Monday, July 29, 2013

Stuph I made in July....


Let's face it...July has been hot and humid.  As a result,  I spent much more time indoors with the a/c going during the week.  (And lots of time in a/c in the car when leaving the house.)

Early on, I decided to be creative if I could be.  No time to waste bemoaning and not creating... so here are the fruits of July's labor, although I also did many many little drawings.

This is a little book made mostly from cereal boxes for the pages that were gessoed and painted. The theme was "Paris" and I am swapping it with a friend.  My thought was to use lots of summer color and embellishments.




Earlier I made a skinnier book about gnomes and fairies. It was TOO skinny!  But it has a lot of my original art work used in it and is one of my favorite themes.  In addition I made an ATC embellished with some of the same images I used in the book and you have seen here before.




The item on the left is made from an Altoid tin.  If you take the box apart you can alter the two pieces with paper and paint.   This is one of the chickens I drew earlier this year.  The item on the right is a piece of wood from my husband's throwaway wood in his workshop downstairs.  Paint, paper and rubber stamps with some sparkly jeweled accents transform it.  (Very cheap art to make!)


Last but not least is this tiny mouse. I found the pattern here.  It is 4 inches tall from toes to top of ears. The patterns says "5 inch mouse" so I must have printed it out wrong.  It's sort of cute for a first effort but I am not fond of the gray wool I used.  Need something with a mixed texture. On the other hand, he has become a companion that needs to be hidden from Zephyr, our cat, who caught a real mouse last week and terrified me with it!  I need to make a scarf for my mouse.





So that's what I have been doing...along with laundry, housework cooking and all that good stuff. No vacation but day trips on the weekends and artsy stuff in between.


What have YOU been doing?  Have tried to visit blogs this summer and catch up on blog reading.  Any of you still feeling unwell, hope you return to good health soon! We still have a lot of summer left ...

so stay cool...

enjoy the day!



6 comments:

l.wilks11 said...

Your books are so creative and well presented. Clever you....
I am finding it hard to get motivated in this hot weather, seem to spend my time being tired with no energy.I think its the humidity that's doing it....xx

Robin said...

Wow, Very COOL and a Busy Girl! Love it all and your very beautiful CAT! HUGS, Robin

Lutka And Co. said...

Oh, you are very creative! I love the altered altoid tin, and the cute mouse - I'll have to hop on over and make one for myself!

Sheltered by Trees said...

Absolutely lovely. That style of little book is always something I've wanted to try so I really must give it a go. You seem to have a real talent for that sort of thing across the pond. I love your little mouse as well. I'm thinking it might soon need a family!!!
Enjoy the rest of your summer. Eli x

Beth said...

Sounds like we have swapped weather with you this summer...ours in the Midwest has been unseasonably, but wonderfully, cool and lower in humidity. We've been bicycling our fair city, and I've been bitten with the 'crochet coral reef' bug :-)

I love your book, how terrific to use cereal boxes for the pages! Makes them beautiful and keeps them out of the landfill.

Your creativity always inspires, Helen; take good care.

Beth

Simply Shelley said...

Oh my,you are so talented. I love the sweet gnome book. I have made the brown paper lunch bags books in the past,that was pretty fun. Might give it another go around. I have been indoors as well,mostly reading more than anything else though. Blessings dear friend