Some Art Journalling and Playtime

Happy Australia day for yesterday to all you proud Aussies.  We spent the day with family and friends enjoying a peaceful day and being thankful for this great country we live in.  There was a wee bit of tennis watching going on too

School holidays have just ended here in sunny Queensland.

We look after Lilian for most of the duration of the school holidays, and the one thing she loves to do the most, is paint with Nana.

She now has her own little art journal made from an old repurposed book and she has had loads of fun transforming the pages into art works.

After watching a video by Claudia Rossi, she wanted to embark on this one. Firstly she painted some bright rainbow colours onto the page in acrylics.

Then it was a fairly thick layer of gesso and while it is still wet she drew in some flowers with the end of her paint brush, which revealed some of the lovely colours underneath.

A little border around the edge and some words and she was done and happy!

My page shown start to finish below – I know, not as ‘free’ and smashing as Lilian’s.

  

I did this page spread which is at the beginning of a little travel art journal I have been playing with. This was our first trip we did in a tent.

One day when Lilian went to visit her little friend, I made her this sweet little pin cushion.  I had the components sitting in my cupboard for about 5 years.  She loved it and immediately raided my pin cushion to fill hers.

The Travelander is being packed ready for another little trip.  This is how it looks off the truck and then the tent all folds down into the white part and it will go onto the back of our truck. 

Until next time……………….Dianne

Sewing Projects Finished & More Art Journal Pages

 

The sewing has been simple stuff slotted in between art days with Lilian and general family life.

‘Artiste at work – paint comes off skin easier than clothing and it was 39 deg in the dining room! The temperamental artiste would not get her hair brushed and tied back either!’

My one and only gorgeous sister is having a birthday soon, and I really wanted to make her a couple of placemats.

Her and her hubby are ‘empty nesters’ now, so I did them a placemat each.  I have also purchased a couple of  stable tables for them so they can do activities and eat a meal in front of the tele.  That is what we do most of the time here now. 

I wanted something modern (and easy peasy ) and quick to make.  This pattern in the Quilting Arts Gifts magazine from some years ago fitted the bill.  Hope she likes them. 

Lilian needed a library bag for school, so out of the same Gifts book I made my favourite drawstring pattern which I have used many times now.  I used a cute little fairy and cup cake fabric I bought locally at MK Sewable.

The following art journal pages were done while Lilian was amusing herself with her painting. She was a great inspiration.  Little children have no inhibitions or preconceptions when it comes to art – it was an incredible experience to share with her.

Lilian did this paper cutting with no prompting and no guidance from me

With her permission, I used it as a stencil on this journal page.  Doesn’t it make a wonderful background?

Hoarded away in my cupboard I have many old diaries such as this one.

This one was from 2003 and the little bit I wrote in it at the time made very interesting reading.  I decided to repurpose it into a journal and use some of the anecdote in the journal writing, and utilize some of the pictures into the design of the pages. It usually begins with a coat of gesso.

Inside pages

I forgot to take a picture of the before page for this spread, but it was a table with a quilt draped over it.  I have just followed the lines and adapted it to suit what I call ‘Our Kitchen’ page. P.S. our kitchen is NOT these colours!!  It WAS in 1980 LOL.

Since taking the photo I have written into the right hand page as well.  The two pages, although I like each of them individually, don’t sort of ‘go’ together, so I have learned from this.

More pages soon. Loving the process

 

Until next time……………Dianne

Paper Collage Fun & Fabric Box

When I saw the fabric box on Anneliese’s blog HERE I knew I had to make one for a friend for Christmas.
The tutorial is on Jane LaFazio’s blog.  Jane has a fabulous blog with a few little tutorials for us to try out and her art work is very inspirational.  Take a look HERE… and enjoy.
Firstly I collaged the fabrics to the stiffening (1)  and then I added a fern stamp in an off white colour using a handmade stamp I made from a polystyrene fruit tray. (2)

(1)

(2)
I added some embellishments and some free motion quilting. (3)

(3)
The finished box.


To finish the top off I hand sewed a silk sari strip around the top and added a little bead drop on each corner (4)

(4)
A couple of weeks ago I signed up to do a “Getting Started with Collage” online class with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  I am a great fan of Julie’s, and love looking at her videos and art work.  (Click on Julie’s badge in the side bar to visit her)
If you get a chance, visit Julie’s blog and be inspired, especially if you love journalling and collage. 
Because I love to make cards I used her techniques to make some greeting cards to have on hand.  It is a process that I got really engrossed in, and for a few days the dining table looked more like an art studio – a very, very, messy art studio with a mad wannabe artist at the helm!!!

Julie showed us four ways of designing a collage.
Using some monograms as a focal point I made these collage cards for friends’ birthdays (next year).  How is that for organized??

Front & Back of the M Card

Front & Back of the J Card.

The blue card is using the ‘grouping’ design and again I used a focal point on the pink card.
The pink card uses old dressmaking patterns and a stencil from a magazine cut out.

