A Couple More Fabric Postcards

Last night I finished up a couple more floral fantasy fabric postcards for the Unique Stitching Red Cross fundraiser. They were fun to make - the first one has a machine-felted background overlaid with angelina fibres and a painted paper towel appliqued fantasy flower. Some foiled squiggles, large hot pink sequins and a gloriously decadent button to finish.

The second one has a blue fabric base with a wispy angelina overlay which I've secured with a grid of gold machine stitching. Another painted paper towel appliqued fantasy flower and this time a gold foiled centre. Both are more sparkly in real life of course!!

And if you want to be in the running for some wonderful blog give-aways check out these great blogs (you need to be quick as they are finishing soon!) -

A special "Oxford Impressions" one at my friend Susie's blog

Tammy's Place

Passion for Crafts

My Cardz

Another Random Collection!

Such a busy week - I was away with work, first "out bush" and then for a flying visit to Perth so creativity time this week was rather limited. Needless to say I am loving being home, enjoying the glorious sunny autumnal weather (although I am surprised how quickly it is getting chilly here inland) and making the most of the weekend creativity-wise!

I decided it was time to revamp my blog a little bit so I am trying one of those lovely free backgrounds you can get here - I had to go for my favourite rusty autumnal tones. I had a lot of trouble editing my header though to fit the background format - one of these days I will actually spend a bit of time getting more knowledgeable about these things rather than just trying to do it when I have only got ten minutes spare. It isn't perfect but I am "settling" for how it looks at the moment.

The postcard at the top is my latest finished one for the Unique Stitching fundraiser for the Red Cross. This one has a fabric paper background which I have stamped and sprayed liberally with Moon Shadow Glitz in a gold colour to give it a lovely glow (which doesn't really come across that much in a scan). The other three postcards are coming along and I will do a bit more on those today probably.
Yesterday I finished off another two Oxford Impressions samples - the blue one is in the heavily decorated category and the pink one is in the simple and understated category. I even used two of my many but very under-utilised decorative punches. The stamped background on the blue one is a lovely image from the third plate (French Script) in the Oxford Impressions vintage french theme. I enjoyed making these and have several more in various states of development. (My temporary desk - a large trestle table - is covered with them and all the bits and bobs I have pulled out to go with the theme. I had to use the trestle table as my desk was too cluttered from other stuff and I couldn't cope with it!)

And then I have had beautiful mail - look at these gorgeous cards (which I have overlapped and trimmed on my scanner!) that I bought from my friend Julia (Verdigris) Rose over in Melbourne. I first met Julia at the Artistic Journey Art Retreat in Melbourne in 2008 and then got to catch up with her again at the start of the recent Creative Soul Art Retreat. The cards are prints of her gorgeous paintings and I am going to frame some of them so that I can keep them for myself. Julia has started up an Etsy shop and is just the loveliest person. PS I need to clean my scanner as the prints don't have those dots on them!!

My Calendar Girl postcard for April also arrived this week from another lovely lady - Doreen over in Canberra. Once again my scan doesn't do this card justice - there is so much texture and depth in it. I really feel as though I am in the middle of birch forest when I look "into" it. Look here for the picture that was used as the inspiration for this month.

And finally but in no way least, here is the last of the little houses from the Creative Soul Retreat Exchange. The wonderfully talented Annette was not able to come to the Retreat but participated in the exchange and her gorgeous little "glass house" arrived here this week. This will be joining all the others in my collection here next week. I couldn't resist using a house shape for the scan!So I am going to try and stay away from the computer as much as I can today as I have lots of plans for baking (the requests so far include chocolate chip muffins and a cinnamon apple cake) and sewing and painting and stamping and reading, oh and of course some sudoku and if I have any time left, a fast walk on the treadmill!

Fabric Postcards

(Coralee Barker's "Home is where your story begins" postcard)

For some time now I have been participating in a small Australian group fibre art exchange ("Quilty Conscience") and the Art Retreat in Melbourne provided us with the perfect opportunity to meet up and exchange our latest fabric postcards in person (given that we are normally geographically distributed!!)

(Karin Hutchinson's "There's no place like home" postcard - aren't those slippers awesome?)

