WOYWW 202 and what's not!

Lots!

Thankfully the Birthday cards are gone...for now.

I reclaimed this yarn- it was a faded blue (scroll down for photo at end of post)oversized pullover from the 70's(?) and with a little lot of help from Leslie at Nice Threads got this lovely lavender, that will become a cable cardigan.
Where is my project sheet? Not on my desk!

Spring is finally here, thank Goddess and I  got some new brushes( where are they?) and I'm painting a lot!
Flowers=still life!

Update on Distress paint- still working on it.
Black Soot made a perfect black  matte background out of white watercolor paper for the ATC on the easel . You can read about that here.
The tag to the left is messing about in the paint, none of which pleases me so far.

The white lidded jar on the right- it says---Used Clear---it's my tip of the week. I pour the clear embossing powder that i have used into that jar, so if it matters, I have a jar of clean clear powder, without any glitter or whatever in it( well, maybe just a little).

The reclaimed yarn before dyeing.

Thanks for visiting. Comments and Questions always welcomed.

Just Because......

....the Canadian Scrapbooker April Sketchy challenge had a diamond grid

....Elaine gave me the most delicious morel mushroom!

....The Quietfire Creations technique of the month is Modern Grids

....I'm trying to make friends with my Distress paint.

Here is the sketch

The Distress paint transformed a white piece of water color paper into a matte background.

The silver circles are punched out of Joss paper and the butterflies out of what was laying around on my desk, with a little stickles.

I couldn't find a morel stamp- close enough- stamped in VersaFine sepia, watercolored and colorized with Distress Sage and Tea Dye.

I drew in the grid with an Inkssential White pen, and added some Liquid Pearls to the intersections.

Just Because, is one of the Ten Tiny Tag Sentiments, a must for ATC-ers, stamped in VersaFine Olympia Green and thermal embossed clear.

This ones for you Elaine- to add to the Black Mountain Farmers Market Gallery!

Comments and questions welcomed.

Pressing Flowers in the Grand Calibur

I've been pressing flowers in the Wizard for years, and that faithful machine has been gathering dust except for cutting steel rule dies.

The seasons first violets got my brain thinking that maybe I could press flowers in my Spellbinder GC.

Left is the finished card going out to my dear friend Gabriela-Happy Birthday!!!!
The card is in the mail! (almost)

Choose fresh picked plant material, not too juicy or thick. Have everything ready to press, sooner after picking the better your print will be.

Print onto watercolor paper, at least 90 lb. You will use two pieces for each print.

Instructions below are for the Grand Calibur.
I encourage you to experiment with your own machines and let me know how it turns out.

First lay your paper on the grey A base plate and arrange your flowers.

Place another piece of paper on top

the tan embossing mat

and the B pink embossing plate and run it through.

VOILA!

Above photo is the natural color untouched by ink or Photoshop. A dandelion surrounded by violets.

The left is the bottom print and the right is the top.

Next I cut die cut the print with SB deckle edge classic ovals large.

 I used the largest die , cut and embossed.

I thought it looked a little sparse, so I ran it rough again adding a few spring phlox.

Keeping the print in the die, I stenciled in some Distress Antique Linen. Hint-This is a light color and I label and dedicate one sponge for all my light colors( less distress-the bad kind-that way).

To finish off the card I layered with SB Resplendent Rectangles, colorizing with Distress Shaded Lavender and Delicata Golden Glitz.

The print layer is popped up with fun foam

(I'm too cheap ,Scot,

thrifty, to buy pop dots.)

Happy Spring-take a walk, gather respectfully, experiment and have fun!









Comments and questions welcomed!

WOYWW 201

Is it Wednesday again?
Lots on my work desk, and more in the mail, in the car, drying outside and in the works ( stay tuned for that one!).

On the lower right are violets and dandelions pressed in the Grand Calibur. I'll get a tutorial done on that later in the week(maybe!). It's here!

Please scroll around to for details on this creative mess!
Comment s and questions always welcomed!

Learning to love Distress! The Back Side

 If you read the post over at Quietfire Creations, I promised the back story to be revealed here.

It's only been a few years that i have been a convert to using ink pads, must less Distress inks.

I'm an artist- I use tube paints and brushes. Ink bottles and pens.
Pad are for crafters- no offense meant- it was a silly mind set and I'm over it.

To make a long story short, someone gave me a Distress pad, and now I have them all, and all the stains, stickles,markers and paints.

I've learned to love the convenience of pads- especially for art on the go teaching- and the properties of Distress ink formulas.
Ranger has been good to me!

It did take me awhile to make friends with the stains- the online class Chemistry 101 with T!m Holtz helped a lot and now we are good friends.

Not so much yet with the paints.
The fan fold base for these ATC's was going to be one of those marbled Distress Paint backgrounds I've been seeing in the videos.
My first attempts are in the circular file, and this attempt is hiding behind gold acrylic paint and the ATC"s I made to cover the back.

I just need more time to experiment!

Details are at Quietfire Creations-please hop over.
Comments and questions always welcomed.

Every little bit helps....

I've been feeling fibery as the last cold days are hopefully in the past!

Thank goodness my dear SIL's birthday is in April, so whatever I don't finish for Christmas I can give her as a birthday gift.

See those little pieces of yarn on the top of the right sock cuff? That is exactly how much yarn I had left!
Hand spun hand dyed Targhee.

I once saw a film of a master weaver in , I think Wales, and the interviewer couldn't get her to say more than a few words as she worked at the loom.
"What do you think about when you are weaving", they asked.
"Running our of yarn", she replied.

Below is the handspunwarp(not the eyelash)                        sleyed in the reed.

Some call this random warping. I can assure you there is nothing random about it!

I call it multiple bout warping. I prefer to spend my time at the loom rather than the warping reel! 

There is something new and exciting( to me and I hope to y'all) coming into my life and I can't talk about it yet, so I hope you will follow closely as I hope to announce it soon.

Comments and questions always welcome.

WOYWW 200-Let There Be Light!

I got so many questions about my table I thought I would feature herself, with out too much stuff on her.
She is a Studio Designs Futura Craft Table with a clear glass top, which lifts to a lot of angles- right-never gonna happen with all the stuff on it. The only piece of furniture I ever bought!

My fav feature is the arms that hold my Light Pad underneath the top, so it is always there when I want it and doesn't take up any table space. It's easy to remove too.

Lots of Birthday Cards to go out to my Women's Circle! Quiefire Design Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will scroll around!

Comments and questions always welcomed!