New Book Assemblage

Passion Flower

I finished her earlier this week.

In preparation for a winter of book work I gathered up 15 books I plan on working in/on over the next few months. I drilled and cut books for a full day....and have an aching wrist to show for it.

I'll be taking a day or two off to help my hand return to normal.

Perhaps I'll use the time to look for more "stuff" this weekend at various antique markets.

Card Theme Week

I rearranged all my paper racks so that I could review what I have in stock. I know that I will be getting a new Dove of the East paper line soon. I decided to use some of the papers I already have and a "theme week" began.

From the Japan Journey papers I created these cards.

From the India Journey papers.

I couldn't have picked a better week to use papers from around the world. It is snowy and grey here and these papers sure brightened up my studio!

Mark Montano Urban Corsage Project

The Eclectic Glue Company had a very fun post on their blog last week. I popped by to take a look at their new eco friendly glue Ecoglue. I could use a non toxic glue in my studio.

So while I was there I popped by their blog and there he was! Mark Montano hosting a crafting event at the Sundance Film Festival. How much fun did he have? Mark wrote The Big Ass Book of Crafts which I have already mentioned on my blog. (I put a link to it today at the side of the blog entry.)

The blog showcased a really cool cuff/corsage project that Mark was demoing.

All the instructions are there. And the most amazing sample. I just had to make one.

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I was inspired by Mark's corsage piece which used a very pretty looking wool fabric. I have this pink and black wool in my stash...so I cut a piece based on his instructions. Then I gathered a few odds and ends that might go with the cuff.

Mark suggested using buttons or Velcro. I choose the Velcro...because I had some and it is pink. This entire project can be done just using the glue...but since I have a sewing machine I started stitching randomly.

I used some vintage sari beaded ribbon. I only had a small piece, so this is an ideal showcase for it. The finished cuff is so soft. I followed the instructions to use two pieces of wool...so the inside is nicely finished. Now I have to just decide on the corsage part.

But now I need some input.
Since I am going to glue the final embellishment in place...I can't decide which I like the best. Will you leave me a comment voting?

Idea 1. Thick felt flower (large) with button.

Idea 2. A sari fabric button.

Idea 3. Crazy pink flower I cut from a finished piece I have.

Idea 4. Thick (smaller) pink flower with rhinestone centre.

Let me know which one you would wear!!!

All Quiet In My World

This has been a very productive week for me. I have enjoyed reading the blogs of friends who are at the big Craft and Hobby show in Anaheim. There are reports of new products, fun displays and reunions that are fun to read about. I touched base with Doveen the owner of Dove of The East. I can't wait to see the new paper and ribbon lines she launched this week at the show. All I know is two words. Shanghai and Paris. CAN'T WAIT! I have been selling Dove of The East in my store since she started her company.

My world is very quiet in comparison and I have a new pile of snow insulating me from the outside world. The card production in always ongoing. These are two from yesterday. I really like the HOPE tree.

Felted Leaf Sprite

I ordered this tiny sprite on Etsy during the holidays and completely forgot all about it. I love when a present for me arrives in the mail! It's teeny tiny...just 2 inches tall. It came on a cord necklace, but I want to keep it on its own. I just need the right box or container to showcase it in. It's just the sort of item I want to put in my revolving jewelery display case.

Napoleon Book Assemblage

A few of you may have noticed that I have another blog dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. They already got a sneak peak of this art piece since it is Napoleon related. The Bottle Cap Coronation.

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I had a few things left to do before I considered it finished though. I managed to get to it this weekend. The piece features "The Coronation" by David. I used it three times. It is in the small insert, on the main page of the book and cut up into the bottle caps.

The bottle caps and wiring them together took up the most time. At one point I thought of keeping the bottle cap coronation for a necklace....

The Coronation painting by David is my favorite. I never get tired of staring into it. And visiting and seeing it in person is still a thrill annually.

I want to complete ten more book assemblages before the Spring Show. Its a goal I am certain I can meet.

My Ranger Project For CHA

I am so happy to share images of a project I worked on over the holidays. It was hard to keep it a secret! I was asked to participate in a Ranger Design Challenge. The results are all being showcased at the Ranger booth for the Craft and Hobby Show which started in Anaheim yesterday.

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We were given Claudine Hellmuth's paint line, gel medium and her stickyback canvas to work with. Included in the challenge box was a cardboard base. We were also given size restrictions.
This challenge was to assemble "your own designer dwelling, creative casa, artistic abode, hellmuth house, or whatever house your creativity builds."
My house is "The House Marie Antoinette Would Have Built If She Had Met Frida Kahlo."

I have already been working with Claudine's paint line...I love it. The canvas flowers just showcased the beautiful colour range in her line. The flowers and leaves are all made from sticky-back canvas attached to felt. Then I added some little embellishments and my picture image.

I am really looking forward to seeing the other houses which various artist submitted. Suze is planning to showcase them on her blog this week. I bet the Ranger booth will be as busy as usual. They have such an amazing line of art supplies and with so many inhouse designers their demonstration tables are always six people deep. I'll miss seeing everyone this year, but at least a small part of me is at the convention afterall.

