OWOH!!!

DRAW IS NOW CLOSED BY I'LL BE BACK TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON MONDAY! GOOD LUCK ALL!

One World One Heart was created in 2007 by Lisa Swifka as an event hosted to bring bloggers from around the world together. The event has grown each year since with last year's participants exceeding 900. Each of the blogs participating will host a giveaway. You can find a list of participants/blogs on the button above.

I would like to welcome my blog friends that visit me on a regular basis and many of the new bloggers that are visiting for the very first time! I hope you like what you see and return to visit me often. I welcome comments and update my blog daily excluding weekends. If you wish to find out more about me, please click on the sidebar button entitlted "About Me"!

I will be giving away the textile collage pictured above entitled "Remember". The collage measures approximately 5 x 7 inches and consists of layers of hand painted fabric and textiles. Images are from Lisa's Altered Art. If you would like to enter my giveaway, you must have an active blog and leave a comment in the comment section below this post. Good luck to all!

The contest closes on Friday February 12th @ 6:oo p.m. (pacific standard time). The winner will be announced on February 15th!

I will be taking a break from blogging during this time so I can visit my "new" and "old" blog friends. I will return to daily posting commencing February 15th!

HAVE FUN CHECKING OUT ALL THE BLOGS!

Some thrift store finds to share today? The trims and tablecloth are dyed now. Not sure what I'll use the jewelry bits and spoons for but have some assemblage ideas for later this year.

I spent the day yesterday creating a special something for the upcoming One World One Heart giveaway which I'll be participating in next week - see the button in my sidebar!

Need to clean my studio today and decide on what new projects to start. I have stuff everywhere!

Enjoy your weekend!

Played with the fabric I created from yesterday's post in the studio and this is what I came up with! An envelope for future goodies, two ATC envelopes and a tag (not sure what I'll do with this yet). I did manage to use up all the fabric so had fun. Not sure what I'll get up to today?

Have fun whatever you do!

I was playing around in the studio yesterday and decided to use up some scraps of my Luscious Layers. These are various bits and pieces fused to a muslin background. Some edges are satin stitched while others have ribbon or laces applied. I originally put this together for a binder cover but have since changed my mind and will make up something else.

Played with journal pages yesterday and managed a quick visit to the thrift store. There was a box of Archie comic books (the small ones) so picked up a few of these to add to future journal pages. Have decided I'll need to do a video of my Remains of the Day journal as there are simply too many pages to photograph.

Not sure what I'll get up to today!

I mentioned yesterday that I received a gift in the workshop I attended on Saturday. I sat next to June, who just happened to deal with antiquities at some point in the past. During that time she picked up a family album of daguerreotypes, two of which she gave me above along with the front album cover! For those of you who may not be familiar, a daguerreotype is an early photographic process with the image made on light sensitive silver-coated metallic plate i.e. tintypes. You can click on the photo to enlarge it and get an up close of the writing above the photos. Names are included. I thought the dragonflies and eagle wings were just incredible too. June also has the book of the family history - I think this is referred to as the family bible. What a find!

Thank you June for sharing these incredible treasures!

In December I enrolled in an online journal class entitled "Remains of the Day" taught by Mary Ann Moss. This is an incredibly inspiring class for those of you who may be interested and well worth taking. There are 18 videos outlining how to create a Remains of the Day Journal. For the last number of weeks I've been working on journal pages. Progress in the studio continues. More to share on this later......

I'll start today's post with a photo of a thank you post card from my incredibly talented friend Donna! Didn't she do a beautiful job! The design on the front is one of her original drawings. The window opens to reveal a surprise. The back is a postcard in French addressed to Madame Lorraine! FABULOUS DONNA!

I attended a workshop this Saturday taught by a local artist Donna Swain entitled Working with Mediums. We created samples using various mediums. I will begin to use these more in my work now I have a better understanding of what each can do. I was really lucky and won the door prize - a gift certificate for some framing. Will have to figure out what I want to frame......
My DH made me some lovely dinners this weekend to celebrate my birthday (Sunday). I can't quite believe another year has come and gone. I did manage some studio time and am working on a project I hope to complete later in the week and will share at that time. I have something special to share tomorrow I received Saturday. Until then......

SKINNY SWAP

Last year I was asked to participate in a Skinny Swap. We have six participants and are required to do two skinnies per person, one a month for a total of 10 skinnies. Our swap is international (Germany, The Netherlands, United States and Canada). This is my January skinny (front and back) for Marion entitled "A Snowdrop for your Soul". I decided to expand on a theme of the months. I had the image of snowdrops peaking through the snow even though we get little to no snow here on the coast - I can dream! The front is painted canvas and included purple which is one of Marion's favourite colours. I've attached images printed on the computer and various fabric and doily bits. The back is hand dyed and surface designed cotton.

On another note, the very talented Stephanie Rubiano is having a wonderful giveaway on her blog. I took a class several years ago entitled "Perching Pixies" at Artfest. If you get a chance to take a class with Stephanie, do so. She is a talented and generous artist and teacher.

I just love this!

