Art Journal for 10-22

I worked on a little different style in my art journal this past week.  I did less writing about my daily activities and just highlighted some words and a saying that spoke to me this week.

 Have a great weekend and anyone that lives on the east coast of North America stay safe in the big storm.
Janelle

A New Bracelet

I made two new bracelets this week and thought that I would share them here before I put them up in my Etsy shop.  Here is one, the other one is made from the same colors and fabrics.

Hand dyed cotton and silk 23 1/2" X 1"

 Have a great week,
Janelle

Business Card

I have been working on designing a business card.  Here is one of the renditions with a business symbol that I designed.

 The background is from one of my hand dyed fabrics.  Now I just have to figure out how to print some of these.
Janelle

Art Journal

Here is the latest spread in my art journal.  I am feeling fall right now, so I had to draw some leaves and add a fall poem.

Have a great weekend and I will catch up with everybody later this weekend.
Janelle

My latest art journal spread

I like to use my art journal in my faith practice, so I often put Bible verses in my journal that I have read recently and that touched me.  I like to be able to go back and read these verses again and see the art that they triggered.  I don't just use my journal for my faith practice, but it is a large part of it.  My latest spread was based on my faith practice.  I really liked a verse from Revelations, so I painted a picture to go with the verse. Here is my latest spread.

Have a great Tuesday,
Janelle

Paper Cloth Journal

I watched a video on making paper cloth by Diana Trout and decided that I had to make some too. Here is the link to her tutorial. Paper cloth instructions and video  Here is what I did after watching Diana's video.

I added some pearlescent ink in white and pink.

This is the back side.

     I started with a piece of muslin and some tea bag paper laid out on a plastic bag.  I took tea bags that are opened up and have all the tea removed and I stamped some of them with one of my hand carved flower stamps with Staz-on ink. I brushed a mix of pva glue and water (it needs to have a milky consistency) on the muslin and then laid down the tea bags and brushed more of the glue on top.  I also used some tissue weight paper and glued that on in random places over the tea bags.  When the piece of muslin was covered and all the papers had the glue mixture on top, I sprayed the surface with Tulip fabric sprays in pinks and white.  I brushed those around and then I let the whole piece dry over night.  The next day I wanted some more shimmer so I brushed on some pearlescent acrylic inks until I looked just right.  I let that dry and then I peeled the piece up off of the plastic.
     For the next stage I did random free motion stitching with my machine all over the surface, in cream and a shimmery purplish pink.  After I had the stitching done I rolled the paper cloth in each direction to make it a little less stiff.  I decided to use this paper cloth for the cover of a book that I wanted to bind.  I used the book binding instructions from Effy Wild's boot camp to bind my book.  You can find the link here to learn all about boot camp.  It is a wonderful program full of great information for mixed media art and thought provoking too. I also stitched the word inspire in the right place for the cover of my journal.  I cut the paper cloth so it was the right size and stitched around the edges so that everything would stay together and look more finished.  Then I made five signatures with five folios out of Canson mixed media paper and I bound them into the journal. I left the binding thread long on the outside so that I could add some beads.  I also added a bit of hemp cord so that I could make a wrap for the journal.   
   

The front of the finished cover.

The inside.

The back.

The binding didn't come out perfectly, but I am happy with it .  This is the first book that I have bound in this way.

That is how I had fun with paper cloth and book binding. 

Have a great week,

Janelle

I'm in Business

I am very excited to share with you that I now have a shop open.  I am three places.
My Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/HandsAndHarts
My website: http://www.handsandharts.com
My Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/HandsAndHarts

Please come and check out what I have to offer.  I will be adding more products in the next month.
Have a great week,
Janelle

Huge Giveaway from Wild Soul Arts

At Wild Soul Arts there is going to be a huge giveaway.  Wild Soul arts is a place to share art journals and mixed media art.  There is a great community there and it's hosted by the amazing Effy Wild.  Come check it out and join the fun.
   http://effywild.com/2012/10/03/huge-mahoosive-giveaway/

New work

I have been working on something big this week.  I hope to have enough work on this project done, so that I can share it soon.  It is exciting for me.  Keep checking back for more news.
I have finished a few new pieces this past week that I can share.

I carved a little acorn stamp to use this fall.

I had to get these colors on a page because I have been really feeling the autumn vibe lately. 

I have been working on this Angel painting.  I am not happy with her yet, but I'm not sure what I want to do next.  She is just waiting for me to make up my mind.

Here is a page from my art journal.

I made this wraparound fabric cuff for my daughter. 

I made this mandala for a Lifebook lesson.

Another page in my art journal.

I finished up this wrap around fabric cuff last night.  This one has my hand dyed cotton fabric, rust dyed silk, and some lovely linen that I won in a give away from Carole Brungar at Madness and Mess.  

Thanks for looking.  I hope to have some news to share soon.  In the meantime have a great week,

Janelle