#our52weekproject - week 13

#52weeksofstitchingthecircle

Like last week's #our52weekproject post, I've been stitching on paper this week, but rather than the threads passing over each other, the threads start from a common point, creating a fan-like shape. 

This fan shape can be used to fill a space, or create a specific pattern like a tree or flower. You can get a better layering effect with this method too.

I think I'll be using this method in my embroidery work on fabric, as well as on paper, in the future. 

If you've not tried stitching on paper before, this shape is a good one to start with, so why not have a go. 

I hope you're having a good weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday.

TTFN
Louise

#our52weekproject - week 12

It's ages since I did any embroidery on paper and I've seen a few people doing so on Instagram lately, making me want to have a play myself. So I've decided that I'm going to devote my circles for the next few weeks to doing just that. 

I've started quite simply with these triangle shapes and using ordinary sewing thread. All you need to do is have two lines of the same number of holes and start at one end of a line and go up through the paper and go down the furthest hole on the other line and go back up  through the next holes and continue to go alternatively until all of the holes are used.

I'll be back on Wednesday.

TTFN
Louise

My first junk journal

I've used old books and diaries etc to use as journals before, but this is the first time I've made from scratch, myself. The cover was made from a Cadbury's Fingers box (a double one) and the insides are made from various magazine pages, doilies, music manuscript, enveloped, a paper bag and bits of junk mail.

The cover was covered in white paint then a piece of tissue paper was glued on with mod podge. The tag and mini frame were in my stash and I made the mini suffolk puffs and the bow. The alphabet pieces used for the word journal is from Pinterest.

I've used four signatures (the different groups of pages) with nine pieces of paper, folded in half. I sewed each signature into the cover and you can see the stitches on the spine in the sixth photo. It was hard work on my fingers though, I need to improve my technique. Apart from the envelopes and the paper bag that are forming pages in the journal, I've not added any pockets etc yet, so I'm going to add those as I go.

The inside of the cover has been painted with three colours of acrylic paint that were blended together. I've only added a sticker to the inside of the cover so far, but I may add a couple of pockets in the future.

I've also created my first page - art deco. It's mainly a mixture of images from Pinterest, with the addition of a couple of embellishments from my stash. 

I'm going to have fun working in this journal and learning about and using new techniques to decorate the pages.

I'll be back on Friday.

TTFN
Louise

Journaling cards and tags.

I always like to add a bit of something to my letters to penpals, apart from the letter itself, and that can mean a bit of fabric, some nice paper or a handmade tag or journaling card. Those above are the first of these I've made in a while. They're a fun way to use up paper and image scraps and don't take too long to make. Plus it's soon going to be Christmas (there, I've said the c-word!) making time and that'll take over my creative time, so I want to have stock of these in when I don't have the time to make them.

I'll be back in Monday.

Have a good weekend.

TTFN
Louise

Doodle, Gather, Create

Regardless of the amount of making I'm doing at the moment, I've just started Karen Ruane's latest class, which is called Doodle, Gather, Create. (You can take part yourself  - details of how are on Karen's website). We won't be making anything, but hopefully, we should finish with a collection of designs to inspire in the future.

We're going to create three design sheets and this is the start of my first one.

These two photos show the piece of Linwood fabric and an illustration from my V and A fabric book, which I'm using for the inspiration for my doodling. 

 

 

I cut out a wavy line template so that the wavy lines would be even. This design sheet will be made up of more than one piece of paper, the photo on the right (above) has holes cut out of it so you can see the design underneath. Apart from the areas covered by the circles, I drew the design on the page.
 

The two photos above show my completed design, with the circle areas in pencil.
 

The circles on the piece of paper with the holes in it, are edged in a mixture of buttonhole lace and pekinese stitch.

There's much more work to be done on this design sheet and I'll be sharing my progress on here this week.

TTFN
Louise