Anyone seen this on it's travels?

I made this angel deco journal a couple of years ago as part of a roving swap on UKScrappers. The idea was that you sent the journal off to someone and it was then passed on to someone unknown, travelling along on an unchartered route until it eventually (hopefully!) returned to it's owner. My journal was sent with my board name and email address written inside and I eagerly awaited it's completion.
Alas, to no avail. I received smaller, less ornate, decos back but this fine one remains elusive, wandering the world.
The journal was made with 2 wooden hearts donated by a fellow scrapper. It was collaged with paper, an angel image was adhered and mini scrabble letters, and it was coated a sepia glaze. I adorned with ribbons and a collaged perspex angel.
I presume she is still occupied and hope she is guarding someone well.

Remember this dress?

I blogged about this dress several months ago but wasn't sure then how I'd finish the adornments off. Well, I thought I'd post an update:





The Romance tea dress was made using upholstery fabric and lined using an identical dress in vintage cotton sateen curtain lining. These 2 were sewn together with external, frayed seams on the surface, overlocked seams within. I then randomly tore strips up both layers of skirts, of different widths and lengths. These strips were then frayed by hand and with a wire brush, loose threads were left to hang down. The back opening had eyelets applied and was laced with red chiffon ribbon which looks very effective against the paler fabric. The shoulder was given a vintage accent with the use of layers of tulle, cotton velvet and cotton doily, pleated to the curve of the bodice. A textile flower with bottle top brooch completed the vignette. The resulting dress is pretty and original, yet also practical as it is machine washable when the brooch is detached.
I think she's finished now :)

Following on from my last post..........
My mother died a year ago today. A widow who had been disabled for much of her adult life, she was nevertheless a cheerful and stoical woman. She loved 'nick nacks' and her small apartment was crammed with fluffy cushions, decorative plates, thimble racks and cases full of ornaments.
I have several of her thimble racks (and a multitude of thimbles!) and had been meaning to play with them for a while. It seemed fitting to make a case dedicated to her.
The dark teak rack was cleaned and a light layer of cream acrylic paint was applied to give it some tooth. Further layers of acrylics were applied and lastly stencilled through a heart shaped paper doily. Edges were 'antiqued' with Distress ink in Vintage Photo.
When I started out I was unclear as to the contents of the shelves. But as the colour developed I knew I wanted a feeling of the the romantic Edwardian era, the Belle Epoque. This led to the inclusion of vintage images of women and children. The objects I included were chosen to this theme but also related to my mother - the tea pot which was constantly full, the food she loved, jewellery, and I even included some lingerie lace as she loved pretty things. These were layered in Ranger Glossy Accents.
I love the result and know she would have loved to see it hanging on her wall.

The Faerie within......

Today I finished a piece of work I've been meaning to do for a while. It is in memory of my mother, who died a year ago tomorrow. But while I was making it I became distracted by the need for a 'prop' for it's photo and remembered that I never did get round to altering that small dress form........
My theme was the faerie within. It comprises several layers of Indian newspaper and flowered tissue paper, collaged with a image of a faerie and music sheets then coated with washes of dilute acrylic paint. It was then highlighted with Crackle Paint, stamped with flourishes in StazOn, and 'antiqued' with Distress ink pads. A final sheen is added with pale gold shimmer glaze purchased from a hardware store and a tiny pair of wings attached to her back.





I'll post the rest of the project up tomorrow.

Just found these!

I'd forgotten about these :) A friend send me a package of random ephemera which contained, amongst other things, a keyhole. I've been addicted ever since!

Here's a fairy:



And I found some lovely chandelier pendants in my album:













Must stop browsing my albums and do some work!

Dominoes

I have the urge to play with dominoes today :) Dominoes are so adaptable and forgiveable. I think these were the first ones I ever altered, for a UKS swap:


Closely followed by:


Made for a friend, to the theme of morning frost:


A charm swap:


And my favourite, for a themed swap:


These days it tends to be inked and collaged though:






But occasionally stamped:


Hm, I think inks and collage is the way to go today :)

Fabric books

I've been having a look through some past projects, trying to get some inspiration, and found some fabric book covers I made several years ago.
This is the cover of the first CJ I ever made, when I had only just heard of scrapbooking - a friend had invited me to join a group. The fabric is an early 1970's Laura Ashley called Sweet Alyssum. It has a slightly wonky frame but is a promising start:


Later I joined a CJ for faith journals, this cover is very stroke-able:


I thought I'd try my hand at something new with a FaithscrappersUK journal, my theme was Protestify (ie speaking out against injustice) and I used a calico base to layer paints and stamp. It is great to handle, very textured:


I never did finish the cloth 'file' I made in just one hour during a cyber crop event:


However, that journal does at least contain one of my favourite pieces:


The above page was created by printing part of 'The Annunciation' on an ordinary piece of calico in an inkjet printer. I then created a frame from upholstery fabric but instead of removing all the inner fabric I just removed the horizontal ones, creating a curtain effect in front of the angel. This represented the secrecy of the visit. I decorated with various yarns and handmade sari beads and mounted the scene on brocade. This was one of my first adventures into textile pages and I still have a soft spot for it.

Thought I'd share some bird charms I recently made. These were made from polymer clay which was conditioned, stamped and then cut with cookie cutters. An attachment hole was added before baking. Afterwards I layered pastel shades of acrylic paints to 'age' them. These are for a project for my shop but I have another similar group I'm embellishing for a charm swap.

Tumbling free.......

Thought I'd show the results of my tumbling experiments.
Firstly, my first tumbling, some basic rough rock mix, tumbled over 3 weeks with decreasing grit grades. These will be drilled and used to form jewellery.


Then I smashed up a cheap Willow Pattern plate and tumbled that. It took far less time to tumble than the rock and I love the results, some of which will be wire wrapped as pendants and some drilled for other jewellery.


So I threw in some smashed up china..........


....hmm, not so good, took ages to tumble and the decoration eroded! But it has potential for stamping:


I now have plans to tackle some larger pottery and perhaps see if I can erode some of mum's old china thimbles.