Summer of Color 4: Exotica

Hi, everyone!  Welcome, I'm so happy to have you visit.  It's an exciting day for me because it's the first post of this year's Summer of Color4.  Hosted every year by Kristin, it's a challenge that I had a great time with last year.  Every week for six weeks there is a new color prompt.  You can make any thing you want using those colors.  This year the prompt will be two colors with a splash, splat, or pop of another color.  This first week the colors were aqua and yellow with a bit of fuchsia.  Be still my beating heart!!!  I love aqua and yellow for the summer.  Sun and sea...what more can you ask for!  Last year I did a variety of projects, from tags to mixed media to jewelry.  This year I'm going to try to stick to tags.  I'd like to have 6 tags that I can then make into a book or wall hanging.  We'll see how it goes and where the muse takes me.  This week it took me in a different direction than I expected.  Here's what I started with.

 





 

I started with a large tag from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  I covered it with a piece of yellow dotted paper and then dry brushed Sunflower and aqua Silks over the middle of it.  I then used the top from the jars of Silks and printed circles and took my brush and splattered some of the Silks over the background.  I sprayed some Dylusions through a piece of mesh to add some more texture.   I collaged some yellow and aqua papers over the background and thought I would be going towards a summer afternoon theme!  Wrong!  Because this is where I ended up.

 

 

 

 

 

Exotica!!!  At least that's what I think of when I look at what happened to my rather sedate background!  I colored cheesecloth with some yellow Dylusions spray and some yellow Perfect Pearls.   Once it was dry I arranged it on the tag.  Using one of my favorite punches I cut yellow and fuchsia papers.    And some how or other one piece of the leftovers found it's way to hang off the side of the tag!  That set the tone for the rest of it.  I did some stamping with one of Wendy Vecchi's background stamps and added another piece of the leftovers to tack down the cheesecloth on the bottom.  I used some paper and fabric flowers in my stash for the focal and added a Spellbinders mask die cut to the side with a part of one of the flowers under it. Since I had already decided to name this Exotica I let it peek out of the flowers and cheesecloth to add some mystery to the theme.  This tag was definitely going in its own direction.  To finish it off I used the little centers from the punch to scatter around the background and made a label from a Spellbinders die.  I covered it with the punched motif and printed the Exotica label on the computer.  I inked it with Squeezed Lemonade DI and put the whole thing together.  To balance out the upper edge I placed the label off the opposite bottom edge. 

 

Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, there it is.  My first SOC4 project.  Even though I didn't end up in the direction I thought I was going to go, I love where it took itself!! 

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I'll be back next week for week 2!

 

 

 



 

A New Beading Obsession!

 

Hi everyone!  Thank you for visiting me today.  I really appreciate your visits.  I know it's been quiet around here lately.  Spring is always a busy, busy time and this year is no different.  In fact, it's been busier later in the season because the season was so long in coming.  But, I think  things are under control in the garden, the big chores for the year done and now I can tweak things here and there and sit back and do more enjoying than working! 

 

I haven't been entirely absent from my art life.  My daughter and I took a fabulous weekend of mixed media classes with Seth Apter at The Queen's Ink a few weeks ago and I've been obsessing over the book Contemporary Geometric Beadwork by Kate McKinnon!  I'll show you some of the things we did in Seth's class once I get them organized and ready for prime time!  This post is all about my new obsession, Contemporary Geometric Beadwork, or CGB, which is easier to type!

 

Without further ado, my first bangle...

 



 

 

The book that got this all started came out about 2 years ago.  I love geometric beadwork and so I immediately pre-ordered it and then, when it arrived, let it sit while I drooled over all the gorgeous pieces of art jewelry shown.  The book itself is beautiful which I love because I'm a book lover from childhood.  This book not only has beautiful art but quotes pertaining to art in all forms.  And, I'm a sucker for quotes.  I have a whole stack of quotes cut from magazines and other places sitting waiting to be used for some art project or another.  So, the book had me from the moment I opened the package.  It's a collaborative effort with several fabulous bead artists working on it.  And, the best news is that there is a second volume in the works.  Pre-ordered that one too!!!! That one won't sit idle for so long! 

