A reallly, REALLY fun swap

A couple of weeks or so ago, I joined a matchbox swap over at Pat's Ooglebloops blog. In fact, check out her matchbox and everything in it.

Here is what Pat said about the swap "I'll put everyone's name on folded up scraps of paper in a bowl, have a disinterested party close their eyes, and pick out names, 2 at a time, to match everyone up.

As soon as I get everyone's address, I will let you know the "mail by" date.

The rules are - there really are no rules of design. Just decorate a tiny matchbox- the ones that are about 2" long. Fill with ephemera, vintage pieces of this and that, things that could be used in altered art some way. If you like it - I'm sure your swap partner will like it too!!! As many items as will comfortably fit in the box - there is no prize for having stuffed the most in there!!!"

In the e-mail to my partner and myself, she wrote to "Alter the box however you desire. . . " I was simply delighted to learn that I had gotten Patty's name (of course I can't pronounce all of it, but who cares, right?). She is one of my favorite artists and I love everything she makes, including her amazing photos. In fact, she assured me she's taken photos of my box and hers. Hop on over to her blog and look at her photos. I promise they will look so much better than anything I can take.

Isn't this wonderful? All these goodies arrived in Patty's box to me, except for the lovely vintage handkerchief, which the box was bound in. The hanky has beautiful yellow flowers on it that reminded Patty of the sunflower photos I used from her blog one Sunday.

I was simply tickled with everything, even if it is hard to see. On the left is the gorgeous box and a handmade piece of inchie art made by Patty (which means SO MUCH to me). Below that is a tiny hand charm, a small card with words, and three shells. To the right of those are a phone staple with a fuzzy thing stuck in it and two teeny tiny tags. To the right of those are Patty's awesome hand stamped shrink art, which has images on both side, three tiny buttons, and a metal key.

At this point, we need to go back to the top and look at the totally awesome handmade cinnamon applesauce gingerbread man, which smelled so good when I removed it from the box. In fact, I wondered why my craft room smelled so good even before I spied the little guy!!

There is a tea tag with a love quote on one side and below that is a gold four leaf clover charm. Back at the top, is a postage stamp from Bhutan. I already have a layout planned for it. To the right of the postage stamp is a bingo marker. Below the postage stamp is a metal thingy that Patty assured me was a metal curling rod. I love it and will keep it in my special pieces. An acorn, a bee, a tack, and a safety pin are grouped close to each other.

A bejeweled flower on a piece of ribbon is shown next to a metal piece with "friendship" written on it. Now what could be better than that as the final piece?

Well obviously that was not all. Patty also included some totally wonderful pieces, including several that have hand images on them. I was totally tickled.

I was totally mesmerized by the circular sensor charts, which brought back memories of my metrology lab days. And since Patty is a stamper, she couldn't let that envelope go undressed. Sadly, the one I sent her was naked as a jaybird.

My apologies for the quality of the three photos above, but my camera batteries were all dead and I just HAD to take photos of everything I got from Patty. I know the photos are not the best, and that is because I either didn't hold the camera steady, or had it on the wrong setting. Regardless, I apologize. I personally thought the smaller photos were better, but if you click on them, you can see everything, even if everything is a bit blurry. Please be aware, Patty's address is blocked out on the envelope.

For my box to Patty, I must have overlooked the "Vintage" part of Pat's message (above), but it doesn't matter because anything I have can be used in vintage pieces, with the possible exception of the shrink plastic pumpkin. But I digress!

Although you can't really see it in the photo, the box is covered with some card stock I colored using Blazing Red Staz-on reinker and 91% alcohol. I only had one ribbon that even closely resembled the embellishment I had chosen, a vintage pink porcelain rose in an antique gold setting, so I made the card stock to go all around the piece, although I've seen several that were covered using images the size of the box width and length. The box is opened with a little red heart.

Did you notice that Pat said to fill it with whatever was comfortable? Well, I did just that. Actually, it's nice to know something about the person you are making the gift for, so I was really lucky. I put in a few things I knew would have special meaning to Patty, including the antique sewing machine charm, the elephant, the bird, a tiny feather, the crown, and a couple of rubber stamps.

There were 33 discrete pieces in the box and I had so much fun packing them over and over until I got it right.

What's so funny is, the pieces went together so easily the first time around. They fit perfectly. Then I removed them to photograph the items. I had to put them in the first time to make sure they would all go in. In fact, I had to leave one set of clock hands out because they just wouldn't fit the second time around.

If anyone who is a stamper knew how long it took to stamp these words, they would laugh. I even got one of the "s's" upside down. I attempted to stamp other images on the back, but there just wasn't enough room given my limited number of rubber stamps. As an aside, you can see the ribbon I added to both sides in the above picture.

