Angelina Dragonflies - Garden Mandala part 2

Last time I talked about making the butterflies in my mandala quilt- this time I'm going to show you how I made the dragonflies!

I started with the wings.
First I chose some beautiful Angelina films and fibers- making sure to crinkle the film to get the best effect.

I added a very thin layer of the fibers between two layers of the crinkled film- ironed between parchment paper- a VERY QUICK pass with the iron gets these to fuse together. If you iron for too long of a time, the fibers can change color.  I made two different colors and then cut these into wings.

For the bodies I started by sprinkling some Brusho and SprinkleIT onto fusible web, adding water and letting it dry.

By the way, the paper backing makes a great piece for collage and/or art journals!

I then peeled off the fusible and made a layer of fabric, the painted fusible and a transfer foil in a shimmery and sheer rainbow color- ironed those together to make the base of my dragonfly bodies.

I backed this with more fusible web and then cut and applied my dragonfly bodies with a mini iron (being careful not to melt the wings!). Make sure to protect your iron from the front of your foil/fusible/fabric sandwch as well! 

I then added beads for eyes and voila! Bling bling dragonflies! 

I added some color to the leaves in the middle- now it's just to add ants, ladybugs and maybe some flowers in the corners.

See you next time! Stay healthy.

Transfer Foil

Angelina Fibres

Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set

Angelina Flower Embellishments

Hi! Snowdrops are starting to peek out through the leftover leaves from Autumn, and my Crazy/Art quilt 2020 project is well underway(more info at the end of this post)! So, I've decided to do a springtime bling bling technique that I can use on my blocks!
Angelina fibers are man made fibers that are iridescent and sparkly. They come in film form and fiber form- fusible and non- fusible. For this project I am using fusible film and fusible fibers.

It's a simple technique, and very versatile! In addition to the films I used a 1" flower punch (you can also free cut flowers or use a die cutter), baking parchment and an iron.
Make sure to iron your fibers between sheets of baking parchment- a quick press should do the trick. Don't hold the iron in place too long as the fibers will brown. 

I tried a variety of methods.

•  I cut flowers out of the film and ironed fibers in the middle.

• I blended a couple colors of the fibers, ironed them together and then cut out my flowers. 

• I combined fibers and film, ironed them together and the cut out my flowers.

  

  
  

  
• You can also add things like sequins or glitter before ironing- the fibers then trap these small items into the mix.

These little flowers are great fun- I have already added some to one of my crazy blocks!

You are welcome to join in my 2020 project! Click here to join the Facebook group with more information and lots of tips and check out the Instagram at @tamaramaquilting and #tamarama2020sal .

I'm sure I'll be using these flowers in other blocks!

See you next time!

Make sure to check out all of the delish colors of Angelina that Colourcraft carries! 

Angelina Fibres

Love Notes

Hello and welcome back to the Colourcraft blog. Today I have some shimmery cards with a heart motif - perfect for Valentines or just a little note to a loved one.

I began by layering some Angelina fibres onto some baking paper.

I covered them with another layer of paper and pressed with a hot iron to fuse the fibres together.

Next, I used free-motion embroidery to stitch a heart motif on each piece.

Then I cut out the hearts with pinking shears.

I split apart one of the zig zag books of handmade paper to make individual squares and glued the hearts on top.

I splattered some acrylic ink onto the front of some black card blanks.

Finally I assembled the cards by layering the heart and khadi paper onto some red handmade paper before attaching to the card front.

Angelina Fibres

Home is Where You Hang Your Heart

I don't know whether it's that I'm recovering from the "Festive Flu", or the dark, damp days, but I'm really appreciating being at home! This got me thinking about the saying "Home is Where Your Heart Is" which caused me to remember the other saying "Home is Where You Hang Your Heart", which I used for this hanging.

