Friendship Day Cards

In Finland Valentine's Day is often called Friendship Day, and it's a day which is not only for lovers, but also for friends that want to send each other a little greeting. This year I made some Friendship cards, and I thought I'd share the process with you. I enjoy making cards like this, and you've seen similar cards on this blog before (e.g. here). Basically the motif is composed of a background square of some colourful material (fabric, paper, paper fabric, coloured baby wipes) on which I place an image I've cut out from cardstock or stiff drawing paper.

I started with the background. This time I decided to use my brand new thermofax screen to print some faux script on fabric. To make it extra festive, I decided to use metallic foil for the print. So I used foil glue instead of paint...

and when the glue had dried to a sticky surface, I put foil on top and rubbed the foil with my fingers and then a bone folder to make the foil stick to the glue...

and then I pulled off the foil sheet. I love the effect of gold script! (But not to photograph it - impossible in the lighting conditions we have right now!)

I then cut the background fabric into small squares, and glued them onto blank folded cards.

Then it was time to create the main motif. I drew a heart on a sheet of paper...

and scanned it into my computer. It was then easy to import it into a text-editing programme (MS Word in my case), and to change the size to the right measurements. That is to say, you don't have to draw the image to the final size. Draw it bigger, and scale it down with your computer. When the image had been resized, I duplicated it to fill a whole A4 page, which I then printed onto 180 g/m2 drawing paper.

I cut out the heart shapes and added little double-sided sticky pads to the back of them, to make them stand out from the background...

and attached them to the card. Finished!

I hope you'll find this card technique inspiring. Of course, if you only make one card, you can skip the scanning and printing stages, and just use your original drawing. Happy Valentine's Day!

- Annika

What I Did Last Summer, Part 1

Last summer I did some exploration into dyeing with plant materials, but unfortunately I haven't got round to telling you about it! So I'll do a mini-series that I hope will inspire you to try some eco dyeing next summer. It's still deep and dark winter in Finland, but perhaps reminiscing about last summer will make it more bearable until there are more definite signs of spring around.

But wait! You don't have to wait until summer! Perhaps you have something in your cupboard or fridge, or perhaps a potted plant that you might use for this cool technique. You need two sheets of inkjet photo paper, a spray bottle with water, a couple of transparencies (or plastic bags), old newspaper and something heavy, like a stack of books, and of course some form of plant material.

You start by spraying a coat of water on the glossy side of the photo paper (or running the paper under the tap and shaking off the excess). The glossy side is the side that will accept pigment. Put the paper on a protective plastic surface. Then arrange your plant material on the photo paper. Here I've used strawberry caps and crushed tea leaves.

Spray a second sheet of photo paper with water and put it on top of the arrangement, glossy side down. Add another protective sheet of plastic, place the stack between old newspaper, and place some weights on top. Leave it for at least 24 hours, and NO peeking! This is the hardest part of the technique. Then open the layers, rinse off the plant material and let it dry.

Here's the result with strawberry caps and tea:

Next, I decided to aim for more colour. I tried lobelias and pansies.

And this is the result. Pretty cool! It's interesting how the blue pigment has migrated to the edges, whereas green and yellow form more uniform areas.

Here's a sample with geraniums and leaves of silver falls (which didn't leave much of a mark, but more of a resist):

And a close-up. It's like a watercolour painting, isn't it?

And finally, onion skins, which are a lot easier to get hold of right now:

The results are totally unpredictable and pretty amazing. I feel I want to explore this more: red onion skins, red cabbage, pomegranate peel, berries from the freezer... there must be loads of things to try!

These plant 'photos', by the way, could be fodder for e.g. card-making, scrapbooking or collage, so have a go with it. But I'll have to warn you: it's addictive. Soon you'll run out of photo paper. But, hey, it's a lot cheaper than using the printer. Photo paper gobbles up so much ink, you might as well save your money and use it for this instead. ;-)

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon!

- Annika

Knot bag

A couple of weeks ago I posted images of a bag project, where I used spray paint with freezer paper resists. When I last wrote about this project I hadn't decided whether to embroider the resisted shapes or not. Of course I couldn't resist (if you pardon the pun) stitching them, as I found the perfect embroidery thread in my stash. A skein of hand dyed embroidery floss from Oliver Twists Fibres that I got in Birmingham last August. I mean, feast your eyes on this:

(The fabrics in the background are from Liberty, and I am saving them for something special.)

So, here I am stitching away. In fact it was fairly quick, as I did just a running stitch. I love running stitch. Simple, yet effective.

