Category : Art

423 posts

I feel like I should have a virtual loading bar on my activities. I have many things in progress and I’m excited about all of them!

Journal progress

I gutted a book from the 50s that I knew would never hold up to the abuse that I would put it through. I liked the orange cover and mid-century motif but it was a bit damaged on the back. I decided to cover it with some Tim Holtz tissue and go from there.

I used some transparent pink paint over top of the tissue for a little better color once I had picked out the inner spine fabric and end pages. Pink is a favorite of mine. I’m so not a girlie girl but I do love pink.

I stitched in my signatures….

and now I need to take it back apart…ugh. The book no longer sits nicely. Is it fine? It would work but it would bug me every single time I used it. I should have left more space between the signatures.

Plant babies

My seedlings are doing quite well. I’m just about ready to transplant the tomatoes into larger pots.

The nasturtium seeds I saved last summer are baby plants now! I started a few more plants just last week. So excited for those. I’m planning to try the leaves and flowers in salads this year. I’m also going to save some of the blossoms for tea. I have no idea if I’ll like it but I’ve heard it good.

Maybe I’ll use these fancy little cups that I can’t seem to part with. They are so pretty.

My radishes have  sprouted…unfortunately its been cold and there is snow in the forecast.

They are all tucked into bed now…so punny.

I also had to share my thrift store score. I got all of this paper for under $5. Stacks and stacks of good sized scraps and three paper pads. Crazy! I’m looking forward to making a bunch more cards.

Fan favorite- Marvin

This picture was just too cute not to share. He is laying on his “security bag”. It’s a reusable shopping bag that he immediately claimed. He gets upset when I move it to vacuum. So we have a bag that permanently lives on our living room floor. He’s not spoiled at all. But who could say no to that face.

What are you doing today?

Creating miniature terrain and dioramas is a passion of mine although I rarely indulge myself in it. Silly, I know.

I think one of the main issues it that I have to spray paint outdoors and it’s not really warm enough to do that 2/3 of the year. With that said, I was totally inspired to create a diorama after finding a couple Minion figures at the dollar store.

I have a coworker that is a true kid at heart. She loves Disney. She loves Minions. She loves dinosaurs…especially T-rex. So when I saw the Minions, I tossed them in my basket with her in mind. I honestly was just going to sneak and leave them at her desk randomly. But then I decided to challenge myself to a diorama.

This was what I came up with. The white structural pieces are a thick craft foam. I also used a cracker box and stir straws. I wish I had taken photos along the way but I get into a groove and don’t think about anything else.

The backing plate is a plastic card that some game pieces came in from a collectable pirate ship trading card game I believe. It pays to never throw random stuff like this away. I figured that if I fill the various depressions with unique bits that it would appear like a control panel of sorts.

The spray paint really starts to make it take shape. Provides the cohesive color to tie the whole thing together.

Next I started on the paint. Adding layer upon layer to give depth and interest. Highlighting some areas, edges and so forth.

I made a few barrels from paper cylinders that protected spark plugs. I punched circles from cracker box that were almost big enough. I filled the inside with hot glue to take up space then gently settled the cardboard circles in each end.

This slightly open appearance screamed to have something leaking out of it. I used yellow and chartreuse paint to create some sort of ooze. After the paint was dry I added Diamond Glaze to give it a shiny, wet look.

I gave some highlights to the goggly eyes and other panel pieces to emphasize the dome shaped buttons or screens.

I used a plastic plug and the metal button off my jeans pocket to create an oversized control button. I figured the crazy looking minion would be just right to be manning the control while his partner with the hard hat looked on with a dopey smile.

I love how the stir sticks work so well as piping or conduit.

When I gave her the little diorama, she almost cried. She was so happy which in turn made my day!

Well, that month went by really quickly. I had planned to blog several times, even wrote down an outline during my lunch one day. Never happened. Such is life some times.

There is no way I’ll be able to keep this in chronological order so I’m going to be random like my brain works.

I have been creating a bit…not as much as I have been thinking about creating. Dumb, right!?!?

There are days when all I can get myself to do is look at art and think about what I’d like to do instead of going downstairs and actually doing it.

