Blue Ribbons, Red Ribbons

This year I was able to get some creative pieces together for the annual Extension Homemakers Regional Cultural Arts competition, a nine county event.  It is the qualifier to compete at the state convention in May.  

I am so pleased with how I did.  I entered 9 items and came out with 7 ribbons of first or second place.  The first place pieces will go up to Louisville in May.

Black and White Photography

"Storing Up Summer"

Jewelry - Beaded

Asymmetrical single strand, using new and vintage beads.

Jewelry - Mixed Media

"Boho Button Necklace"

Buttons, beads, and wire on a chain.

Photography - Color

"Bob White"

Drawing - Colored Pencil

"Carmen's Home"

Miscellaneous Class

"Old Rugged Cross"

Mixed Media art

Ceramics - Hand Formed

Small tray

A Morning of Card Making

I enjoy do a variety of creative projects but one I haven’t gotten into is card making.  Probably because I have a stash of cards I’ve purchased here and there.  Likes dozens of them… and that’s not counting all the blank note cards!

But at a recent Homemakers meeting the lesson was on card making.  A good, interesting, frugal topic…fun too.

Geri went over a half dozen different techniques that are regularly used in card making: stamping, embossing, stitching, collage, pens & markers, and quilling.

She brought enough supplies that after her demonstration we all were able to give it a go ourselves.  Everyone jumped right in on it and had a great time.

Applying embossing powder to a stamped image.

Then heating the powder to ‘melt’ it into a metallic image.

Bobby made an embossed card.

Silver and gold embossed butterflies.  You know, I have a heat gun...I really need to use this method with some of my projects.

Kathy tries her hand at quilling.

I think her butterfly and flower turned out great. 

Me?  I tried some stitching…

…and a bit of everything else too!  My card was kind of a 'sampler' so I can use it to remind myself of what I learned.

It was a fun make and take all by itself but Geri also brought us lunch to go with it.  What a great afternoon of socializing!

Creative Outlet: October

Lately I’ve been so busy with Himself coming home, traveling, and end of summer work around the house that I haven’t been doing many creative projects.  But here’s a few I have to share…

 

 

 

I want to have a few plants in Himself’s study… and he does not want ‘cute’ pots/planters.  OK, in my opinion ‘cute’ is subjective.  So I made a man-friendly cute planter!  An old boot, some dried moss, and a bit of jute twine make for a manly container for this cactus.

 

I made the tag to remind him that it is time to go for walks down to the lake!

 

 

 

One of my terrariums needed to be redone so I decided to make a little fairy garden in it.  We have so much moss around here, so I use it a lot in my terrariums.  The stones are from Alaska and Scotland and the shells are from Scotland.

 

The wee ‘diaper fairy’ is a family joke…

 

 

 

I played around with this little diorama box for a relaxing afternoon.  The mermaid, starfish, and other fish are from the fabric I used for Little Bird’s birthday banner.  I added a bit of beading to the mermaid for texture.  Here again I used stones and shells from AK and Scotland. 

 

The box is wrapped in a piece of scrapbook paper.  (Need to work on that technique a bit more…)  I’m going to play with it a bit more, but overall I kinda like it.  And it was fun to make.

 

 

This is the cover page for a new memory scrapbook I’ve started.  It’s a small 9x9 album and each page will highlight one country or state I’ve traveled too.

 

 

I wanted a frame for Little Hoss and Little Bird’s first day of school each year.  I got into my yard stick and office stashes to make this.

 

 

I love assemblage art pieces!  So I tried my hand at making one myself.  I call it “Home Improvement”.   I’m not sure if I am finished with it or not.  I’ve seen ones much fuller than this, and I’ve also seen ones that have been spray painted on color to make the shapes the star of the show.  I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do…leave it as is or work a bit more on it.

 

 

"Home Improvement" Assemblage

I’ve gotten interested in the art of assemblage (the collection or gathering of things: making three-dimensional or two-dimensional artistic compositions by putting together found objects).  The challenge is in collecting together items that have a relationship to each other, and then arranging them within a set grouping. 

 

I’ve mulled on what I would like to do for my first piece… would it be ‘beach’ or ‘toys’ or perhaps ‘driftwood pebbles’. 

 

Then I saw that one of the challenges at The CSI Project for September was “hardware store”.  Now that is a subject I know!  It’s a fun afternoon when I can spend it cruising the aisles of Lowes.  SO many ideas.

