Puffin Just Chillin'

Is it Spring yet?
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to not feeling I'm huddled up bracing myself against a cold wind. I've enjoyed some sunshine in the last couple of days and this inspired me to create a sparkling (if cold) sea around this puffin perched on a rock.

Spending the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas, the Atlantic puffin returns to our UK coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. They can, therefore, be seen as a definite sign of Spring.

I created my puffin using bondaweb backed black, white and orange fabrics with a low volume print. To set the scene I added some brown print applique. I then put the fabric background in an embroidery hoop and used a couple of variegated threads. 

Using Gutermann Sulky colour 4071 I covered most of the background behind the puffin on the rock. I also used the stitches to secure some small pieces of turquoise net, metallic silver, and white sheer fabrics. I added brown variegated thread colour 4011 to the main rock.

I felt it was a little bland/lacked dimension so I sprayed on a little Brusho Shimmer Sprays in 3 colours: 
turquoise, gold and silver pearl.

To further lift the puffin I added some black free machine embroidery to create an eye and beak detail. If you'd like to know more about using free machine stitching then have a peek at my Helen Moyes Designs website where until 17th February you can enter a giveaway for stitch goodies.

To further lift the background, I used some flexi glue in thin lines, allowed it to dry a little then used transfoil metallic foils, again in 3 colours: Horizon Blue in front of the sea, Pewter on rock and Rainbow in the upper paler sea/sky

A mount really sets this fabric piece off, I don't think this picture really shows the details as I'm using artificial light. I will try to get a better photo in daylight and post on Instagram. 

What indicates Spring has arrived for you? Please share in the comments below

Mixed Media Mushrooms By Karen

I love all the wonderful wild mushrooms that pop up at this time of the year and they inspired me to make my decoration.

I had bought a wood base and I gathered up some cardboard pieces and rolls to recycle and create the mushroom shapes. Two tubes were cut in height and along their length and rolled narrower to make the different sizes. I filled the tubes with pieces of cardboard to make them more stable and give a bigger surface area to glue at the top and bottom.

To decorate the lower parts, watercolour paper was coloured with Brusho Crystal colours in Burnt Sienna and Light and Dark Browns

Cardboard boxes were used to cut caps for the mushrooms. Red, Yellow and Leaf Green Acrylic Paints were mixed to make a red-brown and, although they are unlikely to be seen, I painted over the cardboard with this.

Once dry, I cut up the watercolour paper to fit around the mushroom stalks and to create the gills of the mushrooms. These were accordion-folded and then sprayed with Copper Shimmer spray for the smaller mushroom, gold for the middle size and bronze for the larger one.

Lutradur and Tyvek fabrics are wonderful in the way they react to heat, shrinking and getting lacey effects so I wanted to use these for the tops of the mushrooms.

Pieces were cut to size: One Tyvek circle and two Lutradur circles for each mushroom. These were sprayed with Shimmer spray and left to dry.

Once dry, the watercolour paper was stuck on to the mushrooms using Flexi glue:

The Lutradur and Tyvek papers were heated to get those wonderful lacey, bumpy textures...

 and then glued on to the tops of the mushrooms with Gel Medium, Tyvek first followed by the two Lutradur layers:

The wood base was washed with Dark Brown Brusho Crystal mixed with water to match the mushrooms. I also used some Aztec Metallic Paints to rub over the raised parts of the Lutradur to enhance the texture and shine.

Finally, for some contrast on the tops, I added some Leaf Green Brusho Crystal colours to the bits of paper left over and reactivated them with water and gold Brusho Shimmer Spray. I used this to die-cut some leaves and glued these and some sequins to the tops of the mushrooms.

I particulalry love the stalks and gills though: Quite lifelike!

I hope this inspires you to make you own Autumn decoration. Please leave a link, or any comments and questions, below.
Karen
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Tyvek Light Weight Fabric	Brusho Shimmer Sprays	Lutradur	Gel Medium	Clear Spray Bottle
Eco Acrylic Paint	Heat Gun	Aztec eco metallic paint starter paint	15g brusho

'Happy' tag with Karen

I have used this month's theme of autumn colours to create a tag that I can hang on the wall. The photo of this lady just makes me smile everytime I look at it so I wanted to be able to see it often!









I started by colouring a sheet of waterproof paper using acrylic inks in autmnal colours. These were dropped on to the sheet when it had already been sprayed with water so the colours run and pooled together for soft shades of colour. I colour-matched some ribbon by dragging it through these colours while the sheet was still wet.

At this stage I have to apologise for the lack of photos: I took lots but, when I came to look at them, all I had was a bunch of error messages: The card had failed so this is all I have of the materials gathered ready to create the tag! This included a rectangle of Lutradur fabric.

The wooden tag was prepared with a coating of clear gesso and then layered with scraps of book paper. For more layers and texture, I stamped the tag with a text stamp and a mix of white acrylic paint with the tiniest touch of yellow mixed in to make a light cream colour. I particularly wanted to point out the rectangle of Lutradur which I heated round the edges to get a lovely wrinkled and lacy effect. I also sprayed it lightly with Bronze Shimmer Spray.

The coloured sheet of paper, also lightly sprayed with Bronze Shimmer Spray, was die-cut in to flowers and these were layered with some sequins to embellish the tag.

I hope this tag has made you smile. Thanks for reading.
Karen

Materials:
Acrylic Inks
Eco acrylic paints

Pipette

Clear Spray Bottle

Heat Gun

Brusho Shimmer Sprays

Lutradur

Colours of Autumn Tag with Teresa

I love Autumn, the changing colours signal the end of summer and the nights begin to draw in. Today's project has some of those rich colours and texture - an autumnal tag.

I began by crinkling up some Tissuetex and gluing it to my tag with matte medium.

I added some eco-acrylic in crimson and yellow ochre.

Next I added a subtle shimmer with Copper Brusho Shimmer Spray.

I used a dry brush technique to highlight the texture with gold fabric paint.

Now I worked on my embellishments - I heat embossed a wooden bird on branch and found some orange and gold sequins.

I glued these in place then added a sentiment sticker and some ribbon trim.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my walk through.

Eco Acrylic Paint

Mettalic fabric paints

Brusho Shimmer Sprays

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