Inching Artists: Holes

Holes are the theme for this week at Inching Artists. I made an ATC with three inchies, and each inchie has two windows punched into the layers. It's a simple design, but satisfying to execute.

I stepped out for a breath of air...

And suddenly it was February, 2008. Thanks, Debbi for giving me a gentle poke in the backside, to get me blogging again.

So, what have I been up to? I'm working on my postcards for the February swap, which has veered off-topic severely for me. The theme this month is "Veil", and somewhat ironically, it's a theme I chose. So, I wandered the aisles at Spotlight, selected some likely fabric of a veil-like texture, some cerise chiffon that was lovely and slippery and draped beautifully.

It was too tempting - I had to burn it. I'm starting to wonder if I might have a bit of a problem.



It was amazing fun to fling every shiny scrap into the chiffon sandwich - there's sequins, beads, gold leaf, and some really lurid fibres I would never have otherwise used. Once I'd stitched it and burned, it turned out very pretty, and it looks amazing over black velvet, but it's not exactly veil-like. It's too pretty not to use. I just have to figure out how to work it in to the theme. I can do it.

TMTA: Mosaics

The theme this week at Think Monday, Think ATC is Mosaics. I took the chance to use up the leftovers from my Christmas card frenzy to make a set of serendipity-style tiles, and it was lots of fun, and quite nostalgic to revisit a technique from time gone by.



Blogger is being a pain with uploading images right now - I have to host this at my Flickr. *waves fist at Blogger*

I am really, really hoping to play with my Lutradur samples that Debbi Baker sent to me. New stuff! I'm going to burn it! (You can't say that about too many things these days!)

Purple, Gold and Black ATCs

I signed up for an ATC exchange run through Stamphappy, the first crafty mailing list I ever joined. I'm really glad it's still up and going, because it was a great help to me as a beginning stamper, and I've made lots of friends through there.

The theme was 'Purple, Gold and Black', and the brief was to use only those colours, and to make stamping part of the design. This is the card I'm submitting:



I also made a few of these:


I like the contrast between the two - 'Observe' is very old-style for me: neat and precise, with a figure on it, and a well placed word. 'Drama Queen' is more freestyle; the edges are rough, the shape is amorphous and the background is insane. It makes me happy that I don't have to let go of the old style to embrace the new.

Fabric Postcard

I'm a part of a artist's exchange that swaps fabric postcards - each exchange is based on a chosen technique, and this round was using Beryl Taylor's method for creating a stitchable fabric from collaged papers. It's been a while since I tinkered with a new technique, and I really enjoyed watching my stash of fabric paper build up, then taking to it with scissors and knife.



I used my machine set on a wide zig-zag to edge the postcards - it's the first time I've done that, and I quite like the effect of the brown and tan variegated thread. My machine doesn't sound too good - it's well and truly ready to retire.

And then I posted them to the wrong address. *headdesk*

Oh - and another thing:


I won the battle, but not the war; I've still got half a chapter and an epilogue to wrap up the story. But I'm proud of myself - I wrote 60,000 words in thirty days.

Inchies and Presents

Ah. I see from Inching Artists I have lost a WHOLE WEEK! I though the theme for this week was Housies, but that was actually last week's challenge.

Well, I had lots of fun making them, anyway:




Oh well, I can get on with the new theme now.

I was very lucky to receive goodies in the mail:


Two fabric postcards from the Quilty Conscience swappers - the one with the hearts is needle felted, and made by Coralie Barker. The dreamy blue and silver one is by Debbi Baker, and is painstiks under organza, and delicately beaded and edged in silver. Very inspiring stuff. Debbi also sent the lush ATC made with painted lutradur, and because she's a lovely person who thinks of these things, she also included some samples of Lutradur to play with. (Thanks, Debbi! I'm really excited about having a go with those soon.) That's Debbi's decorated envelope that the goodies are sitting on.

I've got my own postcards on the boil. This month we're using Beryl Taylor's painted paper fabric technique as the basis for our designs, and I've been trying this and that and think I've landed a design I'm happy with.

And my NaNo effort moves apace:

November is a special time

November is National Novel Writing Month. (National, I think, refers to the internet nation at large.) Basically, you have thirty days to get fifty thousand words down in some kind of narrative.

For the rest of November, art will be carried out in the odds and ends of moments when I'm not cramming words onto the screen.



I feel like a zombie. I may actually have become a zombie, and not noticed it.