Three handmade cards.

I wish I had more time to spend on paper crafts, I really do love creating cards, collages, etc. although my efforts are simple compared to those whose primary hobby it is.  Here is what I made today.  One of these will be sent to a Down To Earth forum member as part of an arranged swap this month.
The cat below is a scrap of patchwork fabric inserted into a precut card.  I got distracted during this project, and glued the fabric on the wrong side of the card, so I decided to cut the back off and sticky tape it on the other side to correct the layout.   I couldn't leave it with a sticky taped edge! so I glued the yellow paper over the edge to cover up my mistake...

This is a plain white card with check scrap booking paper glued on to the front.  The flower cart is a cut out from a decoupage book of cut outs that I found at the opshop.

Teapot is made up of two fabrics which I adhered visoflex to, cut out the shapes, and ironed them on to the card.  The lacy bit under the teapot was a mistake; I used sticky paper lace because it was quick and easy, instead of cutting a small piece of real lace which would have looked much nicer.  Cie la vie..

Assorted paper crafts.

I like to borrow craft books from the library to peruse, before I decide to buy a copy for myself. It's a good lurk because much of the time there are only a few projects that I would consider making in most of the books, so I try to make them all while I've got the book out on loan. Problem is if I run out of time, especially if I've renewed the loan twice, as it has to go back on the due date!
 I'd borrowed Papercrafting In No Time and made three items so far, with more that I wanted to do. I thought it was due back last week, but luckily I have another week to play! Here are two of the projects (the other is just a decorated clothes peg, not worth posting here).

his "bird on a nest" is made with buttons hand sewn onto the card stock background, and the bird and branch cut out of various papers and glued.

These Union Jacks are made using a template of the crosses.  It is traced on to patterned paper, cut out, and glued on to a plain background.  The triangular shapes left after cutting out the cross, are then trimmed to a smaller size and glued into place, leaving a band of plain colour around the cross.  It can be made more interesting if two different patterned papers are used as shown on the right side.

Recycling Napisan and other plastic containers.

On the Down To Earth forum, one of the members was asking what she could do with Napisan containers.  I replied that I just throw mine straight into the recycle bin as I have so many containers of other kinds, I couldn't find a use for any more.  But last week when my Earth choice (or a similar brand) dishwashing powder ran out, I decided to decorate the container rather than chuck it out.  Good old Modge Podge and paper napkins to the rescue!

Christmas card collages

I did two of these last December, but can only find one photo on my computer file.  I had saved my Xmas cards from the previous year to do this after I read about it on a craft forum.  I had an A3 art pad that I used for the background, glued old sheet music at random, then the cards over that. 
The other collage was similar but I used cards with animals (cats, dogs, birds, etc) as the theme.

Paper Napkin and other paper crafts.

I found a fabulous craft magazine in the newsagent recently.  It is an English publication called More Home Crafts, and although expensive at $25, it is worth every cent as it has a large variety of crafts in it.
Today I decided to do some of the fun projects using paper napkins and gift wrapping paper.  I used Gesso to paint two masonite clip boards, the broom handle and broom, dustpan and brush.

Then I used Modge Podge to glue wrapping paper to the broom head and handle, dustpan and brush, and the smaller clipboard.

I painted around the edge of the chicken napkin, but it will need a second coat, and I think I will use a lighter colour, as this is a bit dark.  Didn't decorate the other clipboard of the same size, but I'd painted a larger clipboard with Gesso, and haven't gone any further with that.

The next thing I did was use a paper napkin to decorate a plain glass vase.  Here is the vase, napkin glue, brush and napkin.  I only used the smaller row of holly leaves from the napkin.

Completed in less than five minutes!  Here it is with a tea light inside.

My first serious Calligraphy project.