It was so nice to actually laugh, eat a meal and drink some wine with these beautiful, talented, fun and very artistic women. It was on the Sunday evening after the last workshop and we were all a bit "gaga" but in some ways that made it even better as we were all so relaxed! What made it extra special for me was that my Melbourne-based sister Marrijane was able to be there too and to meet everyone as well! Ruth and Claire Kelly, Ruth's friend Vicki and Stephanie Grant were also there - both Ruth and Stephanie are part of the group but currently on hiatus - hope you guys are able to join back in soon!!

(Danielle D'Onofrio's "Be it ever so Humble" home postcard)

I have already posted my latest postcard for this exchange which was on the theme "Home" and these are the results from the other three currently participating in the exchange - aren't they fabulous!! I love them all.

PS Going back to work today was a bit of a shock to the system! I'm too tired to even get on my treadmill.

PPS Karin - Don't forget to send me the link to your blog!!! I NEED it!

The Jigsaw is Finally Finished!

Well yesterday I managed to finally (!!) finish my second lot of jigsaw pieces for the swap that I messed up first time round. Fortunately everyone has been very patient waiting for me. This is a blurry photo of the finished pieces altogether. I will upload scans of the individual pieces tomorrow. I am so relieved to have them finished - the need to do them has been hanging over me!

Other things I finished yesterday - a Lutradur/Lace and Beading ATC for a trade with Bina in Israel (at the bottom of this post), the tag to go with Vicci's Square Deco (back above, front below) and my January postcard for the Calendar Girls (which I will post tomorrow). I am away for a couple of weeks over Christmas so unfortunately will have to skip the various blog challenges for a while, particularly as I just don't have any spare time this week before we go away.

TMTA - Headwear (& Other Assorted Stuff)

I had a lovely day - Joseph made me breakfast in bed so I started the day with a leisurely read of the latest Quilting Arts and Issue 2 of Fibre & Stitch. Both provided heaps of inspiration for the day which was a much nicer day, weather wise - sunny but not too hot. Josh and I did some cooking but I also had lots of time to play in my sewing and craft rooms.

So first off, I made my ATC for the current Think Monday Think ATC "Headwear" theme. It is based on a scrap of paper that was underneath another paper when I was spraying Color Washes. I love these colours! I dyed the white ric rac using a Starburst Stain. The text image is an Oxford Impressions stamp that I use a lot and it is stamped with a Versafine Blue Lagoon inkpad. The paper heart lace at the top is self-adhesive and comes in packets of four designs - a brilliant idea I think.

I also finished a couple of postcards. The first one is based on some of my rusted fabric and is a DAK (deliberate act of kindness) for Anna who has been doing a lot of give-aways on her blog. It is stamped using Fabrico ink and the image is printed on fabric.

The second one is for a trade with Val. It is silk fusion in a pink/orange mix with some gold angelina. It is stamped with an Acey Duecy text image and I have added some lace I dyed/painted, another fabric image and a few beads.

I made good progress on some other things as well (including the long overdue replacement jigsaw pieces so I will post them as soon as they are finished) so all in all, a nice relaxing but productive day! Pity there isn't a public holiday tomorrow - I feel as though I am on a roll...

Fibre Postcards & ATCs

(This is for a trade with Sharon and is another Shiva Oil Stick experiment on a black fabric. It has a deep copper organza fused on top and then it has been machine stitched with metallic and black threads and has some tiny sequins stitched on. The sequins are from Dale at The Thread Studio.)

Today I have had a day's recreation leave to do some personal paperwork that I have been putting off for ages. I have "rewarded" myself by doing it fast and efficiently so that I could also have time to do some creative playing! So far I have finished off some ATCs and had a go at doing some fabric sun prints. They were quite successful for a first attempt so I will take some photos later.

(This is for Andrea and is based on a Lutradur, scrim and lace experiment that I put through the embellisher machine and then painted with umpteen different colours trying to get the right effect! It has tiny holeless beads glued on freeform).

Here are the rest of the ATCs that I have finished today - they are mostly experiments in texture although the one below is using up a piece of the Shiva Stick experiment that I did as a background for a recent postcard exchange.

One of the Lutradur and Lace ATCs (below) is available for trade if anyone is interested???

This is the postcard that I have just received from Sharon - it arrived today and is just beautiful - so delicate and such interesting layers!

