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Homework with Pan Pastels and a Sewing Machine

When school ended I asked my youngest for all of her school papers.  She was very nervous – what would a parent want to do with all that work?  Art.  She had lots of papers, so I am set for quite a while.  I thought all the different inks, papers, and handwriting would make a great first layer.  Her homework and any paper within reach was fair game.  I started stitching the pages together.  Guerrilla stitching.  Nothing careful, nothing orderly.  Just sewing.

After making a giant random page of her handwriting, homework, and worksheets I went for my stencils.  Pan Pastels are new to me so I didn’t know what to expect.  Creamy goodness.  Vibrant colors.  Here is one of the quilted papers.

You can see how I used this in a journal page here.

 

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  • Cowgirl Red July 27, 2011, 4:48 pm

    Really cool! This is an awesome crossover piece of work. Very clever ane creative. Terah

  • AJ July 27, 2011, 7:13 pm

    Carolyn this is amazing, what a wonderfully creative way to use your daughter’s school work.
    Big love
    AJ

  • Melodie July 28, 2011, 4:27 pm

    Now I’m reading thru your blog…I KNEW you would have stuff that I like…Using your childs art and sewing it together is a great way to save/use/upcycle…I had thought of using my grandson’s art, (he just started preschool) but wasn’t sure what to do with it. So how big is the piece you made and what are you going to do with it?

  • Carolyn July 28, 2011, 4:59 pm

    Glad you like my blog! I made 8 or so of these, and they were all irregularly shaped. The sewing machine really determined what size it was… Some were 3 ft by 2 ft, some a bit more, some a bit less. It really is all about experimentation. I didn’t post the ugly ones. Man, I had one that was truly an eye sore. Glad my kid had lots of papers so I could just make more.

    After the pages were all colored I cut them down to more manageable sizes like 9×12, 9×14 or so. I have a journal page in process with the papers. When it is finished I’ll post it.

    When my kids were little I would photo copy their art and shrink it. It then became like a collage sheet I cut up, glued on, and added to all sorts of journal “stuff”. I also made adorable greeting cards for gifts at the holidays.