Happy New Year

I wanted to share a piece that I am working on right now.  Tomorrow a whole new year starts, so I have a chance to do a whole new batch of art.  Have a Happy New Year and enjoy these progress shots.  I made this little quilt last summer, but I wanted to add something more to it before it felt complete.  I took a piece of rust dyed cotton and used a new stencil from Artistcellar that I won recently.  This is one of the texture stencils by Jill Berry.  I cut out little birds using this cotton and some more of my hand dyed cotton.  I fused these pieces together and then to my quilt.  Now I'm in the process of adding stitching and some more elements.  Hopefully I will be able to share the completed quilt with you soon.
Have a great holiday,
Janelle

New Journal Spread

I finally had time to finish a new journal spread.  I used stencils that I won from Artistcellar designed by Jill Berry.  I also used Silks acrylic glazes and a humongous Sharpie marker that my daughter got me for Christmas.

I have some more projects in the works using stencils that I will share when they are done.  I have been spending a lot of my time sewing for family members this break and hanging out with my family.  I am enjoying seeing my daughter who is back from college and spending time relaxing.
I hope that everyone has a great weekend,
Janelle

A Lifebook Lesson

I have done a little bit of art among all the sewing for Christmas.  I started this lesson a while ago, but I just finished up the lesson yesterday.  This was done for the on-line class Lifebook which is a wonderful course and well worth the money.  This particular lesson was taught by the talented artist Jane Davenport.  I had a lot of fun learning how to draw mermaids. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year along with whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of the year.

Janelle

Wordless Wednesday

Busy Mom

I thought that I would let my readers know that I might not be posting a lot of art until after Christmas.  I have been busy sewing gifts for my kids and nieces and nephews and now the rush is on to get everything finished by Christmas.  I also have some baking that I want to do, even though kids make the kitchen messier and more chaotic I still like to bake with my kids.  They make everything more fun.  I will get back to art after Christmas, because I love to create during the school break.  My littlest boy has siblings to play with, so I can get more done.  Have a very joyful and blessed holiday season.
Janelle

Our Lady of Guadalupe

I wanted to do this spread in my art journal in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  It was her feast day yesterday.  I used a bunch of goodies that I got from Artistcellar to create this spread.

I hope that you have a great week and can enjoy this holiday season,
Janelle

Star

I made this star ornament this past weekend.  I used two pieces of mixed media paper cut into a star.  I sprayed the paper with turquoise Dylusions spray.  Then I stenciled with one of the new Artistcellar stencils by Jill Berry and Inka gold.  Next I glued the two pieces together with a piece of hemp cord in the center.  I sealed everything with gloss gel medium and sprinkled on some glitter.  It is very shimmery and sparkly when you see it in person.

Have a happy holiday season,
Janelle

Winter Fairy

I just finished painting a winter fairy.  I'm happy with her sparkle and I'm happy that I learned how to draw these wings.  I used this art

by Anne Stokes as my model, so that I could get the body position down.  I wanted my fairy to be in a wonder winter land scene.  I am still hoping that we get some snow before Christmas.  I will show you some pictures of my process and each layer.

My beginning sketch on Strathmore mixed media paper

This layer is Derwent Inktense Pencils

This layer is Prismacolor Pencils

This layer is oil pastels

This layer is the first layer with acrylic paint

This is the final layer with more acrylic paint and glitter

I hope that my fairy makes you happy today.
Janelle

Silk Paper

I have been busy with all kinds of creative projects these past couple of weeks.  None of my projects are completely done though, so I haven't been posting a lot.  I will post about my projects as they are finished and I have been taking process pictures of some of them to share.  One thing I have been making is silk paper.  I would love to make silk paper out of roving, but I don't have any.  I made my own version of silk paper.  I made this just like I made the paper cloth that I posted about earlier.  I used a thin silk that I bought years ago from Dharma Trading Co and tissue paper.  One I made with the white fabric and white tissue paper because I had a specific project in mind.  The other piece I made with the white silk and colored, stamped, and painted tissue paper.
I will share the pictures I have of these two pieces.

