Found Objects. Theme for 'Tag Tuesday'

Hi Everyone,

As you may know I am one of the many people who 'play along' with Tag Tuesday and as the blog is so popular there is a long waiting list to join the 'Tag Team' . However, I was so pleased last week because Carolyn posted my 'Gardening' tag on the Tag Tuesday Blog and as a result I received lots of  lovely comments. So if any of you who left comments and have  popped  over to visit me here I would like to take this chance to thank you and also to everyone who commented here on my blog as well.

This weeks theme is 'Found Objects' and this gave me an opportunity to use some stamps from an old Stamp Album I had as a child which I found in a box in the garage.

The stamps are still fixed into the album but are quite fragile and some of them will just come away  if you touch them so these three were easy to remove.

For the background I scanned the first couple of pages in the book and printed them out. They were already coloured with age but I enhanced the vintage look with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, gesso and a black oil pastel.I then attached the stamps and touched them up with the same ink, gesso and pastel. I finished it off with a copper coloured eylet and hemp twine.

I photographed a few of the stamps and I thought I would share this one with you as I thought it was a lovely stamp.
The weather has been beautiful here and I had some photos from a day out to Astley Hall I wanted to post today but I'll have to pop back and do it another time because the weather is to nice today to spend it at the computer.

Bye for now. x

Gardening - theme for 'Tag Tuesday'

Hi Everyone,

This week I experimented with a new technique for this weeks tag.  I have been looking at different techniques for image transfer and was surprised to find out that it was possible to transfer images using white acrylic paint.

I saw some plant seeds for an unusual looking flower called Nigella and I had the idea of  incorporating the seeds in this weeks tag. I scanned and printed out an image of  the flower on my ink-jet printer and painted the image with white acrylic paint and layed it face down on the tag. I then burnished the back of the image with the back of a spoon for about a minute then I carefully peeled back the paper. After a couple of failed attempts I ended up with a fairly good transfer. Some of the image peeled away with the paper but I think it looks better that way.

I then made a little organza bag for the seeds and stitched it onto the tag. I stamped the words with my trusty little stamp machine,(which I will have to post a picture of next time I use it) and I used a black oil pastel to shade around the edges and  lightly over the rest of the tag.

While we are on the subject of gardening I thought  it was a good opportunity to post a lovely picture of some bluebells that I picked from my garden.

Well I hope you like this weeks tag and I  would love it if you would like to leave a comment.

I am a follower on some very talented artists blogs and some of you have visited my blog and been kind enough to leave a comment .There are so many techniques in textiles and mixed media art that I hope to pick up now that I am a fellow blogger and if anyone out there woud like to give me any hints and tips along the way I would be very happy to hear them.
  

Bye for now x

What's New

Hi Everyone,

I want to start by saying sorry to anyone who has come to see this weeks tag for Tag Tuesday cos I'm afraid I have'nt made one this week. The theme was  'Baking'  which failed to inspire me,  I'm sorry to say. So instead I thought I would have a go at somethiong new. (Well, to me anyway).

I thought I would try my hand at making some Inchies. They are little works of art that can me made out of anything really as long as they are an inch in size. For those people who find it hard to work to an inch there are  also Inchie +  or Betwinchies (1.5" x 1.5") and  Twinchies (2" x 2").

 I really enjoyed doing these.

The top and the bottom inchie were made from Fabric Paper and glued onto heavy card The  pieces of torn text are panted with lumiere paints and are embelished with little pastel coloured hearts.

If you look closely at the middle one you will see a number in the middle. That is because it was a piece from a page which was previously painted and I just liked the pattern in that particular place on the page so I used it. Some silk tops represent the land and the sea and I used a stamp of tiny birds in the top corner.

I hope you can follow my discriptions okay. I know there must be a better way of labelling these photo's but. as I'm new to this blogging I have not yet mastered the layout techniques.

I also tried my hand at something else that was new to me. I had a try at dyeing some fabric with red onion skins. I thought that the result would be pink or pale purple but after boiling the onion skins for about five minutes I could see that it would probably be brown .

I put a piece of cotton fabric and  some cotton scrim in a jar with the cold onoin water and left it for three days and this was the result :-

I am happy with the result.

I have had some difficulty posting my pictures  today. They seem to want to turn around the wrong way for some reason, if anyone knows why that would be happening I would be grateful for any tips.

Bye for now xx

Tag Tuesday - 'Sewing'

Hi Everyone,

I thought I was'nt  going to get my tag finished in time for this week because I had an idea and nothing  I had in my stash was the right colour or texture. Anyway I got there in the end.

I used bondaweb to attach the fabric to both sides of a piece of heavy interfacing and machine sewed around the edges.  The fabric was described by the lady in the shop as scrim but it is very thick and heavy like a type of hessien. I then hand stitched some hemp twine around the outside

I used freehand machine embroidery for the flower and although you can't see it in the photo it is covered with organza and sewn onto the tag. And so too are the words which were stamped onto the same fabric as the flower.

This tag was a good excuse to pick up a couple of new goodies.

These are the stamps I used for this tag and I also picked up a box of stamps in a different font. I also picked up this little beauty, something I've been wanting for a while.

It works a treat.

I wanted to make this post a bit longer but find myself pushed for time again so I'm hoping to stop by again tomorrow.

Bye for now x