I recently put myself down to participate in an online swap.  We had to make something using a newly learned skill, or an old skill that we hadn't done for a while.  I decided to write out a quotation in calligraphic lettering, and laminate it, to send to my swap partner in France.
I chose a quote by a French writer, and for the background I used one of the sheets I'd coloured in water colour when I did the CSV workshop back in February.  It is at the top of the first photo on that post.
Here is my quotation.  I did all the preparation, but messed up the second line when I forgot that the 'm' needed more space than the other letters, so I squashed it in, thinking I would run out of room at the end of the line, but I wouldn't have.  To me it spoils the whole thing, but everyone I've shown it to think it is wonderful!   (But they are not calligraphers, lol)

I had fun with the embellished 'F'.  I copied the letter from one of my books, and filled it in with gold leaf.  Then I copied another idea - a vine leaf to wind around the letter, and painted it with acrylic paint so it would cover the watercolour background and the gold leaf where the vine goes over it.
I glued pale pink lace around the edge of the paper before laminating it, to give it a nice girl finish.

Janet Matthews wildlife drawing workshops.

Two years ago I posted photos here of the workshops I did with Janet back then - the first one on drawing owls, and the second on Rainbow Lorikeets.  I did another one last year, but as I hadn't finished the drawing when the workshop ended, I didn't bother posting anything here.
Today I took my fourth workshop with Janet, and we learned how to draw Superb Blue Wrens.  I managed to finish my drawing, and was so chuffed that when I got home, I pulled out last year's drawing of a Green Tree Frog and finished it!  Here they are, complete with the photos we based our drawings on.  The frog looks like it is done on pink paper.  It isn't - I don't know what happened when I took that photo tonight - I took the other one a minute later, and it isn't tinted pink!
  If you want to see the exquisite work that Janet herself does, you can see it on her website here.

Another CSV workshop, February 2014

I did another workshop at the Calligraphy Society of Vic. with my friend Val. This one was a lot of fun, and greatly enjoyed by the dozen people who participated. To start off, the tutor showed us how to tint watercolour paper using diluted acrylic inks. To add interesting effects, we did things to the paper while the ink wash was still wet. Dropping salt crystals on the page. Putting gladwrap over it and leaving it until it dried, creates lovely marks. Pressing bubble wrap on the paint and lifting it off. Sprinkling drops of water over the painted area. Here are a few of my example (the gold leaf is explained below):

The page below had salt rock crystals dropped into the wet green paint, and when it was dry I wrote the alphabet at random with a calligraphy pen.

 The blue page here (which was one page later cut into sections) had gold leaf adhered to it, and when dry, this was sandpapered to allow the blue paint to show through.  I wrote the word in calligraphy pen over the gold.

 

The above page was the first attempt at adding colour to the paper.  I was going to leave the gold capital R on its own, but went over the top and added the other writing and slashes of colour.  The gold R was done by painting the inside of the outline with acrylic gold size and laying gold leaf over it.  When it was dry, the excess gold leaf is brushed away to leave the letter.

Cards using paint sample swatches

Don't you love going into home decorating stores and seeing the wall of paint sample colour swatches!
I have often felt like taking a bunch of them home, for no particular reason, but I've resisted that urge until now.  I discovered a blog that shows what you can do with those little colour cards.   I went searching the internet for more ways, and found there are dozens of neat things you can make!  But I don't have time at the moment, so I just helped myself to a dozen sample cards at Bunnings, and made three Christmas cards with some of them.  Here is the link to the site with the details of how to make them.
Sorry about my shadow over the cards - I would have taken another photo, but the camera battery was flat and this was the last one I took before it 'died'...:-(

Experiments in painting.

Last Sunday I did a workshop at the Light Factory in Eltham.  It was run by Lynne Lund, and was advertised as a 'fun class in which to learn about a variety of mediums'.  There were only five students, which was good for us because we all got more individual attention than if there had been more people.
Lynne spent the morning demonstrating how to use oil, watercolour, acrylic and pastels, then we had to make up our mind which medium to use to paint a picture in the afternoon.

