The Girls of Christmas...

These five lovelies now reside on a mixed-media Christmas banner I made as part of an online class at Roses on My Table. The images are from a Dover CD titled "Christmas Illustrations." The pennant shapes, a chipboard product, went through several stages and processes before being joined together in the large display piece you can see below. I think the happy girl in the image above is my favorite one of the five. I'm such a fan of vintage images, and she somehow reminds me of old Coca Cola ads. I call her Merry.

After covering the triangles on both sides with patterned paper, we then added grommets along with collage elements like text papers, rub-ons, sheet music, and stamped images.

Next came some dry-brushed paints, stenciled paste, edge gilding, and embellishments of jewels and silk flowers. And finally, the completed pennants were strung together with ribbon. I'm not sure just where these will be displayed, but they'll probably grace our Citra sewing group's Christmas party... just to keep us company. The others need names, too. The one at above, left looks like Noelle might be a good choice for her. And possibly Ethel Ann on the right. These were great fun to make, and I've got enough triangles to make some for another holiday. I'm thinking Valentine's Day might be a good choice.

PS- Speaking of names, "Cosmic Confluence", "Ring Toss", and "Magician's Rings" were three excellent suggestions for the challenge quilt shown in the previous post. I haven't settled on one yet, but it will be one of these. Thanks for the creative quilt names!

Do-it-Yourself Retreat...

What fun we had recently when my friend Joanne flew to Orlando from Pennsylvania, and we met at Disney World for a 3-day retreat. I loaded the car with supplies like paper, paint, stamps, inks, fabrics, glue, stencils, scissors, punches. You name it, it was in there. I had prepared the fabric journal covers, above, and our intention was to create papers and pages to fill them.

So on the first day we did a creative warm-up exercise that included setting a timer to complete each series of tasks in making these papers. We painted, glued, sprayed our way to creating some beautiful background papers to use in journals and other projects. And since there was little to no time to think about what we were doing, the entire process became intuitive. We even composed and glued down a poem, making use of words we'd had 5 minutes to cut from brochures. While the papers dried, we took a boat ride from our Port Orleans Riverside resort to Downtown Disney, where we had a great meal at the Rainforest Cafe. My first visit, so I enjoyed the blaring elephants and the beautiful fish in the aquarium. One poor little girl near us was terrified of the elephants, and unfortunately her family's table was right next to one. She cried through each animated episode. Poor little girl!

I brought a plastic table cloth and we were very careful with our supplies. Plus we tidied up when it was time for the room to be cleaned. We didn't want to cause the housekeeping staff to faint ... but here's a peek at our "studio" at its worst.

The second day we visited Epcot theme park. Even though it was hot, we enjoyed the park immensely. We're big fans of Soarin', and got to go soarin' twice. Had a delicious dinner at Coral Reef, and just relished the day.

The third day was spent working on our journal pages. While the sewing machine was in the car, we decided to glue tack our pages and add the stitching to them at home. I haven't gotten to dress up my journal yet, or sew the pages in, but that's in the "coming attractions." Joanne devoted pages in her journal to the Disney experience, as you can see by the welcoming Mickey image, shown below. Here are a few of our pages, followed by a photo taken from the riverside gazebo on the resort grounds where we read our daily devotionals. Such a refreshing get-away. My small-town newspaper used to report on the activities of the local folks, and always ended with this summary statement... which certainly fits our retreat: "And a fine time was had by all".

The Best Kind of Mail...

Three exciting pieces of mail art arrived here today. All are from the postcard mail art swap conducted by Lenna at Creative Swaps this summer. In fact, "A Summer's Day" was the theme for this swap.

Sarah Boblit, Iowa, did an impressive amount of hand embroidery and beading on her post card, above, titled "A Summer's Day in August". It's criss-crossed with sheer ribbons, and loaded with French knots and seed beads, which give lovely texture. A hand-dyed fabric stitched in place creates the smooth edge finish.

This altered-image postcard is from Valeri-Jael Tups in Germany. She added to the original lighthouse image, using stamps, stickers, inking, and vintage collage images. You can see more of her work here.

The two maidens in "Summer Flowers" came all the way from Donna Parker's colorful studio in Mexico. She stitched the vintage Belgian flower girl images to a fabric background and added stamping.

Even the backs of the cards are interesting to look at. Lenna mailed each postcard directly through the mail. Sarah's was enclosed in a clear protector because of all the texture and fabric it contains. But none are worse for their travels.

All lovely, and all very much appreciated. Lenna's swaps are great fun, and provide a way to stretch a little bit to try a new technique or two. Just look at the variety of mixed media methods on display in these three post cards! The cards I sent were shown in the blog entries from August. What will Lenna come up with next??

Postcards from Summer...

After making the fabric postcards shown in a previous post, I next tried my hand at making altered photograph postcards. These three resulted from the effort. Some will be part of Lenna's Creative Swaps in which each participant is making three mixed-media postcards to trade. The theme is "A Summer's Day", and we'll complete the sentence "Summer is..." on each card. "Sunlit" is the title of the card shown above. It's of boats anchored in Perkins Cove.

