Interesting Doors

I noticed when I was in Budapest that there were some interesting doors and gates, but I only started taking photos of them on the last day I was there, so I only got snaps of these four.

Pages from Sketchbook 26

Watercolours, wax crayon, water soluble crayons

I used old anniversary cards for the collage on this one.

I can't remember what I made the marks with around the edges on this one, but I hope it comes to me because I quite like it. The image in the centre was from a magazine.

watercolour, water soluble crayons, biro, liquid liner

watercolour and pen

watercolour, pen & water soluble crayon - I drew around some wooden letters [made by a friend]

watercolour, pen - I used the letter E

the texture was made with a glue stick and magazine print

watercolour, pens

Gifts to Arty Friends

The gifts to my arty friends were all based on a kind of Russian doll, I'll explain more further down.

My gift to Gill was three cards of art buttons. 

I altered Graphics Fairy images for the backing cards.

For Helen I made some earrings, on one side the man and the woman on the other. I printed my artwork on t-shirt transfer paper.

 I gave Marian a hand painted brooch. After painting I stitched around the lines and edges on the sewing machine.

Vicky was given a hanging doll of herself, one one side I drew her features and on the other the original photo. I used t-shirt transfer paper again. This particular type came out quite plasticky but it may have been because I didn't read the instructions fully[doh!], but it worked out OK for the gifts, it may not feel good on a t-shirt though. I have done something else since and it was not quite as plastic like but not quite so shiny.

I also designed some wrapping paper and gift tags which I printed on my inkjet. I also made little boxes for the jewellery and covered them in the paper. Click on the images for a closer look.

The project was/is to do with culture and I chose to concentrate on historical fashion presented on a Russian like doll. These are some pages from my sketchbook, the start of the project and I used some of these pictures for the above gifts and paper.

Gifts from my Friends.

I went out for a meal with my arty friends and came back with lots of lovely gifts!

From Gill I got a fabric box, a pincushion and a vintage book. The pin cushion has a ring at the side so that it can be either hung up on a wall or used on a flat surface.

Lovely braid.

From Helen I got an apron with a row of appliqued Russian dolls. 

There is a stuffed doll that is detachable, this is a pin cushion.

From Marian two fabric boxes, new places to put my bits and bobs. Some of this fabric has Russian dolls on it too. 

And a lovely fabric with quotes...

From Vicky, a laser cut wooden reindeer which is a snazzy washi tape holder.

There is a lovely tape with postage stamps on it. The book with a silver reendeer on the front has squared paper within.

I've got some clever and talented friends eh?

I'll show what I gave next time.

Background Textures

More pages from sketchbook 26 - I will use these for backgrounds.

Seasonal Placemats

Some people assume because I like embroidery and making textile pictures and such, that I also like and am good at dressmaking, mending and other such activities. I shall put you right, I have a love hate relationship with regular sewing. I quite like it sometimes when things are going right but most of the time they don't..grrrr.. It is probably my fault in that I don't measure things correctly like with these placemats, although I thought I had and also not keeping a straight line while sewing. I wanted them to look different but I did want them all the same size but they are not. I like them now they are done apart from the sizing issue but there was a lot of frustration while making them.

The edge on the one below looks blue on the photo but it is actually green.

The fabrics were purchased, not my designs.