Painted Pebbles Update

Here's a little update on the ongoing painted pebbles passion of mine. The two on the left are the ones

from my previous post that were needing their centers finished. Plus a new addition of a bright sun.... perhaps influenced by the glorious summer weather we are having at the moment. It does look very happy with itself doesn't it? Just in case you were wondering the pebbles are coloured with Inktense pencils. They are really lovely to work with and as the name suggests the colours are very, very intense. You can draw them on or use a paintbrush and pick up the colour from the pencils and paint with them. When they dry the colour is set (this is on porous surfaces, stones being almost non porous don't absorb the colour as much but if you washed them off after using the pencils they would be stained)

 

Anyway hope you can also enjoy the sunny weather where ever you are!

Bye for now 

XX Jen XX

A Flutter of Inspiration

It 's been a long time since I last posted, so apologies for neglecting you all!

Hopefully here is a little selection of the things that I have been beavering away at in the last weeks that will make amends for being such a lazy crafter. Over the last few months my mind has been slightly distracted from creating and I didn't even feel like entering my studio. But gradually the feeling that I've now come to know so well crept back into my mind. Teasing me with little snippets of ideas for projects. Like a delicate butterfly  fluttering in my mind's eye inspiration began to take form......... and I have to say it has given me so much satisfaction to be once more making and doing!

Like many of you I'm sure you have stashes of craft materials carefully cached away in our secret spaces and I was quite determined to NOT PURCHASE any new supplies. So I rifled through my hoard of lovely hued merino wool tops and played with wet felting them into strands which became the two bangles you see below. To add a bit of sparkle I once raided my seed bead stash and found colours that would suit. It's unbelievably theraputic to sew tiny little glittering beads onto things. I'll have to stop myself with my clothes. Might get some odd looks.... hey but that's nothing new!

Having been bitten by the wool and felting bug I was then inspired by all of the jolly birdsong going on outside to produce this little birds nest made from a moth eaten old woollen scarf and some fancy fibres. Again wet felted and shaped it then needed some eggs and a little sewn felt bird to finish it off.

Having sated my need to felt and sew I then turned to painting some beach pebbles I had collected with my sister when visiting a nearby Devon beach. Having sought inspiration from my new vice PINTEREST .... gah  what a time hungry monster that beastie is. I got out my gilding leaf and size and laid out the foundation for the pebble below. Have I told you that I'm a magpie? Never satisfied unless something is glittering or shiney!

Well I've had lots of fun painting and gilding and trying to come up with new ideas for the pebbles!

 Here are a pile of finished ones. The gilded ones look lovely in candle light or by our log burner as the flickering picks up the gilding beautifully!

 Two more pebbles awaiting their central theme. But that's for another day and another post. Hopefully I'll come back with another post soon. I know I said that I'd sated my need to felt but there is another project I have on the go which might take a wee while so maybe I should take some progress photos ready for another future post!

Anyway, thanks for dropping by. Have a lovely time of the summer while it lasts, and as Arnie said in Terminator.... I'll be back!

x x Jen x x

Felted and Embroidered Journal

Here's a little coptic bound journal I made the other day. I was fiddling, as you do, with various craft stash pieces in my craft room and found a piece of felt that I'd made (wet felting) a while ago. The colours are so beautiful they really zing, although in our dull winter light the photos don't do it much justice. Anyway as I said, I felt that the felt (sorry!)  should be used for something, not just hidden away in my craft stash to be brought out and looked at every now and then so I cut out the various random shapes and appliqued them to a piece of plain black felt. A bit of embellishment later, voila, I had a couple of journal sized embellished felt panels. 

Using some grunge board as stiffener I sewed black cotton fabric on to make a backing to the panels and then folded and bound some nice quality paper into it. As a finishing touch I used two felted buttons to make the closure.

I'm really pleased with the finished result and glad that I took the plunge to cut up the piece of felt that I'd stashed. Now I've got a little journal to scribble down ideas and notes for future craft projects. Maybe I'll make some more felt and instead of stashing it, I'll make some journals of maybe a kindle cover or two for my etsy shop! Who knows?!!! 

Anyway have fun crafting. xxx Jen

Well it's been a little while since my last post but I've been busy beavering away at the Water Element Spirit Doll. Here she is sewn, painted and bejewelled with glass beads.I had it in mind to design the fabric for her and used special printable fabric from a company called Crafty Computer Paper so that I could get the exact effect I was after. I think she turned out quite well.

I have just listed her in my etsy shop along with a few other bits and bobs. Including the two little fellows below. I created a silicon mould from an original dragon I had made from polymer clay. I think the different colours give them quite a different personalities. They are fridge magnets with two strong magnets embedded into the polymer clay body. Just to say that the Little Green Dragon is now SOLD and will be winging its way to the USA!

Below are two cards I've made from my Faerie designs. I originally created them for my business selling clear polymer stamps but have decided to sell what is known as digital stamps of them in my etsy shop. 

This allows you to use the faerie designs for your own craft projects by printing them up using your own printer using picture editing software.  

Finally here is a card made from one of my horoscope designs also being sold as a digital stamp in my etsy shop. Take a look all 12 star signs are there!

