and sew it goes

My crafting life is about dabbling, trying various things.  It's about variety and a little of this and that.  Except there are somet things I just don't do, which leave gaping holes in my repetoire.  Perhaps the biggest of these is sewing. 

As a kid I knew how to use mom's machine, but never well.  And I hadn't used a sewing machind in probably 27 years.  Until this fall, when I took a 'sewing essentials' beginner class at The Workroom in Toronto.  The Workroom is a great little store with fabric and a number of sewing machines, which you can rent by the hour.  They offer a range of courses, and the starter course is about learning to use the machine, thread it, and basic sewing.

The class was great and we sewed pillow covers.  Here's mine!

My friend and I then signed up for a four session class on following a pattern.  I picked a small square bag (ahem, it is not a purse).  I found it kind of stressful, my attention to detail wasn't great and the lining and outside were hard to match up, but I did it.

What I really gained was the ability to do a little bit of sewing, just the basics, for the odd crafting project.  And a great place to go to use a machine so I don't have to invest in one (or have space for one).

So far I had three little bags, with drawstrings and two fabrics.

One of the best parts is picking the fabric!  This fabulous squirrel fabric came from etsy.

On these two I stencilled a monster to make them more unique.

I pushed myself on the sewing front by signing up for a swap on craftster exchanging little stuffed creatures called Ninni's on a halloween theme.  I made a big, a little, and a ghost version.  The sewing's a bit rough but again the fabric makes up for it.

And finally, I made a couple little fabric dishes following a tutorial I saw online somewhere in my wanderings.  The one with taller sides is a bit better.

 

 

I got altered

Just discovered another fascinating little niche world within the craft universe (craftiverse?), three dimensional art projects made with altered tins. 

Often starting with an altoids tin, though other tins will work of course, artists make them into anything from a decorated box to a diorama.  Some keep the lid on, some take it off.  Most involve decoupage or paint over the tin itself and making use of the inside space to add objects or layer pictures.

Here's a great flickr group to show a range of altered tins: http://www.flickr.com/groups/470156@N20/

I joined a 'Wicked Children Altered Tin' swap on Craftster.  Partners supplied each other with five real or fictional wicked characters, then chose one and made an altered tin portraying that wicked character as a child.  For example, my partner listed the Borg Queen from Stark Trek as one wicked favourite, and I went from there.

I decoupaged the tin with dark green brocade like paper.  On top I added a decorative cameo frame.  I photoshopped a picture of the borg queen, changing her features out with those of a young girl.  I added one little bee.

Inside I portrayed my vision of the wicked borg girl's pets and doll.  She loved her pet bees, because of the connection of bees to a 'hive mind,' they have a queen, and they sting wickedly.  I imagined she pulled her doll apart and painted her grey, adding machine parts to work towards a cyborg baby. 

The screw in the eye is my favourite part.

My final piece was more 'assemblage' than diorama, and I didn't know how it would be received.  This swap has some amazing artists in it who do fabulous frame style pieces with tins.  I sent the tin off to my partner in Germany, and was so thrilled when she opened it and said she loved it!

While I waited for it to arrive and be revealed I did a second tin as a bday present for a dear friend.  I decoupaged the tin inside and out with the some pretty paper.  Inside I lined the deep part with a little blue and green blanket of felt I made.  Sitting in this pretty nest I put a tiny Robin.

Happy to say she was happy with her present :)

I will definitely be making more tins, in fact I have a round tin from a friend that I am currently planning to alter and give back to her on the theme of sleep.

Petrichor

It's summer in Toronto, and my craftster swap addiction continues apace. 

Recently I was in the 'hoopl round 7' swap, the 'hoopla round 8, the wordy round' swap, the Wicked Children altered tin swap, still working on the Covert Art Abandonment swap, the Monster Swap, and the 6x6 More Art Less Craft swap.

One of my recent favourites is this wordy hoop I did, with one of my best new words.  Petrichor, n. the scent of earth after the rain.

Working on the black fabric was hard.  I used three different blues, the darkest blue barely shows.  I added the swirl of a cloud at the end, and was happy with it.

A few other recent items:

Codex from The Guild, a fabulous web series, stitched and painted.