 

And since we’ve moved out to The Sticks… I visit Lowes a lot…

 

I grabbed a bucket and starting pulling things in my stashes that I have gotten at hardware stores to use on/in our home.  Plus one a recent trip to Lowes I picked up a few more items that had great form or texture.  In the shed I found an old wooden box that Himself had picked up in his Army days.  It was going to be thrown out but he rescued it for me!

 

I sat out on the deck, gluing and enjoying the cool weather. 

 

This stuff is heavy so I broke out the E6000 glue.  I’d never used it before.  Folks, make sure you read the directions and use in a well ventilated place…like OUTSIDE.  The fumes can be devastating.  Seriously.  And even if they weren’t, the stink can knock you over. 

 

 

I’m pleased with how it came out.  It will be a fun piece to have in my workshop.  I’ve already had a few ideas for companion pieces I can make! 

  

 

 

 

 

http://thecsiproject.com/2013/09/04/22845/#axzz2dyyxE6U7 

  

Creative Friday

Been busy traveling and working around the house, so my creative projects have mainly been done as part of the Index Card A Day challenge, sometimes combined with other blog’s creative challenges.

 

ICAD Week 2

Top Row:

 

My first attempt at a ‘paisley’ design.

 

A sketch of a still life I arranged and photographed. 

 

Middle Row:

 

A Zen tangle pattern ‘quilt’.  Practicing my doodles!

 

My response to the prompt “junk mail”.  I made a ‘snail mail’ inspired by the junk mailbox in my email.

 

Bottom Row:

 

For the “Summer of Color” prompt ‘Citron and Turquoise’.  It’s pieced together using paint chips and detailed with a Sharpie pen.

 

For the prompts “Favorite Things List” and “Vines”.

 

The prompt was “bizarre”.  The background is basket woven strips of paper from a magazine. 

 

ICAD Week 3

 Top Row:

 

The prompt for this one was “Poem”.  So I wrote my own haiku inspired by this picture.

 

Prompt was “postage stamp”. 

 

I sketched this picture of Himself’s ship while watching “The Deadliest Catch”.  Would have been better if I wasn’t doing it during the commercials!

 

Middle Row:

 

My multi-talented butterfly!  It was made for the Summer of Color combo ‘hot pink and orange’, plus prompts from 2 other blogs ‘winged’ and ‘polka dot’. 

 

Bottom Row:

 

For the prompt “Italy”.

 

Cityscape collage.  This is my first attempt.  I’ve seen some really cute ones so I’ll keep working on the idea.

 

Notes from my Sunday School class using doodles with Zen tangle patterns.

 

ICAD Week 4

 Top Row:

 

Just a ‘string’ doodle.

 

For the prompt “faux stitching”.

 

Prompt of “lizard”.  I did a SW deco lizard with a kokopelli on his back. 

 

Middle Row:

 

Zen tangle pattern “Hurry”. 

 

Bottom Row:

 

A collage from papers I picked up on our trip to the Butterfly House.  For this I used the brochure for the 'title', the shop's bag for the body (it had the print already on it), and I cut up a post card of a butterfly to make wings for "Madam Butterfly".  

 

A quick sketch inspired by Little Hoss’ birthday cake.

 

Another collage from our trip to the MO Botanical Gardens.  I used a brochure that Little Bird gave me.

 

 

 

This photo of a passion flower was taken in response to the Summer of Color prompt “Lime Green and Purple”.

 

 

I digitally altered a photo I took in Kenya for a response to the Summer of Color prompt “charcoal grey and pink”.   

 

 

My Artful Friday #4: Celebrating Friendship

I was able to finish the “Celebrating Friendship” challenge from Inspiration Avenue.  And it worked out to combine it with the "buttons" challenge at Crazy Amigos too. 

 

Late every fall we head up to Wisconsin and Minnesota to visit “the senior delegation”… Himself’s older relatives.  They range from their early 80s to 94 years old (last year we lost the oldest relatives… at 108 and 101!!). 

 

One of Himself’s family members is an auntie of the heart.  Lorraine was his mother’s best friend and there is now a sweet friendship between the two of them.  So when I saw the theme, that was the friendship that immediately came to mind.

