Be your own kind of beautiful!

"The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams."

~Eleanor Roosevelt

"Glances of true beauty can be seen in the faces

of those who live in true meekness."

~Henry David Thoreau

"Imperfection is beauty;

madness is Genius;

and its better to be absolutely ridiculous

than absolutely boring."

~Marilyn Monroe

"For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.

For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it.

For every love there is a heart

somewhere to receive it."

~Ivan Pannin

"The opinion which other peopel have you

is their problem not yours."

~True Wisdom

Mini mixed media art quilt

This was so much fun!

My new addiction.

I didn't know where I was going with it at first.

Each block was a pile of five fabrics,

but the bottom-most fabrics aren't showing.

After clipping sections away,

(reverse applique technique)

I wasn't sure I liked the frayed edges.

I love the organic look, but my clipping

could have been more exact with sharper scissors.

So I started tacking the edges down,

with random stitches in different colors.

Next came the buttons,

and I felt like it needed something,

so out came the beads.

All the embellishments gave it a nice weight.

The wire hanger on the back was an experiment.

I think I like it!

Doesn't it look kind of like salsa?

My inspiration came from watching this video.

I watched it a few times before,

but I just wasn't ready.

Finally, I decided to figure out how my

motion foot and free motion stitching worked.

I'm not very steady with the machine stitching,

but I think I'll get the hang of it.

I love Beryl Taylor.

She's really cool.

Always be Knolling - by Tom Sachs

First Things First

In my mailbox this morning,

was a blog post from Lisa Kaas,

announcing her new calendar "Color My World"

 published by Lang.

Soooo.....I ordered one.

I love Lisa Kaas,

and if she ever has an online workshop,

I am breaking my rule to "refrain"

from taking workshops.

I hope more people will wish

for the same thing!

I have my weaknesses LOL!

It's beginning to snow,

I have two days to blissfully play in the studio,

but I have an errand that I MUST do.

Yesterday, a package was in my mailbox.

NO NAME,

NO RETURN ADDRESS,

just my street address.

So I opened it.

There was a packaged with some baked goods

and a note from Rebecca to Megan.

Tempted to snack on the goodies....?

Nope.

I'm going to do the right thing,

and take it to the post office,

and hopefully it will make it's right destination.

I have had packages lost by the postal service

and it's not a good feeling.

Hopefully Megan will get to enjoy this package.

When I get back,

I plan on whipping my studio into shape.

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has been

some great posts on being organized.

I realized that as organized as I am,

I can improve significantly if

I surround workspace with my supplies

within easy reach.

So that is today's plan,

followed by some creating!

Of course, she also has an online

course to tempt me.

Have a great day.

Tick, Tick, Tick.....

The clock is ticking faster,

as the weekend winds down.....

back to work tomorrow {pout}.

Even the spooly doll is pouting....

Little Max could care less....

Bye for now...see you next week.

Canvas journals in the making

This is what happens when you add

a 3-day weekend:

extremely cold weather;

online Pandora radio tuned into Blues/Rock;

yards of canvas:

painted wallpaper:

discarded children's books:

and determination to make something different.

Mission accomplished!

I'm drawn to children's book illustrations,

and collect them from thrift shops and yard sales.

Today I chose a book called

FABLES

by Arnold Lobel,

(winner of the Caldecott Medal)

His images are endearing cheerful nonsense.

Crocodile in the garden.

"If you've never been thrilled

to the very edges of your soul

by a flower in spring bloom,

maybe your soul

has never been in bloom".

~Terri Guillemets

First, I glued/sewed an image,

and text to the painted wallpaper.

I then joined the painted wallpaper

to the canvas, with glue and black machine stitching.

I added a protective coat 

of satin polymer varnish.

This created a durable soft cover

with a leather-like feel to it.

 13" tall, by 7-1/2" wide

Baboon and his umbrella.

I love this one...

"Remember your umbrella when

you go out picking flowers....

Advice is like the weather,

some of it is good; some of it is bad."

I randomly chose text from the book

to create this whimsical message.

This journal measures 10" tall by 8-1/2" wide.

Each of these journals contain one signataure

of 6 pages; yield 26 pages to paint.

"Do you take sugare in your tea?" said the Crane.

"I hope you will invite me again" said the Pelican.

"Perhaps," said the Crane,

"but I am so very busy these days."

After the Pelican had gone,

the Crane shook his head and sighed.

When one is a social failure,

the reasons are as clear as day.

10" x 8-1/5"

The camel dances.

There can be no doubt that I am

a splendid dancer.

I will dance and dance for myself.

That is what she did.

It gave her many years of pleasure.

Satisfaction will come to those

who please themselves.

This journal was my first attempt.

I split the pages into three signatures,

and began to sew on my machine.

I had to rip out the stitches,

and found waxed thread and

the pamplet stitch with one signature

worked the best.

This is one of my first attempts

at using my Rubicoil binding machine.

I used painted cardstock,

and artwork by Hundertwasser.

I found this little book of Hundertwasser's

paintings and accomplishments, in disrepair

at a thrift shop for less than a $1.00.

I hope to incorporate many of his paintings

into my work, as they are rich with color

and inspiration.

Another coil-bound journal

with a sewn, padded cover in a pretty batik print.

Various found papers, cardstock, and painted pages.

This burst of creativity means

I had some serious cleaning to do.

I reach a point where I can't think in chaos, so

everything has been picked up, and put away.

Tomorrow is my bonus day off!

{grinning ear to ear!}

I can't decide if I'll be painting

more wallpaper or sewing dolls!

