A Big Birthday - Best Wishes – Best Friends - Bits of Art

 

Yes, it was a biggy!

The actual day was on a Tuesday, and so on the Saturday, my darling husband and daughters arranged a family luncheon.  I did not have to do a thing – it was lovely and I was spoiled.  Our oldest daughter made the cake and it was a white chocolate mud cake.  I love white chocolate and the cake was delicious!!

Hubby doing the dishes  xxx

Lilian did her own make up especially for the occasion.

 

Even Bella, our 13 year old border collie cross, joined in the party and enjoyed some attention from our youngest daughter.

On the Monday my dear friends from quilting joined in celebrating, and we had lunch at ‘The Two Birds’ cafe.  All their food is homemade on the premises – it was yummy.

Around the table L-R  Vicky, Marilyn, Linda, Loretta,Shirley,Joan, Marleen & Moi.

  They also spoiled me rotten.

Beautiful gifts – thank you my dear friends. 

On the day of the birthday my hubby took me to the flicks and lunch.  We saw ‘The Book Thief’.  I enjoyed my day.

A few weeks ago I did this collage/painting spread on a piece of old card. It will be a book cover one day.

Front Cover

The branch part of this image is a collage taken from a picture in an old National Geographic magazine.

Inside cover

Bird image from Karen over at Graphics Fairy.

I have to finish with my cute little Lilian.  This is how they come out of prep each day holding hands – very cute. (Lilian in the middle)

 

Until next time……………..Dianne

Art Quilt Finish : Art Clean Up : Transfer Techniques

A finish at last!
A couple of months ago I did an online course with Deborah Boschert called “Branches Buds & Blossoms : a botanical fabric collage”.
This is the result and I will put it into our quilting exhibition display in September.  The theme for the display is “Botanica”, so this will fit perfectly.
I have called it “Branching Out” as I find my textile art is branching out into collage a lot lately.  It seems to be something I like doing.
Deborah had some great hints and tips, and it was a very enjoyable exercise.

Just recently I discovered a box marked ‘Art” which has been sitting in the bottom of the linen press for about 15 years unopened since we moved into this house. 

Embarrassingly, most of the stuff inside had to be chucked out as it had deteriorated somewhat.  This prompted a bit of an art clean out.  Looong time ago I was very into folk art painting and did such an awful lot of it.

A lot of the supplies from that era were put to the back of the cupboard and the back of mind until a couple of days ago.  Here is what I discovered ( & embarrassingly – again - I forgot I had some of these things).  I was very excited to find them, anyway. 

Brushes Galore - all shapes and sizes

A tube of oil paint in burnt umber which I used to love using for antiquing and giving the aged look.




An ink nib, a kemper tool (you fill the well with acrylic ink or watered down acrylic paint and draw with it), and my wonderful paint trowel.



The dining ??? table – plenty of paints.
Have you ever tried to transfer a quilting design onto a quilt which has already been layered.  Jeesh, it is no mean feat.  This often happens if the quilting idea comes at a late stage in the artistic development of the piece  LOL.
Firstly I tried using the pattern drawn onto tulle and this was very successful but I used a white pitt pen to transfer with.  By the time I had quilted one lot of scrolls all the other transfers on the fabric had rubbed away.  Grrr.

During a wakeful period in the night (you know how it is) I remembered I had purchased a clover product called Transfer Mesh.  Couldn’t wait to get out of bed next morning to give it a whirl.
I find Clover products very, very good on the whole.  This transfer mesh was quite troublesome though, as the pen and pencil wanted to get stuck in the wee holes, which is probably why they tell you to use blunt pencils.

I used a 2B pencil to draw the lines onto the mesh and then a Karisma pencil to transfer to the fabric (as per instruction on the video).  What I learned, with trial and error, was a light touch is better than going hard at it, and slow and steady is better than fast and impatient!!
If you have one of these sheets, do give it a try, it was the best solution to this awkward problem  You can see a video of how to use it HERE – but be aware the audio is terrible.
Until next time……………Dianne

Fabric Covered Handmade Journal & More Pages

 

This is one of my finished spreads.  In my 2003 diary, I noted our then 19 year old had had her wisdom teeth out – hence the page about smiling and teeth.

The other page had a photo of cups and saucers, so I went with that theme and journalled about how much I love a good cup of cha, and how it seems to be a panacea for all sorts of troubles – well here in Oz anyway!

This is another page using my hand made rubber stamp.  It is unfinished.

