A Little Bit of Crafting

A week of crafting!  Sounds bliss to all you crafters out there.  No cooking either (unless you had drawn the short straw and had to provide a meal).  Actually three cooked last year so the other three cooked this year and I was one of them.  Luckily I did Monday and took it ready and the other two, Mary and Liz, took theirs for freezing so there was no major cook out at all.

The theme for the week was "Trash to Treasure" so a bit of recycling was called for and Monday evening we did some cutting up of old t-shirts.  I won't embarrass the ladies by showing you the poses we did but I am hoping these two will forgive me for putting this one on my blog.  I just had to include it as they are laughing so much:

All the t-shirts looked great after being cut and woven, or whatever

Next day was Mary showing us how to make a patchwork bag from an old cotton shirt.

The squares are from different parts of the shirts, the pocket is the actual pocket, the decorative panel down the front is the button bit cut off and the handles are made from the neckbands with the collars removed.  Is Mary clever or what?  (It's all fully lined too)

In the afternoon and the following morning Wendy led a two part session making books from Lutrador but as mine is not yet completed I don't have a photograph for you.

Then we used Paverpol the next day with Liz and made faces from Cloud Clay to decorate these pots.  It was great fun making the faces and I think we could have carried on into the night enjoyilng ourselves.

Close up of the faces

Mary did hands too

Love this one

The next day we did some clay tiles but I didn't make any but in the afternoon I played with Adrienne's Gelliplate and made some backgrounds.  

Then she showed us a technique to turn card into something that looked totally different.  I loved this but didn't finish it.  Bought some translucent paints on Saturday so hopefully will get it finished later.

Artful Times Challenge 17 - Fabric Tab

A while ago I went away with some very talented friends and found out that they were all into textiles.  Now from one who used to sew (dresses, curtains, bedding etc) to one who never sews anything unless you can count the curtains I made when we first moved into this bungalow - swags and tails I might add - to someone who did "free machining" was quite a different matter.

Mum's old Singer sewing machine did straight no nonsense stitching.  Long ago the booklet with it had disappeared and on my inheriting the 'workhorse' the box of attachments had laid in isolation somewhere.  Perhaps now lost forever.

Anyway, I digress, I bought myself a bit more up to date sewing machine and so envisaged dazzling you all with my prowess when I first decided to add this FABRIC TAG Challenge to our list.  Plans, mice and men all spring to mind.

So many ideas, and suddenly, so little time.  No sewing!  What could I do in a hurry?

Manchester Show with Sam had revealed yet something else to my eager 'fabric minded' head.  Fusing fabric aka Margaret Beal.  I had a FabricMaster (what on earth are all those bits for?), a friend had gone through it with me to tell me what all the bits were, I had some organza so what was stopping me.  Must add here that I bought this Fabric Master years ago (about 9 or 10) and had forgotten all about it, never used!

Here's my Fabric Master, with all its bits:

and here is what I made

To be honest they do  look better in real life.

Now, what will you do?  Sewing, Fusing, Transfer technique or good old stamping on fabric?  Can't wait to see.

Another Page

Here is another page I made yesterday for my Fabric Book that I almost finished at the ArtsyCrafty weekend.  I just had this page to do but now am wondering whether to continue and make more so they can go back to back and create a meandering book or whether to call it a day and start another one.

I already have ideas of what I want to do in a new one so am bursting to get going - think Fabric is going to be the new me - thanks L & L!!  My PlayAway friends will be pleased to hear that I have been converted over to that medium and I cannot wait for us all to meet up - next year is such a long way off - thank goodness I will see some of them beforehand.

Anyway, this page did have a lovely white button on it so I thought I would enter it into the Out of a Hat Creations challenge but then this morning (I was up mega early) I was looking for another button to go with it and found the one I have used on his head so had to change the other one too.  Now they are a greyish shade of blue.  Slate?

Right, stop woffling and get on with it - here it is - a little less lavish than some of the others ...

... my entry for the Out of a Hat Creations blog challenge.  So sorry I missed you the last couple of times girls - don't know what happened - guess life just got in the way.

Workshop Overload?

First of all I must say "Welcome to my Blog" to my newest followers.  So nice to see you here and I hope I am going to keep you happy with what is coming up in the next few posts - and afterwards.  Welcome!

Oh My Gosh!  I am tired!  I did the taster session on Thursday (well, did the morning and the afternoon one) as in my previous post, and then on Friday I went to the ArtsyCrafty one which started before 9 am and ended at 9 pm! Yes, a twelve hour workshop - but oh how I did enjoy it.  Not stressful, but not finished - how can I not finish in all that time?

This was a new medium for them to have a workshop in and it was quite a new medium to work with for me.  It was all about fabric and sewing; so my all singing, all dancing new machine went with me. Thank goodness I was sat with my friend Wendy and her friend (who is now my friend) Edwina - both of them having travelled up from Wales ...

