Lace

I had one of those 'duh' moments today. I want some handmade or vintage lace for my collage work so I was looking on the net. Then suddenly I remembered I used to make lace about 20 years ago so I went up in the loft and dug out my enormous lace bag which was covered in dust. I couldn't believe what I found inside.......

This is a travel lace 'pillow' which I could fold up and carry. Sadly this won't get finished because I can't remember how to do it!

This is a round pillow - with lace which will also never be completed. How sad!

(No I'm not going to learn again.)

I have around 120 bobbins which cost me £3 - £4 each. I put most of the beads on myself.

Wonder if I could sell them?

I'll keep this one though - its an antique Leopard Spot bobbin with the original beads.

And finally.....here's all the lace I made........

Dare I cut it up and stick it onto ATCs and collages........?

YES!!!! (Because I don't like lace edged mats!)

Soul Journal Bookmarks

Our last task from Sarah was to make bookmarks for a swap with the other Soul Journallers.

I made three; one for me, one for Sarah and one to swap. We photocopied parts of our journals and used the images to create collages.

Here are a few details below.

Making the Soul Journal has been a great experience; I've made new friends, learned new techniques plus I have a book which I shall continue to use and add to. Thank you Sarah.

More Suzi Blu 'Pretty Girls'

Suzi calls these our 'pretty girls' - not sure thats a good term for some of mine!!!

Well here are my efforts anyway, warts and all. We have been told to just practise faces. I'm using pencil and watercolour crayons. On Monday we're learning how to combine collage with our pictures - I'm looking forward to that.

First of all here are my alien girls - especially the last one!

Next three.....a slight improvement I think

I'm growing quite fond of the last two. I can see the faults - which is good! (I won't list them; you can work them out for yourself).

Right - I must go and do my bookmarks for Sarah Whitmire's swap. I'll show you later.

Thanks for all the kind comments and support you're giving me!

Love Linda xx

An Award from Sesga

Thank you so much for this Sesga - you are a sweetheart.

If you haven't seen Sesga's blog before then I recommend you go and pay a visit at
http://sesgaloves1950s.blogspot.com She's a kind and talented lady.

Believe in Miracles

Did this ATC a few days ago - in my favourite colours. Most of the flowers and swirls are paper napkins again........ with a bit of torn text and an image from Nancy Dooren.
Words are my own.

Suzi Blu Workshop, First Tasks

Day one of the Suzi Blu workshop - 'Les Petite Dolls'.

She taught us how to draw eyes, how to tilt heads and sketch gestures (very clever techniques).

Our homework was to practise these and then have a go at drawing a full length person (scary!)

I've only got as far as the shoulders up to now, but as I've never been brave enough to draw people before I'm quite proud of myself.

If you know Suzi's work you'll see we are copying her style to start off with. We will eventually combine our drawings with background textures, patterned papers, embellishments etc.

Homework

My very first attempts at drawing faces - the course is 8 weeks long, so hopefully I'll improve!!

Linda xx

Suzi Blu Workshop

I'm hoping to learn how to draw faces (and other techniques) along with Suzi Blu.
I have subscribed to her workshops which last 8 weeks.
http://suziblu.ning.com/

'Two Workshops In One! Learn start to finish how to create your own original pretty girl. Learn how to shade, make dresses, align faces, layer backgrounds, beeswax. The Whole Shebang! Also included is an 8 week PDF class to support and nurture your creative soul.'

Oh well........here I go!

An Award from Shashi

I am very grateful and honoured to be given this award by Shashi at http://sewingwithmoonbeams.blogspot.com/. She makes the most amazing dolls and paints lovely watercolours too.

Thank you Shashi! x

Created By Hand Challenge

I made this ATC for the 'Created By Hand' challenge blog.

I used torn text, gesso, patterned paper napkins, an Artchix image, Zetti stamp, lace and patterned paper. I wrote the quote Dreams are free, so free your dreams, which is by Astrid Alauda.

