Inspirational Quilt

I made an inspirational quilt this week.  I love adding uplifting words to my art that remind me of the good things in life. I started with a piece of white cotton fabric with a tight weave so that it is easy to paint. I painted loose flowers in light purple, let them dry and then heat set the paint.  I did the same for the dark purple flowers and the turquoise flowers I painted inside the dark purple and turquoise flowers with Stewart Gill Metamica paints in Moonlight and Heather Mist and the centers with a silver Lumiere textile paint. I love how these paints sparkle. They look marvelous in the sunshine. I stenciled the open area with the Amiens Plan Cathedral stencil with Stewart Gill Metamica paint in Moonlight. I let that paint dry and then heat set.  Heat setting between layers keeps the colors from mixing together when I want them to stay separate. I colored in the open areas with Derwent Inktense pencils and activated it with textile medium.  I left the light purple flowers white.  I let that dry and then heat set again. Next I squared up the dry fabric painting and cut a backing and batting. I bagged out the quilt to finish the edges.  I basted the batting to the wrong side of the backing fabric.  Then I placed the right sides of both fabrics together and stitched a narrow seam all the way around except for an opening on the bottom of the quilt. I trimmed the batting close to the seam lines and cut off the corners at a diagonal. I turned the quilt the right side out and pressed it.  I removed all the basting threads.  I pressed in the fabric edges on the opening too.  I slip stitched the edges closed. Next I used free motion stitching to sew with a dark purple thread around my painted flowers and I thread doodled in the open areas. I sewed around the light purple flowers with a turquoise thread and I thread doodled swirls in the petals. I wrote words on a piece of tracing paper and cut them out.  I used these to figure out the word arrangement. When I was happy with the arrangement I used a fabric pen to write words on the stenciled side of the quilt. I used free motion stitching to write over the words in a thick variegated purple thread. I free motion stitched, with a blue thread that matched the Metamica paint, around the words. I steam pressed the whole quilt to smooth out the wrinkles. The finished quilt is 9" X 13". I hope that you go and make your own inspirational piece of art. This quilt still needs a name.  If you have a suggestion you could leave me a note in the comments. After I decide how I want to hang this quilt and finish that portion this beauty will be for sale. Have a creative weekend, Janelle

Autumn Greeting Cards

This week I am sharing a mixed media project that uses fabric, stenciling and stamping all in a layer of beeswax. This is a good way to use up small bits of fabric and lace and to make your own greeting cards.  The best part is the lovely smell of the beeswax.

I started with cardstock card blanks.  Heavier cardstock will hold up better to the beeswax.

I cut pieces of fabric and lace the length and width that I wanted for the first layer.  I choose fabrics from my stash that reminded me of the beautiful colors of autumn.

Layer the fabrics and stitch them to the cards when you are happy with the placement.  Use a long stitch length so that the cardstock doesn't become perforated and rip.

Using the stencils from the playful pod series I added designs beside the fabric layer.   I use browns and greens to go with the autumn theme.

I also used a hand carved leaf stamp to add designs on some of the cards.

I used Distress Ink pads in wild honey, vintage photo, and tea dye to stamp the leaves.

I used a hand carved acorn stamp to stamp images on some white tissue paper.  I used a

StazOn ink pad in timber brown.  Later I added these to the cards between layers of beeswax.

I used a quilting iron to start adding beeswax over the entire front of the card.  I held the iron onto the wax until I had some drips on the card and then I smoothed them out with the iron.  When I had a nice layer of beeswax I placed the pieces of the acorn tissue paper on some of the cards.  I added beeswax over the tissue paper to seal it to the card.

I went over the entire card again with the quilting iron to smooth out the beeswax.   I also hit it with my heat gun to make sure that everything was fused.  Don’t worry if it isn’t completely smooth, the texture is part of the fun of using beeswax.

I bought my beeswax from a honey store.

I sprinkled on some Pearl Ex powder in interference gold to parts of the card, rubbed it in with my finger and went over it with the quilting iron.   I wanted to fuse the powder to the card, but I didn’t completely cover it with the beeswax.

I rubbed Inka Gold onto the edges of the card as well.  I love the shimmer that the gold adds to the card.  Gold just seems to go well with autumn.

Inside the front I glued on another piece of white cardstock.  I glued a piece of painted paper to the center of the cardstock.  After the glue was dry I rubbed a bit of Inka Gold onto the painted paper.  These extra papers protect the stitching, cover the beeswax that leaks through the paper, and makes the inside of the card extra pretty.

For the last step I sprayed some copper glitter spray to the inside of the card.

I didn’t add a sentiment yet, I’ll wait until I am ready to send the card.  That way I have cards that I can use for any occasion.

Here are the five cards that I made.  I hope that you go and make some unique greeting cards of your own.

You can see more of my work on my website. 

Have a great weekend,

Janelle

Beautifying School Supplies

I am on the design team for Artistcellar for the next six weeks.  I made a back-to-school project for my first post.  I’m always looking for ways to individualize school supplies and make them more interesting.  I’m going to show you how to make a pretty cover for a composition notebook.  These directions would work for any type of hardbound journal though.

Start by laying down your notebook on a large piece of paper and making a tracing of the cover.  Trace one cover and then the middle and then the other cover.  That way you have the complete size of the cover.  Add about three inches to each end to make flaps.  This can be adjusted for personal preference.  Add ½” all the way around for a seam allowance.  Cut out your completed pattern.

Use this pattern to cut out two pieces of fabric.  I used cotton fabric that I snow dyed for the outside and a store bought piece of cotton for the inside.   Both pieces of fabric are the same size.

