The frog in his pocket page

Here is the frog in his pocket page. I think he would make a great bedtime toy while you read the story to the child, or a car and travel toy to take with you on the road.

The Famous Jumping Frog of Calavaras county

This little felt froggie doll was designed as well as made by myself. I gave him a little felt vest as well.

The Spiral Dance

Today I made a new fabric journal page with a batik fabric with spirals printed on it. The subject matter seemed perfect to depict a figure doing the Spiral Dance. I stitched inside and outside of each spiral with a running stitch in tie dye embroidery thread then I painted the figure which I designed on my own , with FolkArt metallic Champagne paint. I rather like the way she turned out. ofcourse I  bound the edges of the page with more gold lame bias binding. The flip side is another batik print but I've not decided on the theme of that side of the page yet.

Taking a break from journaling

Just for fun today I took a little break from journaling and made some little felt pins, a heart, a cupcake, a cookie with a bite out of it, and an ice cream cone.

The Salamander

This is the Salamander that is representative of the element of Fire. first i sketched out the salamander, then i painted the background metallic gold with Tulip soft paint. When that was well dried I began painting the salamander red with tulip soft paint and I added orange toward the center of the body to give him a bit of a highlight. When he was well dried I used Tulip liquid bead paint in a pewter color to put a diamond pattern down the salamanders body. I gave him eyes with the black fabric pen and wrote the element of fire with the fabric pen as well.

Bridgid and the new fire

This page has quite a bit to it. First I spray dyed the background in yellow and bright green. When the dye was dry I added some overpainting from water in which I had washed gold metallic from the paint brush. Doing this with just the brush washing water, well stirred, left a very delicate gold wash on top of the green and yellow background. I did two or three layers of the gold wash and let it dry well between layers. I stitched a bit of batik fabric to one end of the stabilizer layer then stitched the painted background fabric over the rest of the page. I sketched on Brigid with a micron pen, then i overpainted all the flesh areas with white Tulip soft paint. When that was dry I added the peach fabric pen coloring and some pink for her cheeks and lips. Then I redid the facial features with a brown fabric pen and outlined her hands and arms as well. I used the brown pen to color in her eyes and the black micron pen for her pupils and a tiny drop of white soft paint for the reflection in her eyes. I used a pearl blue paint for her head dress and gown. I added a little white paint for highlights on her clothing while the blue was still wet. When the blue was dry I added sketched lines of darker blue for the folds in the fabric. I used black fabric pen on the little cauldron and red and orange soft paint on the flames. If you would like to read about the story of the celebration check out  The Starwitch Chronicles here on blogspot.

the flip side of the moon and sun is Bebo the owl

On the back of the sun and moon page I did an owl on a leaf print batik fabric I got at Joanns on friday. I found a bit of a dull yellow/tan fabric to cut the owl out of, and a tiny pinch of lemon yellow for his nose. I apliqued those pieces on then added the eyes which are a twisted metal spacer bead a large tan seed bead and a tiny brown seed bead. I used the fabric pens to draw in his feathers and wings in brown. I also drew in a branch and some toes under him but the branch didnt really show so I used rows  of chain stitch in varrigated thread. Then I sewed 8 fairly large glass leaf pendants which are a pinkish beige color, around his head. They are only attatched at one point each so they swing freely. He is named Bebo for the owl familiar that Athena had.

fabric journal page sun and moon

I found the gold binding I wanted to finish the page with at Joanns so here is the finished page. I added a lady in the moon face in the darker blue section of the page and gave her a couple of star charms for company. she is painted with fabric pens and paints on an apliqued circle of white fabric and given textured silver and white hair. I drew the face in with a micron pen then I painted the flesh tone and lips and cheeks with the fabric pens. Then i covered the entire face with the tulip soft white paint to tone down the colors on the face. After the paint was well dried I retraced the facial outlines with brown fabric pen then i colored the lips in with red and pink again, and painted the eyes metallic turquoise with Lumiere paint. When all the paints were well dry I went around the edges of the face with a row of clear irridescent beads.

New fabric journal page

After looking at some fabric journals on line I decided to try being a little neater with my pages and put a little more work into the surface of the page. I started with my normal dryer sheet background and added a small segment of a light blue fine print fabric. Then I cut out a small circle for the sun face. I did a very fine buttonhole stitch all the way around the circle with varrigated thread, then i stitched it down to the middle of the blue fabric. Using a micron pen I drew on the face, then I used Tulip fabric pens to color the face in, peach around the edges of the suns face, pink for the lips and cheeks, blue dots for eyes with smaller black dots in the center. When I had the face colored I went back with brown pen and outlined the eyebrows and nose area again to make it more distinct. I drew on the suns rays with the micron pen then I filled them in with metallic gold Tulip soft paint. When they were dry I took the same varrigated thread and made lots of tiny french knots around the rays of the sun. Then I gave the sun some solar flares with chain stitch. I stitched some beads in a light irridescent gold over the buttonhole stitch edge of the suns face. Last I stitched a square of darker blue/green fabric over the lower section of the page, it has gold leaves printed all over it. Im not sure if I will add more to the lower section of the page yet.

the Ostara page for my pagan fabric journal

For Ostara I gave my page a young lady with pale skin and blonde hair. After I had colored her face with the tulip fabric pens it just seemed like the colors were too strong so I got a little bottle of tulip brush on soft white paint and went over the flesh colors. It toned things down a lot and gave the surface of the fabric a sort of velvety feel. It gave me whites for her eyes and the highlights in her eyes as well. After I overpainted the face I did go back and redo many of the brown ink lines to give the face more definition. I gave her a branch of Dogwood blooming beside her as it was my favorite flowering tree as a child. Ostara is a time of renewal.

Crystals for my fabric journal

Today I added a page celebrating the element earth to my fabric journal. First i used spray on dye on the plain muslin background. I drizzled a little water over the spray in some areas to add effect and let it dry, then I used the white tulip paint and an angled brush to directly paint on several crystal points. When the first layer of white paint was dry, i added a little more hit and miss to give the appearance that there were veils and clear areas in the crystals where the background would show through. When the second white layer was dry I added a layer of Lumiere paint in Halo violet/gold for some purple crystals. When the purple paint was dry, i added dark purple pen outlines and striations to the sides of the crystals and light blue to the white crystals. Then in purple pen i wrote The element of earth . I like the way it turned out, now i just need to sew it to the Ostara page I painted yesterday.

Honoring the element of Air

The element of air can be depicted in many ways, waving ribbons or flags, windsocks, windchimes, butterflies, birds and flying fairies. The color of air is Yellow and it is also connected to intellect, so go out and get some fresh air and inspiration.

fabric journal page for Beltane

For Beltane I added a bride with a wreath of flowers and leaves in her hair and a tree branch with ribbons like the Loreena McKennitt song says, "tie ribbons round the sheltering arms in the springtime of the year."