Soldered Ornament

Now that I'm off my soap box from the post below, I can post the ornament I made last night for a collaborative gift for a friend. Everyone is making small ornaments to be put on a specially-made tree to thank her for all her work and support of a group we are in. (I can't say more as this is a surprise.)

I used an image from one of Kris Hubrick's digital collage sheets (check them out here at Retro Art Cafe) adding the handwritten "queen" for the front of the charm. The back has a piece cut from a Graphic 45 patterned paper called "Copacetic." The crossword pattern and cherries are part of the paper. I just added the words which I cut from an ad in a magazine - they were perfect and just the right size and color.

The charm was soldered and I then added a crown charm to the jump ring and tied on black and white polka dot ribbon. I love doing these soldered charms, but I need to practice more - adding the jump ring is the hardest part!

What you probably didn't know about plastic bags

I've been browsing the web this afternoon - too hot to do much else - and I've come across some things that fit right into my recycling nature.

Plastic bags - if you do any shopping at all, you know that these just seem to multiply. We even use them for doggie pick-up bags, but there are always more. I take them to the recycling boxes around town too.

Did you know:

that plastic bags are a petroleum product and, hence, increase our dependence on oil?

that 500 Billion to 1 Trillion(! ) of these are used worldwide each year?

that 100 Billion are used annually in the US alone?

that only 2% are recycled in the US and only 1% worldwide?

that it takes 450 to 1000 years for plastic bags to break down?

that it costs $.17 in San Francisco to "handle" each discarded bag, i.e. litter?

There's lots more unnerving information, but I think I've got your attention. So, PLEASE, recycle these things or, better yet, buy some earth-friendly reusable bags and take them with you every time you shop.

Now here are two women I found that are reusing plastic bags very creatively by upcycling them into handmade handbags! Check out this store in Milwaukee, Paper Boat, which features the crocheted purses of Cara Taylor. You can find out more about them and purchase them online at Cara Taylor Handbags here. And this gal, Kristin J, is doing the same thing, but knitting the bags. It takes about 50 bags to make each purse, so that's 50 more kept out of our landfills. (Disclaimer: I don't know either artist nor do I profit from this - I just find it very interesting!) And, if you send 50 colored bags to Cara (see more info on her site), she will make you a small change purse for free!

Here's another creative gal - and she's still a teenager to boot! She made her prom dress out of 101 recycled Skittles wrappers - and it's actually pretty cute! You can read about it and see photos here. Watch out "Project Runway" - this girl is creative!

Western 3" x 5"s

Here is my western-themed 3" x 5" for the upcoming retreat swap. I made 23 of these - one for each attendee. When they are all swapped, we will each have 23 different 3x5s to bind into a little fat book, either with rings or maybe the Bind-It-All. I can't wait to see all the other ones!

This little baby was way more time-consuming than I intended. Originally I was going to use the cowgirl stamp (Queen's Dresser Drawers) directly on a background, but it was too detailed to show up. So I then stamped it on cream cardstock with Adirondack Espresso ink and cut each one out. The words are also on this stamp, so I cut them out separately.

The background was made using Claudine Hellmuth's "peeled paint" technique where you paint one coat of acrylic paint (this is the blue layer above), then you generously swipe petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on this layer once it's dry. Immediately after adding the Vaseline you coat with another layer of acrylic paint in another color (creamy ivory above). Once this is dry you wipe it and the Vaseline acts as a resist - the paint will wipe off where the Vaseline was. If your project remains a little greasy, you can wipe it with a baby-wipe. I like how this technique gives a very aged look and you can use whatever colors you wish.

I tore a piece of bandana print paper for the bottom and glued on the stamped piece and the words. I covered the back with another piece of bandana print paper. To make sure everything stayed together and to also give some more texture, I sewed around all four sides with brown thread.

I didn't have enough of the barbed wire twill to do much, so I cut small pieces and stapled them to the upper right corner. I tore denim strips and tied through the conchos and used glue dots to attach.

Weekend of Art

I had a really productive weekend of art. I am almost finished a set of 23 western 3"x5" collages that will be swapped at the western retreat I'm attending later this month. I also made a soldered collage charm for a friend (well, I still have to solder it, but the collage work is done). I'll be posting these items in the next day or two.

