Fabric Collage Book - Anna

I am so excited to show off my first fabric collage book!  I have been inspired by the beautiful fabric collage books and creations by Nancy James of  Sugar Lump Studio for several years now but just never seemed to get up the nerve to make that first cut into the fabric to get started. I had even emailed Nancy to ask her a few questions about constructing the books. She was so gracious in her suggestions and support. Well, Nancy, I finally did it!!

The book itself is made of mostly re-purposed materials and lace. The cover fabric was a sample piece.....the kind that often ends up in the trash if not rescued.  Some of the lace has been salvaged from vintage pillow cases, dresser scarves, tablecloths and hankies.  A few pieces were made by my grandmother and mother as sample pieces to try out a new pattern. I also used a piece of fabric from my mother's wedding gown.

Front cover.

The picture on the first page is a copy of a watercolor painted of my grandmother in 1912. 

The picture on the left is of my grandmother's class at a school in Pennsylvania. The two cards in the pocket are copies of end of year gifts and achievement cards dated 1902.

Beautiful wedding picture of my maternal grandparents - 1921.

Top picture - my grandmother sporting the latest maternity fashion. Lower picture - my grandmother with her first born (my mother).
The next page is of my grandmother and her 3 children. The tags have other pictures of the children.

On the left is my grandmother wearing an unusual fur coat.
These are the only pictures that I have of my grandmother and I wanted a special treasury of these to share with my aunt for her birthday. She just turned (shhh) 84 yrs. young!

Here is the full cover - front and back. Dyed and crinkled seam binding finishes the spine.

Lovely layers of lacey goodness.

I am submitting this heartfelt creation to the following challenges:
Try it on Tuesday where the theme is recycle.
Anything But a Card where they are asking "Who are you inspired by?".

RRD Blog Hop and Contest

The focus this month for Red Rubber Designs will be "Holidays in Winter".  The Design Team will be working on projects to help prepare you for the busy season that is ahead.

As you know we feature the Spotlight Stamp on our monthly blog hop and show you ways to use it from different perspectives. This evening all eyes are on this timeless stamp "Twinkle in the Eye".

For my project I have tried metal etching. The one thing that I did learn is to use solid copper (which I did not have on hand) rather than copper plate. The end results were a little different than I had expected but I worked with it anyway. Here is my fabric collage winter wall hanging.

I used several different fabrics, coffee dyed canvas and cotton batting.

Here is a closeup so you can see the etching better. 

Along with the blog hop, don't forget that we have a contest for you this month, too. You can win "Twinkle in the Eye" for your holiday crafting by correctly guessing the number of snowflakes that drifted on my workspace.  See the RRD blog for details.

Here is your blog roll so that you can go see what the other gals have created.

Red Rubber Designs

Sarah - Vintage Figments  *you are here

Paula-Kay - Creative Stamping with Paula-Kay

Louise - Kard Krazy

Kate - The Scrapyard

Diana - Wordbird's Nest

I am entering this in the Anything But a Card challenge.

Another Fabric Collage

My second attempt at this "new to me" art form. Approximate size 11" X 17".

Fabric Collage

Well it looks like I barely finished one online class before going to another. The latest one for me is the KC Willis Collage Camp. I am so glad that my friend and shopping buddy Robin talked me into taking this one. I guess it's payback because I talked her into Mary Green's Gluebook Class!

This is my first attempt at fabric collage. I am pleased with the results and will hang this in my guest bath in keeping with a vintage beach theme that I have going on in there. The size is approx. 9 X 12.

I added part of a fish net that Robin and I bought at a thrift store. The sea shells are some that I picked up on a trip to Pensacola Beach, FL a few years ago. I added a few gold charms for a little bling.