How beautiful is this?

I just had to share this wonderful gift!

The weather gods were against us this year so my close friend and I shared Christmas just last week! In a way, it was better than close to Christmas because opening gifts this time of year is an awful lot of fun!

She made me this most magical mermaid box--from a vintage cigar box!

 

Her workmanship is so fine, it is hard to imagine any human could put together such a sturdy well crafted item!  Inside is a matching mermaid charm in a sea shell box.

It is a dark day here and out house has poor light in the winter, but I think you can get the idea.  Sunshine wold make it sparkle though---

The amazing thing is that  the decorated edge of the cigar box is is the same color as the contemporary paper she used.  It is really difficult to know where one paper ends and the other begins.

She has made other beautiful boxes for me in the past and I use them to keep my jewelry.  They upstairs where I cannot see them most pf the time.  This one is so pretty in the middle of winter I have to keep it close by for a while. It screams sunshine and good weather.


It is Valentine's Day.  It isn't snowing.  That is a good thing because sometimes it is.  Hope you are having a very good day and maybe some chocolate or flowers will come your way.  Ot maybe a bluebird of happiness?

With too much time spent on social media and not enough time spent on blogs... I am feeling nostalgic for more words and less reactions. Anybody agree out there?

As always,

enjoy the day!

A bookish idea...

Recently, I was able to obtain a variety of art papers By Jane Davenport.  I already have a huge stash of papers collected over the years.  So my friend and I decided to swap books. The theme was hearts and flowers.  I had a chipboard book here for ages and went to work. I used a glue stick, tacky glue, a glue gun as adhesives.  Fun project I think.

The cover is built up layers of papers and cutouts, ribbons and yarn and a piece of recycled cardboard that was in a package I received.

There is a bracelet in the book attached with safety pins and the ribbon lifts up to reveal hearts underneath.  I added paper clips and other clips along the edges.

A recent drawing I did was used in various ways.  As much as I like using  art papers, I like to add my own art work, too.

This was an easy project that could be done on paper as well.  I used up a lot of scraps and odds and ends. My goal was not to buy anything for it.  I am going to start another project soon and use what I already have.

To be honest, it is difficult to feel creative right now.  The topsy-turvy nature of the national mood has affected my ability and mood  to get up and get going and create.

Are you creating? I know some of you have made little dolls and I need to  make a little doll, too.  I made one doll for a swap recently called "winter."  This is a very poor photo of it...kind of like my mood that day.   And so it goes...I need  to make another and take a better photo!  Until then...

Be creative!

Enjoy the day!

Winter...snow...too much!

Well, it is snowing a lot  these days. New England has had it share of big snow storms and it does tend to slow one down.   Thankfully, we have not lost heat or electrical power and are plodding along like everyone else and looking forward to spring!

'Have worked on projects and  made soup and done all the usual winter things.  We have discovered some new restaurants and have stayed a bit close to home since the lousy weather has been frequntly on the weekends. 

What are you doing to  pass the inter time? I made a few things though staying motivated has been challenging. So what did I make?  Here is a smattering...

Made from cloth, gessoed and painted...

So you can reference the size..here is a tomato!

Some fabric collages...

A little book...

and lots of drawings!

It has been very dark so taking photos has been a challenge.  Today we are seeing some winter sun and it is a very nice visit!

Movies, books, housework,  cooking, lots of other stuff to  take up the rest of the time.  There really is nothing at all to complain about but I worry about loved ones on the road in this weather. 

Hopefully all is going well with you 

whatever weather season you are in!

Stay safe and warm if need be!

As always,

Enjoy the day!

September morn...

It's a beautiful morning in southern Connecticut! 

We have enjoyed many fine days touring about the area.  One of of our very favorite areas to visit is Dutchess County in NY.  There are horse farms and mansions, working farms and parks, and all manner of historical places.  When we happened upon this sign, I thought we must be near the home of the late actor Jimmy Cagney.  We are film buffs, so I will always seek out areas where a star mixed and mingled.  Many stars have homes in this area to this day.

After a little research we found the home where James Cagney and his wife lived until he died.  Amazingly, it is quite small but sits of a large piece of property. It is visible from the road. 

This oil tank below always makes me smile.  Yes..it is one big capsule!  But the same artist created something even larger across the street. 

The Fork in the Road

And anybody who reads this blog knows that if there is a Belted Galloway cow anywhere, I will find it!

It is so cool that I had to put on shoes for the first time since May. I will miss wearing sandals for sure... though I will not miss the weather we had in July,   Despite extreme weather conditions earlier in the season., there is an abundance of great produce available and we have enjoyed the best tomatoes, corn and cucumbers for a month. I will miss that, too. like my sandals.

How about you?   Are you looking forward to autumnal days?  Late summer/early fall is such a wonderful time of the year!

