The Summer of Color Box

Hello, everyone!  It's nice to have you visiting today.  The weather here on the East Coast continues to be beautiful, making for a very unusual August!  The only drawback is that I don't want to be inside in my studio because it's too nice outside.  So, the box I was going to make to put all my Summer of Color tags in has languished on my table.  But, the other day we had a tremendous rain storm and that got me inside and into the studio!  The result is this:

 

 

 

I decided that since the tags were all such vibrant colors I would make the box out of neutrals.  That way when you open it there is nothing competing with the colors of the tags.  I had a collection of Kaiser Craft papers that I had wanted to use for a while and I thought they would be perfect for this project.  They were all neutrals and I added some black cardstock for the inside of the box. 

 

 

It was a pretty straight forward project.  I started with a cigar box that all the tags fit in and covered it with paper and then embellished the top.  Here's a detail of the top of the box.

 

 

The top.

 

 

And a detail.

 

 

I loved this box because the paper on the edges of the box had little banners that said "hand made".  So, I made sure to leave those visible.  The paper I chose for the top of the box was a collage of ephemera and glasses and keys.   I used a cut apart from the collection the defined the word "document", because I figured that was what I was doing, documenting my Summer of Color projects.  I then used a technique Paula Cheney used for a tutorial on Tim's blog.  I cut the trellis die with black CS and used sticky embossing powder to adhere Antique Linen Distress Glitter.  I popped it up with foam tape.  I cut foliage out of black and outlined one side of each leaf with a gold pen.  I put that through the trellis and attached the bottom of the stem to the top.  I used some leaves and flowers that Linda, from The Funkie Junkie Boutique had gifted me in an order (thank you, Linda).  I painted them with Black Soot DP and wiped it off with a paper towel.  I then used a Majestic Medallion from Spellbinders with a label inside along with a Graphic45 pull as a handle to open the box.  And, that finished the top.

 

 

Here are some photos of the inside.

 

 

 

I love the pop of color in the black interior.

 

 

The envelope I attached with the colors for each week listed.

 

And, under the tags...

 

 

The interior is very simple.  I wanted to remember the color combinations and so I wrote them on a piece of the paper and put them in a Maya Road envelope attached to the lid.  And, since the tags do make me smile with their bright colors, I thought I would document that fact underneath them!

 

So, that's my box which took far longer to make then it was supposed to.  I'm really happy with it and I love opening it and seeing all those colors!  What fun!

 

Thank you so much for visiting with me today.  I really appreciate your visits and your comments.  Have a wonderful day and I hope you get to create something you love! 

 

 

More Seth

Hi everyone!  It's been quiet around the blog lately.  We've been having the most wonderful weather and I've been taking advantage of it and working my garden.  Usually by this time of the summer the heat and humidity are oppressive and I water pots early in the morning and spend the rest of the day out of the sun.  But, this year we are having wonderfully uncharacteristic weather and I'm loving it!

I've been wanting to share some of the other projects that my daughter and I did in the weekend of Seth Apter classes that we took at The Queen's Ink.  I shared the Majestic Medallions in a post here.  The next class was "52 Card Pick Up".  Our homework was to cover both sides of a deck of 52 playing cards with black gesso and have them ready for class.  We brought paint and glaze and sprays to class.  Seth also wanted us to bring stamps, stencils and ephemera.  The first step was to paint, very quickly, each of the cards, both front and back, with whatever colors we wanted.  Once that was done we added a layer of paint that had glaze added to it.  I'm not a fast worker so this was all a challenge for me.  But, I got all my cards painted and glazed and then the fun began.  Some of us (me) hated what the cards looked like when we were finished with the painting but Seth assured us that we wouldn't hate them for long!  And that was true!  We added stencils and sprays and splatters of paint, along with stamps and ephemera.   It changed the appearance of the cards entirely.  Here are some of the ones that I finished in class and also some that I worked on at home.

 

 

 

 

 

I love using an old credit card to make hash marks on the cards.  And, I love using stencils with sprays.  The white flower and the damask stencil pattern in the picture above is Dylusions White Linen spray.  Because of the glaze on the card it beads up rather than giving full coverage. Unfortunately I couldn't capture in the pictures the glimmer that some of the sprays I'm using on the cards.    Here are some details.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see I've had a great time, both in class and now at home, embellishing these cards.  Seth suggests using them for journaling, one a week for the year.  But, I'm embellishing both sides and I'm going to put them together as a collection of art cards.  Seth gave each of us mat board covers cut to size and suggests tying them all together with a ribbon or fabric strip.  I think that's what I will be doing with mine. 

 

 

Thank you for visiting me today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and get to do something creative.  









A Different Kind of Bezel

Hi, everyone.  Welcome to my little corner of the world.  I'm so happy you could join me.  Today I'm back to beading stuff!  I'm still obsessed with Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  Kate McKinnon has announced that the second volume has gone to print and I can't wait to get my copy of it!   One thing I have learned about this process and the idea behind Kate's approach to it in the books is that once you have figured it out and know the method you can use it in many different ways.  Which brings me to the pendant I'm going to share with you today. 

