Blog Pages

Friday, 30 June 2017

Abstract Doodle

Digitally painted on my tablet, just messing about with the brushes with no theme in mind but I quite like the result.
I thought I would join in with Paint Party Friday, check here for more entries

Thursday, 29 June 2017

Who's a Pretty Birdie?

The background was an old piece of work which I altered digitally. If I remember correctly it was a paper bag transfer on fabric, overlaid with a sheer fabric then free machine stitched. 
The bird is a picture from the Naturalist Library, a very old book.




Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Old Ceramics

Two ceramic parts of a wall seen in the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Santorini


Friday, 23 June 2017

Altered Embroidery

This is an old machine stitched embroidery sample I found. 
Before I threw it away I took a photo of it then altered it on the computer.

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Santorini Wedding


I've been to Santorini to attend my son's wedding as well as having a lovely holiday.
I printed and cut the double sided invites [to James and Claire's specifications] which were sent out last year

The leaves and heart on this one was cut out rather than printed
I also made the cards for the table and to attach to the mini bottles of ouzo
We had silk flowers because real ones die so quickly in the heat
The venue was lovely with panoramic views over the sea, island and volcano
which continued at the restaurant with the sunset in the background
.........
Continuing the brown card theme I made a memory box as a surprise so they could keep all their precious bits and pieces together


And a wedding day card to match





Thursday, 8 June 2017

Quiet Book for Elliot


This is a quiet book or activity book for my Grandson.
I used dinosaur fabric for the cover, used alphabet beads to spell his name, put on a handle for easy carrying and a strap with button for closure. The strap also has a few bells for noise.

Book rings keep the pages together.
I got most of the ideas from looking at Pinterest, [I was a bit brain dead when I started] and I did my version of what I saw but I also made up a few pages from scratch as ideas started coming once I started the project.
Barn with opening doors and belt buckle without the prong.
The owl was printed on my inkjet printer using transfer paper.
Inside are pockets which contain two small finger puppets.

I threaded various kinds of beads on cord which can be pulled about.
There are pipe cleaners inside of the man so that his arms and legs bend. He has a stumpwork head. I used a couple of my art buttons and put a small collage in the square pendant.
The frog has a little zip and when opened....
he has a long tongue with fly, yum yum.
I took a photo of Elliot's engine, added a few extras like the background and used transfer printing paper again. It was cut into four to make a mini jigsaw. Velcro is used to keep the pieces in place.
Keys - match with the black shape on the background. I've attached all the keys with thread so they don't get lost but I think it will probably end in a knotty mess.

Weaving
Put the cat together

Fish, beads and sparkly bits all under a plastic fish bowl

Another one printed with transfer paper, and the wheels really do go round.
Dog with lead, a name can be added to the key ring around his neck.
An octopus with tendrils to touch and feel
Dungarees to unfasten
A mixed fruit tree, the fruits attached with different sized press studs

Counting with wooden beads on leather rope [may be a mistake because it stretches]
Giraffe with buttons and bows. This was one of my early favorites on Pinterest
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/568649890437588723/

Shoe with lace. There were lots of variations of this on Pinterest
Lift up the flaps to see....

Colour matching - socks in the dryer with opening door. 
The socks attach on the line with hooks and eyes.

A page of different textures to touch and feel

It is the first quiet book I've made but I enjoyed it. Some of the things in it are a bit old for my Grandson [he'll be 18 months soon] but he'll grow into it.
I think if I made another I would make it a little bigger, some things didn't work because they were too big for the pages. I started with fabric 6" x 6" for the pages but I put on a strip at the sides for the eyelets [it was making it too cramped with the stuff on the page and eyelets together]
Time will tell whether it does keep him quiet!