Finding my path..

Finding my path...

I love being creative and there is noting as relaxing and therapeutic as an expressive form of art, right?^_^

Recently I started working with mixed media again and there is no other feeling this good!
I found  my long forgotten box of magic-as I call it. It was hidden under the bed amongst other things for so long that I forgot it existed! My magic box filled with colourful, messy arty stuff-  acrylics, watercolour, paint brushes, gesso, charcoal, inks,pencils,oil pastels..
My hand printing materials seemed to fit right in this new field too.
I use my ink pads, hand carved lino and rubber block as well as Mylar stencils to make marks, my Gelli plate plays an important role too in creating backgrounds.
I draw- well learn to draw faces too and incorporate them with my mixed media backgrounds. I LOVE it!

And at the end of the day after having sat at my desk for a while- working, creating, experimenting I find satisfaction by looking at my stained fingers, black nails, palms covered in paint, inks, and smudges of pencil or charcoal on my face. I feel fulfilled in a way.. It's crazy!

I haven't touched my sewing machine in a while and I feel bad about it sometimes but as much as I love sewing, creating fashion garments, dolls, home decor- they don't give me the same kind of fulfilment, satisfaction and freedom. With expressive art there are no rules to follow, no plan of action needed, no boundaries, there is only that need to create that drives you far outside of your comfort zone.

I am trying to find my path in all of these. I learn. I express. I experiment. And I hope I am improving with each piece of paper that gets splashed with paint or sprayed with ink.

These are just my experiments. We shall see where they take me!^_^

Owl and bunny softies

Hello and good afternoon!

I'm sorry I haven't been writing much lately.
The weather here in Scotland has been a bit crazy and although you can't say that spring is in the air tomorrow is the first day of spring- 21st of March. That surely must mean an improvement from then on Mother Nature! Fingers crossed!
Anyway putting the outdoor conditions aside- spring definitely came to my house a bit earlier.
Like everybody else I had been feeling a bit down with the cold and slush and wind all at once and decided to incorporate lots of spring and vibrant colours into my recent projects and the outcome had no doubt brought a huge smile to my face^_^

Please feel free to leave a comment. Or share your spring projects.  I would love to see them!

Here are my Spring Owls in the making just about to get stuffed:

And here they are proudly showing off^_^

You can purchase my owls from my Etsy shop

And here are the Spring Bunnies still flat and not looking like bunnies at all:

But here they definitely are 100% bunnies! Sweet and colourful!^_^:

If you like my bunnies you can find them at  my Etsy store

One more bunny with big and cute eyes in slightly more subtle colours:

Also available from my Etsy shop

What do you think? They looks so adorable sitting together on the shelf right across, distracting me!^_^

Enjoy your last day of winter!
 Bye bye ugly slushy snow-less winter!

^_^

Gosia
xx

Notebook Cover Tutorial

Hello and happy weekend everyone!

How was your Saturday?? Mine was very productive and fun! Playing with beautiful printed fabrics is what I love^_^

There are so many lovely fabrics out there, don't you just love all the colours and fun prints?
 I DO!!! My favourite way to sew with them is patchwork and quilting, they look amazing, the more different patterns the better.

I made this patchwork neck pillow a while ago:

These fabrics come from various Tilda's collections, they are so pretty! My pillow is super comfy and I use it all the time. If you want to sew your own you can purchase my PDF pattern and instructions  here.

And today I was working on a super sweet notebook/ book cover and I will share the tutorial with you. Give it a go, it's so much fun! And the book looks a lot better!^_^
 I want to fill it in with all my creative ideas!

BOOK COVER TUTORIAL

 You will need:

-scraps of various fabrics
-lining fabric ( I used cotton)
-light weight wadding
- 2.5 cm wide bias binding
-scissors
-self- healing mat
-tape measure
-3 ribbons of different colours
-rotary cutter
-sewing machine

First measure you book/notebook:

Add 3 cm (that will be your seam allowance). Mine measures 36 cm x 24.5 cm (incl seam allowance).
Now determine how many patchwork squares you will need. I am using 5 x 5 cm square template to cut mine and I would need 60 pieces.

And here the fun part starts.. Be bold and choose fabrics with lots of different prints and colours.
I use a rotary cutter and a self-healing mat as this way you can cut more than one square at a time and they are more accurate but you could also use scissors.

Lay out your fabric squares. Place them in a desired pattern, label them so you remember the order later on.

You will also need to cut a piece of wadding and a lining fabric using your notebook measurements (incl 1.5 cm seam allowance),  cut 2 flaps too- the same length as the lining and for the width - a bit more that a quarter of the lining's width.

All the pieces

 Sew the squares together to form rows using a 1 cm seam allowance. Press each row when 

finished to the same side:

Stitch all the rows together and press.
Neaten flaps' outside edge with a zig zag stitch, turn under 1 cm to the wrong side, press and stitch. I used a decorative stitch for that:

I hand printed a small design on one of the flaps in advance:

Lie the fabrics right sides facing together and stitch the flaps on the patchwork piece:

I wanted to add heart appliques on the cover front:

 Now stitchsides of the lining to hide flaps' stitches- sandwich the flaps and stitch:

Turn it inside out, sandwich the wadding and stitch all the way around.

Almost ready!^_^  Stitch 2 zig zag lines down the center.

Stitch on the ribbons right in the center, cut them all a bit longer than your notebook length. I cut mine in various lengths:

Now we are going to hide these horrible raw edges by adding bias binding:

I wanted to add small hearts on to the ribbons...
For that you need to cut 3 pairs of hearts in different colours and 3 wadding to go inside of each- if you want them to be a bit puffed. Stitch with a zig zag in a contrasting thread.

And... It's done!! Congratulations!

And with the notebook:

Let me know if you try to make your own cover and if you do I hope you have as much fun as I did! Oh and please share, I would love to see what you come up with.

Gosia

xx

Amazing textile art..and the cat!

Hello hello and happy Valentines everyone!^_^

Whatever you do may this day and every day of the year be filled with LOVE!

I'm sitting by the window trying to focus on typing this post, there is a cat outside that I see everyday and it's making me laugh right now! It's got this funny look- white paws (all four of them!) and they look like tiny shoes, grey round body and I am thinking -a stroll is definitely not what that cat needs! More like a dog-cat chase to lose some weight! ^_^

Anyway distractions aside I've been browsing blogs today looking for inspiring works and images and came across this post with an amazing collection of mixed media textile arts. Truly beautiful.

I studied Textiles and I loved it so much and often look through my portfolio with such a sentiment, I really miss doing Textiles but somehow I find it quite difficult at the moment to stop sewing clothes etc and go wild with collages and mixed media again..maybe I am put off by the mess that would create haha.
This work is one of my portfolios piece- mixed media art.

I remember my hands and clothes being stained in all sort of things afterwards! Wax, ink, paint, soft and oil pastels.. It was a nice and satisfying feeling though so I will definitely be getting messy again^_^ I bought this brilliant and inspiring book lately, I love it! I've forgotten so many techniques already and the book is a great reminder!

Ok I'm gonna shoot now. The cat is still lazying about outside so I'm gonna take an advantage of the sunny spell before it goes away and join it!
Have a wonderful day!

Gosia

xx