Revamped T-Shirts

Two of  my favourite plain t-shirts had cooking oil stains on them - they still looked good otherwise.  So I decided to revamp them with some fabric paint and stencils & stamps.  I am very happy with the results.....

 The finished articles......

 And just for fun here's one of me today , wearing the purple one.....

Wishing you all a happy healthy sunny weekend!
much love
Angella

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to DANCE in the rain....."

Creative Idleness.....

I have been busy doing some more intuitive painting and re-reading Flora Bowley's awesome book BRAVE INTUITIVE PAINTING.   Here's my latest intuitive painting:

I am also busy trying to finish a crochet throw that I started so long ago. It is made with Vinnies Bambi yarn, a blend of cotton and bamboo with a fun hand-spun texture.  Bambi yarn is available from WOOLHOGS .
I am so thrilled with the gypsy feel of this little throw:

 I have been doing quite a lot of baking lately. Here's an awesome fridge tart that can be made in 10 minutes with 3 ingredients:

Ingredients:
500ml flavoured yoghurt (of your choice)
1  tin condensed milk
Biscuits for base.

Layer biscuits for the base or crush them and add margarine to make base.
Mix the yoghurt and condensed milk
Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base 
Microwave on high for 4 minutes.
Leave to cool
Put in fridge and serve when cold.

It's really delicious!

Then there was this sweet little crochet bunting I made for the veranda/porch to cheer up the bleak winter landscape. (OK so it isnt that bleak - we've had a very mild winter this year so far).

And these are some crochet cuff bracelets that I made as a gift for a friend. Made with e-cotton, hand-dyed in SA:

And then I have been enjoying doing the art assignments for the e-course FACING YOUR FEARS. These are courage cards which I made using toilet rolls:

For a tutorial on how to use toilet rolls to do art click here:  TUTORIAL

Well I hope you have enjoyed seeing all my WIPs (works in progress) and other creative thing-a-ma-bobs.

Wishing you all a gentle, friendly, happy weekend.
much love
Angella

KEEP CALM and THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS

Recycling and Playing with Paint....

This week I suffered from a severe migrane which lasted 3 days and I was just generally feeling very tired and low- in hopes of cheering myself up I "forced" myself to sit in my studio and just "play" with paint ( doing anything significant was out of the question!)
I was quite surprised at how much I loved the two "just-for-fun" projects I managed to finish......

I tore these out of old Stampington  magazines because the paper had such a nice texture and I was at first going to make hand-painted postcards and then changed my mind and decided to make myself an INSPIRATION BANNER instead.

I  added doilies,  and paper serviettes to the "flags" with Gel Medium.

I painted the backs with Gesso to strengthen the "flags".

Then I painted some bright & simple, fun designs onto the fronts of the flags with craft acrylics.

I printed out inspirational sayings and added them to my flags with Gel Medium.
I put eyelets onto each flag and threaded jute string thru them to hang them.

I decided to hang them on my shelves where I keep all my paints etc in my studio.

This banner was inspired by the one I saw here .

I also sat down with some simple designs in mind to make a set of four mixed media paintings.
I used water colour paints and oil pastels on Bockingford 190gsm watercolour paper for these:

Wishing you a very happy, fun  and creative Sunday.
much love
Angella

"Knowledge speaks but Wisdom listens"
-Jimi Hendrix-

Arts 'n Crafts : A Burst of Creativity...

Yesterday I dedicated the whole day to painting.  I got quite a lot done too....

My aunt brought this vase to me and asked me to alter it for her.  It had a huge crack on the rim and had been spray painted gold .  In order to disguise the crack I covered the top of  the vase with texture paste. I painted it a winter green then decoupaged the ivy leaves onto it. I painted the stems of the leaves with acrylic paint. I then spackled it with fine gold paint and varnished it.
 I am sorry now that I did not take a "before" picture.

I've had these two large pebbles lying in my studio for ages waiting to be painted.  Yesterday it happened!  I am crazy about the way they turned out!!!! (note to self:  find more large flat pebbles to paint) .

I was in the mood for watercolours so I painted these two simple pieces using Inktense watercolour pencils.
Lots of fun.....

Oh yes .... and I was doodling in my sketch book while watching a movie on TCM ....
and this was the result.

So all in all a very fulfilling creative day - my favorite kind of day!

Wishing you a very happy fulfilling week too.
much love
Angella

"Follow your Bliss"
-anon-

Fibre Arts n Crafts Fair.....

On Saturday 13th April my friend, Linell, and I set off on our "annual" outing to a tiny little town/village called Wakkerstroom. It is a two hour drive from where we live.  The Natural Fibres Fair is held in a small church hall in the middle of town.  It's packed with sellers of natural fibres, natural and handspun yarns, wools, embroidery, sewing, weaving, crochet, knitting and so much more.  A feast of colour and texture.  So much inspiration - it makes your head spin.

 After the Fair we went meandering around the village looking at all their quaint little shops and stopped for lunch in one of  the eateries.

What  a lovely day !!!!

This is what I brought home......

What I would have liked to have brought home too......

PLUS  tons more YARN of course.... :o)

"When you follow your BLISS.... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else."  
-Joseph Campbell-