Drawings from Sketchbook 19

For the picture above I used brush pens and the three below I used watercolours and liner pens. I textured the pages first with newsprint.

TAST 33

Take a stitch Tuesday - the stitch this week is Pekinese stitch which is a fairly simple stitch. You start with back stitch, then thread through the stitches with another thread.

The stitch is not new to me but I decided to work the stitch on some crazy quilting which is a first for me.  I have come across some really lovely examples of crazy quilting while checking out other peoples TAST samples which inspired me to try it.

It is only a small ATC and I used vintage fabrics to make it. I would try CQ again and hope to improve, having said that, my embroidery does not seem to get any neater the more I do [lol].

Envelope Pamphlet Book

Another handmade pamphlet book - the pages are like pockets and the whole book is made from recycled envelopes apart from the thread.

I've made a pocket on the front cover out of a plastic window from an envelope.

Altered Box

I got the box from friend Gill, she was having a sort out so I took it off her hands. It was originally brown wood but I painted it with a creamy coloured paint. The vintage typography papier is an image from The Graphics Fairy and I used mod podge to transfer a laser print of it. The Graphics Fairy has a list of 12 transfer methods as well as lots of lovely images. 

I've been making some jewellery, so it will be great to keep all those bits and pieces together in the box.

The start of Sketchbook 19

The start of another sketchbook - book 19

brush pens

brush pens

the elephant looks like a metal charm but it is just a found image

I really like this page - scrumpled paper and texture transfer with watercolour washes

TAST 32, Bowl and Olympics

Take a stitch Tuesday - the stitch this week is cast on stitch. I've not done this one before in embroidery but I have used a similar stitch in knitting. It was not listed in my stitch book and I did it from memory after looking at Sharon's instructions so I hope I have done it right.

It is just a small sample as you can see, a flower but I have used other stitches too on the bowl [vase?receptacle?container?vessel?] which I made. 

I made the bowl from recycled face wipes. My face wipes look pretty clean after I have used them as I don't wear make up so I thought I would experiment with them. After rinsing and drying I tore them into strips. I covered an empty bottle with cling film so that the bowl would be easier to remove when dry. I glued the strips over the cling film with PVA glue, overlapping them a few times. After drying I removed it from the support bottle and painted it - on the inside I used acrylics and on the outside I used emulsion paint for no particular reason except they were handy. But I did think that the acrylic paint would be harder to sew through. I trimmed the top with scissors then stitched around it. I added a few bits of lace, fabric and embroidery. If you want to make a bowl but don't use or want to use wipes, lutradur or evolon may be a good alternative.

it looks a bit untidy on the inside, but that could be lined.

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I drew this picture with the Olympics in mind. Pen and promarkers. The paper was white but it looks very blue.

Hand Embroidered Painted Fabric

The fabric [butter muslin] started as a wrapping cloth for steaming digitally printed fabrics so it had some colour and stains on it. I then used a handmade rolling stamp to add more colour and painted it when it was dry. I've used running stitches, French knots, bullions and some other embroidery stitches for decoration. Click on the image for a better look. I'm wondering what to do with it now - a book cover maybe?

All Heart

A few weeks ago a friend gave me a metal heart to decorate ... and this is the result

Hand painted papers, music, painted printed papers

Black Bag with Fringe

I've been using some of the fabrics from my stash again. The fringe came back from a student trip to a factory so I've had it a while. It was not a fringe really just a piece of frayed fabric and it has purple metallic threads running through it. The purple band is ribbon which I hand stitched on with running stitch. I gave the bag to my sister and she is using it to keep her knitting in.

I like eating these......

Last pages from Sketchbook 16

It's a funny old day today, it seems to be cold one minute and hot the next. This morning I was sat outside drinking coffee, this afternoon I was picking hail stones off the bed! They had blown in through the open window while we were having a windy deluge and thunder and lightning. It is sunny again now.

I added texture to the pages by transferring parts of a newspaper supplement page with a glue stick, by pulling it off before it is stuck properly. This leaves a trace of the page which I painted over with watercolours. I used a pen to draw on the houses and trees.

Wax crayons, watercolours, pen text and found images

textured page, watercolours, and pen drawing

textured page, watercolours, found images outlined with pen 

textured page, watercolours, pen drawing, found images

TAST 31 and Chillingham Castle

In case you were wondering why there hasn't been any posts recently it is because I've  had visitors this week. I've also only just done the Take a stitch Tuesday challenge which is Algerian Eye stitch. I've done a free style version of this stitch for my tatty scrap.

One of the places we visited this week was Chillingham Castle in Northumberland and these are photos I took there. It is a medieval castle and we saw a mix of styles in the castle including the torture chamber and there are formal gardens outside. It is allegedly haunted although I didn't see any ghosts.

TAST 30

Take a stitch Tuesday - this week the stitch is oyster stitch. I've not done this one before and it wasn't in either of my stitch books, but I liked it once I got the hang of it. Some of it looks untidy but I think I improved eventually. If you follow my blog you will know I finished a book of TAST stitches last week. It was getting fat and I thought I needed a change...but I found that I missed doing a new page. I found it hard to decide what to do [although I have had fatigue really bad this week and found most things a challenge]. So I did an ATC, above and a brooch made out of ribbon, below. I'm not too happy with either, maybe I should make a page after all and put them both on it?

Circles

More pictures with circles for the sketchbook challenge

Oh and the rabbit from yesterday - his face is part of an old slipper, washed of course. So he's nearly all made from footwear.