Blue Girls

More Art Journal pages...or, using up the two colors of blue paint left on the palette...attempting to fill the space with interesting brushstrokes and shapes with no prior planning as to the composition...I always seem to fall back on the female faces...ever since I was a teenager I've done these...

I am not sure these pages are finished yet...I think that it needs some other papers of similar color collaged onto it...enjoyed just slapping the paint on there and creating the suggestion of faces with just a few brushstrokes.

And would you call this blue, periwinkle, purple...or even "purplewinkle?"

Pastel Heart Ornaments

Pastel Heart Ornaments-

Materials Needed:

Scrap paper or cardstock to create pattern

Scissors - (NOTE-it's best to have sewing scissors & paper

scissors kept for separate use. cutting paper rapidly dulls scissors & will chew up fabric!)

Fabric for hearts-(I used mint green & light pink)

Needle & Thread

Polyester fiberfil

Lace scraps

Ribbon-coordinating colors & various widths

Buttons

Seed beads

Fabric with flower designs in the print

Narrow ribbon for hanger

Directions:

Create a pattern for the heart by folding paper or cardstock in half, and cutting out half of a heart-shape. Open paper for your pattern. I made a tall narrow heart for my ornaments.

Place the pattern on the wrong side of doubled fabric (with the right sides facing to the center) and trace around pattern in pencil.

Cut 1/4 inch outside of traced line.

Sew on pencil line, leaving a one to one & half inch opening for turning. Clip curved seam allowances, and trim bottom point of heart close to stitching to ease turning right side out. Turn heart right side out.

(I sewed my hearts by hand, but you could use the machine & it would be faster)

Stuff with fiberfill & slip stitch opening closed.

Decorate one side of the heart to be the front. Hand-stitch & Embellish with pieces of lace, cross-stitch remnants, flowers cut from printed fabric, buttons, seed beads or whatever you have on hand that goes with your colors.

I sewed my embellishments by hand, but you could also use hot-glue gun or craft glue.

I sewed beads, buttons & bows on last. Add a ribbon hangar to the back of the ornament, making sure it is centered to hang evenly.

Sign the back of the ornament and write the year in a permanent fabric marker. This is nice when the recipient may receive an ornament from you several years running.

(Paper images & embellishments could be glued on since these are Christmas ornaments & will not need to be laundered, though acid-free would be best.)

These could also be year-round decorations, hung from drawer pulls or cupboard handles, or as sachets if you use scent in the stuffing.

Holiday ATC's

Here are holiday Artist's Trading Cards in non-traditional colors...light green and pink background in craft acrylics. The paint was applied by crumpling up a napkin and "stamping" the paint onto the card; the green was applied first, then after it was dry, accents of pink were added. Copyright-free images, a scrap of music, lace, fabric flowers, and stars stamped onto the background. I also glued on a single white sequin & seed beads for a bit of sparkle.

Green ATC's

Sometimes it is difficult to get into the spirit of the holidays so just making a little art helps...here are two Artist Trading Cards that are one-of-a-kind. On the left, watercolor was used over gesso to create the pastel background. On the right, white tissue paper was painted with green & yellow watercolor, then applied to the gessoed card when dry. For some reason I am using non-traditional holiday colors--pink and light green--instead of red and green! the rosebud on the right is a color copy of a watercolor that I did myself. I often like to add vintage lace when it fits the feel of the work. There is a tiny bit of tatted lace on the card on the left, bought at an antique store.

The bottom card is business card sized , with my contact information on the back. I was not completely satisfied with the composition on this one, so I will need to do a few more of this size to improve a bit.

These cards were sent to a good friend who has helped me in my art journey...