Crocheted daisies and a bag..

 This is a project I did for the Helmar Creative Team if you would like to see more details pop over to the Helmar Creative Team Blog. 

Well I have done crochet a lot over the years and thought I would crochet some flowers and decorate a bag for my pens. 

So the first thing I did using the Youtube tutorial from Happy Berry Crochet was crocheted three flowers. I just stopped the video and crocheted along with her. Don't you love Youtube.


I needed a bag to pop my pens in that will go in my handbag. So thought I would make one. You could skip this step and decorate any bag you have but I have a bag full of zippers a friend gave me, so it was nice to use one.  I made a triangular bag at a class a while ago when I went to a craft expo. It was much simpler to do a rectangular one. For the sizing, I just grabbed my pens and made it longer than that so they fit and thought it turned out ok. I was quite happy with my little bag.

So after my bag was sewn together. I grabbed my Helmar Fabric Glue and some buttons and glued the buttons in the center of my flowers. 

Then I popped some Helmar Fabric Glue on the back of my flowers and glued them to the top right hand side of my bag, pressing firmly. 

Of course you don't have to make the bag you could easily decorate anything with the same method. On a t-shirt would be cute or a headband. I hope I have given you some ideas to decorate something easily with Helmar Fabric Glue. 

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

Helmar art journal cover

Over on the Helmar Creative Team page I created an art journal. I  have been joining in with Rae Missigmans doing the Art Marks 30 Day Challenge Rae announced during the week that she is doing another challenge in March so a whole new set of prompts.  So I needed a new art journal for the new challenge. So it was time to make another one.

First I grabbed my craft knife and cutting mat and cut my cardboard. So my cover ended up being 

8 1/2 inches ( 21.5 cm) by 5 1/5 inches (13.97 cm).

I used the cardboard backing that was with my paper. The cardboard is quite sturdy and I cut it in half. So that meant it was the perfect size for my book. The paper I use is Monte Marte Watercolour paper and has 30 sheets so I will get 2 books of 30 pages so it works out so well and the paper holds up to sewing really well. I punched holes 4 cm in from each inside edge. I spread Gesso over the cardboard and then painted with my palette knife. I used a stencil to add some details and interest.

I then placed some book and dictionary papers together with a bit of plasterers tape and tacked it together with some Helmar Tacky Craft Glue to hold. I added a little paint over the paper, so it matched in to the background. Let that dry a bit, then I sewed with my sewing machine in a zig zag motion. Add this to the cardboard cover on the background with the Helmar Tacky Craft Glue. 

Then on the inside I thought I would add some interest with some painted desk papers that I use to cover my desk when I paint. 

So I drew around it and cut it to size.

Then I spread the inside cover with the Helmar Decoupage and Craft Glue with the paint and glue spreader. I also added the Helmar Decoupage and Craft Glue to the back of the painted underpapers and used the paint and glue spreader to remove any excess glue and bubbles so I get a nice smooth finish.

I used some Payne's grey Decoart paint on the edges.

I then cut my watercolour papers to size and using the cover as a guide I punched the holes to suit and added the rings

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

Rings and Chevrons...

I am joining in with Rae Missigmans #artmarks30daychallenge 

I made this journal with rings at the side in a class a few years ago and have never used it. I thought this would be perfect for this challenge, as I can pull the pages out to work on them separately. For this challenge Rae would like you to make marks. You kind of have to decide what kind of marks you like to make so look through previous journal pages and see what your marks are. Rae does give you a sheet to download with some of her marks she likes to use and the is another page to download with the prompts for the 30 days. 

I have given myself another mini challenge to sew on all 30 pages with my sewing machine.

Day 8 Rings

Decoart Americana Paints and used a inner of a cardboard roll to make the rings with some black Gesso. I used the Ronda Palazzari stencil to make the tiny circle marks and the little marks that look like tiny camera's.

Day 9 Chevron

Love the grungy look of this one using an Andy Skinner stencil to add the numbers words and chevrons. 

I am up to day 20 and have been having fun doing them live on periscope so if you would like to catch me on periscope live or watch a replay check out my page here.

Linking this up with Paint Party Friday 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Gridded and Dozens...

I am joining in with Rae Missigmans #artmarks30daychallenge 

I made this journal with rings at the side in a class a few years ago and have never used it. I thought this would be perfect for this challenge, as I can pull the pages out to work on them separately. For this challenge Rae would like you to make marks. You kind of have to decide what kind of marks you like to make so look through previous journal pages and see what your marks are. Rae does give you a sheet to download with some of her marks she likes to use and the is another page to download with the prompts for the 30 days. 

I have given myself another mini challenge to sew on all 30 pages with my sewing machine.

Day 6 Gridded 

Using my stencils that I cut out of cardboard I stenciled the shaped on with  DecoArt Americana acrylics. I then sewed a grid pattern with my sewing machine. I really like the grungy look of the black and white Gesso. 