Like this piece I saved from the trash. I keep thinking about what I want to do with it. Journal covers most likely but I can’t get myself to commit.

One day that I did make it to the craft room, I made these little fairy chairs. They are both fun and frustrating to create. The champagne cage wire is stiff and uncooperative.

This week is my spring break. I’m using my time to tackle some projects such as sorting through all of my fabric and sewing supplies. I want to get them organized in a way that makes sense and makes it easy to find and use.

I’m cutting small pieces into usable scraps that are ready to go. Yes, this is an ongoing project. I think I started it in February. Truth be told…I haven’t touched it in a few weeks.

I did get some of my seeds started which makes me so happy. I still have more seeds to start this week. I feel like I need to put a shelf in my cart and add another light. Hmmm…another potential project.

I’m fully vaccinated! Technically they say you aren’t totally covered until two weeks after the second shot but I’m so excited. The side effects I got from each shot were very manageable. Nothing major and nothing to take me completely out of commission like some people. Mr G gets his second shot next week and Mini-me gets her first this week. J hasn’t lucked out yet on getting his shot. He’ll likely have to wait until he comes back home for summer.

Mini-me had yet another of her “lasts” a couple weeks ago. She had her last archery tournament. And technically her only one this season. It was a virtual tournament meaning they shot at “home” and turned their scores in. They were lucky enough to be able to continue with the tournament because they are Varsity. All non-varsity sports were paused due to an outbreak of a new COVID variant linked to some of the sports teams (not archery).

I usually only brag about my kids but this really made my day. A slideshow was created at school with each of our names on a slide. The directions were to take 10 mins and let some of the people you work with know why they matter. Its cool that its anonymous but not going to lie…I wish I knew who wrote these wonderful things.

I’ll leave you with two of my four new mugs. They were part of a silent auction at school to benefit LLS. There were actually 8 mugs in the set. The gal who won them thought for sure I was going to outbid her. She lamented that she really didn’t need 8 mugs. I suggested that we split them. Perfect! We each get a set of these beautiful mugs.

The potters name is Peter Potter…which just makes me smile.

Before sitting down to write this post, I was pulling out papers to make a new journal. I have been squirreling away all kids of bits of paper and treasures that I want to add to a more personal journal. The last one I created like this filled up super quickly. I’m going to try my best not to put too many pages in each signature so that there is still room to add bulky things to the pages. More to come on that.

I was looking back through my blog and realized that some of the blog challenges I participated in helped shape my style…or at least my typical go-to style. That’s one thing I really love about having a blog…looking back at the massive number of creations over time.

This post was the one that really made me realize my “style” had become a thing for me.
Take a look…

SOC: Charcoal Grey & Pale Pink

7/2/2013

20130702_2348 20130702_2350 20130702_2349So here we are at week 4 of The Summer of Color with Charcoal Grey & Pale Pink. A much easier set of colors for me.

I had a bit of a hard time getting the right grey until I read on Elizabeth’s post that she puts a little purple into her grey’s to give it more intense color. It worked!! So happy….thanks E!

I’ve been doing a lot with splattering paint and inks lately. It seems  to add the texture I’m seeking.

I have to admit that this shot with those colors makes me think 1980’s…”like totally“. There are parts of the 1980’s worth reliving…

I’m also loving the texture I pressed into the grey. I was actually trying to stamp some black texture into it but the paint was still too wet. I decided to run with it.

I had some “help” taking my photos this morning…

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Sorry for the wonky formatting…I was trying something new with my blog at the time. I honestly could have fixed it before reposting today but what the heck…that’s the way it actually was in 2013.

I’m not really sure where to start so I think it would be best to start with a fan favorite…

Marvin being Marvin.

Taking up the most amount of space in the most inconvenient place at the most inconvenient time. Good thing we love him so much because he’s kind of a pain in the @$$.

Creating routine

I’m slowly starting to get a minimal routine of crafting/creating. It seems to happen during laundry time since I’m in that zone anyway. Whatever works right?!?!

I thought the word sticker was perfect for a journal page…especially one that I actually wrote some thoughts down upon.

