LB2015 : Creating a mixed media dream catcher

This next Life Book project was creating a mixed media dream catcher with Rachel Rice. We started with a background of torn papers. I just glued them on a background of 2 old book pages glued together - saving my watercolour paper for when it counts

Click on any photo to see it larger

I had the perfect stencil to use for this project (6" x 6")

and was able to recycle a piece of an old top

I painted the lace gold, and layered a couple of the stencils

It was fun to bring out a feather stamp carved by me and to stamp both directly on the background and to create a feather on card that had been painted purple, and was then cut out

I used a couple of different feather shapes and methods as my base for meaningful words : "nourish" feather was paint applied through the stencil onto gold painted card, "present" was card from gelli printing session, and "grow" from inky underpaper.

I utilised machine stitching to anchor some of the feathers and the lace, as well as for decorative additions to the page

And this is my completed piece

I'm feeling so glad that I committed to Life Book this year - I'm pretty much keeping up with the main projects, and have only missed a couple of mini lessons cos they didn't appeal to me at the time (maybe later). So far I have found other life bookers to be a hugely supportive group, the main lessons are jam packed full of information (excellent value for what we've paid) and most of what I've seen so far I actually want to make ;-) It's not too late to join us!
You can see all my posts about Life Book HERE and I've created a Flickr album for all my Life Book projects HERE. 

Wild Women Don't Get the Blues

How fabulous January was for inspiring quilting ideas to carry me through the entire year! To finish January/begin February I did 2 x 1-day classes with international tutor Karen K. Stone. I have long been an admirer of her work, and was blessed when my friend gave me her book as a thank you for staying with me recently

Check out the photos of Karen's "Reptile Wisdom" quilt that she made for the Tutors' exhibition at Symposium at the end of this post.
On Saturday 31st January I did her class "Wild women don't get the blues". Here I am all packed ready to go

First up Karen had a big suitcase of her quilts which she generously showed and discussed with us - a feast of inspiration...here's a taste :

She is wonderful with colour, as well as being technically amazing at what she does. This is one of her latest quilt tops which makes my heart expand - the colour and pattern make me feel so happy :-)

After the show & tell we moved into selection of fabrics and the actual quilt making. This is a photo of the fabrics I took to class - I "shopped" my stash - I know I need more of that lovely blue in the background of my feature fabric, but just went with what I had

Here it is rearranged by Karen during a discussion about colour choices, and she only removed a few fabrics (about 6)

She confirmed I "need" to shop for some blue fabric of the background colour to round out the palette, but good to go on the day....This was a foundation piecing class, so slow going. I did well to finish 8 borders to go on 2 blocks of feature fabric - here they are sat on the fabric to give you a look at what my quilt will be like

So far loving it - will share as I make progress. Below is Karen's sample...I have a way to go :-)

"Wild women don't get the blues" by Karen K. Stone

Work diary

Hello February! With a new year comes a new work diary....and a plain black one is no fun. Last year I transformed my diary with washi taped edges and a Bic white-out correction pen :

- you can see more photos of it HERE. This year, I wanted to give my diary a different look, but some of last year's diary pieces could be recycled :-)
My front cover for 2015 utilises 2 of the tapes from last year, and I used my lovely moonlight pens which appeared recently on a journal page HERE, and I know look fabulous on a black background as evidenced HERE.

Some tapes from last year were able to be lifted and used again to edge pages

I re-used my 4 Term tabs

and even re-used my sari ribbon bookmark - I cut it off and stitched it down over the plain black ribbon marker but used white stitching as a feature this time

I haven't gone as crazy as I did last year with using washi tape on every page, but they mark my holiday breaks

Term 1 starts tomorrow. I love my work diary - it makes me smile when I see it :-)