I purposely kept the box plain. I didn't want a lot of bling and embellishments on the outside. I wanted to save it all for the inside of the box. I didn't even cover the inside tray of the box, leaving it plain so I could add more items. The only alteration I made to the tray was to glue the ends so they wouldn't fall apart with the extra weight.

Patty's secret stash will surely change over the years and each time she adds and removes items will bring new memories.

I want to thank Pat for allowing me to play in this swap and Patty, without whom this swap would never have materialized (on my end). Thanks to both for a truly wonderful and fun swap.

If you can do this . . . .

I had intended to do a bit more on this spread, but time got in the way. This was a quickie that I made using a piece of cardstock, a used fresh garlic bag, and the image that came from a box a friend gave me years ago when she installed her new internet. With all the computer/internet problems I've experienced for well over a week, I thought it was about time I used the image. While I was gluing it to the page, I kept thinking "If you can do this, your computer isn't as misbehaving as mine!!"

I finally had time to make a few additions to this page. I was glad I had not posted the original post yet, because I wanted to show the additions. I added five clay hearts to jump rings and hung them from eyelet covered holes to the outside of the piece. I also placed the two hands from the push molds on the cardboard. I'm definitely more satisfied with this spread.

Click to enlarge the above images I scanned with my new scanner. I have to admit, it does a much better job than the other one with antiquated software the new computer refused to install.

My ally

For this spread, I used a wonderful magazine image I found and part of a saying from another magazine. The background began with bright pink metallic paint, then I added the sewn colored paper towel and image to the page. Finally, I added the saying.

Baking day

What do you do when it's snowing outside? Why bake of course! And that is what I did yesterday. Although I didn't take photos, I made a green bean casserole and a macaroni dish (can't really call it a casserole) that probably sounds better than it was. First, over the weekend I made salsa with some of my ripe veggies I harvested on Friday, then added the leftover salsa to some cooked macaroni and popped it in the oven. It was not as dry as I anticipated, but I felt like the mac took some of the flavor, especially the cilantro, away from the salsa. There was no cheese, milk, or butter in this dish, that's why I can't really call it a casserole.

In between baking, I worked on some polymer clay pieces that will be showing up in my art in the next few weeks. I had a terrible time freehanding the hearts and wings. The hearts are my favorite and that was the real purpose for baking clay.

One of the faces in the top row was an attempt to make what I thought might be the color teal. I'm still not completely sure what the color is, so I decided to play around and try to create my own teal color. That's one of the things I love about polymer clay: creating my own color blend.


In the top row in this picture, I experimented by making a button. I heard they were hard to make, and I'll let you know if I ever sew it to anything, something I don't do (hand sew, that is). My favorite of all the pieces is the heart on the left. I thought the colors turned out so well and everything I did was freehand, including the wings.

The six purple hands on the left are from a cookie cutter, the smallest of three. In the middle of the top row of hands are two made from two push molds. On the right are three pieces I stacked together using the three nesting cookie cutters. I'm thinking the piece might go in a niche in my Hands AB. The bottom row middle has four white hands that were made from my handmade Barbie doll mold. I simply used hot glue and encased Barbie's hand in the hot glue to make the mold. When cool, I removed the hand. The bottom right is a piece made from the same push mold as above. It was the first one I made and I separated all the fingers.

I hope your day is warm, sunny, and free of computer problems.

What?

I spent the entire day yesterday working on a project that goes in the mail today. Sometimes art takes awhile to reveal itself.

And sometimes it's hard to see, even when it is revealed.

Silent Sunday: Autumn at the river

Friday, a very long day

My Friday started around 9:00, when I decided to make a piece of artwork, then checked the weather and learned that snow was forecast for Sunday. I decided the art had to wait because it was probably time to get the garden ready for winter. This is what it looked like when I started. Can you tell there are still tomatoes on the vines?

There are also lots of peppers, along with many leaves that had fallen over the past week or so.

It occurred to me as I was taking the last of the peppers, onions, and tomatoes in, that I should show what took nearly two hours to do. I stripped all the veggies from their vines, pulled onions, and took the first six buckets in the house. I remembered as I was getting ready to bring in the final three buckets, that it might be a good idea to take a photo of my labors so far.

By about 1:30 pm, I had gotten rid of all the vines and plants, and had started laying down newspapers, then leaves, then shredded paper, then compost. I needed to empty one of the compost barrels in order to fill it with the vines and such I pulled from the garden. At this point, I have also removed the two large herb planters from behind this fence, along with the tomato cages.

After I had placed leaves everywhere except the new area, I added more newspapers, and soaked well. In fact, I soaked so well, I also watered the privacy fence, probably a bit too much. I also placed more compost over the top of the newspapers. You can see, I still have tons of leaves in the plastic bags. At this point, I had only used five bags of leaves.