Jo Ray, who designs and teaches at Bead Soup in Savage, Maryland, has been experimenting with the belly band.  That is the starting point for many of the bracelets in CGB.  It's a modified RAW technique that is really quite simple but brilliant.  Jo decided to try using it to bezel around a marble.  You could also use a large bead.  One thing led to another and she came up with a 4 sided bezel which intrigued me.  So, I took her class and after the class was over she and I were talking about the versatility of the whole concept of using the band and creating wings and horns.  As we were talking I had a light bulb moment when I knew what I was going to do with what I just learned.  I don't have a picture of the class project because it was put aside when I got home.  It will become a future experiment!  I started over and changed a few things and ended up with this.



I started the bezel the way Jo taught it, but I used a single needle instead of the double needle that she used.  My process for stitching the four bands around the marble was changed and at that point the whole thing took on a life of it's own!  What I ended up with wasn't what I had thought I would end up with!!  But, I love what happened and I'll go back to the class project and see what that becomes and if I can stick more to the vision I had.  Anyway, back to this one.  Once the bezel was finished and the marble was in place I peyote along the band and increased in one space to begin the wing.  As I worked each band I moved the increase down the peyote so that the wings would be stepped down away from each other.  Once the bands were finished I did a herringbone finial at the bottom and placed a crystal drop inside.  For the bail I used peyote stitch to create a loop and hung the pendant from a ball chain.  Here are some close up photos.



 

 

 

I feel this method of working geometric beadwork is only inhibited by imagination.  It's a very freeing sort of process, one where one idea grows out of another.  Right now I've moved on to the Rick-Rack bracelets section of the book and I'm having a great time working on my first version of that idea!  Once again, horns (because I can't get enough of horns and wings) are making an appearance!  Stay tuned. 

 

Along with all this wonderful beady fun I'm having this summer, my daughter and I decided to add to our ever growing list of things to do and take a beginners Zentangle class from our friend Patti at The Queen's Ink.  Patti is a certified Zentangle teacher and her work is so beautiful.  So, I've been working on tangling as much as possible.  You'll see some of those results soon,  I'm sure! 

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I hope you are having a wonderful summer.  It's going by so quickly and I'm trying to enjoy and savor it.  Hopefully you are too! 



Summer of Color4: Summer

Hi, everyone!  Welcome, I hope you're enjoying summer and getting time to relax and have some fun.  I'm sad to say that this is the last week for the Summer of Color 4!  I can't believe that we've spent 6 weeks creating from the color prompts that Kristin posts each week.  But, here we are and I have to say that I just love the colors for this week.  Tangerine, raspberry and a pop of lemon!!!  What's not to like?!  Seriously, that combination says summer on so many levels!  Here is what I did with them.

 

 

I couldn't decide what direction I wanted to go in with this color combination.  I love it so there were several directions I could have taken.  But, in the end, I decided to go with my favorite, flowers!  And, I had to throw in another favorite, a flapper bathing beauty!! 

 

I started with a number 10 tag, as usual, and colored the background with Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry Distress Paints using the marbling technique.  Once that was dry I sprayed it with some Dylusion sprays in the same colors.  I finished by spraying some of the wonderful new sprays from Lindy's Stamp Gang using a glimmery coral pink and an light orange.  Once all of that was dry I used StaysOn ink in Claret and a Wendy Vecchi background stamp to add some texture to the background.  I cut strips of paper from one of the sheets from last year's Graphic45 Bohemian Bazaar collection.  Over the glued down strips I put the word "summer" in grunge board letters that I painted with Mustard Seed Distress Paint and sprayed with Perfect Pearls Sunflower Sparkle.  I gathered my collection of raspberry, orange and yellow flowers and glued them to the opposite side.  I stamped the flapper in Picked Raspberry DI and colored the parasol with light orange Copic marker.  Once it was all dry I nestled her among the flowers.  Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, there you have my tags for the Summer of Color.  I want to thank Kristin for all the hard work she does to make this the success that it is every year.  I've decided that next week I'm going to make a box to hold my six tags.  I was going to make an envelope book but they became more dimensional than I had envisioned.  So, a box it is.  Stay tuned for that! 

 

 

Thank you all for visiting me today.  I've so appreciated the wonderful comments you've left on all my tags this summer, as well as on my other posts.  Have a wonderful week.

 





SOC4: The Sea is Calling Me

Hello to you all!  I'm happy to have you with me today.  I'm sharing the 5th project for the Summer of Color 4 challenge today.  I can't believe there is only one week left for this challenge.  Kristin does such a great job of keeping the fun and excitement coming every week.  The colors for this week were royal blue, red and a pop of light blue.  So, this is what that became in my studio.

