Weekly Inspiration Linky Party April 17, 2015

Happy Inspiration Linky Party Friday!!

Guess what's been inspiring me lately? My very own self!! Yeah, I know, how'd that happen? I have been so busy with ideas lately that I haven't had to look to the Universe for any inspiration at all(although I've been asking the Universe for inspiration a lot, so I guess it's the Universe after all!). I have been learning, learning, learning and apparently that is just what I needed to get my wheels turning. I had some fails,  and I would do some stuff different, but the best part is I learned from everything I tried, so really it's all a win! I've had a pretty awesome couple of weeks!

I took a workshop offered by my quilt guild, Camaco Quilter's Guild from Teresa Fusco who is a walking talking bunch of inspiration, I learned a technique for raw edge appliqué without using fusible stabilizer. She is a talented lady and great teacher, if you get the chance to learn from her jump on it!

This is still a work in progress, I have quilting to do in the background.

I went to a local florist with my photography club, The Photography Club of Cape May to take photos of flowers. Most of my photos were blurry, but I know why, I should've used a tripod and was too lazy to bother. That's a big lesson to learn, what a bunch of blurry, there's only one or two pics that were half way okay, no award winners here, but that's okay!!

My photography needs work, but I learn something every time I try, so I will keep on shooting!!

 I signed up for watercolor classes at my county library,  I am out of my element and it's a big ol' learning curve, but the teacher is good at step by step direction and I can handle that! This is my first try at a daffodil, it too needs work, but that's my specialty, trying again!!!

I drew the daffodil myself, not bad for a first try at watercolor!

So what's been inspiring you? I want to hear all about it!

Go make something! Nini~

An InLinkz Link-up

Drawing Tommy Kane

I follow a lot of sketchers, journalers and artists because someday I want to be one of those people who chronicles their everyday life by mostly drawing. I have been avoiding sketching and drawing because I'm not as good as I'd like to be.

 Lately the universe has been sending me a message LOUD and CLEAR,  "practice is the key to whatever you want to do well". So in spite of not being good at free motion quilting and sketching I am jumping in and practicing both. Truthfully I admit my sketching has improved immensely since I started in 2005, so although I complain about my sketching, it's in comparison to the pros. As an amateur with limited practice I am happy with my progress and hope to really enjoy the process of getting better. 

I found this challenge on line, an artist, Tommy Kane, will send you a high resolution picture of himself, you draw him and send it to him. He has all the portraits on tumblr.  So, you know I had to take the challenge! Here's the pic, and below it is my sketch. I think I did a pretty good job, especially for not sketching in ages! Of course I looked at the tumblr pics before I sent mine in, so I didn't totally embarrass myself! It's fun to have a record of my progress, I think I'll draw him again in a few months so I can see my improvement.

This pic is the one he sent to me, I didn't take this picture, I don't know who did.

 This took me a few hours to do after Easter dinner, I hope to be able to speed up the process a bit with practice.  

Thanks Tommy! 

Go make something!!

Nini~

                                     

Exploring Screen Printing

Mixing it up!

Since our return from Quiltcon we have been obsessed with screen printing. Chelsey has been wanting to screen print for many years, I just became intrigued with it since I started incorporating stamping, painting and gel printing fabric to use in my projects. We've been playing with making screens out of different materials and supplies, different inks and paints and different material to print on. We've learned some good things and also things we won't do again.

I've been using my Cricut Expression to cut screens out of vinyl, I'm using the cartridge designs I've purchased to put together screens that are unique but not my original artwork, which is fine for some things but eventually I would like to be able to make my own sketches and drawings into screens, which is where Chelsey's new "baby" the Brother Scan n Cut comes in. We're still working out the hows but we've been having fun figuring it out.

Here's a peek at what's on our work tables lately!

This is a sheer curtain stretched in an embroidery hoop, it's the macguyver screen frame!

Vinyl cut with the Expression, laid on the screen as a mask.

Ta dah! 

Cutting fabric is trickier than you think! I use heatnbond lite to fuse it on the screen. Fabric doesn't cut well with the Expression unless there's a stabilizer on it.

Home made screens, very technical as you can see, blue tape, sheer curtains, embroidery hoops, gel medium and vinyl. The dog screen is made with gel medium, I made that screen in a class called macguyvering screen printing. It's amazing what you can do to make screens!

    

Smile!!

Test prints! As you can see, paint is seeping out and making a mess. There's still lots for us to learn, it's fun trying! I haven't printed anything to use in a project yet. Chelsey has, I'll save that story for her to tell.


Go make something!

Nini~