I journaled about getting my first COVID-19 vaccine dose, creating and doing our taxes. Can you guess how I’d rank those from best to worst?

One of these was in order at the end of a productive weekend that also included some shoveling. I was super impressed that my arm wasn’t that sore after my shot. I did heard from co-workers that had their second dose (of the same vaccine I got) that it has some definite side effects, good news, they are short lived and bonus…you know that its working…your immune system is fighting! Not going to lie…it makes me a little scared but not enough to skip it.

New growth

Lets not leave it with the big ugly, loud noisy, unwelcome elephant in the room…lets talk about new growth.

Sorry for the awful photos…I originally took these to show a couple friends what the heck I was talking about. instead of trying to capture my sprouted avocado seeds in better light I got lazy.

I’m so impressed that they are actually growing roots. I cannot even tell you how may times I have tried unsuccessfully to sprout an avocado pit. Some days it’s the little victories! My goal is to put these together in a low vessel like a console bowl to set on the coffee table. Time will tell if I succeed.

I have my typical Tuesday ahead of me…
What are you doing today?

After day in which my ADD was in high gear, I settled down to create late in the evening. Past my bedtime, for sure. Evidently I was still cruising from the whirlwind of activity earlier…Mini-me even commented on the fact that I had half a dozen things going at once and I was jumping between them in crazy succession. Not sure what’s up with that but I’m not here for therapy.

wonky junky journal page

This journal had not seen any love for quite some time. I grabbed the wood grain papers without any plan and glued them down to the flimsy pages underneath.  Then added  a chunk of equally flimsy black paper to the left side. It was way to dark so I smeared some peachy, flesh tone with my fingers. Over the top I added floral washi sticker. This side was now starting to inspire me.

I used a previously made paper cluster meant for a greeting card to break up the wood grain. While digging through a small bin of saved bits I put together a little collage of punches and a yogi tea tag. After adding a bit of stamping to each side I completed the page with the words love yourself first

I was so happy with how this page turned out that I grabbed another journal to create a bit more.

Ivanhoe journal page

Layering papers has been a go-to of mine lately. I am finally convincing myself that I need to tear into those papers instead of hoarding them because they are so pretty. It’s a work in progress.

On the right side of the spread I placed this tag I have had in my stash for a while. I thought the colors complemented that page very well. I love that there is a tag on the tag.

I decided to use a wide variety of paper patterns for this spread. Things you likely wouldn’t see together, The jumble of colors and styles along with variety of textures inspired the words… everything has beauty

 

It’s certainly been a while since I have joined in on T stands for Tuesday. So much, yet so little has happened.

This doodle is from before Winter break. Since I have had the same class over and over, I tend to doodle while waiting  for my small group time to begin. I never realized how often I doodle until distance learning began.

Winter break started a bit early for me…similar to last year. My back was giving me trouble from all the sitting. UGH! At least we found out that we are going to back to hybrid in-person learning mid-Feb. Since all the sitting is really hard on me I tackled making a new table for the treadmill.

It still needs a bit of work as it now tilts backward a bit which is kind of uncomfortable to type. But now I have the ability to slowly walk or just stand when I need to and still work. I’ve been working from school some days as well to change things up.

Christmas was a quiet one. We had a blizzard on the 23rd that lasted into Christmas Eve. Not a big deal when you aren’t going any where. The drifts were crazy in places…these were just cool!

We had fondue and played a couple board games…a nice and peaceful day.

Marvin always enjoys posing in front of the tree for me. He’s kind of a diva.

And what self-respecting cat wouldn’t crawl into a present box. Of course he’s huge and didn’t completely fit.

Since I hadn’t been creative at all for what seemed like weeks I did a page in an art journal to start off the new year. I don’t love it but that ok. Just trying to start the year off right.

Speaking of starting off the year right…I have chosen the word Strength for my Word of the Year.

You can check out the post by clicking on the image in the sidebar.

And if you were curious how I did with last years word: Mindful…be sure to check out that post as well.

I’ll leave you with a my breakfast and my fortune from last evening.

Today has me working from home.
What are you doing today?
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