Collage and paper piecing

Hi There! For my blog post this week I thought I would make a collage background to give some more inspiration for this month's challenge on the Bee Crafty Facebook Group. Here's how I made it.
 

I began by sticking strips of inky paper from my scrap folder onto a 14cm square of card.

Once these were dry I gave it a thin coat of gesso leaving a small border around the edge.

Using the big ones inkables and blending brushes, I added broken china Distress oxide to the sky area and peeled paint Distress oxide to the land.

I used the stitched borders to add a line of stitching to the hills and around the edge of the panel with distress oxide inks.

Using versafine clair nocturne I stamped the house onto the background, onto a book page and onto a piece of inky card from the scrap folder. I cut the roof and front door from the inky card and cut around the house on the book page.

I assembled the house and used coloured pencils and a white gel pen to add a little colour to the windows.

I stamped trees and clouds using versafine clair and gave the trees a little colour with an ecoline pen

Finally I matted and layered it and added a ticker tape sentiment.  

I used:

14cm square of card

scraps of inky mop up paper and book page

Distress Collage matte medium

Gesso

Big ones Inkables - Bakewell and Circles 1

Distress Oxide inks in Peeled Paint, Broken China and Vintage Photo

Stitch Border stamp set

Sky Terrace stamp set

Versafine Clair Nocturne

Ecoline pen in green

Tickertape 4 stamp set

Thanks for looking! 

Time amongst Trees journal pages

Hi There! I am sure many of you know how much I love a good tree stamp and this set is in the end of line section on the Bee Crafty website at the moment. I thought I would create a journal spread with it in my Dina Wakely Kraft journal, so here is a step by step on how it came together.

First I painted clear gesso across both pages and set aside to dry.

I took some book pages and tore them into strips, adding a little colour with distress oxide inks. (If using book pages is something you struggle to do, you could always ask for any damaged books in your local charity shop) 

On the dry journal page I sprayed Dylusions White Linen and Tarnished brass Distress spray stain with a little water and let it dribble down the page. 

Once the pages were dry I stuck on the strips of paper with matte medium.

I dry brushed a little gesso over the text and went around the edge of the landscape bits with a Pumice stone distress crayon.

Next I stamped the tree in versafine clair on the lower hill. 

on the opposite side I stamped the sentiment. 

Using Hero arts unicorn white ink and the versafine clair I stamped several of the Journal Art Elemnets stamps around the page to finish it off.

Here is the finished page, although I might add a few doodles with a white pen or a black fineliner around the edges.

I used:

Beau-tanicals Large Branch and Tree stamp set

Journal Art Elements 2 set

Dina Wakely Kraft Journal

clear gesso

Tarnished Brass Distress spray stain

White linen Dylusions spray

Book pages

Distress oxide inks in vintage photo and peeled paint

Matte Medium

White Gesso

Pumice stone Distress crayon

Versafine clair ink - I used Nocturne

Hero Arts unicorn white ink 

On Wednesday I did a facebook live stamping on fabric for a mixed media journal page. Here is the finished page. 

You can find the video on the Bee crafty Facebook page here.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend! 

Vintage tulip journal page

 

Hi there! I had the urge to do a bit of a vintage collage the other day, so teamed it up with some old papers, fabric and lace to make a journal page. Here is how I did it. 

I began by tearing some papers and sticking them as a patchwork onto a journal page using matte medium. 

once this was dry I brushed over a coat of gesso and set aside to dry again.

on a piece of tea-stained calico I stamped the tulip using versafine clair grey ink.

I painted the tulip with derwent inktense blocks.

using the tag inkable I added some walnut stain distress ink to the gessoed page. 

next I stamped some mandala circles in vintage photo distress ink on the fabric....

and onto the page. 

I also added some of the ink around the frayed edge of the calico

I drew a rough rectangle slightly larger than the fabric panel in pumice stone distress crayon onto the page where I wanted the tulip to go, smudging it with my finger.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto a strip of collage paper.

finally I added the tulip panel, a strip of braid and the sentiment to the page using matte medium

And here is the finished page. I rubbed a little gold distress crayon on the tip of my finger over the braid to tone it down a bit. 