This page went to this:

 

The inspiration for the little house came from the latest Quilting Arts Magazine and these gorgeous fabric houses made and designed by Jacqueline deRuyter shown below. 

I am definitely going to make some of these fabric houses one day.  They are soooo cute.

The wish page is finished and the other page on the right is unrecognizable as this now, but still a work in progress.

This is my first ever handmade journal.  I wanted to make a fabric covered journal using my own fabric collage pieces and my own papers.  Seeing as I couldn’t find a tutorial for exactly what I was wanting, I had to wing it.  There were many lessons learned, but ultimately I am very happy with it. 

It is going to be for me, so I am just going to love all it’s little imperfections

The back                                                                        The inside pages

The middle of the book showing the pamphlet stitch.  I used a tutorial on You Tube by the generous and talented Diana Trout.

The link for pamphlet stitch  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6xGwU-UoJE

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

Doodlin’ around with the Journal & Holiday Fun

The school holidays are over and we had so much fun looking after our little Lilian for a couple of weeks before she started school for the very first time. We went to a place called playdough land one day where the kids could go crazy with playdough.  She loved it!

Here she is on the first day.  Sooooo cute.  The hat and bag are nearly as big as she is!!
She had a lovely day and is very excited about going again which is good.
After taking the plunge and starting an art journal to explore different techniques, I stumbled across this doodle exercise with Diana Trout.
It is great for coming up with new shapes and I have already used some of the shapes and lines created here in my next pages.  Very worthwhile – and fun.

Here is the link if you would like to try it some time.
Diana Trout   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiaAqGddHXs&list=UUtQ2BvLDOVKfSjQe51V-j1Q
DRAWING
Also, if you want to expand your drawing skills please do yourself a favour and visit my very dear friend, Kerry’s website:  All About Drawings.
Kerry is one very talented lady and we have known each other since forever, as her father and my mother are cousins.  Our families were always in regular contact and we had many fun times growing up living in the same town. 
Kerry is very generous and has many FREE tutorials and tips and hints on her website.  I know you will love it as I do.  Here is the link
www.allaboutdrawings.com
Be sure to check out this amazing doodle one of her talented sisters did for her.  Here is the direct link to that:
http://www.allaboutdrawings.com/doodle-drawing.html

I found this old eraser in the drawer and it has now become my very first carved stamp.  Very happy with it and I have used it a few times now.

Bubble wrap stamp combined with my eraser stamp.
More pictures to come of art pages in the next few days (yawn?) and also some sewing I have done.  YES  - I have fitted in a little bit of sewing too.

This is what we call a dragon fruit given to me by my friend Shirley.  Her friend grows it at his property.
It was lovely combined with the mango in my Greek yoghurt, but most of all I love it for it’s vibrant colour.  The taste is quite bland but sweet and very palatable. 

What better way to cool off on a 40 deg day than to hop under the sprinkler and twirl a ‘baton’!!!
Until next time…………Dianne.

2014 -The Word & Update on Pearl Couscous

Firstly an update on the availability of pearl couscous.  It is available at Coles!  Just thought I would have a look and lo and behold, there it was!  Hope it is as good as the Israeli couscous from the deli. It has a recipe on the back of the packet and a link to where you can find more recipes. Also, when I made my salad I boiled the couscous in chicken stock instead of plain water to give it a bit more flavour.  It may have been a little to salty so you could go half in half.

A lot of people around the blogs in recent years have been coming up with a word for the New Year instead of an actual resolution.  What a great idea - I thought - as I never keep those blessed resolutions anyway!
Soooooo, my word for the year  I decided upon is EXPLORE

Here is my first ever art journal page. 
One thing I am not aiming to do is  a journal page a day, like some diligent people out there.  One now and again for fun is my goal for this year.  I am enjoying  playing with all the different media and hope to EXPLORE as many techniques as I can.  

What I am hoping is that it is going to be a  journey of discovery this year in all my areas of Eat, Play & Quilt.

New and interesting recipes to try (especially Mediterranean which I am currently interested in), new and exciting places to visit in Australia in our camper, and new techniques in the mixed media field to incorporate into my quilts and art projects.
There are some amazing people I have been following on blogs, watching on You Tube, and learning from, and here are links to just some of them.  Be prepared to lose some time!!! Be sure to check out their tutorials and videos to lose some more time. 

http://alisaburke.blogspot.com

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com

http://dianatrout.typepad.com

http://jennibelliestudio.blogspot.com

 



Our agapanthus have put on a beautiful show this year.