Have you discovered the joys of patterned paper napkins yet?

If you tear off the bits you want and glue them down the outline doesn't show. You can also layer them.

Ro Bruhn and Sharon Tomlinson use them to great effect in their artwork.

IrisBlue Doll

I've been trying for ages to design a character doll that was original to me....that maybe one day I could sell on etsy. I wanted something that I could modify in different ways and a character that was a bit crazy. Well, this is my IrisBlue doll (get it?)
I drew the face using permanent markers on fabric, I painted the buttons, used sari silk threads for her hair, quilted her wings and stitched beads and sequins on her wings and hair. I've drawn dozens of different faces and so am ready to make more!
Here you can get an idea of her size. She's 20cm tall. I meant to make her much smaller but something went wrong!

My Mum Rocks

The Ting Tings: 'Thats not my name'

My mum is 79 and this is currently her favourite song.
Do you think I should be worried about her?

Soul Journal - doodle page

Sarah told us to doodle a random shape without thinking then look at the lines until we could see a character coming through. Then, go over the lines and develop the character. Its supposed to represent our 'misfit character'........ well, mine ended up way too glamorous! Then I thought, when I look in the mirror I'd like to see someone glamorous looking back (a bit like the wicked queen I suppose, lol!)

Well, we can but dream.......

Have a look at Sarah's here so you know what I'm rambling on about. (You'll have to scroll down, there are two posts relating to this).

ATCs

Yesterday I discovered some wonderful Paper Whimsy background papers in a new digital download section on their website, so I treated myself to a couple of sheets. This little girl is from Lisa's Altered Art. The word stamp is by Invoke Arts.

Another Paper Whimsy background, the same image of a girl as above ..... and I made the frame myself.

Metallic Paint Effects

I spent a happy couple of hours at a local gallery this morning where they do 'taster classes' (so you can try out some of the wide variety of products they sell).

Today they were letting us experiment with metallic paints and ageing solutions. First I covered a cardboard mount with scrunched up tissue paper and paper string (which I undid in parts). Next I applied 2 coats of bronze metallic paint. The first coat had to dry, but whilst the second coat was wet I dabbed on verdigris ageing solution. As this dried I could see the blue verdigris effect gradually develop. Finally I rubbed the top bits with treasure gold wax. (This doesn't show up so well on the photo).

The gallery is called The Beetroot Tree near Derby; it sells beautiful hand made gifts and jewellery, has a wide range of Art Van Go artist materials, a coffee shop, craft studios and a pretty garden. The class only cost me £5....a bargain I think!

Now I need to make something to go inside......

Soul Journal pages 15 and 16

Our instructions were to photocopy some of our previous pages and then rip them up and re-position them on the next 2 pages of our journal.

Next step was to paint around them and add words.

I forgot to photograph these pages before I painted them - but you can imagine what they looked like. I used the quote ....... to live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong. That is so relevant for me!

I may add more to these later.......

Frida Shrine

I've been ignoring Frida recently, so I decided to make a little shrine for her . I made it out of paperclay, painted it with pewter metallic paint, rubbed it with gold metallic rub-on..........

.......rubbed a lot of it off again, stuck on her picture, covered it with Glossy Accents and decorated it. I've covered the hole up at the front but it can still be hung on the wall from the back using a little nail. The whole thing is 7cm tall. Now Im going to find a challenge where I can use this technique and make another one.

SOUL JOURNAL - collage pages 3 and 4

These are pages 3 and 4 of the six collage pages we have done (the 'finger pages'). I really must leave them alone now because they have driven me a bit crazy. I have gessoed over them so many times and re:done parts of them that I discovered lots of interesting layers when I scratched through the nails!!

I'm happy that I've played around them though - I've learnt a lot about techniques. and other stuff .....ie who am I trying to please with these pages?
The answer is me. (I just struggle with that a bit, but I'm getting there.....)