Sisters and daughters

 

A card for today. A crazy quilt snippet from before. A lady tin type photograph of yesteryear. And an old canvas board repainted over old collage for a new painting. Aimless wanderings with no direction but all with a similar theme.

Sweet Spring Arrival

 

 

Spring is coming don't you think? Days are warming and there's all pretty flowers bursting out with colour ---it is a visual feast for the eyes and sweetness for the nose (If you are not an allergy sufferer).

As the days warm I find myself thinking about old art and a return to painting. Such a long time ago, since I painted with oil paints. This girl was my first proper painting learning how to paint she is from Renoir. She is the original size of the Renoir and is oil on canvas. Canvas then had to be brought from the art shop, then I had to stretch up on a frame and it cost a fortune for the roll of unprimed canvas, the stretcher frames, and not to mention good quality bristle brushes. I eventually switched to wooden panels and painted them up with gesso, they were heavy but so much cheaper. Now that canvas is so cheap there's no limit to the amount of painting that can be done.

Old Friends

 

 

I have been away working on some old things to finish them. The mini album is 61/2 x 6/12 and uses up mostly kaiser craft Lush paper pad and a few other kaiser craft papers. The main aim of this mini was to use up odds and ends from other projects. The photo's are little wallet size ones I didn't want to throw away after I test printed them. For the binding I used the duct tape method found on a few yt channels just search for duct tape binding mini albums and something will pop up. Nothing was brought for this mini album, I used up from my stash and used up a lot of goodies recieved in a couple of swaps. Most of the items are just those brought from Waynes World and so on here in Aussieland, nothing overly exspensive. I also used my slice machine to cut out a lot of words and shapes - Salutations and Vintage Findings are the cartridges I used.

 

The crazy quilting is a cushion. I cut it down to more manageable size blocks to work on and am remembering how to do all the stitching. The spiral bound books are little note books I had drawn in working out Crazy Quilt stitches I saw around websites. I use the note books as a reference for ideas. If you can't draw like I can draw, just print out the image and stick it in your notebook. Soon enough you will have a good size reference book which is much cheaper than buying a book. If you are buying a book on Crazy Quilt stitching I recommend Judith Baker Montano. J. Marsha. Michler. And the new kid on the block - Brian Haggard.

Today is gorgeous warm weather with a bit of a breeze which is a change from dreary old winter. Have a lovely day whatever it is you are doing.

Sun charmed

Pale winter sun makes for longing of hot summer days. But not too hot. The lemon flowers are a different kind of marigold, they remind me of the pom pom flowers made from lace. Do you know the ones I mean?  Cold dreary winter days are being spent using up odds and ends from my stash. There's a mini album in progress and a handful of dangle charms already finished for other projects. Last but not least I'm still embroidering a summery crazy quilt cushion a large one to lounge out on the grass in when summer arrives.

Sending Sunshine

I made some bright cards to warm up winter days. For the cards I used KaiserCraft 6x6 Lush paperpad collection. The flower stamp is from a free kit on a magazine and the stamp set is called Nitwit collection. I used a watercolor technique to color the stamp flowers and for the leaves I just cut out a left over flower. The letters are felt letters from the cheap store and the little lady bug puffy sticker is also from the same place. The scalloped borde is from my making memories slice cartridge: Salutations. While the border is cut out at onl 4 inch I did join two together to make them longer. You can see where I did that in the two bottowm close up images. Next time I'll try to be a bit less obvious with how I join the scallopes.

Old and New Vintage Blue

 

Old thrifted vintage and new acrylic paintings tie together the color blue. An old favourite color of mine. Painting is also another old favourite I return to time after time. Painting and drawing is close to my heart and memories of fond young adult/childhood dreams of living in Paris as an artist and dreaming of Impressionist artists. Ah, those Impressionist painters do you know them? I sure you do, my favourite is Renior. And of course I do like Post Impressionist painters like Van Gogh, everyone no doubt knows of him. His paintings of blue skies and yellow sunflowers was in my mind when I choose the colors for this painting.



Sunshine with a chance of rain.

 

Old and new things being looked at and thought about. A old brooch, while not thrifted, still has been in my collection for a while. I brought it because it has my two favourite things, butterflies and the colour blue. The tin garden butterfly is of a pair, though different colors, they decorate the wall outside our house. I'm starting to see those tin garden wall decorations come back but I still prefer the older style. We have peacocks tin ones too, but they are packed away some where.

Packed away too was my fabric, I'm playing with it again. I am preparing a sun shine-y cushion to brighten a dull corner. I am loving the butter yellows and gingham blues they can't help but be cheerful.

lavender and roses

Some people don't like the smell of lavender I do, they are my favourite cottage flower. I think mostly because so much can be done with them and they are useful too like most herb and cottage flowers. For lavender to grow so big  takes a long time and those lavender flower bushes are from a senior citizen garden down from my house. I have lavender in pots, well, my dad does; they are mine I asked him to plant some for me as I have a brown thumb.

I have more success 'growing' flowers on craft things like the art tag. The rolled roses are brought ones but they are simple enough to make. The butterfly is from my making memories slice cartridge Vintage Findings. I used some mesh bling from Shar's secret santa gift to me from last year. And the image is one from a google search. All the leaves ont the tag are from thrift brought silk flowers. I used for the tag itself Tim Holtz die tag and embossed with Divine Swirls folder I just recently brought. It really is an all round useful embossing folder and very pretty.

The fabric in the back ground picture is a silky type one from the thrift store and the lace is also from the same place, but there is only a little bit of it now. I used a lot of it to cover Jude's Junk journal and to make a card.

It is such a nice day here, with some dark clouds, and not at all like winter. Then again I am sitting near the window facing the sun to type this. I hope where ever you are, the day is pleasant.

Sunbathers

To create the flower I used a heart shaped stamp. I stamped the heart enough time for the amount of petals I needed. The heart stamp images was then cut out and the first layer was added to a small cardboard circle - point of heart facing in. I then layered each layer to create the full flower afterwards I curled the edges. To finish I added a small crochet flower with a pearl to the center. Easy!

Winter Findings

Winter findings: Long shadows. Clear skies. Fallen berries.

The sun is out but there is enough lazy wind to remind winter is around. A lazy wind is too lazy to go around you and just blows straight through your body. Finding a warm sheltered place brings a quiet happiness.

Five and fifty

Thrift store findings with warmer thoughts in mind. And the type of wintery weather meant for doing things in doors, like cross stitching and dreaming about summer days in fields warmed by the sun. It's the type of weather for cosying up to christmas ideas.

From me to you

Half a dozen cards to use up scraps and try out new things. The shaker card was simple enough and something I will try again. A majority of the papers are from KaiserCraft. All the other little odds and ends came from my stash, you know the bits that are left over from other projects.

Rainy days homestay

When it is too cold and rainy to go outside then indoors is the best place to stay.

The 12 x12 layout is of my niece, a grungy style to hide a boo-boo (spilt water on pictures is a no-no). The words on the layout are rubons and the heart stamp came from the UK stamp magazine - Craft Stamper. The scribbly stamp heart is Tim Holtz. The paper used in the layout is just a generic brand from the cheap stores. I also added a little bit of machine stitching.

Then there was thrifting and cleaning ornaments. The little girl on the windup toy bike still actually works. You wind her up via a small little pin on the side of the bike, place her on the floor, and she rides along on her bike. The toy belongs to dad.

After that it was time to sort through my fabric stash. I am making sorting through fabric to return to making crazy quilt blocks. Maybe this time I can make enough to build up a quilt.