Fabric Collage

Another project from the STITCHED workshops, this one was Branches, Buds and Blossoms with Deborah Boschert. I have always done paper collage for journals, handmade books and other paper projects so it was very fun to do the same with my ever growing fabric stash. Deborah's videos were concise and she did a great job in showing how to work out your design.

Collage is about 12" x 15", got to use some of the decorative stitches on my new Pfaff, it handles specialty thread like a dream. The original idea in my head was much simpler but as always once I get going and there are SHINY THINGS involved it gets busier. You can't just have a couple of sequins you know, they need to be in the company of many friends.

Things I learned on the project were...

1. Freezer paper stenciling, no more messy flow of paint under the stenciling.

2. French knots are cool.

3. Beading needles will spontaneously go into hiding the second you avert your eyes after placing them on your craft table.

4. The spousal question of  "Why are there sequins all over the floor?" does not dignify an answer.



Next project in the queue, another handbag....hint: Purple wide rib corduroy, green satin brocade and SHINY THINGS. Stay tuned.



Book of Roses

The wonderful techniques I learned from Orly Avineri at ArtFest and my own favorite background and collage work has resulted in my Book of Roses. The pages are of different sizes and cascading with lots of bling and fiber embellishments. It was a undertaking that included liquid inks, black & white & clear gesso, stencils, stamps, acrylics, distress inks, gel and glaze pens, fibers, trim, decorative tape and of course rhinestones. Binding is a 4 hole Japanese with grosgrain ribbon. There are flowers other than roses but they were the main inspiration so they get the accolades. There was some binding angst involved, I now have a Zutter Bind-It-All so future projects with be free of banging the head against the art table. Thanks to Steve at Stampadoodle for ordering in this latest nifty toy for me.

I have been on a bit of a purge fest in the studio, if we ever move it would take me a month to pack the studio so I need to start the paring process. First up, going through all of my books and magazines I have collected for images. How long does it take to go through a cabinet full of National Geographic and cut out only the images you think you will use in the future? It takes a L.O.N.G  time, that's what. Those old encyclopedia's? It was a brutal quick and dirty selection and then into the paper recycling they went.

And too boot I think I have sustained a crafting injury. All of the eyelets in the Book of Roses were put in with the Big Bite punch and setter, its takes some muscle to set the eyelets, so after oh, say a million of them my arm and side muscles were a pretty sore the next day. Gerry was not sympathetic and would not fetch and carry for me, as I sat in my easy chair whining about my serious art injury.

In the garden news portion of this post we are having a freaky spring, too much rain, everything is late, rhodies just NOW blooming, finally could not wait any longer to plant the tomatoes so they are in but with their comfy little water jackets on them. In my world tomato growing is a competitive sport and things must progress ON SCHEDULE, lest I fall behind my rivals (you know who you are!).

Surface Explorations Class now open!

The Surface Explorations Class at the Sparrow's Nest is now scheduled for January 22, 2011, Saturday, 10:00 to 4:00, a great way to get your creative juices going for the New Year.

Call Sherri Angie at 360-733-9031 or email her at sherangie@comcast.net to sign up. Class fee is $50.00 plus a $5.00 supply fee.

There has been quite a hiatus since my last post, as most of my friends know my father passed away on November 9. When I am ready I will be doing a blog post all about Dad, there are some great pictures I would like to share.

I did attend the Christmas Party for my calligraphy guild on Saturday, thank you Pam for once again being an awesome hostess! For the gift exchange we make a handmade or calligraphic letter of the alphabet, mine was made from craft metal, I embossed the letter "R", colored the metal with Pinata inks, painted the letter with some Extreme Glitter, added a couple of buttons and matted it.

I am working on a winter art shoe, all I can say is there will be much glitter. There will be no handmade Christmas cards this year, time did not allow but maybe a New Year Art Shoe postcard to my friends and family?



Surface Explorations Class

Still time to sign up for the Surface Explorations class on November 13 from 10:00am to 4:00p,. You will learn 15 techniques to enhance your jounalling, mixed media, scrapbook and paper crafts. You get a full day of hands on play with paint, molding paste, stencils, gesso, texture mediums & sprays just to name a few. Here are just a few samples....

Class fee is $50.00 with a $5.00 supply fee. Email sherangie@comcast.net or jody_mcnamara@comcast.net to sign up. Class will be held in Bellingham at the Sparrow's Nest Studio.

Cariboo and Buffalo

We have returned from our trip to see my folks in Dease Lake, B.C., which is about a 100 miles south of the B.C. and Yukon border. We normally take Highway 37 north but this time Gerry wanted a change of scenery so we took the Alaska Highway from Fort St. John to Watson Lake and then cut off onto Highway 37. It was a long drive, took us 2 1/2 days to get there but we did get to see some wildlife along the way, through Summit Pass we were so high we were above the clouds and there were Caribou (or Cariboo as the Canucks spell it) on the road, had to honk at them a couple of times to get them to move. Saw some Stone Sheep and 4 small herds of Buffalo, I guess someone brought some up back in the day and now they wander on their own. Gerry took a dip in the Liard Hot Springs, I don't do enclosed public bathing areas of ANY sort so I just took in the scenery, dousing myself in "people soup" is not my thing...yes, as a matter of fact I am a Princess, but I'm OK with that.

The Alaska Highway itself was not in the greatest shape, there was a fair amount of construction going on & lots of natural gas and oil drilling camps along the way. We had the camper with us, the RV parks were all closed so the stayed in Walmart parking lots there and back, I guess we can consider that training for our senior years when we have a big diesel pusher and do our "Tour of America, Courtesy of Walmart".

The cats fared very well, thanks to the excellent care they received from their Uncle Mike McMullen, I do owe him hugely for the messes I know he had to take care of. They are happy to have the regular wait staff/servants back and have been very clingy.

Spent the day in the studio today, getting more of my CD collection into iTunes, we listened to the entire contents of my iPod on the trip, 2500 miles and 1000 songs, need some fresh tunes. I don't mind country music (Gerry likes it), but I need to listen to something now where the wife comes back and dog doesn't die. Also played around with some new stencils and spray inks I had purchased before we left.