Playing 101

 Happy Holidays to me!  I went and splurged on a couple of books and some stencils and stamps.  I am actually not much of a game player but I do like playing.

I really like using stencils, masks and stamps. There are some wonderfully talented people making useful supplies and tools.  I do support them as you can see.  lol  I really wanted the Balzer Bits leaf stencil but it must be a hot item because it sold out before I could finish my order. :(    But I have also been studying them and realizing I can make some myself.   I tried my hand at leaves.  File folders, card stock, clear packing tape and mac tac were supplies I had at hand.  I'm familiar with stencils from marking quilting designs and even have some of those kinds of stencils.  I'm not sure I want to use a stencil forever so I am happy at this point to try for something with a shorter shelf life.  But, ah, the logistics of design.  I need to study on this a bit if I want a leaf on my fabric.  ;)

I spurted out too much paint so I tried my new stencil.  In my rush to spread the paint before I ran out or it dried, I sponged lightly. oooh, I like that! 

Foam stamps are quite fun.  I didn't have time for that but I'm thinking I might get a better leaf image with inner spine and outer outline from cutting the sticky back foam into a leaf shape for a stamp.  Maybe tomorrow.  When I have a bit more time I'd like to try carving some stamps.

I am also carefully copying a mixed media tutorial each week so I can improve my skills. Andrea Walford   I am just trying to focus on gaining control and experience with my supplies.  I'm learning what brands, what consistency, what mediums and even which techniques I like best.  My credit card scraping needs work and so does my white space but the benefit of copying shows you where the differences lie and makes you think about what you art doing. I realized I was hurrying again so I stopped before I made a mess I couldn't fix.  I think my mind is on my new books!  lol

LOTS of light fluffy stuff yesterday.  I was game for going out today because I was expecting those game pieces.  Happy Thanksgiving to my neighbours to the south!

Wow, laundry???

 I've been doing laundry and it hasn't been socks!  lol   No time for small stuff.  I'm thinking big!

 I need some fabric for block backgrounds.  So I sprayed away.  I might better have actually got out the dye apparatus but I was too far gone to stop and refocus.  ;)  This is the front which is more vibrant.

This is the back or underside of my spraying.  I was thinking that this might be too light and bright for what I have in mind.  The fabric is white feather ticking, a tight weave 100 % cotton  and cheap considering it is a good 100 inches wide.  I split it down the middle and it is still a bit wider than my table. In attempting to get all the fabric I started scootching it up.  aha!  I could get hills and valleys and maybe the colour would migrate around!  So I hung up the first piece to dry and found the rest of the fabric and started a second piece.

I wanted it a bit more muted and with some yellow greens.  I was a bit like a mad scientist.  I did try for hills and valleys. The movement was not quite what I hoped but still okay.

It has some blotchy areas as I tried different spray bottle nozzles.  Some were not sprays but spits!  :O  But I resisted doing more as I can fine tune later if necessary.

But I am sure to find the backgrounds I need in these two pieces so I can begin to think about the blocks themselves.  I want them to be about the size of my gelli plate.

 I need to make bigger/fuller leaf stencils and masks than I had used on my first attempt at making my own fabric.

 Then I remembered the Ikea fabric I bought for backing a lap quilt that also needed to be prewashed.

I now have some great inspiration for leaves.  These leaves are very close to my ideal!  It is coming together!!!

The rest of the week is gonna see housework, weeding and babysitting.  vbsigh  But I do hope to make some progress on getting my stencils and some more stamps made.  So I shall 'leaf you'  with a full laundry basket of fabric and a promise to turn over some new leaves next week.

I do believe I finally have something along the fabric line to show for The Needle and Thread Network.  I wonder what is in their laundry baskets?

Adding to my stash

I do believe I just may have some useful stuff to stack in the fabric shelves!

I laid out fabric and paint on my large cutting table.  I kinda had a few thoughts but not a real plan.

I started laying down masks and stencils and sprayed away in various areas.

Then I began to add the stamps.  I saw that I wanted the stamps and even the stencils under the spray drift and I also quickly realized I did better on the large pieces of fabric.  So I went back and did the areas that had been covered by smaller chunks of cloth.

I let the first attempt dry and repositioned the white cotton fabric and began to lay down the larger motifs in an all over way to get good random coverage.  Then I misted this with water and did some spraying.

 This is the earlier attempt and was necessary so I could begin to figure what works best for me. The stamps are definitely better with two layers of foam.  I have several questions that I will need to find some answers for.  Should I work dry or wet  is an important one.