 

 

Once again I thought of the beach.  I love the Graphic 45 collection of papers this summer.  I had wanted to use this lovely image of the girl in the sailor top for some project and this was the perfect one.  I covered a size10 tag with the plaid paper from the collection and die cut the ornate frame from white corrugated cardboard.  I spritzed it with a spray made from royal blue Gelatos and water.  Then I used my finger to rub gold Gliders' Paste on the raised ridges.  I think it gives the frame a worn look that you would find in something resting by the sea. I glued both the image and the frame down and then I cut a coral branch from a piece of cardstock that I had in my stash and glued that over part of the frame. 

 

 

When Tim presented his July tag I thought his recipe for making sand was brilliant and I wanted a project to use it on.  Well, once again this was the perfect project!   So, I mixed all the ingredients, surprisingly I had all of them, (supplies and directions are on Tim's blog, here) and applied the sand to the bottom of the tag.  With Glossy Accents I added some seashell beads, small wooden beads, sequins and royal blue sea glass to the sand. One of the stamp sets that was part of the By the Sea collection had the stamp that I used here.  I thought it fit the expression on the girl's face.  I stamped it using Stormy Sea DI on a piece of watercolor paper and sponged the edge with the same ink.  The tag was finished off with another idea from Tim's tag, linen ribbon that had been stretched apart so that it resembles fish net.  Here are some details.

 

 





 

 

 



 

 

 

There you have my tag for this week.  I had a great time making this tag.  I got to use papers that I wanted to play with some more and I also got to make "sand" Tim Holtz style! 

 

 

Thanks for coming by once again.  I really appreciate it.  Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy and create art!

 





More Geometric Beadwork

Hi everyone!  I hope you're having a great day!  I wanted to share with you my continuing obsession with Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  Developed by Kate McKinnon and some other fabulous beaders, the method has me completely engrossed!  When I think of beading now I think of the geometric piece I'm working on or the next piece I'm going to start.  I started at the beginning and I'm working my way through the process and inventing as I go along.  And, that's the idea of Kate's book.  To take the basic instructions and fly off in your own direction.  When I last blogged about this subject (which you can see here) I mentioned that you would be seeing horns and wings next.  Well, here they are in my newest bracelet.

 

 

 

Honestly, the choice of prop was unintentional.  I didn't realize how it mimicked the bracelet until I was editing the picture!   Anyway,  I used my favorite colors, turquoise, lime green and lavender, along with black and white.  The beads are Delicas and drops, along with some 15s to pull in the edges.  I started in the middle of the bracelet with Kate's technique of MRAW which stands for Modified Right Angle Weave, and took off from there.  In the beginning I was only going to do the horns in the middle and then put a plain peyote band on either side.  But, the pull of the wings caught me and wings there are!!!  The Horns are the dimensional peyote in the middle bands and the Wings are the lovely things on the edges. For the clasp I stitched two clear snaps to the ends and added triangles to hide the edges which I could see but probably no one else could!   I could do this kind of work all day!  Here are a few details.

 

 

 

A wing.

 

 

The Horns tipped with a drop bead.

 

The clasp hidden by added triangles.

 

 

I have another finished piece which grew out of a class I took with Jo Ray at Bead Soup.  Jo has started working with the bellyband, the name used for the MRAW starting band, and has done some wonderful bezels based on it.  I just finished my variation and I'll be taking some photos today, so stay tuned.  I've also just started a Rick-Rack bracelet which is another version in Kate's arsenal of great ideas! 

 

Thank you so much for joining me today.  I hope you have a wonderful week and create something you love!

 

 

 





Summer of Color4: Dreams

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to you! I hope all my US readers had a wonderful 4th of July.  I'm here to show you my latest entry in the Summer of Color4 challenge.  The colors this week were pink, apple green and a splash of dark green.   They aren't colors that I usually work with and the tag is very feminine but I think the message is a good one.   Here is what it looks like.

 

 

 

I started with a size 10 tag and embossed it with a Spellbinders embossing folder.  I then used Mowed Lawn Distress stain over the entire tag.  Once that was dry I swiped it with Library Green Archival ink.  I had some pink paper flowers which I spritzed  with Glimmer Mist in Bubblegum Pink.  While they were wet I crumpled some of them and dried them.  One I attached to a piece of floral wire "stem" so that it looked like a bud just opening.  I glued all the flowers to the top of the tag and then added the bud so that it hung down from the others.  I used Sparkles and some Glossy Accents   sprinkled with Rock Candy glitter for the centers. 

 

 

I cut a piece of white cardstock with a Spellbinders Nestibilties die and stamped the sentiment with Library Green Archival.  I then used Faded Lipstick DI to color the edges lightly.  I applied it with foam tape so it would be raised from the surface of the tag.  Here are some details.

 

 

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

It's hard to believe that the summer is going so quickly and that this challenge is at it's 4th week!  It's great fun and it does challenge me to use combinations of colors that I would never think of using.  I love having that nudge!

 

 

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Thank you for being here.  I really appreciate all your visits and comments.