Well that's what I've been up to. I'm hankering after making a green man Art Doll so that will possibly be what's next on the agenda. Although I also would like to paint some designs for Christmas cards so they may have to come first as Christmas is fast approaching!! Take care all and have a lovely crafty time during this festive season.

x x Jen

Dolls and Dragons.. Lots and lots of Dragons

 Hiya peeps! Well it's been a long time... too long really. And where have I been?.... well that would be telling wouldn't it! ;-) More importantly what have I been doing? Well that would also be telling wouldn't it.... and that is indeed what I am here to do.. in fact.

After what I can only describe as a very fallow time of non productivity and then many, many false starts at getting creative I have recently been overwhelmed with enthusiasm and more ideas than a human body can take!

During the fallow times I took to creating fabric dolls, sharing one day a week with my sister, during which times we would chat, sew, drink tea/coffee, laugh and sometimes laugh so much we would cry. These were gentle times but so important in getting me back to being creative, designing and gradually loosening up the rusty old cogs of making and doing.

I am now endeavouring to keep my muse amused in the hope that she will stay with me for a while!
So my first offering on the table, so to speak, is actually one of my very latest projects. I've had it in my mind for some time to create a sewn Art Doll... not just a soft toy (nothing against soft toys... some of my best friends are soft toys! :-}  ) but something with a bit more spirit to it. Hence we have my FIRE ELEMENTAL doll -above. I'm hoping to make WATER, AIR & EARTH dolls too.

Below are the face and hands of the water elemental doll, my next creation. They are sculpted from polymer clay and have just been cooked, but as yet are unpainted.... so watch this space to see how she turns out!

I have just opened up an Etsy shop  - As the Crow Flies Art - as an outlet for some of these creations. My FIRE elemental doll has just been listed. 

 

Who's this little cutie you may ask. Well its another little polymer clay experiment. I've got a thing for Dragons...... all shapes and sizes, colours. I just love 'em! 

Well a while back I'd made the little faun coloured dragon on the left. I bought some strong magnets and made him into a little fridge magnet dragon. I'd had quite a few compliments about him so I decided it might be worth while making a mould and making him a few brothers and sisters. So the rather glitzy looking blue dragon is my first copy. I'm going to experiment with various colours and finishes. So expect to see dragons appearing in the shop some time soon! I'll have to sculpt some more too.... so much to do... it's lovely!

I'd just thought I'd show you some of the little sewn critters I made when I was crafting with my sister.

One of my favourites is the little moon gazing hare below. I'm nutty about hares as well as dragons.

I gave her a little bell too, cos she's called Harebell - like the flower!

 Here are a couple of little hand sewn dragons... I told you there were going to be lots of dragons. They are both for sale in my Etsy shop too! I had so much fun designing these little cuties. I think the red one below was influenced by Smaug, the dragon from the Misty mountains in the Hobbit. All he needs is a pile of gold coins and he'll be happy! Speaking of the Hobbit, I am sooo looking forward to the film, which I believe should be out at the end of the year! I've watched the small You Tube films that Peter Jackson has posted about the shooting of it and they look like they are going to be as good as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Check them out if you haven't already!

Well I guess that was a little flurry of creations for you. I'll be back with a follow up on the Water Elemental doll shortly. 

I've also started posting on my other blog Enchanted Moon Illustration with some recent paintings, feel free to check them out. Bye for now, have a great week. Jen x x

Poetic Interlude

I was bimbling around some old bits and bobs the other day and I found a poem that I wrote for my other half not long after we met. It made me go quite wibbly..... and I'm pleased to say that it is even more appropriate today then way back then! I hope you like it?!?

An Intense Spark of Knowing

You know me, not my shell, not the skin I was born in,
Not the person that others think I am.
Yet you know me, the secret me, the inner me.
The complex mix of dark and light, yin and yang.
You regconised my soul and saw within a reflected likeness of your own.
And in that knowing you see a chance to be the inner you.
A chance to let the spiritual seed, lying dormant for so long, begin to grow.
And if you let me I will be the sunlight to your spirit.
And if you let me I will be the warm rain that lets your your spirit grow.
For if you let me be these things to you, I will in turn blossom and I too will know.

Be back soon with some more arty stuff hopefully! Jen

Little Fimo Gargoyle

Well it's been a long time since my last post (sounds like confession!!). There's been a lot of crappy stuff happening which has made being creative very difficult so there hasn't been too much to show. Things aren''t much better on that front but I think the fact that Spring is.... er springing ... has made a difference and I'm now attempting to do arty things. YAY! I've kicked myself up the rear and created a new blog just to showcase my illustrations. It's called Enchanted Moon illustration so any new things of an illustrative nature can be found there. (oh yes I'm trying desperately to get more organised!)

Anyway with further ado may I introduce my newest creation.

He's a little angelic gargoyle critter I made with fimo. He's about 2 inches (5cms) high and hangs from a wire loop which you can see in the back view. I like to call him a gargoyle but
really he should be called a grotesque as gargoyles were water spouts and as you can see he's not spouting anything. In fact it looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth..... :-}



I haven't named him yet, so if you've got any ideas that would be cool!

I think if I can I'd like to make a little group of these fellas as alternative Christmas tree decorations...... we'll see. I know what I'm like.... but it's something to log in the back of my bonce for moments when I can't find inspiration to create anything.

Anyway I'm back and with luck and hope I'll be posting more bits and bobs as they come into being.
Have fun! Jen