MAY 31 Day Art Challenge

 I love the side of me that is into the textile side of crafting; but I also like art ...

One of the greatest presents for me would have been a big pack of felt tip pens that were all in colour order and a colouring book or pad.  I used to draw so much when I was younger.  In particular dancing ladies in long frocks and frilly tops; then ballet dancers; gymnasts; at one time I had a fascination with drawing shoes and boots on bodyless legs!  My mum always got my brother and I to draw our Christmas cards.

Well I found a website a year ago.  It think I have probably written about it before but here's more about it ...

www.atcsforall.com

It is an absolutely fab website that has many many members all of whom are artistic and creative.

You join with a user name and then you can download all your works of art - but in particular Artist Trading Cards (ATCs).  These are little cards measuring 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".  On these are all sorts of art work from drawing to collage to textile work ... the variations are limitless as far I can tell!

And we get to trade them!  If someone likes your little piece of art they can ask to trade and then you have a good old nose in their Gallery and see if there's an atc (or two) that you'd like to own.  Addresses are swapped and atcs sent to their new homes!  With the added benefit of earning "itrader points" - a point for each swap (although negative ones can be posted when a swap isn't carried through).

These points mount up and having more than a certain amount means that you can then enter into arranged swaps.  These are when a member chooses a theme and players then join and make three (or four if they make one for their host as a thank you).  These are then sent to the Host and they swap them back out with you ending up with three different cards from three different players.  It is wonderful to receive these little swaps and to see the artwork created.

There are many different swaps.  The one I am concentrating on today is one that was entitled MAY 31 Day Art Challenge. 

We had a prompt for each day and off we went ... trying to create a piece of art for each day using the relevant prompt.

I, of course, was a little behind and so thankful when we were given until 15 June to complete the challenge. And here are mine ....

CHALLENGES:

1 - Succulents 

2 - Rain

3 - In a Bottle / Jar 

4 - Illustrate (or collage) a Book cover. 

5 - Fairytale character 

6 - Zentangle 

7 - Eyes 

8 - Mother's Day 

9 - Zoom In View of... (Flower, bug, animal, your choice) 

10 - A cute monster 

11 - Bubbles 

12 - Pick one word, use it on your card somewhere. 

13 - Birthday 

14 - monochrome 

15 - numbers 

16 - abstract 

17 - moon 

18 - Use postage stamps. 

19 - Fairies 

20 - Mermaids  

21 - Use washi tape on your card. 

22 - Brown - Create using only shades of brown. 

23 - Focus on negative space. 

24 - Paint with watercolors. 

25 - Dreams. 

26 - Stick People (ok, have fun with this, be creative!) 

27 - Circles 

28 - Ice cream. 

29 - Sun. 

30 - Memorial Day 

31 - Use one of these May symbols - emerald (birthstone), Lily of the valley (Flower), Taurus or Gemini (zodiac)
OR
use the word "MAY" somewhere on your card. 

See?!  The possibilities are endless and so much fun!

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Raspberry Ripple

This one has been a long time in the making.  I wanted to make a Ripple Blanket using Attic 24's pattern as I love the pattern!  (http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/ripple-blanket-know-how.html)

For some reason I seem to have a lot of pink yarn 

(funny because I am really more of blues and greens kind of girl!) 

so I decided to use all pinks for my Ripple Blanket ... And so Raspberry Ripple was born ...

Of course it had to be called Raspberry Ripple with the various shades of pink and being a Ripple Blanket!

Some of the pink yarns were varigated - one in particular went through pinks to blue. 

 I kept this in as I felt it gave it a bit of oomph!  

It was one of those projects that kept going ... and going!  

I ended up wanting to make it big enough to fit a single bed.  And here it is being shown on Katie's bed ...

As you can see it is plenty big enough!  And how pretty does it look?!

And here it is on a king size bed - just to give an idea of it's size.

I loved making this one and will definitely make another one in the future - perhaps in lots of scrap yarn...?

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Minty and Pink Baby Cover

You know when you have just one ball of yarn and it's not enough to make anything big or even striped on a jumper.

