Day 12: Hand Made

Day 12: Hand Made.

Another collage – some of the details include these little gestures.  It’s good to remember that our hands can convey many meanings, including some we may not intend.  In fact, looking at these pictures after posting them, I can see something that I didn’t intend at all: the hand on the right, made from a collage of hand pictures, looks a little like an anatomical picture of the muscles and inside “parts” of a hand..so pink and meaty. It’s all a collage of other hands.

Do you recognize these hands?

I love hand made things!

A year ago, I made this nifty String Jar on Day 12.

Two years ago, I crafted a Needle Felted Placemat.

What do you hand-make?

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 11: White On White

Day 11: White On White.

Simple objects from my crafting desk, and from around the house , glued atop the page.  For the heavier items, I used E6000 adhesive.  Tombow adhesive worked for the tag, stamps, burlap scrap, and felt flowers

For most spreads I glue three pages together on each side so they’re really sturdy.  For this one I glued 4 pages on each side.

I envisioned the familiar items all in white on a white background so you would just see the shape and texture.

I don’t have any white paint so I was using Gesso.

Last year Day 11’s project were these Button Rings.

The first year I did 30DOC, I made this epic Minature Paper Dress on day 11.

Come back tomorrow and see what I come up with!

Day 10: Collaged Coffee Cup Sleeve

Day 10: Collaged Coffee Cup Sleeve.  You know those little cardboard sleeves you can pick up to protect your hand from the hot cup of coffee or tea? They’re so disposable.

I picked up a few the other day.  I don’t even drink coffee but I saw the stack of them and remembered seeing some that had been collaged.  I love collage and this was a small scale project.

A hike after work meant I did some crafting during breaks at work today and finished it up after the hike, dinner and a shower.

I used  Golden Fluid Matte Medium, but I think Mod Podge would also work.

Thin paper, magazine pages, printed napkins, origami paper are all good choices for this project.  I included some used postage stamps and security envelope linings.  I even used some card stock scraps.  By running it over a bone folder or the dull side of a scissor blade repeatedly, the card stock can be distressed and the paper peeled into two, thinner layers.  Thinner paper worked better for this small project.

After the little sleeve is covered, let it dry. Glue any corners that may need a little extra help adhering.  Then trim down the paper around the edge.  I was going to fold it over the edge and glue to the inside, but realized it might not slide onto the cup.

You want it to go on the cup!  The cup is too hot.

I’m going to give my decorative Java Jackets to friends.  I think they might keep them and reuse them.

A little water-soluble oil crayon finished the edge.  I added a few little sparkly stickers.

Perhaps they would work as big cuff bracelets.  I didn’t want to put my big hand all the way through – I thought I might break one.

Views from the hike:

And that tower at the top of the hill.

In 2012 for Day 10 I made this: Vegetable Potato Salad.

The year before I took a picture of a Toaster with Neon Flames.

Thank you for your visit and support with this 30 day challenge!

Day 9: Let the Beauty You Love, Be What You Do

Day 9: Let the beauty you love, be what you do.

My desk had become crazy messy with all the crafting I’m doing. My work space was shrinking as more supplies made their way to the desktop and the layers of paper, pens, glue sticks, scissors, brushes, embellishments, rubber stamps crept into the little empty place in the center.  Before I started crafting today, I spent 30 minutes putting away tools and supplies I wasn’t using and organizing (re-stacking) stuff I planned to use today.

As I sorted through the flotsam and jetsam, collecting little scraps and interesting bits, I saw that I was halfway to getting a spread assembled. I had a quote from Rumi scribbled on an envelope, a glittery bit of trim cut off an old calendar page but saved for it’s sparkling possibilities, a heart-shaped stencil with interesting paint smears and a pretty crescent moon that my sister let me snag from her collection of images.

I decided to use these in a page and knew I’d be using the beautiful image of a purple bottle I’ve been wanting to include.  It is too tall for my book,  but I love how it looks, so just made a little fold-out flap to include it.

The butterfly and heart scraps were leftovers from previous projects and with a few more scraps from the pile, a great photo from a magazine of a painting of Mt. Tam, some paint and a few more embellishments, my spread for Day 9 was just about done.

I got everything glued in place and carefully wrote out the quote from Rumi.

I had started with a small, paper key but liked this metal one better so I switched it out and added a little sparkly dot.  A heart charm dangles down from the flap.

Dianne Dots were the finishing touch.

I also made two more birthday cards to get my mom stocked up.

The bird came from the same old calendar as the little glittery border I used in my Art Journal.  Thanks, Shook!

Both of these cards used paper and embellishments that were already out on my desk.

If I took a picture of it now you probably wouldn’t believe that I’d cleaned it up, but I know that it is much better than it was.

Last year for Day 9 of 30 Days of Creativity I made these pretty Glass Tile Pendants.

The year before that I made a pair of Pink Glass Earrings.

Thanks for coming on by.

Day 8: Batch of Birthday Cards

Day 8: Batch of Birthday Cards. I think I’m in an orange phase!  Instead of pages in my Art Journal, I had a request from my mom for some birthday cards. She said she needed some “quick and easy” cards. The first two cards have some of the same techniques and feeling of the journal pages I’ve been creating.

The Orange and Blue Card, above, was followed by a Blue and Orange Card.

I was trying to do some cards that would be good for giving to guys.

Next I did two with retro stamp designs.  An old-fashioned Victrola…

And an old-fashioned typewriter.

I was getting tired but found a piece of paper leftover from an old project that was already stamped with designs, so I made one last card: the Bird Birthday card.

