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What’s Happening at www.Linda-Matthews.com

What’s Happening at www.Linda-Matthews.com

Photoshop Elements Tutorial: Designing Repeat Patterns One of the most commonly used designs on fabric is a repeat pattern design. Repeat patterns are easy to make in Photoshop Elements using the Offset feature and simple copy and past. So let’s … Continue reading

What’s Happening at www.Linda-Matthews.com

Photoshop Elements Tutorial: Designing Repeat PatternsPhotoshop Elements Tutorial: Designing Repeat Patterns

One of the most commonly used designs on fabric is a repeat pattern design. Repeat patterns are easy to make in Photoshop Elements using the Offset feature and simple copy and past. So let’s get started …

Note: This tutorial is for Photoshop Elements 6 but the steps are probably similar in other versions.

1. Download the image

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Purses Totes & Handbags Updated for JulyPurses Totes & Handbags Updated for July

Head over to the Free Purses Totes & Handbags listings and click on the Alphabetical Section “Added July 2010″ for the links to the tutorials for the following fabulous bags, purses and totes.

Enjoy …

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New in the Store - Delicious Art BagsNew in the Store – Delicious Art Bags

I’ve just added some lovely new handbags to the store so stop by and check them out. Careful though, no drooling on your keyboard. These handbags are just the perfect size to travel lightly and brightly through your day, so make a statement and …

Wear Your Art on Your Arm

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Stitch, Cloth, Paper, PaintStitch, Cloth, Paper, Paint

If you follow my blog, you should know by now that I love to work with fabric paper.

I print on it

I paint it

and I use it for all sorts of projects.

So if you love using fabric paper also, then you’re sure to love this book I recently stumbled across…

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Inspiration For All You Eccentric FashionistasInspiration For All You Eccentric Fashionistas

What inspires you …

to be daring

to be different

Be inspired by Iris Apfel …

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Arts on Stage

If you’re in the Daytona Beach, Florida area on the 14th and 15th August, stop by and visit with me and get a close up and personal look at my digital art on fabric at a special event …

Arts on Stage

Arts on Stage is a two day event being held INDOORS!! (yayyyyy!!!!) in the air conditioned comfort of the lovely Peabody Center where you can browse and shop for local fine arts and crafts and as this is a juried event you know there will be some lovely artwork on display.

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Chaos and OrderChaos and Order

Way back when I was dressmaking I once had a client who freaked out when she saw all her beautiful fabric cut into pieces and lying on my sewing room table. She took one look at her beautiful Chinese silk fabric that was once yardage which had been hidden away in her closet for 20 years and asked that I pack it up so she could take it home because she wasn’t happy with the mess I was making. At the time I had only cut out the pieces and had yet to put one stitch to it so I guess in her eyes all she saw was a sloppy bunch of irregular shaped pieces of fabric haphazardly strewn over my table.

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In The GardenIn The Garden

I haven’t made an art quilt in such a long time being so absorbed recently with my art bags, so I was a little nostalgic when my art quilt “Pomegranate” returned home to me last week after touring the country with the “Fibrations” exhibit for the last 12 months.

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SynchronicitySynchronicity

This is what my work table looks like at the moment … Look past the mess and notice the colors – all blues and greens, very cool and soothing.

These are not colors I normally work with, in fact they’re not colors I’ve ever worked with; a little too trendy and cool. I like my colors bold and strong. Like this …

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Art Trader MagazineArt Trader Magazine

The latest issue of Art Trader Magazine is now available for download.

Art Trader Magazine is a free publication for those interested in trading art. Even if you aren’t into trading art or cards, you’re sure to find the articles informative and entertaining – I always do!

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Moving Blogs

Moving BlogsI’m in the process of reorganizing my websites and this involves moving my blog here on the Creative Textile and Quilting Arts website to my blog over at Linda-Matthews.com. I’m not sure if I’ll move all the blog posts over there just yet, but that’s where all the action will happen from now on.

Please update your subscriptions

If you’re already subscribed to my newsletter, then you don’t need to update that subscription; nothing has changed. However to catch all the latest from the blog at Linda-Matthews.com please make sure you update your rss subscriptions by signing up for the new rss feed and/or the email feed. The signup form can be found in the sidebar on the new blog and I hope to see you there soon.

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Fabric Art Necklace

It’s not often I can find time to sew for myself but I took a little time today to play around some more with digital grounds and ended up with this lovely necklace – just the thing to dress up a plain dress or jacket. I printed on a piece of fabric paper I had lying around, and it gave the image wonderful texture.