My creativity level has remained high for an extended period of time and my notebooks are filling up with drawings of the day. However, the work at the top of this post is part of a collage/painting I recently made.  The colors everywhere are so inspirational right now and there are shades of rust and purple in wildflowers along the road.  Trees have tinges of orange though it will be October before most change colors.

Happy upcoming weekend....and as always,

enjoy the day!

 

Make this from that...

This past week, my friend Carol and I swapped out our weekly art challenge.  We have done hundreds of projects over the years and they really keep us motivated and challenged.

This week we used blank cardboard boxes 3.5 inches square with a plastic "window" in them.

The idea was to decorate them and turn them into art.  We seldom discuss details since we have a lot of experience with paper and altered art.  It is fun seeing what we come up with a week later.

Here is mine.  Seem to be stuck in mushroom world!

I painted mushrooms on watercolor paper and cut them out. I cut out layers of papers an created a dimensional back ground using adhesive foam squares to make space between layers.  The photo is somewhat poor but there are felt and fabric embellishments on the lid.

Carol, covered her box and created a lovely little  out of paper clay.  It is nestled in moss with a real branch.  Wonderful little scene!

Due to the fact the plastic window reflects the camera flash, I had to take the photos at an angle. I think you can get the idea though...one can make a small diorama out of a regular gift box and just leave off  the cover.  There are so many ways one can create something from what one already has! I save cereal boxes for perfect cardboard for projects and save small gift boxes with can be decorated in so many ways.  White glue, Modge Podge, even glue sticks can be used to glue paper to boxes.

Sadly, I had to add an extra layer of security to comment on this blog.  I have been bogging for a decade now and have had some "spam" comments over the years.  Recently I received one so vile my jaw dropped! It attacked religion, politics, was sexual and racist... quite scary.   It had nothing to do with any subject on this blog. I hope my regular readers were not exposed to it...totally awful.

On a different note, normal spring weather has returned here and I am not at all disappointed.  Call me a traditionalist, but I like the seasons to be in order and enjoy them as long as possible.

How was your weekend?  Are you working on any special projects?  As always,

enjoy the day!

Arty thingz..

If you read this blog regularly, you know that my friend and I swap art...nearly every week. In the fall, she had surgery that has left her with a long recovery due to nerve pain and a dropped foot.

Despite the amount of pain she has been suffering, she was still able to create these beautiful things for me. The little fold out book is Red Riding Hood and is filled with tiny messages that can be pulled out to read.


The tall gal is on wood and the art doll (on the left) with her gorgeous fabrics and colors is on a pedestal. The little blocks of wood are covered with words, painting, and many images. I included another block that she did for Christmas a few years ago, too. I keep them stacked together,

For the first time, since early November, she was able to drive again and we headed out to the local craft chain store. We stopped for our coffee and toast along the way. We had a great time!

So, there are lot of things to contemplate here: patience, endurance, discipline, friendship, creativity and a desire...a desire to create no matter how difficult it has been due to pain. Thank you Carol, I treasure this art!

On another note, snow flurries turned to inches of snow yesterday. Now we are in a serious cold spell with a wind chill values expected to be below zero for a few days. When my husband left in the dark this morning, the locks on his car were frozen. Such is New England.

Happy weekend...

enjoy the day!

Bookz...

My friend and I decided to make books for each other as our next swap. The book would be made from six tags and assembled with a cover.

We chose summer as a theme and decided that the back and front of the tags would be decorated and that we would make two sets so we would each own a book in the end. (One of the problems with swapping regularly is that we have very little of our own art in our homes.) The theme is "summer."

When we were planning this, we didn't take into account that six tags times two sides equals twelve images PLUS a cover page finished on both sides. I used my original art which I had scanned and then shrunk to size and printed. The result was the mini collages below. I added paper, rubber stamping and fiber.



Then those 14 images would be made by twice resulting in 28 completed tags. Whew!


We have now decided to do another book but haven't decided on the format yet. We are leaning towards just as many pages and possibly using nature as a theme again. Involved? Yes! But, I am glad that I have a book to keep. Maybe next time I will make three and sell one.

Tomorrow I am off to Brimfield to the HUGE flea market. It doesn't appear that it will be too hot and there is no rain in the forecast. I may or may not take a camera. My friends and I usually walk around at least 6 hours --and we are not young chicks! I usually get so caught up in the wonder of the place that I forget to take photos. So, see you in a day or two. In the meantime,

stay creative...

and enjoy the day!

It's raining again....

It seems to be raining every day, although the sun makes rare cameo appearances upon occasion. Lately we have been having violent thunderstorms during the night. Last night was quite scary for an hour with heavy lightning and very loud thunder.

A few weeks ago, I made this sunflower collage to swap with a friend. Once again, we used the 4 inch canvases. The themes was summer. I used copies of my original sunflower art for my collage. Of course, I added some stamping, painting and other embellishments to add interest. It was hard to get a good photo at the time since it was raining and not at all sunny. It was also took a long time to dry.


