Organza flower cards

www.etsy.com/shop/StitchMikki flipagram made with @flipagram Music: Harp - Relaxing Harp Music #flipagram http://flipagram.com/f/EempJo5l6X

Etsy Expats: Member of the Month for May 2014

This is a super article about us.

Thankyou so much Etsy Expats for the feature!!



Etsy Expats: Member of the Month for May 2014: Our member of the month for May is Jackie of StitchMikki . Congratulations Jackie! Jackie is a very talented textile artist.  As you c...

#BBUS3880 - The Kamloops Courthouse Gallery

If you ever find yourself in Kamloops this is well worth a visit!

The Ingenuity Team: Friday Finds! Celebrate Spring!

The Ingenuity Team: Friday Finds! Celebrate Spring!: Spring is finally here!  At least on the calendar if not weather wise.  So to kick the season off, I have some fun finds from Ingenuity Team...

Art and Decor Etsy Shout Outs

Cool!

We got a mention here .....



Art and Decor Etsy Shout Outs

Taking a second look - part 1

Having recently moved house, I have been having a good sort through of all my materials and artwork but even after a good 'clear out'  there was still an alarming number of boxes.

There will never be enough wall space for all the artwork I have produced over the years but it does seem a shame to have it all boxed away in the dark.

Not all of the artistic experiments were successful and sometimes I would find that a particular medium was not 'my thing'.  I suppose I held onto some of these failed pieces because we do , after all,  learn from our mistakes.

So that has got me thinking that it would be an interesting exercise to go back and revisit some of those pieces from my past.  Maybe some new ideas will spring forth from the old?

It will also be nice to have some digital images of the pieces to make up a 'digital catalogue' of my work.

 So here's the first find.

I had forgotten that I used to spend hours drawing these 'doodles' with felt pen then colouring them in.

I think I was avoiding doing homework or revising for O levels ... so we are going back a few years here!

 I would start by drawing one or two large flowers then I would add the leaves.

 I would draw other clusters of flowers around the page then fill in the gaps with swirls and tiny flowers.

 I have always liked lots of colour!

I am wondering how these would look printed onto fabric?

I have used printable fabric sheets in the past then embroidered and beaded over the top.  I think that idea might work with these.

I think these would make nice wrapping paper too.

Looking at these now ( over 30 years after I did them ) I can see that I still use this idea in my fabric art. This is part of a collage sheet I made up of images of fabric art pieces I have made.

This is another fabric art card where I drew onto fabric with fabric pens then added beadwork and hand embroidery.

Off to look through some more boxes now to see what else I can find.......

Etsy Expats: Team Challenge: Bold, Bright and Beautiful Beginn...

Etsy Expats: Team Challenge: Bold, Bright and Beautiful Beginn...: We started the new year with a new challenge featuring bold, bright and beautiful beginnings in this fun treasury . We had many entries of...

New poppy field cards

Working on some poppy field cards for our Etsy shop.
The landscape is machine stitched ... strips of different fabrics and yarns overlapped then stitched.
The poppies are worked by hand ... a combination of french knots and hand sewn red beads.

Yellow Sunflowers Fine Art Print

Yellow Sunflowers Fine Art Print

How very true!

http://beardedspiritual.tumblr.com/post/57205420063

jackiechadwick's photostream

jackiechadwick's photostream on Flickr.

I have recently discovered Flickr.
You can upload a photo and then use some really neat filters to change the image.
I was really pleased with some photos I took at Whistler this weekend.
The photo of the Inukshuk came out looking really atmospheric after editing.

Beaded fabric pieces

Working on a few odd scraps of fabric I had already machine stitched and machine embroidered ... adding some tiny beads and tiny french knots .. I was aiming for the effect of water here.

Sorry two of the photos uploaded sideways !

Background is made up of strips of fabric stitched together with a wavy machine stitch.  I used different colour threads and also stitched down some lengths of a variegated blue yarn.

Collage sheets

It really was too hot to be outside today so I have been working on some more collage sheets ... and having fun in the process!

I am working on a few card ideas too ... using these little squares.... I will post some photos when I have them worked out.

....and more collage sheets of larger squares .... 2 1/4 inches square.

I made this square card using four of the 2 1/4 inch squares.

I have a craft punch which cuts out a square just under this size which proved useful here.

Added some pretty green paper, some white card and some narrow green ribbon.

Quite pleased how that came out ... will work on some more ideas tomorrow.
There must be endless ways you could use the squares to make cards and  gift tags.

I love the colours in this Ocean inspired treasury.

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTk1ODczMzB8MjcyMjE5MjQzNQ/ocean-blue?ref=af_you_favtreasury

.... and it includes one of my fabric pendants!

Susan Alison - artist

I love this artist's work ... such delightful, gentle humour.
If you are a dog lover how could you resist?!!

http://www.montyandrosie.blogspot.ca/

Doing battle with Photoshop

I have been hoping, for some time, to get to a point where I could sell digital copies of my artwork.
I had come across many examples of 'Scrabble tile' jewelry online and thought that producing small scale images for these would be a good place to start.

After a few days battling on my own to get Photoshop to cooperate ... with no success whatsoever
... I decided I needed help!

This shop on Etsy is great for Photoshop templates ...

https://www.etsy.com/shop/EccentricOcean

Lauren at EccentricOcean also sells a tutorial showing you how to add your own images to the template.
The tutorial was very easy to follow ... step by step with screen shots.

So with the template and tutorial from Lauren and with a bit of extra help from Emily here is the result.

We are so pleased how this turned out and will be producing more.
I have a huge 'back-catalogue' of images of my fabric art.

Emily is working on some original Anime designs which are going to be so cool!

So .... 'watch this space' to see what else we come up with.....

The mobile art studio

We recently moved house and  most of the arts and crafts 'stash' is in storage,  where it will remain for a few months.
Before moving,  I collected just enough 'bits and pieces' together so I could continue to work on projects over the summer ... mainly more of my smaller cards.
This is art on a small scale... an art studio contained in a plastic box and a shopping basket!
Having the materials contained in this way has its advantages however .... easy to take on a camping trip or day at the lake.

These two 'summer'  cards  are made from some crazy patchwork squares I had already sewn on the machine before it got packed away.
Lots of different scraps of fabric overlapped and stitched with a zig-zag sort of stitch, incorporating a few silk flowers along the way.
Now I am adding beads and a few sequins to the fabric for extra texture and interest.

Next step is to glue the fabric squares to the cards.

Now to go and rummage through that basket again to see what other fabric scraps I have.

I think I will work on a poppy landscape next ...

sue forey fibre art: felt painting minis

I love these wonderful felted landscapes!
Do take a look at the work of this excellent artist who sells on Etsy.
She lives in Wales and is greatly inspired by the landscape around her.... these works of art are so full of colour and vibrancy.

sueforey-fibreart.blogspot.ca/

sue forey fibre art: felt painting minis: I thought I would let you know that I have just finished a series of mini felts at very affordable prices. They are made in the same way as...

Fabric pens and embroidery

I have just recently started using this technique and am pleased with the results.
First, I draw a design onto cotton fabric using fabric pen.  A laundry marker is really useful for doing black lines if they are required.
After leaving the design to dry, I then embellish the image with hand embroidery and beads stitched on by hand.
So far I have used this for small pieces ... just a couple of inches square.
I think there are endless possibilities!

Golden Threads blog

Well .... I am very flattered!
There is such a lovely write up about Stitchmikki on this blog.

http://goldenthreadsteam.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/stitchmikki/

My thanks to The Golden Threads team ..... a team of wonderfully creative people on Etsy.