What I'm Working On

I hosted my art group's meeting last month and we did postcards. sounds boring. :) But they are a lot of fun.  They were based on some I saw that Roxanne Coble (by bun) did on Make it Artsy.   Mine are a bit more involved and full of color-not just on one side.
I really like the mark-making/doodling part.  I usually have some on hand ready to add all the lines and such when i go to visit my parents.  Everything fits in a nice box and travels well.  I can sit at the table and
play without having to bring a lot of stuff with me. 

Now i am working on some door hinge books~will post some pictures soon!

Current Art

school days vintage photo transfer on cradled wood panel

In the last year I had checked out a book by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare from my library at least twice. I ended up buying a copy for myself.  Meanwhile...a friend had a copy of Somerset Workshop that had an article on Sarah's technique. (she did some art with her own spin on it) which then inspired me to do some too.  I still want to try one that has more the look Sarah gets but in the meantime, i'm having fun.

FISH-
I used a vintage photo of my mom as a little girl. My grandfather loved to fish-pretty sure he took her to land this one.  Blew up my photo and made a transfer.  The background was inspired by something i saw on pinterest by Joan Fullerton who does beautiful work. I went for the drippy look more than texture since I was adding my transfer and not transferring onto my substrate.
This one is done on plywood.






The girl with pink is done on a little canvas board.  She still needed something-a friend suggested she needed to be layered on another piece-so that is what she will get. (this photo is taken on the backside of the FISH (the plywood was an unfisnished project-but the side i never finished looked good with the canvas so i'll make something along those lines color wise.

 Did this piece on a wooden house I got at michael's this summer.
It's about 6" tall.  Transfer image is one i found on pinterest~went with a halloween theme.  (below is picture of the sides/top of the house) painted stripes then gave it a charcoal wash to age it.  Still may do more to the sides (vintage text circles)  or not. 
 So that is what i've been up to when i can fit time in for art~

Fabric Book is Finished

Here are the pictures of my completed fabric book.  I may still go back and add a few more embellishments but for now, I am happy with it.  The pictures are in order as they appear in the book.  After the back inside cover i have added a few close ups of some of the pages.

close up of the cover

Fabric Book (in progress)

 I recently took a fabric book online class from Suzy Quaife. (SuziQu's Threadworks)
I have long admired her work and since I love fabric and book making, wanted to see her process.
So now I am putting together my version of a book in her style. I decided to start I would make a smaler book than what she did in her videos.  Suzi is from Australia so the measurments/paper size is different but you can easily figure it out via google :)

I still have some things I want to add after I do the initial fabric work and will post those when it's done.
Meanwhile,  here are a few pages that are in progress

Birthday card I made for my mother in law's 95th birthday.

On a Roll...

While in the middle of cleaning my art room (which is put on hold again) I started making some fabric collages. Here are a few-in progress.  Some estate sale finds-fabric, lace and buttons helped motivate me to get back to this ~ I intended to finish some i had started years ago-but ended up making new ones.  I also intended to make mini's.  These are turning more into "mediums."

when you wish upon a star...

 I will post more as I get them finished.  They will probably end up in my etsy shop.

same image, different style...WIP

I think this one is done.

still needs "something"...

Curious Bundles-the class

I recently took Susie LaFond's  online class-"Curious Bundles."  I have long admired her work-and here was an opportunity to see her process.  It was well worth the cost.  I've made my first "bundle" as she calls them
and am hooked.  I now have a great way to use fabrics i've been hoarding for years for that "special" project.  In her class you learn 3 different books and some extra techniques to use in your books.
   I can't wait to try it all.  Here are some pictures of my first bundle.

section of bundle-

bundle with blank pages-each pocket can hold loose journal pages or art

pocket close -up

close up of bundle. 

Screen pocket

another section with blank pages

 I really hated to cover all my fun fabrics with the pockets so i added some screen pockets. I "outlined" them in coordination fabrics and sewed them on-so you get a peek of the art or fabric.

inked and stitched

here is bundle spread out with decorated pages ready to journal or play on

 Looking forward to more inspiration from this class!

Journaling By 5's

front cover

I mentioned Jb5 in my last blog post (and linked it) so I thought i would post some pictures of my book in
progress.  I am not left brained, therefore i am not adhereing to the 15 min time limit.  I don't obsess over what i am going to do-i just smear paint and slap on paper.  So far I have painted (and inked) and added some background papers.  Next i will add my focal images to each spread.

back cover

view of pages

spead 1

spread 2

Each of my pages were painted white first. I then added paints w/a credit card and kitchen spatula thing from dollar tree.  Since I wanted my pages to be more cohesive, I sprayed each one with ink and water and rubbed it around to cover the entire page.  I used mostly vintage photo, bit of walnut ink and frayed burlap.  The page to the left i used black because it went better with the colors.

spread 3

More From Last Week

Wall Hanging 1

chain detail

wall hanging 2

fiber detail

These are two wall hangings I completed last week before I got sick.  One is a verrry late Christmas present for a friend.  The other is a birthday gift for someone.  I've started a third that may be "promised" to someone too~ Hopefully the next one will be more wispy~