 

Anyway, I finally got started using the book because my friend Kathy, the owner of Bead Soup, decided we should start a monthly group of beaders to come together and work on some geometric beadwork, primarily from Kate's book.  Perfect, just the push I needed!  So, I started from the beginning and decided to make a Power Puff bangle.  This particular design is a Jean Power creation.

Jean was one of the collaborators on the book.  Her work with triangular designs is well known in the bead world.  Once you get the triangle down you can really do anything in the CGB book.  The method of working is very architectural and structured around a few basic constructions, the triangle being one of the basics.

 

The Power Puff bangle is just a series of connected triangles.  I made mine as a bracelet bangle because I can't make a bangle to fit me!  Bangles must go over your knuckles and then onto your wrist.  My knuckles are bigger than my wrist and to fit over them the bangle then flops down onto my hand.  So, I decided to make it flat and use a concealed magnet for a closure.  It really looks like a regular bangle.  I sometimes have to look for the closure and people think it is a bangle. 

 

Here are a few pictures of the whole bracelet so you can see what the entire piece looks like.

 



 

 

 

Here you can see the magnetic closure

 

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I've worn it several times and it's very comfortable to wear.  The variations in color and color placement are unending and I already have a great idea for a Fall version.  But, right now I've moved on in the book to Wings and Horns!!  Yes, Wings and Horns!  They are the offspring of the triangle!  You'll be seeing that one soon! 

 

 

Now it's out to the garden to cut some flowers for the house.  Thank you so much for visiting today.  I love having you drop in and I love hearing from you!  Have a great weekend.

Summer by the Sea

Hi everyone!  I'm so pleased to have you drop by today.  This post is very exciting for me because I have been honored as the Guest Designer on the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog!   I was chosen as the winner of the "On the Runway" challenge and that is how I became the Guest Designer for this week.  I couldn't be more excited and thrilled!

Not only was it a great honor for me but the theme for this fortnight's challenge is "Summer by the Sea"!  I grew up in a small Southern New Jersey town about 30 miles from Atlantic City.  We spent many lovely days at the beach and many others, in the Fall when the summer crowds were gone, walking on the Boardwalk.  My memories are from the '50's when Atlantic City's Golden Age was on the wane but still lingered in the way people acted and dressed (to the nines!) when they went to "the shore".  For my project I went back even further, to the real era of style and glamour that was AC in it's heyday! 



I created a pop-up card with all the fun of being at the shore in the summer.  I love making pop-up cards.  They are dimensional and can be elegant or playful, or both at the same time! 

I started with the Artistic Outpost stamp set "Boardwalk".  When I first saw this set in the
Funkie Junkie Boutique last summer I ordered it right away!  I couldn't believe that there was a stamp set depicting Atlantic City in all its vintage glory!  It had the Steel Pier, with a decorative structure at the top that was long gone by my day.  Some nasty hurricane probably took it away one year!  This set also has Atlantic City tokens and Steel Pier tickets,  bathing beauties and beach huts.  It was perfect!  I also used some other beach themed stamps on this project.  I started with an embossed card stock and constructed the pop-up.  I stamped the Steel Pier image on striped cardstock and attached it to the back of the card.  I used the new Graphic 45 stamp set to stamp the "By the Sea" sign and attached it to the top edge.  The bathing beauty was stamped with Archival ink on card stock and colored with Distress Markers.  I fussy cut and attached it in front of the Steel Pier image.  I added a post card stamped with Archival ink, Steel Pier tickets and a child playing in the sand.  A little sign tells you that you are at the Boardwalk.  There are sea shells fussy cut from a set of vintage beach images I had in the stash and tucked in.  From that same set of images I cut the two beach balls.  The one flying through the air is attached to a strip of acrylic packaging and the strip is glued to the inside of the card.  That allows the ball to move and appear to have been just tossed in the air.  There were always colorful beach balls flying though the air as families played catch with each other!  Another beach ball is tucked into the front of the card. 

