I have been busy with all kinds of creative projects these past couple of weeks.  None of my projects are completely done though, so I haven't been posting a lot.  I will post about my projects as they are finished and I have been taking process pictures of some of them to share.  One thing I have been making is silk paper.  I would love to make silk paper out of roving, but I don't have any.  I made my own version of silk paper.  I made this just like I made the paper cloth that I posted about earlier.  I used a thin silk that I bought years ago from Dharma Trading Co and tissue paper.  One I made with the white fabric and white tissue paper because I had a specific project in mind.  The other piece I made with the white silk and colored, stamped, and painted tissue paper. 
I will share the pictures I have of these two pieces.

I have been drawing a fairy the last couple of days.  She is in a winter scene.  I have had a lot of fun learning to draw something new.  My next step is to paint her.  I will post her when she is done too. 

I finally finished making my art journal that I will be using this next year.  It is filled with 80 pages of Strathmore mixed media paper.  This paper has been able to take everything that I through at it, so far.  It has a vellum finish, so it is nice and smooth to work on to. The paper is 9" X 12". I used linen thread to bind it.  The cover is quilted.  I took a piece of canvas duck cloth that I had washed and dried and cut it too the correct size.  I then used fabric paints and a lot of water to paint my canvas.  
I used this paint:
PROfab Textile Paints
Transparent & Opaque
(for all fabrics)
PROfab Textile Paints are made here in our plant and are ready to use from the jar. They have a jello pudding like consistency and are available in both Transparent and Opaque (for darker fabrics.) They are designed for Sun Printing, Screenprinting, hand painting, stenciling, and for use on any other surface that  your creative mind can think of. They can be used on natural/synthetic/blend fabrics, wood, non-washable decorative glassware, and even ceramics. Our PROfab paints are water based, non-toxic and odorless. Mix with PROfab base extender to create pastel shades and with Lo Crock for water color effects. Heat setting is necessary for permanence. 
and this paint:
Lumiere is just about the best fabric paint available! Concentrated high quality pigments and perfect coverage even on dark fabric. Lumiere is the metallic, iridescent version.
I also used Tulip fabric spray paint in white and diamond glitter.

I spread my colors around using water so that they blended and then I sprayed through a place mat with flowers and butterflies with the spray paint and then added some designs in black paint on top while the other paint was wet.  I sprayed glitter spray paint over top of everything.  I let the whole thing dry overnight.  When it was dry I heat set the paint.

For the inside cover I took a piece of muslin about the correct size and scrunched it up and put it in a container.  I poured a mix of water and the Profab paint over the top and made sure that the whole piece was covered and wet.  I let that sit for several hours and then poured off the extra and laid it out flat to dry.  When that was dry I heat set the muslin piece.  I was going for an aged look.

I took the canvas and a piece of cream felt the same size and sewed them together along the edges.  I then did all the hand embroidery stitches on the canvas. 

After I was done with that I put my piece of muslin over the felt and again sewed along the edges.  Next I set up my sewing machine to do free motion stitching.  (You can sew this way even with out a special setting on your machine as long as you can set your machine to a 0 stitch length and can lower or cover your feed dogs.)  I free motion stitched around all my hand stitched designs.  On the front I used circles in random sizes and on the back I used a stipple design which is just a random wiggle stitch.  With the free motion stitching you control where the stitches go, not the machine.  I use a medium fast speed and I move the fabric slowly to make my designs. 

After the canvas sandwich was stitched all over I could treat it as one piece and I bound my pages into it using a simple long stitch.  If you want to know more about the binding process you can check out Effy Wild's book binding tutorial where she will show you how to bind the book in more detail. 

After my book was bound I punched a hole into the middle of the flap and sewed around it with the blanket stitch.  I braided three ribbons together and folded that in half and put the middle through the hole that I made.  I put the ends of the ribbons through the loop and pulled it tight.  This wraps around the journal to keep it closed. 

I left the ends of the linen thread long after I bound the book.  I knotted all four of them together a few times and then I threaded on a bead.  I knotted the thread again several times and added another bead.  I kept doing this until I had four beads and a tail.  I didn't count between the beads, I just knotted until I liked the look.  I left the four threads loose at the end. 

That is how I made this journal.  If you have questions feel free to ask me and I will try to clarify for you.
Have a great weekend,
Janelle 

I am having a Black Friday Sale in my Etsy shop.  You can get everything for 10% off on that day, so take a look.  If there is anything that I have made,but don't have listed in my shop that you want to see let me know.  I am willing to make more things for sale if there is something special ta

I made a mini journal today.  I had some paper cloth left over from the larger journal that I made, so I decided to use it to make a mini journal.  It is 3" X 3 1/4", so it is pretty small.  It is bound with a lovely cream colored card stock.  I stitched it together using a thin hemp cord.  If you want to learn how to make paper cloth you can learn from my tutorial.   

I just finished a painting of an angel.  This painting took me a while to complete.  There are many layers in the background and the painting.  You can learn how to paint an angel like her too.  Effy Wild is offering the class at Wild Soul Arts soon.  If you want to check out this mini workshop join the free site at Wild Soul Arts  the class is under the groups tab.  Here are a few pictures of the stages of my painting.

She really sparkles in the sun.  She has Golden fluid acrylics, Tulip fabric sprays, FW pearlescent acrylic inks, Liquitex heavy body paint, Prismacolor pen, Modeling paste, and Shiva Artist paint stick.

Have a great weekend,
Janelle

I have another spread finished in my art journal that I thought that I would share.  This one was inspired by a Lifebook lesson from Tracy Verdugo.  I really enjoyed the process and would like to do more in this style.

I also have another sneak peak at a journal that I am making.  This is a bit of the front cover.  After I get the journal bound I will take pictures of the whole thing and show it off.

Have a wonderful creative week,
Janelle

I like to make my own stamps to use in my art.  This is the latest stamp that I carved. I draw on plain paper and then outline everything in a charcoal pencil.  I take a speedy cut block and rub my charcoal drawing onto the block.  Then my lines show up and I can carve them out.  I test my stamp with ink and keep carving the lines until they are just the way that I want them.   

I have been busy this week getting ready for Halloween, but now that the busyness is over I will share a few pictures.
I had this fake Jack-O-Lantern around for a few years, but this year I decided to paint it.  It reminds me of candy corn a bit. I also finished a painting that I started a while ago of a Bee Girl.  I am working a few more paintings that I will post after I finish.

Have a great week,
Janelle