A New Prayer Flag

I made this flag for a fellow Gold Star mom. I hung it with hopes a gentle breeze will bring my wishes for piece on the first birthday of her son since his death resulting from injuries obtained in Afghanistan earier this year.

 



 



Special Guest in The Underground

I had a very special guest in the studio all of last week. My granddaughter, Alison, spent the week with us and much of the time was spent in the studio crafting gifts for her family.

After showing her how to stencil,



and to use the sewing machine,
 
she made these pillows for her mom.

 

She researched French terms and made this pillow for her sister, Camille.

 

Living in Florida and loving sea life, Alison is decorating her new bedroom with a sea theme. The sea motifs for the lamp shade were cut with the Silhouette Portrait using Contact paper.

  

We had a great time crafting, talking, listening to music and laughing in The Underground. It so quiet and feels a bit lonely in the studio this week.

 

 

 

Freezer Paper Stencils

Below are some of the items I took to a recent art/craft swap. I have an abundance of burlap left over from last year’s Art in the Garden event and this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

Following instructions on the Silhouette School site, I cut stencils from freezer paper using my Silhouette Portrait. After the stencil was cut, I ironed it onto the burlap, paying close attention to getting the edges adhered. In a couple of spots I did have a small paint bleed; with the burlap it was easy to disguise by using a matching thread and stitching over the bleed.

I saw a pillow similar to this on Pinterest; being somewhat southern here in Western Kentucky, it seemed like something that would resonate with our local artist/crafters.

 

 

I stole this idea from an up scaled gift shop. I used canvas on it as well as on the bird pillow.

For the placemats I chose to stencil Enjoy your food! in four different languages.

I love the Portrait as I can create any design or sentiment I can imagine.

I have a few ideas floating in my head for pillows for our new screened porch and my daughter-in-law would like some beach themed pillows for her lanai. This week my 15-year old granddaughter will be visiting the studio. She has requested some stenciling for a lamp shade. My Portrait will be getting quite a work-out!

 

 

New Stamp Shelf

Planning the studio renovation, I asked Handy Randy to build stamp shelves along one wall. Here is what he came up with.

 

But wait, there is more! Three times more! 

Designed by HR, it is an original!

 

Love it! Thank you HR!

 

I also love this roller he made for my newsprint. Makes it so much easier to tear off a sheet! FYI, these are end rolls the local newspaper publisher gives away. Free!

The renovation has come to a halt for the summer. HR has a screened porch to finish, a waterfall to rebuild and dozens of other little projects for me (mostly in the garden.)

 

Hello



As you can probably tell, I love this Super Toad Prince! He is my favorite RubberMoon stamp. I decided to let him greet guest at my front door.

 

 

Stamped on a linen napkin, colored with fabric pens he welcomes my friends via a pillow. I added the small RubberMoon Bunting to make a line in which to hang the message “HELLO.”

Hop on over to the RubberMoon website to see their complete line of whimsical stamps.

My First (but not last) Handcraft Swap

I knew when the invitation was hand delivered it would be a really fun event!

 

 

We were hand chosen to participate with an elite group of local artists and crafters (yes that is what our hosts told us.) Chosen! Elite! Wow! When I saw the list of invites, I had to wonder how I, a crafter just emerging from the underground, was so lucky to be included.

 

So how did this work, well let me explain. We were each asked to bring 10 hand crafted items; it could be any craft as long as we made it. Each artisan displayed their crafts on a section of long tables. With a number system devised by our hosts, we were each assigned a number. When our number was called we told about our crafts; the next number on the list got to choose first from those craft items.

Where did this event take place? At Ephemera Paducah, of course!

It was such a fun afternoon and I came home with some really neat handcrafted treasures.

 

 

It is really hard to say which is my favorite. I really like these bracelets and know I will wear them a lot.

I have admired my friend, Stephanie’s knitted aluminum earrings for some time and was delighted not only that she brought them to the swap but they were still available when it became my time to choose. Unfortunately, I wore them yesterday and one is missing. I will not say lost because I have hopes it will turn up. If not the remaining one will make a nice pendant.  Stephanie blogs over at Wooly Thyme.

 And what isn’t to love about Carol’s art journal!

I think I will add some of my favorite quotes to some of the pages.
 

So what did I contribute? Well that will be another post. Here is a hint; it involved burlap and my Silhouette Portrait.

Butcher Paper Collage

So, exactly what do you do at Ephemera Paducah? This is a question I am frequently asked by my non-crafting friends. Well, mostly I play. Sometimes I attend classes or participate in workshops. At a recent  Mixed Media Club we explored making butcher paper collage. The group graciously gave me permission to show these photos.  Using the technique found in Art Journal Freedom by Dina Wakely, we started by applying paint to a sheet of cardstock. Using Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray, we sprayed over stencils. To add some interest, we dip lids into paint and stamped the painted cardstock. For even more interest we thinned acrylic paint, loaded it onto a brush and let it drip down the paper.

 

When the collage paper was dry, we tore it into small pieces and adhered it to butcher paper with gel medium. We added tissue paper, book pages and other papers for interest. (I am trying to love the Dylusions Ink Spray, but so far it isn’t happening. I get frustrated when the ink smears into the gel medium, especially if I am using print like from a dictionary.)

After the butcher paper collage was dried, we used it to make covers for these little books.

Using the same technique, I made a bigger Wink journal!

 

 

 

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Mixed Media Club meets the third Thursday of the month at EphemeraPaducah, corner of Madison and 9^th Street. Located in the Lowertown Art District, the studio has a large space for working and Kristin generously shares her tools, stamps, paint, ephemera, etc. It is a fun way to try tools, products and techiques.  Currently we are working our way through Art Journal Freedom by Dina Wakely.