Now. Here's a peak at what all the beading gang was up to this week!

About.com Jewelry Making How are your 2009 jewelry resolutions going so far? Are you staying focused? Take this quick poll and see the results tabulated so far.
Art Bead Scene Have a few art bead pieces you'd like to enter in a contest? ABS has a list of the current competitions accepting entries.
Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi makes a fun denim ribbon corsage in under 30 minutes!
Carter Seibels for Divali Glass Jewelry A double dose of Divali Glass Jewelry: The Winter Sale starts on Saturday! And Carter is now selling her loose beads on Bead Trust.
Jennifer Jangles Blog Jennifer shows off her new packaging for some of her beads.
Jewelry & Beading Jamee Jones shares her gorgeous Hawaii-inspired jewelry!
Snap Out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean flips for a jewelry book inspired by the Impressionists! Strands of Beads Melissa gets inspired by a quote from Pascal.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew talks about and shares a little bit about his obsession with opalescent glass. Get a sneak-peek at his horde!

Trayful of Resin

I have run out of interesting embellishments. I had a bunch of bezels from the old K and Company jewelery kits. Instead of making a bracelet or a necklace, I have broken up the kits to make sentiment attachments. I think the Happy Birthday came out really nice. The gold bezels are from purchases made long ago. I finally finished using up that group.

Fridas

There aren't many people who can say today that they had dinner at Frida Kahlos last night.

But I can say I did!

It's not often that I venture into Toronto anymore. Living north of the city means I refer to Toronto folk as 416ers. That's the area code for Toronto. I joke that I have to pack a lunch if I drive in.

It's twenty minutes away.

But drive I did when I got a really nice invitation.

Shoshonna invited me to dinner at FRIDA, a new restaurant that is getting rave reviews.

Frida Kahlo speaks the truth in her paintings. Her rawness inspired our native Mexican Chef to draw from his roots and give to the people the essence of the Mexico he knows.

After reading that, I knew that this girl on a diet had to make the sacrifice and head into the big city. Even more of an incentive. FRIDA has one of my altered books. I was curious to see where it was hung....and sure enough, it was in a great spot..all alone on a wall next to the bar. I couldn't be happier.

Did I mention how fantastic the food was? We shared all three of our plates and completely enjoyed everything. The service was absolutely perfect!

Wanting to prolong our evening, we ordered coffee. To be specific, decaf coffee.

You know how decaf is usually the worst cup in the house? (I always think they are serving regular anyway.)

But decaf at FRIDA was special. I just had to tell them. It was the best cup of coffee ever!

Our waitress happily informed me that the chef imported the beans and roasted them. He adds special ingredients to make a spectacular pot of coffee. I could smell the cinnamon and nutmeg...but there must have been a few other secret ingredients. I would stop in just for a big cup of coffee if the restaurant was anywhere in my neck of the woods.

So Toronto friends....make a reservation and enjoy this new restaurant.

(And feel free to invite me along.)

30 Minute Ribbon Corsage

I have always collected broaches. I love them all. But, I am starting to really like the ones I make myself the best. This corsage really took less than 30 minutes to make!

A few weeks ago I added this fab denim ribbon to my web store. The girls were asking what I planned to do with it. With the embellishment already done...making a little bracelet would take moments. I had another idea I wanted to try first however.

I ran the ribbon through my machine using the widest stitch possible. This is a running stitch. When you pull one of the two threads (top or bottom) you can create fast, but even gathers. I didn't measure anything!

I felt like I might need a second colour, and this ribbon has been waiting for me to use for some time. I stitched through this piece with the same long stitches.

Gathering the ruffles is so simple! You pull one of the threads and you can immediate create these circular shaped ribbons. All I had to do was then stitch these gathered edges down on a piece of felt. I did the denim circle first and then the blue edging was sewed last.

I covered up all my stitches with a second piece of felt and also sewed on the bar pin.

My corsage went right onto my jean jacket!

Now I am going to make some corsages which will go onto a card series.

New Cards

With all the TV watching yesterday I didn't feel like working on the baby cards. So I gave myself a little challenge. This pale blue and washed out pink paper was cut and on my desk for a LONG time. I would set it up with something, but the colours wouldn't blend and eventually the paper set went into the "next time pile." It really is not a colour palette I use...but last year I decreed that "use or or lose it" would rule in the studio. If I pick it up, and can't find a use for it right away, it goes into the give-a-way box. The papers called to me at some point, so yesterday I proved I could use them. Phew. Saved.

This is a close up of another set I made yesterday. The fabulous hand stitching was saved from a set of napkins. The felt embellishment I purchased.

CNN Day

This should be my last week dedicated to making baby cards for the Spring Show.

I have made some I really like too!

Today however I wonder if I will get my quota done.

I plan to have CNN on all day.

That always distracts me. I am also going to see where Claudine is as she checks in via Twitter (she lives in Washington).

I love all the details and the behind the scenes planning that they report on. How they manage to pull off such a massive event is amazing.

I am really looking forward to Obama's speech.

