Another new product!

As if the Bohemian pendants weren't enough, I decided it was time to try my hand at making fabric notecards, something I have admired and wanted to try for a long time, and I have plenty of fabric stash to use up!  Ordered some photo insert cards with envelopes, and clear plastic sleeves, and they got here yesterday.  So far today, I have created 15 cards, which tells me this is going to be a great item to build up my stock for incidental items at the gallery or Open Studios.  Here are a few I have
finished so far:

So far, these have come together quickly.  However, I have ideas for some landscapes and other subjects which will probably take a little longer, but at least I have broken the ice!  More to come...

New directions with fabric collage

For the longest time, I have wanted to try making Bohemian pendants... colorful, funky, one-of-a-kind necklaces from fabric, beads... whatever funky things I can put together for the look.  I've been perusing Pinterest for awhile, gathering ideas.  I wasn't able to find any tutorials on them, so I just finally started to play... let's see what happens if I do this!  Well, here are a few that I have created so far:

I created a fabric collage awhile back for a textile background, but decided I didn't like how it turned out.  But there are sections of the fabric that are perfect for these little 2" by 2 1/2" pendants!  Plenty of sparkle and visual interest.  I layered netting, threads, ribbon and other fibers over a black background and used free-motion stitching to anchor it to the backing.  Then I used double sided heavy duty fusible interfacing to give it some body.  The back is black fabric, and I finished the edges with satin stitching.  I added beaded fringe and suspended from black rat tail cord.

I took a different direction with this pendant... layers of fabric hand stitched together, then I appliqued the autumn leaf on top... one of several I made last year for another project.  A few beads enhance the top fabric.  It is attached to a felt backing and suspended from waxed linen cord.

This is another using the collage fabric... more fringe, and beads on top to add a little more color.

I'm working to build up an inventory of these before putting them in the Arts Connection Gallery... hopefully by June.

I have also been busy dyeing... I stopped carrying tank tops awhile back, but have some I listed on my artfire shop.  I had a few undyed tanks left, so figured I would get them dyed too:

Just in time for summer, although we're still waiting for Spring weather here in the High Country!

Spring Expo and experiments

Saturday was the Spring Expo at the Flagstaff Mall... one I hadn't done in awhile.

My friend Cinde and I always try to get our spaces together so we can visit during the show.

I only sold one item, and Cinde didn't sell anything, but we got to let people know that the gallery where we sell, Arts Connection, has moved closer to the center of the mall, so there were sales in the gallery... woo-hoo!  Here are some shots of my displays in the gallery... hope to get a good shot of the whole gallery today when I do a stint of gallery sitting.

So now that we have the gallery set up and I have plenty of inventory, back to experimenting with new things!  I recently bought a couple of thermofax screens from Lyric Kinard.  Yesterday, I decided to test the screens on muslin to see how they come out:

I plan to use these on some of my dyed t-shirts, but meanwhile I got a bug to see how they would look using sharpies and alcohol:

Oh, YEAH!  I'm hoping to cut this one out and use it as an applique on a stitch project.  And I plan to experiment using dye na flow, procion mx dyes, etc. to see what I like best.  Stay tuned for more on my experiments!