I mentioned last week that I was working on some binder covers so thought I would share one of these today. This was created from an unfinished project I started last year. I decided it was time to use it since I wasn't particularly fond of the colours and knew I wouldn't finish it as a wall hanging. I made this using scraps I had in my fabric bin cutting squares/rectangles and using fusible to iron onto a base fabric. Satin stitch was applied around all the individual pieces and the edges of the cover with a trim of fuzzy yarn.

I spent the day yesterday stocking up my Etsy with Luscious Layers bundles.

Have also added some grab bags which are leftover strips/pieces of the fabric and trims used in the bundles. These would be wonderful in ATC's! Most pieces are approximately 4x6 inches.

During my travels yesterday, I stopped into the thrift store. By now, you know I can't resist doing this. I've been taking an online journal class and am currently making pages that use up scraps of paper and fabric. These goodies will come in handy, especially the embroidery patterns and the typewriter book. I'll be explaining more about the class in a separate post. It brought back memories seeing the Nancy Drew books. I know I'm dating myself here but I used to just love reading these books in my teens. My hubby used to read the Hardy Boys! Walk down memory lane or what.....

These are the buttons I picked up at Michael's on sale - couldn't resist those polka dots. Of course when I purchased the bag, I didn't realize that ALL the buttons were not polka dots. Oh well.....Am off to prepare some more Luscious Layers bundles. Enjoy your day!

Busy day in the city yesterday. Michael's had remaining Christmas stock marked way down so picked up a few goodies. Also picked up some more fabric printing sheets which I had just about run out of.

Above is a photo of some wire hearts I was playing with last week. I am so not a jewelry artist so apologies to those of you who are. They are very simple (perfect for me) and will act as embellishments. Interestingly as is often the case, I had them in mind for a particular project I was working on and found once applied that they didn't look as good for this project so they will now go on another one! Do you find this????

Off to get in some trouble in the studio today.

A RARE SUNDAY EVENING POST.......

I know, a rare occasion with a post on Sunday evening! Don't get excited because it probably won't happen again for a long........... time! I'm heading into the big city tomorrow so thought I would post tonight as I'll be rushed to get the ferry in the morning.

I had a goodie package arrive on Friday afternoon - my felt is here! I ordered this from Prairie Point Junction. It is a blend of rayon/wool ideal for various small projects I am planning. Don't you just love those COLOURS! Fabulous......

Have had a very busy creative weekend. Am currently taking a journal class online and have been constructing signatures the last two days. I'll be sharing more later this week with photos once I have a few more done.

Jocelyne in Switzerland received a Luscious Layers bundle from my giveaway mid November. She has a post on her blog so pop over to visit her and say hi. I'm so happy you like them Jocelyne!

Finally, Dawn posted a few days ago about a giveaway on Vicki's blog. She makes the most incredible knitted bird's nests. They are just so beautiful - I couldn't resist and ordered one. Check out her garden photos too - lovely. Thank you Dawn for keeping us up to date with all these fabulous giveaways! I know many of you follow Dawn's blog but if you don't better go take a look! FABULOUS.....

Chat again Tuesday!

In a recent article in one of the Somerset magazines, the very talented Ruth Rae showed charms created by cushioning batting between layers of fabric. I started playing and this is what I came up with. Fabric is stamped with Staz-On ink in sepia tone on some. On one I printed the words onto fabric treated sheets, ran it through the printer and attached to the fabric with fusible. Have given a few as gifts and plan to use others in various upcoming projects.

Finished a couple of binder covers late yesterday so will photograph these today. Will be working on some backgrounds for various upcoming projects today and who knows what trouble I'll get into next!

Enjoy your weekend!

Quite some time ago I received a DVD and sample kit on silk fusion. Over the holidays I had some time to play and this is what I came up with. This is an interesting technique using layers of silk rovings and textile medium. I added some threads while wet which are embedded once dry. I only did one layer so the fabric created is very thin. Not sure what I'll use it for yet. To find out more about silk fusion you can check out www.treenwaysilks.com.

I spent some time on the computer yesterday organizing some class summaries for upcoming classes locally and the remainder of the time in the studio working on some binder covers. Will share these once complete.

For my UK friends - I hope you are managing with the snowfall you are receiving!

That's it until tomorrow....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year all! I hope you enjoyed the holiday season and santa was good to you. I spent most of the time relaxing this year. We watched a variety of movies including Benjamin Button (good), Angels & Demons (good), Four Christmases (very bad), Julie & Julia (okay).

I recently purchased a new subscription for a magazine published by the Embroiderers Guild of the UK entitled Stitches for all you fiber enthusiasts. Received my first copy just prior to Christmas. Am quite delighted with this one and looking forward to the next one to arrive. Also purchased the new Sew Somerset which is lovely - all kinds of inspiration!

Trudi sent me some lovely gifts shown in the second photo including new moo cards (great designs), trim, a charm and digital. I've already used some of the trim she sent along. She also created a lovely ornament which regretfully was packed prior to photography.

I did manage to spend some time in the studio over the holidays. I have been working on a skinny book exchange - more info about this within the next several weeks. I am also in the process of experimenting with my new graphics tablet so am spending time in front of my computer.

Enjoy your day, back tomorrow with more to share!