Despite the rain, real sunflowers are blooming everywhere, and it is absolutely beautiful in New England. I remember other years when it was really dry and dusty in July. This particular summer reminds me of summers long ago...when curling up with a good book in the rain was a welcome respite from the heat. It still is.

Enjoy the day...

Enjoy the weather!

Art projects....

Chugging along here with art projects. My friend and I exchanged "button fairies" as part of our weekly challenge/swap with each other. They seem to be all over the Internet at the moment--and easy project made with buttons, wire and an image for the head made from card stock. I used a pipe cleaner and vintage buttons on the one I made.


We also exchanged little collages. In some of the craft stores, they sell canvases for $1.00. They have printed images on them for painting and are 4" x 4". We cover the canvases with gesso and use them for our small works of art. A money saver compared to art canvases for collage work. The little birthday cake was fifteen cents in the markdown bin. They look nice together in this photo.



My birdhouses are going to be on sale in a show in a couple of weeks so I have been working on them right along. Tried to photographic some of them outdoors since it has been very overcast lately. Have made quite a number of these--this is just a sample.


Yesterday I fell behind because I was following a robbery that happened in a town near my daughter and ended up in her neighborhood. The armed robbers shot at police and then abandoned their vehicle in the town where she and her husband and children live.

One of them invaded home and held a lady captive but didn't injure her. The second suspect was apprehended last night. The elementary schools were locked down and it was quite a long and scary afternoon. It ended okay with nobody being harmed. There are more and more bank robberies in our state as the economy declines. It is very worrisome on so many levels.

Much catching up to do today. Still have laundry and housework from last week when we were away from the house so much.

Whatever you do...

enjoy your day!

"Arty thingz".....all with red!

In an earlier post I mentioned purchasing a painting. It's a rendition of Motif #1 by the artist Charles Stupele. He passed away a few years ago at age 96 and was painter in the Gloucester /Cape Ann area. I took the photo in the shop where we bought it. We are framing it with a newer smaller frame. Every time we look at it we will be whisked away to a summer day out on Bearskin Neck, Cape Ann, where we frequently visit.

A few weeks ago I made a Valentine wall hanging to swap with my paper artist friend. It was hard to get a good photo due to the fact it was so many shades of red and had metallic paper that bounced light. I photographed it for reference for future paper art.



I saved the best for last! See the photos with the white mouse in them? That is Blanche Souris, a mouse I needle felted recently. Blanche is no bigger than a real mouse. In her hand is a very TINY Valentine!. On the table is a wee envelope. Both were made by the talented Mrs. Staggs . Some of her readers traded Valentine's with her. What she made is just plain wonderful! Thank you, Lena!


I just noticed the painting of a girl in red behind the doll house. (The doll house is really a CD holder that I painted.) I have always enjoyed the many variations on the girl paintings and bought this artist's rendition at an auction a while ago. The original painter of these girls was Ammi Phillips who was from CT and painted them in the early 1800's.

Do you have any color themes going on in your life right now? I didn't realize there was so much red around here lately. I have mentioned this before that I don't live in a baby pink and blue world. Deep earth tones abound here.

Have a colorful day!

Sketchbook Wednesday....tomorrow

Tomorrow is Sketchbook/journal Wednesday with Mrs. Staggs.

She left us to our own devices this week, so I started my page during my adventure (NOT!) on Saturday. We "went digital" here: TV, net, phone (which is now referred to as "voice"). The installation took 5 hours. Hank ( 3 pounds, 7 ounces) does not like strangers in the house and certainly not one moving furniture and carrying in boxes of equipment.

So, we were sequestered in one area of the house for the better part of five hours. I started doodling and the page above is the result. I added some extra embellishments the next day. It is a POOR layout but was a fun page for me.

We are still trying to get everything digital fully operational and we have a huge stack of electrical stuff here that we pulled off old equipment. Our old phones sounded awful so we bought digital phones. Now I must learn how to use them and also a quirky remote control. It took me years to figure out the old remote controls! My head is filled with NEW STUFF and I have never mastered the old stuff.

Tech support and I are now having an affair and the affair is not over. Tomorrow I will spend a more time seeking answers to the unknowable.

So, tonight I post my page for Wednesday. When I happen to be around here tomorrow, I am sure I will be on hold on my fact finding mission Wish me luck!

Happy Wednesday!

Sometimes I like to mix dolls and art. A few years ago I was able to photograph a Walker doll at a doll show with permission by the seller. It was not the best photo due to poor lighting . I decided to crop it, print it off and make a collage on simple cardboard and paint over it. It is hard to tell from this scan of the collage, but there are many layers of paper and paint. It is a small collage about 7 inches square. I made changes with color and tried to enhance the image by adding components that I have seen in other photos of I.W. dolls.

Recently I have been drawing and painting a lot of dolls that are ATC size. I sell prints of them from time to time at doll club and also donate them for our clubs auctions and raffles. Fun! (Please note, this is copyrighted art.)