Thursday 29 November 2018

Art Elements Star Challenge Reveal

We come to the end of November and the reveal for the Art Elements Challenge of the month.  This month the challenge was set and hosted by me and I chose 'Star'.  I thought it was quite fitting for this time of year, the long nights and starry skies, which promise the following day will be bright but frosty, creating yet more sparkle as I walk through the fields when I walk my dogs.  (You can read the original blog post HERE).

The same fields I found this rather nice flat stone and painted it with acrylic and some lovely shimmery paints, I hope you can see the shine. 


For the best part of this month it has been an endless cycle of 'if it can go wrong it did' and 'when did we get this busy because I need a holiday'... hence the confusion when I was sending out the links to those that have taken part in the challenge this month - thank you all for putting up with my endless emails for corrections!  and for most of the month I did think that this stone was going to be my rather disappointing entry to the challenge BUT... in between the chaos that has been November in this house I have 'rescued' my daughters sewing machine and been teaching myself to use it.  Until this month I have struggled all my life to even sew a button on - I did write about my sewing adventure for Art Elements and you can read that  HERE.


As I say in the AE blog post, following patterns is not something I am good at - or following a recipe for that matter - so with my new found enthusiasm for all things needle and thread, I drew an outline of a doodle I did in a sketchbook some years ago of a MerCat... and yes they really do exist ;)  


In the box of scrap material left over from my daughter's Textile exam when she was at High School (6/7 years ago!) I found some heavy-ish linen material and using a combination of Inktense pencils and blocks and acrylic paint I transformed the plain fabric into my illustrative doodle.  I have to say that for any future projects (because they are already being done I have the sewing bug!) I will be sticking to Inktense as I am not so keen on the stiffness of the fabric once acrylic is applied.  I have ordered some wax to see if I can soften it but only another experiment will tell if I like it.....


I wanted to add so much more embellishments to my MerCat but time has unfortunately got away from me and I had to stop.


On her tail is a little silver charm of an anchor because I was thinking about all the boats that MerCat has seen, those sunk beneath the waves hiding their treasure for ever.... I am an avid watcher of the History Challenge and stories of the deep ;)  


Her crown is made with silver and gold coloured wire and I added a small sea horse charm.



My star is a star fish in beautiful gold raw silk, which I left the edges to fray.  I have this sample of raw silk material in the box that I have moved from house to house, county to county, one end of the country to another.  For someone that doesn't sew that box holds some treasures.  This piece of silk was given to me by my friend as the remnent from the trousers and cummerbund my son wore as her page boy at her (first!) wedding - my daughter was the little bridesmaid in a beautiful white silk dress.  It was a very glamorous wedding and my children were the only ones that were allowed to attend, they were about 4 and 6 at the time.  The whole time I was stitching this star fish I was thinking about that wedding, the dresses of the guests, many from the other side of the world, the guests that is, most were London Couture outfits and I had a friend at the time - who could sew a button on - help me make my wedding outfit as I couldn't afford a dress from Harrods!  .. my friend did do most of the sewing.. ok all the sewing I made the tea!  I remembered my daughter getting chocolate sauce down her dress, which to this day is still stained, and my son looking like a wooden soldier as he concentrated so hard to be the perfect page boy for my friend.  I remembered the room in the big posh country manor house hotel in Kent (where we lived once.. in Kent that is not the posh hotel!).  We had a four poster bed and the bathroom was fitted with an antique claw foot bath and Victorian fire place and tiles.. it was so grand.... 

But I digress....  

I really loved creating my Mercat, finding a new muse with the artist style doll.  I loved sitting and stitching on the sequins and the beads but most of all I loved thinking of the stories the bits of fabric held, even that ribbon was saved from a cake long ago.. not one I cooked I hasten to add!  

I hope you like my Mercat and you enjoy hopping around the challenge blogs to see what everyone else has made.

Guest Artists
Cat 
Art Elements Team


28 comments:

  1. Oh Laney Her Cat is adorable and so you. Love the starry stone too. Thanks for a great theme

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  2. Thank you Jill, so glad you like her :D

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  3. Your mercat is so cute (and I admire anyone sewing), but the story behind it makes it even better!

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    1. thank you lovely, it was nice sitting here remembering that time :D

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  4. The painted rock is something I've been wanting to do for ages, it is awesome! But the Mercat blew me away! It was fun going down Memory Lane with you :)

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    1. Thank you so much, I did enjoy visiting my memories, the image of my son stood like a wooden soldier made me laugh, he is 25 next month and a giant at 6ft now! Painting rocks is fun, find the flat ones though they are easier to paint on!

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  5. She is very Wow!! You did an outstanding job.... I like your painted rock too.... Sorry I missed your challenge but I was rather busy with other things 😜😜

    As for your friend's wedding that was very grand by the sounds of it.
    😁😁Xx

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    1. thank you lovely x I hope you can join in the next challenges ;) that wedding was super grand but sadly the marriage failed, my friend did marry again in a much less lavish ceremony and is very happily married today ;)

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  6. I love your MerCat!! She is just divine. Your sewing skills are amazing. I can't believe you are jsut a beginner. As for painting fabric with acrylic paint. It always leave it stiff. But you can use textile medium to mix in with your acrylic paint which leaves the fabric with a softer touch. There's also textile paints you can buy, but if you have a ready supply of regular acrylics I would just buy the textile medium to mix in with your paints.

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    1. Cathy I have ordered some textile medium to try the acrylics again, thank you for the top tip ;)

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  7. Oh Laney, she’s amazing! I’m so proud of you flourishing! I can’t wait until the stuffed doll/paper dolls children’s book set is the next biggest thing for Christmas! ����

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    1. thank you lovely you say all the right things :D hope you can join in the next challenge Kelly ;)

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  8. She's wonderful! Really enjoying seeing your ideas come together in a new medium! Thank you for a brilliant theme. I had fun taking part in your challenge! x

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  9. I LOVE your mercat - she's wonderful! Looks like you've been sewing forever! And how great to have all that fabric from your daughter! Thanks for a great theme!

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    1. I know how lucky for me :D some of the fabric I have had for years, some predate my daughter but most she has collected :P

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  10. I love your MerCat. She is so sweet. I love all of the details you added that make her so special. Thank you for the theme stars. It was great fun!

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    1. thank you Kathy and glad you enjoyed the theme, I did enjoy hopping around and seeing what everyone did :D

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  11. (I've been trying to comment and I have no idea if it went through - apologies if I submitted multiple comments, all saying similar things...)
    Laney, I love your MerCat, and I loved the memories you shared with us. Thank you so much for the theme, it looks like everyone had loads of fun even when it seemed like time just flew!

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    1. (Looks like this one finally went through. :))

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    2. thank you for the lovely comment and for trying to publish it Anita!

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  12. Your Mercat is super cute; her expression is priceless. Thank you so much Laney for hosting this challenge

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  13. thank you for the lovely comment Divya and for taking part in the challenge :D

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  14. The starry rock is beautiful and the mercat is the most adorable thing I have seen. I love all the details that make it perfect. Thanks so much for the inspiration theme.

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    1. thank you for stopping by Tammy and I am glad you like the Mercat :D

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  15. I love this Mer-Cat SO very much! She is just perfect and I love the stories that are incorporated into her being. Thank you for hosting a fun theme this month :)

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  16. Your Mer-Cat is just amazing, I love all the details and its cute face, it's so very you!

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  17. Thanks for hosting a fun theme, Laney! Your mer-cat is so adorable and I love the stories wrapped up in the fabric and other bits. I can tell you're going to have some fun adventures!

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Thanks for stopping by my corner of the blogging world :)