I used:

A selection of papers

Matte medium

White Gesso

Calico or smooth cotton

Doodle Art Mandala stamps #1

Life, Journey, Art, Create stamp

Beautanicals Tulip stamp

Tag inkables set 3

Versafine Clair grey ink

Distress inks in Walnut Stain and Vintage photo

Distress crayon in grey or brown and gold 

Inktense blocks (you could use watercolour pencils or inktense pencils for this)

Versamark or embossing ink

Gold Embossing powder

lace/ braid

This is a great way to use up some scraps of papers and fabric. Thanks for looking! 

A journal page for Crafty Individuals

 Hi There! I was inspired by Jean's live on Wednesday afternoon to get my journal out, and here are the results. I took photos as I went along to show you how I made it.

I began by tearing some scraps of book pages, papers and tissue and sticking them down in my Seawhite 6" square journal. For this I used matte medium.

When this was dry I gave it a coat of gesso and left to dry again.

Using the funky flowers mask and a blending brush I added some walnut stain distress ink flowers.

Next I stamped some of the mismesh and man's best friend stamps around the edges using the same ink. This takes a little longer to dry on a gessoed surface, but will dry eventually.

I stamped the flowers in versafine clair ink onto Crafty Individuals stamping card. I coloured them and cut out the panels, then found a suitable sentiment from a pack of Dina Wakely collage papers.

I added these to the page with matte medium, adding a little shading around the flower panels with a pumice stone distress crayon.

Finally I added a few sequins to finish it off.

Thanks for looking and I hope I have inspired you to have a go! Journals are a great place to have a play and experiment with new techniques.

Journaling girl Makeover

 

Hi There! Last time Bev and Sam were on the Craft Store, Adam was talking about creating fabric dresses for the journaling girls, so I decided to have a go. 

I began by stamping Sam on to a piece of calico with Archival ink.

Next I used a combination of Inktense blocks and Dina Wakely scribble sticks to colour her skin and hair.

I found some lovely variegated embroidery thread in yellow and brown that was perfect for hair and used long stitch. I also added a row of pale pink seed beads at the base of her bun. 

Next I took a square of  fabric (This was a dyed silk handkerchief) and placed it over the top half of the stamped image. I lined it up with the sleeves then stitched across the shoulders and neck with a small running stitch. 

Once this was secured in place I pulled the top edge of the fabric down and added some more small stitches around the edge of the bodice to secure the fabric, tuck in the raw edges and add some shape.

I took a rectangle of fabric approximately16x12cm . I attatched the centre point to the waistline using a small running stitch. 

I then pulled the top of the fabric down and added a row of the seed beads to the waistline. I arranged the skirt and added a few more seed beads to keep it in place. I also added a sequin and a seed bead to the bodice.

I used one of the small stamps from the Sam set to add a background using archival inks.

Next I added some interfacing behind the project to make it more sturdy - It doesn't need to be the iron-on variety, just a piece of fabric, felt, thin wadding or batting. This was secured in place by adding a border of lace around the edges. I used my sewing machine for this but it could have easily been hand stitched. I also added a strip of ribbon down each side, which I secured using sequins and seed beads.

I sprayed an mdf butterfly hanger (This is a sneaky peek!) with Dina Wakely gloss sprays in Fuchsia and White and added a couple of loops of ribbon.

I gave her some earrings to match...

then finally I attached the panel to the hanger with a couple of stitches at each side. 

Here are links to the products used:

Journaling Girls - Sam

Archival inks

Dina Wakely Scribble sticks  - set 3

Dina Wakely gloss sprays

I also used scraps of ribbon and lace, Embroidery thread, seed beads, Sequins, a softly draping fabric for the dress (you could pick something up in a charity shop to cut up), Calico and interfacing/wadding/ batting.

The important thing with a little project like this is it doesn't need to be super neat. The edges can be left raw and the stitches don't need to be tiny neat ones. Some people call it slow stitching, and it is as much about the mindfulness of using a needle and thread as the finished product. A bit of ironing of the calico at the beginning and end will help it to look good. it also doesn't need to be expensive. You could make something like this from clothing that is past it's best or charity shop bargains.

I hope you like my project today. Thank you so much for all of the congratulations messages on grading to 1st Dan. I am eagerly awaiting delivery of my belt embroidered with my name in Japanese in gold!

Thanks for looking!