Old Battered Suitcase !

It was just an old battered suitcase !

But Oh, what treasures I did find !

This is a suitcase that used to belong to my grandparents. My mom had it and placed all the " Workbasket" books that she had collected down thru the years. She had them all lined up so neat in order... of course I messed them up looking  through them . I spent hours looking at these, and it was so hard to put them down !!  I was marking pages of crafts I was interested in. when mom said, " You can have them, I will probably never use them again. "( she is 82)   There is some advantages to being the "only" daughter.  I will treasure these for sure !!!
Have anything that was passed down to you that you will always treasures ?  Would love to hear from you  !

Wall Art...

When decorating my sewing room, I used sunflower border on feathered painted wall of pale yellow and white. If you have never painted using a feather duster, it is so much fun. You can get some very pretty walls doing this. Maybe I will post someday some of the walls I have done.
I did this canvas art to hang in my sewing room. I couldn't believe I actually came across a picture with sunflowers I had planted. This was several years ago and I did not even have this art in mine. See, it pays  to take those photos and keep them, you just never know what you will need them for.

Instructions : Decide on your layout of pictures or other art you want to use.Place them on canvas where you want them. Glue on the back with Mode Podge, smoothing down very smooth.  Also coat top of picture with Mode Podge or Deco Podge, being very careful to get very smooth strokes.  

                       

Note: I cut out 2 of the sunflowers from my wall paper border, placed baby pictures in these and the deco podged them all down.            

                With artist modeling paste, using a palette knife, brush, or what ever works for what you are doing.  I drew the sunflowers, shapes around pictures, with the palette knife.  Words were done in wet paste using end of paint brush

Paint your canvas all over with your background color. ( Careful not to get it on your pictures) I used acrylic paint. Next: paint any other design you have.

Here , I painted my sunflowers and stems.                                                   

After this is all dry, I lightly dry brushed the raised surfaces with a little darker shade of paint.                                                                                       

Last !!! When all dry lightly spray all canvas with a sealer for acrylics.

Hang and Enjoy !

I enlarged a picture of a sunflower I had taken, Glued it down and then cut out a picture of the little girl and glued in on this.

Above:  These sunflowers were taken from my border, cut out and glued. Pictures added inside.

On these pictues you can see where I wrote the word "LOVE" in the wet paste.

Snow ! Snow !

Oklahoma has had the biggest snow I have ever seen in Oklahoma. We even had a blizzard ! The malls are even shut down, airport closed, and no mail . At least I am so thankful no power outages. So this gives me plenty of time to ....Sew... of course, but really I have been designing some cute little pincushions for valentine, which I will post later. !

  I just couldn't let the little birds go hungry, so have been feeding them on my front porch and front lawn. I've enjoyed watching them !

Painted Horse

I decided to use this pattern to do the painted horse. The color of this vinyl just spoke "western" to me.

I did learn on this one that sealer does not work on vinyl !! It leaves a sticky substance and every lint that touches it will stick to it ! I  am working on a way to correct this ! Hope you enjoy this one ! Will hopefully have all the kinks worked out if I keep experimenting ! Maybe those of you who want to purchase the pattern and try your own will know what to try or not try .  Of course if you are working on cotton or canvas you will not have this problem at all .
 Has anyone else painted on vinyl ? I would appreciate,( and I'm sure other crafters would ) any suggestions you can give us on this !
You all have a blessed day ! Until next time,
Linda,

The lastest purse I have designed !  I wanted to do a color wash on this and then paint a design. I am using vinyl and didn't know how the colors would do on this. I know on Leather they would sink into the leather, but on vinyl ?? Nothing to sink in to  !! So , I am "test driving" (LOL) this purse myself ! Well that is an excuse to get a new purse, isn't it? I tried a leather dye, but it didn't go on right, so I have used fabric paints.

We will see how this holds up. I have painted on canvas and other fabric and these do very well. I have a special fabric paint I use, and you can order these from me, also the pattern for this purse can be purchased. I have more ideas for this pattern, I will post later ! Let me know what you think ! Do you like the design?

 Back of purse. Three pockets here, 8 pockets on the inside.

 Side  view. Side unsnaps to allow for more room in needed when placing items in purse .