The Blue Book - pages 13-19

More pages from the blue book - handmade mixed media art book with machine stitched fabric pages which includes collage, applique, embroidery, artwork, beads ....etc.  Click on images to enlarge.

Page 13 [019] above

Striped vintage background fabric, paper artwork, paper and acetate artwork, a piece of found sheer bag, bead and sequin & stitched flowers, torn paper bird, machine stitching.

Page 14 [020]

Stamped blue background fabric, layered stamped fabrics, buttons and beads, art button and pebbles, star fish charm, electrical wire, earring under plastic, plastic mesh, hand embroidery, machine stitching.

Page 15 [021]

Stamped blue background fabric, layered vintage fabrics, digitally printed fabric with stitched outlines, apple button, ribbon, sheer bag containing 5 ATC's [removable].

Page 15 [021a]bag contents - 5 ATC's - 1 x original watercolour/pen art, 2 x original textured art/paint and decorative machine stitching, 2 x inkjet prints.

Page 16 [023]

Striped vintage background fabric, sheer paper, painted textured wallpaper with stitched squares of other wallpapers, dyed lace, beads and sequins, hand embroidery, bead necklace.

Page 17 [024]

Plain background fabric, painted artwork, foil image with deer was originally part of a bought picture, decorative machine stitching, bird charm.

Page 18 & 19 [027]

Plain background fabric, furry teddy bear applique with check bow and bead eyes.

The Blue Book - pages 7- 12

Page 7 [013]

Navy background fabric. Layers and machine stitching - screen printed paper, layered and machine embroidery, beads and dyed lace.

Page 8 [014]

Navy background fabric. Patchwork of vintage fabrics, hand embroidery, beading, ribbon, machine stitching.

Page 9 [015]

Blue painted background fabric - waves, machine embroidery, dyed lace with ribbon weaved through it, t-shirt transfer - sea themed, duck and shell charms, bead, and pebble beads.

Page 10 [016]

Blue painted background fabric - waves, t- shirt transfer, painted found papers, ribbon, gems, machine stitching.

Page 11 [017]

Blue painted background fabric - waves, layered, stitched and slashed fabrics, beads, metal charms.

Page 12 [018]

Blue painted background fabric - waves, picture card from Ikea, printed artwork/painted, plastic letters, found bird image, tag - punched painted/stamped papers, beads on a metal thread.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Blue Book - the first 6 pages

Page 1 [007]

Navy background fabric.Layers and machine stitching - painted paper, t-shirt transfer [own design], painted paper, lino print [own design], found image and musical notes.

Page 2 [008]

Navy background fabric. Layers and machine stitching - painted papers x 3, painted laces x 2, found image [CPS], decorated tag, feather charm.

Page 3 [009]

Navy background fabric. Layers and machine stitching - gingham fabrics x 3, inkjet prints x 2, embroidery/beads on aida fabric, printed ATC [own design], paper bag with added text, square beads, decorative machine embroidery, hand embroidery.

Page 4 [010]

Navy background fabric. Layers and machine stitching - inkjet print [own design], painted inkjet print, playing cards, plastic counters and circle, jigsaw piece.

Page 5 [011]

Navy background fabric. Layers and machine stitching - own art printed, painted and collaged, painted letter tags, embroidered/beaded aida, painted flower held on with stitched fabric.

Page 6 [012]

Navy background fabric. Layers and machine stitching - recycled envelope with artwork in window, stamped artwork decorated with blue sand and gem, textured artwork and gold machine embroidery,hand embroidery on aida on a tag, ribbon, gems. 

Click on the images to enlarge.

The Blue Book - covers

I've been away to Budapest for a few days and very nice it was too. The weather was great too, not like here where it is cold, wet and miserable. I took over 240 photos while I was there, I may put some of them on flickr but not on this blog as I have to change the size of them.

As you can see I have more photos of the blue book mainly of the outer cover.

The covers are made from a draylon velvet fabric and I used a thick blue cord to bind the book together. I used different fabrics for the inner pages.

Below - The inside of the cover - these are recycled wipes which have been stamped/painted/stitched. There is also a shisha mirror with embroidery around it, this is a purchased stud.

Mushroom Stamp, TAST 42, Blue Book

 This is the drawing for a handmade stamp idea. I copied it onto lino soft cut and then carved out the dark areas with a sharp knife. I did this a while ago, but I kept forgetting to photograph the actual carving below.

And this is the print, I used a ink pad for this and I didn't print it very well, my desk was too cluttered.

Take a stitch Tuesday - the stitch this week is Italian border stitch.

I've used the stitch as an isolated stitch rather than a border. It is the red stitches on this WIP piece that I have shown before.

and the purple stitches on the piece below, two stitches together.

I've finished the blue book, I'll show the inside pages at a later date.

Sketchbook challenge and more

This is a collage I did for the Sketchbook challenge - Cabinet of curiosities. For the background I used watercolours and all the images were found in magazines. 

I was going to add to this watercolour but I think I will use it as a background on a future digital arrangement.

The background is watercolour and wax crayon. The butterfly was drawn with a pen and coloured with promarkers, then collaged onto the background.

Crowns with umbrellas

These two are not my best efforts. 

The head was a found image of a planet and I used water soluble crayons for the quickly sketched face below.

Blue Hydrangea Fabric

I've been working on my blue journal and I thought it would be nice to design a blue fabric. I used a lovely blue hydrangea image from the Graphics Fairy and arranged it on a background I made from a photo of skeleton leaves.

I've put the fabric on Spoonflower although it is not for sale at the moment.

SC, TAST 41, Dirty Dog

The sketchbook challenge - cabinet of curiosities. I've done a collection of river creatures, some of them look quite strange like I could have made them up, but I didn't, they are real creatures. Watercolours and pen.

Take a stitch Tuesday - the stitch is knotted loop stitch. It is on the left and I have done the stitch in different lengths and meandered around a bit. I stitched the beads on afterwards. This will be one of the pages for my WIP blue journal. Also on the page there are three painted and stamped papers, vintage fabric [background and the floral], dyed lace, ribbon and fern stitch.

Click on images to enlarge.

We also did this stitch in 2010, this is the old sample [think I prefer it to the new]

Spoonflower fabric design contest - Creepy Crawlies.

If you would like to vote for it or see the other entries click here

We took my son's dog out for a walk and she ended up like this - dirty dog. She just can't keep away from those muddy puddles.

The end of the old and start of the new.

This is the last page from sketchbook 19 and the start of sketchbook 24 below. If you are wondering why it goes from 19 to 24 it is because I number all my books now and the ones from 20 -24 include the pamphlet book and the red journal which I've already posted about. Book 24 is A4 size which is bigger than sketchbook 19 but the paper in it is appalling, so I will be pleased when it is finished....the only trouble is I bought two of them at the same time... they were cheap. The promarker pens seem to work on them ok, the ink bleeds thru the paper and sometimes the back is better than the front. Most of my brush pens have dried up and I think this paper has sucked all the juice out of them. [hope the promarkers don't dry up too] I find it difficult to get a nice result with watercolours as well, the paper is too thin for washes but I have continued to use them in a scruffy un-neat way.

a whirl wind of leaves

Pages from Sketchbook 19

Pages from sketchbook 19 - mixed media

above - paint, pen, collage [found image]

above - paint, pen, collage [found image]

paint and pen

paint and pen

paint and pen

paint and found label