of royalty; today it symbolizes the divine. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

Hia all, i'm home!

Aphrodite's Bath
Tomb of the kings
Latchi beach.

Hia all, just a quick note to say I am back from Hols. I had a great time and a great birthday, thanks to all who have wished me birthday greetings. I haven't forgotten the ATC draw, but will need a day or so to get my head straight! WhileI was away my blog had it's first anniversary and i thought i would just say thank you to all the wonderful people i have met and am now fortunate enough to call friends as a result of blogging. The internet is a wonderful tool, and an amazing way to find people of a like mind. Hope you like some of my holiday snaps!

On Holibob's

Will be away for 2 weeks, hope you all have a lovely time too! See you 31st of August.
While I am away my blog turns 1 and I turn 32. I will have things to say on my return on these topics no doubt.

Here are the ATC's I sent out for the challenge on Unlimited textiles group. this group has just been opened up by Alis and Jan, and so the first swap was a get to know you swap. I have been working in purples and yellows of late and so I used my scraps up. I used the method described in the artists muse, chapter 3. I put my wonder web down and then added the pieces, and didn't move them once I had layed it down. I added some tulle over it then, and cut back after stitching. I hand stitched in yellow then. These went out to Sandy and Lynda, and I have one to spare if anyone would like to leave a comment I will draw a winner after i get back from my holiday on the 1st of Sept.
A few weeks ago I found this blog http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/2007/07/incoming.html
and so I thought when I was sending out my ATC's in envelopes inspired by this challenge. Here are the ones I did:
This was the quilty I made for Claire. This was part of the same swap. I have never made a quilty before but they are a lovely size to work on. I added Prarie points, another thing I have never done before and beaded bits. I think I will do this with the other big sample I have as it will be another edge treatment for C+G.
And this was Claire's envelope. i think this made things a bit more special, at least I hope!

Note to Kartklan

Hia, just a quick note to Kartklan - who left me a comment. Thanks so much for such a lovely comment, i could not reply as you haven't enabled your profile so i thought i would post a reply here in the hope you spot it. A signature is a group of pages (I have done 4 in each),basically 4 pieces of paper folded and then these are sewn to pelmet vilene down the crease, I did 4 signatures of 4 pages to make the sketchbook. Hope this makes more sense, if you need to know more, leave me a comment with your email and I will contact you like that!

5 sleeps till my holiday!!! Yey!!! ( We do everything in sleeps because of Ellie)

Lots today

Morning all! Here are the fruits of my labours over the last few days. I finally finished the sketchbook, allthough now i wonder if it is too nice/big to take on holiday (A4 size). i love how it turned out. however attatching the front and back cover were not that easy. i decided to put mount board inside to stiffen them and of course this made it harder to sew.

Here are the signatures. I added pockets to the front and back cover to keep my pens and pencils.

Here is the back cover. I found lovely shell buttons and letter beads in Jac's crafts in Swansea.

The next thing is a mini dotee doll for Ellie's nursery owner, Hannah. She does a lovely job with the kids and Little monkeys is a fantastic nursery, so I wanted to give her a little treat. She was asking Ellie about her little doll yesterday so I thought I would make her one for her keys. It has a little bead at the bottom with a "H" on it. I put the 50p on it to help you see the scale.
Lastly Carol Clasper gave me the Nice matters award, I was blown over! She has been such an inspiration and a big help to me always sharing her tips and advice with me. She would be number one on my list of people to give the award to, but since she already has it share the wealth I say! So as hard as this is here's my pick of 7:
1. Jan of Creative threads blog - she is my bestest best internet friend. We met right when I started finding things on the internet and she made me the lovely journal below. She helps me moderate Textile challenges, and for that I am very grateful.
2. Lynda of Purple Missus blog - Lynda has always been so giving to me, always free with advice and helpful critique. Thanks Lynda - talking to you is always so much fun, Lynda has a wicked sense of humour!
3. Mags of Digital Gran blog - Mags is my only welsh speaking internet friend and we do so enjoy chatting in welsh, Mags keep my written Welsh in practice, ropey so it is! Diolch Mags am fod more caredig a fodlon i helpu.
4.Carol of Textile Tales- is a constant source of inspiration, a feast for the eyes. Love your work Carol, and am greateful that you allow me to ask about your techniques.
5. Dot of My life, my values my art blog - she is the inventor of the Dotee doll, they have made me very happy the last few days, and I am grateful for Dot sharing the method with me. She is a very giving person, and is going through a house move at the mo and I hope this award will brighten her day!
6. Judy of Judy Scott blog - for Judy's art lifts my day. She always uses such lovely colours, a variety of media and is totally inspirational. not to mention the award will blend beautifully with her vintage style!
7. And lastly Di of FaeryDi's blog - Di always uses the loveliest of colours and makes me happy! I love her art work, the textures she creates. She is an inspiration.
Well if i missed you out I am sorry, but to be honest i could go on all day. Hope you all have a lovely rest of the day.

New Dotee doll for a very demanding customer

I made another Dotee doll for Ellie, my little girl. Now she was VERY specific about her doll, here were her list of demands

1. Must be purple
2. Must have pink too.
3. Must have eyes open, green.
4. Must have purple eye make up.
5. Must have pink lipstick.
6. Must have a hand bag.

Not too much to ask if your 4 I guess. Well she was happy, and if she's happy so are we all here!
(I took a lovely photo of her and the ellie doll, but Dad doesn't want her pic on line, and I understand that!)

Dotee doll

This month's challenge on textile challenges is to make doll's, of any kind. I have been watching Dot's blog for a while and loving her art therapy dolls. They are so cheery I just had to have a go. While working on the red and green theme I thought I would start there. What I love about these are they will be a most fab holiday project as you only need the smallest of fabric, threads and beads. You can stuff them with cotton wool and so I will be able to buy this even in Cyprus easily.

You can embroider and bead as much as you like and so it is a fab transportable little project. I am going to make some for the girls I am going with, my friends little girls. And of course Ellie has got her order in now, she wants purple and pink, and was very specific in her instruction of purple eye make up and pink lipstick. I apologise for the poor photo, I am taking this late on as my Mum has been over all day, and I was very exited to post. So thanks Dot, for such a wonderful idea. I now understand how people get hooked on this.

***UPDATE***
*** I changed the photo this morning and so is much clearer now*****

Next stage on book.

To start this post I wanted to show you the tags I made from the mop up paper from the table the other day. I got loads out of it, so will have a fab stock for sending things away now, I need to add the strings now and some detailing.


Here are the signatures for my book, all sewn in now, I only used 4 of them as the full 6 would have made it a bit too large. Which means I have 2 signatures to use for something else.

Here is the front page all stitched and embellished now.

Some close ups here.


And lastly for all you rust dyers, I saw this at Swansea's Waterfront museum when I was there the other day. They must have used some of the rusty artifacts from the museum, the panels were about 6 foot long and hanging against a window so make it a bit hard to photograph, but they are great and show lots of rusty cogs and chains. Thought I may dabble with rust for my Industry unit next term.

Play day at last!

This is what I did on my play day! I made the signatures for my sketch book! I painted from 10.30 till 1.30, and I am pooped now! I think the drop cloths which are at the back of the first picture are the best things! I think I will make tags from them.

Drop paper, I think this is more interesting than the prints!