Second on the 2nd: Birds

 

As most of you know, whenever possible, I like my Second Look to somehow reflect what our current host at Art Journal Journey is featuring.  That means I had to look for something that reflected Birds as requested by Mia of Craftartista. 

Back in 2016, I was in an international swap with five other artists.  Each had their own theme.  Valarie Tups from Germany, who no longer posts to her blog, requested birds.

   This is the first page.  The bird legs are pen nibs.

This is page 2, the back side of the previous entry.

I started with images from a bird book and turned them into transparencies using packing tape.  I backed the transparencies with words taken from a Thesaurus. 

I even did a bit of stamping.  The egg on the left was a gift from Linda at heARTfully Inspired.

I used pan pastels on the background and gold pigment ink on black card stock for the stamped feathers.

This is page 3.  Valerie likes words on her pages, so I tried to oblige.

I combined three colors of pan pastels, then sprayed them with fixative, which darkened the background more than I anticipated.  I stamped to the left of "Field Notes," and added the names of the birds that are shown on Side 4.

More stamping.  I was surprised that the birds slid around on the background.  I thought it might be because of the fixative I used.   The bird stamps shown on this page were gifted me by Chris at Pear Shaped Crafting, another participant in this swap.

After I mailed the package, I worried that the feathers I used in this spread might be rejected by customs.  I know it's illegal to send them to Australia.

Words on the page.  Somehow I have trouble with that, but forced myself to fit words on most pages I created for Valerie.

This is page 4 and the Audubon accordion booklet I created contains pictures of each of the birds listed on the reverse side.

This is one side of the accordion fold

and this is the other side and the front.  I colored the cards using my handmade shimmering mists.  Please note that Valerie's photos are much better than my scans.

The booklet is held together using velcro.  The book can be accessed from either side by pulling on the glass squares.

The bird image was also gifted me by Linda.  Another real feather tied the pages together.

This is page 5.  I had some really lovely and rather expensive folded wrapping paper that I wanted to use for the background.  The folds had caused creases in the wrapping paper, so instead of trying to cut it exactly to size (I'm not very good at exact when it comes to paper), I simply folded it over card stock at the fold and used the same background for both page 5 and page 6.  After reading Valerie's blog today, I see this page held special meaning to her.

I tried for a bit of humor here, since I borrowed my friend Kathy's dies for this project. 

The cat was one Kathy had given me earlier, so I added some rub-n-buff to the cat to make it a bit different color from the cage.

This is page 6, and you can see I continued the wrapping paper background here.

It's impossible to tell, but this peacock is very dimensional.  There are several layers to it, but they simply don't show up on the scan.

Again, Valerie loves words, and this reads "Shake your tail feathers," although it's rather difficult to read because of the transparent letters.

This is page 7, and surely you knew I would include a bit of my wonky sewing.

The back layer is some of my hand dyed silk, the transparent eggs were also from Linda.  The "branch" is a stirrer stick I dyed using a furniture touch-up pen.  Dyed cheesecloth became the "nest."

I found the white die cut bird in my stash.  I colored it using Staz-on and alcohol.  My feeble attempt at stamping was hit and miss on the page.

I received permission from Valerie to show the completed tag and here it is in the pocket, something I forgot to scan.  This photo is from Valerie's blog, so please don't pin it without her permission.

This is page 8 and also the last page I created.

I had these beautiful birds in my stash that I had printed out when I had color ink in my printer, and simply had to use them.  The die cut cat was another that had been given me by my friend Kathy and was meant to tie the pages together.

I fear I could have done a better job on this page, because it is really lacking in something.

This is the front of the tag I created  for Valerie.  Our tags take the place of sign-in pages in altered books.

This is the back before I added my personal information.  The die cut oval was a gift, and the "brads" were stickles.  I used the ONE die I owned at the time to create the tag that I colored using Staz-on and alcohol.

Here is a portion of the competed tag with fibers and three silver feathers attached.

Thanks ever so much for visiting today.  I hope you enjoyed the swap pages I made for Valerie, whose theme is birds.

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Now it's time to share your own Second on the 2nd.  The rules are quite simple and everyone is welcome to join the fun look back.  All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or perhaps one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed.  It could even be one that holds special meaning.  Any post, any genre, any artistic endeavor is acceptable, as long as it's been published sometime in the past.  Then link below (direct links only, please) and Bleubeard and I, along with other Second on the 2nd friends, will be by to visit.  This link will be good until Monday May 4 at 4:00 p.m. my time.    