Our trip to Maine in early August was a beautiful time, and in such a beautiful place. So I chose the photos of the Perkins Cove and Kennebunkport areas to feature in the postcards. For each one, I placed an oval mask on part of the photo and then coated the rest of the picture with gesso. These were glossy photos, so the gesso made the surface able to receive paint and inks. On top of that, I colored with watercolor crayons, followed by water to activate and blend the colors. Some stamping, stitching, and added text followed.

Then I layered the photo side with cardstock or scrapbook paper backing, and a middle of lightweight cardboard. Lastly, I stitched the edges by machine, couching yarn on the edge of "Rainbow Beach".

This was a stretch for me, using materials that are somewhat new. But it was fun to do, and I like how each photo is enhanced by the added design elements. All they need is the tried-and-true postacard sentiment... Wish You Were Here!

Summer is Golden...

There is something about the light in the summertime. It is golden. So that's my theme for a mixed-media postcard swap I'm taking part in at Lenna's Creative Swaps. Participants will each make three postcards representing a summer day. I think "beach" when I think of summer, and I love the vintage images in "The Boardwalk Collection" of Graphic 45 papers. That pensive pair in the card above... what are they thinking about? And the beach beauty below... she's certainly on everyone's radar in her flirty bathing costume. It took awhile to let the ideas percolate, but our postcards are not due until mid-September, so I have time.

To make these 4" x 6" postcards, I chose a fabric with a summery feel from my collection and backed it with fusible batting. Next I stenciled the diver and the starfish using a freezer paper pattern ironed onto the fabric and filled in with gold Lumiere paint. The outlines of each stenciled image are contrasted with black stitching, one by machine, and one by hand using embroidery floss. Ink stamping was added to each, and more embroidery stitches accent some of the elements. The vintage images were added using a double-stick adhesive.

The backs of the cards are printed on cardstock. And there's a layer of Peltex, a stiff interfacing, between front and back. Finally, I stitched the edges to secure the layers, using couched yarn on the design side.

All in all, a fun project. But I still need to think up one more design for the swap. hmmm.... what to make?

Glitzy Things...

These two projects are reed diffuser bottles I made with the instructions provided at Roses on My Table, the mixed media art site I joined in November. These were fun to make, and once again I learned lots about art supplies and how to use them... and misuse them. I didn't even know the fancy reeds that soak up and diffuse the scented oils could be purchased as a stand-alone item. I'd only seen them in gift sets of diffusers. But they're available at the craft store in aisles heretofore unexplored by me. Well now I've made my own pretty gift sets!


The bird image was a freebie from Graphics Fairy, and the sunflower image was purchased as a download from Country at Heart. It's amazing to watch the how-to videos on the Roses site, which are made by instructor Christina Zinnia Gallher. I can only wish I had her skills in handling the materials. She offers many tips for making each step of the project easy and manageable. However, after I watched how to create the wired bead wrap for the neck of the bottle, I confidently set out to create my own. But before mastering the technique, I managed to shoot teeny-tiny beads all over the floor! I'm sure I'll get better at this.

Here are some close-ups of each bottle. You can see that some of those pesky beads actually wound up on the bottles where they belong. The yellow bottle still needs a charm added to the empty loop seen in the photo. I haven't found "just the right one" as yet. I chose a tangerine scented oil for a fresh, citrusy aroma.

Angels All Around...

I've recently joined an exciting and inspiring online art group at Roses on My Table. The subscription group is called Roses Art Information Library (R.A.I.L). Each month the mixed media instructor, Christina Zinnia Galliher, offers videos and how-to instructions for a project members can make. Since I'm new to mixed media, but fascinated by paper, paint, stamping, etc., this is a perfect group for me. I'm learning about art products and how to use them effectively, while making something pretty and useful at the same time. Zinnia's videos are excellent and informative. Great fun!

This is my first effort... a memory box. Only the outside is done so far, but I thought I'd show you that much for now. I've got so many embellishments from collecting it over the years. It's exciting to finally find a home for some of it!

I found some bits of text to go along with the angel theme of the box, and included a piece from the dictionary that defines "spiritual". Also words like "celestial" and "angelic" are placed on the surface. The detail photos may show some of this. When I took it to show my sewing and craft group last week, one of the members paid it a big compliment when she said "Oh, where did you get that old box?" So I knew it was a success, because that was the goal... to age a new craft store wood box in ways to make it look vintage. I'll move on to bigger boxes now that I have practiced on this size.

Buttoned Up Ornament

At last I've found a home for some of those little treasures and embellishments I've been collecting for years! This nostalgic ornament began life as in inexpensive acrylic ornament from the craft store. I added bits of pattern tissue using decoupage medium. And when that dried, I added bits of text, tatting, images, buttons, beads, and yarns using more medium to adhere them. I think it has a nice vintage look with a little bit of glitz.

The ornament top was a bit too shiny, so I tinted it with alcohol ink which seemed to tone it down some. One thing I especially like about my exploration of mixed media projects is using that "someday stuff" that is tucked away all over my sewing room. And I love learning about new products and techniques. Of course this means even more "stuff"' finds its way into the space. Managing the stuff has become a bit of a task, but so worth it. I entered this piece in the Cloth, Paper, Scissors "All Buttoned Up Challenge."