Last year for Day 8 I baked these: Cardamom Pecan Cookies.

The previous year I made these: Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Thanks for stopping by. Do come back tomorrow to see what I make next!

Day 7: Orange Makes Me Happy!

Day 7: Orange Makes Me Happy!  After the Day 6 Mosaic Poppies (that I did today), I needed and wanted to do something FAST!

I decided to do a page on Orange.  I started at 8:17 PM.

I used the first exercise from Virginia Simpson-Magruder’s workshop that I took recently.  She guided us through these steps.

I glued 3 pages together (one set of three was already glued from the previous spread).  This is to give the pages extra support for the various mediums that will be used on them.

I took a Sharpie and wrote on the page about a color, in this case: O R A N G E.  I wrote: “Orange makes me HAPPY!  It’s sunny, bright, cheerful and looks great with blue.”

Than I used water soluble oil crayons and stamp pads to color the pages.

Next I used a wet paint brush to swirl the color together and really cover the paper.  Than I used a heat tool to dry the pages.

Next step is to find images for the spread.  I’ve got a collection but I also have a stack of magazines and I took a quick look through a few magazines as well as through my container of images.

Obviously Virginia gave us guidelines for collecting images.  Take her class to learn more!  And, let me add, I wasn’t completely following her guidelines here.  Remember, I was going for speedy.  But essentially, it’s a good idea to rip out the pages that catch you eye.  Start your collection now.

Tear or trim the images to suit your vision and arrange them on the page.  When you are happy with the arrangement, glue them in place.

Add embellishments (in this case I added some washi tape) …

and any journaling you want.  I put “Orange Makes Me Happy!” inside the “O” in the “Hello”.

I added the date onto one of the mailboxes.

DONE! Yay. 8:47 PM.

It took longer for me to download the photos and put this post together!

Here is the delicious recipe I made last year for Day 7: Lemon Custard Ice Cream

Day 7 the year before resulted in Refrigerator Word Magnets

Thanks for the visit.

Day 6: Mosaic Poppies

Day 6, a little late, a mosaic of poppies. Pinterest was, once again, a source of inspiration.  I found this picture and followed the link back to Donna Downey’s awesome blog “Simply Me“.  Lots of yummy stuff to go look at later.

I love these Oriental Poppies and have taken pictures of them at Filoli Gardens:

And also at the Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael:

I used pictures pulled from magazines and from my stash of saved images (also mostly from magazines).  The poppies have petals made from blinds, dresses, art work and lips.

The flower centers are from a picture of lustrous dark hair and a black pen for the little details.

The green for the leaves and stems came mostly from ads that had leaves in them but also from some green jeans.

Most of the color for the background “tiles” was background in ads – sky, water, or just a pretty colored  background, but I also used several paint chips, some scrap-booking paper and a great purse.  Look carefully and you can see details like stitching (that’s the purse).

Somehow it is almost 8PM and I haven’t started the spread for today! Yikes.

Here is the Day 6 project from last year: Shrinky Dink Rings (Fail II)

Day 6 the year before was: Infused Oil

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 5: Paper Moon

Day 5: Paper Moon.  This is my take on a page that caught my eye on Pinterest. It is from the blog “La Chaquetita de Punto”  but I don’t know who the artist is.

I collected bits of paper with different text and numbers, the Periodic Table, some old pages from books including textbooks, music, a Scantron, a sky chart from an Astronomy book and more.  Some pieces were white so I dipped them in tea and let them dry.

During my lunch break, I collaged the background using Mat Medium .  After dinner I completed the skyline and finished with the moon.

For 2012, Day 5, I did this easy project: Tape Dispenser Before and After

In 2011, Day 5, I never got the hang of: Shrinky Dink Rings

I’m glad you checked out my blog today!

Day 4: Running Out Of Time

Day 4: Running Out Of Time.  I started this before going to work and it was a foggy morning.  The image of the woman caught my eye…

Than I  found the misty Venice picture.  It all pulled together when I found the hourglass which seemed to suit the timeless quality of Venice as well as the idea of time running out and the look of apprehension or concern on the woman’s face.

I completed the spread after my choir rehearsal, adding layers of paper and color.

Last year I made these: Double Sponged and Embossed Cards

The year before I made these: Pizza Bites

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 3: Give Me Wings

This joyful spread started with the image of the little girl.  In the magazine where I first saw her she was jumping into her dad’s arms in a swimming pool. On the very next page was the butterfly.  It wasn’t very hard to put those two pictures together in my mind and only a little more challenging making it all work on the page.

The phrase is from a song by Ali Burns, though the full verse we sing in choir has a more bluesy quality than this picture suggests.

I also went back to yesterday’s spread because I just wasn’t happy with it.  One of the things I like about an Art Journal is that it is pretty easy to change a spread.  You can pull something out, or paste something over.  Here is version two of Day 2:

This includes a postcard showing Pt. Montara Light Station which is where our hostel was located.

I added one seal photo, moved another, and removed two. Duarte’s Tavern is where we ate lunch in Pescadero.  We were quite hungry after our hike to see the seals and inhaled the shared burger and shared slice of blueberry pie which was served complete with a candle for Rem’s birthday. I was practically licking the plate clean before I even thought of taking a picture.

However, as it was his birthday, we had dessert (banana and Nutella crepe) with dinner (chicken, spinach, caramelized onion and Swiss cheese crepe) and I managed to capture that:

Last year’s Day 3: Icebox Cupcakes

Two year’s ago  for Day 3: Security Envelope Flower Card

I appreciate your visit and your comments.