At 5, it was starting to get dark, but I still had to sweep the driveway (not started in this photo). Unfortunately, I didn't do anything with the pots, but the new area, although it looks like it's only bags of leaves, has been finished. I did the same thing as in the other area, starting with newspapers, leaves, compost, more newspapers, and a final layer of compost. I placed the black plastic over the entire area and held it down with wooden stakes. The plastic will come off after about a week to 10 days. The newspaper and leaves are super wet, as you can see by the fence. This will give them a fighting chance for the compost to work itself in well, heat a bit from the sun hitting the black plastic, and stay super moist.

If you click on the photo above, you'll better see all the future compost I'm making from yesterday's vines and plants, along with veggies that weren't fit to bring in. The compost can is so full it's overflowing. I need to move some of the overflow to the other container, the green one at the back of the photo.

Today I will get rid of all the leaves and deal with those annoying pots. Some days are so long, you just can't finish, not even art!

Two spreads in my Hands AB

I really wish my scanner was larger or my altered book was smaller. This piece just doesn't split up very well, so I chose to show it all at once, although some of it is missing, including part of the title.

I call this piece 12:20. I took advantage of the magazine page on the hand, then cut the 12 from another page. I used two strips of recycled ribbon, some postage stamps, magazine images, and an old tablet that had writing on the back. I actually didn't decide to write on the tablet page until after I had added the ribbon. No, it doesn't make any sense, just words or partial words to suggest a message to go along with the abstract art. This page was made using all leftovers and magazine images I got from my mailbox.

On a really different note, this page is made from scraps of scrapbook paper. The reason I like this book is because I can try so many techniques using hands as the theme. The style is completely different from what I've been doing, but sometimes we have to think inside the box. I call this page "Homage to Bleubeard." Click either photo to enlarge.

One of those days!!!

Actually, it's been one of those weeks. I've had my share of computer problems this week, and things don't seem to be getting much better. Not one to look at things in a negative light, I won't elaborate on my problems, other than to say I've gotten NO art done this week until yesterday when I made this impromptu postcard for the Christmas postcard swap.

Although it's not my best work, I decided to make them after I had all the packages open and laid out to swap.

The good news about yesterday? Although I could no longer download photos from my camera, I was able to plug in the card that is inside the camera into one of the slots on my computer. For that I am thankful. I took the photo just in case it worked and I'm really glad I did.

The postcards were made using three ribbons and some nubby material. I used the holographic snowflake for the star on top of the tree. Like I said, NOT my best work, but I really like the second postcard I made (here) and the first one will do (here). They are now at the door ready to go in my mailbox this morning.

Honoring Veteran's Day

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Germans signed the Armistice Treaty effectively ending WWI. In the United States, it is known as Veterans Day. Other countries celebrate it as Armistice Day. It is a day dedicated to world peace.

Let us honor our veterans today, as well as those still fighting to keep us safe.

Two spreads for my Hands AB

I issued a challenge on ABC yahoo group to use scraps or junk mail in their art this week. I started these pages, not even thinking about the challenge, because much of what I use in my ABs comes from my mailbox!! As I was working on these pages, I realized I had fulfilled the challenge.

As soon as I got this catalog, I knew I had to use the images from it. There were so many colorful pictures, many of which applied to safety in the workforce, an area I have been involved with most of my working life.

I began by tearing the background labels, which I did not intend to show when I was finished. However, these labels were just so graphic, I couldn't bring myself to cover them, so I placed the pictures of gloves in and around them.

Originally I considered extending the right side of the previous spread to accept the remainder of the pictures, then decided I would just make two spreads.

For the left side, I used all the remaining images of both labels and gloves.

For the right side, I first wrote the words large enough they would cover over the written words on the page. Then I masked off the hands and inked around them using pigment ink.

You can click on any of the above photos to better read the labels and glove types. In case you can't read my hand writing (after all, I have trouble reading it most of the time), I wrote:
What’s your profession? If you’re a race car driver, jockey, nurse, lab technician, dish washer, fork truck driver, steel worker, welder, or a person who holds one of thousands of jobs that requires wearing gloves each day, you appreciate how much gloves protect your hands.

An amazing blogoversary giveaway

Lynn, over at Trash to Treasure Art is having the most incredible and generous blogoversary giveaway I've seen. Below are only a few of the photos she allowed me to use from her blog of the many gifts she is giving away. You can sign up until the 18th.

Talk about a gifted artist. When you go to her blog, be sure to check out the 33 (unless I counted wrong) publications she has contributions in. Talk about PUBLISHED!

Please be aware that all photos are by Lynn, and were not taken by me, nor did I make any of these beautiful pieces. One of the pieces she is offering is a handmade cold cast metal necklace.

Here is a lovely charm bracelet, and

a vintage inspired wall hanging. But these are only a few of the offerings that Lynn allowed me to use.