This little bag is perfect for holding my yarn when I knit or crochet:

One handle is shorter, and forms a simple knot when it's slipped over the longer handle:

And If you're curious about the crocheted thing dangling from the bag, it ended up in this project (which is still in progress):

Have a great day, and thanks for dropping by!

- Annika

Wacky Crocodiles

I had fun this week, venturing out into The World of Screen Printing, which has a lot of white territory for me still. And what I was lacking in refined technique, I compensated with joyful abandon. I'd cut a stencil from paper and decided to try my hand at multiple prints in a repeat pattern. And not only that - I also decided to mix my colours directly on the screen. This is the result, and I call the pattern my 'wacky crocodiles'.

Some prints were perfect, others a little fuzzy around the edges, but that's how it is in life. We're not all perfect, but still lovable in our own little ways.

Here's a close-up:

I didn't measure anything, and in order to get the crocs roughly in the right place, I used the cut-out from the stencil as a placement guide: I positioned it on the fabric, aligned the screen and stencil with the cutout, removed the cutout and printed. It worked like a charm, except for the time when I forgot to remove the cutout. Imagine my surprise when I lifted the screen and the fabric was still white. But the cutout was pretty:

I'm going to collage it into my sketchbook, together with the stencil. I couldn't resist making some doodles on the stencil after I'd finished with it.

Thanks for visiting my blog and see you again next time!

- Annika

Personalized Sponge Cloths

Just before Christmas I was inspired to work with stencils, and that inspiration has continued after the holidays, partly because I'm teaching stencil techniques at the moment. Today I want to show you a couple of small projects that perhaps could make your household chores a little more fun: personalized sponge cloths. You can buy sponge cloths without print in craft shops.

You've had a sneak peek of the first one already, but as it was a gift for my mum, I didn't want to reveal it completely and spoil the surprise for her. For this first one I've used freezer paper, which I cut into a sort of 'snowflake'. The artist Melanie Testa was the first person to open my mind about the possibilities with freezer paper 'snowflakes' (See e.g. Quilting Arts Magazine issue 21, spring 2006). Paper 'snowflakes' don't have to look like the snowflakes we all cut when we were kids. So I cut a Westie snowflake for my mum. (Regular readers know that I keep referring to Fia the Terri(fi)er. She has an impressive bark, but she really is a very gentle and sweet dog.)

Here you can see the design process: sketch, folds, cut-out, stencil:

And here is the result. As the sponge cloth was quite porous, the paint went under the edges a little bit and made them slightly fuzzy, so I used a Pentel Gel Roller for Fabric to tidy up the edges. I love that pen!

And then I decorated a sponge cloth for myself too, but for this one I didn't use a stencil, only a fabric marker: a Tsukineko Fabrico Dual Marker. A lovely and juicy pen that comes with a bullet tip and a brush tip. A lot has happened with fabric markers since I tried my first one many years ago.

That should add a bit of pizzazz to my kitchen.

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon!

- Annika

Spray It, Don't Just Say It!

I'm teaching a class on spray painting on Thursday, and that inspired me to set up a spray painting studio in my kitchen today. Yes, you really do need to be generous with newspaper and whatever you use to protect your surroundings. I guarantee that the paint  will end up everywhere.

As for the fabric, this piece is a work in progress. I used a couple of new toys on it: a felt table topper and a stencil and mask I cut with a soldering iron.

In the Fall 2013 issue of Stitch magazine there are instructions for a really cute 'otomi-inspired knot bag', which I've been meaning to make for a while. After having suffered from severe lethargy most of the day, I finally got started on it.

I cut the pattern pieces, ironed freezer paper masks in place, and applied spray paint. Here the paint is drying. Pretty cool, but wait for the big reveal!

The drop cloth is starting to look interesting too!

And here it is, with freezer paper masks removed (sorry, but the light is really bad for photography this time of year):

In close-up:

And I'm definitely not going to throw away the freezer paper masks!

Now I only have to decide whether to embroider it like the one in Stitch magazine, or whether to just assemble it straight away. Whichever I decide, it's going to be a really fun little bag.

Thanks for dropping by, and see you again soon!

- Annika

Judging a Book By Its Cover

In my previous blog entry I showed you a rather dull image of a project in progress: a machine stitched jersey appliqué project, where I used tissue paper as a stitching guide. By now it´s all is finished, and made into a cover for a sketchbook, which will be filled with surface designed fabric samples.

The sewing was a bit tedious, but when it was done the real fun began! First I removed the paper.

Then cut away fabric.

When the cutting was done, the fabric looked like this:

And here's the finished book cover

The Christmas Mouse gave its approval.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Annika