An Exploding Box!

Hello everyone!  It's a gorgeous warm Fall day here and I wanted to share a new project with you.  Known as an exploding box, it's a project I've wanted to try for a long time.  I love boxes and these are so easy to make and so much fun to open!  My friend, Patti, is a certified Zentangle teacher and she gives classes at her shop, The Queen's Ink.  She does intro classes and follow-up classes in basic Zentangle but she also offers seasonal classes.  I'll share last year's Christmas project as we get closer to the holidays.  This year for the Fall season she taught an exploding box with Zentangle components.  Technically it's called Zentangle Inspired Art, or ZIA for short.  Whatever you want to call it, I called it fun!  Here's a picture of the box.

 

 

We started with two pieces of 12x12" cardstock for the top and bottom.  The top is made with origami folds and the bottom was folded and cut so that it would form a box.  We cut out stamped images of the leaves and acorn and then did the tangles.  I used Distress inks and a water pen to watercolor the leaves.  The acorn was stamped on kraft cardstock so I just lightly colored some shading on it.  Patti had used white gel pen highlights on her leaves and I was really impressed with the way it made the designs pop.   I did the same and it's amazing the difference.  I chose an orange CS square to create a background for the grouping of leaves and acorn and did some pen work around the edges.  I glued the leaves down and use dimensional glue dots for the acorn. 

 

But the magic happens when you open the lid!   Here is what it looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

You may be able to see that there are two levels of panels inside the box. You can add more levels if you want.   Once the lid is taken off the box falls open, or explodes, and you can attach anything you want inside.  I love when there are dimensional things in the middle.  I used acorns and some descriptive word stickers for Fall around them.  Then I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die and his small pumpkin and acorn die to cut watercolor paper for the leaves and pumpkin and acorns I used on the panels.  I did Zentangles on each one and used Distress inks to watercolor them.  I also added some shimmer to these with Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals.  They are dry shimmery pigments that I use with a water brush and then highlighted with the white gel pen.   Here are some of the panels close up.  Unfortunately, the shimmer doesn't show up in the pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each panel has a leaf or the acorns or pumpkin.  I just love handing it to people and seeing their reaction when they take the lid off! 

 

 

I was so pleased to finally have a reason to make an exploding box.  It seems that right now if I don't have a reason to sit down and work on a project I don't find (or make) the time.  That has to change, for sure!

 

 

Thank you for visiting with me.  I hope you're enjoying this glorious time of year!  The leaves are starting to change into their lovely colors right now and it's delightful to see.  Have a wonderful day!







I'm back, maybe!

Hello on this dreary Sunday morning on the East Coast of the US!  I may finally be back to creating and blogging!  I say "maybe" because there is a lot going  on in my world.  We are doing some upgrades in our kitchen and family room.  You know how they always say that once you start something like this you find that the job grows bigger!  Well, this has lived up to that saying and it's gotten a little more involved than we thought it would.  And, being the kitchen and family room it's been rather disruptive.  But, I'm excited about the changes we're making and it all should be done by the beginning of December, just in time for me to turn into the Christmas elf and decorate to my heart's content!  Since I can't really do much in the rest of the house I'm hoping that now that the major decisions have been made I can get down to my studio and finish projects that have been around in various states of completion all summer.   We expanded our garden this year and the weather wasn't too hot so I was able to spend more time out there which is why not many projects were finished, or even started.  Hopefully that will start to change now.  I really miss the creative process even though I consider gardening creative. 

Having said all that, I did manage to finish one beading project.  It wasn't terribly involved and didn't take long to do!  But, I love it and I wanted to share it with you.  It's another geometric beadwork project inspired by Kate McKinnon.  I kind of teased it in my last post on who inspires me.  You can read that here.   Here is the completed pendant. 

 

 

It starts with a warped square which I love stitching.  I made an  entire bracelet in warped squares last Fall.  You can see that one here.   The directions for stitching a warped square are in Kate's first book on geometric beadwork, Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  Early in August Kate sent out an email with the idea for a new project, create a warped square and then work and exploding round and keep going until you had the number of rounds you desired.  The exploding round is one of the innovative concepts that Kate came up with while working on the book.  It's difficult for me to explain it so that it makes sense but Kate has a wonderful YouTube video that makes it all clear and you can also find the instructions in her book.  I admit that I wasn't sure how it worked when I read the printed instructions but once I watched the video it was easy to do. 