The ideal solution is to include it in with other yarns and make a little baby blanket!

This particular yarn was a baby pink fluffy (I think it was called Angel something or other) yarn.

I had found a pattern I really wanted to try with flowers in hexagons ...

I decided that I would make all the flowers the same 

and use various minty and pale greens as the borders on each ...

So off I went using the join-as-you-go method - so much better as there is no sewing up

 - only the sewing in of the ends that haven't been crocheted over!

I even worked out how to make half-hexagons to fill the bigger gaps down the side.  

I decided to leave the top and bottom as slightly wavy - I like the edges to be a bit different sometimes.

And hey presto ... a little pretty baby cover - big enough to fit over a baby in a pram or a toddler in buggy, or even as a cuddly in the car!

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Dog-Dog and Feebee

At the beginning of the year I posted several photos showing the Barbie fashions I had been creating.  

These all went into The Emporium https://www.facebook.com/yeovilemporium/?fref=ts 

and into my Unit there.

Not long after I received a message on my Etsy site asking if I was the same Crafty Phoenix Lady 

who was in The Emporium in Yeovil.  To which I said yes.  

The second message came back saying that they had been in and bought nearly all the Barbie outfits 

and wanted to know if I'd make some more BUT they weren't for a Barbie!

They were for 

Dog Dog and Feebee - two little dogs - who are favourite toys of two young ladies.

They wondered if I would be able to make some more clothes that would fit them better than Barbie outfits.  They have thicker arms and their legs aren't so long so that a dress or skirt becomes a maxi dress on them!

They had a couple of requests - Dog Dog's owner wanted a black coat, a blue and white maxi dress and a skirt and gillet set in turquoise; and Feebee's owner wanted a wedding dress with a veil; and they both wanted a school uniform and a satchel style bag for the dogs.

Well I was so taken with the idea that I was happy to help out.  

I was given a budget and some colour preferences and then given a free rein other than the particular requests.

And here are the finished results ...

The school uniforms. I wasn't 100% pleased with the blouses as the collars were so fiddly to work out and then they weren't quite right but apparently the girls love them which is the main thing!

A frilly, girly pink dress for Feebee; 

pink trousers and top to fit either

A floral dress and a Scottish inspired dress

Feebee's wedding dress and veil - silky, sparkly and with pink flowers

Navy and white striped maxi dress and a posh black coat with pink leopard print lining

 (I also sewed a Next label inside as Dog Dog's owner loves browsing the Next directory!)

Plaid dress with lacy collar and a Tinkerbell dress with turquoise lace and mauve heart button

Snazzy red and yellow print dungarees and matching jacket

Grey jacket with a dress that has a matching bodice and personalisation on with teddy print skirt

The two satchels - personalised and with big heart buttons over the popper fastenings

Snazzy heart jacket personalised for Feebee (as it was pink fabric and she likes pink!) and a summer dress

A Strawberry Shortcake t-shirt top and a matching skirt and top set

A grey and lemon blouse with lace ruff at the neck and two skits

The turquoise skirt and gillet set; and pinstriped trousers and bright pink and orange leopard print blouse

Knitted dress and a pretty yellow blouse with stars on and a pink skirt trimmed with cerise velvet ribbon

Quite a good wardrobe of clothes for two well loved dogs!

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Long time .... no posting ...

Again I sincerely apologise for my tardiness in not blogging recently.

I really don't know where time goes!  Well, actually, I am a Gemini so in my defense my mind flits from one thing to another ... and I can very easily get distracted!  The amount of projects I have on the go is seriously too big to even start counting

...One day I will finish them...!

I have also had fibromyalgia flare ups and my sleep pattern is seriously bad.  I cannot get to sleep ... sleep badly ... and then I can't wake up properly and find mornings so hard.  Luckily Jonathan is a true saint and does the morning school run with the youngest.  The other three catch the school bus from our gate!

Anyway, I digress (again!) ... I have finished some projects and I will endeavour to show and tell them all!

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