Summer of Color4: Summer Garden

Hello, everyone!  It's so great to have you join me today!  I hope your summer is going well!  My summer is going too fast for me, but I do love summer and I try to grasp every bit of it! 

It's been a busy week here.  We've had family visiting and it's been a great time.  But, that explains my lateness in posting my tag for this week's Summer of Color challenge.  So, this post will be brief.

The colors for this week were gray and lavender with a pop of plum.  The gray and lavender were not easy colors for me to work with.  Honestly, they always make me think of Victorian ladies coming out of mourning.  But, I decided that was a downer so I was going to go with my favorite subject, Gardens!  Victorian gardens to be precise because I couldn't get away from the Victorian vibe! 

Here is what I made.

 

 

 

I started with a number 10 tag and covered the whole thing with Weathered Wood Distress Stain.  I then ran a line of Brushed Pewter DS along the edge.  I daubed some embossing ink on a piece of bubble wrap that was sitting on my table and randomly pressed it onto the tag.  I used Ranger's Antiquities embossing powder in Cement and heated it.  I then pressed the bubble wrap over parts of the embossed areas and embossed again with silver embossing powder. 

 

 

The image of the lovely Victorian lady was from my stash and is a fabric piece that I glued in place.  I used part of a Memory Box die cut in a lavender paper to frame her and give the illusion of her looking through a garden gate.  One of my favorite dies are the new Tim Holtz trellis dies.  I used a different lavender paper to cut them.  I then used a plum paper to cut another trellis and used the inner pieces for my "pop" of plum color.  I used Glossy Accents to fill in some of the openings and the plum pieces to fill in others.  One of the things I love about these dies is that the inner pieces can be used alone and I love using two colors together as a shadow.  You can see I scattered those around the tag.  I glued a spray of lavender and plum "berries" below the focal and added some Kaiser Craft Sparkles to the background.  I finished it off with a piece of sequined lace trim from the stash.

 

 

Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, there is this week's tag!  In the end I had a great time using these colors which is why I love this challenge.  Thanks once again to Kristin for hosting and for coming up with such fantastic color combinations every week! 

 

Thank you all for visiting me.  I so appreciate your visits.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend and I'll be back soon. 

 





Summer of Color 4: Sea Life

Hello, everyone!  I'm happy to have you join me.  Today I'm going to share my next Summer of Color tag.  I've decided to make tags this year and then bind them together rather than making several different projects like I did last year.  The challenge is so much fun and Kristin does such a great job of coming up with color combinations.  Check it out because there is a lot of great art being created.

This week, week 2, the colors were teal and coral with a pop of white.  So, to me that said sea life and this is what my tag looks like.

 

 

I started out with a number 10 tag and I colored it with Peacock Feathers DS.  Then I used this great new spray that I found at Joggles.  It's from Lindy's Stamp Gang and it's called Starburst.  It's a wonderful spray which has a non shimmery base and a wonderfully shimmery top.  Unfortunately, by the time I finished my tag you can't see too much of that wonderful shimmer!!  Oh, well, I know I'll be using it again.  Anyway, the color that I used is called "Jack in the Pulpit Teal".  Cool name, right?

I sprayed the entire tag and then used a paper from Graphic45's summer paper collection called By the Sea.  It's a wonderful coral color and it has a wonderful overall sea life pattern.  Those of you who follow me and/or Linda from The Funkie Junkie, might think this design looks a little familiar.  Well, that's because I'm playing along at the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog this week.  Linda is the host for this challenge and she decided since it's 6 months since the  12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style challenge, which she hosts, ended perhaps it would be fun to recreate one of the tags from the challenge only with a summer theme.  So, I decided to use tag number 4 for my entry.  You can find out all the details of the challenge here and you can see tag number 4 from the 12 Tags here.   

 

What I really liked about this tag was the linear look it has.  I loved the letters on the burlap squares and I loved the border that balanced it on the other side.  So, I used some teal paper in place of the burlap and I used a die cut white border and a printed border on the other side.  The sea life stamps are part of the Graphic45 collection.  Before I glued everything down I edged the tag in white embossing powder.  Once all the paper was in place I glued a Lucite starfish to the top of the tag, and glued some teal shell sequins and small wooden beads randomly.  Here are some details.

 



 

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So, there you have it.  I really love this combination of colors.  I don't think I've ever used it, at least not together,  but now I love it and that's the great part of the Summer of Color!  Stretching and using colors you don't use, or don't use often. 

 

Thank you for stopping by.  I love having you and I love hearing from you.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and get some time to be creative.

Time to Stitch 5: Spiral Rope

 

 

 

Hi everyone!  I'm so happy you're visiting me today.  This is the reveal day for A Time to Stitch 5!  For those of you who aren't familiar with this challenge it's the creation of Christine of One Kiss Creations and Therese of Therese's Treasures.  The idea this time is to use one stitch to make three different bracelets or necklaces.  The stitch I chose was Spiral Rope! I love spiral rope.  I love stitching it and I love the look of it.  With this challenge we were supposed to use a stitch with different shaped beads.  Well, I do a lot of that with spiral rope so I was even happier!  There are so many new shaped beads out there that it's not a problem to find something different.  

 

I used drops, lentils (the original with one hole), and two hole Rulas.  I've used drops before and the Rula pattern is an original my friend, and bead shop owner, Kathy designed.  I have never used lentils in a spiral necklace even though the original lentil beads are some of my favorites.  So, here are pictures of the three necklaces I came up with.

 

 

 

I wanted a plain black lariat so I used black 11s for the core beads and black 15s and hematite drops for the spiral.  I ended it with black fire polished rounds and 15s and a drop.  I really like the simplicity of this lariat.  It's easy to wear and it goes with so many things.

 

 

 





 

 

The new Rula beads are so fun!  They are long round beads with a hole at the top and bottom.  My friend Kathy was looking for a different way to use them and came up with this necklace.  You make your spiral as usual using 8s for the core, 11s and a Rula for the spiral.  That leaves you with the extra hole free.  You come back starting from the end of the spiral and connect the second hole with 15s.  It makes for a very lovely and different looking spiral.  It looks like a frill.  I loved the color of these Rulas and I used a color mix of 11s to change the color dynamic a little.  It's a great summer necklace!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I used the lentils along with some fire polished beads that went so well with the lentils that I couldn't resist using them together.  These lentil beads had an old gold metallic finish on one side and the other side ranged from whitish, to tan to matte gold.  You can see some of the changes in color in the picture.  The fire polished beads were old gold and with a black vein on the edges of the facets.  I used a matte old gold 11 and a 15 in a wonderful color called Limestone.  It's not a white but not a tan or grey.  Just a lovely off white and I know I'll use them again.  I was pleased with how this turned out.  The spiral is more subtle than some  but I love the way the lentils fall and dance around the core.  Here's a not very good picture of more of the necklace.

 

 

 

 

 

There you have my three entries into this always fun challenge.  I want to thank Therese and Christine for hosting.Take a minute to visit the other participants.  Here is a list of names.

 

 





Therese

Christine

Participants

Kim

Maryanne

Lola

Dagi

Shirley

Alenka

LiliKrist

Amy

Crystie

Sally

Cynthia

Bobbie

Karin

LizE

Becky Pancake

Karin G.

Ana

Wendy

Mary H.

Jasvanti

 

Thank you for visiting me today.  I really appreciate your visits and I hope you have a wonderful week!





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.