Art Journal

Putting paint to pages of a book is very freeing.

This was a cookbook I never used. 

All it did was take up space,

 so...

a new journal is born.

Little bits of this and that hoarded over time. 

Such as the paint strip. 

Bayou blue is the color Big J picked for his room. 

It reminds me of medical scrubs but whatever...he likes it.

Pieces of projects and experiments.

Like bits of rusted fabric.

Polymer clay leaves from the one and only time I crafted with it. Yuck! Hate the smell of that stuff.

As well as a deconstructed silk flower that I used a script rubber stamp across for interest.

 

I've been featured

again at Going Green Crafters and Artists. 

This time for my "Dr. Suess tree" made from book pages.

Check it out!

Thank you so much Monica!

Sit down...

...and stay a while.

Well, only if you're less than 3 inches tall. 

I made this little chair from the wire cage on top of an ale cork. A champagne cage would also work.

I saw a photo of a mini chair such as this a long time ago...put it in my memory...and it finally re-surfaced. 

I love creating miniatures.

 

"I like to melt stuff..."

I'm showing my age with that quote. 

Remember the show  

Friends: The One with Frank Jr. 

Anyway...I do like to melt stuff. 

We have piles of crayons. I think they are reproducing in the cupboard. 

I've recycled crayons many times with varying degrees of success. 

Cheap dollar store variety and the free crayons from restaurants contain too much wax and not enough pigment. 

The best ones are the Crayola.

My technique:

Spray mini muffin pan with olive oil to act as a release agent.

Melt in a 230° oven for about 10 minutes. 

Cool completely.

Color.

(I set the pan in the garage overnight to harden.)

Now we have a fun, chunky set of crayons to spark some renewed interest in coloring...hopefully.

 

Cork tree

A few weeks ago at a craft show, I saw a woman selling wine cork Christmas trees. 

I thought..."hey, I have corks...I could make that!"

I changed things up a bit to make it more "mine" and love the result.

I'm thinking I have the start of a tree collection when paired with my Dr. Suess tree. 

 

O Christmas tree

Once again I've been browsing Pinterest

...likely too much...

in an effort to find fun ways to use the book pages that have piled up from previous projects.

I saw the cutest little Christmas tree 

by Jana at Scrapbook Abundance.

(below)

Source: preprostobogastvo.blogspot.com via Halle on Pinterest

I wasn't exactly sure how she put it together so I "winged it" and ended up with this silly little tree.

The funniest thing is that the wire I ran up the middle is very flexible. So the tree wiggles and wobbles at the slightest touch. 

I'm calling it my Dr. Suess tree since it makes me think of something you'd find in Whoville.

 

Girls day part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Little J and I did a bunch of crafting on Sunday afternoon. Not just the two salt dough recipes.

I made some cards while she painted. 

Once again...thanks to Elizabeth for the awesome handmade paper used in the "Home is where the Heart is" card.

While she waited for her paint and glue to dry, she went off to play. I started work on another scrappy sewing project. Basically grabbed scraps from the box and started sewing.

Here's a little sneak peek...

 

Craft expo

I'm gearing up to participate in my first Craft Expo. I'm very excited!! I'm about 6 weeks out from it but I know how fast time goes. 

Over the weekend I made a bunch of wine charms. Then all I needed was a label. I wanted something wine themed so I went in search of images. Inspiration struck when I walked through our family room. 

Why not use my painting?!? 

A little help from photoshop and my label was complete.

I'm thinking about Christmas as well....

I saw this on Pinterest and knew I wanted to try it. 

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Halle on Pinterest

One of my chandelier bulbs recently burned out so now it has a new blinged out life.      

 

Gifts and treasure

We had a nice family get away around Lake Superior. 

First we went to relatives house in Wisconsin. They just moved into a new house. We wanted to bring them a housewarming gift.  I decided on some coasters...bigger house...more guests...more need for coasters right?!?

In addition, they are also big Green Bay Packers fans. 

Since Mr. G makes these great dice trays for games, we thought it would be fun to customize one a for a couple of our favorite Cheeseheads.  

I think it turned out great!

After a wonderful day and night in Wisconsin, we traveled back into Minnesota to stay in Canal Park, Duluth.

Little J and I could hardly wait to start sifting through the rocks in search of sea glass like we found last year. 

