completion

I made this paper bag collage in February and set it aside for completion later

you know how it is - it just wasn't speaking to me yet

it started as a humble trader joe's bag

- layers of collage -

- layers of paint -

- layers of texture -

a little watercolor sketch of the trees out my window

*

but it needed completion

I trimmed it down to fit this beautiful blue linen book cover

added more tea bag papers

a piece of nova scotia beach pottery

children's book text

assembled into a snatch of an idea

thread

(I love thread)

it feels completed now

I think it's breathing a sigh of relief too

geeky gift

if you've been reading my blog for a while

you know that I have a special love for matchboxes

and a while back I found an entire flickr pool devoted to "matchbox stuffing"

what a great gift for that geek you know

:)

my etsy listings:

flowers - matchbox treasure

winter dreams - matchbox treasure

***

and because I know you're a do-it-yourselfer

take this idea and run with it

I know you can

:)

now I can show it

the birthday present for my sister, that is

it's about 7 X 11 inches

the base is an old book cover

and I added lots of layers of collage,

gesso, pen, paint, oil pastel, jewels, etc.

I centered it around a vintage advertisement for a washing machine

and as I was working, a story was taking shape in my head

my sister loves retro, vintage, fun, quirky stuff

so I was thinking of her the whole time I was making this

it has her personality all over it

especially the crowns

here is the story:

of course, I used my new typewriter :)

the story is glued to the back of the piece

... all of it just for fun ...

fugly button redux

You might remember the "fugly buttons" post.

These are some simple ones that I did just for fun.

***

I happened to mail one to Dianne with her tea stuff and look what she made with it:

I just love love love it - don't you!!!??!!!!

She has 2 blogs:

 Bits and Pieces of D where she blogs about "life in general according to me"

and Pieces of D where she shares her art.

Drop by and say hello .... if you scroll down just a day or 2 you'll find this brooch and you can tell her how cool it is :)

fugly buttons re-done

I bought this jacket 2 yrs ago and have only worn it once.

I hate the brown fake wood buttons.

(I'm hoping I haven't insulted anyone that might have the very same jacket!)

so what do do?

alter the buttons of course!

(click on image to enlarge)

I used old book text first;

applied a thin layer of gesso;

then decoupage medium and a flower patterned paper napkin;

then cut out words edged with gesso;

then more more gesso along the edge of the buttons;

then more decoupage medium.

Only problem is I don't think they're washable.

I suppose I could have dipped the buttons in a polyurethane as a final coat.

In the meantime I will try not to spill anything on this Bright White jacket (ha!)

If you have the same jacket as me - are you going to fix those buttons too?

(giggle)

beyond

(another journal page from the art/heart journal .....

mini-chunky board book, tissue paper, oil pastels, odorless mineral spirits, black ink, gold star)

Elizabeth had a beautiful quote on her blog a couple of days ago, which I've used here.

In fact I am adopting this quote into my heart.

It is so true.

"Beyond mountains, there are more mountains."

... and being a Haitian proverb it is especially filled with meaning right now.

It always helps me sort through my feelings to apply something troubling to art.

In '03, when the space shuttle Columbia exploded in mid air I got busy making handmade paper which I made into a book and is now a prized possession.

Art/heart.

My thoughts go to Haiti with every glass of water I so freely pour for myself.

With every night laying my head upon my soft pillow.

With a multitude of mundane everyday luxuries.

sidewalks and children

(page 2 of my art/heart journal)

Where the Sidewalk Ends

- Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

***

... for this page I used my own "flower pounded paper," oil pastels, an image from a storybook and my micron pen. For the how-to on flower pounded paper go to this earlier post.

Thank you for all of the kind and wonderful comments on what I've done so far with this mini-chunky book.

This little project is helping me out of a funky rut ... and your comments are encouraging :)

angels

I'm joining in on today's challenge over at The 3 Muses.

The theme is "angels."