Thanks for hanging around!

Starting the new year right, making progress.....still restraining

Frog Posse

available here

A couple years ago, for Valentines day,

my friend Mike asked me

to make one of these frogs for his wife Doris

who is an avid frog collector.

Yesterday Doris had hip replacement surgery,

and my thoughts, love and well wishes are with her today

for a speedy recovery.

This is a really tiny quilt; a candle mat perhaps.

Quick and easy to make with remnants from

my over flowing scrap bin.

Using up woven scraps,

I made this bird on a nest pin cushion.

This soft cushy bag filled with 15 doll bodies

is fair game for Tobey, one of my studio companions.

So yesterday, while catching up on my favorite blogs,

I once again had to pull in the reins.....

Restraint and Discipline

No more workshops for a while.....

but, but, but....

The FABULOUS Judy Wise is offering a

journaling workshop!!!

March 12 - April 6th

AND

she now offers her Plaster Studio workshop

on a DVD e-book!

*******

Magaly Ohika of Itsy Bitsy Spill

 is offering an

Art Free Form Workshop

registration starts January 13th

*******

The INCREDIBLE

Mindy Lacefield aka Tim's Sally

is offering a workshop in the spring,

 called Paint Your Story

registration starts February 13th

*******

Be still my heart

Restrain, Restrain, Restrain.....

I have a 3-day weekend on the horizon

my plans are to poke around in my stash bin

after being inspired by some funky dolls made

by Baggarags on Etsy

I have a wild side that likes to play

with a primitive streak,

and I've got a little idea percolating.....

I also have a huge pile of painted papers,

and fabric which I intend to experiment with paint,

and hopefully create some funky journals.

I'm inspired by

Traci Bautista's art journals

and

Alisa Burke's

"SEW WILD" style of creating

with stitch and Mixed Media.

Stay tuned....

I hope to keep the productive streak going!

Pucker Up baby, it's almost February...

I'm an optimist,

and a Pisces

born on Leap Day!

I'm so excited....

I wait FOUR years

for my birthday,

to roll around

and it's coming baby~!

So I'm in the mood

to make a few frogs to celebrate!

Thank you Spencer

Hello, My name is Ruby.

I'm the latest Rags*2*Trezurs doll.

It all started here.

If you follow my blog,

you might know where this is headed.

Inspired by Junker Jane

to use up fabric scraps,

bits of ribbons and buttons,

I experimented with this doll.

.

It was in a shop for a short time,

until it sold at my friend's fair.

I learned that a woman

returned to the shop

to purchase it for her grandson.

But it was gone.

So I was asked to create another one.

Hense, Rocco.

Which lead to another request.

After a woman saw Rocco, she

wanted 4 dolls to ship out to California.

That made me smile.

But then.....

I received this email....

{insert email}

"Hi.

I'm the father of the little boy that you made Rocco for.

I wanted you to know your efforts were not in vain

and our little 7yo boy just loves him.

Thank you so much for creating him for our little guy.

-Spencer"

That made me Cry.

Meet Ruby.

Once again,

it's all Rocco's fault.

Thank you Spencer.

Restraint and Discipline - 2012

I received my copy of this book yesterday!
Simply beautiful!

One of my favorite workshops in 2011
was taken with Katie Kendrick.
The DVD to the workshop is now
available to purchase HERE.

The book and DVD are similar in her
teaching process, but offer different material in each.
In my opinion, Katie is a natural teacher.

She is sincerely down to earth,
and she doesn't just demonstrate
WHAT she does; she inspires you
to LOOK within yourself
to explore your own talent.

I love how Katie utilizes basic items
to create beautiful works of art.
You will NOT be disappointed.

I couldn't have received this book
at a better time in my life.
I have spent the last couple months
soul searching and analyzing
how I have spent my time, money and energy
searching the web, and taking workshops.

My curiosity lead me down the Internet
rabbit hole exploring new artists and techniques.
But I lost my way in my own creative journey.
I spent more money than I should have,
and lost opportunity to be
more productive with my time.

So my key "buzz" words for 2012
are Restrain and Discipline.

I plan to restrain myself from signing up for
workshops unless they are free, and
will add affordable books/DVDS
to my library instead.
(compromise)

This will be very hard.
I'm already sad about not taking....

Misty Mawn's Open Studio workshop
and

Lifebook 2012
hosted by Tam Laporte ~  Willowing.ning.com

or
one of the courses offered by
Sharon Tomlinson ~ All Norah's Art

Ok......I must Restrain
(for now)

{insert free workshop here}

Strathmore Artist
2012 Online Workshop Series
begins January 1st with Traci Bautista!!!!!!!
Hoot Hoot ~ it's FREE!
{grin}

I plan to discipline myself to experiment more
with all that is available NOW in my studio,
before making any new supply purchases.

I need to put the time in
to feel better about my work and myself.

My visual journals have been gathering
dust the last couple months.
My scrap bins are overflowing
and my studio is screaming for attention.

So it all starts this three-day holiday weekend.

But first.....

{insert Give-a-way here}

I threw away my renewal invoice
to Cloth Paper Scissors
and thought my subscription had expired.
Silly Sam...
 ordered a NEW subscription,
and this month received TWO copies!

So if you would like to receive a copy
of the Jan/Feb 2012 issue 40,
(still wrapped in plastic),
just leave a comment on this post.
If you like, tell me what your
2012 "buzz" words are
for your goals in the new year.

If anyone is interested,
I'll randomly draw a name
next Saturday, January 7th
My gift to you.

***
Peace, Love and Light in 2012