I enclosed the "scene" with a piece of rusty fencing I had in my stash and added a sign saying that you are at the beach!! 

For the flaps I decided to create an awning like the ones on some of the cabanas that lined the beach.  I had this striped paper in my stash and the colors were perfect for this project.  I used a scalloped die from Tim Holtz' on the edge collection and then scored and folded it to look like an awning. 

Here are some details of the project.

 

 

 

 

 







So there you have it!  My memories of my summers by the sea!  Once again I want to thank the ladies from the Frilly and Funkie blog for choosing me to be the Guest Designer for this challenge. 

Thank you all for visiting with me today.  Have a wonderful day.



A Flapper's ATB!

Hello all!  I'm pleased you could join me today!  Its a beautiful Spring day here and all the flooding rain is behind us.  I hope everyone who suffered during that never ending storm is doing okay.

I'm excited because I made my first ATB, Artist Trading Block, for those of you who had never heard of an  ATB before.  I hadn't heard of them until about a month ago.   I saw some on Pinterest and I loved them.  They have six 2 1/2" sides that can be embellished any way you chose.  What fun!  Eileen Hull has a nifty new die that she designed for Sizzix that cuts the boxes in 3 sizes.  It not only cuts mat board and chip board but it also scores it.  Scoring it makes it very easy to fold into shape.  Brilliant!  Well, without further rambling here is my first (but definitely not last) ATB.

 

 

 

I used Graphic 45's Couture set of papers.  I love that set.  I love '20s and '30s fashions as well as all things Art Deco.  So, when these papers came out I was thrilled.  But, I was trying to decide how I wanted to use them.  When I finally got my ATB die I thought of these papers.  I raided my stash of ribbons, lace, feathers, buttons and ribbon flowers to use as embellishments.  I added some stick on rhinestones and started to collage each side.  I painted the edges of each side black and scuffed up the edges so they would look worn.  Then I covered each panel with a striped paper from the collection.  I used some cut a parts to be the focal on each side and added the embellishments.   Here are some details of the each side.

 

 

Side One

 

Side Two

 

Side Three

 

Side Four

 

 

In the pictures you can see that I used turquoise fire polished rondels for the feet!  Once I had finished the sides I decided to do something different for the top.  I covered it with a different paper from the collection after cutting slits from the middle to about 1/2" in from the edge.  That allowed me to roll the cuts back to reveal a picture below.  Here's a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose the picture I wanted to feature and glued that to the back of the paper with the slits.  I glued the whole thing down to the top and rolled the cuts back.  A little glue holds them in place.  I then embellished with rhinestones and Kaisecraft Sparkles. 

 

 

I can't wait to play with this idea more.  ATBs are so much fun to do and because they aren't that big they don't take a lot of time to make.  I've decided to enter this in the Frilly and Funkie challenge this week which is "On the Runway". 

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 



 





Strawberry Fields Forever

Hi, everyone!  I'm so glad to have you visit me  today.  I've been away from the blog for a while because it's finally Spring and I've been out in the garden soaking up the warmer weather and sunshine.  It's been a long time coming this year.  But, everything is looking great and we didn't lose any plants to the terrible cold.  Which brings me to the title of this post and the tag I want to share with you.   I love strawberries!  I like eating them and I like to use them in fun art projects.  I have a wonderful rubber stamp that I've had  for a long time.  It's a beautiful plump strawberry.  I bought it at Michael's to use on a card.  I decided it was time to get it out and make a tag with it.  Here's what it looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