This particular angel is from a collage sheet of Kodachrome slides. I've edged it with glitter and attached it to black tissue paper also edged with glitter. The background paper is vintage data paper of some sort sent to me by Patty at Magpie's Nest - I love the vintage green color of the ink. I edged the page with metallic pen. I decided to write the poem in a rambling and rolling fashion (if you need a more legible view of the poem, it's in today's post on my other blog with a photo). It's a beautiful poem, written by Maya Angelou, having more to do with love than with angels.

I've used one of the chunky board books sent to me from Jean at Bluebirds Living in the Meadow (wasn't that just amazingly sweet!?!)

I've decided to fill this book with some favorite poetry.

As an art and heart journal.
Looking at that giant W you can see that it's obviously a work in progress - maybe I'll get working on the cover soon :)

A Little Wishful Snowman

I've been working on this snowman "shrine" for a couple of weeks and finally finished him today. It's been a very rainy day - which gave me the idea for how to finish him and let him have his say about things ...

.... you see, he is rather perched on a soapbox sort of contraption there ...

... it says on the sides:

"into each life a .....

..... little rain must fall."

His response to that idea?

"let it snow!!!"

***

he was just listed in my etsy shop today

(click HERE for the listing)

merry halloween!

... there's a swap that I'm in that I've been putting of and putting off ...

I just didn't have any ideas!

.... the job was to alter a mousetrap ....

argh! you try it! it's a unique and puzzling challenge to say the least!

.... now I just wish I hadn't put it off so long.

I want to spend the rest of the day making loads of these for my friends ....

before Halloween is OVER!!!

B-O-O

H-O-O

Buried Treasure

Seth at the altered page has put forth a pretty cool challenge. To dig through your blog and pull out one (or more) "treasured posts."

I re-took photographs of this piece. In the original post it was just much too small. I also didn't really go into much explanation about it - other than the materials used and the process.

This particular piece is called "Solace." The text at the top is Norwegian: "Hvor skal jeg trosten fange?" I chose the text after the assemblage was done and I chose it randomly - but upon translation it was really profound (to my thinking).

it is translated: "Where shall I find solace?"

The photograph is a cabinet card of my husband's ancestors in Denmark.

I have altered it to show both the comfort and the loneliness of marriage.

The lace, the velvet ribbon, the beeswax coating, the lavender, the buttons on the suit, the hinge .... they all symbolize things in marriage I can't quite put my finger on to be able to explain it better .... but the words "Where shall I find solace?" combined with the aged faces speak volumes to me and give me hope and trust and joy for today and for tomorrow.

Beach Weather?

pen and ink mermaids of my own imagination on beach worn clam shells

I hope you're having a beautiful beachy kind of July ;)

Our beach weather disappeared, but I'm sure it will be back soon!

(fyi: these lovely ladies are in my etsy shop)

Lucky Frog

Do you ever hear frogs? I think they are losing their way in our chemical world. This little story in the children's reader from the 40's talks about frogs as if they were as abundant as squirrels or crows (of which I see and hear tooooo much of). Some animals abundantly prosper, while others drift into oblivion. Survival of the fittest? or the obnoxious-est? Maybe it's the company we deserve if we trash up the place. OK, I'm off my soapbox now. This is a bit of a sequel to the lemonade stand in the previous post. Personal I'm loving these green and gold and red colors right now.

Lemonade Stand

I have a wonderful children's reader from the forties with great illustrations and inane stories. I love the typestyle and use the book for most of the text I add to my art. This time around I used some text that actually went with the picture. Of course I had to add my own twist on things with the beer bottle cap. Just a bit of silliness I guess.

Materials used:

vintage bingo card, gesso, ink, book illustration and text, stamped bees and text, tin can lid, stamped sun, colored wire, beads, bottle cap, my own tin flowers, metallic gel pen.

It's like waiting for gesso to dry

Lumilyon was wondering what all this talk about gessoing pages is about (see yesterday's post). It's very tedious.

Today I .....

... gessoed 2 pages and did some laundry ...

... gessoed 2 pages and vacuumed ...

... gessoed 2 pages and mopped ...

... gessoed 1 page (because the other page was too pretty to cover up) and had lunch ...

etc.

(here's another book I did in this same technique last summer: phase one and phase two)