Princess Bubbles Creates

 This piece has been hanging around for a while.  Ever so close to being finished but not quite there.  It needed just a few more yarns to make it complete.  To my great delight, I have the perfect frame for it. I love it when a piece comes together so easily

  This mandala was an interesting experiment.  I used alcohol inks on a transparency for the background.  I added embossing powder through a stencil.  I wasn't terribly happy with the result so I added paint through the same stencil but slightly offset.  It gives it a drop shadow which I find interesting.  

 Here are two more of my little scroll pages.  They each have a piece of the same silk on them.  I like to have some continuity.  I will space these pages apart when I sew them together into the scroll though.  I haven't made a lot of stitching progress on these but some is better than nothing. I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

LeeAnna  has more spring questions for us this week. What Spring creatures might you see in the wild where you live right now? I love seeing the robins as they proclaim warmer weather is coming.  Supposedly!  We are getting more snow right now.  We didn't get a lot of snow this year so I should not whine.  But I am so ready for warmer weather! Yesterday was fun.  I had a doggy guest and his owner told me about an art-making activity for dogs.  I decided to give it a try.  Pictured above is my Banksy with his masterpiece!  Both dogs loved getting to lick some peanut butter.  I don't think they cared about the art so much.  Chantal was thrilled with her dog's art and was going to put it up on the fridge!  Of course.   I will definitely be doing this with other dogs! I have such a long list of likes and things I am grateful for.  Mostly they are small and simple things.  I won't list them.  But having such...

 In the depths of winter, I found myself painting this.  It is a large piece of cloth, much bigger than I usually work.  It started its life back in the summer when I had a family gathering.  I put the plain fabric on an easel and gave the children paints.  They all contributed their marks.  It was a lot of fun for me to add my marks to it. It is an expressive abstract painting.  I know what I see in it but I wonder what others might see.  It is always fun to learn what others see coming through.  I am a little tempted to add some stitching to it.  I am not convinced that is the best idea though.   There is an invitational art show coming up.  I am debating hanging this at that show.  It is not a juried show so it would definitely be hanging.  I don't consider myself a painter so the insecurities are really flying around my head.  I am not sure that I can work up the courage to do it.  

 I used a stencil to create this mandala.  I used it in the most basic of ways and that feels a little like cheating.  I often use stencils but usually, they are a jumping-off point.  That feels more creative to me.  However, this stencil is gorgeous and needs nothing added to it.  Plus the background is quite busy so enough is enough. I used embossing powder on the vellum.  I wasn't sure how the vellum would react to the heat gun.  I was careful to keep it at a distance and it worked perfectly.  I created the background with alcohol ink markers.  They work perfectly.  Since creating this background I have played more with the markers and found a way to make them less blotchy looking, more blendy.

 Month three of stitching on even weave fabric is moving right along.  For sure the even weave fabric is helping me to have neater stitches.  That wasn't my goal for this project.  My goal was to try new stitches or practice some old ones that I don't use often.  Finding new stitches that I actually want to do has been a challenge.  There are loads of new to me stitches out there though so I will keep at it. I have a lovely library books and need to get them off the shelf.  So far I have just been using The Complete Stitch Encyclopedia by Jan Eaton.  I will enjoy perusing some others as this project progresses.   I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/