Show and Tell.....

After yet another blogging holiday ;-) I thought it was time to show what I've been up to. I'll try not to be too wordy as there are quite a few photos. I've been busy making things to sell in my daughter's salon, plus I spent a few weeks celebrating my recent 60th birthday. Well that's my excuse..... :-)

Anyway, here goes.........
1. A felted piece for a journal cover .....part done on the embellishing machine, part by hand.

 2. Journals for my daughter's salon/shop.

 3. Also crochet/bead bracelets...

 3. ...and organza flower brooches/hair clips. (Love making these :-) )

 4. A felted/collage card for a friend.

 5. A drawing which I'm in the middle of... (she insists on looking sad although I've tried to cheer her up :-/ )

 6. Gorgeous threads which I bought from Maggi's new online shop  www.maggi21handdyes.com
 I've just ordered some beautiful fabric pieces too. I recommend a visit...she's a whizz with those fabric dyes!

7. A recent holiday in Skiathos (a birthday treat). My favourite Greek Island and our 5th visit :-)

 8. The Beach is back in Nottingham city centre! And yes...we have had a couple of sunny days recently to enjoy it!

 9. Enjoying a San Miguel in the Caribbean-style bar next to the beach.

 And finally......
 10. The Boy
He's grown so much he's struggling to fit on my knee. He wriggles and squirms around, trying to get comfy.......a messy tangle of limbs! Reminds me of this photo from a while back.

Click on pics for a closer look....especially the Peachy one ;-)

Ok....I have 2 days for blog-visiting before I go to Knaresborough on Thursday. For those of you who can get there, Feva arts week starts there on Friday :     http://www.feva.info/UserFiles/Image/files/Programme_2012_PDF.pdf

Fingers crossed for sunshine!

Fabric and Paper.....

Just grab a selection of fabric and paper scraps.......

........choose a few and layer them.....

......then add some stitching.

My favourite pastime :-)

Close ups.....

I used my hand-made background papers (some on kitchen towel), gold lace  (thank you Jacky ;-) text (thank you 'All Saints', who wrap purchases in the best tissue ever), dyed mulberry bark, random-dyed silk fabric, silk dupion,  plus one of my favourite Paper Whimsy images which I machine stitched (very slowly ;-)
I then glued the finished collage to a piece of painted ply wood.
I have another sales outlet now...'.The Emporium' in Draycott. My daughter's shop opens in two weeks...more of that to come later.

My journals are all stitched and ready.....

The insides are decorated too....

...and I'm thinking about making paper bands for them with my sticker on the back.

Collaged postcards and tags next!

In my last post I said I'd show you Peachy's next catch.

Well this time it was a vole ...... and it was HUGE!

I came downstairs and found it cowering by the conservatory door surrounded by what I thought was a pile of black rice. Thankfully the poor thing was unharmed........and Peachy was nowhere to be seen. No doubt he was bored by this catch and back in the woods looking for something more exciting.

Of course, he tried to get round me later......

'Love you Mum..........'

Return of the Old Crock :-)

Well I think 'old crock' just about sums me up over the last couple of months; first the operation.....  then just as I was getting over that I pulled a muscle in my back and had to avoid sitting at my computer. I think I'm almost back to normal; I have one more physio session this afternoon then hopefully I can put all that behind me. Spring is definitely here today and I'm feeling a bit more frisky!!!  (But best not tell DH that :-)  )

I've managed to do a bit of art.......

 I cut up my turquoise and orange Spirit Cloth and made it into cards and journal covers.

I made an Anniversary card for DH......he bought me these flowers a couple of days beforehand so I photographed one rose on my garden seat and altered it in Photoshop. Used some of the words from a Beatles song (inspired by Kim Klassen).

I used the felted piece which I made on my embellishing machine for a journal cover.....just added some handstitching. I think it needs some decoration around the edge (but its too late because I've sent it to a friend!)

 I made another 'thing' on my embellishing machine...

 ....not sure what it is yet but Peachy LOVES it!!! I think he's adding his own bit of felting :-)

I subscribed to Laura and Linda Kemshall's DMTV and have begun altering a couple of old books - more to come next time. I love handstitching pages together....... :-)

Last week we visited our friends again in beautiful Knaresborough. They took us to Harlow Carr Gardens...I wasn't expecting too much because of the time of year, but it was fabulous.....

 

And to top it off they have a Betty's Tea Room where we had tea and cakes (couldn't resist a simnel cake for Easter and a rhubarb cake for DH).

