Trees and Frogs

These are two drawings I did quite a while ago but I don't think I ever posted pictures of them.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Recycled Wipes and Snake Fabric

 I soaked some washed, used face wipes in some tea, and after they were dried and ironed I layered them and hand stitched them together. I attempted to transfer some bird images but it didn't turn out too well. I used PaperArtsy satin glaze with an inkjet transparency, details here. They say it is a quick method but I'm wondering if I pulled the transparency off too quickly for the fabric I was using or maybe the fabric itself. Actually I have tried it on other fabric and it wasn't too successful there either, so I will have to practice some more but I will use the technique again some other time. Maybe it is my printer inks?

Sample to be continued......

There was some colour left on the transparency which I transferred to a page in a vintage book, that worked great and looks OK too.

The Spoonflower contest this week is Year of the Snake. My fabric was inspired by a snakes and ladders board game. The interwoven pink and green are actually snakes which I made a pattern with.

My New Toy

I was lucky enough to get a 'samsung galaxy note' for Crimble and  love it. I've got photoshop touch on it which I used to create these pictures. 

The floral image above I did from scratch.

 For Molly the dog below I drew over a photo.

I drew the tree with the stylus pen, the background was created the original way with paints etc.

For the relative below, I used a photo as a guide, I won't tell him if you won't. LOL

Gifts for me!

I received some gifts today from a very talented lady in Russia called Masha. She made the beautiful doily and there was some squares of fabric and a large chocolate coin [she was hoping it would get here for Christmas]. I can crochet a little, the simple squares, but I've not been very successful at following a pattern. Masha also does embroidery and patchwork. Patchwork is another thing I'm not too good at either, I don't take enough care I think, but I will have to think of something nice to make with the squares. 

The package has some interesting stamps on it too and I will use them for something or other.

Click here to see Masha's blog and her work.

First art of the year.

Last year I purchased some little wooden embellishments to use in my journals and craft work, I haven't done so yet but I was wondering if they would work as stamps.

I used double sided tape to attach them to some spongy polystyrene, applied acrylic paint with a brush and these are the results.

These are the stamps

On the lower part of the page above is a rolling stamp I made from the roll of a used tape and the left over scraps of fun foam from previous projects.

The picture also shows stamps made from corks. I used fun foam on these, the design was based on some doodles. I'm not very pleased with how these came out, I much prefer the original doodles, below, which are more detailed than the stamps. I'm not very good at cutting small on the foam.

Goodbye 2012, Happy New Year

A little creation I put together for all my blogging buddies - click on the image to enlarge - 

 it says 'sending you greetings .... Happy New Year'

Thank you for visiting my blog this past year and thank you for any comments you may have left.

The flower postcard was from the Graphics Fairy, I just changed the text. The other postcard was my own.

Hope to see you in the New Year, Linda

Fashion Dolls

More dolls from my culture sketchbook [sketchbook 20]

The top one is fashion from 1820 and the bottom one is from 1921.

The top doll folds over to reveal the one below.

Tiger and Lion

Two more altered images from the Naturalist's Library.

The top one was just altered with wire, craft wire, it really is that colour.

The textured background below was a photo I took at Finchale Abbey, not exactly sure what it is now, but there was no water on it. The lion has a surprised look on his face so I thought I would leave on the large ivy leaves.

Eagle and Falcon

The bird images are from a book called the Naturalist's Library published in 1843, which I now have on DVD. I've arranged the top one [Egyptian eagles] on some textured artwork and the one below [falcon] is on a photograph of a stone wall. [photo taken at Whitby]

More pages from Sketchbook 26

More pages from my sketchbook, some are just for backgrounds, some have doodles and one has doodles and a found image [the deer]

Queen of Hearts [3M]

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas or holiday.

Today a new challenge from the Three Muses -Queen of Hearts.

I've done a new digital collage from old stuff I had. This queen was free hand machine stitching.

Also on the collage is a playing card, an altered playing card, drawing of queen and a drawing of a heart which was a brooch.

Some years ago I did this 3D piece which included a queen of hearts.

And as she was surrounded by tarts she became known by a new name..

Tree and Santa's Little Helper

Tree, angel and reindeer are images from the Graphics Fairy and the baubles are from a photo I took myself.

Click on image to enlarge.

Below - Santa's little helper [photo taken by Emma, my daughter]

Snowflake Design and Christmas Trees

This is the fabric design I have done for Spoonflower's snowflake contest. I know a snowflake should have six points - but this developed from a doodle and I thought it looked like a snowflake so I used it. I have noticed that the BBC are using an eight pointed snowflake this year......

Voting is on now. This link works for me for all the snowflake entries, hope it does for you, but if not - go to the Spoonflower site and look for the weekly contest.

We got a new artificial tree this year, the old one fell down last year... it is very old. This one looks nice when the lights are on, more of them show up than they did on the last tree.

This is a reindeer I've had for a while which I like, one shot taken with the flash and one without.

This is my new tree ornament this year, a cute squirrel.

My son gave me the tree below to put in the conservatory. I was actually thinking of not having a tree at all this year, but now I have two.