Mixed Media Fabric Banner Day Class

I've not been able to finish as many art journal pages lately, and one of the reasons is that I'm teaching 3 classes this month! I shared my "From Past to Present Artfully" collage class HERE. In November last year I spoke to the Feilding Kowhai Quilters group about my quilts and mixed media work, and as a result, I taught my fabric banner class to them on Saturday. This is the sample :

See my original blog post with details and closer photos about this project HERE.
Here I am all packed and ready to go - class notes at the ready and lots of lovely inks and fibres to share and inspire with

It was a great day - all the students came armed with supplies, questions, and open to new ideas. I ended up taking 3 different project samples 

and laid out my supplies

First I demonstrated dying our lovely fabric serviettes with a mix of distress inks, reinkers and sprays

Then they had a go - lots of different colour combos

We tried simple silk paper making with gummy silk cocoons

Mine included colour because I just can't help myself - theirs were lovely with the natural fibres - some will add colour later

You can see a lot of paper serviettes embedded above - I also demonstrated a trick for paper serviette tearing and attaching directly to the background fabric

and was lucky that they shared some of their serviettes with me 

We talked about 'found words', stamping and stenciling, painted fusible, and making lovely cords

We had a play with a heat tool and made lovely crusty tyvek beads

Then they started to put everything they'd learned into practice. Click on any photo to see it larger.  Below is a lovely combination of serviette, found words, stamping, silk paper and beads

Our tables were covered with all the demonstrations and play

And it was fun to see layouts evolving

At the end of the day here's a sample of where they got to - all so lovely and so different ♥

It was a happy day for all of us

Still to come, Star books on Saturday 26th for the Marton Quilt club. 

If it goes as well as the other 2 classes have I'll be a happy woman :-)

Hot glue fun

I feel like I've been watching and reading rather than doing as much as I'd like lately....can recommend this

and this

Watched this DVD from the library

Click here for a preview

I was attracted to it because I love text and texture. It was very worthwhile. I've also watched a few more of the letter love lessons but not tried the techniques until this one : Lesson 15 - lettering with a hot glue gun

Hot glue word written on card

A little colour added makes the lettering stand out.
It's very dimensional

One of her ideas was to write the letters on a non-stick surface to use later, and it reminded me of Traci Bautista's technique of making hot-glue stencils so I had a bit more fun on a baking sheet

And then I tested them with some sprays. Here are the circles sprayed with the glue stencil lying alongside

Layers of love and hearts

A fun technique that gives a lovely soft effect, and it makes me so happy that I'm using the hot glue gun again. It's been sitting in my cupboard unloved for many years.

Happy places

Feeling a bit down today with a bit of a headcold and dreary winter weather so thought I would concentrate on sharing some happy places this week.
Happy family viewing :

If you are looking for great fun family movies we highly recommend both of these from recent viewing (my two boys are aged 8 and almost 12 years)

Happy places online ::
Lovely butterfly journal pages demonstrated by Donna Downey - free butterfly images included in the supplies list :-)
Just discovered Bonnie McCaffery's VidCasts on YouTube -- lovely to see Yvonne Brown - she's talking about her book and her technique to make medieval tiles out of felt.
Also loved seeing Lesley Riley and her demonstrating with lutradur.
Both make me want to rush out and use my heat tools....

My table in the studio is a lovely mess - feeling frustrated that haven't got much to show at the moment, but ideas are percolating - happy place :-)

My birthday celebrations started last Thursday and have been going for an entire week. Feeling grateful for my family and friends who have been in touch, cooked for me, made cards for me, and shown their love with their thoughtful gifts and words. One more day of it tomorrow with a playday with a couple of creative friends, and I still have some vouchers to spend on Art Supplies....
This wall plaque was another birthday gift - it's important to remember that

Now off to make myself a hot lemon honey drink! Hope your week is full of sunshine & warmth :-)

Fun with Wax

My friend & I had a play day on Tuesday this week. We decided to try a few things using melted beeswax.

We had a proper melting pot and dipped various papers & tags in to see what we got.

LEFT after dipping in wax -- RIGHT before

Love how the music becomes translucent with the waxed layer.

LEFT = after wax

These tags were stamped first with my lovely Tim Holtz Papillon Stamp set. Love them every time I use them.

This tag came up so effectively - originally the cardstock was a very faint lavender, and the stamping seems more dimensional now.

Ordinary wrapping paper didn't have so much of an effect, although the feel of it is nice.

But this handmade paper from Trade Aid with leaves embedded into it looks lovely. The torn pieces lying on top of the original paper were stamped with another part of the Papillon set before waxing.
A simple technique, with lots of fun results.
Hope you have a fun and safe Easter long weekend.
Talk to you next week

Rusty play

After gathering lots of rusty bits together I have been looking forward to having some rusty play. Finally got to it this afternoon. This is from the first part of The new Holey Moley Rust lessons. 
Started with kunin felt, shiva sticks in rusty colours, and lovely Illuminations Golds thread.

Randomly stitched on the felt first of all, using one of my machine's decorative stitches.

Then out came the heat gun and I blasted some of the felt away.

Then it was time to rub the partially blasted piece with the shiva sticks.

Next came more heat gunning.

And doesn't it look lovely and crusty - lying it on turquoise abaca tissue gives some idea of how I might be able to layer it up.

More soon....