In the style of Finn

Hello everyone!  Today I have a mixed media canvas that I did after my daughter and I took two classes with Anna Dabrowska, aka Finnabair, at our favorite paper arts store, The Queen's Ink, in Savage, Maryland.  We have loved Finn's work for a long time and were so delighted when we heard that she was coming to the Queen's!  We had two fabulous days of creativity and I'll share what we made soon.  But, I came away so enamored of Finn's technique and style of working that I had to make another piece somewhat like we did in class.  I had found some fantastic seaside papers that owner Patti had just gotten in.  This has been my summer for beach and seaside themed projects and so I just had to have all the papers.  They are truly beautiful.   I decided to use them to make one last beach project this summer!!  Here is the finished canvas.

 

 

I glued one of the sheets of paper down to an 8x8 canvas and used heavy body gel medium through one of Finn's new stencils. I used pieces of a shell themed napkin to add some transparent shells to the background.  Then, because I didn't want to cover the design of the paper, I used Perfect Pearls to spray the entire piece allowing the design to still be visible.  The shells and jelly fish in the corner and the border are the paper's design.  Then I got  out my collection of shells.  I've collected shells for years and I thought this would be a good place to use some of them.  I also used some shell beads and some chip board sea life pieces that Linda from Funkie Junkie Boutique gifted me in an order.  Thank you, Linda!  I played with the arrangement a bit, but it came together quite quickly.  I glued it all down with Glossy Accents, although I could have used gel medium, too.  I then took a sticker from the set of papers and put that at the top.  I sprayed the whole thing again with Perfect Pearls spray and used Silks transparent acrylics dry brushed over the entire piece.  I used my finger to rub some gold Gilders' Paste over the shells and some of the background.  Here are some details.

 





 

 

 

 

I'm very pleased with the way this turned out.  I love what I call Finn's encrusted look and I think this has that quality. 

I'm done with summer projects now!  I've put  all my summer papers and odds and ends away.  It's time to move on to late summer, Halloween and Fall.  But, I've  had so much fun remembering fun days at the beach. 

 

I'm going to enter this piece in the Frilly and Funkie challenge, which is By the Seaside. 

 

Thank you for visiting today.  I'm so happy to have you take the time to stop by my blog.  I hope you have a wonderful and creative day.

 

 

...and, now for some jewelry!

Yes, all my jewelry making blog friends, I do still make jewelry.  In fact, I just took a bead looming class this past weekend, so I have another method in my arsenal!  But, I digress.  I have finally gotten some enamels and did some torch fired enameling, ala Barbara Lewis.  Some of you may remember that I took a class with Sally Stevens over the winter and fell madly in love with torch fired enameling.  So, I finally acquired some different colors of enamel from Barbara's well stocked online store and I set myself up on our screened porch and spent three hours enameling copper beads, swirly headpins I made, and other fun pieces. 

The headpins were made with the idea of creating my version of Sally's bib necklace that was on the cover of the April/May issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry.  Here is my necklace.

 

 

 

I used ceramic beads, along with some small copper beads to make the links on my cool enameled headpins.  I decided to make the chain after seeing the beautiful chains my blog friend Patti has been making.  So, I used 16 gauge copper wire and made infinity links which I linked together with jump rings.   The hook is a variation of an infinity link that I saw used on a necklace on Pinterest.  I wish I could remember when I saw it and who made it, but unfortunately, it's been a while ago.  Here are a couple of detail pictures.

 

the clasp

 

 

 





The headpins and the chain.

 

 

I also made a pair of earrings from two enameled beads. 

 

 

 

So, there you have some of my adventures in enameling on my own!  There are more pieces coming!  I really love doing it.  Its a very fast technique and you can end up with a lot of different components is a very short amount of time.  Its very addictive!

 

I hope you are enjoying the quickly passing summer.  Have a wonderful week.  Thank you for stopping by and welcome to any new readers.  I'm so happy to have you join me!

 



 









The Library Pocket: French Country Style

I'm excited to show you my latest project.  It's a library pocket with an insert.  I've had the template for this since last year.  I downloaded it from Mirkwood Designs and then never used it. But, I've been wanting to make a pear themed project with the Graphi45 French Country papers and I thought of the library pocket.  I love those papers and since my inspiration is moving into late summer/Fall mode now I think they're perfect for this time of year.  I also have a new pear stamp I've been wanting to use, so everything seemed to come together and I created this.

