Welcome!

Thank you for visiting artful embellishments. This is the third year for this blog and I am so happy to keep publishing. I started in 2011 and began with a quilt of the week, this lead to the leaf of the week for my newly designed paper tree that is located on the wall of my garage in 2012.......2013 is going to bring a lot of excitement and positive change. As a personal challenge for 2013, I plan on designing a artist trading card each week to be featured on the blog.
With so many interests, there will be quilting, art quilting, leaves (and more leaves), as well as experiments in thermofax screen printing, fabric dying, and tons of DIY recycle projects. I may even enter that altered fashion scene. To a happy and healthy 2013, may we all find happiness in those things we create....thank you for stoping by artful embellishments.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Give! and then Give some more.

 Those of you who know me well understand my love of animals and rescue! Over the past few years I have learned how to use my embroidery machine to make items for dog rescue. There are 5 rescues that are near and dear to my heart and I try and keep them all stocked with embroidered towels, blankets and accessories. My beloved machine broke this past fall and I did break down to buy a new one. I have taken the challenge to finish a number of projects that I have started. I have finished some fleece jackets, blankets, and towels. The fun is in picking out the thread and fabrics!!!
I find that doing these creative projects is so rewarding. I love to get the emails from the rescues detailing how much money they raised selling these items. I think the saying, "It is better to give than receive" is a perfect one.

Screen Printing Fabric

 It has been a crazy two weeks. I hadn't gotten to nearly as much art as I had wanted to, but I did squeeze in one class. Lynn Krawczyk taught a thermofax screen printing class that was worth every penny. I had bought some of her screens and actually featured them on my drop cloth as one of my quilt squares last year. I hadn't done much more with them as I wasn't sure how to utilize them to their fullest potential. Ahhh, the left brainer making a mountain out of a mole hill.
They are super simple and an absolute blast to use. The picture on the upper right is of my kitchen table set up with supplies. You don't even need that much space.
The picture on the left is my kitchen floor, sans drop cloth and some of the first layers of screen printing. Typically, the fabric starts looking really interesting after layer 2 or 3. You do need to let them dry in between, so this will be a two day project for me! I can see art quilts, leaves, and functional totebags from this fabric in my near future. Stay tuned for more screen printing!!!
Lynn can be seen at

Home | Fibra Artysta

www.fibraartysta.com/

Friday, September 14, 2012

Leaves 40-49

These leaves were part of the grouping that I did from upholstery fabric. Decorated, yet again, from the bin of treasures. (a.k.a. junk) The leaves are decorated with scrapbook items, old cigar rings, magnets, doo dads, and even a class pin from 1938.  Soon I will take a picture of the tree. Interestingly, my original goal was 52 leaves. The tree is at 49 leaves and it looks like November......bare. This is perfect for me, that means I get to create more and my garage gets funner and funner to pull into everyday.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Fall is coming.......

Every day that I am in northern michigan I take a walk. I had the privilege of being up north for 6 days over this Labor Day weekend. Saying it was wonderful doesn't do it justice. As I walked each of those 6 days I could see the leaves starting to change and fall. It is amazing how fast things change if you only pay attention. I have been busy creating leaves for my tree, so I have "leaves on my brain".  I couldn't help but notice how amazingly beautiful nature can be.  I picked up a few of the fallen leaves on my walk this morning. I don't think anyone can create anything as exquisite as these. I am hoping that you can stop and enjoy the beauty of nature and may you enjoy the transition to fall.

Leaves 25-34


These leaves were made from recycled plastic grocery bags. This technique was first demonstrated to me via Alisa Burke (alisaburke.blogspot.com/).  She has a DVD, online courses, and has appeared on quilting arts tv. She is a great resource for being able to create without spending a lot of money. This plastic bag technique is really fun. It is a little time consuming as you have to adhere the bags together by ironing them. Once that is done, you paint the textured substrate with fabric paint. I chose to use some iridescent paints. Then I used Tulip spray paint with some stencils to get a very neat effect. Finally, they were stamped with chalk inks using Claudine Hellmuth's sponge stamps. These work really well as they are larger and take up the ink more readily.  I did 15 different leaves with this technique and I will probably do some additional projects using this recycled material.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Leaves 20-24













These leaves were done from the same upholstery book. A different sizzix die was used. I again incorporated various embellishments to add dimension to these leaves. I love these bright colors as they are really going to pop on the tree since the background is off white. My favorite embellishment is the lone earring. As I have mentioned before I was given a box of treasures (a.k.a. junk). In this box there were so many fun embellishments including broken bracelets, single earrings, old dictionary's, cigar rings, letters and numbers. Using these to embellish these leaves will allow me to admire my "junk". Since they will be prominently displayed in my garage!




Saturday, September 1, 2012

"Staycation" Postcard

In the June/July Quilting Arts Magazine they announced the "staycation" postcard contest. They asked that readers make a postcard depicting their stay at home vacation. These had to be sent through the mail and had to be 50% fabric.  I choose a picture of Miranda and Rylee performing "the perfect jump" at grandpa's house. It was the perfect stay at home vacation, picnic style. Grandpa has a fantastic pond with a raft in the center. Spending time with family is the best way to spend a "staycation".

Leaves 15-19







My original goal was to make 52 leaves for my tree. However, 52 is not going to be nearly enough. So in order to complete the tree I am going to need probably 4 times that many. I decided to make them in groupings using similar materials.  This group was made from upholstery fabric book. The fabrics are bright and have a unique mix of colors.  They remind me of summer. Seeing as summer is slipping away I decided to use these colors to hang on for just a little longer. The leaves were cut using my maple sizzix die cut. They were then embellished with letters, scrap book supplies, paper tape, old bingo chips, scrabble tiles, dictionary quotes, and additional fabric.