It’s Spring and Time for a Brand New Bag

Spring seems to call for at least one new item to wear and maybe a new bag to carry.  So Deb gathered up fat quarters and ribbons from Blue Twig Studio and so I could make a new bag.  The four fat quarters are from the  Daisy Chain by Prints Charming  line by Kokka (Seven Islands Fabrics).   I decided the bird print was so cute, I would fussy cut and design the bag around it.

Starting Fabrics

Ribbons & Trims

As a more simple design, I used the turquoise polka dot for the front and back of the purse and the bird print for an outside pocket.  I embellished the bird with a large green leaf trim from Blue Twig and purple flower button I had at home.  Here is the front of the bag.

Front of bag/pocket

I decided the outside back should not be ignored and embellished it with three layers of trim along the top – a wide purple silk ribbon, a large turquoise rickrack and a small purple leaf trim.

Back of bag

I used the hexagon print for the inside lining, and the rest of the bird print fat quarter for an inside pocket.  The side and bottom gusset was made from the green print.

Inside of Bag

The straps for the bag were made from a wide turquoise ribbon.   All the pieces of the bags and the straps were reinforced with fusible fleece to give them body.  I used another small piece of ribbon and a button to create a closure.  Here is a picture of the finished bag.

Finished Bag

If you would like to make a bag like this, contact Deb for a kit, which includes instructions for cutting the fabric and assembling the bag.

~Kerry

Thanks Kerry for another great tutorial and project idea. What a super cute bag you have created. ~Deb

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado springs, CO 80923 – USA

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Here are the WEATHER ATCs in no particular order. I added a couple extra really simple ones to the group too.

The winner will also get this cute little ATC holder along with the ATCs.

ATC holder

So here we go. Using random.org the winner is………..drumroll please…….Teresa Brost! Woo hoo. Teresa is my sister, but I swear there was no favoritism or rigging of the selection process. She won fair and square. Having a couple different entries helped her too. Each ATC you send gets you another entry with greater possibilities of winning. Just something to think about for next month!

Don’t forget to send in your ATCs for the May theme, which is FLOWERS. This month is going to be super fun. Tell your friends and lets send in bunches of ATCs so the winner will have a fabulous bouquet of ATC flowers.

Thanks to everyone for participating.

~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

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I am still waiting for a couple of ATCs that are coming in the mail, and I don’t want to leave anyone out of the process, so I will wait for them to arrive. (Try to mail early if you can)

But I am heading out to another show tomorrow, and won’t be home til next week, so the winner will have to be a bit patient waiting til next week.

In the meantime, please send me your ATCs for the May Challenge. The May theme is FLOWERS, and I know these are all going to be gorgeous.

~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

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© Lukasz Bartkowiak | Dreamstime Stock Photos
http://www.dreamstime.com/outsider-free-stock-image-rimagefree175806-resi4149374

Welcome to a new monthly ATC challenge. As the saying goes “April Showers bring May Flowers”, so we shall be doing FLOWERS for our May ATC Challenge. After the weather we have been having lately, I am absolutely ready for Spring and sunshine and flowers! Can’t Mother Nature make up her mind whether it is winter or spring out there?

The April ATC challenge was WEATHER, and the photos of all the participants and the winner will be posted in a few days. The wonderful creativity of all of my readers is amazing to see. Thanks so much for sending in all of your beautiful works of art and sharing a little bit of your creativity with the rest of us.

ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. A little bitty piece of art created by you. Here are the rules guidelines for the challenge.