Take the piece of fabric that you want to be on the outside and a stencil and add a pattern.  I used black fabric paint and the rivermap texture stencil  and the cherry blossom stencil to add a random pattern and a few other stencils.  You can cover the whole piece of fabric, or you can just add bits of stenciling her and there.  Let the paint dry and then heat set it according to the manufactures directions.

Put both pieces of fabric together with the right sides on the inside.  Sew around the piece at the ½” mark.  Leave a gap of a few inches on one of the short sides open so that you can turn it right side out.  I trimmed the corners at a diagonal and the seams so that they were narrower.

Here the pieces are sewn and trimmed before turning it right side out.

Press all the seams and then turn it right side out.  Make sure that the corners are pushed out all the way so that they look neat.  Slip stitch the opening closed.  Press the whole piece again so that the edges are all nice and neat.

Close-up of slip stitching the opening closed.

Turn the flap area to the inside, the same measurement on both edges, and press with the iron.  Double check that the fit will be snug against your notebook before you press it.  When you have everything lined up correctly and have the edges even stitch across the top and bottom of each flap.

Slip each cover of your notebook into the flaps and your notebook now has a pretty cover.

You can use the inside flaps for storing extra papers.

The rest of the covers are shown here on the website on the journal page.
Now you know how to jazz up your plain notebooks and journals.  I hope that you go out and make a cover for your notebooks and journals.  Have a creative week and make some pretty school supplies.
Janelle

Life Changes

I have had all my family members home for the summer.  My husband is a high school teacher who also works part time at a local college.  He has been home this summer except for when he is teaching his college class.  My oldest kid is home this summer too.  While working and volunteering took up most of her time, she was still living at home and I got to see her a lot.  All of my other kids were also living at home.  My second kid spent a lot of time working too, but I got to see her all the time.

Now though life is changing.  My second oldest went off for her first year of college.  Moving her in and saying good bye was hard.  I will miss her even though she is only an hour away from home.  My husband went back to his day job now too, so I don't get to spend as much time with him either.  I enjoy the time that we have during the summer because I don't get to see him a lot during the school year.  He is always busy with two jobs and a lot of grading and prepping for classes too.  My oldest goes back to her college at the end of the week.  I won't get to see her until Thanksgiving.  Her college is too far away for her to come home easily for the weekend.  I know that she will be busy with classes and studying and friends anyway.  I also have two school age children that go back to school next week.  I won't have them around during the day either and the after school activities also start up soon also, so they will be busy in the evenings.

I will be at home with my little one during the day.  It is always a bit of an adjustment from having everyone around all the time, to it just being the two of us.  I adjust a bit faster than my little one though.  He goes from having a lot of people to play with to being just with mommy.   I am hoping that having less people around during the day will translate to less chaos and being able to get more accomplished.  I have to balance my working time and my mom time however.  I know that too soon he will also go away to school and I will miss our time together.  I don't want to waste these years by not doing enough with him.

I do want to focus the my time part of my day to creating.  I create all the time anyway because I just don't feel complete if I don't, but now I will have a few less distractions.  I do have some big plans and things that I want to prepare for too.  I'm looking forward to cooler weather and a time of focused work, so that I can get some of my projects done and ready to share with the world.  So with that I will leave you to a creative and productive week.
Janelle      

Journal Pages

I haven't gotten a lot of art done this week. I have been sick with a bad summer cold and I have been focused on getting my girls ready to go off to college. Starting in the beginning of September I should be able to get back on track with my art.  School starts then for two of my boys and my girls will be off at their colleges.  I will be at home with my youngest again and will have a bit more quiet.  Having three boys at home all summer really adds to the chaos of my life.  It is somewhat easier to keep one occupied than to have to deal with all of them all day. I did have time to get a couple of pages done though this week.  I will share them and hopefully soon I'll have more to share.  

This page was inspired by Donna Downey's last Inspiration Wednesday. Check out her Youtube channel for some great journal pages.

This is my latest Lifebook page. It was a lesson by the talented Tamara Laporte.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend and can spend a bit of time being creative in your own way.
Janelle

Weekend Trip

I went on a long weekend trip this last weekend with my family.  I made three journal pages from my visit that I'll share with you.  It was a quick vacation, but a fun trip anyway.  

Ode to the Lake

I have still been working on a lot of other projects that aren't ready to share yet.  I'm also pretty busy getting ready to take my daughter's to college and my son's to school.  I'm spending a lot of time with my family enjoying the last few weeks of their summer vacation.  Next month I should be able to blog a bit more and have more projects finished and ready to share.  Have a good weekend.
Janelle

Ramblings and Art

I found time this week to make some more journal pages for me and for Lifebook.  I'm glad that I am catching up on lessons that I didn't get completed earlier in the year.  I love Lifebook because there is always something new to learn and so many amazing teachers to learn from.  I have also been working on many other projects that are in various stages of completion.  I will be able to share those later after they are done.
I have been spending time this month helping my daughter get ready to go to college this fall for the first time.  She is going into vocal music, so I'm not the only artist in the family.  I have also been soaking up all the minutes that I get to spend with my oldest daughter before she goes back to college.  I'm sure that I will have some journal pages later this fall that address my missing my girls.  I will only have boys at home this fall.  It has been many years that my husband and I have had at least one of our girls at home, but I guess that you have to let them leave the nest at some point.  Now onto the art.  

Have a great week,
Janelle

New Journal Pages

I have been working on a lot of projects this week that I will show off when they are more complete, but I do have some fun stuff in the works.  This fall is going to be a busy time for me as I get ready to do some craft shows later on.  I do however have some new journal pages to show off.   I hope that you enjoy seeing them.

Have a great weekend and I'll have more art to show later.
Janelle