Tutorial: How to Embelish a Collage using Handstitiching Techniques

A round the time that we were heading into our first season of baby showers, I started to make mixed media cards that could double as nursery and bedroom art for my Mom friends. Because the Peanut was still under 1 and not too interested in making cards for her friends yet, I also made cards for her friends too. Most of these cards were stuffed animal inspired and I began including simple stitching as part of the work which led to opening up a shop on Etsy.

The stitch that I use most often when I make hand made cards is the simple back stitch, to learn how to do the embroidery back stitch you can learn how from this youtube tutorial by Lolita charm, her tutorial is simple to follow and I happen to love her manicure.

Friday before last, I featured a very talented digital collage sheet artist; MagpieMine. In the feature I mentioned that I'd come across Maggie of MagpieMine through the Totally Tutorials Exchange program.

For the most part, I use original paintings for my mixed media projects, embellishing with hand stitching and beads to make my simple subjects pop. When I saw Maggie's entry for the tutorial exchange I was immediately excited by the possibilities. So much so, that after I entered my tutorial idea for her exchange, I went back and purchased some other sheets from her shop. As luck would have it, Maggie picked my entry for the exchange and I now have an abundance of fantastic digital clip art to work with.

For this tutorial, I will show you how to use a simple back stitch and beading to add more dimension to a 2 D collage. The final artwork can be matted and framed to fit into any fairy lover's decor. Mine will be a baby blessing gift to my new niece.

For this project you will need:

Your choice of digital Collage Sheet from MagpieMine, I used the Elves and Fairies in the Woodland sheet.
Heavy watercolour paper or card stock
x-acto knife
Glue Stick
Beading Needle
Embroidery Floss
Seed beads
Scissors

Lets get started

Cut it out

To start, print out your collage sheet. It is best to print onto artist quality paper. Once printed use the x-acto knife to cut the image. I use an x-acto blade to cut out the image because the blade allows me to get into the more detailed areas for a crisper edge.

use glue stick to apply glue to the back of the image

Once cut out, apply glue to the back using a glue stick. Because I'm gluing a smaller, organic shape, I use a scrap page to apply the glue onto with a small stick to help hold my fairy down without getting my fingers all sticky. The scrap paper gets any of the extra adhesive, keeps the front of my image glue free and keeps my workspace clean and easier to work on.

place cutout onto collage background

After gluing the back of the fairy, put her onto the background paper. I've used a piece of watercolour paper because it's sturdy and can withstand having holes punched in as well as having wet media used on it (in case you wanted to paint onto your project before adding your fairy.)

get the collage ready for stitching

Once she's been placed on the background paper, make needle holes for stitching. When using embroidery stitches on paper it is easier to have pre-existing holes for placing your stitches along, it saves time and you can put a little more thought into where you want your stitches to go.

work in progress lit from behind to show where stitching will be placed

I wanted to add interest to her wings on this fairy, so I chose to follow along existing lines in her wings. Using a needle, I poked holes along where my stitching was going to go. I use a thimble to help with this part of the project to save the tips of my fingers and thumb.

lay out threads to see which colours work best with your subject

Once the holes are poked into the image, it's time to choose which floss will work best with the fairy. This stage can also be done during the earlier stages, but I prefer to do it after I've got my layout put together.

If I were using a background that incorporated other designs, an image or colours, choosing my thread at this stage is very useful as all the picture elements are together. For this fairy I've chosen a combination of gold and silver floss.

begin stitching from the back of the work

Following Lolita charm's back stitch instructions, start stitching on the backside of your work. I start my stitches in the second to first hole and stitch backwards from there.

hold the end of the floss for the first few stitches so that
you don't pull it all the way through

continue stitching until the area you want embellished is done. You can finish off by sewing a knot in the backside of the work or by using the techniques in Lolita Charm's back stitching tutorial.

To add beads to the fairy, punch a single needle hole where each bead will go. Choose a needle that will fit your beads. Sometimes beads will have varying sized holes; it's a good idea to try more than one to see if most will fit over the needle.

sew beads onto front of image

Again, you will begin your stitch on the back side of the work.
Pull the thread through while holding the tail end of the thread in place. Add your bead to the thread and then put your needle back into the same hole you came up in. Move on to the next hole and repeat until all your beads have been applied.

All finished and ready for framing

Once finished, trim any extra threads and if you prefer, you can apply decorative paper onto the back of the work to hide the stitches in the back. Because I'll be matting and framing this fairy as a nursery decoration, I'm going to leave the back unfinished.

here is another example of this technique using another of MagpieMine's faries on a coloured background:




I'd like to thank Magpiemine for her super collage sheets and of course you can also visit her on Etsy to get started on your own projects.

My weekend was full

of screaming and tantrums galore. The Peanut has reached that stage where a total meltdown is a millisecond away at any given instant. Do you want to go to the playground? Yes? OK put on your shoes...... and we have tantrum, full on throat tearing screams, earsplitting nerve grating tantrum. My sweet little Peanut Butter Pie has become that kid.

