Felted Give-Away!

I continue to play with my Janome Xpression felting machine.   I'm slowly getting the hang of it.  I really like the way this piece turned out.   I've decided to give this piece away!

Here's what I did:

gathered together assorted yarns; base 8x8 grey felt

assorted scraps of silk, cotton and blends; each piece felted to top, then turned to back and felted slightly

layers are building up - I like the way silk scrunches up

addition of  polyester  sheer - this looks really cool

addition of assorted yarns and painted cheesecloth

The background reminded me of an underwater scene.   Using my sewing machine, I free motion stitched a fish; enhanced with acrylic ink.  The finished piece measures 6.5x6.5.

If you would like a chance to win this felted piece, simply leave a comment and be or become a follower of  The Artful Diva.   Only one entry per person, please.  (If you don't have a blog with an email address available, please add your email address with your comment.) 

On Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 5PM (EST) I will add up all the comments, put the total into a random generator and announce the winner.

GOOD LUCK!

Go to Pink Saturday for more inspiration.

Quiet on the Set!

This week's Texture Tuesday challenge is to pick any movie or your favorite movie.  The photo has to go along with the title - combine it with any of Kim's textures. 

The movie I chose is "On the Waterfront".  I took the photo in the beautiful city of Rovinj, Croatia.  I used Kim's new texture "Just Stitched" and my own texture "Mashed Potatoes"; added a camera lens distortion vignette and called it done!

This challenge was so much fun, I kept going.  Being an art quilter, the movie "How To Make An American Quilt" starring Winona Ryder seemed appropriate. "Hyperbolic Paraboloid" is one of the first quilts I ever designed.  I made it in 2001.  The seams are all straight lines even though the overall impression is that of curves.  It measures 50"W x 50"L. 

Spain/Portugal Travel Journal

My husband and I are going to tour Spain and Portugal this fall.  We're celebrating my special birthday.   Although I plan to blog about the trip,  I always make a journal for these special trips too.  I couldn't wait to get started on this one.

This is how I created it.

Fabric/Paper made of vintage maps, raw silk, tissue paper.  This fabric will be used for the journal cover and page hinges.

resulting fabric rubber stamped and additional paint 

random machine stitching added (gold metallic thread)

untreated canvas painted with multiple layers of water color

canvas cut down to size, embellished with rubber stamps

 

travel dates machine embroidered on each page

 "hinge" stitched to each page

page pockets created using water color paper and decorative papers; dates ink jet printed

example of how these pages will fit in the journal - used Cinch machine to punch holes - oh so easy!

book board cut to size; fabric/paper adhered using my favorite method of gluing book pages: 50/50 PVA glue and methyl cellulose.  Back cover made in a similar fashion using decorative paper.  (Poor planning - I didn't make enough fabric/paper and knew I could never duplicate it!)

The journal is approximately 2 inches thick.  Rattail threaded threw holes.  Stood the journal on end between two covered bricks and placed a 1 inch pvc pipe over top to enable the tying of the rattail firmly in place but still give the pages wiggle room.

Here's the finished journal.  The next time you see it, it will be filled with memorabilia from our trip!

Go to Pink Saturday and Only Cute Things for more inspiration!

It's the Little Things...

This week's Texture Tuesday challenge is to use one of Kim Klassen's textures with any photo.  The theme is "it's the little things".

I store buttons in vintage blue Ball jars.  I chose Kim's "scratched magic" texture, duplicated it several times, changed the blending mode and levels.

Mouse over photo to see original.

Ugly Duckling turns into a Swan...

I bought a Janome Xpression felting machine in 2005 and have never really used it.  Well,  I took it out of the box once when I first bought it.  I didn't really make anything, but managed to break one of the five needles!  I decided it was time to get this baby out of the closet and play.

I took a piece of white felt about 5" x 5" square.  I've got tons a silk scraps.  I thought I'd start felting a base using some of these.  Not liking it.

 

After adding a couple different shades of gold silk, I still wasn't particularly happy with it.  Looked through my stash of wool roving and pulled out some red, white and blue.  Starting to think maybe this was a mistake!

Felted in some black perl cotton floss - too thin to work well.  Tried to hide it with some white roving.

Thicker black knitting yarn worked better - It's starting to look like a keeper.

Rough cut ultra suede heart; stitched down with zig zag stitch.  Trimmed the piece down to 3" x 3" square - ahh, that's better.

Painted top and sides of canvas 3" x 3" frame with black gesso

Stapled rattail to back of frame

Addition of seed beads; final trim and adhered to frame using soft gel matte medium.  Now I'm happy and relieved since this is a gift for a dear friend's birthday and I wanted to make something special for her.

Go to Pink Saturday for more inspiration!

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coastline in Italy located on the Ligurian Sea.  It consists of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.  To get from one town to the other one must either walk the trail or take the train.  We chose to walk the trail when we were there in 2006.  

This week's Texture Tuesday challenge is to use one of Kim Klassen's textures with any photo.

I used Kim's "Break Free" texture and Frame 12 from the Coffee Shop Blog.