More colors coming

So I got back all my pages from the Rainbow of Colors swap I was in and I don't have O-wires big enough for this chunky book. I decided it might be fun to make some more of each color then bind them into separate color books. Then I can display them in a circle possibly?!?

Here are a few red ones I put together today.

Special thanks to Elizabeth for the fountain pen nib.

Bleach anyone?

After pulling my tired old black T-shirt out of the wash last night I noticed the color wasn't true black anymore. What's a girl to do? WELL DUH....alter it!

I'd watched a segment on Creative Juice that used gel dishwasher detergent with bleach to stamp on t-shirts. I don't use that stuff but had a bleach pen. I just squirted some out on a yogurt lid and used foam stamps for my images. After the bleach completely dried, I washed and dried it as usual.

My little girl was amazed by the nearly instant bleaching. "Mommy, can you do that to one of my shirts?" Absolutely!

Red pepper

My 1st red pepper is nearly ready to pick! I'm shocked that it is getting as red as the ones I see in the grocery stores. For some odd reason I thought it would only get that sort of ruddy red color.

My favorite quilt

This denim quilt was my very first large scale recycling project.

I carry it in my van for picnics, beach days, a stop at the park or one of those dreaded winter emergencies. After the latest trip to the beach I hung it on the deck rail to dry. I was taken aback by how many memories this quilt holds for me. I love how it has frayed over time. Maybe others would think of this as a flaw but to me, it shows it has been throughly loved.

I made it when my first born was an infant. Oh, to have that much time on my hands again! I wanted to make something that he could lay and play on, that would be durable, washable, textural and colorful.

I had a ton of jeans that were never going to fit again plus my hubby's worn out ones to cut into circles. I used a plate to trace each and every circle by hand then carefully trim with scissors.

The colorful squares (trust me there are squares under there) were from a stash of fabric I had gotten as a teen when my "grandma" across the street moved from her home to her daughters in CA. She knew I loved sewing and crafting more than her own granddaughter.

My mom had somehow collected tons of small spools of thread in various colors, not sure why since she didn't sew but did own a machine. Maybe just wishful thinking on her part. Anyway, I figured that I could make the quilt even more colorful by using different spools of thread throughout the quilt. Generally the bobbin thread and the spool didn't match as I sewed.

If you're curious how I made it check out this tutorial. I think I got my instructions from a magazine but the tutorial has excellent instructions.

More Packing Tape Tranfers

I made these 3 yesterday.

I don't like them as much as I do these.

Road Trip Complete!!!

My Road Trip themed round robin book came home today!

Isn't it fantastic!?!?!

I couldn't be more pleased with the end result.

Thank you to all the wonderfully talented ladies that worked in it.

Packing Tape Transfer ATC's

I'm not a big fan of making ATC's. The size doesn't speak to me. However, for packing tape transfers they seem to be a great size. I found a magazine article that had the coolest background and I knew it would look awesome as a transfer.

Busy hands

My art muse has flown the coop but I'm needing to do something to keep my hands busy, other than eating, while I worry about my dad.

My old crocheted dish cloths have seen better days so this is the perfect thing to keep busy with. Another bonus is that I can take the crocheting anywhere. My art supplies aren't very portable.

North Shore beauty

Lake Superior 8/12/08

You just can't get much more beautiful in my eyes even on a misty grey day such as this.

The shore is an easy 1 mile hike from Gooseberry Falls.

The wind was off old Gitche Gumee but it didn't stop us from enjoying the view.

Aren't the huge chunks of rock that have fallen amazing!
We hiked to this same spot 8 years ago and are pretty sure that at least one or two of these chunks hadn't fallen yet. The ledge seemed much wider before.

No art, just harvesting

No art to share...just the fruits of labor.

I'm so thrilled that we are actually getting fresh produce from our crummy potted veggies.

We've been using and sharing our fresh herbs for quite some time and enjoying them thoroughly but harvesting fresh veggies (OK, I know technically a tomato is a fruit) just thrill me!

Another flower

Lately I'm all about the flowers.
Not sure why but they seem to show up in everything I do.
I've also noticed that I'm using lots of geometric shapes.
Circles and squares mostly.

This is on a 8x8 deep edge canvas. The edges have torn book pages around them then were washed with the same green as the polka dots on the front.

There are several layers of paint and papers on the background that most likely show much better in real life than the scan. The flower is cut from pages I've been tearing from my altered scrapbook.

Flower canvas board

This canvas has had many different lives.

It started out as a sign for my boy's room which I never finished after it took an ugly turn.
I set it aside for a very long time.

Deciding to try to give it another life, I painted over his name only to have the texture accentuate the letters instead. Frustrated, I again set it aside.

After a few weeks, I covered the whole thing with sheet music and a couple of other papers then painted blue. Finally the letters were obscured.
Again it was set aside for a long time.



Today it became this.

I guess the lesson for me was to not give up. Eventually the canvas told me what it really wanted to be.

Yikes! I'm a 1930's housewife!

67 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!