Inspired by Colour

Frustrated by lack of creative time this week. Hopefully next week will better. I have managed one new watercolour crayon background spread inside this book

Techniques learned from 21 Secrets and wanting to explore much more with these new lovelies :

Enjoyed this arty fashion shoot --lovely stills here

Discovered lots of lovely texture, stitching and colour at Facile Cecile's blog.
And I've had Flora Bowley's book out from the library

Take a look inside via Amazon

I've been soaking in her colourful works at her blog and website

"True Nature" by Flora Bowley

I am looking forward to a wonderful weekend with 8 girlfriends at Raumati Beach. It will be a great time to recharge my creative batteries.

Silver Thimble

I got this thimble last week. It is silver and especially valuable to me beause it belonged to my lovely Gran, aged 102, who died last week. And before that, it belonged to her mother, so I guess stitching is in my blood. Gran wore the rose gold bangle every day, and now it lives on my wrist.
I also got these back

It is lovely to see that the fabric cover is now marked with use from all the times she showed them to visitors. So it's been a sad time, but also a time of celebration for a life lived with great joy

Be back here soon....

21 Secrets : Go Green with Rae Missigman

I am soooo glad I decided to join 21 Secrets 2013 : 21 different tutors presenting fabulous online instructional videos, 9 months to play, a 63 page printable PDF and a crazy wonderful cheap price - the only downside was choosing which workshop to start.

One of the first to attract my attention was one by Rae Missigman called Go Green : "Transform a simple one dimensional book cover into a beautiful, recycled & re-purposed three-dimensional work of ART". See a preview of the class here.

Sneak preview of my completed cover

Since I am aiming for Completion this year, I decided to give this bookcover some attention

I last shared the book with you in December 2012 - you may remember I had done some work on prepping some pages inside with colour and stitch

Rae's workshop excited me with possibilities for the cover. I love the re-purposing of things and already have a stash of recyclables. Here's how it happened ::  First layer of textures with a few of my own additions to the lesson

Been wanting to get some drywall joint tape ever since I saw this inspiration wednesday video from Donna Downey. Adds yet another yummy texture. Here it is closer up alongside moulding paste through a stencil - delicious

Stage 2 cover

And here's Stage 3 - ready to dress.  Remember to click on the pictures to see more detail

I really like the Tim Holtz butterfly tissue tape on the spine. The other butterflies and flower are serviettes. They blend really well with gel medium, and I love how the colour behind shows through. Lovely to touch as well as look at. Then there was more to add.
Layers of vegetable net bag,

words and fibres (scrim and felt layers above)

a ruffle of recycled painted wipes,

Back cover complete

Front cover complete

The butterfly is a brooch my grandmother gave me about 40 years ago

And I fell in love with my sewing machine all over again

it stitched through the book covers! (I used a leather needle and a very slow stitch)

And here's the cover all done

Now off to look at other classes on offer to put some more colour on the inside pages. Have a lovely weekend