Mixed Media Wall Art

This was another technique I picked up at The Crafts House.

The idea (I think!), is to divide up your chosen piece into equal portions - in this case squares and 'treat' each individually.  Here, I'v'e gone a step further and incorporated rectangles, comprising 2 or 3 of the squares.
The materials I used range from wallpaper, through to plush velvet. I've also included a small piece of blackwork and the embellishment uses embroidery, scraps of thread and pumpkin seeds painted gold.  The 'punctum' is a brass ring covered in blanket stitch.

The world's your lobster with this, as it costs virtually nothing to produce and it can be made any size at all to suit your needs.

Mine sits happily on the porch wall.  I'm seriously considering doing something similar but on a grander scale, to go above my bed.

Homemade Bag

I've made several different kinds of bags but this one is my favourite.

Detail

I had an old one and liked the style and shape of it, but wasn't fussy on the fabric it was made from.  So I made a paper pattern from it to use for my own homemade bag.

That determined the size and shape of the front flap, so I could go to work on creating a new one.  Firstly, I cut a piece of muslin a few inches larger all round than the pattern.  Then I simply stuck random pieces of fabric all over it.

Once covered, I machine zig-zagged across all the places where the pieces of fabric overlapped.  Now comes the fun bit...

Using a cutting mat, (big breath), I sliced the whole into 2" strips: then turned some of these round, top to bottom.  That done, I stuck these strips down closely together on another piece of muslin and zig-zagged down each row.

Back to the cutting mat - I turned the piece 90 degrees, and sliced 2" strips again and repeated the last step.  That leaves you with a square-patch effect, but each of the squares will be completely different and contain all sorts of shapes/bits from your original arrangement.

I trimmed it to fit the front-flap pattern and embellished it to within an inch of its new life, with different hand embroidery stitches, tiny metallic bits of things and even managed to fashion a butterfly and a spider's web.

For the rest of the bag, I chose a tan suede-effect fabric and used a magnetic catch for closing.

This is another technique that is not just fun, but very economical in using up all manner of scraps you might have hanging around.

Not just for a homemade bag, though.  It can also be used to make cushion covers, wall-hangings etc and I'm sure others will have lots of other great ideas for how to use it.

Wall hangings

If you're stuck for ideas/money to fill a wall space, wall hangings are a great idea.

I made this one from scraps of fabric, bonded them to a cotton backing, hand embroidered where the pieces met, then trimmed to make a square.  Each of these was bound, again by hand.  Then I simply stuck them firmly to thick scrap cardboard.

They're joined together with beads.  At the top, I added a curtain ring; at the bottom I attached larger beads and a tassel.  Voila!

You could, of course, with imagination, customise and vary the shape/size etc. of yours, and embellish to taste. With wall hangings, there's so much scope and little demand on your bank account.

Wallart

I devised this technique some years ago, while 'playing'.   Ideas for wallart are limitless.  This technique is fun: you don't quite know what you're going to end up with.  In this case, I've composed a selection of 'inchies' ie inch square card prints, and then embellished each individually.

Of course, the actual composition can be customised - size/colours of pieces and embellishment techniques, and the whole could be framed in many different ways.

I think this sort of thing would make a wonderful, personalised gift - designed specifically to commemorate an occasion, perhaps.  Though this one, unusually, is definitely staying at home.

Wallart is wonderful!