SIS staycation and CATWALK!!!!!!!!!

Those of us who couldn't attend SISinversary tried to have our own SIS staycation. I really commend Kim, Marit, and Diana for all their work as well as thanking Lucy, Jody, and several others who joined in to have challenges online. I presented a tutorial-challenge on flower creation. the above layout was done for Marit's dazzling decades challenge and my challenge was to use 60s music - obviously the Beatles. I painted the background and then got crazy hand cutting letters and doodling.

the next layout, which seems to be a little blurry, was for Kim's movie challenge - I had to use ribbon, something moveable, skittles colors, and a home theme.

And then, TA DA, this was done for the Free Shopping challenge and guess what, it got selected for the CATWALK. I am so thrilled! The challenge here was to use chipboard alphas, lace, and a black and white photo. This photo is of my DH and his twin many years ago. I used some of the elements from MM vintage package that I purchased with my 40% off coupon at Michaels.

All in all, it was a great weekend even though not that many people participated. Marit offered to do funky things with photos so I sent her one and it came back looking very much like a pen and ink sketch - so cool!

So far this week has been extremely productive - I finished piecing the wallquilt for the Year of Color blog and even got it totally ready for quilting. I have been painting on my large orchid painting and hopefully can get a lot of it done tomorrow. We are supposed to start a new still life project in class on Thursday.

I was selected to be a member of a DT for a new challenge blog and I received our first two assignments today - I have the first one almost finished. I am so excited about this but you will have to wait until July 15th for the announcement and to see the layout.

Have a great evening and a super day tomorrow!

Gallery of work for Cosmo Cricket Dt submission

This specific posting is for the Cosmo Cricket Design Team submission. Their requirements are to post some of your best layouts, and although I would have liked to show more layouts with different techniques, Blogger will only let me post so many photos so here they are. I love to use color as an element in my layouts and I guess my style is somewhat eclectic in that I use all kinds of techniques and embellishments to enhance my photos and to tell my stories. In the top photo, I handcut the flowers from patterned papers and added some fabric yo yos.

This layout utilizes Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste papers along with a handmade fabric flower for which I have presented a tutorial on the SIS forum. I love the soft colors and patterns of this paper. I really enjoy the colors and patterns of the Cosmo Cricket line but since we have no LSS, my only source for it is online.

I also like to use vintage family photos in my layouts and mix lots of different elements.

I created fabric flowers for this layout and added a label from a bag of tomatoes.

This is a wallhanging with a fabric flower (larger version of the one on the 2nd layout). I added the mesh from a bag of tangerines, a big felt C, some buttons, and ribbons.

Hope your enjoyed these layouts and thanks for looking.

I generally post once or twice a week with layouts and projects as I do them, and I occasionally do tutorials demonstrating my techniques so be sure to check back often.

Recycled flower tutorial

This weekend is the SISinversary event in TN so the forum and gallery are very quiet. Some of the stay at homers started planning on line challenges and tutorials so I joined in and did a Fabric and Ribbon tutorial/challenge. I have to admit i was very disappointed by how few people are joining in but I have still had lots of fun. I decided to present the tutorials on my blog and here is the first one.

Here is a very simple ribbon flower constructed from a recycled adhesive tape runner. Next time your tape runner needs to be replaced, save the middle cog wheel, cut narrow ribbons to attach either by tying or by folding the ribbons in half, sliding the loop through the cog and pull the loose ends through the loophole.

Magnolia love

This is a watercolor painting of a magnolia blossom that I finished on Thursday. I really like doing paintings of somewhat realistic flowers with vague impressionistic backgrounds. This was a fun painting and a great exercise in painting "whites."
I have been actively working on a wallquilt that I will present as a tutorial on the Year of Color blog in August - maybe I will do a sneak peek in a week or two. It is now all designed and cut out and I have begun to sew it together. I want it totally pieced and ready to quilt by the time we go on vacation in July as I can quilt it on the road. I also have 2 blouses that I want to get made in time for vacation along with finishing the Collage Couture class (I worked some yesterday afternoon on lessons 4 and 5 - packing tape transfer, embedding objects, and crackle paint. I have no funds to spend on crackle paint so I used some cheap white glue I had - it worked sort of. I love this class (which I won) but honestly I can't afford to go out and buy all the supplies they recommend. Realistically my only source of supplies is Michaels and they don't really carry the good brands anyway.Wouldn't you think there could be samplers of the acrylic mediums - I mean, to buy a jar of something and not even know if you are going to use it ever again is crazy to me.
In my watercolor class we are going to begin mixed media projects - pieces built around a painting but with other techniques and found objects included. I am doing some thinking and sketching but right now I think I will do a piece centered around a watercolor cattleya orchid and the natural environment around it - tree bark, possibly ribbons or fibers as the roots - this is just in the embryo stage now. I will keep you updated.
Have a great and creative week - next Sunday is Midsummer's night! Let's party!

Button lust part 1

I created this minibook yesterday and did it totally backward from the way I usually create. Normally I start with a subject or photos and go through my stash to find papers and embellies to enhance the photo or tell the story. This time I was straightening up and was tidying these vintage paisley postcards. As they lay scattered on the table, I loved how the patterns enhanced and played against each other so I piled some up so you could see mixtures and quickly punched holes in them with the cropodile and put them together with wire. Then I looked around my studio and saw a package of various metal frames that I had bought at Tuesday Morning a while ago and never used. I pulled out several that worked with different card combos and glued them on. I added the edge paper clips for easy turning. Then I thought about putting buttons on the metal frames and TA DA the whole thing came together - my love for buttons would be my theme. I had taken some photos of my button stash and button items last week so I quickly printed them out and arranged them throughout the book and found buttons to enhance the pages. I went through my big button tin and found several vintage cards of buttons to use and I even added an ATC that I had made for the January Year of Color ATC exchange. Finally I added scrap ribbons on the wires and strung some buttons on embroidery floss to add also. I then did some journaling on the back sides of the postcards.

Blogger would only let me put x-amount of photos in a posting so the remainder of the book can be found in Button lust part 2, the posting just below or before this one.

I have had a busy week with my last watercolor class on Monday - I painted a landscape and will post it maybe tomorrow. Tuesday and Friday I worked at the bookstore and on Wednesday I had to go into the giftshop to take care of some bookkeeping tasks. I went to an informal watercolor class on Thursday and started a painting of a magnolia - I will post it when it is finished. Then on Friday evening I attended a gallery showing for Dawn Mills, a wonderful painter and my teacher these last few months. I had wanted Dan to go with me but as his last treatment was on Friday, he did not feel well enough to go.

Have a great weekend and I will try to post again tomorrow. I am getting some things together to sell on ebay (books and stuff) so I will be very busy dealing with that - and I hope to finish a painting this afternoon and maybe do a layout tonight. AND of course, I want to do this week's Collage Couture class - busy busy busy and having so much fun!!

Button lust part 2

the definition of button from a dictionary and some vintage buttons on a metal frame

Buttons from something bought at Target a while ago and a beautiful card of vintage pearl buttons that I won in a RAK from an antique store. I love the play of all of the patterns in these cards. Each page has such a funky look.

A list of things with "button" in them and 2 buttons from Trinidad on a metal frame

An ATC I made for the Year of Color blog, vintage buttons on a card, and a photo of a brooch I made from vintage buttons given to me by my mother

Journaling about my love of buttons and a photo of a really cool button necklace I bought a long time ago.

Loved creating this minibook - the process was so totally opposite to my normal way of doing things. This was a good lesson in creative thinking and the process will really help me on days when I feel uninspired.

Have a great week!