A winter tree for Bee Crafty

                       

Hi there! I am going to share with you a little project that I have been working on for a couple of weeks. 

I used: 

the Beautanicals Large Branch and tree set

Snowflakes from the cool winter journalling girl

Versafine Clair ink (I used grey)

A piece of pale blue polyester cotton (cut from an economy pillowcase)

Some scraps of lilac organza

Various shades of grey and white embroidery thread

Irridesent clear seed beads

Irridesent clear sequins

I began by stamping the tree in versafine clair ink onto the polyester cotton, and placing the pieces of organza across the bottom to make the snowy hills. I placed it in an embroidery hoop and then stitched the organza in place (a back stitch or a running stitch is fine for this)  

                                                 

I then began to stitch the trunk and branches using the 3 shades of grey thread - the palest grey on one side of the tree and the darkest on the other with the mid grey in the middle. I used varying lengths of straight stitch for this, following the outline of the branches first then filling in any spaces.  I used mostly 2 strands of embroidery threads, switching to one strand where the twigs were thinnest.

 

Next I took it out of the hoop and stamped three snowflakes (the smaller one was really too small so I would recommend 3 the same size) 

 

I used a mixture of straight stitch and french knots in single strands of white embroidery threads, but you could use other stitches. 

 

I used a very fine needle to start adding the beads and sequins. Some just beads on their own, and some over a sequin to represent larger flakes. I took it out of the hoop, gave it a cool iron around where the hoop was and added a few extra beads at the top. Finally I popped it in a box frame, securing the fabric under the mount with double sided tape, and adding a few dots of liquid pearls to the mount.  

Hope you like it! I am definitely looking at stamps that lend themselves to embroidery now, and will also look at items in charity shops that I could use for this sort of project. My pillowcase has been made into many masks too - a bargain at £2 for the pair! 

 

Don't forget, Bev and Sam are off to Hochanda tomorrow for a show at 1pm featuring the amazingly gorgeous snowflake stamps and some stunning new mdf too! I do hope you can tune in! 

 Thanks for looking!

Stamping on fabric for Bee Crafty

 

Good morning! I am here with a little Bee Crafty DT project and to bust a few myths, lol! Let's start with those. Firstly you don't need special ink to stamp on fabric unless you are going to wash it. If it is going on a card it isn't going to be washed, so most inks will work well. I have used versafine, versafine clair, memento luxe, stazon, brilliance and versamagic. All worked fine, but I was particularly impressed with the versafine clair, which is not waterbased and can be coloured and dampened after stamping without it changing.

Secondly, you can colour your fabric with most mediums. All those sprays like dylusions and distress oxides can be sprayed on fabric. It would wash out, but for a card they are wonderful. You can also colour with inktense pencils and blocks which I am told can be heat set, becoming permenant after ironing. You will need to iron your fabric a couple of times during the process. You can also use a range of fabric. The best thing to do is experiment and see!

Let's get on shall we?

I used dylusions spray inks, Beautanicals large branch and tree stamps, Wordage small words, Brown Versafine clair ink, sequins, seed beads and green embroidery threads

First I started with a piece of calico and sprayed with dylusions and water. Once it was almost dry I ironed it. I've also used poly cotton pillow cases and curtain lining which also worked well. I tend to rip the fabric to give a frayed edge along the weave so it is straight.

I placed the flat coloured fabric in my stamp platform and stamped the tree using versafine Clair. If you want to use an embroidery hoop make sure your fabric is big enough and you stamp centrally. You can always make it smaller afterwards.

Next you can use up some of the little stuff from your stash! I sewed on small seed beads in the middle of sequins. Check your needle is narrow enough to pass through your beads before you thread it, lol.

Next I added some smaller and larger seed beads on their own.

To ground my tree I added 'grass' which is just straight stitch in 2 different shades of green. It doesn't have to be neat and it can be all different lengths, just like grass. Just keep going until the gaps are filled. I used single strands of embroidery thread for my grass. You could add some embroidery to the tree too. Single Chain stitch makes good leaves and french knots also look good. There are plenty of you tube videos for these. Once you have finished, iron your fabric again taking care around the embellishments.

Mat and layer your fabric to your card. Double sided tape works well, or use a good glue stick to stick fabric to paper. You could even sew it together! 

Finally add a sentiment...

I am really enjoying getting back into needlework at the moment. I've realised there are lots of stamps I can use for this sort of project and it is good to experiment, mixing paper, card and fabric, as well as inks and sprays!

Before I go, just out of curiosity, would you be interested in doing something like this as an online workshop? A little kit to sit and stitch together? It would have to be via facebook I think, or possibly zoom. If so leave me a comment as it is something I am thinking about 😀

Thanks for looking!