• your ATC needs to be 2.5″ x 3.5″
• you can use any medium you like (paper, fabric, metal, clay, etc)
• you can use any technique you like (a great way to try something new)
• art work is on the front
• your personal info is on the back (name, location, contact info, date, title)
• all skill levels welcome
• this is a WTA – winner take all – so one person will ‘win’ all of the ATCs submitted (if we get more than 20 entries, there will be 2 winners announced)
• submit one ATC (you get one chance to win with each ATC submitted – if you submit more than one you get extra chances – but make them different since one person will win all of them )
• you can’t win if you don’t enter
• deadline is May 31 – you can drop it off if you are local or mail it to the address below

I’d like it if you could include your city, state and country on the back side of your ATC. We have several Int’l participants as well as people from all over the USA, and I know they would love it if they knew where you were from. We don’t all know each other personally, so the info you provide is greatly appreciated. Another idea is to include your email or blog address as well. It’s not necessary, but nice for the winner to have in case they would like to contact you.

I hope you will join the fun of the monthly ATC challenge. It is a great opportunity to try something  new and play with  mixed media techniques. You only need to make one little itty bitty ATC, so it is really easy to complete. Get your friends to join the fun too. The more the merrier.

So the May theme is Flowers and I know there will be a lot of great entries for this theme. I’ve been looking forward to it for awhile now, so I am definitely ready to create some blossoming ATCs. For those of you who like to plan ahead, the June theme is Doorways! Now that one is going to be interesting too.  Have fun!

~Deb~

Blue Twig Studio - 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

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So let’s get right to the prize and the winner. I know that is what you all want to know about anyway.

Here is the big blogiversary prize. Lots of fun goodies for the winner. Over $75 worth of creative supplies. Woo hoo!

And now to the winner. I’ve looked at comments and shares and new followers. Lots of stuff to track. Hopefully I tracked it all correctly and now to use random.org to select the winner. And the lucky winner of this fun prize package is……..drum roll please……..Tifney Morgan! Yay Tifney.

Woo hoo and congrats to you! I know you will enjoy playing with everything.

Thanks again everyone for stopping by and I hope you continue to visit and comment as I grow and expand what my blog is all about. And be sure to watch out for more fun giveaways in the future.

~Deb

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Sign up for the Blue Twig Studio newsletter here.

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At any rate, I would like to do a give-away for my blogiversary (is that even a real word?). But what do I give away? I think I will just make up a goody box for the winner. Maybe include some stuff from the store – like ribbons, stencils, paint, pencils, etc. And maybe a book or magazine should go into the mix too. I think I will keep the exact details a mystery though, so when you get your package in the mail it will be a complete surprise and you will ooohh and aaahhh over it and be suitably impressed.

But what do you need to do to win? Here are the ways you can enter yourself to win:

• comment on this blog post telling me your favorite art book or magazine (1 entry)
• subscribe to this blog (1 entry)
• share this post on facebook (1 entry)
• share on twitter or linked in or any other social network you belong to (1 entry)
• like my page on facebook (1 entry)
• send me an ATC for the blog challenge – but hurry as there is only a week left (1 entry)

Lots of ways to get entered to win. I will select a winner on the 29th, using random.org to do so. Be sure I have a way to contact you, or check back here to see who the winner is.

Be sure to leave a comment below to be entered to win a Fabulous Mystery Gift!  I love a good giveaway, and I’m pretty sure you do too!

~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio - 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

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I am excited to see what everyone does with the Weather theme for April. So many things to choose from……wind, sunshine, snow, tornadoes, rain, lightening, clouds, etc. Lots of possibilities here.

And for those of you who like to work ahead, or who want to send me two month’s ATCs together in the same envelope – the theme for May is FLOWERS. So many ideas to choose from.

Just send in one ATC for the theme (of course, you can send in more if you want to) and then I select a winner to win them all. I use random.org to select the winner, so it is actually completely random. You do get extra entries if you send in extra ATCs (just something to think about ). If I get over 20 entries, then there will be 2 winners selected to split the ATCs between them. So invite your friends to participate too.

You can read more about the ATC challenge here. Everyone is welcome to participate. Beginners and more experienced, and kids too. (We usually have at least one kid participating, which is so exciting to see!) All mediums and techniques are welcome. You can’t do these wrong….just the size is the only mandatory requirement (2.5″ x 3.5″).