 

 

Although the miles are many (about 820)… it is never an issue to make the trip.  And we’ve been doing it for years.  I took this photo in Lorraine’s yard on one of our many visits. 

 

 

The photos of Himself and Lorraine span the years of visiting. 

 

I used the lace to represent some lovely crochet works she has given us… including a beautiful piece made by her mother.

 

The buttons are in the colors of autumn; when we always go visit.

 

And the heart button represents the love between them.

 

It’s is a very special friendship and one that we will always celebrate.

 

 

 

 

 

http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

http://cachallenge.blogspot.com/

My Artful Friday #4: Owls

It’s been a busy week… finishing up the remodel of our hall bathroom, having a Extension Homemakers meeting and lunch out here with nine guests (plus I taught the lesson on photography too), and having Himself’s piano tuned are just a few of the things that were on our plate.

 

So I haven’t had much time for many artful endeavors.

 

However… the challenge at Collage Obsession was “owls” and I knew immediately what I wanted to do. 

 

 

This verse from Isaiah is perfect.

 

 

With that in mind, I started collecting what I wanted to use.  The photos are from the ‘net.  The bark was donated by the sycamore tree in our back yard.  I’d picked up that ‘knot hole’ piece months ago because I loved the way it looked. 

 

And the feathers have been in my stash in my ‘nature box’ since last year. 

 

(Shhhhh…I think they are from a turkey…)  LOL 

 

The verse meaning a lot to me because I’ve seen how the desert ‘comes alive’ with the rains, just as the soul comes alive under God’s Grace.

 

 

http://collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/

 

 

My Artful Friday #3: Juicy Juice

And finally, my piece for the “juicy” challenge at Artist Play Room. 

 

Appropriate, as I was playing around!  The first thought that popped in my head when I read the challenge word was a big bottle of cherry Juicy Juice.  Yep… I love the stuff! 

 

I have some new watercolor pencils I wanted to try, so after doing a sketch (something I really haven’t done before) I worked on coloring it in.  I had copied a photo off the ‘net to look at for shading.  After doing that sketch I knew there was no way I could do anything decent with the label… so I printed off the photo and cut out the label.  LOL 

 

I decided it wasn’t ‘juicy’ enough, so I added glass ‘cherries’ to float around the bottle.

 

That’s better.

 

For a first effort, I’m OK with it.  There are things I like about it, and things that I definitely want to improve.

 

But good enough!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/

My Artful Friday #3: Dragonfly

The current theme at Inspiration Avenue is “Dragonfly”.  This one is right up my alley!  I love dragonflies.  Out here at The Sticks we have so many of them darting about.  This is fantastic as they munch on mosquitoes!  Go dragonflies!! 

 

 

My painting is acrylic on canvas.  And I added some stick-on iridescent purple crystals to the wings to give it some sparkle. 

 

 

This photo was taken at the lake near our house (not to far from where I photographed the rocky area I used in the previous challenge).  They have enjoyed the HOT summer we’ve had.

 

 

This was taken at Cheekwood during the Chihuly exhibition a couple of years ago. 

 

 

 

 

http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

My Artful Friday #3: The Secret Garden

There have been a slew of challenges that are a stretch for me… as I am not really into ‘whimsy’.  At So Artful there was “Magical Gardens”, at Take A Word there was “Hearts and Flowers”, at Collage Obsession the challenge was “Anthropomorphism”, and an older challenge at Inspiration Avenue was “Fairies”. 

 

I grabbed a hold of the theme that was coming together and combined the 4 challenges into one project… a collage.  The theme brought to mind the container garden "Fairy garden" that I want to make, so that made me smile.

 

 

An old Martha Stewart magazine had the scissors taken to it to give me the flower garden and Grandfather Oak.  Another tree in the same photo was cut up to make his face (plus some help from a Sharpie!). 

 

The background of rocks is a photo I took of an area where Himself and I like to take walks.  We often sit here and talk or do a Bible study together. 

 

 

All about the collage are little fairies from the ‘net.  Each one is about 1 inch tall.  That is some of the most painstaking cutting I’ve done in a long time!  

 

Definitely something out of my norm but I had fun with it.  And it turned out better than I thought it would!

 

 

 

http://collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/

 

 

http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

http://takeaword.blogspot.com/

 

 

http://jeanette-soartfulchallenges.blogspot.com/