Artful card making

I decided that I'd like to make some more cards featuring my art. I made this one a little while ago

Always love to include stitch as well.

Then I was asked to make a 50th card for one of our coffee group

Made a large card for all our messages, so then needed to specially make a kind of envelope (stitched edges = simple and pretty in metallic)

And as is my usual practice, I used the opportunity to make some extra smaller cards while I was at it

The flowers on these ones are serviettes

There is space for a found word if needed when I get to the giving of these. Gorgeous sari ribbon always adds a lovely accent. 

I've made many cards over the years, and am always happy when I find the time to make some more. 

They are always different - check out others HERE.

Recycled doodle journals 3

I shared the preparation of my recycled journals HERE. They are turning into my new obsession for doing couch art or when traveling since they are quite small and can be easily transported. 

They are also great for arting in 10 minutes before I have to go somewhere... fun micro-movements as well as being a great meditative process. I am loving that I am recycling - also working smaller is a lovely change. Hope to update these posts fairly regularly since I'm expecting that the more I play in these journals, the more I'll want to = they are SO MUCH FUN! I have now completed 2 faces in this journal : 

Uniball signo white pen this time.

See how the right hand page got transformed HERE. 

And then in my other journal : 

I decided to just start on the left side inside of working on the spread as a whole

But this needs more interest to spark me - so I've just added some small stencil shapes

And in my next post about this journal you'll see how it turned out...
I have a bit of a cold, but the sun is shining, I've painted my toenails silver, my roses have started blooming and have just started a lovely long weekend here so hopefully more art to share soon ♥ Hope you have a great weekend too.
See all my recycled doodle journal art HERE.

Book of Days : Abundance

Effy's latest lesson was to use a base of fluorescent paints that then shine up through layers. A couple of things occupying my thoughts at the moment. I want to try and include stitch in my art journals and my goal has been to finish this altered art journal by year's end since I started it in January 2016

It now looks like this. 

I LOVE it, love the size of the pages, and the text that peeks through, but I'm ready for something different - 2 years is a long time and the journal is very weighty to transport about!

I still have 23 double spreads and only 12 weeks left in the year....Combine this with my desire to try and use more stitch in my art journals, I'm starting my spread missing one spread out - this means I can stitch on the page as desired and then glue back to back to hide that OR if I can't find a way to incorporate stitch, I can just glue together and I've got one less spread to complete!

So gorgeous colours....and then stuck. I didn't want to just follow Effy's lesson, not sure if I want to do a face again.....how will I incorporate stitch? So I just left it open on my desk (so lucky I can do that) and then as I walked passed one day, I saw this figure....

and later in the car I thought how I could incorporate stitch as flowers - black thread cos this lesson used black pen in a sketchy way.

A piece of organza pinned to sheet music - using my free motion foot on the machine to stitch unique flowers and leaves

They are so fun to do and pretty cool when cut apart

and the backs are paper so easy to glue down

I had to make some orange too - the organza is so sparkly and pretty ♥

I was listening to Flora Bowley give advice about finding your own style, and how you should think about what SPECIFICALLY you like in someone else's work OR indeed in your own work - I love to use stencils....

and black and white pen detailing....and suddenly I wasn't stuck anymore.

I love how Effy uses glazes

I used a mix of Goldens high flow transparent Phthalo blue (green shade) and Phthalo green (blue shade) 

and love how the glaze colour changes over the different shading of fluro beneath ♥

Time to add the organza florals and leaves

I decided to add a line of stitching to close the missed pages - Note to self : this journal is way to heavy and large to handle under the machine except for this kind of edge stitching

Looks good on the previous journal page too

I always take a photo of the "completed" pages before I decide if I'm really done. 

Really glad I did this time cos the photo view pointed out that her dress needed a deeper glaze a well. Also I love to include words. I feel so full of gratitude for my life at the moment, the word abundance wanted to appear, and the photo showed me where

And here's the completed spread. Click on this or any other photo to see it larger.

I can't decide what I like best about this - the inclusion of the stitch or the way the fluorescent base makes the whole piece glow ♥ You can sign up for classes with Effy Wild HERE. 

Quilt show inspirations

I belong to our city quilt guild Rose City Quilters and every 2 years we do a show of what's been made in the intervening years. The only quilt I could have shown (but didn't deliver in time - sigh) was this which I completed in April last year :

At the last exhibition I had made 5 quilts and was able to show 3 of them, and one won a merit ribbon! Obviously quilting has taken a back seat due to my other art journaling and mixed media projects. I got this far with my next quilt top by July this year but it hasn't progressed because I felt like it needs another row down the right to get the proportions right.

Having photographed it on my line just now for this post, I'm not sure. Perhaps I can explore this over the next couple of days....I'd love to know what you think. Actually, as I went through my photographs from the day I found this : 

Several years ago club members made A4 sized quilts to encourage viewers of exhibitions to look not touch - that's my one ;-) Anyway, these are the quilts from the exhibition that I REALLY loved. Please click on any photo to see it larger. 

"Metro Tiles" by Dawn Jackson (this pattern available from Susan Claire) 

 "Spike" by Sheryl Meech

"Pickled Clams" - so sorry, I missed a close-up of the maker's name. I try so hard not to do that.

This gorgeous giraffe is made by Pamela Tankersley, one of our guest exhibitors. And this too : 

And these beautiful works are by the other guest exhibitor who happens to be a lovely friend of mine

 - Debbie Jacques ♥

Love this simple but fun bright quilt "Lucy's Quilt" by Andrea Death :

And always inspired by Erilyn McMillan's quilts. This one is called "Where the Poppies Grow Our Hearts Mourn So"

I could share many more, but rather then post more photos twice, you might as well just go check out our Rose City Quilters blog post HERE to see all the ribbon winners. There are some stunners ♥