A Bit of Crafting

I thought I would share a bit of what I have been up to & let you know why I am sparse at posting. I have started working on another journal page. I made a video of me painting it, but haven't edited it yet. I hope to share it soon. If not here, it will be on You Tube.

I pinned one of my handmade paper art quilt blocks & its ready to sew by hand. Its not a favorite one but that is OK. I do love the colors & textures. Look at the top right corner for whole quilt block.

 Click image to enlarge

If you would like to see another one of my art quilt blocks so far it is the Dreams art quilt block .& here are some other handmade papers prior to quilting that I did.

Here are a couple of links to making handmade papers but are different from how I did mine, but I sure want to try doing it this way too! Hanmade Papermaking Tutorial & many video tutorials on making handmade papers on You Tube.

Crafting Halloween stuff:
I found an older velvet dress at a thrift shop & am going to make Sammie a Halloween costume. Why did we wait to the last minute? She couldn't decide on what to be. So this week is going to be full. If you want to see how it is going to turn out & my inspiration for the diy visit here! You might like the little hat tutorials I found & the makeup tutorials. I will be working on that today.

I also have been making these Halloween vases from recycled jars & Fall inspired ones too. If you would like to see more about them you can see it on my freebies & tutorials page over here on DearCreatives.com
I have more Halloween, craft inspiration & tutorials there.

Honestly as we get closer to the end of the year I feel the time slipping away from me! Does that happen to you? Time already to pick up the kiddo! Bye for now.

What have you been working on?

Art Bag

 Artsy, Crafty, Re-cycled fabrics, my own pattern &  Art Bag Creation.

Remember when I mentioned all those art bags & posted about all the wonderful inspiration? Well I haven't been in the painting mood lately, but I printed out something I painted onto muslin and created an art bag / purse using felt, burlap and fabric scraps I had laying around. I used some decorative machine embroidery. Although far from perfect my daughter Sammie fell in love with it. She asked me to make the straps so she could wear it from shoulder to hip. I thought I would share the results and a few steps I am going to take to make it better next time.

If you have ever printed something from your computer you will notice how sometimes the colors just don't match the image. That is just what happened here. It was pretty light on the muslin that I printed it on. But I used permanent felt tip markers to draw in shapes and color it up. I need to fix color prior to printing!

Well, you know how I hate to stop even where there are mistakes. I decided since I started and this was kind of like a pro to type any way to finish what I started instead of scrapping it. I love figuring out how to create patterns on my own. This image shared is the back where underneath the front flap is sewn in and connected.

Another thing I will change when I create my next one is the strap material. For this I didn't want to go out and purchase anything. I wanted to use felt I had, burlap from a recycled coffee sack, woven burlap scraps I had from the wedding table runner we made, and for the straps I had these great silk pants that were ripped which I cut and created them from. Added a vintage button from one of the grandma's stash & ta da.....

A happy girl modeling her new art bag with gnomes. I promise to share  my next one with you when I make it! & I hope I can even try painting directly on fabric when I get unstuck from my painting slump! Here is the acrylic painting completed which the art bag was made from.

 If you'd like to see my post about the art bag inspiration just click here. Also visit here to see the original post of the gnomes acrylic painting  and if like you can visit my link on the side bar where I have video of  how I finished the painting on You Tube.

Have you ever tried creating and sewing an art bag?  What art or crafts inspiring you right now? 

If you have never sewn a bag & need a pattern and instruction this might be something you would like. Amy Butler's Style Stitches.

Art Bag Inspiration

I thought I would share a few things that inspired me this morning while looking for something to post on my craft blog. It just happens to be Art Bags that I am posting about today and if you would like to see some summer craft inspiration I have a round up of tutorials I started and that will be added to over the summer months, just pop over to MsartistSewCrafty and follow along if you like. You will be inspired to try some crafty tutorials when you see them! Now onto the Art Bag Inspiration;

Crafty with an artistically inspired flair
The Art Bags~

Source: google.com via Kathy on Pinterest

 *The Crafty Chica

Kathy-Cano Murillo

Artyshils
Shilpa Ruchandani 

Source: gulfsprite.com via Christy on Pinterest

Gulfsprite.com 
Christy Sobolewski

These artistic ladies have shared their images but another I found and just fell in love with was DJ Pettit!

DJPettitt -Art Bags

Source: djpettitt.com via Theresa on Pinterest

Now are you as inspired as I am to make an art bag? This is totally on my summer to do list too busy or not!

Have you or do you think you would like to make an art bag? 

Don't let not sewing stop you! Check out these canvas bag options; be sure and use fabric paints or techniques for painting on canvas.

Slide Show of 2010 Artwork

I created this slide show with some of the work that I had placed on Flickr. I thought you might like to see what I created in 2010 all in one space. You can see some of the changes, exploring and outcomes that happened over the year with my art and might see some crafty designs in other mediums too. I know I am missing quite a few pieces but hope you enjoy it none the less. I am planning on starting new sets for my journal pages, mixed media etc. and tag work by year. This way I can keep all the images in Flickr to help organize what I am doing and be able to reflect and share my work. If you are on Flickr feel free to add me as a contact & I'll do the same. *link to page above I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year! I look forward to getting back to creating after settling in from being out of town. I also plan on sharing some photos from our little trip and family fun that we had & more~ Until then happy creating!