Mail them to the address below, or drop them off.

~Deb~

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

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A Mother’s Day Gift – Part 2

The Collage

In the picture my mother is wearing her signature turquoise color.  In fact, my daughter has teased that turquoise or teal is the go to color for all women in my family – my mother, my four sisters and me.  So needless to say, I had a large number of turquoise fabrics to choose from for my collage.  Below is a picture of the fabrics I started with, supplemented by buttons and ribbons I got from Blue Twig Studio.  Included in the fabrics I have are a number of vintage type lace and handkerchief pieces that I got from my Mom and that I had previously dyed.  If you would like some pieces like this to work with and don’t have any, Deb has some pieces in stock.  Most of Deb’s vintage pieces are neutral in color, but you can easily change the color by spraying them with Radiant Rain (or you can dye them like I did). (Note from Deb – a lot of my vintage pieces are not on the website, however if you call me I can give you some descriptions of what I have available, or you can set up an appt to visit the studio).

potential fabrics to use

As with the size of the picture, as I work I often end up adjusting the size of the piece, but the first step is still to decide on the preliminary size for the wall hanging.

Next I choose a background fabric.   Sometimes I use a number of fabrics for the background, including cottons and upholstery fabrics from sample upholstery books.  In that case I draw the dimensions for the piece on muslin with permanent marker and then arrange my fabrics to cover the area.  I then use invisible thread and a zigzag stitch to catch all the edges.  I design on this patchwork background.  Below is a wall hanging of my daughter when she had pink hair that uses this type of patchwork background.

Girl with Mushroom

For my mother’s collage, I used a single piece of batik.  I then began placing fabrics on the background in a potential collage design.  I initially fold larger pieces to the desired size, as I don’t cut anything until I have determined the final arrangement.  I will normally try a number of different designs until I find my favorite.  Because I may ultimately decide I like an earlier design best, I take a digital picture of each arrangement, so I can always recreate one. As part of the design process, I will place any embellishments (such as ribbons, buttons, and beads) loosely on the arrangement.  Once I have decided on a design, I will cut my various fabric pieces to the correct size.   Below are three of the 7 or 8 potential designs I tried.  I finally decided on the third one.  Although relooking at them now, I waiver and think maybe I should have gone with 2 – has this ever happened to you?

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

I first worked on the portrait part of the collage and put it together by itself.  I layered the two fabrics and created a frame for the picture using a pleated ribbon I got from Blue Twig.  I liked it because the pleating allowed me to manipulate it to fit around and slightly under than my oval picture.  I pinned it in place and machine stitched it to the layered fabrics.

I then prepared the picture to attach it to the collage.  I decided the best way to do that on this piece was to fuse it down.  So I ironed a piece of misty fuse (very easy to use) to the back of the picture and cut it out on the oval line.  I then fused it down on top of the pleated ribbon and fabric.

Next I layered a leaf ribbon that Deb also carries on top of the pleated ribbon.  It comes in a number of colors, but not turquoise. (Note from Deb – I have quite a few colors of this ribbon, so if you are wanting a particular color that isn’t listed on the website please contact me about it.)  The closest was a pale blue.  I took it and painted it with diluted radiant rain.  Basically I took the lid off the radiant rain, poured a very small amount into another container and added a little water.  Radiant Rain out of the bottle is fairly intense and I wanted a softer color.  I then just painted it with a brush onto the leaf ribbon and ironed it after it dried.  I attached the leaves to the piece with flower sequins and beads.  The “finished” photo part of the collage then looked like this.

finished picture section

I then attached the two lace pieces to the background.  I machine stitched along the long cut edge and couched the turquoise cord down with a zigzag stitch.  I then hand beaded to finish holding the lace pieces in place.  I decided it would be easiest to machine quilt the background before adding the photo piece.

finished background section

When I laid the finished photo piece on the quilt to machine stitch it on, I decided something more was needed in the bottom left hand corner.  I tried a number of things such as beads and buttons, but decided I liked some velvet ribbon streamers best (Note from Deb – the velvet ribbon is not on the website right now).  So I machine stitched them on and then stitched on the photo piece.  I added paper beads in the corners and wooden flower buttons that I colored with Inka Gold in silver.  Inka Gold is a really fun product that you can use on wood, metal and paper to give something a nice bling.  It comes in both metallic shades and colors.