Please check out her blog (and be prepared to stay awhile), then let her know you were there and that Bleubeard and Elizabeth sent you.

And in case I didn't make myself clear before, these photos belong to, and were taken by Lynn, not me.

Silent Sunday: Fall foliage (part 3)

My revised UHU clipboard

I've never made a secret of the fact that I sometimes get things wrong. So I decided to revamp my UHU clipboard. Although I finished covering it awhile ago, I wanted to show how I did it and what I turned it into.

To cover the clipboard, I used UHU STIC. I covered the entire piece using a piece of lovely paper gifted to me by Donna of Findings Art.

You can see I completely covered the clipboard, carefully cutting around the metal clip.

I decided to add a piece of rick rack using the UHU permanent glue roller. I began by measuring the rick rack by folding it around the clipboard, then cutting, leaving a tiny tail.

The idea is to place the glue roller onto the rick rack. Be sure to get good coverage and press well. This could take a few minutes. Don't glue too far ahead, and press firmly as you go.

I used a drop of Twist & Glue to adhere the edges of the rick rack together.

I held the completed piece together with the tail still intact using a clothes pin until it was dry. When the Twist & Glue was completely dry, I cut the excess rick rack away, making sure both ends of the rick rack lined up properly.

I decided to not add alcohol inks to the metal clipboard because I don't want added color to distract from the piece. It now hangs on my wall and has become a piece where I can display art.

Here it holds the piece I made and showed yesterday. It will now hold weekly art that I make for inspiration, or a prototype for a swap. What better way for an artist to use the clipboard than a design or display board?

If you live in the US or Canada and have an active blog, be sure to go to http://www.gluewithuhu.com/ for your free Saunders clipboard and this month's sample: UHU Glue Stic. Tell them Bleubeard and Elizabeth sent you, then have fun decorating your own clipboard. When you've finished, be sure to send a link to your blog, so we can see how you used your clipboard.

The laundry

I only wish this piece showed up better. I spent a lot of time making this piece, but didn't take any photos of the piece in progress. It is 6" wide X 4 1/2" long.

I began by adding some gorgeous green paper that Rita sent me. I love this paper, and am just tickled to have it. Next I sewed thread lengthwise in several places on the piece. Then I added brown, purple, and turquoise paint in various places through a punchinella stencil.

I spent a great deal of time designing the clothing. It's no secret that I don't draw, so even these simple shapes were a real challenge for me. When I was satisfied they looked like real clothes, I backed some sheets of a phone book with card stock, then cut the clothes. I glazed the dress and pants, and used fluid acrylic gold on the shirt. When the dress was dry, I added the white through punchinella (using pigment ink). For the blouse and pants, I painted a pastry (pie crust) decorator using red paint and rolled it over the pieces.

To assemble, I used some old string and two brads I painted with brown antiquing ink that was oil based and took forever to dry. I used six cotter pins instead of tiny clothes pins because I liked the look.

I really love this piece. In fact, I like it so much, I am tempted to keep it!

Second Postcard for swap

I have to admit, I didn't do too much art yesterday. I prepped a page in my Hands AB, but didn't really feel like taking photos. I had planned to go to Dana's, but we had to cancel, so that threw my entire day off. Late in the day, in fact late last night, I made a second set of postcards for the swap.

I'm not sure these are much better than the ones I made two days ago, but at least they aren't stamped. The hat is a stencil and I resisted using a stencil to write the words, instead opting for my Dymo label maker.

Postcards for a Christmas swap

Not sure I like these, but they are done, so guess that they'll have to do. Not sure how altered the postcards are, but at least I got them finished before the due date, which is tomorrow.

Rework

There's nothing I hate worse than having to start a project over, but that is exactly what I did yesterday. There was no reason for it either, because I had cut plenty of rosin paper and had lots of book pages, gesso, and glue.

I could have cut the pattern smaller, but this one was such a chore to draw, I didn't want to have to start it over, too.

Before I started the rework portion of my day, I found these dried hand wipes that my friend Sally gave me. I pulled them out of their package and wet them ever so slightly. I used the color mist "Jewels" that I am not crazy about, hoping I'll empty the bottles soon. As dark as they were when they were wet, they were equally as light when they dried. Still not in love with them, but they colored the hand wipes well and will make some lovely backgrounds, probably about the time Easter rolls around! At least it got my mind off rework or starting over, if for no more than a few minutes.

Measure twice, cut once. Or measure both sides, cut once.


In this photo I have started gluing book pages to a new piece of rosin paper.

Now comes the next step in the prep work. For this, I used UHU's non-permanent glue roller to hold the template in place.

I'm keeping the rest of this project under wraps until I finish it. Needless to say, it took me all day, with only one break to work on and take the photos below. I'll be working on it for several days, so I'll show bits and pieces of it as I go.

