Blast From the Past--Paper Bead Jewelry

Found a box in the garage this week full of some of the paper bead jewelry I had made about 17 years ago! I knew it was around here somewhere. It is kind of fun and funky, but I don't know that I could pull off wearing it anymore! Some of it will probably end up on my Etsy store. These are just a few of the sets of earrings. I also found some bracelets, anklets, and necklaces, and I will post more later. Except for the pink leaf ones,these are made with ribbon or handmade newspaper beads that were painted, and some had more painting details like dots added. Brings back memories!

Sunprints

These are some of the sunprints that I did this summer. The top two were made, not with real leaves, but with little leaf masks that I found in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby. They are usually used for faux finishes. They worked great for the sunprints, and I can use them over and over again. The third sunprint was made using the kids' foam stickers in flower and leaf shapes. I bought them for myself , but the kids think I bought them for them, and I am borrowing them. The last sunprint was made by placing a sheet of plastic needlework canvas over the fabric, and it made an interesting grid design. You can really put just about anything on the fabric when making sunprints. I have even seen washers and pasta sunprints.

I used diluted Seta-Color paints on all except the second one, on that one I used fabric dye. I tried to make some more sunprints this week, but it was too windy, and the wind kept blowing all of my leaves off! So, sunprinting season might be over for this year.

3 x 3 Butterfly Collage

This is the last of the 3 x 3 inch collages that I did for the Collage Compostition group swap. I painted and stenciled the background with blue and copper, then added layers of papers and hand colored butterfly image. I added little brads in the corners--I really love those little brads to add a little dimension--I am almost out of them! The collage is coated with glossy Mod Podge. I just bought the matte Mod Podge, because I am not sure that I like the glossy finish, so I will experiment with that at some point.

To me, this collage symbolizes "Breaking out of the square". I have noticed in the past year or so that I am such a "square". I like things at right angles to eachother, and I like squares more versus circles or triangles, or other shapes. I don't really mind being a square, I just think that it is kind of funny that things seem to turn up square for me. So, this butterfly is breaking out of the square! We'll see if it is a sign for things to come....

Love Those Blogs!

I finally got around to adding some of my favorite blogs. I will be adding more in the future, as I find all of the little scraps of paper that I write them down on! Take a look, and prepare to be inspired!

Giant Dragonfly!

I have been fascinated with dragonflies as of late, and the other day came upon this giant one perched on the top of a hollyhock. I ran inside to get the camera, not really expecting him (or her) to still be there, but stay he did for about an hour. I was able to get some nice shots of him that might in one way or another show up in future art.

I am a Red Crayon

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Collage 3x 3 inches

These are two collages that I am doing for a swap on Collage Compositions. They each measure 3 x 3 inches. The colors turned out a little funky in the photo--I had trouble taking a pic, because I sealed them with Glossy Mod Podge, and kept getting a glare, so these pics were taken outdoors without the flash, but the colors got funny.

Anyhow. The Asian one was made by stamping on a red texture painted background with the Chinese Characters. Then I sewed on pieces of brown paper bag that I had crumpled and highlighted with gold metallic paint. The flower image was printed out, painted, and colored with pencils, and finally I glued on the Chinese Coins.



On the flower one, I painted several layers on the background, stenciled the blue squares, stamped the green daisy--which by the way I found out that the ink isn't permanent and runs with Mod Podge--so I had to spray seal it with Acrylic spray before I did the decoupage. Then I added the words which were printed and lightly painted, plus the flower image.

I am finding that I tend to work a little on the minimalist side, I just didn't want things too cluttered, but I hope that my work is not mistaken for lack of effort--these took me Forever putzing around with them! I am working on a 3rd set, but the images are fighting me, so I don't know if I'll get them done. I love doing the backgrounds, and playing with the different techniques, but then I get stuck on the composition. I guess that is why I am in the Collage Compostition group, huh?