She's also become the kid who will get into the worst possible mischief as soon as my back is turned. Yesterday brought a "I have something special for you Mommy; come and look" which turned into a whole jar of sugar sprinkles spilled on the floor in front of my drawing table. Later I heard an excited "look at me Mommy" and turned to find a new roll of paper towel unrolled in a carpet down the hall and into her bedroom and back. Both of these happened while I was in the process of making breakfast and then dinner. Keeping track of what she's got in her hands where she is and and how she'll manage to push her boundaries is... well there are no words because at one and the same time there's frustration, laughter, exasperation and joy and a billion other thoughts and feelings...

On that note, I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am to have AnyMommy's blog on my reading list. I've been following anymommy for quite a while; her posts are full of all that stuff I mentioned above; written with more eloquence and grace than I am able to muster most days; and she does it with four beautiful children to my one little peanut.

I look forward to Stacey's posts because she makes me laugh and cry and squeal with glee sometimes all in the same fifteen minutes. AnyMommy is, as her blog title refers a mommy blog about a Mommy who didn't always want to be a Mommy, who refuses to sort laundry and only recently caved and started pre-treating before washing among many other but not so recent things.

When I found Anymommy she was pregnant, living with her three children in paradise and dealing with poop in the public swimming pool.

5 questions: Revisiting Deadworry, home of the Octo-Owl

Last winter, one of my first features was done on Deadworry, a small independent print shop out of Fort Walton Beach Florida. I was taken by the cute and creepy themes that April and her partner screen onto their shirts, bags and dresses. The name of the shop is an anagram of shop owner, April's favourite, and one of my favourite artists, Edward Gorey, if you have time I recommend The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

Since I've started to do my pre-holiday window shopping and we are again planning on going Hand made with our gifts again this year I thought I'd share Deadworry with you all again. I'm eyeing up a few of the t-shirts for the Teen Boys on our list and possibly one of their cool totes for my cousin if I draw her name this year.

Deadworry's full line of Indie shirts, dresses and stuff to have before you die! can be found on their deadworry.com, Shanalogic.com, and Funky Finds, They have also been featured on My It Things. If you're interested you can also befriend them on MySpace.

I'm still digging the cute on the verge of creepy graphics that are screened onto the apparel and bags that are in the shop. They remind me of Mr Gorey's intricate line drawings and dark themes, which is enough of a reason to recommend them all by itself.

What got you started?

I was very interested in the t-shirt making process as a kid so I went to work in this huge factory that made collegiate wear. It was an awful place to work but I was there for five years and working for "The Man" made me tough. I decided to start my own company with my boyfriend in 2007 and we've been printing our booties off ever since

Who has influenced your work the most?

I've always admired Warhol for being the most famous screen printer and making a boring production skill into art.

Can you describe the palette you use to create with, what colors do you always reach for?

I'm really liking grays and blues right now. I tend to lean toward monochromatic schemes...I am trying to break out of that box though so this spring I'll be adding some bright new colors to my palette.

What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

You are the only one that's going to make it happen. You can't depend on others to do the hard work for you.


Which Children's book character would you be and why?

Well, I used to be Piglet - afraid and timid...but now I'm the ever optimistic Pooh ready to take on that Honey Pot!
Did you see something that you simply must know more about? Click on any of the pictures in this feature to find out more! As always your thoughts and comments are welcome, plus they'll put a smile on my face. If you want to make me jump for joy, head over to Deadworry and fill your closet with a few of their awesome shirts or grab a tote or three!

Thousand Words Thursday

it's strange what people leave on the bus...

in other news I am working feverishly on my tutorial which sill go live on Tuesday!

I've become a bit obbsessed with the cooking channel

but not really with cooking, which is not really true I guess. I think I'm headed back towards being more excited about cooking again; which means that Autumn is approaching.

In the summer I tire of being in the kitchen, when it's too hot I lose interest in eating and cooking. Salads become the big thing, and of course BBQ. When fall rolls around, I start thinking about rich stews, pasta and chillies. meals to warm us up and comfort us through spring at which point I'm burnt out.

The problem is that since the fire we're still rebuilding up our kitchen inventory. Our insurance only covered the items that we had already replaced and had receipts for, we just couldn't afford to spend a huge chunk of money on grocery staples with the move. So I've resorted to adding staples as we require them for certain meals, it's slow going.

We're not as close to a grocery as we once were, and trips for groceries are now once a month. This weeks top To Do is to make a menu for the next few weeks and make up a grocery list to fit without going over budget.....

Since we're on the topic of things that make me salivate, let me suggest a great blog I've begun to follow. Chatterbox Sara's blog is so bright and beautiful it reminds me of a yummy candy (mmm candy). Some of her recent posts have involved some rather tasty looking dishes that make me hungry just thinking about them. She's fun and spunky and I look forward to reading her posts each day because she always has something interesting to say. Go check her out.