Originally I was going to try to alter some real postcards, but I didn't realize how much writing was on the back (or address side) of each postcard. So I began by gluing two layers of heavy card stock together and allowing them to dry. Then I painted the first side with gesso, shown here, then the second side. When dry, I placed them in a heavy book. This is going to take awhile.

While taking a break from my other project, I painted one side of these cards. I left one white to show that weighing them down with a heavy book will take the curl out.

This is today's sneak peek at my project from yesterday.

Our neighborhood clean up and some lost photos

Wasn't it great to have an extra hour yesterday? Although I had many items on my "to do" list for Saturday afternoon and Sunday, I made very little art. Sunday was simply too gorgeous, with a high of 76 degrees F, lots of sun, and very little wind. Added to that, we got an extra hour to play and I decided to hang two loads of laundry on the clothes line (don't sun dried clothes smell the best?), then just sit with Bleubeard and enjoy the day, rather than doing much else.

I'm still missing photos in my camera. Some that I thought I had deleted were on the camera when I downloaded the clean up, but some from the clean up were corrupt. I'm not sure if my card is going or what, but I'm hoping it was just a fluke. Regardless, I thought you might enjoy seeing what I did on Saturday, another gorgeous autumn day in the midwest.

Each fall, our neighborhood has a clean up of a certain area within our association boundaries. I have been very involved for years, and this year was no different. We always meet at the church where our association meetings are held and by 7:30 a.m. over 30 volunteers came to help with this year's clean up.

Young and young at heart showed up to participate.

Although I never eat breakfast, I had some coffee

while others ate hot cinnamon rolls and bananas, drank hot coffee, milk, or orange juice. We always feed the volunteers very well.

I was simply thrilled at the turnout, as can be seen by the full parking lot.

To my knowledge, this was the first year we gathered outside for breakfast. The church must have needed the kitchen.

This is one of two packer trucks I'll be on. It's my job to read the map and point out where the driver needs to go and stop. We divide the designated cleanup area into two parts and each part will have a packer truck. Little did I know at the time that the truck I was in would have the easiest route! The other driver had to take his trash to the dump after only one street.

As you can see, there are cars everywhere, including a tire truck out of camera range that will pick up tires for the neighborhood.

I feel bad because I got a lot more photos at the church which didn't download. I didn't stop to get too many while we were working.

One picture I did get was while I was in the cab of the packer truck. Here you can see the back of the truck from the camera that is attached to the dash. This is the first one I've seen in color, so they have upgraded their equipment.

It always looks like people are standing around, but that is not the case. With this many people, you can only load so much into the packer at one time. That means you take your turn. People who don't volunteer for the clean up are asked to help when the packer truck gets to their house. It's all about community.

Although the people haven't moved much, they are in line with their trash and ready to go.

Here is a picture I took standing on the truck looking through the mirror. These are some pretty big mirrors. There is one below the big one, which has a fish eye.

The driver didn't have to do anything except pack the truck. He is the one with the safety vest on standing by the lever.

I think it's always fun to hang onto the packer. If you've ever been on one of these clean ups, you know they are fun, but they are also hard work. Here the tire truck is getting ready to leave. The tires must be picked up separately and the City doesn't charge to haul the tires away when we have these clean ups.

Here is another view of the tires that were collected on Saturday. I thought I heard around 65, but that may not be correct.

When finished, we all met at a local restaurant and ate lunch. Did I mention how we love to eat?

The food at our table was about ready to come, so I missed a lot of the 29 people who showed up to eat.

I did manage to get a great photo of our President and her husband. And, yes, all those people in the background are also with the group.

Here are some of the lost photos from Friday. I had to take a photo of this piece, because this was as small as I could saw it using my miter saw.

I had the heavy leather fire retardant gloves on at this point because I was removing metal from the fire with my hands.

At least I found the photos of the jar lids, which I can't wait to play with.

And here are the final pieces right as the rain started.

Silent Sunday: Fall Foliage (part 2)

Perhaps the last day to burn this year

I began my day yesterday using my miter saw to cut up an old ladder. This is the hardest thing I've ever cut on the miter saw.

I'd already burned a bunch of the ladder before I thought to take a photo. I couldn't get the metal out of the pieces, so decided to burn them with it.

I have no idea what happened to a bunch of my photos, but I also burned a lot of old baby jar lids, some metal tins, and a couple of cans at the same time. Since I had to watch the fire, I also cleaned my garden tools in a bucket of oily sand, then put linseed oil on the handles and put them away for the winter.

The fire was still blazing away in the chiminea, so I got a sheet of rosin paper (a roofing material found at the hardware store) and gessoed it. I added a few pages from a wonderful child's arithmetic book

and kept adding pages until I was happy with the results.

