Have you heard?

Last night I was surfing the web and came across a link on Elizabeth Golden’s blog, The Last Door…Down the Hall, the link was to something called Art-in-a-Carton.  I clicked on it and read about this cool art round robin type swap, hosted by Susan in Germany.  Last December, she conceived the idea as a year long art project and opened it up to 52 other artists.  Are you interested?  Click on the picture below to read all the details.  Hope to see you on the list.

Just a bit of this and that

For the past few days, I’ve been toying with 2″ x 2″ fabric squares for a swap hosted by Belinda Spiwak at Mixed Media Art Friends Yahoo Group.  These are to have a front, middle and back, just like a quilt.  It is interesting to work in this small of an area.  I am thinking of use crazy quilt stitching on top of a patched 2 inch square, kinda tight, but I think it can be done.  Another option is to create felted pieces and stitch those on.  Haven’t really decided yet.   Here is one that I made and sent off as a small giftie for a swap buddy.  I used a purple batik background, added used dryer sheet painted with a reddish gold acrylic fluid, added a black piece of wool felt with a charm on the top.  I used a seed stitch and a zig zag stitch to finish it off. 

  

If you haven’t seen and read Pam Sussman’s book Fabric Art Journals – Making, Sewing, and Embellishing Journals from Cloth and Fibers, you are in for a real treat.  And if you don’t have enough fabric to choose from in your stash, take a peek at Anna Maria’s new line. 

Now take a look at these very cute pin cushions on Etsy from The Daily Pincushion.  Of course I had to have one or two of those to put in my art room for inspiration.  You didn’t think I was actually going to stick my pins and needles in those darling flowers, I have an old tomato for that. <smile>

 

A Reversible Apron

I just completed an apron for The Summertime Apron Swap hosted by Abby at The Feathered Nest.  This pattern is from Bari J’s  on-line tutorial.  I made this from my stash of 1930 reproduction prints.  This is reversible, one side has a green floral background and two pockets, the reverse is the red kitchen check.  The ties are long enough to tie from back to front or just tied in the back.  So cute!  I will be sending this off to Erin in Utah next week.  Enjoy!!

      

A little surprise for Luna

In an earlier post about the Tea Time Apron Swap, I made mention of a small gift that I enclosed with the apron that I didn’t want to post a pic until Luna received it.  Well, she received the box with the apron and the gift today and just sent me a lovely note.  Thank you Luna!  Here is the giftie that I made for her and included with her apron.

This is ”Tea Time Journal”.  It is about 4″ x 5″ and is stuffed with all different types of paper for journaling, envelopes for adding ephemera and watercolor paper for painting.  The cover is made from newspaper clippings (glued down with Golden gel medium) and then a three ply napkin was separated and the top layer was glued (using Golden gel medium) on top. 

This was the first journal that I made using the Rubicoil that I bought a few weeks ago.  What a great invention this is.  I highly recommend it if you like to make your own journals, scrapbooks, calendars or if you plan to host a Fat Book Swap, this is a great tool.  I bought mine on line from Bonnie’s Best.

A Simple Nest

Look what we found!!  This very simple nest made from grass clippings and a few twigs belongs to these one day old Oregon Junco’s.  We discovered this quite by mistake.  The mother bird flew away when we got close which made us look down and discover this.  WOW!!

-keep it simple