This is the back

The front

These next pictures show this piece with light shining through. 

When I get more projects done I will share those too.
Have a great week,
Janelle

Winter Fairy

I have been working on a sketch the past couple of days and finally am pretty happy with it.  Now I get to paint it in.

She is drawn on watercolor paper, so I should be able to put all kinds of media on her and make her sparkle.
Have a great week,
Janelle

Hand Bound Art Journal

I finally finished making my art journal that I will be using this next year.  It is filled with 80 pages of Strathmore mixed media paper.  This paper has been able to take everything that I through at it, so far.  It has a vellum finish, so it is nice and smooth to work on to. The paper is 9" X 12". I used linen thread to bind it.  The cover is quilted.  I took a piece of canvas duck cloth that I had washed and dried and cut it too the correct size.  I then used fabric paints and a lot of water to paint my canvas.  
I used this paint:

PROfab Textile Paints

Transparent & Opaque

(for all fabrics)

PROfab Textile Paints are made here in our plant and are ready to use from the jar. They have a jello pudding like consistency and are available in both Transparent and Opaque (for darker fabrics.) They are designed for Sun Printing, Screenprinting, hand painting, stenciling, and for use on any other surface that  your creative mind can think of. They can be used on natural/synthetic/blend fabrics, wood, non-washable decorative glassware, and even ceramics. Our PROfab paints are water based, non-toxic and odorless. Mix with PROfab base extender to create pastel shades and with Lo Crock for water color effects. Heat setting is necessary for permanence. 

and this paint:

Lumiere is just about the best fabric paint available! Concentrated high quality pigments and perfect coverage even on dark fabric. Lumiere is the metallic, iridescent version.

I also used Tulip fabric spray paint in white and diamond glitter.

I spread my colors around using water so that they blended and then I sprayed through a place mat with flowers and butterflies with the spray paint and then added some designs in black paint on top while the other paint was wet.  I sprayed glitter spray paint over top of everything.  I let the whole thing dry overnight.  When it was dry I heat set the paint.

For the inside cover I took a piece of muslin about the correct size and scrunched it up and put it in a container.  I poured a mix of water and the Profab paint over the top and made sure that the whole piece was covered and wet.  I let that sit for several hours and then poured off the extra and laid it out flat to dry.  When that was dry I heat set the muslin piece.  I was going for an aged look.

I took the canvas and a piece of cream felt the same size and sewed them together along the edges.  I then did all the hand embroidery stitches on the canvas. 

After I was done with that I put my piece of muslin over the felt and again sewed along the edges.  Next I set up my sewing machine to do free motion stitching.  (You can sew this way even with out a special setting on your machine as long as you can set your machine to a 0 stitch length and can lower or cover your feed dogs.)  I free motion stitched around all my hand stitched designs.  On the front I used circles in random sizes and on the back I used a stipple design which is just a random wiggle stitch.  With the free motion stitching you control where the stitches go, not the machine.  I use a medium fast speed and I move the fabric slowly to make my designs. 

After the canvas sandwich was stitched all over I could treat it as one piece and I bound my pages into it using a simple long stitch.  If you want to know more about the binding process you can join Effy Wild's boot camp where she will show you how to bind the book in more detail. 

 After my book was bound I punched a hole into the middle of the flap and sewed around it with the blanket stitch.  I braided three ribbons together and folded that in half and put the middle through the hole that I made.  I put the ends of the ribbons through the loop and pulled it tight.  This wraps around the journal to keep it closed. 

I left the ends of the linen thread long after I bound the book.  I knotted all four of them together a few times and then I threaded on a bead.  I knotted the thread again several times and added another bead.  I kept doing this until I had four beads and a tail.  I didn't count between the beads, I just knotted until I liked the look.  I left the four threads loose at the end. 

That is how I made this journal.  If you have questions feel free to ask me and I will try to clarify for you.

Have a great weekend,

Janelle