This is the whole piece of white cotton.  I had started on the far right side.  Then I removed the overlapping fabric for the off centred section. The near left side is the last bit of experimenting that I did.

Now if this is the kind of fabric I would use for something like borders what would supporting fabrics look like?  What if I did some small pieces of fabric for the actual blocks themselves?  hmmmm 

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It has been a quick week.  Feathers were flying!

I was definitely motivated on Monday.  I got all the extra stuff out of the guest room and I rounded up all the grand kiddies stuff and except for moving the bunk beds, I have a plan!  I got the dresser into the closet to hold clothes and toys.  I have toys to finish sorting and books to edit.  The wall paper border has been saved long enough and I even have enough to replace it when we paint.  The Rooster says we will move the bunk beds Saturday so I should have some photos next week.  Gee!  Either I'm seriously underestimating things or I'm getting slower.  There was a time I'd have had it all done in a day!    Truth be told, I did end up purging in my own closet as I had to do both closets at the same time to switch and arrange some stuff.  But...  another bag of clothes for the thrift shop.  :)

This kinda makes  a bit of a mess as I push extra stuff ahead of me in my whole house purge but it also makes me mad that I have so much stuff and helps me eliminate stuff that I might save if I could hide it right away.  Thank goodness for blog commitments because I just 'had' to post empty file drawers today and, pant, pant; they are empty.  I do have some files to further reduce and find a home for.  vbsigh  I slammed the drawers closed after the photo and phoned DD#2 to see if she wants it, the empty hanging files and all.   YES! It'll go on the truck with the other stuff we are taking that way tomorrow.  Phew!

Tuesday I did some final tweaking on the Altered Book.  I had been looking and looking for some skeleton leaves and found them just in time for the final pictures.  I also came up with some writing for all that blankness.  I will look forward to some handwriting lessons.  lol

The card making went even better than I had hoped.

I am still trying new things and learning how to stencil properly.  Julie over at Balzer Designs offers a free stencil class  that is showing me all kinds of things I didn't know. I've been working a bit on her art journal every day plan.  I think this is about the fourth day of doing something in ten minutes. I took the stencil class after I had tried the chevron on this set of pages.  Improvement will be coming!  Nothing like learning how to use the stuff you zealously bought 'for such a time as this'!  ;^)

Time in the city is frustrating.  I was moving right along on the housework front.  Then I had to change gears and try to stay in step with the urbanites.  I did get some canvas, some thread and a couple of inspiring magazines.  I was in Chapters sipping my coffee before sewing class and bopping along to some late 60's music.  "Don't tell me what to do and don't tell me what to say..."  Then this young woman in pack boots, leotards and a sweater sat down near by.  I watched her put heavy duty ear phones on, plug into her ipad, catch up on her texts,  and open up her lap top to surf.  Multi tasking at its most modern.  I did feel a jolt as marriage, among other things,  has made that old song a bit unrealistic and I am very deficient at any sort of cyber multitasking.  I think I might be in some kind of limbo.  Oh well, under all my dust from my whirlwind of activity I think it is good to get a few jolts.  Keeps me alert and making better lists for next Friday's post which I hope will include the shortbread I never got to make!

Blessed weekend!

Some like it hot. Some like it cold.

I like it went it is not sticky!  The temperature is pretty much the same inside as outside.  Hot!  High 90's.  The degrees above or below room temperature don't matter much when one is uncomfortable. 

Creativity 101 had us working in Jenn's favorite pinks.  Hot pink!  I'm learning how to scrapbook.  Paper could be as addictive as fabric!  I shall try and remember the lessons learned from fabric collecting.  vbsigh  Life is a journey and with grad behind her, life's lessons begin.  But it might be good to take note of  from whence she came and then get her dreaming in another art form,  mixed media.

I have a  new stencil from Stencil Girl.  I'm not really into nostalgia but there something familiar about this girl.  I'll be using her in my journey book. 

Now Jenn is a modern girl, in a hurry to grow up.  I found this stencil from Crafter'sWorkshop here in town much to my surprise.

You can see we are quite different.  She's for hot pink margaritas and I'm for cool pink lemonade.  We are good for each other and I'm not sure who learns more!

 She likes scrapbook kits and maybe some bling.  I like making a magazine into a personal journal with the shine coming from the glazes.  But we are both willing to learn and try new things!   And that is cool!