I had a great mail day as I also received the first of the "Oh Baby" fabric postcards today - this gorgeous one is from Sue Smith down in Albany. The photo is of her brand new beautiful nephew! It hasn't scanned very well because of all the yummy sparkly bits! Wish you would start a blog Sue!! Once again, I am still working on the finishing touches on my postcards for this exchange but they are nearly done.

I've Been Tagged

A few days ago I was tagged by Cynthia (thanks!) - here are the rules if you are tagged:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So 7 facts about me - I have a lot of trouble with these sorts of things - but here goes:

1. Before I stamped (and did paper arts), I painted and decorated T Shirts, especially kid's ones.

2. I was born on my parent's third wedding anniversary.

3. Until I moved to Kalgoorlie 14 years old, I had only ever lived in Perth (although I did live and work in Broome for a few months at the end of my third year at uni - magic memories!) - I still think of myself as a city girl even after 14 years here in the outback.

4. I think I will recycle a lot more stuff in my art and craft than I actually do - end result is that I have way too much recycling stuff STORED in my art/craft rooms!

5. I don't like doing very detailed construction type stuff when it comes to paper arts - I only ever made one shaker card and they are low level construction!

6. I still haven't recovered from the total thrill of having one of my pieces on the cover of Somerset Studio several years back.

7. My 16 year old (and last at home) son thinks it is weird the way every day I have a new little pet name for him. I think of it as affection (and fun). They can be as basic as "chook" but I do enjoy slightly more elaborate titles as well!

So I am tagging the following bloggers, including two newly discovered ones (Andrea and Sharon!):

Julie
Danielle
Dawnie
Sephi
Keron
Sharon
Andrea

And to make this a little art related, at the top of this post there is a scan of a "texture" postcard that I have finally finished for Barbara. It is based on Lutradur and is covered with lace and muslin scraps which have then been machine "embellished" and then painted, foiled, sanded back and generally "added to"!! I just kept thinking I can make this look better but I am now happy with it (at last).

My Weekend

Hmmm, I love weekends!

In amongst other normal life stuff (like making chocolate chip muffins for those in the family that still consume these evil things) I have just about finished all my "Oh, Baby" postcards, experimented with bleaching fabric (as a result of reading the wonderful Jacqueline's blog!), made good progress with some Lutradur ATCs and also some other fabric postcards. Didn't get very far with my metallic inchies but I have done some of the preparatory work (below is a photo of the painted and stamped vliesofix which will be ironed to felt tomorrow as a base for the inchies). Nearly everything I have been working on is unfinished but I like to have a variety of things to work on to suit my mood!

I have included some scans of the bleaching experiments - I tried it on two pieces of black homespun, one was brown black and didn't react at all and the second piece was blue/black and reacted very nicely - see below. The lines that look like folds are actually lines from where teh fabric was drying on the pool fence. Very organic I think! I also tried it on a piece of olive green line type fabric and that reacted very nicely too. In the scan at the top of the post you can see what it looked like originally as well as the bleached version (on which I have sprayed some Adirondack Color Washes to the accentuate the colour variations).

Annie and I went for a walk around the Spring Festival this morning. We had a lovely time although it was very hot (38 degrees so spring appears to be summer here already!). I had quite a glow by the time I got home. There wasn't a lot at the stalls that really attracted me although I was happy to buy some bunches of bright ribbons and some beautiful threads, plus a toffee apple for Zach. I think he will find it is the memory more than the taste that actually appeals!

A Tale of Woe & My Latest Fabric Postcard

Well I am not sure that I really am ready to share this tale but in the hope that it may be therapeutic...

If you read my blog regularly you will know that I joined an eight person Jigsaw Exchange that involved all eight of us starting out with the same design blank jigsaw. The pieces were to be numbered in a specific way and we were each allocated certain pieces to do for each other person so that the end result would be a complete puzzle for each of is incorporating all eight participants artwork. Sounds relatively straight forward, yes?

Well I thought so too but I have discovered that I misread the columns in the spreadsheet and did not do the right number pieces. This is about as tragic as a jigsaw puzzle can get! Apart from me, nobody has a puzzle that works and it is all because of me. When I found out yesterday I was stunned - at my stupidity, at what it means etc etc. So expect to hear more about jigsaw puzzles as I will be doing replacement pieces post haste as soon as I can locate another identical puzzle. Thankfully everyone is being very patient, tolerant and understanding..

