Karen's Cloth Collage

 

I wanted to show everyone K's finished fabric collage.  Isn't it beautiful!  She started with a piece of natural canvas, added an ecru lace overlay and then played with an assortment of fabric patches and words stamped on bleached muslin.  Then she added some nice contrast with black felt hearts and checkerboard.  and finally some BLING! 
See more from our play date HERE.

Fabric & Paper plus Sewing!

I spent the weekend with my friend K. and decided to explore the ideas in this magazine, SEW Somerset.

K. had book-marked a couple of ideas - the first was to make dresses on card stock.  

We were inspired by these paper and fabric party dresses by Collette Copeland. 

 K. made this dress - reminiscent of the dresses we made last year you can check out HERE.   I made the one shown at the top of the page. K. has yet to complete the composition - but look at the beautiful skirt made with torn fabric strips, test paper and lace.

 For my next dress i started with a piece of muslin cut into a classic ball gown shape.

 I tore little bits of paper and added some fabric  - the black and white checks and the paisley butterfly.

 I glued it down with a glue stick then added bright red thread.  i don't know how to "free motion" sew - we just used a normal machine and rotated the paper to get around the curves.  i wanted it to look sort of messy and loose!

 Next based on the inspiration of the magazine - i wanted to make a dress/birdcage!  I used a vintage map image for the background.  added three fabric birds and a few other things thrown in.  then sewed the birdcage with the red thread.  i added some stitch lines around the birds with a black sharpie pen.

 The next day i decided to add the frayed edge ribbon jauntily sewn on one side.

Next we both tried another idea from the magazine - a paper/fabric quilted wall hanging.

The piece shown was SEW beautiful!  by Kristen Robinson.

 I started with a heavy raw muslin background and laid on top various laces, fabrics and emphemera.  then added bits of lace and sayings stamped onto fabric with a brownish sepia ink.

 I sewed down all the larger pieces and glued down the smaller bits.  it is not quite finished - needs a few more chunky embellishments to fill in some of the empty spaces.

 K. started her wall hanging with a piece of muslin covered with ecru lace.  then she added patches of colourful pink, black and white fabric.  I love how she left visual "space" on the background.

Next she added words and phrases she had stamped on bleached muslin.  Touches of lace offset the bold black rick rack and felt hearts.  Thanks Somerset magazine for some great play date ideas.  And thanks K. for a great crafty weekend!

Altered Book - Just One More Word

At the 6 month mark in our altered book quest - we each received our own books back home to work on for the month of July.  The intro to my book you can find HERE but explains the "theme" is to create a spread with just one word.  My first spread used a few different images from my favorite Anthro catalogs - a pretty butterfly strewn sweater, a bed of flowers, and a tropical bird wallpaper.  The aged wood at the bottom is scrapbook paper. The flowers cut from a magazine.  The word is Breathe.  As in, just keep living and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.

 My second spread gives you a bit of my frame of mind these days.  It has been about two months since my husband Jim passed away.  So yes - this is a sea of tears.  Cut from pictures in a Hawaiin tourist guide, the oceans and waves we experienced on our 25th anniversary trip in May.

 And for my third spread - this magnificent bird reminds us to look forward and Soar!  I covered the background with hand made paper and gave a little tent fold in the middle to cover the spiral holding the book together.  A couple of vintage air balloons cut from wrapping paper.  The die cut flower, cut from a sheet of lacey scrapbook paper with a bit of peach and grey oil pastel.  Sitting on top of vintage plaid wallpaper.  I might add a little bit of paint to soften the edges before i pack this up.

And finally here is one of the lovely birthday cards i recieved from my friend and play date partner Lucie.  A beautiful hand painted and collaged card with a touch of my favorite things - a bird, robin's egg blue, and vintage french text!  Please check out lucie's blog HERE to see more of her art!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to a Sweet Girl who turned TWO today - that would be me. 

Yes - i decided last year to start over at 1.  Just made sense.  Two is my "lucky age" since my birthday is August 2nd.  Seems like i was cheated out of a lucky year since i was, you know, only 2.  So this year we'll try again.

 When stealing, i mean "researching" vintage birthday cards online it seemed that Mary had a Little Lamb was a popular theme.

And kittens!

Here is my birthday present.  A vintage inspired wire basket for all my rolls of paper. It is from Pottery Barn and yes was a splurge, but i did get it on sale.  It comes with a fabric liner, meant for laundry, but i think i like it better without.  Here are some NEW papers i just acquired - but i have tons more and now they'll have a pretty place to live!