I chose pastels along with another student, as I've had very little experience with them and wanted to learn more.  The other girls chose various paint mediums.   Lynne set up a still life of white flowers in a blue and white vase, against a black background.  She wanted us to stick to one or two colours, to make it simple, but I found it very difficult using pastels, so she suggested that I bring more colours in to my work.  After an hour struggling to draw something that resembled  a vase of flowers, and failing miserably, I called it quits, and turned to oil paint.  Within half an hour I'd done a painting using just one colour, and everybody was most impressed!  But I was able to achieve that because I'd previously had classes in the technique.
 
The other girl who was using pastels was also having a hard time of it, and I said to her my pastels were going straight to the opshop next week as I can't see myself using them again!  Lynne overheard me and said 'Don't give up so soon!  If you took some more classes which focussed only on pastels, you would probably find it easier and more enjoyable".  She's right, and I was only joking about taking them to the opshop, as I would like to have another go with them, as I really like the effect of pastel drawings in art shows.
I like water colour too, and failed in my attempts using that last year, but want to try again.  Maybe next year I'll find some classes where I can focus on learning those two mediums.  Not one day workshops - a six or eight week course is much better.

Calligraphy workshop.

Last Sunday I spent most of the day with Val at a workshop put on by the Calligraphy Society of Victoria.  Most of their classes are held at Melbourne University where they rent a room for their meetings, but this time the lady running the workshop had it at her studio behind her house.  There were six of us and we were drooling over M's studio, which had been a garage, but converted to the studio after she outgrew one of the bedrooms in the house.  What we could all do if we had unlimited funds and unlimited space!

The workshop was actually a two day one, but Val and I hadn't wanted to commit ourselves to two days in a row so M. very kindly invited us to pay half the fee and just attend on Sunday.  The workshop was all about Christmas.  M. showed us how to make an insert for a plastic coaster and a key ring holder, how to put your own writing on a candle, and how to write on those metallic Xmas tree decorative balls.

Val and I had lots of practising to do before we got to the stage of writing the words to be used on our items.

  See the two really beautiful scrips in boxes?  That's not my work - M did that as an example for me to follow.  I think she was having me on....

I wasn't feeling well (had a cold coming on) that day, and after I'd spent all morning on this piece I decided enough was enough, and gave it to M. to scan and reproduce for me to cut up to put into cards or coasters.

The candle was an interesting exercise.  We wrote a name on a piece of tissue paper which was then burnt on to the surface of the candle with a special burning tool.  (That is a simplified explanation - it wasn't that easy, but will do for the purpose of describing it for this blog).

These decorative balls were tricky to do.  We had to write a name on the ball with a tube of glue, and while it was still sticky, dip the ball into a tray of sparkly stuff, which stuck to the glue.  By this time in the afternoon, I was feeling so ill I could hardly concentrate, so I packed it in and went home, feeling disappointed with myself.  If I'd been feeling my usual self, I would have done a much better job of all these little projects!  But it was a fun day.

This is an example of what the other students were doing.  They were all long term members of the society and attend most of the workshops.  They told me that the only way to keep improving is to keep doing the workshops, and they were right.  I just don't get the time, but it's my own fault for having too many hobbies!

More origami from Val.

The last time Val came over to my place, she brought some little bags she'd made from wall paper. She asked if I knew of anywhere we could get some wall paper scraps, and as we are having our house painted at the moment, and have been getting sample paint pots, I asked the shop if they had any wall paper offcuts or sample swatches, and they gave me a bundle of bits. So when we got together again last week, Val was able to show me how to make these little gift bags. I used a scrap of black and silver wall paper with a silver grey ribbon.

Knowing how much I love little tiny things, Val made me another one of her REALLY tiny books! You can see just how small it is by the second photo showing it beside a fountain pen.

Val's origami.

Val finds such interesting projects!  I love seeing what she has found and made herself.  These two little boxes are made from greeting cards.  The front is used for the top part of the box and the back of the card is used for the bottom half.   Val found the tutorial on YouTube for the owl box, but she made the kitten one in traditional origami style, just folded, with no glue.

Another of Val's little treasures - a tiny concertina 'book' with a message inside. I put the pen beside it so you can see how tiny it is.

Hand made Christmas cards.