 

I started with the warped square that I turned into the bail for this pendant and from there stitched the largest square. On the final round I added drops for the corner beads.   I did 2 more squares, the medium and small, and then stitched the smaller squares.  Then I played with how I wanted them to be arranged and the pendant you see is what I came up with.  I love it and it's light weight and fun to wear. 

 

Here are a few details.  

 

 

 







 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, it was fun to do and didn't take very long at all.  Which is probably why I finished it!!!   I chose the colors for a vineyard feel.  I'm in love with geometric beadwork and I'm working on a cuff bracelet that is coming along slowly. 

 

 

I want to thank all of you for visiting me especially after such a long break from blogging.  I really appreciate your visits and all your wonderfully kind comments.  Have a wonderful day!





Inspiration: who, what, where

Hello, everyone!  I have been gone from the blog for most of the summer.  And, the summer has gone sooo quickly!  It's not been a very productive summer for me as far as art is concerned.  I do have a lovely garden and lots of flowers and veggies to show for my effort, but not much in the way of beads, metal, or paper.  I think gardening is creative and so that has filled the void of not much work in the studio!  But, I haven't stopped working on projects that I'll eventually finish and share with you, it's just that I don't seem to finish any of them!  I'm working on a new geometric beadwork project right now and it's got my muse going big time!  So, I'll be sharing that first I'm sure. 

The last few days I've been thinking about inspiration and who or what inspires me.  With all the different mediums I've worked in there have been many artists who have inspired me with their work.  While I have changed mediums over the years (even though my heart still loves the fibers and fabrics I used to devote my time to) I still follow those artists that I loved then.  Now that I work primarily with beads and metal and paper art I have inspiration from other wonderful artists.  But, I also find that I'm not only inspired by artists, I'm inspired by colors!  In fact, I think that is a bigger inspiration than any one person.  The colors in nature and flowers, the colors of fabric and fiber. All of that is a great influence on what I work with and what project gets me excited.  The new project I mentioned is taking it's inspiration from the change of the seasons and vineyard hues that I love this time of year. Autumn is a great time of inspiration for me.   This new project is also inspired by the wonderful work of geometric beadwork artist, Kate McKinnon.  She is one of the artists that is exciting  me right now.  Her work in geometric beadwork is amazing and she has gathered a group of wonderful artists to further the art of geometric beading.  Here is a sneak peak:

 

 

 

And, another Geometric cuff inspired by the colors of Autumn leaves.

 

 

 



 

To stay on the subject of beading and bead artists, two bead artists I've followed since before I started doing bead embroidery or bead weaving are Sherry Serafini and Laura McCabe.  These two women create the most beautiful beaded jewelry and accessories and I have loved their work since I discovered them before I started beadweaving.   I don't remember how I found them and their work but I've ripped pictures from magazines and I have their books.  I just love looking through them for the eye candy and inspiration they provide.  I've been fortunate to have been able to take a workshop with each of them this year.  I'm working on the project from Laura's workshop which I took last week.  It's in pieces so I'll share it when I've finished it.  It's a beautiful necklace.  Sherry's bead embroidered workshop was in the spring and I finished a gorgeous Shibori cuff bracelet.  You can read about it here and this is a photo of it. 

 

 

 

 

 

But, then there is the paper art which I have become so enamored of in the last few years.  My daughter was always the paper artist in the family.  I loved what she did and finally started doing some projects myself.  We are fortunate to have a wonderful local paper arts store and to call the owner our friend.  As a birthday gift to my daughter about two years ago I signed us up for a class with Seth Apter.  That weekend of classes opened up new doors to me and Seth has become a great inspiration.  Not only is he a wonderful, fun person but his art and teaching style is fantastic.  Since that first class we have taken several classes from him and I was lucky enough to take a week long book making class with him this spring (thanks to my wonderful husband).  I've blogged about some of the projects we've done in class but here are some photos. 

 

 

From a stenciling class last winter.

 

 

 

A section of a collage class project.

 

 

 



There are so many artists I find inspirational but these three are people I go back to again and again  even if I just want some eye candy when the muse is on vacation!  In thinking about all this I still feel that color and nature are some of the biggest influences on my work.  Color inspires most of what I do.  I turn to my favorite artists for ideas on technique or style always turning things around to make them my own! 