So the finished piece looks like this.  I hope my mother likes it.

finished collage

~Kerry

Thanks for a great tutorial Kerry. I know your mom will love it. ~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out to Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

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A Mother’s Day Gift – Part 1

I have spent the last week thinking about what to give my mother for Mother’s Day.  As she and I get older, I really like to give a personal gift when possible.   As I was saving pictures on my computer from a recent trip out-of-state, I remembered a picture of my mother I had always liked and decided to print it to fabric and make her a small wall-hanging collage for her.   Since many people still do not realize how easy it is to print on fabric with your inkjet printer, I decided to share some ways of doing that in part one of this tutorial and then to briefly discuss the process I went through in making the collage in part two.

Printing on Fabric

In making a collage that includes a photograph, the first thing I do is to print it out on paper in the size I think I am going to want to use.  I used to print it immediately on fabric, but discovered I often change my mind about size and then have to reprint it.  Since more time and cost is involved in printing on fabric, I have learned to print first on paper.

Knowing the collage design, I can now print my picture on fabric, so it is ready for the actual collage.  I have two favorite ways to do this.  One is by printing directly on the fabric with my inkjet printer; the other is by printing on a TAP sheet with my printer and then ironing that image onto fabric.  If you aren’t familiar with it, TAP is transfer artist paper and was developed by Lesley Riley.  I think it is a vast improvement on earlier iron-on transfer systems you may be familiar with since it doesn’t change the hand of the fabric (did you ever have a t-shirt where the transferred image felt very much like vinyl?)   Also, TAP can be used to transfer images to wood, canvas, glass, metal and more, as well as fabric.  A TAP image is permanent, washable and can be ironed.  It is reversed, so you need to mirror the image to print if orientation is important, as with text.  TAP is available from Blue Twig Studio and a package contains complete, easy to follow directions for using it.

If you choose to print directly on fabric, as I did for this collage, you need to decide if you want a photograph quality image or something more muted.   Printing on fabric without any pretreatment will give a more muted picture.  As I wanted photograph quality, I pretreated my fabric with Golden’s Digital Ground White-Matte (Note from Deb – I only have a Digital Ground sampler pack at this time).  To pretreat, you brush two thin coats in opposite directions on your fabric, allowing your fabric to dry between coats.  I have used digital ground on a variety of fabrics including muslin, silk, and canvas.  This time I used white cotton muslin.  I usually treat a number of pieces of fabric at one time as the difficult part of pretreating is waiting for the digital ground to dry; that way too, I usually have a piece of fabric ready when I need it.

Picture of treated fabric

When the fabric is dry, I am ready to print.  At this point, the fabric is usually wrinkled and curling at the edges as in the picture above.  I just turn it over and iron it on the wrong side.  If you are concerned about your iron’s surface, you can cover it first with a paper towel.

To actually print on fabric, you just run it through your printer as you would a piece of paper.  Again there are several ways to do this.  If you have pretreated your fabric with digital ground it usually has enough body to just send it through without anything further.  Make sure the digital ground side is the side that is printed on.  

If you have not pretreated the fabric, or if you are not sure the digital ground has given it enough body to run through the printer, you need to back the fabric with paper.  One way to do this is by ironing a piece of freezer paper, the same size as your fabric, to the back of your fabric and then send it through your printer.

