Autumn Leaves......

I can't wait to get outside. The weather here in North Carolina has been so beautiful, but with yesterday being the first day I could use my studio again, I just had to stay inside one more day and honor the day by painting with Lumiere in fall colors, before begining the outside chores.

I made this journal (based upon Sue B's padfolio pattern) cover as a runner up prize for the Pink Artists' (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) charity drawing of the beautiful, Love Squared art doll. In addition to the grand prize of Love Squared, there are tons of cool runner up prizes also made by the Pink Artists. You can take a look by going here.

These padfolios go together relatively quickly, and depending upon how much time you want to put into it by handpainting, beading, embellishing, etc., come together quite nicely.

For this one - I picked out a wild fall batik for the lining, and for the cover, I took some fabric out of the "ugly bag" to paint. (it makes me happy to be able to use ugly fabric by painting over it!)

I painted the cover with Lumiere metallic paint mixed with some acrylic. After it dried, I loaded up a leaf shaped rubber stamp with a ton of paint and stamped it. I really like "loading up" the stamp because it leaves an "imprint," (rather than just stamping on the surface.) I like that additional textural element. Once that dried, I sewed the three sandwiches of outer fabric, Peltex and inner fabric (batik) together with a satin stitch. Once the cover was put together I stitched on a silk leaf I painted with metallic paint, layered that with a bone leaf button, and put a handmade bead on top of that. I then braided some yarn and secured it with a wire laced with beads. I've got a few more in the works wherein I'm piecing the covers, rather than painting - whole cloth.

Today I'm going to switch gears and begin working on Jean's big block applique piece. She picked the Alabama Cotton Boll block to be done in red and green on white. I'm really looking forward to slowing down (physically and mentally) and doing some hand stitching.