 

 

 

 

 

Swan Love

 

I want to begin by thanking Gillena, whose blog is Lunch Break, for hosting Art Journal Journey in April. I had planned to play more, but time got in the way.  For a first time host, she did an excellent job and we will definitely be inviting her to host again next year.

We now introduce a new host as we do each month.  This month our host is one of the administrators of Art Journal Journey, my dear friend Mia who can be found at Craftartista.  Mia's theme for May is Birds. 

I call this Swan Love.  I love swans, especially black swans, but these are commemorated on a postage stamp issued in 1997 by the United Stages Postal Service (USPS).  A bit of asemic writing sits behind the word "Love," while the two birds form a heart.

 

Detail of the postage stamp is below.

 

Have you heard that swans mate for life?  There are six distinct types of swans:  Mute, Trumpeter, Tundra, Whooper, Bewick’s, and Australian black swans.  Most stay monogamous for life.  However according to Birdfact:  

Swans in general are known as monogamous birds, with different species all exhibiting loyal and faithful bonds with their chosen mate. However, despite the formation of lifelong bonds, divorce and promiscuity are observed in a small percentage of pairings each year. 

Some widowed swans die of a broken heart, while others look for a new mate.  The primary reason for divorce is the inability to conceive/reproduce.

According to A-Z Animals, female swans are known as pens and male swans are known as cobs. 

Please remember we welcome art journal pages that meet the theme requirements, altered book pages, canvases, loose, or stand alone pages including fabric and digital art.  I (and the administrators) cannot leave comments on Facebook, TicTok, or Instagram entries.  We do not allow cards!!!  Period! We also don't allow tags, index cards, ATCs, or ATCoins, unless they are part of a journal page, and as much as we don't want to, will be forced to delete your entry.  Please remember if your blog is not in English, we ask that you translate it for us since the translation tool doesn't work on some blogs, including mine.  Finally, we do not allow back-links to any journal page published prior to the start date of this month's challenge. Hope to see you and your Birds inspired art soon at Art Journal Journey.

 

Thank you beyond belief for visiting today. Bleubeard and I would love to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own interpretation of Birds.

  

Ode to a tree

 

It has been a harrowing two days in my world.  First there was the golf ball sized hail that managed to do a lot of damage to the exterior and roof of my home.  There was also the torrential rain that didn't seem to stop.  Thankfully my basement didn't flood.  Then the tornado sirens went off.  Yes, a tornado was close by, but thankfully to the south of me.  Bleubeard headed to the basement, but Squiggles and I decided to watch the weather on my favorite local TV station instead.  While I was doing that, a streak of lightening hit very close to my house and knocked out the electricity.  I (and my neighbors) sat without any electricity for nearly two days until it could be restored.  Welcome to spring in Kansas!  At least you know why I haven't been around to visit.

Today I'm joining Gillena, whose blog is Lunch Break.  Her theme is Trees are Awesome, Aren't They?    

I call this Ode to a tree.  This is a mixed media entry with details below.

From left to right, I started with leftover vintage sheet music.  Next was a lovely lavender page that I messed up trying to stamp bunnies on it.  To hide my mistake, I added a piece of security envelope.  Then I stamped the tree on a piece of old book page.  I used another book page to stamp the leaf.  On the far right, I spent a lot of time dripping my handmade spray mists onto a sheet of cardstock, then messed up when I tried to stamp an image onto the piece.  When I added them all together, the failures were far less noticeable.

 

Thank you for joining Bleubeard and me for this final Art Journal Journey entry in April. 

 

 

 

 

T Stands For Various

 

 I nearly forgot today was T Tuesday.  I am spending the day with my friend Joseph who took a personal day from work.  We will be out and about, but will also be visiting The Spice Merchant.  I will be by to visit later tonight.

The last time I was at The Spice Merchant, I took this overall photo of various mugs.  There was no specific theme, although I did see a few that had hearts. 

 

Now it's your turn.  The rules are extremely simple.  Your drink related post may be anything from a photo of a glass, cup, or mug, to an actual drink.  You may choose to share a sketch or a digital, hybrid, or traditional page in your scrapbook, art journal, or altered book.  Maybe you'd prefer to share a tag, or wow us with your photography.  You might choose a postcard or decorated card.  Or perhaps you prefer to review a place you visited, a movie, or book.  It makes no difference as long as it's drink related.  And don't forget that the more unique and outside the box it is, the better we like it.  Please tie it back here, and please link only to your T post, not your entire blog.  When you link, Bleubeard, the T gang, and I will be by to visit.   Bleubeard would also like to remind you that your photos may be taken any time, even months ago, if you choose. 