It sits on a wire shelf in my kitchen next to my green depression glass tea cups.  You can just see them in the picture.  I cut a number 8 tag from white card stock and used a dot stencil with Wendy Vecchi embossing pasted tinted with Red Geranium reinker.   I wanted a red polka dot background and I love how it turned out.  I stamped several strawberries and colored them with Copic markers. The bowl comes from a magazine clipping I had.  I'm always cutting things out of magazines and stashing them away.  I attached the bowl to the tag at it's footed bottom and then attached just the sides of the bowl to the sides of the tag causing the middle to bow out slightly.  I then arranged the strawberries in the bowl and added some die cut greenery to fill in. I used some Pan Pastels to create a shadow at the base of the bowl.  The ribbon has been in my stash for a long time.  I made a bow and added a little brooch that I've had for ages.  Here is a close up of the brooch.

 

 

 



 

 

I'm so pleased with my tag.  It makes me happy when I see it in my kitchen. 

 

Thank you for visiting me today.  I love having you drop by and I really appreciate your comments. 

The Shibori Ribbon Blog Hop

Hi all!  Thanks for joining me today!  This is the day of  the Shibori Ribbon Blog Hop hosted by Tanya Goodwin of  A Work in Progress.  Tanya had some of the gorgeous Shibori ribbon which she decided to give to 6 beaders to play with.  I was one of the lucky winners!!  It was very exciting for me because I had been wanting to try some bead embroidery with the ribbon for some time.  At first I was going to make a brooch but then I had another idea.  So this is what I ended up with.

 

 

 

A journal!  The way I got from a brooch to a journal was interesting!  I thought a brooch would be fun but then I saw these Prima papers.  The collection is called The Stationer's Desk.  I fell in love with it.  The colors are so rich  and the designs are so interesting with pens, pencils, ink bottles, all the things a stationer would use incorporated into sprays of roses.   I had been wanting to merge my beading with my paper for a long time and suddenly I had a way to bring the two together.  The ribbon and the paper collection were a perfect match!!  I decided to embroider a corner piece for the cover of a journal.  I love seeing metal components being used on journal covers and I've thought bead embroidered components would work too!  I realized I could use a Tim Holtz pen nib in the design and I had one that said journal on it!  Everything was falling into place!  I knew I was on the right path.

 

I'm having a lot of trouble with my computer right now so I'm going to show you the pictures and not

give you a lot of commentary.  I hope you visit Tanya's blog and hop over to the other blogs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

The back cover.

 

 

Thank you for visiting.  Hopefully my computer problems will be fixed quickly and I'll be back here soon!  Have a wonderful day!





Bling Rings!

Hi everyone!  It's good to have you join me today.  I have some bead talk for a change!  Last month my bead group got together for a Friday session of beading a free pattern.   It's an informal group and we work on patterns that the artists put out for free use.  This one was something I like doing, making beaded rings.  Not finger rings but wheel type rings to be used as components.  Sabine Lippert offered this on her website.  It was a great pattern, called Bling Ring.  Here is what I ended up doing with the pattern.

 

 



I don't often make multiples of a pattern but sometimes a component really catches my interest and I keep thinking of ideas for creating more and more of them!  That's what happened with the Bling Ring pattern.  I started with black seed beads, lime green AB drops, jet AB2x crystals and black AB Delicas.  The first ring I made is to the left of the center ring.  I liked it so much that I decided I was going to do 6 more and string them on a black ball chain.  Yeah, well, when I decide I like something I really go at it!  I decided to use the same black seed beads, Delicas and crystals for all of them.  I used lime green and turquoise seed beads for the start of the other rings, along with more of the black.  I made 4 in the original size, starting with 36 beads.  I started three rings with 48 so that they would be  bigger rings.  I used black beads and black drops for the larger rings and used them as spacers between the colored rings.   Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

I like the necklace so much that I'm thinking of making one in all brights for summer!  It's light and comfortable to wear and I feel I can wear it with almost anything.  Great for me since I don't wear really dressy jewelry enough to justify spending the time it takes to make.

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I'll be back on Monday with my entry into Tanya's Shibori Ribbon Blog Hop.  See you then!  Have a great weekend.