Happy Art Journaling :)

I've not played in my art journal for a long time and Saturday morning saw me just needing the relaxation that comes from playing with paper, paint and stitch.

I'd painted my pages in blues the night before, then decided to tear some of it away!

I had quite a bit of stamped and painted tissue paper on my desk after taking one of Jane Davies' online courses (highly recommended!!) so decided to add some to my pages.  The leaves are a hand carved stamp.

I cut some more leaves then stitched them to a partial page using my sewing machine (I LoVe doing this!!).

A while ago I bought some lovely old wooden printing blocks and used the 'g' (just because I love the font!) to add some more texture to the page

It all made for a happy Saturday :)

a spot of knitting and felting

To get myself back into creative mode over the Christmas holidays I did a spot of knitting, helped along by a lovely selection of wool in John Lewis' sale!  I'm not one for knitting clothes, I like small projects that don't take too much stitching up, so I got out one of my favourite knitting pattern books -

There's just something about knitting - the feel of the wool, the texture of the 'knit', the regularity of the action of knitting.  An occupational therapist once told me that all these things are good for your mental health so knitting is good for you!

I intend to crochet some pebbles (the pattern is in the same book) in matching wool so I can use my little knitted pots in my classroom as a colour sorting activity and a counting activity :)

These 'almost owls' are also heading for my classroom.  I knitted up a rectangular shape, invented some wingtype shapes then put them in the washing machine to create felted owls.  They're just waiting for stuffing and features to be added now before they, hopefully, star in some reading books for the children.  I'm going to put them around the house and garden, photograph them and write them into a story - at least, that's the idea.  I teach in a special needs school and reading books that don't rely on the current trend of 'sounding out' words are hard to come by.

I finally finished my summer project from a couple of years ago!  This was a very straightforward pattern to knit and I couldn't work out why I'd not finished it, until I discovered it was because I'd run out of wool!  After another happy trip to John Lewis I knitted up the pocket, crocheted the seams together (in retrospect it would have been better to stitch them but crocheting's easier!) and stuck it in the washing machine with the owls for the felting process.  This isn't a project heading for school lol!  It's mine :)

Happy New Year!

I got my creative juices flowing over the Christmas hols by doing a bit of knitting, which is now waiting to go in the washing machine to be felted before becoming a couple of owls...hopefully!  I then started on a project  I've wanted to do for a while ...

... creating a collage style lampshade!  I really want to make one for the lounge but decided to 'practice' on my bedside lamp first!

I started by taking the shade apart and using the inner plastic bit as a template I cut out some newspaper then  added layers of paper using a white pva glue.  I added stitching, a zip and lace and generally had a ball!  The tricky bit was fixing it all together but despite the odd wobble I'm very pleased with it.

May this year be full of many good things!

Christmas Card Challenge

There's nothing like a good challenge to get me motivated....I think this is the earliest I've got my 'special' Christmas cards made! (I have been known to make them on Christmas Day itself!!)  MoneySupermarket.com are running a Christmas card competition so I got my cards finished in time for their  deadline

My Mother-in-law, bless her, would never forgive me if I didn't give her a handmade card, she gets them out each year!  My Mum treasures hers too. 

I started with my embellisher, adding some texture to a piece of white felt with bits of lace and organza, before 'drawing' a snowflake on the back with my sewing machine.

After cutting the snowflake out I spent a very happy, crafty evening with friends adding tiny silver beads to the stitching.  My friends were busy knitting, making Christmas presents.

I mounted the snowflake onto some card layered with lace and organza and edged this with glass glitter, adding some mini 'snowflakes' using some lace daisies.

I kept the beads out for my second card, edging the square of white card with a blanket style stitch with a variety of blue and cream beads.

Snowflakes are my favourite theme for Christmas cards and these stamps were new this year from Hobbycraft; the punches and pearls are from my stash!

I still have one special card to make - my husband also gets upset if I don't make him one ;)

You can view the competition entries on MoneySupermarket.com's pinterest board, and you still have time to enter if you'd like to win an ipad mini or hobbycraft vouchers!  But only if you're quick, entries must be submitted by 12noon on Christmas Eve.

Edited 13/10/13 to remove links at request of MoneySupermarket in order to meet Google's quality guidelines

Help!

Just tried posting and apparently my Picasa web album is full.  I'm guessing I now have to pay monthly to keep my blog going as I need extra storage - not something I'd like to do.  Any tips?

a different kind of painting

October half term has been and gone and as usual my list of jobs was far too long for the time available!  Unfortunately, decorating the lounge took far longer than I'd anticipated so I didn't have time for any journaling etc or catching up with arty friends.

It was worth it though. You can't see them on the photo but the coving is really deep and took an hour to paint for each side of the room!  I had to have the paint mixed for the woodwork so it would match the new windows - the guy in the shop told me the quantity I'd bought would do four rooms, it did this one!!!

 I love how the wallpaper is reflected in the mirror.  I decorated the chimney breast by laying the paper horizontally so the grey lines ran horizontally, echoing those in the Sanderson 'Dandelion Clocks'

And of course decorating gives a great excuse to buy new cushions!!

My next creative task is to turn an IKEA circus tent into a 'mud hunt' for my classroom - we're learning about Tanzania in Africa!!!

a paper cutting exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery

I've been looking forward to this exhibition for a while as I love paper (!) and it features the fantastic work of Rob Ryan.  What I didn't anticipate was that it would also feature work by the very talented Su Blackwell and that there'd be some pieces I'd be familiar with from books on papercutting.

The piece by Rob Ryan was especially created for this exhibition.  It's huge!  [note: I don't know those people, I just thought it gave a good idea of scale with them there!]

When you enter the exhibition you pass through this enchanted forest.  The branches are suspended from the ceiling and hover just above the floor.

The above piece is one I've seen in a book or on the internet.  I love it and it was great to see it 'in the flesh' as it were!

The black swirls above were enormous - I'm trying to choose wallpaper for our living room and would love this!  [Sophie wasn't impressed!]

Yes, that motorbike is life size and made of paper.  There's a skeleton elsewhere in the gallery made by the same artist.  Amazing.

The First Cut

I won't share any more images as I don't want to spoil it for others who may go to the exhibition (Sue?!) but will leave you with some images of Su Blackwell's work, which made me want to have a go at paper cutting some time next week :)