Sorry this is a long post but I wanted to tell you about a couple of artists I've recently discovered. Last year I tracked down my Mum's cousin (who she hasn't seen for over 60 years)...her name is Irene Jones and she paints amazing pictures. We've exchanged letters and photos and last week she sent me these lovely prints of her work.....

She has an exhibition coming up at this gallery  and if you click on the link you'll see lots more of her paintings. I'm so proud to be related to her and we're hoping to go to Devon to visit her very soon. 

Whilst in Knaresborough we visited the Mill Gallery and I discovered the work of Kate Lycett - and I am hooked. You can see her artwork on her website here. She was trained in textile design which is very evident from the patterns which can be seen in her paintings. We treated ourselves to one of her  (huge) prints called 'Valley Gardens'...it's extra-special because she has added gold machine stitching to the washing lines and walls and has applied gold leaf to some areas. She lives in Hebden Bridge and this painting is her view down to the valley..... another place I want to visit.

Well that's about it - but I can't go without a Peachy photo (or two :-) !

He had me crying with laughing a few days ago as he tried to fit inside one of the boxes on my workdesk. A few months ago, of course, he fitted in it quite easily........

Thanks for staying to the end!

Garden Journal Update

I've been making lots of little bits and pieces to go in my garden journal. Here are a few pics.......

As you can probably see I've used fabric, lace, paper, threads, machine and hand-stitching, pressed flowers, buttons, sari ribbons and dyed scrim.
The words on the last picture are from The Flower Duet (Delibes). This is one of my favourite pieces of music. Here's a great version with Katherine Jenkins and Kiri Te Kanawa........enjoy.
Two posts today.....hope you can stay to the end and have a look at my birthday treats below!

Garden Journal

Over the past few days I've stitched my journal together and completed the first page. I used a variety of layers including an image from my garden transferred onto fabric, dyed scrim, a page of text, silk paper, organza, polyester habotai and a felted/beaded fabric flower. I used an old dictionary for the cover (below) which will be later covered in fabric and collage....which seems a bit of a shame.....so I may find a way to leave some parts of it showing, especially those leafy columns.

My next page will be this digitally altered clematis. I put the original (below) into Photoshop and dragged the texture on top. I then played with the layer effects until I found one I liked (I think it was hard light) and reduced the intensity. Next I stamped it with a script brush and finally altered the colours using hue/saturation.


 The original photo plus my texture from Calke Abbey.

For the final piece I dragged another layer on top (a yellowy digital scrapbook layer from Katie Pertiet) and altered the layer effect and saturation.
I'm currently in the process of printing this image onto fabric. My  favourite method is to coat the cotton fabric with white matte inkAID then iron it onto freezer paper before putting through the printer. The inkAID creates a surface which gives the strongest colour reproduction that I've found.

And finally......yesterday I taught a class at The Beetroot Tree. We altered mint tins (from M&S and Aldi) using alcohol inks and a variety of embellishments including metal, Angelina fibres, grungepaper, flowers, shrink plastic, felt and collage sheets.
Here are my three examples......

.......and the girls at work......

The gallery has a great new exhibition starting this weekend ...its called Fresh. It promises to be an exciting and eclectic exhibition of new craft and design talent with work for sale.

Wish you could all come........ :-)

Princess......

(click on picture)

This is a page from my journal that I completed yesterday. I found this poem by Barry A. Lanier a few weeks ago and have been wanting to use it in some way. When I saw Milliande's new video using magazine pages and something called 'Nevrdull' I felt inspired! Despite not having the required material (I believe Brasso may be a good substitute although I haven't tried it) I decided to try transfer solution instead...a lethal substance, so on went the mask!!
I rubbed at a magazine page (a Vera Wang perfume advert) and the ink began to wipe off and smear - I was left with a lovely smudgy effect with just the face and the word 'Princess' left showing (which I altered using a white gel pen) .
I then added a lovely piece of lace given to me by Jean (see post below)....plus some machine stitching, gemstones, coloured AppliGlue blobs and so on......
In case you can't read my writing, here's the poem http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/b-princess
(A 'godet jumlo' is an elaborately decorated, knee length dress from Kohistan.)

Here's another poem (haiku?) that I rather like by the same author ....its lovely to read out loud!

Three Winds

Dans l'orage vent
Mer et terre
Une danse merveilleuse

En la tempestad del mar enrolla
El mar y la tierra
Un baile maravilloso

In sea storm wind
Sea and earth
A wonderful dance.

Finally.....here's another magazine page that I attacked with the transfer solution. I think it was an advert for a caribbean island.
Ready for another poem I think............