Fabric Musings and Chutney Making

It doesn't take much to make me happy.  I got this little lot of offcuts for the princely sum of £1.20 - what a bargain.  Most of them I thought would make great journal covers.  

 I then went out and bought some christmas themed fabric and it sits looking at me, waiting for my little grey cells to come up with some inspiration for this years decorations. 

 Whilst waiting for inspiration, and taking advantage of a marrow, residing, largely, in my fridge and I decided a wet, cold Sunday in September was the ideal time to start making chutney as future Christmas presents.  Here was the start of the Marrow and Red Tomato Chutney

 and this was the Ratatouille Chutney, which really looks most christmassy with the red tomatoes and the green of the courgettes.  I'd forgotten how long it takes to chop the vegetables and cook it so it's taken most of the day.  Only time now for a bit of internet surfing before everything stops for Downton!

A little craftiness for Me

I decided to make something for me for a change, well okay, it was actually a bit of avoidance because otherwise I would have to tackle the task of setting up an online shop on Etsy and just don't feel like climbing that technological mountain today.

So a kilt pin brooch it was!  A friend gave me the guardian angel charm from Lourdes recently and I immediately thought it would look good on one of these brooches.  The other beads came from another friend a while back in the form of broken jewellery and a crystal necklace, left to me by my grandma.  I can't wait to wear it! 

Mountain climbing another day, promise :)

Post Craft Fair High

 The craft fair on Saturday went very well.  I met a lot of lovely people, had some great feedback and sold a lot more than I'd thought.  So all in all, a very successful day after a lot of hard work.  I can't wait to do it again!

 Some of my journals remain unsold so I'm going to try to set up an internet shop sometime soon but in the meantime I'll sell direct from my Facebook page via Paypal.  (If you 'like' my page you'll get my facebook updates appearing on your home page).

 I had two great helpers on Saturday, friends who went above and beyond the call of duty so I decided to make them a couple of brooches to say thank you.

I discovered Bojangle Beads in Loughborough last week, a very friendly and totally inspiring bead shop that also do mail order.  One of my friends had asked me to make her a kilt pin brooch for Christmas, as she spotted on there, and well, I couldn't wait to make one! 

Craft Fair Here I Come

 Out of creative chaos has come forth....

 fabric hearts, made from old embroidered napkins and salvaged materials, together with a dash of vintage images, lace and buttons....

little fabric collages, mounted on recycled cards....

here they are before mounting, and

a stack of decorated fabric journals.

With many thanks to PG tips for the copious amounts of tea I've drunk, the support of my cats, friends and family who put up with my creative antics and for the Co-op for supplying that cheap, but ultimately, very drinkable, Soave at the end of an exhausting creative day.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Seriously though, whilst it has been long hours this week (I've taken the week off from my paid employment) I've really enjoyed it.  Nearly done, just got some business cards to make, paper bags to decorate, a lampshade to make (don't ask, just had another idea and think it might look good), get all packed up and might get to sit down at some point this evening.  Wish me luck!

Heavenly Gardens Journal Returns Home

 I joined an International Journal Round Robin back in June 2010 and my journal entitled Heavenly Gardens returned home a couple of days ago.  Here it was back then, and here it is now, all fat and overflowing with gorgeous artwork!  It really is amazing, a real treasure so I thought I'd share it with you here.

It's been around the world, to USA, Australia, the Netherlands and Ireland in it's travels.

 Here is the post where I shared my inspiration for this journal

 I created the little pocket at the front of the journal to hold paper seed markers which acted as the sign in sheet for the artists and they decorated them with a riot of fibres, threads, charms, beads, foliage and flowers.

 Gabby

 Lynda

 Clairester - page dedicated to her  Aunt Molly

 Vera

 Lizzie

 Milliande

 Milliande

 Antje

 Monika

 Monika

 Tike

 Toos

 Toos

 Toos

 

Louise

 Louise

 

 Helen

 Helen

The pages are all fabulous, each artist adding their own unique take on my theme.  The last entry smells divine, with a piece of lavender from her garden.  I could comment on each page but I think that the image speaks for itself - showing the wonderful creative and giving minds of the ladies who have and still are participating in this adventure, (I think my journal is the first to make it back home, some are still travelling and at least a couple I have yet to work in).

So a very big shout out to these talented ladies - Gabby, Lynda, Clairester - dedicated to her Aunt Molly, Vera, Lizzie, Milliande, Antje, Louise, Tike, Toos, Helen and last but not least the most dedicated organiser you could hope to work with, Monika.  It's been a pleasure ladies, I'm so happy to have 'met' you and I'm blown away by your creativity and generousity of time and energy.  If you are ever up for another Round Robin just let me know....

Journals and Collages

 I've been making fabric journals for my first craft fair in a couple of weeks and loving every minute of it.

 Lots of lovely lace, torn edges and tea dying :)

 Building up the layers of interest

 I had a quick wander around a local car boot at the weekend and came across these lovely aged books which will find their way into my art work at some point I'm sure.

Working on simple fabric collages to top lavender bags, think I have a vintage pets theme going on, lol.

Wedding Journal Revealed

 Now the bride and groom have seen the journal and are on their honeymoon in Copenhagen I can let you see the journal I created for them.  They are hoping to put photos and other keepsakes in it.  The theme was pink roses with other cottage garden flowers playing a supporting role.

 They also love vintage so I tea dyed the pages and included lots of vintage images, most of which I had used on their wedding invites.  The hard part was not over decorating it to allow them to customise and add to it to make it theirs.  I can so easily get carried away, lol.

Some of the lace that I used to make little pockets was off cuts from her dress, to make it more personal. The groom is a musician so I used music sheets throughout, mostly love songs, although there is one, nearer the back of the album where the words are 'I married a wife, she's the plague of my life' but knowing them I knew they would find it funny.

The brides mum found old postcards of the Guildhall, Leicester, where the ceremony was held so I placed them in the pockets so they could see them.

I raided my rather extensive napkin stash for roses and vintage style images, these red roses being opposite a song entitled 'My love is like a red, red rose'.

 This vintage postcard was in my collection but I just had to give it to them as it was addressed to someone with the same name as the bride.

 This fabric used to be an embroidered linen napkin, old and stained but this portion of it was sound.

This atc was part of my initial designs for the couple's wedding invitations.

The journal was constructed using an old teaching manual and here you can see part of it's spine together with a napkin that the bride gave me.  The bride is a teacher so it seemed right to use this book.

I used the same stamps in the journal that I used on the wrapping paper and then a friend kindly lent me her roses stamps so I could add more variety to the images.

Billyboy Studio Assistant was carrying out a bit of quality control , checking the inside back cover for sitability, yes, he was comfy on there until I picked him up.

The pages are all tied in so more or less pages can be used if required.  I just adore frayed edges.
I hope I haven't bored you with too many pages, there are more but they are less decorated so that it gives the happy couple more room to personalise their journal.

And here they are on their wedding day, a perfect day, full of love, warmth and friendship.  I will long remember it.  Many congratulations to you both and I can't wait to see the journal full to overflowing with memories of your special day xx

(I'll pop the whole run through of the journal on my Flickr - see side bar, just in case you're interested)