Sorry, it's not a great photo, but the dull day has quickly turned dark so my glass cabinet was the only place I could find to have light shining through the heart to show the glass paint. I am planning to hang it up in my porch so I will hopefully post a better photo on Instagram. 

First I cut a couple of hearts from some of the cardboard I save to upcycle. I cut a heart "hole" in each. I then painted them with white gesso and left this to dry.

Then I painted one side of each heart with metalic gold paint.

Once this was dry I sprayed these gold sides with gold and bronze Brusho Shimmer spray and then sprinkled on some SprinkleIT gold to really get them glitzy.

While this was drying I wrote my quote on an acetate sheet with a black glass outliner. I also drew a heart with the outliner which when dry I filled in with some glass paint.

I then took some Shimmering Deep lagoon & Shimmering Coral Red Angelina fibres and laid them over the patchwork heart stamp which I had inked with Stazon.

I then covered this with baking parchment and used a dry medium iron to fuse the fibres ( and the ink design) together. 

I made three hearts with Angelina so I could create a 3D effect under the large heart, also using invisible thread and some pink and gold beads

I sandwiched the acetate between the two card hearts with glue and left them to dry.

I hope you are enjoying your home, and especially being able to craft. 

If you would like to sew some hanging hearts rather than paint some, then I have some heart kits available.


Helen x

Let It Snow

This week I have been making landscapes, including this winter landscape. These mini fabric creations look good mounted on a card, or framed as I've done here.

On the base of some blue suiting weight fabric, I started with the sky. With my fingers, I blended little wool with a couple of Angelina fibres: shimmer blue pearl & shimmer ultraviolet.

I attached these to the background with a felting needle, but glue works too.

Next, I layered some fabrics. You may recognise some of these fabric scraps from my blogs this year, the snowy hill in the distance was from screenprinting with fibres. There are some pieces of painted Tyvek and Lutradur from this year included too. I used a Gemstone Glue Pen to hold the pieces in place.

I chose to add some free machine stitching with Gutermann sulky 4071 variegated thread.

Next, I added some titanium white acrylic paint to some of the fabric, and then sprinkled on some iridescent silver glitter crystals

Here is the trimmed,  mounted landscape in an upcycled frame:

Tyvek Beads with Angelina Bling

I wanted to show you all an easy way to make really beautiful beads using Tyvek and Angelina fibres and film

Tyvek is a man made material which can be painted on and sewn- as well as a multitude of other uses. One of it's characteristics is that it shrinks when heated with a heat gun. That's a key element in how we make these beads!
I started off by painting my Tyvek by sprinkling on Brusho and spraying with water. These are wet, and quite dark. They dry a lot lighter, which is good, because when we shrink them, they get dark again!

After these were dry, I  cut them into long skinny triangles. The wide part will be slightly wider than your finished bead, and the length of the triangle determines how fat your bead will become.

I take each triangle and wrap it around a bamboo skewer- starting with the wide end. You want them on fairly secure but not so tight that you can't take them off later! Glue the last couple of centimeters of the smaller end around your bead with a glue stick- just to hold it in place while you are heating it.

Now comes the BLING! I like to use both Angelina fibres and films! Cut small strips of the film and/or use a few of the fibres and wrap them around the middle of your bead- a bit of gluestick can help these stay in place. 

Don't worry about the fibres sticking out- you can get them under control when you use your hot air gun!

Which is the next step. Hold the stick and heat with a hot air gun. The tyvek will shrink and edges curl a bit, the Angelina will stitch to itself- the fibers become more glittery, the film more glossy.

Make sure to not scorch anything!!

Here are these beads close up:

You can see how the Angelina color shifts and how the Tyvek edges curl and the color gets darker. The longer you heat them, the harder the beads get.

Perfect for sewing on a mixed media project! Or making fun jewelry with!

Very fun to make anyway! And each one is unique!
See you next time!

Heat Gun

Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set

Tyvek Light Weight Fabric

Angelina Fibres - Cool Assortment Sampler Pack of 6