By now, some of the metal was cool enough to put away.

Before I did, I had to show my favorite piece in the bunch. Of course, since it was a ladder, there were two of these pieces. I'm not sure how I'll use them, but I will find a way.

Although it was nearly 3 pm, I still had not showered. I didn't want to bathe, then smell like burning wood. So after my shower, I went to my neighbor Sally's and helped her get her things together for the cleanup today. By this time I was tired and it was getting quite dark.

After I ate, I sewed the backing onto the piece I made at Dana's. Although I had brought muslin home to use for backing, I decided to use some red material that matched the front. It is now all ready to iron and sew together after I get home from our cleanup today.

It was time to glaze my arithmetic pages with orange and blue. I love glazes because you can see the images and words through them.

I have to admit, my camera gets flaky when I take a couple of photos in a row. The colors are not exactly true here, but I wanted to show why I chose the glaze colors. Each of the headers were either orange or blue.

My next project was to paint gesso on the left over piece of rosin paper. After dealing with yet another lame foam brush, I got out the big guns (or 2" brush) to spread the paint.

I first used dark green, and since some of the gesso was still wet, I got a lovely combination of greens mixed with white. Then I added a cinnamon brown. I'm thinking of calling it "Christmas tree."

Playing at Dana's

Yesterday I played at Dana's. It was probably a lot more fun for me than for her, because she kept trying to start making jewelry, and ended up talking on the phone most of the day to her two sons, or answering my questions.

Why do I start my blog photos with the worst one I can find? I know that some people show my blog on their Google reader thingy (such a technical word) that shows the first photo, so I keep thinking I should start with a photo of something completed, but I always seem to start at the beginning. Today was no exception.

This is a piece of canvas that had been used to wipe paint and color mists a few days ago. It is relatively square.

As I started painting, the cheap-o brush from Michaels broke. Too funny.

By the time Dana took this photo, I was in the throes of paint.

How many colors I could get on these two pieces would be anyone's guess. At this point, I was working from that inner child they talk about. It was pure abandon, and I don't often get to "that place."

This is one of many photos of Dana I took yesterday, but I only kept one for the blog.

My original quiltlet I started the day before had now changed radically. The original material was practically obliterated,

but the strings of black thread were still sticking out.

At this point, Dana had to run to the bank, so I took time to try to lay out some projects. I'm not really good at this, often changing my mind as soon as I've decided on a design.

Using all the scraps also became an obsession. I turned the piece on the right of the photo into a heart.

I was working on the heart when the thread came out of the needle. It was now time to go upstairs and check on lunch. I must admit, I'm not fond of sewing the fabric on a sheet of printer paper, but Dana said it would make my stitches go smoother. So, deferring to her, I did. I had a terrible time trying to remove the paper, though. I think this must be why people use stabilizer.

Dana laughed when she saw I took photos of our pizza. She left it in the oven 10 minutes longer than it should have stayed. Needless to say, it was rather well done!

Like many things I make, I'm not sure how I'll use this piece, but I really love it. Not sure you can read the writing, but it reads "The heart holds windows to the soul." Like I said, I was trying to loosen up with my art, which included the windows. Of course, I had to keep remembering where Dana's back stitch was, since mine is a button you push and hers (a Bernina) has a lever you push up and down.

I fell in love with this piece of canvas that was finally dry. Dana wanted to do some free form stitching on it, which delighted me. She cut batting and muslin which have to be larger than the top piece (I learned) because the batting will bunch up a bit as it is sewn. Not sure how you finish it, since she'll have to show me that another day.

This top piece is finally finished. I'm thrilled. It reads "He tugged the strings of her heart." The large piece of muslin behind the cloth will go in back of the batting and I will finish it at home. She showed me how to finish it, even though I didn't include the batting in the original sewing of the piece.

Before I left, I took a photo of one of Dana's trees. She kept saying it looked so much better from the highway that runs behind her property, but I think the other side has finally come into its own beauty.

When I got home, my day was not finished. I had bamboo to cut and tie in bundles for disposal on Saturday at our neighborhood cleanup. I was exhausted, wet, cold, and tired, but when a friend came by and asked me to make a sleeve for a Halloween costume, I agreed. The material was still wet, as was the glue in this photo. He wanted a brown tint, so I grabbed the walnut ink and dampened a piece of material, then sewed it. He even wanted it to look old and battle worn, so I didn't have to be too careful.

And finally, he asked me to make theta and epsilon symbols on his sunglasses. He asked if I knew what they looked like. As many times as I had to write those symbols in trig or calculus classes, I didn't even have to practice making them!!

By this time it was nearly 10 pm, so I felt like I had made enough art for the day. It was fun, but I forgot to download the photos from my camera. That's why this post is so late today.

Bits and bobs, little progress, but lots of fun!

