More printing and even more blackberries ...

In between binge-reading chapters of 'Career of Evil' (very creepy, but excellent) and pulling up bindweed on the allotment I collected yet more blackberries and came home to cram them into an already full-to-bursting freezer. I also couldn't resist experimenting with Gelli printing again. I really need to give it a rest for a while as I'm going to be drowning under a sea of painted paper soon! But I have been using several of the sheets to make booklets that I can use as either notebooks or art journals, so at least I can find a practical use for some of 'em. I was really pleased with this blue, green, purple and silver printed paper. Looks really pretty, and I included metallic paint so it's got a nice sheen when it catches the light. Rather less pleased with this piece based on a yellowy-creamy background.

The colours are a bit all over the place, but it's not a total disaster. I do love that bubbles stencil from Hobbycraft. (Bubbles or dots, I forget what its proper title is.) As well as liking the stencil I bought from the charity shop, which kind of looks like a chrysanthemum flower, or maybe someone else would see it as a starburst?

These are the latest art journal pages I did, and I like the bold contrast with the black dots and the orangey-red background. Looking back on my initial attempts at art journallng, I now think I was relying too much on techniques I'd seen others do on videos. I was not exactly copying them, but was trying to produce something that was more their style than mine. These pages are more 'me', even though they're quite simple in the way they're constructed. No added text or lettering. No stencils or masks layered on top of the cut-up-and-pasted printed papers. I think that because I wasn't sure, at first, what the rules are with art journaling, what you should do, how your journal should look to be considered successful, I wasn't confident enough. Also, I was trying to produce something that looked artistic. Trying to produce a completed image that someone else might view and approve of. But I need to be bold enough to have pages that look messy sometimes, or weird or odd or ugly or whatever. I reckon I should concentrate on the idea that the journal's a 'safe space'. Nothing in it needs to be pretty-pretty or accomplished, and nothing needs to be shown to anyone else unless I chose to share it.

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How to make these decorative birds

I suggested yesterday that I'd run through how to make a fabric bird wall or window hanging (can't think of a snappier title for it than that!) so here goes. I'll start with the first decorative hanging I made. It's something you could make in any colour combination you want, and would look good hanging at a window with translucent beads that'd catch the light I used five birds for this, but you could make it longer if you prefer. (Incidentally, if you're wondering about what's hanging off the bottom on this, it's a metal Christmas decoration, shaped like a lantern. For some reason I thought it looked appropriate to leave it there, looped over the end.) WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER: Assorted scraps of fabric for the front of the birds - aim for a mix of colours and textures. Silk looks good, as does anything with embroidery or intricate patterns. You might aim for a hippy-ish boho look, or maybe you're more the minimal Scandi

Paper flowers, leaves, feathers ...

I had a few requests after posting this photo on Facebook, people asking if I could explain how I made these paper flowers. Your wish is my command, and here's the info. It's all very simple and you don't need any advanced drawing skills. So grab a stack of gell prints, a pair of scissors and off we go! The type of print that seems to work best is one where there's a fair amount of detail, rather than a block of solid plain colour. Prints where you've maybe channelled your inner Elizabeth St. Hilaire and 'layered layered layered' as she's always urging us to do. POPPIES If we start with simple poppy seed heads and stalks, they're cut freehand from paper that's mainly shades of orange and brown. I glued those on to a sheet of white copier paper, then cut them out, leaving a narrow border around each. Backing the gell print with the white paper adds that contrasting border, but also strengthens the piece, especially the thin stalks. I

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out. The glue's su

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