My sister and her husband were recently here on vacation. One of their granddaughters and a friend spent a week with them. I had the privilege of spending an afternoon teaching them to make art dolls. The original pattern came from Debbi Crane who blogs at Paper Doll Post. After I left, the girls spent a lot of time making dolls going way beyond what I showed them. They made a bug, a mermaid, a cat, a snake, and a big assortment of dolls embellished to the max.
A few months ago we had swans, now we have a flock of white ducks. They have been swimming in the lake behind our house for a week or so. They are never more than a foot apart from each other. These ducks cannot fly. Where did they come from?
Some of the neighbors have been feeding them, and tonight when I went out on the lanai to pick some herbs, they came to the screen expecting that I would feed them.
They quacked and made so much noise, we had to cancel our plans to eat outside.
I wonder if they are related to these ducks we saw in China?
My daughters are visiting for the week. Among our many activities we have been crafting some wedding decor.
Laurel needed a way to put numbers on the tables so the guests could locate their seats quickly. As a lover of reading, she is using a book theme in decorating for the reception.
Here’s the process:
Find masonite wall art at the dollar store and cover with grey gesso
Paint the gessoed wall art with acrylic paint
Use Mod Podge to apply book pages to the painted masonite
Apply cut out numbers (notice the bride’s left hand)
glue paper easels to the backs
Completed!
I admit it. I read the funnies, the good ones and the annoying ones. I’m not as diligent as Tom who not only reads the strips in our paper but goes online and reads strips and commentary from the Comics Curmudgeon. However, I do read one he doesn’t, Cathy. Cathy falls in the annoying comic strip category. This strip from July 8, 2010 made me laugh out loud, especially considering my post about my new sandals.
I find it relaxing to take a break from mixed media and make traditional quilts. It is where I started out on my studio adventures, and I enjoy the process. I usually have a couple of baby quilts on hand for gifts, but my supply was depleted. I had to get busy.
I’ve made over ten sock monkey quilts over the years. I was once a part of a quilting group that ordered bolts of the monkey fabric from the manufacturer. I probably have enough fabric to make three or four more. I’ll bind it with red.
I love the bright colors of this flower power quilt. I found the large flower fabric at a quilt show a few years ago at Tammy Tadd’s booth. I bought several yards of it and made a bed sized quilt and two baby quilts. I only have enough for one more baby quilt. But something new will come along to catch my eye.
My computer has been in the shop for over two weeks. I picked it up on Friday, and learned that it was infected with viruses, the worst being a couple of Trojan Horse programs. Very nasty indeed. I hope that my computer will no longer send emails from me advertising prescription drug sales and that I can get back in the business of blogging again.
Jess at her fantastic blog How About Orange posted this recipe for home made deodorant back in April. I forwarded it to my sister who promptly made it and this past week she gave me a sample of what she made. It’s wonderful! So wonderful in fact that I made my own today. I did change the recipe a bit. I put the coconut oil in the garage (95 degrees) until it liquefied which made it easier to mix. Jess used grapefruit essential oil. My sister used lavender, and I used bergamot.
I have 12 purse books left, so I have decided to give them all away
Respond to defling1948 at yahoo dot com with your mailing address and I’ll get one out to you. Or you can make a comment to this post and give me your email. Make sure you disguise it to foil spammers with the words at and dot like I did with my email above. If there is no "mailed" next to your name that means I have not heard from you.
Callisueart (yes, I’ll send to SA)
Nancy--mailed
jmquilts--mailed
Denise--mailed
Anonymous Jan--mailed
Elizabeth Milton --mailed
Cindy B
Mariana--mailed
Eliz in NM--mailed
Loriame
Anonymous Barb in EV --mailed
Paul and Sue --mailed
As soon as I have your address, I’ll send them out, then you can watch for “art in the mail”.
At my age, and with a birthday just around the corner, it’s a constant battle between fashions that are too youthful or too dowdy. I found these sandals on a clearance rack in Atlanta, and I am in love. I want to wear them with everything.
Inspired by Debbi Crane’s article in issue 9 of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, I made some purse shaped books as party favors for a bridal shower. I’m not a paper crafter, so I don’t have a supply of printed cardstock, so I used a coupon and bought a coordinated card stock pack. Loosely following Debbi’s instructions, I cut the covers, pages, spines and ribbon handles. Then I had to learn the pamphlet stitch. It took several prototypes to arrive at a design that pleased me. Positively addicting! Debbi made a purse shaped book every day for a year. I felt at times I was working on making 365 purse books in a weekend. Check back later, I’m going to be giving some of them away to celebrate my first anniversary as a blogger.
The books have 6 pages of drawing paper. Not exactly a useful book, but a fun party favor.
I’m keeping it a secret for now, but here are some of the tools and materials needed for my new project. That’s all I’m saying for now. Next week photos, later a chance to win one them.
As part of the Mixed Media Art Friends Yahoo group, I participated in a swap of 1.5 inch squares. I sent in 25 squares similar to these and these
and I received these beauties in the mail. So many wonderful techniques and ideas to inspire me.
I bought some plastic coin holder protective sheets yesterday so I can certainly keep them in a notebook, but I might do something fun with them.
I have been writing this blog since June 12, 2009
My birthday is June 11
I am very close to my 100th post.
I say it’s time to reward faithful readers. I have a few mini purse shaped books remaining from the shower, and one could be yours. On June 12 I’ll choose five people from those who make a comment between now and June 11. Followers and those who sign up to follow get a double entry. You can post anonymously but put a first name in the comment so I’ll know who to list as a winner. Make your comment by midnight EDT on the 11th. On June 12 I’ll post the names of the winners and how you can contact me to claim your prize. Be sure to look at the post on the 12th, because unless I know you personally I won’t know where to send the prize.