On the left a pictorial collage and on the right the ‘crossing’ design.
Most of the paper used in the collage has been created by me using acrylic paints, spray inks and various methods of surface treatments following some of the instruction on Julie’s video.
It has been soooooo much fun and I can’t wait to make another big mess and do some more collage.
Thanks to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for making this online class for us to enjoy.
Until next time…….. Dianne.

Collaging, Sewing, Inspirations, Spring Fever and more…..

It is a while since I blogged but I have been busy behind the scenes.  Plenty of socializing and outings and a bit of creative sewing and of course the ordinary mundane stuff everyone has to do when they would rather be creating!!!
A funny type of Spring Fever has hit me in the way of a head cold.  It has been so very hot, and having a head cold in the heat is no fun, let me tell you.
 
This is one of our magnificent star jasmine plants.  I wish we had smell-a-blog so you could share the scent with me.  The smell reminds me that Melbourne Cup day is coming soon and that summer is fast approaching.

SEWING:

I made this block keeper for my dear friend, Shirley, to store her embroidery pieces in while they are awaiting to be put into her amazing embroidery book. 
The pattern is one I have used before, and is a tutorial my the lovely and delightful Teresa from All Things Vintage.  Pop over and see Teresa’s blog and be inspired to craft more.  She really gets things done!!  Thank you for your wonderful tutorial, Teresa.
COLLAGING:
In the past week I signed up for a fabric collage workshop with Deborah Boschert, “Branches, Buds and Blossoms”.  Things were going swimmingly until the sound jack decided not to work on my computer inside the house.  I have soldiered on and this is the piece so far – just fabric placement at this stage.  It is so much fun!  I can’t wait to embellish it and do some hand stitching on it.
 
The final layout before embellishing.

The feature fabric.

SOCIALIZING:
The Toowoomba Quilter’s retreat was held on Oct 11-13 and it was fabulous, as usual.  We don’t have to lift a finger, just sit, chat, sew and eat (in any order)… all in a bushland setting. 

L-R Debbie, Vicki, Sally and Dianne – yes, me.
The quilt group also ran a bus to the Queensland Quilt show in Brisbane. 

This quilt by Olive Claydon won the Viewer’s choice award and well deserved.  All tiny hexagons!!!!  Well done, Olive.  isn’t it amazing???
You can see more of the winners HERE on the Qld Quilters website.
I bought a few goodies but most of it is just card crafting and textile art stuff.  No fabric was purchased (for a change). 
‘
These really cool stencils.  A couple of them by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer whose journal work I love.

Hemp thread, Acrylic glazes, gold rubbing stuff, acrylic ink sprays, cog wheels stamp and a watercolour pad.  I just wanna PLAY.
In the past week, Shirley and I also visited a display by the local Toowoomba Embroiderer’s Guild and a display by ATASDA (Australian Textile and Surface Design Association). Both very inspiring.
After our visit to the ATASDA display, Shirley and I were inspired to do some botanical dyeing.
More on that later………………Until next time.........Dianne

Visits–Quilts 1700–1945, 80th Birthday & My Sewing Room

It has been a busy couple of weeks.

While I was in Brisbane on 5 Sept I went along to the Qld Art Gallery and saw the fantastic exhibition of historical Quilts from the Victoria & Albert Museum.  As I walked around the quilts and articles I wondered at the workmanship and attention to detail the makers managed to achieve in challenging times. It was one of the best displays I have ever seen at our wonderful art gallery.
If you would like to view some of the amazing quilts go to the QAGA site HERE and click on the videos to watch them.  Some of the stories behind the quilts are inspirational.

(View across the river to the City)
Last Sunday we drove to “Serenity” for a friend’s 80th birthday.  Serenity is what they call the property and it is easy to see why.  Surrounded by rolling green hills and friendly wallabies it is indeed peaceful.

Here is the birthday boy with his giant pavlova birthday cake.  He got an OBE presented to him which hangs around his neck.  No, not an Order of the British Empire – an Over Bloody Eighty award. 

Yesterday I visited the sewing room for a clean out of the project boxes. In my present decluttering state of mind, I decided ‘enough is enough’.  Some of the unfinished (and not even started) items went to either the op shop box, the trash, our local community quilting group or repurposed.  It was quite liberating!! 
Project Box 2 no longer exists!!  Hooray! They have been amalgamated into one. Of course, I would be lying if I said these were the only unfinished items in the sewing room.  There are some lurking in other places

In 2009 some friends and I went to ‘Stitchers Day Out’ at Highfields and I completed this little stitchery which I re-discovered in my clean out.  So I was momentarily distracted from my decluttering duties and went ahead and made the book cover for which it was intended.
The stitchery is an Ella & Skysie design and I coloured it with prismacolour pencils.

Book Cover outer                                                Book Cover Lining.
The fabrics bought on the day were just perfect for the stitcheries.

The finished book!  I am going to give it to my gorgeous Goddaughter, Gabrielle as part of her 21st birthday present.
  Gabrielle
The next couple of weekends are going to be busy with Gabrielle’s 21st party next weekend and her sister, Angela getting married the following weekend. 

Iris in my garden.  Did I tell you how much I love Spring time??