We know you’re just dyeing to know who has won the giveaway. So, let’s give a big waahoo to winner, Laura Stewart. She’ll be relishing a colorful assortment of 12 RIT Dyes, Rebekah Meier’s Fabric Art Collage, and some Ready-to-Go! Blank Canvas Books. Break out that silk Laura…fun is coming your way!
Thank you to everyone who left a comment, posted our blog badge, subscribed to our YouTube channel or newsletter and all the tweets. We love hearing from you and appreciate your involvement in our online community.
Remember to check in later today for the next giveaway!
When Ready-to-Go! Blank Board Books are combined with Liquitex acrylic paint, the perfect platform for artistic collage is created.
Techniques include:
- playful paint applications such as dry brushing and layering
- using masks & stencils
- painting over printed, old, and ripped paper bits
- incorporating printed images into collage
Materials:
- Ready-to-Go! Blank Board Book 6″ x 6″
- Liquitex acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint brushes—these brushes are stiff and have white bristles. They work better than watercolor brushes (soft, brown bristles) for these techniques.
- Old printed papers, papers w/ words, napkins (separated into one layer)
- Stencils or masks (masks are pieces of paper cut into shapes for painting around, as opposed to inside as you would a stencil)
- Tacky glue or decoupage medium, such as Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
- Images printed on paper
Instructions:
- On the Blank Board Book, start out by freely painting a base color in some areas of the surface but leaving some open white space. The paint should dry quickly.
- Adhere paper with printed words using a decoupage or tacky glue to white and/or painted areas. Press paper from center out to keep surface smooth.
- Continue to paint using stencils or masks cut from edges of scrap paper in shapes such as circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles.
- Have fun and be playful with strokes, painting with wide, short, small and big strokes.
- Try dry brushing (small amount of paint on the brush) over areas.
- Layer your painting by letting a painted area dry then paint over it with a different color, freely or with a stencil or mask.
- Glue more patterned paper if desired, and add more strokes of paint on top.
- Once the surface is painted and dried add a collage image and various embellishments.
You will need
Fabrics
- 24cm x 30cm wide (9 1/2″ x 12″) piece of wool felt for one pair of booties
Supplies
- 60cm (23 5/8″) narrow ribbon for the ties
- Threads
- Stranded cottons to complement the sea green and white color of the felt
Equipment
- Tracing paper
- Sharp pencil
- Water-soluble fabric marker
- No. 8 sharp needle
- No. 22 chenille needle
How to Make the Booties
Patterns and templates
Click here to download the bootie pattern, embroidery and appliqué templates PDF. Use the pencil to trace the pattern pieces and placement marks onto tracing paper. Cut out. Use the large needle to pierce holes at the marked positions for the shoelace and at the center front of the toe piece. Make a template for your chosen bootie motif in the same way.
Cutting out
Referring to the cutting layout, trace each bootie piece twice onto the felt and mark the dots through the pierced holes using the fabric marker. Cut out the pieces.
Cutting layout
1. Sole
2. Back
3. Toe
Beginning and advanced crafters and quilters will love this bright appliqué quilt project. Simple shapes, easy fusible appliqué, and adorable purchased buttons and trims make this quilt quick to complete.
Download the project sheet here and pattern templates here, and you’ll be on your way to growing your own bloomin’ hearts garden!
finished quilt size: 53˝ × 64˝
This project is an excerpt from Cute as a Button Quilts by Joni Pike which includes 12 playful fusible appliqué quilt and accessory projects.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
That’s
What I’ve been
Missing—
Sitting,
Watching the sun
Go down,
Listening
To the sounds
Of the house
And the wind
As dusk
Descends.
Happy National Quilting Day! In celebration of this holiday, of course we had to post a free quilting project. And what better project than this one by Sandy Bonsib that is not only mouth-wateringly beautiful but comes with her fantastic recipe for Strawberry Shortcake?
So dear quilters, celebrate your special day today by treating yourself to this sweet quilt project and a fresh and fruity Strawberry Shortcake split between your quilting buddies.
Click here to download the project PDF which also includes gallery images of some variations of this project.