Wendy

Edwina

... and just behind us was Freema (right), Lou (left) and a lovely lady called Angela (centre) - think we were the naughty corner but this time we were good because we all concentrated so much on what we were doing there was no time to get rowdy.  That's me in the mirror taking the photo - ooer!

Well, I must say that Leandra and Lin have the most wonderful and meticulously planned workshops I have ever been on.  Everything is there for you and it is all so organised that it is a pleasure to take part in them.  We were making a fabric book and every single page had a packet, clearly marked and cram full of whatever you might possibly need to decorate your own page.  Plus there were "stations" up and down the room with equipment on that you might need to use and extra fabrics, laces, ribbons etc etc.  So much work had gone into the planning of this - so sad that this is to be the very last ArtsyCrafty weekend.  Yes, you heard right, this was the last one - I will so miss them but hopefully the two of them will still have PlayDays together and they will pass things on via their blogs (see my right hand bar for the links).

Not only have the workshops I have attended been interesting, fun and been so worthwhile but they have also forged many friendships amongst the participants that it was a joy to see so many old friends once more.  I even got to meet Sally who I have been in touch with via email for quite a while but never actually met before.

Anyway - I will leave it there for now and get on with a bit more sewing on my fabric book and then show you what I actually did. Here is a quick peek at one of the samples.

and a view - down the room - see how much space we had only three to a table.

Back later with my pages -  hopefully.

Back, Happy and Tired

Well, I am now back from my trip with girl friends.  Tired but with a head full of memories of a happy time spent in Worcester with ... me ... sewing!!"  Shock Horror!  Not quite as bad as it seems as I used to make my own clothes and also am well known for making my son a suit when he was tiny.  'Well known' because to this day he still tells people I left a pin in the short pants which pricked his leg and that his mum would not believe him.  Talk about bearing grudges - must be something he inherited from me as I remember things like that if someone hurts me.  I also made the swags and tails in our lounge (two pairs - back and front) from very very expensive material which we bought from the company who made our suite.   Took me a while to put scissors to the material I can tell you.  Anyway, this is the sewing we did, not straight up and down which I could manage but going round and wiggly and all over the place - loved it.

the back of my book cover made with Wendy

the front (spot the butterfly and flowers)

Still need to bead the butterfly - oops!

I so enjoyed this session as it was my first journey into sewing 'haphazardly' and catching lots of bits and bobs (snippets) onto the background.

Then we made silk paper with Annie and this cover feels so good

I just love the stamping on it

My sample book (when I get a machine)

Wednesday morning saw us working with Mary.  This is when I did something I have always wanted to do - burn holes in fabric.  This is the front of my book with my fabulous cord I made from Vilene and threads.

Increasing my stash I am now on the lookout for lots of bits and bobs to call "my snippets" so that I too can have colour co-ordinated packs of fabric and fibres.  Now which room can I take over in our bungalow?

Next we did etching with Adrienne but I am afraid mine did not work out as we first used Stazon and it did not etch.   You can see some peel off ones that Liz made because they came out really really good on her blog.

Then it was my session on Thursday morning when we made beads from Polymer Clay.  I taught them a Skinner blend and Mica Shift but Liz took to it so much that she produced some lovely canes as well.  You can see them on the next photographs.  I was so busy I never thought to take photographs.

Finally we made little Friendly Plastic Books with Liz.  I only finished one because I so wanted to make a particular fastening but I did bring covers home for a second (green this time) one ready to make another corner for.

sorry about the glare on the glaze

Here's the happy bunch

L to R Annie, Liz, Me, Wendy, Mary and Adrienne

This is a photo of our essential supplies

Lots went back home, honestly

Adrienne, Wendy and Liz contemplating sewing

Adrienne could always be found in this little corner

Now what is Wendy thinking?

Mary busy sewing away

and some lovely work

Showcasing Liz's lovely caning which she had off to a T - note the Mica Shift Buttons

Mary made buttons with her Mica Shift

All in all a great time and most of us will meet up again soon for another few days of laughter and play.

Today was also my birthday so here is a bird's eye view of my birthday cards sitting in the window sill (family ones are on the tv so not shown)

I'll try to upload them one by one at a later date but for now I am going to bed.  Thank you to all the wonderful family and friends who sent me cards today and made it so special for me.

Fabric or Fibres

Plastic week one, Corrugated Card week two, Metal week three - bet everyone was wondering what 'material'  Zoe would come up with this week and here we are with Fabric or Fibres for the Challenge on Just for Fun.  Am sure peeps will find this a much easier one than the others were although "Metal" attracted lots of entries and we are all delighted with the entries we are getting.  Thank you one and all.

Here is mine - a bit of bleaching on stamped fabric:

As you can see the fabric has been stuck onto a piece of card (in my usual wonky fashion) and some of the threads I pulled out have been made into a tassel.

I have a lovely card - well I think it is lovely but maybe it won't show up on here, the material is gorgeous - that I once did with Paddy.

