Give Yourself Permission to Experiment - Material Musings

This week’s Material Musings has been full of fabric, thread, slow stitching, beads, eco dyeing and plenty of experimenting.

I’ve been working with Seth Apter’s One Layer Away fabrics and Aurifil threads, creating everything from small fabric clusters to a stitched landscape filled with flowers, a little house, prickly pear and wisteria.

I’ve also started another piece using the patterned fabrics to create a face, experimenting with translucent paint over the fabric before adding more stitching, words and beads.

And, of course, there has been more eco and solar dyeing, that I will be using in future creative projects.

 

I used Avocado, neem leaves, annatto seeds and aloe vera, which have all produced their own colors which I am really excited to work with.

We can learn so much about how our fabrics will respond when we take time to play around with them and the rest of our supplies.  We can ask ourselves the question 'What if' and do something totally different to your work, sometimes you will like the results and sometimes not. 

 

What happens when you fray the edges of the fabric, or combine fabrics with beads, stitching or a discarded piece of jewelry? Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone try it to find out. 

Here is something that you can try: Choose three scraps from your fabric collection and spend a few minutes layering them together, don’t think about making a finished piece, and just ask yourself 'What could this become?' and you might be surprised where it will lead. I have shared three creative activities inspired by this episode over on Patreon, including a small fabric storytelling exercise, a fabric cluster activity and a simple 'What If…?' experiment. 

Head over to my Patreon post after watching the video and choose one of the activities to try.  And most importantly give yourself permission to play.

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Making Zen is Coming Soon!! Register Now

 

Are you Ready to Stitch and Create?

I am so excited to announce that I will be teaching a workshop at this year’s Making Zen retreat, hosted by Zen Stitching!

If you aren’t familiar with Making Zen, it’s a fun and educational five-day online retreat for creative makers. There will be around 30 artists delivering pre-recorded workshops throughout the week that are designed to help you improve your techniques and learn new skills. The best part - besides the community connections and all those useful skills - is that it’s totally free to watch each presentation for 24 hours when it airs during the week of September 28th - October 2nd  2026!

Register HERE for FREE

There are some really talented folks lined up for this retreat, and I can’t wait to take in some of the presentations myself! I’m particularly looking forward to Lauren Webers Landscape Broach, and Lisa Goddards abstract Landscape. My own workshop will be Mixed Media Art Trinket Tags and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Mixed Media Trinket Tags

The Trinket Tags can be used in so many cool art journal or creative projects. and can be embellished as simply or as detailed as you require.

This retreat is going to be a lot of fun, and a great way to improve your craft or learn a new one. If you want to join in, You can Register Here for your FREE Seat

Last Day of the Back To Creativity Summit - Get Your VIP All Access Pass!!

 

The summit wraps tonight and so does access to the free 24-hour sessions.

If there's a session you missed a workshop you want to rewatch, or a project you want to come back to all year long then the VIP Pass keeps every one of the 31 sessions in your library. Forever.

Here's what you get:

• Lifetime access to all 31 sessions — watch anytime, as many times as you like

• 20 exclusive premium bonus resources from our presenters (a $2,181+ value)

• Come back to your favorite projects all year long — and beyond

• Starting at just $47 for lifetime access, these rates close once the summit ends.

Get your VIP All Access Pass

These are all some of my favorite activities - I am Looking forward to seeing what you create - Join us HERE

Check out the Teachers

We have had so much fun so far, all the teachers are offering additional goodies for you to access.  Why not take your time and work through the sessions at your own pace which you can do by upgrading to the pass.

Before you Go

Take a look at my Digital Art Papers that I create on Patreon.  You can see all the papers across the tiers HERE

Art Paper Flip Through: Heritage, Time & Layers of Becoming

 

Art Journal Paper Flip Through: Heritage, Time & Layers of Becoming

This month’s digital art papers are here, and I wanted to give you a closer look at the different designs, layers, colors and creative possibilities within the collection.

The theme for August is Heritage and Time: Layers of Becoming, and throughout the papers you’ll find many of the things I love bringing into my mixed media work -  faces, handmade stamps, doodled marks, textured surfaces, embossed metal, watercolor effects and lots of layered imagery.

August Sampler Edition 

One of the things I enjoy most about creating these papers is combining elements from my physical artwork with digital layers. It means that every page has lots of details that you can discover, cut, cover, paint into or use as inspiration for something completely different.

There are several editions available throughout the different Patreon tiers, beginning with the Sampler Edition on the Free tier - it is available as a free download until the end of the month. The Studio, Collectors and Atelier Edition are also available for separate purchase or join us on the tier.

August - Sampler Edition, Heritage & Time

You don’t have to use the papers exactly as they are, you might cut out one of the many tags, add paint, use one of the faces, make a bookmark, create a mini book or simply allow one of the color combinations to inspire your own artwork.

I especially love the black-and-white pages because they give you the opportunity to completely change the color palette and make the design your own.

Collectors Edition - Island & Nature

Sometimes we can put off creating because we feel we need a large block of time. But even five minutes of creative activity counts. You could spend those five minutes cutting out a few elements ready for another day.  The important thing is to give yourself permission to begin, experiment and especially play!!.

Five-Minute Creative Play

Choose one of your art papers and set a timer for five minutes.

• Cut out three small elements that catch your eye, perhaps the face in the image, a shape, or interesting color combination.

• Place them on a journal page without worrying about whether they traditionally “go together.”

• Move them around until something feels interesting.

• You don’t even have to glue them down.

• The purpose is simply to notice and explore.  

August Papers

You can see the full August paper flip through in the video, where you get a chance to see all the papers for this month.  Join us on Patreon where I share some additional ideas for using the papers.


I hope you find a little time this month to create, experiment and enjoy your papers.

Stay blessed and be a blessing