Yesterday I promised an update on the gessoed plastic bags I ironed together the day before. Not sure it shows in the photo, but this project has turned into a MESS. However, as promised when I started this blog, I show my failures along with my successes.

The gesso didn't stick to the bags. The small colored areas in the center are bits of bag colors showing through. The gesso flaked away like crazy.

In fact, you can see the flakes of dried gesso that fell onto my craft sheet when I was trying to clean up. I just kept making more and more messes until I decided to try a different tactic.

Why I thought using these color mists would make everything OK was beyond me. I guess I was just using them because I didn't care about them.

Here I've added yellow and green to the mix and they are starting to puddle into an ugly mix!

Next I added blue and a bit more green to the mix. They were so wet, I couldn't add another thing! I laid them aside to dry, which ended up taking all day.

After working in the yard for awhile, it was time to move on to new things. I wanted to get free and loose with my sewing lines, so started this piece, which may or may not make it into a completed quiltlet. It was turning into one of those days. The only productive thing I had done so far was work in my yard!!

By now it was early evening and the color mists were finally dry, but they had faded to a dull pastel. Looking back, I keep wondering why I even messed with this piece.

To add more mess to the mix, I decided to use some Shiva PaintStik to the bags. Since these are oil paints, I thought they might work. I ended up using a lot of PaintStik and not getting a whole lot of bang for the buck. The instructions are to paint in one direction, but that turned out to be impossible because of the bumps and lumps left from ironing the bags.

It was time to switch gears. I sewed around a winter scene,

then used a paintbrush and "Warm Milk" acrylic paint to add splatters of paint to the piece.

Next came the beginnings of another quiltlet using an original image from a child's book from the 1920s. The little girls have the biggest Christmas stockings I have ever seen!

One final piece h

Publish Post

as an original book image from yet another book from the late 1920s. This piece will go onto another, larger piece of fabric.

Although I had fun in the studio yesterday, most of my work (and sense of accomplishment) was in the yard. Maybe I'll have a chance to finish something today!!

A frustrating day, but fun

Yesterday started with me waiting like what seemed forever on Dana. In order to keep from going crazy while waiting, I decided to try an Alisa Burke technique. She is the artist who makes handbags from plastic grocery bags. True to form, I didn't make mine according to Alisa's directions.

I began by cutting the bottoms with my paper cutter.

I also cut the tops the same way. Alisa used scissors.


Instead of turning them inside out before I cut them, like she did, I turned mine once they were cut. Then I aligned them, one bag facing one direction, another the opposite. I stacked six bags together because they were very thin. These were bags I brought back from California last year, thinking I would try this technique because I loved the colors in the bags.

Not sure you can see this, but my iron is set on 3, which is a medium low heat.

Although I used my craft sheet, I also laid an old (but clean) tea towel down on top of the craft sheet to protect the table. After all, I don't have an ironing board, so I had to use something with a bit of cushion. I laid a sheet of heavy card stock on top of the tea towel, but under the stack of bags, then another sheet of card stock on top. I pressed slowly in circles until the entire sheet of card stock had been covered. Then I moved the card stock and checked my progress. You can tell as soon as the section has fused because it will feel thicker and like plastic fabric that is pliable.

When completely ironed, my bags were distorted, but completely fused. I have no idea how to keep the edges from fraying or the bags from distorting, unless you use less bags. You will probably also get a few bubbles. Also, I nicked the bags a couple of times and caused holes in one layer of the bags. Hopefully, these imperfections will be hidden in the next step.

Although I forgot to take a photo, the next step was to use silkscreen ink. Since I had no silkscreen ink, I at least listened when Alisa said acrylics have a tendency to flake. Somehow I have a gut feel and believe this is true, so I decided to use gesso to cover the bags. I'm hoping the gesso will work. So right before Dana came by for me, I painted one side of the bags with a coat of gesso. I guess we'll see how my little experiment works today when I finish the bags.

Dana and I stopped at Carriage Crossing in the Amish town of Yoder to pick up some more of those huge homemade cinnamon rolls.

This sign was on one of the walls of the restaurant as we walked in. They were also along the highway.

This sign was on the other side of the door, but I've never seen a highway sign like it.

Although I tried to take photos of this wall the last time we were there, my camera batteries died. This time I not only recharged them, I took a second set for good measure. I have no idea why I did that, because this was the only photo I took of the wall of quilts and paintings.

I also only took one photo of the outside of the cafe in the tiny town,

and one photo of small grain elevators. In fact, I believe they call these storage bins, not elevators.

Dana had the four cinnamon rolls and was on the way to her car. You can see how many people were there, and it wasn't even the lunch hour!! This was a popular place, and someday we'll grab Kathy and take her to Yoder to eat lunch.

