Toad - needle book

There is a lot of fabric stash owned by me. ^^ Leftovers from former projects or recycled fabric or or or... From such fabric scraps I made the top of the needlebook. Just one small stripe of red in the back as contrasting colour. The toad is made of different kinds of fabric paint. Normal one but also metallic effect paints or this fluffy-after-heating paint. I though that this would make the skin of the toad more suitable or to use another word. warty! ;) Blue ribbons for closure...

Inside a little bit of black nylon for elastic pockets and some grey felt to put the needles there. The opening of the pockets is to the inside so if they will be stuffed with thing the won't fall out if the needle book is closed. Hope it will function this way! You can see some of my batic dyed fabrics and some stamping with my carved tentacle or fish stamps.

There are a place for all kind of needles: Sewing needles, needles for small beads and of course dissection neddles (being a biologist, yes, this kind of needles also belongs in a needle book, just as a matter of principle!).

It is also with a thick layer of stuffing (like the one you use for quilts) so it is also useable as a pincushion. Oh, I forgot, there is also a place for pincushions in the book!

I already made it some days ago but it was a gift for a friend of mine :)

Mail Art - a new envelope

The newest topic for the "weekstamp challenge": Mail Art. Most of you already know that I am using a lot of envelopes which are painted or printed, colourful or having some tentacled stuff on them ^^ And yes, I am using them! I love to make envelopes a little bit special for the person who will get the mail. In the upper corner on the right side is the normal stamp, I already added it to the envelope because I wanted to use it immediatley.

And it is not wavy anymore (due to the water colours I used) but thanks to heavy books flat and even again like an envelope should be ^^

The other parts on the envelope are a lot of fake stamps. And on the back an victorian writing hand....

I love the gold water colour all over the envelope!

To make envelopes I just open up a bought one as stencil.

This was a printed image with a normal laser printer I cut out according to the envelope stencil.

This is what it would look after folding...

...but before folding it I started with the first layer of painting with water colours. The reason for the wavy being of the envelope. But, as for most papers, this is really easy to overcome by pressing it hard for one or two days after drying. Don't worry ever about that!

For my fake stamps I cut out pictures I like with a sharp paper knife. Afterwards I coloured some a little bit (like the wind rose) or stamped the image with a rubber stamp. The more the better ^^ Afterwards i glued the piece in sandwich paper (the own below is spotted with coffee) and cut them out with a little overhang. All you have to do then is to cut out little triangels. And as alwasy: Don't be too accurate. There is no need to, it will look cool without being perfect! Maybe even more...

I embossed every fake stamp with clear embossing powder and added more water colours (painted with a brush or just as a lot of little drops) onto the envelope. Write a little bit on it with some not readabel stuff. Some of this I also embossed but this time with distress embossing powder which can be a little bit rubbed off after applying.

And I really love the gold!

And no, I forgot to make new pictures with a flattened envelope. Already sent ^^

I got the printed images from this cool blog!

Crochet flowers...

...okay, this post shouldn't be written by me but by Lachafa because she is just the queen of crochet! Really! And I am absolutely in love with her crochet flowers which I have never seen in this kind from another person!

She made me some flowers but being not the only one loving her crochet flowers I am runnig out of them. She already tried several times to teach me how to make them but it never stayed in my nerve cells long enough... Therefore I tried to get a little bit bettern known to crochet work and did some flower pattern I found in books. The ones I am showing you here. Mh... not one, you have to belive me in this, is as beautiful as Lachafas! But I hope I am now good enough to get her pattern and to remember her instructions the next time she is trying to teach me ;)

I think crochet flowers make beautiful hairpieces, cool broochs or clips for oneself, ones bags, whatever, are perfect to add to some choker... like I did with this one:

...and I will add some pearls.

Here are all three patterns I tried so far.

Sweetheart, I really have to learn from you!

Again the "monster" crochet flower... Looks like something organic of the sea?

A sea anemone or something similar ^^

Edit:

Okay you can see one of her flowers in this posting in the last pictures. You will have to take a careful look because it is black and therefore not very easy to see. But you may get the idea :)

And I am very curious what she will say of my first attempts ^^

"The biggest fish for you!" - card

And this is the final card!

The fish was cut out and coloured with artistic water colours. Just a little bit of blue and a lot more of silver. At some of the pictures you can see the metallic shimmer! The eye was accented with laquer pens in white and black. I think the fish looks a little bit confused ^^ The other items I used were my carved stamps and some cardboard and last but not least a black ink pad.

Yes, the fish is really BIG! And the silver and blue metallic effect, see it?!

The inside of the card...

Certainly going to be one of my favorite cards to use!

The biggest fish for you! - stamps

Another weekstamp challenge was proclaimed! ^^

The topic was: "Samtpfote" (german).

Ok, I'll try to translate; It is a literary / cute / poetical expression for a cat. At a one-to-one translation it would be something like: "velvet pad" or "velvet paw".

And I needed stamps for this. Still being with my fondness of "fishy" things I wanted to combine fish and cat. Also I though that something like "The biggest fish for you!" would be cool for birthday or other present cards.

Perch - a little how do make a fish card

Another fish card. This time a perch (german: Barsch, french: perche). Also not in true colours but with 3D effect ^^

This time I also used a little bit of gold and silver water colours but the metallic effect doesn't transfer to the photo. But trust me it is really nice! :) Especially because it is only a shimmer and not overwhelming. On the details you can see the depth of the picture.

It is a very easy procedure to make on of these cards. Just print out a picture you like with a critter. You don't have to follow my liking for this cute fish with all the spiky fins! Just use black and white maybe with a little bit of higher contrast.

Just make a first layer of colours of your liking. Don't be to accurate!

I use artistic water colours. I have them for a really long time!

I overlay the fish with silver and gold water colours. If you use the metallic water colours the colours beneath will shine through at sooon as the colours are dried.

Cut it out with a sharp paper knife.

I don't like the outlines of the paper so I make more "messy" ones. Just fold the paper a little bit over the edge of your cutting map or table.

Go along the paper line, scratching it a little bit with the paper knife.

Carefully tear the paper across this scratched line...

All frayed outlines :)

I painted over the outlines again with some water colour. The paper takes the colour extremly well at the frayed outlines. I think it is a little bit like a darker surrounding which gives a nice effect.

Glued on black cardboard (not paper! should be more stable)

I paint the inner cutting lines black so there is nothing white more to see.

Put one a little name tag. You could also use other names, wishes, greetings...

Just painted two little dots as "nails".

The fish also glued on black cardboard for more stability...

...and cut out!

The outlines were also painted black as well as some lines of the fish body.

I use a white laquer pen for the basic of the eye.

And with a black laquer pen the pupil. The laquer pens gives a slightly shiny effect like the eye is in reality a little bit "wet".

For the 3D effect I needed spacer. You can buy spacer in the shop but this glued spacers are mostly white and you could see the white shining through the fish and the background. Therefore I just glued three layers of the cardboard together...

...cut them in the desired shapes and glued the pieces on my underground.

You see, three layers of cardboard is really not too thin! On the contrary!

And the last step: The fish glued on top! I put the glue direct on the spacers and press the fish carefully onto them. Because the fish is also layered with cardboard it is not to fragile :)