Mabon Moon

After putting Peanut to bed tonight I peaked out the door and saw this:

5 question: that most curious of birds

One day while browsing through my blog list, I came across a tutorial on how to do a tutorial, this post was in support of a blog exchange program on Totally Tutorials' Blog, where Etsy Suppliers offer free samples of their supplies to blog writers who are willing to use these materials to produce an art or craft tutorial linked to the supplier's shop and the shop owners blog.

The first thing that entered my mind after "Wow I'd like to get a piece of that action" was "What a great way to kick start some creativity!"

At the time I was going through a bit of a creative drought and had been in one for a while (hence my 5 questions question about getting out of a creativity block) so I kept my eye on the exchange program in case something that I could work with popped up.

Enter MagpieMine and her digital collage sheets. I was one of the lucky recipients of the exchange, and I've also become a customer too. There is such a wide selection of collage sheets in MagpieMine to choose from that the ideas come fast and furious as soon as I start browsing.

Maggie, of MagpieMine is (as she mentions in her profile) like that most curious of birds, the magpie; always on the lookout for interesting, shiny objects. She collects images and squirrels them away in case they are needed someday. In most cases these images and ideas end up on her amazing digital collage sheets.

Maggie claims to have too many ideas and not enough time to create all of them, which means that there is never a shortage of collage sheets in her inventory. I picked up the Elves and Fairies in the Woodland page and a few others to finish off the backs of my hand sewn greeting cards

Up until now, I'd been using decorative papers and in some cases small hand sewn pieces to cover up the reverse side of my cards which is time consuming and expensive. I can use Magpie's medallions printed onto adhesive paper and stick them over the loose threads to finish off my cards with ease as well as an added decorative flourish.

MagpieMine's collage sheets are a perfect first step to getting creative. They can be used for collage projects, jewelry and in some cases, they can be printed out and framed just as they are (yes, they are that well designed).

You can follow Maggies tweets on Twitter and if you want to learn more about Maggie you can also read her Blog, The Magpie's Nest where you'll find some of Maggie's favourite picks from Etsy, a sneak peek of new work, and of course links to some great tutorials featuring her work (stay tuned for my tutorial in the next week or so).

Magpie allowed me to pick her brain with 5 questions: here are her replies:


What has surprised you most about selling your creations online?

What has surprised me the most is the huge number of artists who create gorgeous pieces with clip art or collage sheets. Prior to making and selling collage sheets, as a graphic designer, I used clip art very occasionally when designing an ad or magazine feature or catalog page. It was kind of the last resort if I couldn't find or create the art I was looking for, and I always considered it not the most creative option. Since becoming part of the Etsy "family", I've been surprised to discover artists who create stunning collages, jewelry (charm bracelets are my favorite!), altered art like books and assemblages, all with heavy use of collage sheet art and clip art. The finished products are ultra-amazing! Luckily, with Etsy and other sites showcasing art, I doubt I will run out of new discoveries any time soon!

The other thing that has surprised me is how much I love thinking up new ideas for collage sheets! They just pop into my head, and I probably have forgotten more of my ideas than I have actually used! Got to start writing them down...




Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

Actually, I feel terrible admitting this but, no I don't listen to music when I am working. What?!? Un-American!! My favorite atmosphere when working is: nobody home but me, windows in my office open if it's nice outside, listening to the birds and the sounds of the neighborhood, with one of my cats lounging on the other desk by the window. I am just a peace and quiet fan. Today is one of those days, lucky me!



What got you started?

I have no first memory of discovering art; I was probably born with a Crayola crayon in my hand! I'd like to think it was Jazzberry Jam, but they didn't have that color back then! I've been a painter and a sketcher since I was very small.

What got me started selling online was a suggestion by a coworker that Etsy was a place to make some extra money. I had never heard of Etsy! But within a few weeks I had joined up and started making collage sheets.

So now, I have quit my day job, have let my housework go to pot, and spend way too much time at the computer. (No, the Storque will not be looking to interview me for Quit Your Day Job; I think you have to make enough to support yourself which I don't, though I am extremely fortunate that my great hubby picks up the slack, at least for now!)

Details from Grungy Inchies in Jewel Colors Collage Sheet

Which Children's book character would you be and why?

Well, I guess I would say Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz because no matter where I go I always feel that there's no place like home! Haven't found the Emerald City yet though...



Rock, Paper or Scissors?

Definitely paper! The best things are on paper (sad for someone who works almost entirely with digital files, right?). I love books, magazines, paper beads, papier maché, paper airplanes, paper bags, and origami; not to mention watercolor paintings, scrapbooks, doilies, sticky notes, paper dolls, and I hate to say it but I use too many paper towels! You have to watch out for paper though. It piles up and takes on a life of its own! Sometimes I think I am drowning in paper, since I hate to throw anything away.

detail from Birds, Gators and Hedgehogs Collage Sheet

Did you see something that you simply must know more about? Click on any of the pictures in this feature to find out more! As always your thoughts and comments are welcome, plus they'll put a smile on my face. If you want to make me jump for joy, head over to MagpieMine's shop and buy one, two, three or more of her great collage sheets!