Monday 8 October 2012

Altered Book - Fabric Lesson........

Evening All,

I hope everyone is well?? Ha ha, I'm still resisting the temptation to put the heating on in the evenings as the temperature now drops dramatically once it goes dark! Stubborn wench that I am I'm determined to hang on as long as possible.

Anyhoo, the lovely Elizabeth (Altered Book Lover) set us a glorious fabric challenge for this lesson. A ton of inspiration and instruction was provided and if you fancy a peek please pop on over HERE.

The first offering is my version of a patchwork quilt, lol minus the stitching and quilting! I used a card base and stuck down squares of scrap fabric, fabric paint was squeezed along the joins to neaten it up a little and some lace was stuck around the edge to finish it off. One of my fave stamps (Octopode Factory's Cheshire Cat) came out again to snuggle under the quilt, and I have to admit to being guilty of cutting his tail off so that he could fit in the hidden pocket, sorry Cheshie.........


My second page started as a scrap of fabric which I stamped on with stazon and a Debbie Moore collage stamp. This definitely needed more work so I edged the image with some copper stickles and spread it out with my fingers to create a frame. This was then matted onto a scrap of green velvet, I stuck a sprinkle of bedazzles down one side using glossy accents (I wasn't trying to cover up the fact that I had stuck the stamped panel on wonky - HONEST, pmsl!!) and stuck a border of bronze sequins around the edge. A piece of lace was also coloured with DI and stuck under the panel for interest.  The background was created using smooshed on acrylic paint and a flourish stamp from my stash........


My final offering is a tribute to my fave shoes which sadly deserted me not long ago i.e. poor old things had been worn so much they just gave up and fell apart!!
Ha ha ha, don't worry, it all went through the washing machine first!!......................


I trimmed and saved what I could and stuck it onto a DI and memento ink background, sadly the laces were beyond saving so I used some fibres instead, looks much better than the originals believe me!!
I tarted it up a bit with some glitter glue to add a little more interest. The shoe (or whats left of it) works brilliantly as a hidden pocket so I did a small tribute tag too........


I have had so much fun with this lesson and I hope it shows, it really stretched me again as I never usually reach for fabric when I'm crafting but it truly does make a fab collage medium and substrate for many papercrafting techniques, thank-you Elizabeth for such a great lesson.  On to the next one now, something else I haven't tried before - Image Transfer - wish me luck.

Many Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to.

Huge hugs blogger friends x

10 comments:

Karen said...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am loving what you did with your old shoes...amazing! In fact these are all fabulous pages! Well done you xxx

paulaexuk said...

3 fabulous spreads with fabric Dianne, pockets galore. What a tribute to your shoes, they must have been stunning.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

I don't know where to begin...these are all fabulous! I love the quickie quilt you made for Chessie and those shoes must have been amazing!!!! How smart you were to turn them into a pocket! I once had a shirt that I loved and literally wore to pieces--I turned it into a quilt!

elle said...

3! You have done a very good job. Shoes into a pocket! How clever!

BJ said...

I want those SHOES! What a brilliant idea to use them and as a pocket aswell. Fab pages Dawn, love all the bits and bobs of lace and sparklies you have added too, brilliant. BJ

Julia S-W said...

I'm sorry I haven't visited for a while - you know how it is from time to time, things just don't get done! I will catch up I promise.
Firstly, I'm LOVING what you've done with fabric on your pages! Wasn't sure which was my favourite until I got to the 'shoes' and then I knew! Such a creative thing to do with what looked like a rather stunning pair of shoes which you must be heart broken to lose! Also love your little cat stamp too.
You asked about a stamp I used on my calendar: it's by Inkylicious and I think it's called Memoirs Of A Lady - I bought it at Ally Pally this year with my sister. I just couldn't resist it to be honest and the calendar is her first outing but be prepared to see her again!
Off to check out what I've missed. Have a great weekend.
Juliaxx

Terrie said...

Aren't you the clever one? Even Elizabeth should be admiring your recycle/reuse on the shoes! Genius! And I'm so envious that you made the time to keep moving forward with your book - I think I made it through 4 or 5 lessons and then it became sporatic, then stopped....I will get back to it, someday.

Glad you liked my little punkin.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I confess I stopped by earlier, but before I could leave a message, a storm took out my electricity and shut down my computer. But I'm back now, and ready to tell you how much I LOVE, LOVE your fabric pages. They are fantastic. I got a big kick out of Cheshie, even without his tail. That was fun to see and a great pocket, too.

Speaking of pockets, your shoe was a hit with me, as well as others who have commented. I love the extra bling you added to the shoe, which classed it up even more than usual. This is another fun technique/page I would love to use in my wrap-up. You are SO talented!!

Angelnorth said...

Looks like you had lots of fun experimenting with these! The cat looks like he's plotting something under that quilt! Your shoe tribute is a fab idea, love it!

Terrie said...

Thanks for the comment about my watercolor painting of my cat - I think Vonny did a fabulous job.