 

 

I traced the template onto a manila folder and cut it out.  I inked it with Distress Ink and then used a technique I learned from Wendy Vecchi last year.  You spray water, or water and Perfect Pearls, on your craft sheet and then stamp into the water.  Then you stamp your tag, or whatever you're working on.  You end up with a bleached effect that is very cool.  If you used Perfect Pearls as well as water, you have a slightly pearlized effect.  I did use the Perfect Pearls but it's hard to see the effect in the picture.  I used the same technique on the back with a different stamp.  I used a die cut from the French Country cardstock collection and attached it to the top edge of the pocket.  I then folded the side tabs back and embellished the back and used the distress banners die to make a label. 

 



 



 

 

To finish the front I used Distress Ink to dye a ribbon and tied it around the pocket.  I put a brass flower which Linda from The Funkie Junkie Boutique sent me on top of the knot and put a sparkly center on it.  I used some green leaf trim to spill over the ribbon and attached some "rain drop" stickers to it.

 

The insert is where I got to use my lovely pear stamp. 

 



 

I stamped it on card stock that I inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Then I watercolored it using Distress Ink in various colors.  I tore it from the piece of card stock and put it on a piece of French Country paper which was layered on another paper from the collection which I cut to fit the pocket. I used one of the French Country stamps at the bottom of the insert and  I used another Tim Holtz stamp to add the Pear/Poire name to the top of the insert. 

 

Here are some of the details.

 



 

 

 

 



 

 

So, there you have it.  I love the papers and I love pear motifs for this time of summer.  I got to use both my pear stamps and some of my favorite papers.  Since this project is a folded piece I'm entering it in the Frilly and Funkie challenge which is Any Way You Fold It. 

 

I hope you have a wonderful day.  Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  I'll be back soon with, surprisingly, some new jewelry!

 



 





A Simply Artful Home

Hello everyone.  I'm really happy that you decided to visit today because I have a cute little project to share with you.  It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  After the Summer of Color3 wrapped up, I decided I was going to create A Simply Artful Home, for the birds!

Here it is!

 

 

I've had the bird house for quite a while and I decided to work on it a few months ago when I found these fantastic papers at my absolute favorite paper arts store,  The Queen's Ink.  I love poppies  and I loved the polka dot paper.  Both the house and the paper sat in my studio since May and last week I decided the time had come.  So, I got to work! 

 

I painted the house with red acrylic paint and then made a pattern for the front and back so I could cut the polka dot paper accurately.  That was easier said than done, but it worked out after a few adjustments.  The roof used a coordinating stripe and then it was time for the poppies.  I love making flat things dimensional so I cut duplicates of each flower.  I applied the first set to the front of the house and then cut the parts that were the front petals of each flower and attached them to the corresponding part on the flower with foam tape.  I then used a toothpick to curl parts of the edges.  I had already glued a die cut medallion with a hole cut in the middle around the opening.  At this point I didn't know how to proceed.  While walking around Michael's one day I came across these little picket fence pieces in the unpainted wood aisle.  I also found the little bird.  He was pink but a little Distress stain took care of that.  I painted the fence pieces and sponged some Vintage Photo Distress ink on them.  The little bird on the fence was a Tim Holtz charm that I painted to look rusty. 

A little moss at the base of the fence and the little newly colored bird completed the front.  The sides also had the fence pieces and the  moss.  The moss served to help glue the fence to the base and added a little shrubbery to the house. 

 

I then went to work on the back.

 

 

 

More fence and moss, of course, but also a sign to let everyone know that this is a simply artful house!   The key hole and key is in the back so that it's not readily seen from the front and other birds can't just go in and make themselves at home!!!  I don't know if you do that, but I often create a little story in my head when I'm working on a project like this.

 

 

Here are some close ups of the details.

 







 



The side and roof.

 

 

 

The rusty fence ornament.

 

And, the flowers.

 

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of the artful bird house.  I had a great time making it.  Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and that you do something creative!

 



Summer of Color3: The Last Week!

It's really hard to believe that we've come to the last week of the Summer of Color3!  It's been such a fun challenge.  I know I've said that before, but since color is my favorite thing, it was a great way to spend creative time this year!

This week's colors were sage and sepia.  A beautiful combination with many possibilities.  I've used it in paper and also in beading. A few years ago I made a bead crocheted rope necklace that I really love.  I thought I'd share it since the colors are sepia and sage.



I stitched a peyote stitched slide to cover a magnetic clasp and also to be a focal for the necklace.

Since that wasn't made specifically for this challenge I also did some paper art.  I had been wanting to use the Graphic45 collection "A Ladies Diary" since it came out.  The colors in the papers worked for this week's challenge so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make a small inspiration board, another thing I'd been wanting to do. 



