Day 24: Eye Mask

Day 24: Eye Mask.  I started putting together a single face made up of parts from separate faces.

But I kept finding more unique eyes to use, so shifted my plan to create several sets of eyes.

As I paired up eyes, I saw how they looked  like Mardi Gras, Carnival or harlequin masks, and started embellishing them.  This is the results.

The eyes are all different shapes, colors and sizes.

Rem pointed out that on the dark background it looked as if women with elaborate makeup and jewelry were looking out from behind veils and chadors.

That wasn’t my original concept, but I can see that in the finished spread.

This is what I came up with last year on Day 24: Buttermilk Lace Pancakes.  Try some – it’s a delicious recipe even if you don’t make them lacy.

In 2011 on Day 24 I had the day off: Gnome Makes File Folders from Calendar Pages. Check it out!

Thank you for stopping on by.

Day 23: Skyclad

Day 23: Skyclad.  “Andrew was happy he wasn’t the only one skyclad.”

I’d never seen the term “skyclad” until I read “May run skyclad through the neighborhood” in a friend’s Facebook update in honor of the Solstice.  It stuck in my head and this spread came to be. (Thank you, John Eastman).

I have since learned that Skyclad is the name of a British heavy metal band and also refers to ritual nudity in paganism.

Though I created these pages with a sense of humor, I think the term itself is very poetic. Clothed in the sky.

As for you, John, I just say “sunscreen”.

For Day 23 last year I crafted this pretty Crepe Paper Flower.

The previous year, my Day 23 project was Sunprint-Paper & Packing Tape Transfers on Decoupage Boxes.  It was featured on Freshly Pressed and garnered my greatest number of readers ever.

Thank you to all of you who’ve stuck around reading, commenting and supporting my blog and to those who started prior to that and of course every single one of you, whenever you discovered my posts.  You are all very much appreciated!

Day 22: Shine On

Day 22: Shine On. This happy salute to summer is my take on this poster I saw on Pinterest.

When I started, I decided the blue “sky” background was brighter than I wanted.  I wish I’d had light blue and aqua tissue paper.  But it looked kind of cool with the empty circle in the middle.

I added white tissue paper to tone soften the blues.  Than I added the sun in the middle.

Then I forgot to take any more pictures of the process.  So this is the finished project.

Searching for words I wanted to use took some time.  Other words I put together with a great sticker set that I received from my friend, Lisa (thanks, Lis!)  It’s perfect for this.

Yes, chocolate IS like a ray of sunshine in my life.

Last year my Day 22 project was Water Marbled Nails.

I did Fabric Covered Notebooks the year before that.

Thank you for stopping by.

Day 15: Taj Mahal Kiss

Day 15: Taj Mahal Kiss.  I started this spread yesterday. My sister was generous with her folders of images and had already given me the Taj Mahal picture.

The item that really inspired this spread though was this.

Magenta Ink.

When I was leafing through Kathleen’s pictures, I found this image of the beautiful sari-clad woman happily receiving a kiss from her turbaned beau. That image, the Taj Mahal and a carpet and some tiles I had pictures of along with bright magenta, celadon, and turquoise inks and I just needed to start gluing.

Kathleen also had the silver paisley embellishments.  So – thank you for sharing your goodies!

Today, at the Collage Cafe at Kentucky Girl Designs, I completed the pages with a stamped ink medallion, a little teal ink around the larger silver paisley embellishment, and a few adhesive jewels.

Fifteen days done, fifteen to go!

Last year on Day 15:  Notecards with Lined Envelopes

And the year before that? Glass Marble Magnets

I started two great pages at the Collage Cafe.  Visit tomorrow to see the first one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 13: Venus at the Spa

Day 13: Venus at the Spa.  When I go to a spa and have several luxurious treatments, I know I don’t look like Venus.  But I feel so relaxed and pampered, all massaged and buffed and polished that I come out feeling like a new me.  Like I’ve just stepped out of my shell.

I’m going to make an appointment for a relaxing visit to Imperial Day Spa next week.  It will be a lovely treat.

After soaking in a jacuzzi, sweating in a steam room, and relaxing in a sauna, I will be scrubbed and massaged.

My skin will be silky smooth.  But I won’t look like this.

But I will feel like a goddess.

On Day 13 last year I was tired out and so created this Vegcycle while playing with my vegetables at the dinner table.

The year before I also created something pretty quick and easy: A Covered Match Box and Candle Set.

Thanks for your visit.

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 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 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.