 

Thank you all for visiting with me and thank you if you stuck with this long rambling post.  I'm hoping to get back to more regular blogging now that summer is winding down.  I hope you have a wonderful week and take some time to think about who and/or what inspires you!  





 

Mail Art

Hi, everyone!  It's been a long time since I've been on the blog.  Summertime is always a busy time and I love every minute of it!  I do a lot of dabbling in the summer and a lot of gardening but not a lot of computer time.  I love being outside enjoying the long days.  So, studio time suffers and that's okay because ideas keep percolating and eventually I'll get to them.  For now I want to share something I did finish yesterday.  Our young goddaughter is going to Girl Scout camp alone for the first time next week.  Her mom asked if we would send her a snail mail letter to make her feel more comfortable.  Apparently, the leaders suggest this for first time campers.  So, of course, I said we would send her a note and I would do some mail art on the envelope.  So, that's what I did this week and I had a blast doing it!  I decorated the front and back of the envelope and the front of the note card.  I hope she'll like it.  I think she will!  She loves art and crafting so I think she'll enjoy getting this in the mail.

Here is the front of the envelope.

 

I traced a stencil for the flowers and another for the leaves.  Then I filled in with Zentangle patterns and colored it with colored pencils.  I didn't want to use water soluble markers in case it got wet and I don't have enough colors of permanent markers to make it as colorful as I wanted.  The back of the envelope looks like this.

 

 

 

I think this phrase, which I first saw on a Mary Engelbreit card, is so cute.  I thought it would make her giggle so I put it on the back of the envelope.  

 

 



 

 

This is the front of the notecard.  Once again I traced a stencil and used Zentangle patterns to fill in each petal and colored it with pencils.  I love doing those little Zinger flowers and the related patterns so I used them for a border along the bottom of the card. 

 

 

I'm really pleased with the way the whole thing turned out.  It's bright and cheery and I hope she enjoys getting some mail.  I think she'll do fine with her first trip to camp on her own.  She decided she wanted to go with her friends so I think she'll have a great time. 

 

 

Thanks for joining me today.  It's been a long while since I've shared anything with you and I appreciate you stopping by to visit.  Have a great day!

 

 





Bead Emboidery Sherry Serafini Style

Hello everyone!  Welcome!  Today I want to tell you about a workshop I took back in March with Sherry Serafini.  For anyone who loves beadwork, and bead embroidery especially, Sherry is a rock star!  At least for me she is!  I've loved her work since before I really started making beaded jewelry.  I was using beads on my wearable art jackets but I wasn't beading to make jewelry.  I don't remember how I discovered her but when I did I knew I had to do what she did!  Which meant I would eventually start doing bead embroidered jewelry, and about 7 or 8 years ago I did, never thinking I would get to take a class with Sherry.  When Kathy at Bead Soup said she was coming for a weekend of classes I signed up!  I took one class that weekend and it was wonderful.  I had never met Sherry and I was thrilled to find that she is a warm lovely person.  She is truly beautiful in all ways! 

The class I signed up for was a bead embroidered cuff using shibori ribbon.  We had several colorways to chose from in the kits and since I was Spring starved by that time in the winter, I chose a very spring like colorway.  Here is a picture of the cuff I ended up with.

 

 

Each kit had different cabs and beads and general directions.  But, Sherry encouraged each of us to lay the ribbon any way we chose and to use the beads and the cabs as we wanted.  So we didn't end up with cookie cutter bracelets.   I don't know if anyone finished their cuff in class, I don't think so, but I didn't because I always want to take my time and decide where I want to go next in a bead embroidered design.  So, that meant I could go home and pull some other beads, favorites of mine to use in bead embroidery.  Glass donuts and lentils are two favorites and I tend to use one or the other, sometimes both, in a design.  In this cuff I used both!  Here are some details of the cuff.

 

 

 



You can see the donuts in the upper right and the lentils on the left.

 

 

I also added some matte AB firepolished bead to the mix because the color was perfect with the shibori.

 

 

 

 

This class was a wonderful experience.  Sherry is delightful and is looking forward to coming back to Bead Soup.  And, I'll be there because I wouldn't miss one of her classes!

 

 

Thank you all for visiting me today.  I really appreciate your visits.  I'm not a faithful blogger but I enjoy getting to hear from you so much.  Have a wonderful day!  

