Muse paid a flying visit

I am in the middle of an Alphabetica postcard swap, but my muse has been missing, and it's been hard going. And then, she paid a flying visit...

L is for Leonardo - a man I greatly admire.  I am also rather taken with these backgrounds, which my friend Pauline taught me how to do.  It's really simple, just stroke 2 or 3 Distress Ink pads onto a teflon craft or baking sheet, spritz with water until it beads up, then dab your card around.  You can make them a bit upmarket by adding a spritz of a mica colour spray. The backgrounds are great for stamping on, they add interest but don't detract.

 I used Tattered Rose distress ink to stamp text all over the backgrounds, then Soot Black, Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade for the rest of the stamping. These Leonardo stamps are from Rubbadubbadoo, Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers, and Invoke Arts.

K is for Knight - one day maybe I'll find one, wearing shining armour.  I doubt it.  I used another of those Distress Ink backgrounds, and stamped a diamond pattern in Tattered Rose. I used Black Soot and Spiced Marmalade to stamp the knights with. I used a scrap of slightly glittery painted card to stamp and emboss the words (all Rubadubbadoo).

For the back of this one, I laser printed some old text, then used the same Distress Ink technique to add colour - less water this time, as I wanted stronger colour.  Also, the paper sucks it up differently to the card.  

I stamped and gold embossed the diamond pattern (Invoke Arts), then added the K (cut form Tim Holtz paper) layered onto a scrap of card with the same gold embossed pattern.

A little printing and stitching

I tried a little fun foam printing onto fabric. I cut a piece of fun foam to about 2 x 4 inches, then drew my design with a biro - pressing hard to make deep marks.

I used a sponge to apply Stewart Gill fabric paints to my 'printing plate', then pressed it onto the fabric.

I chose some really pretty perle embroidery thread, which I have been hoarding for ages, and started to embroider over the printed design. Only two stitiches - seed stitiches and french knots.

Once the hand embroidery was finished, I backed the lightweight cotton fabric with heavier fabric, and machined a small zigzag stitch around the edge.  I like the finished postcard, not at all my usual colour palette, but summery - which is more than I can say for the weather!

Brown paper 'fabric'

Brown paper 'fabric', as outlined by Sarah Lawrence in her book 'Stitch, Cloth, Simmer & Shine', is versatile and easy to make.  I have chosen to use my sheet in a papercrafting way, but it can be sewn on too.


The first step is to get some brown paper - the stuff that comes on a roll, small bags are too thin - and scribble all over it with wax crayons.  I had some fancy wax crayons which scribble several colours at once, I used one for the top half and a different one for the bottom half. After you've scribbled, crumple and uncrumple the paper a few times, then smooth it out.

Now, rub an inkpad over the paper - it just catches the highest points.  I don't think it matters much what kind of inkpad.

Now, spray the whole thing with a dark coloured colour wash or spray ink - again, it doesn't really matter what kind - I used these from Outside the Margins because they were the only sprays I could find in my stash which were not blocked.... I tried two different colours just to see what happened.

Once dry, rub lightly all over with gilding wax - you could use Rub'n'Buff, or Treasure Gold, or Crafty Notions gilding waxes, or any other brand.  Don't put too much on, you don't want to cover all the colour up, just add a metallic gleam.

I decided to make a book with the paper, so I covered two pieces of card with the papers, added some card, and used the Bind-it-all t make my book.

The book needed an embellishment, so I stuck some of the leftover red paper to some card, and ran this through the Wizard in a Cuttlebug folder.  I die-cut it with a heart cutter, then smooshed over the raised areas with a Brilliance Galaxy Gold inkpad.  It looked OK, but there was no wow factor.  I coated it all with Versamark and added Ultra Thick Embossing powder. Suddenly, the wow was there.

I made some little circles with left over card, coated with UTEE, and added them to the cover with the heart.

March & April artwork

Ezmeralda and the Entrepreneurs are on grungepaper bases.  I hate this stuff. The only thing going for it is that it doesn't rip. It warps if you heat it, and it is darned expensive. I don't like the smell, the feel or the texture. This is probably heresy - I should just give away the sheets I have left, somebody else might like the stuff!

This is a fabric ATC, all scraps held together with free motion embroidery, then hand embellished with bullion stitch and beads.

A fluffy hanging heart, needlefelted and beaded then mounted on a collage background, painted over with gesso and pale turquoise paint.

January & February artwork

I have been neglecting this blog, but thought I'd post the artwork I've done in 2012, month by month.