 

 

Once were lost

 

They once were lost, but now they're found.  I'm talking about my lost files and folders.  I finally found them.  Because I'm often shaky, I transferred ALL my files and folders to a single folder.  

  However, as you can see, 

   they are now all back where they belong. 

 

The top image is a spread of Africa, the middle image is a spread of Cuba, both from my 7 Continents altered book, and the bottom image is a quiltlet made from fabric I dyed using various kitchen ingredients and sewed with variegated thread.

Thanks for visiting today.  Your visit is especially welcome and I am grateful you stopped by.  Bleubeard is, too! 

Can you hear me now?

 

I was hoping Blogger would be kind to me today, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I will leave you a comment when Blogger sees fit. Until then, I still get "Failed to Publish."  Please understand, this is NOT my doing.

Thank you for visiting today.  This is a special day, as it is for the Earth.  It's also a culmination, where for 22 days beginning April 1, I attempted to show how to rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, re-invent, recover, restore, or repurpose something in order to save it from the trash. It all led up to Earth Day, or "bEARTHday" in my world.  Of course, I believe EVERY day should be Earth Day, because we must find a way to save our planet. 

 

As an aside, there is more to think about than just trash.  There are endangered species to consider.  Do any of you remember when the California condor was on the extreme endangered list?  It became extinct in the wild in 1987.  In 1982, only 23 condors survived world-wide. By 1987, all remaining wild condors were placed into a captive breeding program in an effort to save the species from extinction.  According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Since 1992, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began reintroducing captive-bred condors to the wild, the USFWS and its public and private partners have grown the total free-flying and captive population to more than 500 condors In 2004, the Recovery program reached an important milestone with the first successful chick hatched in the wild. In 2008, more California condors were flying free in the wild than in captivity for the first time since the program began.   

Now it's time to help endangered porpoises. With fewer than 10 individuals believed to remain in the wild, the vaquita is one of the most critically endangered marine animals.  It is also known as the Gulf of California harbor porpoise, or cochito.  According to NOAA Fisheries:

Vaquitas have the smallest range of any whale, dolphin, or porpoise.  They only live in the northern part of the Gulf of California, an area that is rich in fish and shrimp.  Fishing is thus a major source of income for the people there, who almost exclusively use gillnets, but vaquitas can also become accidentally wrapped in the nets and drown.  Scientists agree that for vaquitas to survive in the wild, "gillnet" fishing, also known as Fishing Net Entanglements, must end within the vaquita habitat.

Perhaps we need legislation that actually works to save these endangered porpoises. 

As those of you who have been here all 22 days know, I have brought back a favorite post from the past from April 2015, 2016, and 2017.  Today is no different.  I am sharing part of a favorite post from April, 2017.  As you read from the title of today's post it is called  

Can you hear me now? 

 

For today's recycling entry

I started with a book cover given me by my friend Sally.

I added some gold infused tissue paper

I saved from a gift.

I used white PVA glue to adhere the tissue paper to the book cover.

While the glue was drying, I decided to create a new universal hole locator.  I began with a pad of post-it-notes and a steel ruler.

I measured down 2 mm from the top of the pad on two sides and drew lines.

I used those two lines as guides to create a single line across the width of the page.

I measured 2.5 mm from the left and right sides

and drew two perpendicular lines to meet the horizontal line.


I drew a small circle at the intersections of each line,

then wrote the words "left" and "right."  That was for your benefit, not mine.

The idea is, no matter what width

you are measuring, the hole locater will work perfectly by lining it up with either the left or right side of the piece.

Here is my completed assemblage with holes punched, but minus wires.

I'm really happy about the completed assemblage.

I'm including a few random shots for your enjoyment.

I need to adhere the "Hear Hear" a bit better, I see.  As an aside, it is left over from the deli paper I used a couple of days ago.

For this assemblage, I started with a book cover and some used tissue paper.  I deconstructed an old cordless phone and used the "motherboard" as the main assembly.  I added the speaker from the same phone, along with some beads and baubles I either assembled, or used to add interest to this assemblage.   For the hanger, I used a colorful deconstructed telephone wire.  I used a stencil to write all the words on the scrap deli paper.  Everything except the PVA glue has been recycled or repurposed today.

Thank you beyond belief for your continued support of my recycling efforts through the past 22 days.   And please have a glorious Earth Day everyone.  BTW, I won't be eating cake today.   Instead, I'm having a glazed doughnut.