Day 7 Dozens

Added a butterfly from a Kaisercraft stamp set on top of some painted dictionary paper. Added the quote stamp from Tim Holtz on top of some Gesso so it would stand out. The main card I thought I would do 12 marks of everything so 12 triangles 12 dashes and also the number 12 to go with the prompt of dozens. Adding splatters is always fun. 

Have a great day 

Vicki-Ann :)

More than one...

I am joining in with Rae Missigmans #artmarks30daychallenge 

I made this journal with rings at the side in a class a few years ago and have never used it. I thought this would be perfect for this challenge, as I can pull the pages out to work on them separately. For this challenge Rae would like you to make marks. You kind of have to decide what kind of marks you like to make so look through previous journal pages and see what your marks are. Rae does give you a sheet to download with some of her marks she likes to use and the is another page to download with the prompts for the 30 days. 

I have given myself another mini challenge to sew on all 30 pages with my sewing machine. 

Day 5, More than one.

I used the cut out pieces of the cardboard stencils and glued them on to my page to add some dimension. Why would I waste fabulous shapes that were already cut out. The mini pomegranate stencil by Balzer Designs is under the quote. 

I like the way as the card was black that the white gesso kind of sat on top and made it look so textured. These colours were all from the new colour range in 2016 from Decoart. I can't wait for this years colours to come out they look terrific but know these colours will always be some of my favourites to work with. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :) 

Just three...

I am joining in with Rae Missigmans #artmarks30daychallenge 

I made this journal with rings at the side in a class a few years ago and have never used it. I thought this would be perfect for this challenge, as I can pull the pages out to work on them separately. For this challenge Rae would like you to make marks. You kind of have to decide what kind of marks you like to make so look through previous journal pages and see what your marks are. Rae does give you a sheet to download with some of her marks she likes to use and the is another page to download with the prompts for the 30 days. 

I have given myself another mini challenge to sew on all 30 pages with my sewing machine. 

Day 4, Just 3 

Decoart Americana paints and marks with spots and lines with pens and stamping with a small Prima stamp. I like the way this looks kind of weathered. 

I decided to make some stencils with a craft knife. I cut out these half circles some squares and triangles. I figured that I wanted some simple shapes to work with for this challenge and that I could cut them out myself. I just used the cardboard that my coffee capsules com in. 

The best thing about these stencils there is no cleaning and that with the added layers of paint they seem to be just getting stronger.

Have a great day 

Vicki-Ann :)

Art Marks 30 Day Challenge

I am joining in with Rae Missigmans #artmarks30daychallenge 

I made this journal with rings at the side in a class a few years ago and have never used it. I thought this would be perfect for this challenge, as I can pull the pages out to work on them separately. For this challenge Rae would like you to make marks. You kind of have to decide what kind of marks you like to make so look through previous journal pages and see what your marks are. Rae does give you a sheet to download with some of her marks she likes to use and the is another page to download with the prompts for the 30 days. 

I have given myself another mini challenge to sew on all 30 pages with my sewing machine. 

This is my cover I might change this at the end to look more like something I would do.. 

I have used all Decoart Americana paints on my pages and I am loving trying out different colour combinations.

Day 1, Petal-like

I thought with the prompt of petal I kind of drew some petals like they had dropped off the flowers.

Day 2, Needlework

I used my hand carved stamps for this one and added some circles of scrapbook paper. 

Day 3, Concentric

Cut circles of dictionary paper and added a quote

I am very late linking this up with Paint Party Friday but am going to pop around and check out what people have been up to this last week. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Today I choose Happiness...

Hi all, I have been wanting to get my sewing machine out and sew in my art journal for a while so this week it was time to do just that. 

I got 2 dictionary pages out and glued them on to a piece of cardstock with Helmar Decoupage and craft paste. Then I painted them with different blues in Decoart Americana paints. I used 4 different blues and blended them also with white to get different variations. Added some circles with a stencil from TYPO. 

I bought this wonderful word papers on clearance at Kaisercraft and could not wait to use it. So it went on the background over the piece of Hessian that I had added some gesso and paint.  I also bought the paper with the quote on, It was a 12 x 12 sheet with all different quotes cards. 

Will link this up with Paint Party Friday and Art Every Day Month and pop over and visit and see what you have been up to this week 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Making pillows...

I was making a journal cover from a tutorial from Teesha Moore it is on Vimeo here. It is a 4 part tutorial on how to make journal covers from these as Teesha calls them little pillows.. There is some fantastic journals that Teesha has made and it is well worth a look at her wonderful tutorials. Teesha has made bags and wall hangings all from this simple technique. 
I started mine last year and got one side done and then I just kind of left it. I bought one of those fat quarters of materials.. A mixed selection of coordinating fabrics. I liked this one as it had lots of purple and black and white fabrics. So what got me going again on this. Well I had a big clean out last week and found the bag with all the pieces.  I hung it on the doorknob of my room so I would do more. When we were out shopping last week I needed needles for my sewing machine. I saw this lovely fabric on sale for half price. So that kind of inspired me to keep going. 

