winter fantasy......winter reality

I am a member of great group called "cloth and clay dolls" and this is my contribution to the current "winter fantasy" challenge! I really enjoyed the process but have a lot to learn about crafting a complete figure! Adding the melted beeswax as a finish on the paperclay was fun though. I've had the wings kicking around the studio for bit. In think it's been a year since I made them, but they found a good home. Check out the full round of submissions for this challenge by visiting http://clothclaydolls.ning.com/group/winterfantasy/

theme and variations II

This is the giveaway bag all assembled! It is off in the mail to Ziggy who opted to have me stitch it up for her! I'm always up for some sewing. Check out Ziggy's website at http://ziggysemporium.blogspot.com/ and watch here for onefinepencil's February giveaway!



check this out! a great giveaway via lori anderson

http://lorianderson.blogspot.com/2011/01/metal-stamp-giveaway.html
I love to pound things flat, bottle caps, odd pieces of wire, old metal buckles, but I've yet to do any stamping! Well, if I don't win this cool letter stamp set from impress art, I think I will have to buy a set!

I also love Lori's piece on teaching a jewelry making class, time for me to find a venue to share what I love! Thanks for the inspiration Lori!

Hedgie is done, and the winner of "a chance to win" is.............

I really wanted to feature the grommets that are part of the decorator fabric samples this bag is fashioned from and use them in the closure. I ended up making toggle buttons from pieces of wooden dowel and running ribbon through the grommets, toggle buttons and back through the grommets again. It worked out quite nicely!

and the winner of the bag kit is....... Ziggy Stardust!   Send me your mailing address Ziggy! Thank you to everyone who commented here and on creatingthehive.com  and watch for a fun February giveaway next!

bag zen

Eventually I will run out of half finished scrap bag projects! I couldn't resist adding a few little umbrellas to the back of this one fashioned from a favorite pair of velvet pants that had seen their better days! The front is pieced from ends left from a soft fabric box I made last year (pictured below).



city of mystery

Another scrap bag project. The cityscape reminds me of places I visited during an exchange student year in Turkey. I have been finishing up a number of pieced and appliqued projects hanging around the studio recently. Time for some fresh ideas!

Golden Book Recycle

When I found this Little Golden Book "Ten Little Animals" in a free bin there was only about two  thirds of it still intact. Unfortunately the story suffers for the missing portion, but the illustrations are so adorable and remind me of growing up in the Adirondak Park in NYS, so I decided to recycle it into several projects. Here's the first of those that are completed! The owl pins are one inch punch outs modpoged and easy cast on vintage buttons with added pin backs. The sweet little birchwood box was a dollar bin find from Michaels with a two inch punch out also finished with modpodge. The oval image was also cut with a punch tool (I love the Fiskars brand because you can see the image you will get as you punch it out). The oval badge was placed in embossing metal cut with pinking shears, set grommets and coated with easycast acrylic resin. You should plan on coating your graphics with modpodge or other medium before gluing or sealing with easy cast or you might get bleed through from the other side of a book page.  I'd love to see what you're recycling, so send me links to your "second life" posts!

hedgie goes a hunting

More to come on this project, but could not resist sharing my mushroom hunting hedgehog!

theme and variations (and a chance to win!)

 

The front of this bag is pieced entirely from scraps from other projects. I couldn't stand to toss them because they are some of my favorite prints. Added a little machine quilting using my favorite bamboo batting and silk thread, rat tail strap finished with vintage beads from a necklace I bought at a rummage sale when I was ten. Nancy supplied me with an endless quantity of invisible zippers (which I do not bother to install very invisibly) and the bag is complete!

Leave a comment on this post before January 15th and I will draw one name and send a kit with all the parts and pieces you will need to make your very own theme and variations bag!

happy happy birthday nancy!

More fun with crazers! a birthday bracelet for Nancy, made from a biscuit crazer, beads, elastic cord, and a closure made from plastic clips found in the office supply section of our local big box.  Who knew, you can punch and set grommets in those clips! I made packaging for this sweet little b'day gift using the box the clips came in, with cutouts from the crazer package. If you haven't seen crazers yet just find a tween and ask them them! They will clue you in right after they tell you about silly bands!