The Ghostly Witch

Hi, all!  It's so nice to have you visit me today.  We are having some lovely Fall weather and I'm really getting into the Fall spirit.  It's one of my favorite times of the year.  I love everything about it. Since tomorrow is October 1st I'm going to share my first Halloween project of the year with you today. 

I've always loved Halloween.  I remember sitting at our dining room table with my mom a few weeks before Halloween putting together treat bags for the kids who would come to our door.  I didn't particularly like dressing up but I loved all the jack-o-lanterns and other decorations that appeared in the stores in October.  Back then there wasn't all the gore and zombies that are around today.  Just witches and ghosts and jack-o-lanterns with big goofy grins!  It was a fun time of year.  I still feel that way.  I love decorating my house with pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and lots of fun Halloween ephemera.  Every year I add to my collection of mixed media projects and tags.  I love making them! 

Here is my newest one.



I love ATBs, so I thought I would make one for Halloween.  I just bought the lovely witch stamp and decided to make her the focus of the ATB.  And, why use one cube if you can use three!  So, I painted each box with black paint and covered the sides with white, purple and orange lace printed paper from Authentique's new Halloween collection.  I outlined the paper squares and the bottom of the witch's cape with Black Soot Distress Glitter.    I stamped the witch on cardstock with black archival ink and used a Distress marker to color the jack-o-lantern.  After gluing the boxes to one another I wrapped a glittered die cut from Michael's around the bottom box.  I glued the witch to the front of the second box. I attached a glittered flourish from the same group of die cuts on the top box and then a beaded witch's hat as a finishing touch to the top of the ATBs.   I added smaller scrolls and paper flowers to the tops of the other boxes.  I dipped the tops of the flowers in glue and then in the Distress glitter.  Here are some details.





 

 

 



I'm really pleased with my newest Halloween decoration!  I love the way the witch stamp looks.  I named her the Ghostly Witch because she looks rather ephemeral, I think. 

I'm going to enter this in the Frilly and Funkie challenge that is going on now called a Haunting Halloween. 

Thank you so much for visiting.  It's great to have you and I hope you have a wonderful week and get some time to spend creating.

Gelli Prints

Hi, everyone!  Welcome, I'm so glad to have you visit.   Today I'm going to share the work from a class I took using the Gelli Plates.  I had avoided getting into Gelli printing because I really didn't want another tool to work with (crazy, I know) and I really didn't like a lot of the prints I was seeing online.  Too many colors in one print and too random for my taste as a background.  So, I kept avoiding the whole topic.  Several people were telling me I really should try it because I'd be hooked, but I resisted.  And, then a friend of my daughter's bought a small plate, 5x7", and brought it over for us to play with.  I realized that if you didn't use  too many colors at one time you could come out with some good papers.  So, I, along with my daughter and her friend signed up for the basic Gelli Plate class at The Queen's Ink.  We had a great afternoon and we left with two little books full of papers made in the class. 

 

 

 

The covers are book board which we covered with the sheets that we used to clean off the plate.   Truthfully, they ended up being some of my favorite prints of all!  We used sticky back canvas that we printed for a spine binding.  I may eventually embellish the covers but for now this is how they look. 

 

For the pages we used unlined index cards to make the prints.  Terry, the instructor who does great Gelli prints, brought in all kinds of things to create texture on the plate.  We used stencils and masks, the bottoms of cut up flip-flops(!), textured wall papers, sequin waste, the list is endless!   To make the pages we folded the cards in half and glued the them together.  It's a really quick way to make a little journal.  I'm going to use mine to record quotes and do some Zentangles.  I've done a bit of both in one of the books. 

 

The rest of this post is going to be pictures of some of the prints in the books.  Enjoy!

 

 

 



I used metallic copper paint and a piece of textured wall paper.  I really like this one a lot!  Some sage green paint from a previous print showed up in some areas.

 

 

 

I didn't like the colors I got with the first pull so I put cream paint over the plate and ran a comb through it.  Voila!  I liked it  with the previous colors just peeking through.

 

 

 

I did some tangling on this spread and used a quote that I've always loved.  There will be more of these as I work in the books!

 

 

The leaf shapes were from a mask that I laid down on the plate before I printed. 

 

By using just a copper paint and a light blue paint I was able to control the colors.  The picture doesn't show the copper metallic well but it looks great having that glimmer show though.

 

This print I did when our friend brought her plate over to play with.  I used a leaf embossing plate on one side.  I liked the print so much that I used the new TH leaf die and embossing folder to cut a leaf.   The colors were so fall like and there is a copper glimmer on this one too!

 

 

 

I found that the prints I liked best were the ones where I was better able to control the colors.  And, some of the textures were great.  I also discovered I loved metallic paint peeking through.  The glimmer is very cool. 

 

 

I'm glad I bought the plate.  I like the papers I made with it and I want to work more with colors combinations and the metallic paints.  I'm sure you'll be seeing more backgrounds in my work that I've created using my Gelli Plate.

 

 

Thank you for visiting with me today.  I'm glad I got to share my first adventures with the Gelli Plate with you.  I hope you have a wonderful day and a great week. 

 

 



 

 

 





Hello again!

Hello!  It's been so very quiet around the blog lately!  I'm sorry about that but it seems the Muse has been on vacation and didn't want to return.  But, slowly she's beginning to realize that return she must and so things are beginning to happen in the studio again.  Seriously though, my mojo up and left after mid-August, but with the coming of Fall I'm beginning to slowly come back to creating.  And, I'm so happy to be back in the studio.

The summer did provide two new things to put in the creative tool box.  Zentangles and Gelli Plates!
My daughter and I started learning the Zentangle method and  yesterday we took a class using the Gelli Plate.  We came home with two tiny books of papers we painted with the Gelli Plate.  I'll show those to you soon.  We both decided to use them for Zentangles.  We tend to do that sometimes, get the same idea independently of each other!  It's fun when it happens.  But, today I have something different to share. 

My dear, dear husband bought me a Speed Fire mini kiln for metal clay firing and I finally started working with some CopperClay.  I love metal clay.  It's magical to me that you begin with clay and end up with metal!  I had worked with PMC3 and BronzeClay before but never copper.  Well, along with the kiln he provided me with a package of CopperClay.  Here are my first pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

I found that CopperClay is easy to work with and the firing went well.  I used a floral border stamp as a texture plate and cut the strip of clay into rectangles.   I wanted a neutral combination so I chose some 10mm black fire polished beads from the stash to use with the copper.  I'm pleased with the results of my first attempt at using my own kiln. 

 

 

That is my first entry back into the creative world I love so much!  I want to thank you for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful week!  

 



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.