And here are the beautiful (correctly numbered!!) pieces I received from the wonderful Marg Buhagiar (who I don't think has a blog). My theme was Vintage Dressmaking.


So to console myself today, in between Saturday type domestic stuff, I worked on my fabric postcards for another exchange - this one has the theme "Oh, Baby!" -the scan of the prototype is at the top of this post - and you might notice that I can now include some nice decorative stitches thanks to my week-old sewing machine! I need to sew my lace on strighter on the remaining postcards. I have also been painting vliesofix getting ready for the 63 (7 sets of 9) metallic inchies I have to finish by the end of the month. I'll post some pictures tomorrow when they are dry. Now I am off to make some postcards out of fabric paper a la Beryl Taylor.

The Monday that was...

Problem: Yesterday morning I decided that I hadn't got around to a whole pile of things (including several "life" type things as opposed to "creative" type things) on the weekend that really needed doing. Solution: Create a list. Downside: I can now clearly see how little I got done from the list in the last 24 hours! Upside: I feel more organised about what is not getting done.

So, while I should have been making travel bookings for my August trip to Perth, organising and filing paperwork, doing some of the gargantuan ironing pile etc etc, I had fun making some Adirondack Color Wash backgrounds for a beeswax ATC exchange that I need to get mailed in about a week. I love the way you can blend these colours! The theme is "Roma" so I have stamped one of my favourite Lazar Studiowerx collage stamps (Roman) on lemon tissue paper and I think the background will show through the tissue paper nicely once it has been adhered with the beeswax. I plan to do some more on these tonight.

I started this post this morning before rushing off to work and now it is lunch time. It is a very cold grey winter's day here so I have come home to check the mail and to make a nicely decadent toasted cheese and ham sandwich. I've got the heater on and a nice cup of tea as well so it is going to take a lot of will power to go back to work in a little while!

But the best part of coming home was that Lynda's stunning textural fabric postcard was sitting in the letterbox waiting for me - it is just beautiful and it is the first "naked" fabric postcard I have received. And it has travelled half way round the world and arrived in pristine condition! I add too many lumpy beads and things to risk it I think but it is much more postcardy this way!! Thanks so much Lynda - it will be on my inspiration wall tonight - I love it!

Fragments - some fabric postcards

I made the most of a relaxing day and had another go at my fabric postcards for the "Fragments" theme. I started them last night and if I hadn't been so tired I might have thought it through a bit more but I decided to stick with them today and to see how they turned out.

I have improvised along the way as there were a few challenges but I am happy with the end result. They are made up of torn "fragments" of scrapbook papers laid on felt with a layer of pale organza randomly stitched on top to hold the pieces together. Floral/text images torn from napkins (decorator serviettes) have been glued on top with diluted PVA. When they were dry I used a wood burning tool to melt back some of the organza and to bond the edges a bit. The whole postcard was then lightly coated with more diluted PVA. When they were dry I stamped some swirls in sepia ink and added a strip of lace before doing the backing and edges.

I've also continued with my tissue paper collages but I am not sure that I am terribly enamoured of how they are going. They might be another project that gets put aside and replaced with a fresh start!


I am getting pretty excited about my holidays in August - I am taking some recreation leave so that I can go to Perth to do three workshops with Beryl Taylor. They should be terrific - I am doing one on embellishments and a couple on fabric paper. I don't know if anyone I know is going to these but I would imagine they will be very popular so if you are going let me know! I am planning on staying in Perth for the best part of a week to catch up with family as well and to attend a couple of days of the WA Craft, Quilt & Stitch Fair at the Claremont Showgrounds.

P.S. I wish tomorrow was a Public Holiday - I would love another day of creative fun!

So Glad to be Home!

Well I am home again and so happy be here. It was fun though to be in Perth for a few days and to catch up on some shopping Friday night after work (especially books but also a nice handbag and lots of printed tissue paper to incorporate in an exchange that I have joined that is based around tissue paper). It also gave me the opportunity to catch with a friend and with my son and his girlfriend Saturday morning. We had a delicious breakfast at the King St Cafe (a big favourite of mine in the heart of the city). The photos were taken late afternoon (above) and early afternoon outside the Matilda Bay Restaurant in Crawley. This is where we had a workshop on Wednesday and for someone like me that has lived inland on the edge of the desert for the last 13 plus years, it was just bliss to be so close to the beautiful Swan River! You can see the Perth skyline in the background.