I cut small tags from an older Sizzix's die and attached things that a lady might see at her dressmaker's to help her make her choice for her next outfit.  You can see her  peeking out from the left edge of the board, surveying the offerings!!  A few embellishments and some pictures of ladies in beautiful hats that might interest her and the board is ready to be put on display! 

I've started embellishing the back of my dimensional projects just for fun.  I've always loved adding some thing to areas that aren't readily seen by anyone but me.  I use that area and the embellishments to sign and date the project.  Here's the back of this one.

 

 

This was fun to make.  And, a fun way to end this challenge.  I want to thank Kristin for organizing this.  I'm so looking forward to next year!

 

 

Thank you for visiting today.  I hope you all have a wonderful day.

 





Under the boardwalk...

The boardwalk played a big part in my summers when I was young.  I grew up in the heart of Southern New Jersey and so summer meant long weekends at the beach.  My family spent most of our time in Ocean City, New Jersey, which is a little south of Atlantic City.  But, we also went to Atlantic City.  My mother and her best friend, with me tagging along, would go down to AC for the day during the week several times over the course of the summer.  There was blanket room on the sand during the week!  You could eat on the beach back then, (I know I'm dating myself!) and my mom would pack a picnic lunch and we would head on down the road for a day on the beach.  It was a glorious, carefree time for me and I have great memories of it.

At the beginning of this summer I found that Linda from Frilly and Funkie Boutique had an Artistic Outpost stamp set that had vintage images of Atlantic City that I just to have!   I also have a set of stamps with vintage beach images from Alpha Stamps.   Add to that the fantastic summer paper collection from Authentique and I knew I had to do some thing to celebrate Atlantic City and summers past!  This is what I came up with.

 

 

It's a canvas that I painted and sprayed and used some beachy napkins on and then collaged with all the things that reminded me of Atlantic City in it's glory days.   That building in the lower left  is the Steel Pier on the boardwalk.  I have to say that the image predates me because I don't remember that cupola on the top!  It probably got washed into the ocean during one of the many hurricanes that hit the coast in the '30's, '40s and '50s.  Yep, Sandy wasn't the first!!  I particularly love the Atlantic City tokens and the Steel Pier tickets that are part of the stamp set.  Along the bottom of the canvas I used layers of Distress embossing powder because of it's sandy look and I glued a vintage Lucite shell bead and some sequin shells in the "sand".  The finished canvas really makes me smile every time I look at it!  Here are some close ups.

 

 

 

The Steel Pier in it's glory days!

 

 

 

Those Atlantic City tokens

 

And the Steel Pier tickets along with an Art Deco sign telling everyone to relax at the shore!

 

The vintage shell bead and some sequins and beach "stones"!

 

 I had such a great time creating this collage.  I've decided to take the leap and enter it in the Frilly and Funkie challenge whose theme is Summer. 

 

I hope you're having a great summer.  I know some of you don't like the heat, and it does get to be a bit much, but it's a happy time of year when we can relax and not feel guilty!

 

 

Thank you all for visiting.  I really appreciate it.  And, welcome to all the new visitors.  Have a great day!









Summer of Color3: Week 5

I can't believe we're at week 5 of the Summer of Color3 challenge!  I know I said that about week 4, but seriously, we only have one more week.  This has been so much fun for me!  This week was a real challenge because the color combination was candy apple red and yellow.  So bright and cheery, but not colors I use a lot!  The first thing that came to my mind was the kitchens from the '30s and '40s.  Those were hard times and those bright colors were a good antidote to the dreariness of life back then.   I had planned to make a summery necklace using beads in those colors and some vintage fruit beads I have in my stash, but I realized I could never have finished the necklace I had in mind  in time.  So, that will be for when I have more than a week to finish it.  What I did make was a small shadow box with Graphic 45's beautiful collection called French Country.  I've wanted to do some late summer projects with these papers and this was my chance to get a head start.

Here's the box.

 

I covered the back with FC papers and the sides with a yellow polka dot from Authentique.  Then I used some of the individual cut aparts from the collection and glued them to the back.  I used dimensional sunflower stickers and silk sunflowers to finish the inside.  I love pennant banners, so I used some other motifs to make a banner across the front.

 

 

 

 

 

The outside and back of the box were painted with Tim Holtz' Distress Paint in Mustard Seed.  I then used some embossing paste and a stencil to give it some dimension.  I inked over the paste and the paint with Distress ink.  It actually is more red than it appears in the picture.

 

 

 

 

On the back I recorded my details.  You can see more of the embossing paste on the side. 

 

Well, that's my project for this week.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and now I can enjoy beading my summer necklace in candy apple red and yellow!

 

Thank you all for visiting.  I appreciate you stopping by and I welcome all you who are new to my blog.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!