After making about 10 strands of these birds, I’m back to making more. I had forgotten how much fun they were to make. I need to make a replacement for my daughter’s strand because she is taking them to Germany with her on Monday to give to a wonderful family in Tönisvorst. They are the family that hosted her for six weeks when she was a high school student. They have since hosted her and other members of our family several times. I loaned my strand of birds to an artist and frequent contributor to CPS magazine for consideration in a future issue. So here are new birds for me and my daughter.
This applet is so cool. Go to www.wordle.net and create a word cloud with your choice of text. You can choose a font and a color scheme as well, and wordle makes something that looks like this.
I didn’t choose any special words, I just asked it to use words from my blog. I did have to find and learn how to use the snipping tool on my computer. Not hard, just did a search in help.
Using Debbi Crane’s instructions from her book Mixed Media Explorations, and an online class from Creative Workshops, I have managed to make my first book.
It has a cardboard spine, five hand stitched signatures, a front cover a back cover made from the board on the back of the watercolor pad. I has forty watercolor paper pages. I used a piece of tissue paper I painted last summer for the cover. It’s a little bit wonky, but I’m pleased with it.
Then I got so excited about the first one, I made a simpler one, a pamphlet stitched book with only one signature. It has 32 pages and a painted canvas cover. This could get to be a lot of fun.
Both books have watercolor paper for the pages, so I can do all kinds of wet work in them.
I haven’t been spending much time in the studio lately, so I don’t have any work to show, but here are two videos to make the point that a great song can be done in almost any genre.
On The Rocks, an a capella group from the University of Oregon in Eugene, does Lady Gaga.
and an opera singer does Dave Matthews
I have a lot of things going on in my life right now, and I don’t feel particularly creative. I’ve learned that the impulse to create ebbs and flows for me. These days I’m enjoying our beautiful weather, taking long walks, planning for company and getting ready for Laurel’s wedding. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying the creativity of others.
Check out this blog for some old school/new school hand stitchery. The first half of the blog is about the opening of a gallery show, the second half is devoted to the 10 hand stitched quotes. Lisa Borgnes, the artist, gave me permission to post some photos. Click on the second photo to link to her fabulous blog and all 10 quotes.
Near the station where we buy gas Tom and I happened upon a family of Florida Sandhill cranes. The adults are about 5 feet tall. The area behind the station is a wetland, less than half a mile from I-95. I’ve seen the parents before, but now they have a chick. Sandhill’s chicks are called colts, and a nesting pair usually only has just one colt.
look at the size of this colt’s feet!
Back to the studio tomorrow. I’m going to be working in 3-D.
We’ve been traveling for a couple of weeks, and while we were gone, all manner of green things cropped up.
Just left of center in the photo below is a green chrysalis. A monarch butterfly will emerge in about a week. We counted four on our porch, and our neighbor has seven.
I’ve been trying to establish gaillardia on one of the outside corners of our lanai. I think I have been successful. There are at least 400,000 seedlings that will need to be thinned to five plants.
The basil reseeded and is smelling wonderful. I’m waiting for Tom’s tomatoes to ripen so I can have them with basil and mozzarella.
Mint is a new addition to the garden this year. I’ve learned that it has to be contained in a pot. We made mint juleps yesterday for the Derby.
The weather is finally warm enough for me and the reptiles that live on our lanai. I do love summer, even if I do have to tolerate the likes of these.
Laurel is thinking about using a variety of green vases for table decorations for the wedding, so I scored a few at our church rummage sale on Saturday.
Laurel is getting married! Jeremy Trantham proposed on Easter weekend, and the next weekend they set a date, August 14th. In my father’s words, she and Jeremy have “hit the ground running”. Location for the ceremony and reception is secured, dress is on order, save the date cards are mailed, caterer engaged, food tasting completed, and so much more. We are so excited about having Jeremy as part of our family.
What started out as a compulsion to make these 1.5 inch squares with metal, has turned into something I like. Nothing is fixed yet, I just have the inchies temporarily glued to card stock so I can transport them. I need to let this simmer awhile so I can think about how to assemble it.
The yahoo mixed media art friends group is having a swap of artist trading cards and plus sized inchies. These are mini works that measure 2.5 x 3.5 and 1.5 x 1.5 respectively. They are addictive and fun to do. The maximum number you can submit for each swap is 25 cards in no fewer than five series. I tried several different techniques on each of them. I have some extra ones of just about all the cards. Just leave a comment if you want to trade.
After the coldest winter many Floridians can remember, spring has finally arrived. The races are long over, the bikers are gone, the snowbirds have departed, and the spring breakers have returned to campus, leaving the natives here to enjoy the gorgeous weather.
Tom and I went to Winter Park today to visit Leu Gardens, a botanical park between the cities of Orlando and Winter Park. The park was not crowded and was lovely. Tom took his camera, and captured some beautiful shots.
The azaleas were past peak, but the cold weather has prolonged the camellia season. They were beautiful.
In one of the demonstration gardens we both caught a whiff of a delightful fragrance. Having grown up among this scent, I should have recognized it.
A few minutes later, we discovered a citrus grove in bloom. there were grapefruit, oranges, satsumas, tangelos, lemons, limes and varietals I had never heard of. I just couldn’t get enough of the glorious smell.
The woman at the information desk had suggested we visit the orchid tree, a little off the beaten path. It was worth the search.
The visual prize of the day, and Tom’s best photo was of a yellow tulip tree.
After lunch at Too Jays Deli, we headed home. We’ll go back another day.