Fabric Art Necklace

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Chris Predd: Playing with Spray-On Fabric Dyes

Continuing my special presentation of articles submitted by my guest bloggers.

Playing with Spray-On Fabric Dyes

by guest blogger Christine Predd (originally published 15 June 2009)

Several days ago I purchased some spray on fabric dyes at Hobby Lobby . . . I think they were sold for tie-dye projects, althogh I was planning to use them to dye some fabric for my art quilts. I live in a ranch style condo and only have a small patio, not a lot of room for serious fabric dyeing. This sounded perfect for my situation. I only bought the primary colors, hoping to create new colors as I used them.

The sun was shining today so I decided to get started. I cut two pieces of PDF fabric, 22 inches square or so. After laying one piece on a drop cloth on the patio, I proceeded to use some photo matting as my stencil and begin spraying on dyes in different places with the matting in different position. See the photos below.

Spray Dyes

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Digital Grounds Hearts Organza

If you love printing on organza and thought that this was the best result you could get, then you are simply going to love this news … you can print even better images on organza, with 100% transparency, by using a clear tar gel acrylic skin as a backing.

I first heard about using clear tar gel as a skin for organza over on Marie Z. Johansen’s blog where’s she’s also doing some fun stuff with digital grounds, so I thought I’d give it a try as well.

Preparing an acrylic skin with clear tar gel can be a little challenging because of the thick and icky consistency of the gel, but being self-leveling, it isn’t so important to get an even coverage as with other gels or mediums because it levels itself and dries with an even and mark-free surface, and crystal clear transparency. The only thing I *really* didn’t like about this type of skin was the high gloss sheen it produced, however I found that you can tone down the gloss sheen by using a matte spray sealer.

On the upside, it does offer options for printing exceptionally vivid transparent images.

Using the same printer with the same photo settings, this is an image printed on untreated organza …

Printing on Organza

the same image printed on organza treated with digital grounds …

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Digital Grounds: All Cracked Up

I’ve been puting some strange stuff through the printer these last few weeks. This one is crackle paste on fabric. I really like both the crackle effect and the results of the image print. Crackle paste of course is usually used in mixed media applications, but I found it worked just as well on fabric. My little Geisha Girl thinks so too.

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7 Easy Ways to Increase Creativity

Perspective
Photo courtesyXavier Fargas

Creativity, whether in art, business, or life, is the act of making new things or finding unique solutions to difficult problems. Creativity, just like writing, public speaking, or goat herding, is a skill that can be developed and improved with effort over time.

Besides being a skill anyone can learn and improve, creativity is also variable and fluid; depending on our mental energy, motivation, and circumstances, it can come and go like the ocean tide. However, by taking a few simple steps, you can develop a little more control over those tides.

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Making Fabric Paper

Making Fabric PaperIf you missed out on the recent free “Fabric Paper” mini-class which was held over at the Free Lunch Cafe during the month of November, you can still enjoy the lessons and learn how to make fabulous fabric for use in your art quilts or other projects!

The mini-class is now available for purchase and immediate download and you can visit the store for full details.

For inspiration, check out my journal covers here and here, and my beautiful little treasure chest here, and my cute little art quilt “Scraps” here.

I love making fabric paper – it’s one of my favorite techniques. I’m sure you’ll love it too; it’s very addictive.

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Time Management for Creative People

Time Management

This post was originally published back in January 2009, however with the silly season quickly approaching it becomes important to find ways to reduce your stress, and finding time to be creative even when you’re running at full speed, is a great way to do this.

Finding time to be creative is sometimes a balancing act. Family, jobs and a busy lifestyle can suck up our time without us even realizing it. Or maybe you feel that taking time for yourself is selfish; that this time could be better spent tending to our families.

We all need personal time – time to reflect and to recharge our batteries, and for art quilters this usually means finding time to create our art!

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Trusting The Process

I’m still finishing off some journals and for this particular journal cover I decided to try something totally out of of my realm of comfort – working with only one color.

Letting go of old ways of doing things and allowing the process to guide you isn’t always easy and working with a simple design and only one color really challenged me to stay focused and allow the color and design to share equal space. It was very tempting to add other elements and colors as I normally would, but I resisted the temptation and I simply love the results!

I used machine embroidered fabric paper for the cover because it’s strong yet flexible, and then painted it with a burgundy red and added some gold highlights. I can’t wait to do some more!

Journal

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