Childhood and Rolling Stamps 62-64

Take a Word - the challenge this week is 'childhood'.

I've used a vintage photo from my stash and a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. The background is one of my games creations which were originally designed to be printed on fabric with a digital printer.

Three more rolling stamps, all made with fun foam. Cloth, Paper Scissors are offering a free download of the article I wrote them about rolling stamps which you can get here

This weeks Illustration Friday challenge is 'scattered'. I used an older drawing but have altered it digitally and scattered shapes from the trees onto the ground, like leaves. Topical too as this is what is happening outside at the moment, that is leaves falling from the trees not shapes.

I said a few weeks ago that I had a sort out in the loft and some of the things I found were from my City & Guilds embroidery course. I've enjoyed looking through the stuff, quite funny some of it like this plate of cakes. We were given the bronze coloured metallic scourer to do something creative with and I came up with cakes.

Another strange item was this, can you guess what it is before I tell you?

there are lots of fabric strands..... and beads, sequins and some paper beads too

not forgetting embroidery

Below is a photograph, its not a very good picture as it is a photo of an old photo. But it is a seaweed covered rock, and that was my inspiration for the above piece. Did you guess?

Shape Challenge Pattern and Rolling Stamps

This colourful pattern was created using a found object, a metal thing with a shaped hole in it. The same pattern was altered digitally, below.

Rolling Stamps 59-61

This one is made from fun foam

this one from a small piece of table protector

and this one is just cling film

I had an article in Cloth, Paper Scissors about making rolling stamps a couple of years ago. The article is now available as a free download from CPS available here

Home Sweet Home

Three Muses challenge Home, Sweet Home

A few years ago I did a collection of work all to do with houses which I enjoyed very much, so I thought I would revisit some old work and revamp it. I did one, then another, then another and another, guess I got carried away.

The house is made from playing cards, painted and stitched. Own photo background.

Partly drawn with pens and background are found papers like bills, envelopes digitally arranged.

An original artwork, hand drawn houses, altered and altered again. The 'home' is a hand made, painted, stitched house.

The tree house is painted and collaged fabric, stitched. the tree trunks are old nails, I used old bills, magazines atc on the rest of the background, arranged digitally.

Shape Challenge - pebble, stick and rectangle

I've used found objects as a starting point for these sketches.

A friend set the challenge above which was a small stick.

The one below was rectangular shape with a corner, cannot remember exactly what.

I did these a while ago, but now I try to remember to draw around the item as a reference, like in the flower picture below.

another one set by a friend, this time a pebble

I created both of these using the pebble.

Blackbird and Bottles

The Take a Word challenge this week is blackbird. Bet you didn't expect to see a chicken. Well it is black and is a bird and it is trying to be like a regular 'blackbird'.

I used a label from Graphics Fairy to put on these bottles. The bottles are actually a photograph which I took at Cragside House, but it would have been nicer to have had the real bottles in my possession.

Shape Collage and Doodles

I used a free download from shapecollage to arrange 199 of my flower photos in the shape of a teddy and the flower below. Click the images to enlarge.

 More doodles from a sketch book. I used a letter/number stencil in this one.

Girl with Roses and Knitted Blanket

For the Collage Obsession challenge - Sepia+pastel

I started with a sepia photo from my stash and introduced some pastel colour on the flowers and background.

Last week I also removed bags full of knitted swatches from my loft. These were not to throw out this time but to make into a blanket. My sister who was staying with me, helped sew the first one which she will keep for her own use. I've already made a few blankets a long time ago and given most of them away. If you're wondering why I have so many swatches  ... I used to design machine knitting patterns for home knitters, mainly motifs and these swatches are the practice runs.

Proof that my sister helped. She says she looks like she know what she is doing. The swatches are quite a challenge to stitch together as they are all different shapes and sizes and in some places they do look a little puckered.

Liberty Bottle and Embroidery

For the Three Muses challenge - Bottles or Jars

The background is a drawing and the bottle is a photo of an old vinegar bottle, the label was from Graphics Fairy. The Statue of Liberty photo I altered, I've had the original photo for years and I can't remember where I got it from.

I got the embroidery below from my loft when I was clearing out, a sample from when I did my City & Guilds. It is stitched on fabric and stitched around a CD. What may look like shisha glass is actually the CD where I have cut holes in the fabric. It is just one CD enclosed in the fabric.

Lollypop, and Flower Doodles & Rolling Stamps

This doodle reminds me of the big lollypops on sticks that you see at the seaside.

Rolling Stamps 56, 57, 58

The top one is made from textured wallpaper stuck around a card roller. Use recycle containers such as you would find inside foil, cling film, granules etc. As you can see the top one was just a section of paper ripped off, so not a repeat pattern. You can see where the repeat starts on the one below. This one is made from fabric and has holes cut out.

I used offcuts of fun foam for this roller. If you don't have sticky foam use double sided sticky tape or glue. A strong glue is probably best if you want to reuse the roller over and over again.

Wall and Sculpture

For Brag Monday at Graphics Fairy -

The fan & postcard were from GF, the photos are my own. The background was made up from a photo of some stonework.

For Take a Word - Wall 

Made up from my own photos of 3 different walls and drawings of lizard and ladybirds.

Click picture to enlarge.