Snow and More Snow

Having a cup of coffee before heading into the studio this morning.
My world is very snow covered.
I thought I might create a white card series today...if I can find any white paper in my stash.
Shovelling is not easy anymore. The hills are too high to just toss the snow...so we have to lift it to a new area.
We only have a few areas to clear ourselves...but our four legged buddy needs a path so he doesn't drown in two feet of snow in the backyard..so we have been walking the same route all around the back to create a path. He's so smart. He follows right along.
All I keep saying to Shamus is "stay on the path."
Stay on the path.
Stay on the path.
Positive reinforcement techniques for the snowbound.

Frozen Charlottes

I have a 50% off sale in my Etsy store this month. I am almost out of several of the dolls sizes now. I had a great time sorting and packing many this week. I usually mail them in a little felt pouch in a bubble wrap envelope. They have travelled many miles this way. Last week I shipped a slightly larger order so I decided to pack them all in a special wooden box. The box being a nice addition to the order, I thought. Sure enough. The dolls in the box were broken! All I can think is that a postal worker must have used my parcel as a soccer ball. Canada Post does not do refunds for bisque...so when they are gone...they are really gone.

If you are snowed in like I am and want to spend a little time online, here's a look at what the bead gang was up to this week.

About.com Jewelry Making Jazz up a necklace with a unique focal point or add it to a simple chain for an instant necklace. Pendants have lots of possibilities, and Tammy has some projects to get you started making them.
Art Bead Scene Do you have a book inside you but not sure you could work with an editor? Consider self publishing. Take a look at the lovely results from one beadmaker who did!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Barbe reviews Junk to Jewelry & Vintage Redux books.
Bead & Button Magazine Ann Dee, editor of Bead&Button Magazine, invites beaders to enter the Bead Dreams competition.
Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi stuffs some yo yos to make a fabulously light necklace!
Carter Seibels for Divali Glass Jewelry Carter looks back at Divali Glass Jewelry designs come and gone, and sees the similarities in her creative style over time.

Jennifer Jangles Blog Jennifer shows off what's new for Valentine's Day at Jangles.

Jewelry & Beading Jennifer shows off what's new for Valentine's Day at Jangles.
Jewelry & Beading Stamping and beads? The best of both worlds!
Katie's Beading Blog Beads, Baubles & Jewels is back for its fifth year. This week Katie shares what's coming up in the new season. Check it out!
Strands of Beads Give your found-object jewelry a new twist by using cute Japanese trinkets.

Vintage Jewelery Display

This is what Overthere Boy gave me for Christmas this year!

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When we saw it in the antique store we did what everyone else does when they see it.

We pushed the button to watch the long shelves go round and round. I have no idea why that amuses so many people. The shelves are empty. But spin it backwards and then forwards we did.

Sighing, the salesperson said everyone did that.

They were hoping to sell the unit before people burned out the moter.

He was talking to the right folks! A deal was struck and before you knew it the spinning display was loaded into our truck.

I plan to wash and reline all the little shelves today with new felt and then clean the glass and wood.

I don't plan to make it spin too much...I'll feel a lot better when an electrician has replaced the cord.

I just can't wait to fill all the shelves!

I am not sure what I'll put in there yet...but it will be a revolving art display for sure!

Ribbon Basket

I met up with friends for a dinner last night. Since there was a birthday coming up, I thought it would be nice to handdeliver my gift a little early. My friend loves and uses ribbon...so I made this happy basket up for her.

Stuffed Yo Yo Beads

Does this group of objects appeal to you?

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If it does, you might be rummaging through your fabric stash in a moment.

Earlier this week I showed you some fabric beads I was making. I had a three hour block of TV time to get through the next night, so I decided to embellish them with some beads. Doesn't this look like a yummy box of candy?

I have mentioned on this blog on more than one occasion that I love yo yos. I love making them! (In fact, if you enter yo yo on the search engine above...you'll go to all my yo yo entries!) Ordinarily, you just sew the edge of a circle and then flatten the fabric. BUT. While you have an opening, you can stuff them! My first attempts looked like cauliflower....but eventually they all just made themselves.

Clover sells many fabulous yo yo makers. I think they are responsible for bringing back the yo yo.
Anyway, I saw a necklace on one of their pamphlets which really appealed to me. On closer inspection, I noticed that they had stuffed the yo yos. SO EASY!! The necklace looked so beautiful that I just had to make one. I had to laugh out loud this morning when I looked for a link to Clover for you. They have a PDF you can download to make your own necklace!

At first, I just strung the finished stuffed yo yo beads. The necklace looked like a lei...and I have no invitations to Hawaii right now.

I prefer the necklace doubled up and shorter. Did I mention how light it is? I added two huge pearls I had for a little variety. This was a very satisfying project. I didn't have to buy a thing!

Deep Freeze Production

With my part of the world under an extreme freeze alert I felt the need for a little sunshine. These button pendants are made from some of the rescued linens I have been buying. I can't resist the little hand sewn flowers.

My baby card production continues. This is a small grouping featuring a bunny embellishment I made with fabric and felt. I try not to use pastel colours only when I work on my baby cards...but to be honest, they do sell quicker than non traditional colours.

Working

I am experimenting with these.

I'll have a big entry later this week!