Curse of the Dinosaurs, a quote from Wash on Firefly.

a little felting

I have been having a lot of fun with paints and collage and stitching, but I never leave the felting far behind.  I did two 4 x 6 inch art swaps lately, and for both I chose to do flat felt art pieces.

First this white and purple pansy.  I really like how the close up perspective worked on this, and would like to do more flowers this way.

Second, I did this piece "Sheep Happens" which was nothing but unapologetic cuteness.

I finally made a felted hoopla, and I'm thrilled with how it turned out.  This fabulous multihued green roving really made it special.

I was in a felt badge swap, and made three badges.  Stitched felt toad and luna moth, and my favourite was a wee Raven.

And last but so so so not least, inspired by the Star Wars swap (see earlier post) I made for myself this 6 inch tall stuffed felt Chewbaca.  I needed a good sidekick.

Artist Trading Cards

Life gets busy, and sometimes a big project is daunting.  That's when I discovered Artist Trading Cards.  I had never heard of ATC's before I stumbled onto them on craftster (home of all swappy goodness and source of crafty addictions).  They are always 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and relatively flat.  The idea is you make an original piece of art on one side, sign with your artist details on back, and trade for little samples of other peoples art.  Seems like multi media and collage are favoured approaches, but some are simple drawings, paintings, or even mini cross stitches.

I'm still finding my feet with these ATC's and I like some I make and others not as much.  I am enjoying playing with stamp pads, letters, and collage.  Stencils, stamps and linocuts are good toys in these little projects.

As with all craft swaps there's a mix of what you give and receive, it's like xmas with cousins you don't know, some gifts will fall flat and others will be unexpected wonders.  The ATC swap I participate in is a chain swap where you list your desired themes for the month, and claim other swappers and a theme from their list.  I've received a lot of great cards, and almost have enough awesome robot cards to frame a set.

So why talk about art when you can show it?  Here's a few favourites that I have made.

Felt Frankenstein

A cross stitch experiment

A dinosaur card for the swap, Orangosaurus, led to a whole set; Blusaurus, Yellowsaurus, Greensaurus.

I made a linocut of a leaf and then played with collage.  I did a few varieties and loved how they turned out.  Decided they had to be a set so I framed them and gave them to a dear friend.

May the Swap be with You

Three words.  Star Wars Swap.  Uh-huh, that's what I said.
Now in case you didn't know, or notice, I am a geek of a certain generation.  I was 7 when the first SW movie came out, and I remember playing light sabers on the street where the defining question was whether you liked Luke or Han Solo more.  Solo, definitely.
So then there's a swap.  Crafts and SW, a brilliant combo.
I am eagerly waiting my swap package in transit, but here's a look at what I made.

First an Ewok bag (felt pieces)

Then two journals, covered with the Jedi Code and the Sith Code, that I photoshopped up.  I didn't know the codes, so this was fun and educational :)

Droid hairclips and two pendants.  I used small pictures from the back of my Star Wars Craft Book that I got at xmas, and jewelry bases that had a nice worn metal look.

And finally, Tshirt there is.

Now I can't wait for my package to arrive!

I heart cats

One of the best swaps I've done so far on Craftster has to be the I heart cats and/or dogs swap.  The gallery has been full of the most adorable items.

I had lots of fun crafting up items for my partner and best of alls he was really appreciative and liked them.

She mentioned her love of the lion and the lamb.  While I'm not religious, the cause of peace is powerful for me and so I wanted to try and do a hoop on this theme for her. 

I found the design as a silhouette online, and adapted it to make a blackwork cross stitch.  I like how it turned out, and my partner was thrilled.

Next I needlefelted a black cat with white face in a simple stout shape.  She was cute, but somehow needed more.  I tried adding the tail, which didn't help much.  I thought she might be a good pin cushion and then wondered about a more stable base.  Which led me to think of putting her in a mini cardboard box, because cats love boxes.  The box, with paisley tape and "cats <3 boxes" totally made it!

Looking for materials to make some coffee cup cuffs I came across some children's placemats in a kind of foamy rubber at the dollar store.  Turns out super easy to cut and paint, makes a great medium I will use for many things to come.  I carved a little kitty stamp and made these.

Finally, I tried a couple little kitty cross stitch pendants.  They would be better with smaller aida fabric but my hands and eyes don't work for finer mesh lol.

And a couple little cat artist trading cards for fun extras!