This is a padded card and I am sure we must have used Stuart Gill paints and that the fish was a stencil.  The material is very silky and it has a slub in it which looks like the movement of water with the splashes of green and blue paint I have used.

Do you remember the dumfing I was doing and how I used tiny bits to make squares into kites?  Well I still have those at home and so I am including them again in this post so I can send them off for swaps to Zoe and one has gone to Sam who is always sending me things.

Right off now, things to do and hope that lots of you will enter our Challenge with either Fibres or  Fabric, or maybe both.

Asian Themed T-shirt

Before I left for the ArtsyCrafty weekend I decided to do another
t-shirt.  This one was not to have Paperartsy stamps on like the previous one done at the club but I decided to do an Asian theme instead.  I didn't want to chance putting figures on in case they didn't come out very well but this time I wanted to introduce some white into the equation.

I tried another slant on the technique and did some Kanji in white and then overstamped slightly to one side in black.  Didn't work - but then I guess it was because the main background colour was black - maybe a coloured t-shirt would be better - watch this blog!

Anyway, I did use white and really liked it, so much so that when I did the lanterns I let the stamp run a bit at the base onto the black. Might have been better had I put the stamp on lower and let more of the white run onto the background.

Then I added a tiny motif to the bottom corner opposite the side with the stamping on it.

This is a black t-shirt!

And a full view of the t-shirt

NB sleeve detail too

Again the heart in the middle is the label inside

Now I have to find my Chinese coins as I want to stitch one or two onto the t-shirt - will have to be careful as I don't want it to be heavy so only a few.

As you probably gathered this is a scheduled post as I am still at the ArtsyCrafty weekend - whoo hoo!

WOYWW 105 - Going Steam Punky

Think I have the number right.  Well, after all the excitement of last week, with the Pif's, chaos reigns in my little inner sanctum.

As you can see I have been busy finishing off another stamping and printing article first started at Vicky Stampers on Saturday.  You can also see that I have not much room as I have so much stuff out that my work area is going down and down.  And what is that I spy on the floor?  Oops!  All those papers on the right are awaiting filing - a job I hate.  Not so bad if I had a filing cabinet with pockets for it all but I haven't and have no room for one either,.

This is the view of my bit of counter to the left of me.  A box full of stamps and a box full of fabric paints.  The grey boxes that take up most of my counter space mainly contain mounted stamps.  And they go up and up to the ceiling.

This is to the right - lots of foam which I have been cutting for my stamping blocks.  A bit of an untidy mess and my cleaning cloths are on the floor I see.  Gosh I can be a messy me.

My dear friend Jo made us some aprons to stamp on (she really is a workaholic - cannot sit still and does either crocheting or knitting when travelling in the car - not driving I might add) so I decided to have a waist one.  That is it in the first photograph.  It still is not finished because I have been waiting for some stamps to arrive from America but here are some views of it. 

These are the images on the pockets

These were too large to stamp on the day so I had to wait until I got home and cut myself some big big blocks to take the stamps.

These are charms stitched onto the blocks to create a different look in places.  There are still some blocks awaiting stamping.

And these are the ones on the sides

In the first panel I have sewn a cog, a butterfly (from Primarni ear-rings) and a fan charm - these are the blocks awaiting the new stamps.

I linked the two Invoke tags with a bit of chain and added a key to the blocks in the last photograph.  

Well, that took a bit longer than usual so I will leave it there or you will all get bored.  Enjoy your snoop around Julia's blog, The Stamping Ground, and enjoy a cuppa whilst you do so.  You never know there could be some pictures of Pif's received.  Mine had to go to Singapore so it could take a while.  I will upload when it is received.

 Toodle Pip!

Bespoke T-Shirts

What fun we had yesterday at Vicky Stampers.  Lynne was taking the class and doing her t-shirt printing which she had done previously at a Stamp Camp and which we all were pestering her to do with us.  At last I have a "Time" T-shirt and despite my being so slow whilst it was a "work in progress" I am chuffed to little mint balls with the finished article.  The only problem is knowing when to finish because it is such fun doing it.  Now I am wondering whether to put something on the bottom corner and whether to put something on the back!

Time will tell (sorry not meant as a pun).

The white heart is the label inside the back

This is my "Time" t-shirt using Lumieres (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and Dylon Black for stamping with.

Whose stamps have I used?

Just had to be Paperartsy!

Although there is an odd one from another source sneaked in

And now I have added a bit of chain to my large watch (Elusive Images) and would have added a watch charm in places but can I find them - can I heck!  Not in my box of charms - maybe with my Halloween in Wonderland tags - maybe all my lost items are in Wonderland!.

Not bad for a £2.50 t-shirt from Primarni is it?

Thanks Lynne - you are a star!  Fab workshop as always!

If you live within travelling distance of Warrington (Padgate to be exact) and would like to join a fun loving band of crafters on the first Saturday of each month for workshops, fun and friendship just email me for details.  You would be most welcome.