The sea glass from last year is in the little bottle. We definitely did much better this year. The whole family got involved at one point. It's so addicting...like treasure hunting. In my eyes it is treasure!!!

Some of the bigger pieces...which are still smaller than a bottle cap...I'm going to attempt some jewelry. 

 

Sewing, gardening and painting

Not necessarily in that order. 

Or maybe I should have called this my 

late summer catch-up post.

Regardless of title...

I found a few fun garage sale deals this summer. Mostly storage items that had seen better days...such as a set of two copper canisters.  

Only one pictured. 

Not sure why,  other than laziness on my part.

I soaked all the black paint off using my favorite product Sol-u-mel and a scrubby pad. 

After carefully taping the rims of the copper tin where the lid fits down over, I gave them new life. 

The color is "celery". Not my first choice but what can a girl do when free is the price.  

Thank you County Reuse Center. 

The black I had on hand...although now I am out. Good colors like that don't generally end up at the recycle center.

Aside from painting the tins and a little bit of the lawn...oops...over-spray,
I've been sewing a lot!!

We've had a hot summer here in MN. Ways to stay cool are in high demand. 

If you may recall back at the 4th of July, I made a bunch of neck cooling wraps for the days festivities.

I carry a zipper bag of them with me all the time now because you wouldn't believe how often it has come up in conversation. 

People asking if I know where to get them.  Well yes, in fact, I do!  *grin*

In addition, I've been gardening. 

My green beans have been a disappointment this year, especially if compared to last years bumper crop.

My tomatoes are really starting to ripen and are oh so yummy.

Labor Day is quickly approaching...the kids head off to school the next day. 

It's bittersweet for me. 

I like the extra freedom I am allowed but I honestly miss them not being around. 

I won't miss the bickering or tattling. Geesh, when will that end?!?!

The homework, the early mornings and activities add a different layer that always takes a bit of adjustment as well. I've started my list of  "projects" to tackle once my time is mostly my own again. 

Until then...I'll be around haphazardly....

sometimes posting...sometimes silent.

No worries...I haven't gotten lost. 

Just soaking up the remainder of summer with the family.

 

Bottle cap wind chime

I've been working on this project for longer than I care to admit. I found that I couldn't work on it in the morning because I was too shaky from numerous cups of coffee to bead and bend jumprings. By afternoon, I just wasn't interested in working on it.


As you can see I put my own spin on it. I used an old CD for the top of the wind chime. I also included beads with the bottle caps for interest. I'm so happy to have actually used a bunch of the caps I've collected over the years as well as all the ones friends save for me.

Now I just need to find the perfect spot for it. Mr. G and I were talking this morning about making a tiki bar on the deck or the patio. I think it would fit in quite nicely!



Here's the original "pin" that
inspired my above creation:

Source: flickr.com via Halle on Pinterest

 

Scrap inspired

Bits and pieces laying around came together for me yesterday.  

Wish that happened more often.

 

Longing for Summer

 

After a few glorious days in March that made us here in MN forget that we should still have snow on the ground...our weather has turned. It's cold again. 

It's has me "Longing for Summer"...

I used lots of yummy texture. 

Honestly...the background is my favorite part of this piece. 

It was just too plain to leave on it's own but I wanted lots of it to show.

 

Equinox

Mixed media painting on a recycled book cover created yesterday on the Vernal Equinox. 

Creative ADD

I've been all over the place lately when it comes to creativity. 

I think I may have Art ADD (attention deficit disorder). 

Ok...some might argue that I have ADD in other areas of my life as well but the Art ADD is self-diagnosed. 

I blame the other on Motherhood. Children steal you're ability to keep a clear running thought in your head. :) But I wouldn't change a thing.

Anyway...these are the things I've done in the past week.

I papered our recycling cabinet to match the fridge.

Knitted another dishcloth on the loom...

Knitted a cowl on the loom...

Miniature terrain on a recycled CD...

Another terrain piece...

And last night I started another twirly crochet scarf because my elbow was hurting from the repetitive motion of the knitting. 

Crochet seems to work my wrist more and doesn't bother me.

In addition I've been washing and ironing my way through a large box of old linens. Deciding what is decent enough to save and use and what I can use in my artwork. Vintage linens and fabric are part of my idea for the Postcard Challenge book.

So, yeah...definitely Art ADD.