Mixed Media

Hi everyone!  Welcome!  Today I want to share a mixed media collage I made last weekend in a class with Seth Apter.  Any of you paper artists that haven't taken a class with Seth are really missing a great experience.  My daughter and I take all of his classes when he comes to our local paper arts store.  And, I had the great good fortune to spend 5 days in a workshop with Seth and Orly Avineri last month on beautiful Whidby Island off the coast of Washington state.  I'll share some of that workshop in a future post.  But, for now I'll show you my newest collage.

The class was on the basics of collage.  We started with some small pieces that illustrated the basic principals of collage.  Once we were clear on the basics we painted layers on a piece of art paper.  Seth's technique for painting layers is fun and creates a beautiful rich background of color and texture.  Once the backgrounds were done we then built our collages using ephemera that we had in our collections. Unfortunately I don't have any process photos.  I'm really bad about doing that because I get so into the process that I don't think about taking a picture until it's too late!   Here is what my finished collage looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we finished painting the paper we stamped and made marks with inks and pens.  I used a stamp that I cut in an eraser at the 5 day workshop as one of my mark making tools.  It's the chop that is placed randomly around the background.    I wanted to use the phrase because I really believe that, for the most part, we are responsible for the lives we live.  I loved the focal print that I chose and by using the window die cut it seemed to fit the phrase.  Not a door exactly but a window at least!  I wanted to bring another color into the compostion so I used a die cut I had brought along.  The piece just seemed to come together as I looked through the papers I had chosen to take to the class.   Here are a couple of details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the picture above you can see that I cut the flower above the frame so that it drapes over rather than having the bottom not show at all.  I love little details like that. 

 

I have plans to be busy both with beading and paper art this summer.  I hope I can accomplish a lot of what I want to do.  I'll share when I can.

 

Thank you all for visiting with me today.  I really appreciate that you do.  Have wonderful day and make some thing wonderful!

 

 



 

 



 

 

 



ATTS7: Bead Embroidery

Hello to all my friends and visitors.  It's been a long time since I posted here but it's also been a very busy month.  Spring finally arrived and we were getting the garden ready for summer.  Then we left for a wonderful trip to Washington state to visit family and sightsee and make wonderful mixed media art!  I'll post about it soon.  I'm still unpacking all the stuff!!

But, this post is about A Time to Stitch 7.  This challenge was created by Therese and Christine and we're now up to the 7th round.  This time the theme is bead embroidery.  I love bead embroidery because it takes me back to my fiber days when I was making wearables and wall hangings.  And, I love it because I love anything that takes a needle and thread through fabric!  Here is what I created.

 

 

 

I had wanted to work with black, white, grey and yellow for a summer project and I just happened to have a grey square Lunasoft cabochon.  I wasn't sure of the shape I wanted the pendant to be so I just cut the backing a little larger than I needed and bezeled the cab.  I had pulled the square link out of my stash and knew I wanted to use it for an open space to have fringe pouring out.  So, once I glued that in place I then had my shape.  The grey Lunasoft really didn't look that great once it was bezeled.  It kind of reminded me of the old small TV screens of the '50s.  I've just revealed how old I am!!!  So, I decided to glue another square link to the center of it.  Instant love!!  I made the fringe out of size 11 seed beads and clear AB glass rings.  I love glass rings for bead embroidery and usually find some where to use them in a piece.  Making a loopy fringe out of them was something I found in one of Robin Atkins' books.  Once it was finished it needed a bail.  I decided to use Delicas to make a warped square and attach it to the top of the pendant.  I really like the way the bail turned out.  I hung it from a silk covered cord necklace.   Here are a couple of detail photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Bail attached to the back  of the pendant with a size 8 and 15 seed bead.

 

 



 





I want to thank Therese and Christine for all the work they do to get this challenge going.  Please visit the other artists who are participating, too.  I'm sure you'll be inspired by the beautiful work they've done.  Here is the list of participants.

 

 

1.       Therese (Host) 

2.       Christine  (Host)

3.       Amy

4.       Lola

5.       Lori F

6.       Kim

7.       Becky Pancake

8.       Karin G.

9.       Debbie (Kepi)

10.   LizE

11.   Maryanne

12.   Paula

14.   Wendy

15.   Janet

16.   Jasvanti

17.   Ginger

18.   Alicia

19.   Bobbie

20.   Shirley

21.   Sarah

22.   Cynthia

24.   Lizzie

25.   Samantha

26.   Sally

27.   Niki

28.   Karen W.

 

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