Val showed me a quick and easy way to make cards - she discovered it on YouTube and as I have to make nine cards for a website exchange this year, I got busy!
The first five are made from card stock and Xmas wrapping paper.

These four are made from patchwork fabric scraps.

Oil Painting workshop.

It has been so long since I've done any painting or drawing.  If I've done any craft at all lately it has been needlecraft or patchwork and quilting.   I had been booked into three painting workshops at the Light Factory in Eltham earlier this year, but they were all cancelled due to not enough people enrolling.
Finally I got an email saying they were going ahead with an oil painting for beginners workshop on Saturday, and did I want to attend.  Did I what!   I've accumulated four boxes of oil paint tubes that have been at our opshop over the past year or so, but I didn't dare play with them because I didn't know enough about how to use oil paints.
The workshop on Saturday was with Vicki McInnes who is a well known artist around these parts.  I've have been looking forward to doing classes with her, and I wasn't disappointed.  There were only three students - me, a man and his son, so we got all Vicki's attention which was great.  She is an excellent teacher, and I learnt so much about using oil paints, it really inspired me to use them again soon.  I enjoyed using them more than I did acrylics or watercolours when I first started learning to use those.  I still want to do more classes using those media, as well as pastel, and Vicki told me she runs classes in pastel, so I'll be looking out for those in the future. 

Vicki spent the morning explaining how to use oil paints, and demonstrating her techniques.  In the afternoon we did one painting ourselves, with Vicki overseeing our efforts.   We did still life indoors rather than go outside, and my choice of objects was an old brass plate with a rose, on a background of white damask cloth.

It got smudged today when I picked it up to have a look, and didn't realise it was still wet!  Ooooh, naughty girl.  Vicki did warn us that oils can take days or longer to dry!
I won't have time for any more painting for a few weeks, as I've committed myself to a swap of hand made Christmas cards - nine of them. I'll do some with paper, and some using patchwork fabric.

Origami fun

My paper loving friend Val had a new origami book show me when I was at her place last week. She had paper ready for us to play with, and I made a little flotilla of boats,

A penguin and a fish.

More Japanese brush art at Box Hill Community Arts Centre

This morning I attended another workshop on Japanese brush techniques - this one was called 'Japanese SumiE Ink Painting' and our tutor was Junko, who was just as charming as Miho was last week. The ink and brushes we used were the same as last week, and the technique very similar but this time we were painting pictures instead of letters. After showing the students examples of her own beautiful work, Junko demonstrated how to use the brush to create different effects on the paper. After we'd practiced for a while, she encouraged us to paint bamboo, which she said was the easiest one to start with.

Then she showed us how to paint two fish. I was too heavy handed with the ink, and my poor fish are much darker than they are meant to look.

Then we could choose what we wanted to do. One of Junko's paintings was of a fluffy cat, and I asked if I could copy it and she gave me her painting to work from. I am very critical of my own work, as well as being impatient and wanting to do something perfect the first time, so I wasn't overly pleased with my version of her cat. But she was delighted with it; I was the only student who did the cat, the others were doing flowers and birds.

Japanese Calligraphy workshop

On Saturday morning, I attended a two hour workshop on Japanese calligraphy.  One of my friends did a workshop with the same tutor a while ago, and she enjoyed it very much.
I would love to have attended that class, but it is on the other side of town, and a bit too far for me.  So I was pleased when I heard about the workshops Miho was doing this weekend closer to home.
The morning workshop was about brush painting on canvas, and the afternoon one was on making greeting cards.

Miho is a charming lady and an excellent teacher.  She provided all the brushes, ink, paper and canvas for us to work with, and she was very patient with our efforts to handle the brush correctly to get the brush strokes right.  After we'd practiced various brush strokes on paper, she gave us each two stretched canvas boards to do a final  painting.

Here are my two - a Japanese letter meaning "Happiness" and a very basic plant (which I think I have placed on the wrong angle for this photo, darn  it).  Miko provided the red seal to stamp on our canvases to denote the finished art.  She insisted mine was good, but admitted that it takes many years of practice to achieve excellent results.  As it does with any calligraphy!