This is just a really quick post because I am trying to maximise creative time today after 4 days without any. I have come home to my darling new Fancy Pants stamps (flourish, swirl and twirl heaven!!) which arrived from A Creative Place on Friday - great service as always. I've bought the Bella Brush and Pollen Dust plates as they have a great range of images and sizes. Today I am working on finishing my "Arch" shape book covers and page (for a shape based book round robin) and my Paint Metal and Fabric "item" for a one-on-one challenge. Hopefully I will be able to share photos tomorrow.

Tomorrow we have a public holiday in Western Australia so I am planning on getting the housework done first thing and then I have a whole pile of other stuff to start including this week's Wednesday Stamper, some cards for Stamping & Papercraft, several fabric postcards for various commitments, a set of six tissue based collages and 63 fabric "inchies" in blue. These are one inch decorated fabric squares and I have to make 7 sets of 9. These are all the rage at the moment but this is my first go at these. They are not terribly different in concept from some I have made before for various journal exchanges as shown in these photos but these ones will have batting and backing to allow various options for their use or mounting. So lots of lovely stuff to do and I had better get on with it!!

Fabric Postcards

"Serene" by Fiona Mortimore

Today I received my first fabric postcards from a small Australian exchange I am participating in this year. Great artists and great fabric postcards! The theme was "Serene" and I posted my postcards for this theme back in my post of the 8th of April. I just love seeing how everyone has interpreted the theme!

Our next theme was my choice and it is "Fragments". I have to get cracking on this one as they are due at the end of June. I chose this theme as it provides so much scope - literal and figurative.

"Striving for Zen" by Karin Hutchinson

"La Serenissimo" by Coralee Barker (look at this felting!!)

"Serenity - Autumn Flight" by Ruth Kelly

Aren't they all just lovely!!

Finally time to post!

I have discovered that I am blog-addicted! It was very hard being away all week and not having computer access in the evenings after the work day had finished.

Above is a very poor photo taken as a quick snap into the morning sun but this is where I was staying for three of the four nights. I love the "Welcome to Paradise" sign on the old and decrepit hotel! Wiluna is a funny sort of town - very small now (the one pub, one shop/petrol station, population around 500) but very strong in our short Western Australian history. It is so strange going to these places that used to be thriving towns. There is lots of large scale mining activity happening now in the region so things are starting to change for the town again.

I came home to some great packages - a tin of 48 Lyra Crayons that I bought off someone on the net who had decided they weren't using them enough (I have been wanting a set for ages but didn't want to pay the full price), heaps of coloured tissue paper I bought cheaply on ebay for my tissue paper collages/fabric postcards, a jumbo jigsaw pack for an exchange I have just joined and the latest Stamping & Papercraft magazine (congratulations again to my mates Sue Smith and Jhodi Bennett for their inspiring and beautiful articles).

I had a quick play with the Lyras last night on cheap, very textured water colour paper and I just love the effects that can be achieved so quickly. I think I can tell what sort of backgrounds I'll be concentrating on for a while! I must look up some sites for hints and ideas on using them.

Then yesterday I received my gorgeous canvas wall hanging that Jo Wholohan has made for me. It is full of texture and colour and detail and is just beautiful. This is the result of a small group doing a one-on-one exchange based on a challenge to incorporate paint, metal and fabric in an item. I have started mine for Fiona and need to get it finished this week. I'll post a photo once it is finished. My photograph of Jo's work just doesn't do it justice as I am getting too much reflection (needless to say I need to invest in a better camera).
Note: I have edited this post to add a daylight photo of Jo's canvas - less glare and reflection!

While I was away I worked on the hand quilting of the birdhouse quilt I have been making for ages for my Mum so I haven't completed anything this week. Rather than have a post without lots of pictures, the other photos are of my "treasures" from the Boulder Markets last week - some lovely rusty bits and pieces recovered from old campsites in the bush, a package of stunning yellow speciality paper strips and a couple of metres of lovely beaded trims.

Today is a play day - grey and overcast here so no temptation to do anything outside of the house! The biggest temptation I have to avoid is spending too long catching up on all my favourite blogs...