This project is an excerpt from Patchwork Party by Sandy Bonsib which includes 10 festive quilts along with the recipes that inspired them.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.
I’m beyond excited to announce the first of my online classes!
I’m a really odd duck because I enjoy the parts of having an art career that other artists dislike – things like marketing and promotion. I know, I know, you’re thinking “ugh” but I think a light-hearted but consistent approach to tackling these dreaded tasks can do a lot for you.
I meet with a group of about 40 women in my area and we cover a lot of these business-related topics at each month’s meetings. I wanted to reach more people since I know that so many struggle with the business side of being an artist and the internet is the perfect venue, so Jump Start Your Art Career was born!
Creating art can be so joyful and fulfilling but if you have goals beyond simply creating art (like getting it out of your studio so you can make more or sharing your techniques in workshops or books) then you have to think about how to spread the word about how wonderful you and your work are. And you are, but it won’t do you any good if you’re the only one who knows it! Marketing doesn’t have to be painful and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money, but like creating a piece of art, it needs to be approached thoughtfully.
I’ve been a professional fine artist (starting with printmaking before moving to art quilting) since I was in my 20s, so I’ve seen the art market evolve and change and grow in the last 20 odd years. My mom and I had a quilt shop for nearly 19 years (we closed our brick and mortar last March and are online and at shows solely now) and I have really loved the marketing and promotional aspects of the business. Weird, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore spending time in my studio experimenting with new techniques and materials or working on one of my ongoing series of fabric collages, but puzzling out a new marketing approach feeds my creative side almost as much. Of course, if I won the lottery tomorrow and didn’t need to worry about earning a living I might be perfectly content to spend ALL of my time in the studio, but since that’s unlikely to happen, I might as well enjoy the parts of my career that enable me to continue doing what I love.
If you’d like more information about the workshop (and you’d like to lose the pain in your art career!) check out this page on my blog.
Not only are machine or hand-sewn stitches a great way to hold handmade paper invitations together, but when done artfully, stitching is the very best-looking kind of embellishment. Even if your stitches aren’t completely perfect, they really show how much care you’ve put into a card, and make the occasion you are celebrating seem all the more exciting.
..
Click here to download a PDF that includes instructions for machine sewing on paper, hand sewing on paper, hiding the back of your stitches, and sewing a whipstitch, as well as photos of several cute stitched invitations for inspiration.
This project is an excerpt from Unforgettable Invitations by Melissa Collette Giles which includes oodles of tips and techniques to spark your invitation-inclined imagination.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.
This bright-colored tote bag is a tasty addition to any sleep-over or pajama party, and project “ingredients” such as colorful buttons and ribbon make it a fun one to tackle with your ‘tween in tow. With a little creativity (and some polyester fiberfill) the tote can be transformed into a fluffy, comfy bed pillow! Click here to download the project PDF.
This project by Teresa Stroin is an excerpt from Cupcakes! edited by Lynn Koolish. The book includes 30+ Yummy Projects to Sew, Quilt, Knit & Bake.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.
I had never entered an American Quilter’s Society (AQS) show before, so I was tickled pink to find out last week that my appliqué quilt “Pink Petal Party,” the focus of my book, Appliqué Petal Party, was juried into their Paducah show! It will be held April 21-24, 2010 at the Paducah Expo Center, Julian Carroll Convention Center in Paducah, Kentucky.
The AQS Quilt Show & Contest at the Paducah show is considered to be one of the premier international quilting events. According to the AQS website, more than 37,000 people attend each year’s show, and more than $2.5 million in cash prizes have been awarded. Whether my quilt wins a prize or not, it is an honor just to be juried in, so I am really excited. I’m hoping to be able to attend with my mother, who is also a quilter.
We know you’re just dyeing to know who has won the giveaway. So, let’s give a big waahoo to winner, Laura Stewart. She’ll be relishing a colorful assortment of 12 RIT Dyes, Rebekah Meier’s Fabric Art Collage, and some Ready-to-Go! Blank Canvas Books. Break out that silk Laura…fun is coming your way!