This is Misty my kitty. My daughter bought the bed for her cat and it sat on it once and just never liked it. So she thought that my cats might use it. Misty liked this spot near the fire but there was not really anything there for her to sit on. They are funny how they just find a spot and that is where they go back to.  So we just put the bed there and well, I think she likes it. She looks so tiny on such a big bed. 



So day 12 of the #90daysofblogging accomplished. If you would like to pop over and see what the others joining in on this challenge are up to today.. 
Here are the links...
Tamiko McCurry
Donna Lueders
Sandee Setliff
Sharon Estes
Yvonne Armatage Gebauer 

Have a great day

Sandy :) 

Friends are like stars...

I got a new stencil and stamp set of coordinating stars and could not wait to play with it in my art journal.. I also got some Lindy's stamp gang ink sprays.. When I buy something to try out, I always buy it in blue, as its the colour I use the most.. So I sprayed my background in 2 different blues, one has sparkle its so pretty. Then used Tim Holtz distress stain and a blending tool for the background stars.. Grabbed France Papillon's design cube as it has little stars, so stamped them in black.. Then I went back to the stencil and outlined the stars through the stencil onto a Gelli plate acrylic paint print that I had been wanting to use.. I cut them out and stuck them onto my background.. Then well if you follow me you know what I always do next is the fun part, the doodling around the edges of the stars and adding the white Signo pen lines.. I also added little white dots here and there.

I wanted to write something, I nearly printed it out on my computer and that little voice in my head said no, its practice time.. So out came the pen and I wrote the Quote.. Good friends are like stars you don't always see them but you know they're always there. I just had to sew around the edge of it. It does not look finished to me now until I sew around the edges.. 

So to all my friends and followers this one is for you.. :)

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Creating...

Today I just wanted to get some paint out.  So a baby wipe and some paint for my background. Bit of stamping trying out 2 new Prima stamps I got for Christmas.  They are the washi tape stamp and one from the Coffee break collection. The hearts are a new stencil I got in a mini mixed tin of stencils from Typo, what fun they are to use.. I used the Peacock feather distress ink and the mini blending tool for the hearts. I love how they all came out different shades after hitting the paint.. As usual nothing is finished lately unless it is stitched, so had to sew on the hearts and because that lace fell out of my cupboard today, when I moved something else, it got sewed across the top.. Momento black ink around the edges.
Thought that quote fitted well. Creating for the love of creating frees the soul...
I am entering this over at the Moo-Mania challenge its anything goes.

Have a great day 
Sandy :) 

Heart...

Have you ever just gone one way with something and had this idea and then gone off in a completely different direction. That's what happened with this.

I had all these little tags that I had made one day just to try them out different sizes and had reinforced the holes at the top with stamped file folder leftovers.. The tags where also just a mop up index card from a dylusions spray day...  I stuck the tags on some dripped on and painted music paper and used my new spot stamp from Typo on some other watercolour paper, its a cute little stamp that I am going to get a lot of use out of.. Some Tim Holtz washi tape is on there and I also used 2 prima stamps for some little stamping details here and there. Sewed up and down on it and this was all going to go on another completely different page.. But then something else caught my eye and thought the heart looked so much better with it.. The backgrounds on these are both done with Dylusion sprays and when I do that I always get about 6 big index cards of leftovers to play with so the heart got chopped out of one of those and I doodled some swirls for it to sit on.. More stamping with 2 Prima stamps with Tim Holtz peacock feathers distress ink and some black Momento ink. I had a lot of fun stitching all over it randomly and liked the way it turned out.. So thought this was the perfect wording for this, even though I had just used this phrase on another page, I had definitely trusted my heart.

Going to enter this over at Simon says stamp blog Wednesday challenge its anything goes.

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Cherish the Moment...

Another fun one to do. I am loving doing separate pages and being able to sew my layers onto it.. 
I started with a layer of Gesso with the Dylusions harlequin stencil.. I then sprayed with Dylusions orange and yellow and blended all around the edges and over the Gesso with Tim Holtz distress ink, tea dye.  Then some splatters with purple, orange and blue Dylusions. Stamped with my new Prima stamp with black archival ink love those little circles. Then more stenciling this time the Dylusions letters with Brown archival ink.. 
Collage is done with the Kaisercraft, Authentique and the craft paper is stamped with a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp.  I then sewed all around everything with my sewing machine, my favourite part to do at the moment, other than the inky bits.. I typed 2 whole pages of all different quotes and printed them out onto card stock from my printer.. So these are such fun to just pick one and add it onto my pages.. Distressed all the edges of the collage elements and then inked them all with more of the tea dye distress stain. The photo that I used I got from The last door down the hall freebies - siblings so cute..

I printed out a whole page of them to use I love those old sepia photos. 
So just more inky fun and sewing with collage elements and lots of layers.. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)