However, I have found that freezer paper method works about 90 percent of the time, but have had problems with it jamming the other 10 percent.  So I prefer to use card stock and tape my fabric to it with painters tape.  You place the tape along the top and the two sides as shown in the picture.   I never have problems with jamming with this method.

taped fabric with photo printed on it

The other advantage to this method is that you can print on a piece of fabric smaller than 8 ½ by 11, so that you don’t have to waste fabric if you are doing a smaller picture or have to figure out how to combine enough small pictures to use the full page.  It is particularly useful if you want to print a label for your quilt.  The one thing you need to double check before printing is that your picture or text is centered on the page in such a way that it will match the placement of the fabric on the cardstock.  In other words, if the fabric is placed an inch down on the cardstock, your text or picture should begin at least an inch down on the page.  Most printers allow you a preview of the page so you can check and adjust this if necessary.

printed label

A picture printed on digital ground will not run if it comes in contact with water, although I have never tried washing it as I use this method for wall hangings.  I use TAP for any item I plan to wash.  If you don’t pretreat the fabric, whether the picture or text will be affected by water spilled on it depends on your printer ink.  In my experience HP ink (I have Vivera) spots and smears when wet.  In contrast, the ink in my Epson printer  (DURAbright) does not seem to be affected by accidental water spills (which I do blot up), although I have not tested it by leaving water on it or by rubbing the water in.  You can print with the HP ink, you just need to be careful not to get it wet, which can include steam from your iron.  Again, if this is a concern, consider using TAP.

(Note from Deb – another option for printing on fabric is to use ready-to-go inkjet fabric sheets that are already primed and cut to fit your printer.)

Tomorrow we will discuss how I made the actual collage.

~Kerry

Thanks Kerry. I look forward to reading about the rest of your process. ~Deb

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

I teamed up with The Garment Gal, which is a women’s consignment store. She has 2 shops (one in Loveland and one here in Colorado Springs) and is always doing something fun and different to bring people into the shops. We decided to team up and do an art project one evening. We chose to do Zentangle® for several reasons.

1. Anyone can do it….really!

2. It isn’t messy like doing something with paint or glue.

3. It can be adjusted to fit the time available.

4. There isn’t any special equipment or tools needed. I brought the few supplies necessary with me to share.

I decided that since we were at a clothing store that it might be fun to do something a little bit different from the typical beginner Zentangle class that I offer. So I designed a little dress to be used as our string. I even added a little pop of red just for fun. So cute.

These are my demo tiles.

The women gathered to browse around the shop and mingle a bit, and we had refreshments out as well. And then we took a creative break and drew our little Zentangle dresses.  There were some art people in attendance, who completely embraced the project. There were also a few women that were absolutely positive that they were not creative and could not do this, but they were troopers and gave it a go.

And of course, they absolutely could do it! That is the wonderful thing about Zentangle…..anyone can do it. They were amazed by what they created and had a lot of fun with it, which always makes me happy. Each person interpreted the patterns in their own way to create something that was all theirs. No two are alike, which is exactly why I love Zentangle.

These are the tiles that the group made. Aren’t they adorable? (sorry the picture quality is not very good, but hopefully you get the idea of how cute they are and how unique each one is)

Zentangle Dresses at The Garment Gal

After our art break…..which everyone agreed helped relax them and calm them down after busy and hectic days at work….then they all went back to shopping and trying on clothes. Everyone was loosened up a bit, and we had a great time modeling the different clothes for each other and everyone went home with something new from The Garment Gal.

Creativity & Shopping – can it be the next great team? Like Chocolate & Peanut Butter? Like Tracy & Hepburn? Like Black & White? The Garment Gal & Blue Twig Studio?  I think so!

~Deb Prewitt, CZT

Blue Twig Studio – 5965 Whiskey River Dr – Colorado Springs, CO 80923 – USA

Let Your Inner Artist Out To Play

If you are interested in taking a Zentangle class, please leave me a message and let me know. You can find the current class schedule by clicking the events tab on the Blue Twig Studio home page.  If you are interested in hosting a Zentangle class at your business or home, I would be happy to coordinate that with you.

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