Kathy's tree is beautiful behind her as she says good bye to us. We didn't make any art, although I had intended to show her and Dana a new technique I learned. Guess that will happen another day, maybe even today!!

Another day at Dana's

Last Friday I began my day at Dana's applying gesso to some plastic eggs. I thought I would cover them with paper, then decided to gesso them only and paint them when they were dry.

These eggs are drying on one side while I look at Dana's latest art.

She was having trouble getting part of this piece light enough, so I tried shading it (like I know these things)! Dana will now go in and make a base for the bird. So this piece she's been working on for at least three of our play days is still not finished.

I started this page for Kathy's Face AB, but didn't have the background paper or other embellishments I wanted to use. So, I took a photo thinking I could remember the size of everything when I got home. Sadly, that did not happen, so now Kathy's pages must wait!

Some finished and some unfinished art

Last week, Dana and I got together again.

I began by trying to find four small circles to go inside the metal pieces on my canvas.

Although I didn't give up, I put it aside to work on yet another piece.


Dana was still working on the piece she started days ago. You can see that it is now taking on a new look. At this point, I can barely see the tissue she had added the last time we got together.

I finally found the piece I was looking for. The tiny circle inside each of the larger circles is painted copper. It's really hard to see the metal pieces, which sit on each piece of my handmade paper. Although the completed artwork is hard to see, it is truly beautiful in person.

When I added the magazine image to the canvas, it looked terrible. It was still wet and I needed it to dry before I add the chalk hair. At some point, I'm sure it will look better, but for now, I'm setting it aside.

Silent Sunday: Fall Foliage (part 1)

When the concept came together for my Hands AB

It's hard for me to see my own handwriting, but I really wanted to make this two page spread about how the AB class came about. I began the background using "Warm Milk" and "Teddy Bear Brown." I mixed the two colors together a bit more than I originally intended, but I'm still happy with the results.

I used a brown Sharpie to write the words. I had enough room on the page, so I was able to use the Sharpie without it making a mess when I wrote the words. The left side reads: "It began with a concept. No money would exchange hands. All that was needed was an internet connection and to be plugged in.

One hundred twelve people contacted me. I could only take 99 because Blogger restricted the blog size to 100. I never would have guessed the turn out would be this positive. What fun we had using our hands and a mouse!"

The beauty of this AB is, it started as the book I used to teach the on-line beginning AB class. Now it will be a keepsake I can hold onto forever.

My new clipboard from UHU

I decorated this clipboard yesterday. I first applied the black and white paper, then added the red ribbons. It's no secret, I don't have a lot of ribbon in my stash, so I had to scrounge for ribbon. Originally I planned to use red alcohol ink on the metal clip, but decided I would use ribbons.

I might change out the ribbons before I use or give this cute clipboard away.

New canvases

A few days ago Dana and I made art. We both worked on a new technique and both approached it from different places. It's always fun when Dana and I push each other.

I began by placing UHU Twist & Glue on the wood.

Next, I added muslin to the wood.

The muslin took on the shape of the wet Twist & Glue.

I tried to use a brayer to make sure the glue was on the muslin. I still don't care much for a brayer, but Dana keeps trying to convince me I need to learn how to use one.

Next it was Dana's turn with her wood. She chose gesso.

You can see she is adding a decent amount of gesso to her board.

She now has the gesso on and is waiting for it to dry slightly.

Next, she added muslin to her board, also using gesso.

At least Dana knows how to use a brayer.

It's time for me to add my first color from these color mists.

I had a terrible time trying to get this color out.

Now it was Dana's turn again. She used the dark green and yellow. By this time, we had used nearly half the bottle of yellow. It is a nice color, but we sure used a lot.

The color is much better after the piece has dried.

It's hard to believe that Dana's piece is so different, now that she has added some brown and completely covered over the yellow.

Isn't it beautiful? I love this color, but that's only the beginning.

My piece is coming along nicely. I really love the colors, but this is also just the beginning.

Dana has now added some off white to the mix and it now looks like a real canvas. Wow.

This is a heart embellishment I made from some beige heavy canvas. It will change a bit more before I'm finished with it.

I've now added some words to the piece.

Dana is contemplating, and I'm off to a new piece because my first piece needs to dry a bit.

My second piece began with Bottle from Ranger, which is a much better brand than the bright colors we used on the first pieces. I also used Dana's brown. In this photo, I still need to add color.

Here I'm adding the off white to the piece and starting to love it.

Dana has added some tissue to her piece.

Now she's added more paint over the tissue and is getting ready to use her Shiva paint sticks and glaze.

Although nothing is finished, the three pieces are far enough along, I was able to bring my two home to work on them. Not sure how far Dana thinks she has gotten on her piece.

We finally stopped for the day because it was nearly 8 pm. I could tell Dana was tired, but she insisted upon making french toast. What a treat after a long day of art!