I received the last altered book for the swap for my online group. This book is for Carol and her theme is "games." I finished two spreads today.

The first is "Fun and games - take time to play." For the background on this spread I swiped Rocket Red Brilliance ink straight from the inkpad directly on the pages. I triangle folded a center page so that it would form a pocket on the left page of the spread. I glued on two little plastic checker pieces so this pocket can be closed. I glued four star-shaped playing cards under the triangle. I made a diagonal cut across the next page and folded it in half toward the center of the book, forming a vertical pocket which holds a picture of a game board and directions for Triominoes. The right page has a tag attached which folds out for the word "play."

Since I am the last of four people to work in this book, I was at a loss as to what to do for the next spread, as it seemed that all the "games" had been used. Then I started thinking of ballgames and I came up with this baseball spread. The background was painted with a watery wash of green acrylic paint. On the left page I used a baseball printed paper and attached a copy of the song sheet cover for the song "Take me out to the ballgame." I sewed this on with red embroidery floss to mimic the stitching on the balls. The right page has two different baseball-themed papers with the lyrics of the song attached. The various words which are scattered mostly on the left page were cut from another patterned paper. I "tipped in" the Cracker Jack packaging and "prizes."

Still one more spread to do before the July 15th deadline!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all will have a wonderful day no matter what your plans are. In the spirit of the day, I made this patriotic tag yesterday to share with you today.

Western Assemblage

I'm part of an online group that has a "retreat" near here in Grapevine TX every summer that coincides with the Heirloom Productions Stamp Convention. This year 23 of us will attend in just a few weeks. Our "leader", Jeri, sets a theme every year and designs a book for us to work on. Several of us also present smaller projects.

This year the theme is "Western" and I will "teach" a small assemblage in the top of an Altoid mint tin. I was having trouble coming up with a central image for this piece until I went back to my mom's recently and was going through old family photos. Lo and behold, I came across this photo of my dad from the early 1940's. I knew instantly that I wanted to use it in my Western assemblage.

I rusted the tin with a two-part Rust Antiquing kit from Sophisticated Finishes. Then I added Cosmo Cricket "Amarillo" red paper, a torn piece of corrugated cardboard and a small piece of Wild West ribbon (from Michael's $1 spot last year). The rusty star is wired on through the two holes in the tin; a piece of twine was wound in a circle and tied with a torn strip of bandana print fabric; the boots are a decorative button with the shank removed; and a piece of "barbed wire" cording was glued in the upper left corner.

I hope everyone will enjoy this project.

Odds and ends

I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog lately. Alot of deadlines have just kinda crept up on me.

I finally finished my huge sewing project for my friend, Debbie. I delivered the very last pillow today! Once she gets the four valances hung I will try to get a photo of the whole ensemble to post.

Yesterday was a fun-filled day with two girlfriends. We made a road trip to Waxahachie which is a typical small Texas town (county seat, actually) with the usual courthouse in the middle of the downtown square with cute shops around. We spent the day browsing the gift shops, antique shops and, the real reason for our visit, a large scrapbook store. What I'd like to know is how a town of about 20,000 can support two scrapbook stores (we didn't make it to the other one) and a large metroplex like Dallas/Ft. Worth has only one remaining scrapbook store!

We had a great time and found lots of goodies. I didn't see anything really new, but there were lots of beautiful papers, chipboard elements, ribbons, inks etc. I did find the new Ranger white pen which I've been searching for. Also bought a cute BoBunny word album - "BEACH" which I plan to make for our family Christmas in Mexico this year.

We had a delicious lunch - apricot chicken salad with a mini orange muffin and spiced orange tea. We searched for the famous cupcake place, but they were closed. We did find an old-fashioned freezer-style Coke machine with small bottles. You put your money in and then move the bottle through the maze to get it out. And there was a bottlecap opener thingy on the side. Anyone remember these? The funniest thing was that this was inside an old-fashioned barber shop! Someone told us to check it out, or we never would have known.

I found the sweetest little baby doll shoe in one of the stores. There was only this one tiny shoe in a bag tied with pink ribbon - I couldn't resist. The photo makes it look big, but it's less than 1 1/2 inches long. Then I found this tag which was a little pricey, especially since I could easily make one, but I bought it for the darling photo. Isn't that toddler precious?