Brrr… Happy to be Cozy Underground

With the frigid January temperatures, I am quite happy to work play underground!

A variety of action happening in The Underground this week; a couple of projects finished (yes!) and, of course, another one started. Have I mentioned I have AADD? If I could stay with one discipline, I might become really good (and bored!)

Remember this garden flag? It was mentioned on the very first post of this blog. It is now ready for the fairy garden. The funky fun tree is from a Stencil Girl stencil, available at Ephemera Paducah.

I completed this prayer flag for a young friend whose mother was recently diagnosed with cancer. It is now hanging in the garden. Earlier this week I helped introduce the Prayer Flag Project to a garden club. A post about prayer flags is coming soon to The Underground blog.

Herbal Turtle has been hanging around the studio for a couple of years, waiting for a make-over. He was a gift from my son and daughter-in-law the first year they were married. That makes him about 23-24 years old, which is not old for a turtle, especially one that can’t cross the path of a moving vehicle. His head was severed during the ice storm of 2009. It was reattached with super-duper glue. I don’t remember which one as the procedure was done a few years back.

 

 

This week he received a coat of paint; I think he deserves a little bling, maybe some metallic highlights.  

This semester I am taking a basic drawing class at the Paducah School of Art and Design, so I have spent a fair amount of time at the easel drawing cubes, cylinders, bags and shoes.

 

I will finish out the week by painting a wall in the studio.  Stay warm, my crafty friends!

Phase I of Studio Upgrade

The Paper Crafting Area

Let me show you the plan!

 

Designed by Handy Randy, using Google SketchUp; How fortunate for me, he loves designing projects!

A Day with Sunny Carvalho

A really fun workshop at Ephemera Paducah yesterday with artist Sunny Carvalho! She is an amazing teacher and talented artist. Sunny lives just outside of Birmingham, AL and teaches at workshops all over the country.

 

 

This is my art from the workshop. While I like it, I don’t’ love it, typical of my response to most workshops. I did learn some new techniques and can’t wait to try them in The Underground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always I totally enjoyed hanging out in the Ephemera Paducah studio and making new artist friends. Saturday’s group included folks from Southeast Missouri, Halls, Tennessee, a group of four from various cities in Kentucky as well as a couple of hometown girls. Here is some of their work.

 

 

 

 

Sunny had some of her art for sale; couldn’t leave without purchasing an artsy purse!

You can see more of Sunny Carvalho’s work on these sites.

Sparkle and Spin, The Art of Sunny Carvalho

Pinterest

Etsy

Facebook

While I spent the day creating art, Handy Randy started the studio renovation! Can’t help but love this man!

 

 

It's in the Cards!

Inspired by The Art of Corresponding classes at Ephemera Paducah, here are the Thank You notes my friends and family received after Christmas. With my AADD, I wasn’t able to stay with one particular style or technique.

I used the Silhouette Portrait to make this card. Although there is a significant learning curve, it is amazingly fun to use!

 

 

I saw a tutorial on OWH about using the 6 X 6 sheets, headed out to Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon, bought a 6 X 6 pad and made these two cards using two coordinating sheets from the pad. The technique made selecting papers very easy.

 

 

Tangling white on black is a technique I had wanted to try. I like it!

 

On this one, I drew the Pussy Willow branch and used the Silhouette to cut a cardinal image.

 

This one is my favorite as I love mixed media! Not knowing how the embellishments increase postal rates, I hand delivered it to a neighbor.

 

This coming Thursday (January 17), we will be making Valentines in the Art of Corresponding class at Ephemera Paducah. I hope to do some embossing. Since I do not own an embosser, I will take advantage of the embosser at Ephemera. One of the reasons I love these classes is I don’t have to buy and store all of the so many tools!

 

Let the Upgrade Begin!

Handy Randy was in the studio last evening taking measurements! Yeah! The upgrade is about to begin.

It is time for me to purge and organize. Giving an amount of thought to organizing small paper ephemera (you know all those little scraps that might have another use ;) I think these little plastic clamshell boxes will work great. I can see the colors, they stack, are free plus I can feel good about keeping them out of the landfill, at least for a little longer. I am asking my local friends to be on the lookout for some in which Christmas gifts, newly purchased items or treats were packaged. I need the ones without ventilation holes because I have some very tiny paper ephemera.

 

 

 

Salad containers have been used in the studio for a long time to hold buttons, bits of material, ribbon, etc. Money saved on storage containers means more money to spend on craft supplies, right?

 (I don't need more of these, I have quite a stash; we eat lot's of salad.)

 

 

 I think Handy Randy plans to start with this wall. Here is my plan for the card making/paper craft area.

 



Fellow crafters, please chime in with your thoughts!