Some Things To Share

Hello Readers!

I really don't have a lot to show for the days that have passed since I last posted.

I'm working on a new origami project that is giving me fits.

I spent a day out in the burnt house going through crap out there so no art got made that day.

I haven't touched the tiny monster. He's still only half-sewn.

I said my drawing muse was faunchin' at the bit in the last post but there are no new drawings to show. I didn't let her run like she wanted and now she's gone off to pastures elsewhere for the time being.

I did drag out the glitter!

Made myself a right fine mess with that glitter! And left it all over the kitchen table for the last two days,

leaving these stars unfinished as well. I'll be making a bigger mess with the glitter in days to come when I finish up these stars. I'm not even certain what these stars are going to turn into. My mother suggested a mobile or two. I've never made a mobile. Ever. Not even sure how to go about it! 

I was thinking star garlands for my two daughters-in-law. They both adore stars! And who doesn't like a bit of glitter?

There are, I think, 36 stars. I'd have to count them again to be certain. Either 35 or 36. You count them and then if I'm way off you can set me straight! :)

At any rate, I cut out a boatload of stars from a cake mix box and an ice cream bar box. They've been glittered on the unpainted side of the box. I'll give them all a layer of colored paper to correspond with the glitter color they'll get on the other side.

I have TONS of glitter! Ok, maybe not TONS, but a LOT!

Each of those stars has a different color glitter. The backsides probably won't match the front sides as I don't think I can remember correctly which glitter is on which star! 

It was fun making a mess with that glitter. I haven't mopped the kitchen floor yet but when I do, that mop is gonna sparkle! I had glitter on the ends of my toes that day! 

Sparklies everywhere!

Gotta love it!

I'm working on some toilet paper tube flowers as well. You can see a few of them at the top of the picture with the glittery stars. They're giving me a hard time just like that danged flamingo and that origami project I took up yesterday. 

There are bound to be lulls in the creativity from time to time. I'll keep soldiering on though.

I updated my list of things made thus far earlier today.

By my calculations, there are 200 items on that list already so I'm way ahead of the goal of making 366 things this year! One for each day of the year.

Spring appears to have arrived in my neck of the woods!

Honey bees are sampling the pear tree blossoms, insuring pears will form. Its all up to the weather as how well they do.

I took this picture today, late in the afternoon. There were many different kinds of insects on the pear tree and on the plum bushes.

I am hoping for another bumper crop of pears this year. 

Pray for no heavy frosts. 

The winter wheat in the north forty is looking good!

That isn't my wheat...it just grows right next to my property. And I don't know that that really is the north forty either. I call it that cause it's to the north.

This is my favorite shade of green!

It was a beautiful day today! 

Fred agrees! He stayed outside most of the day.

And the last thing to show you all is the yellow zippered container I sewed up yesterday. 

It is 2 two liter soda bottles with a zipper sewn to the bottoms of said bottles. 

I got a boatload of zippers in the mail this past week for just this purpose! You'll see more of these as soon as I gather some more soda bottles. I gave up Coca Cola so I don't generate too many plastic bottles.

Any plastic bottle will work. You just need to be able to poke holes in and have a zipper long enough to go around it! Easy to make!!!! 

Guess that's all for today....

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

(if only....)

831

A Little of This and A Little of That

Hello Readers!

I finally got some new batteries for the camera! 

I did some wirework the other day and I can show you all the four polish stars I made over the weekend.

Enjoy~!

Wire work Cupcake Charm

This one is made with silver jewelry wire and seed beads mostly. The red bead on top is not a seed bead but a glass bead. It's a tiny little thing, hence the terrible picture! Only about 3/4 of an inch tall.. It wasn't much fun to make either as I screwed up the pattern early on and being the stubborn bull I am, I just keep going and kinda fixed it as I went along....I might make another of these just to see if I can do it like the tutorial says the next time!

Another dragonfly.

Silver craft wire and glass seed beads. He's a little over 2 inches long.

Nest and Egg charm.

Silver craft wire and a faux pearl bead. I'm giving this to my Mom for Easter. It's about an inch across. This one took forever to make! All that coiling of the wire shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I just winged this one! No tutorial.

And the polish stars I made over the weekend.

The top two are a lot smaller than the bottom two. All are made from magazine pages. 

The little ones are the hardest to make. Folding and gluing the cones is a bear when they're that small. They are cute as they can be though. I'll be hanging a little one from my rear view mirror in the van.

And to end the post, Miss Lola (with her wild eye). 

I tried to get a picture of Fred dog this morning but he was having none of that! Every time I pointed the camera at him, he would turn his head. He hates the flash! I didn't have the flash on though and he still wouldn't look at the camera! Silly dog!

I have a few things in the works still:

The flamingo is not talking to me right now so there is no progress to report on it. I really need to get busy with it cause my sister's birthday is the 16th of April and I'd like to give him to her then. I lay awake in bed the other night thinking about that danged flamingo and his legs. I think I have his legs figured out but will have to get busy with him to see if that idea is even feasible.

I gave Mr. Kitty to my other sister. She LOVED him!

I have a very small monster in the works. He's about half sewn.

There are a couple of junk magnets half done on the coffee table in the livingroom.

And of course there are more polish stars in the works. 

My drawing muse is faunchin' at the bit to get something done as well. I may give her her due this afternoon and let her draw to her heart's content if she wants to! Guess you all will see if that happens in the next post!

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace!

831

St. Pat's Art-a-thon Art

Hello Readers!

I figured I'd better get these newest pieces posted before there got to be a great many of them.

I am participating in the St. Patrick's Day Art-a-thon over at AFA. The link is up there on the sidebar.

I've concentrated mostly on chunky pages and ATCs.

I killed the camera batteries on the trip I took last week and when I went to town the day before yesterday, I was half way home when I remembered I should have bought some new batteries when I bought the dog food! So, I can't show you the newest Polish Stars that I've made. They're a big tough to scan! More like impossible to scan! So you'll just have to wait till I get some new batteries to take some pictures.

In the meanwhile though; here's some stuff to look at!

Change Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper, cut out and adhered to thick mat paper. 

I messed up my signature something fierce on this one so I had to salvage it!

This one might or might not get some danglies.

Cobra Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

Snakes were on the radar with breakfast this morning.

Gray Snake Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

Purple Desert Snake Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

Sheep Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

The Shamrock Tree Chunky Page

Magazine paper cutouts  and shamrock stickers on thick mat paper

danglies are three glass beads, copper wire, green acrylic yarn and a plastic banner that says

LUCK OF THE IRISH

Ted's Fake Tan

ATC

markers on cardstock

I picked up the wrong color of marker when I went to give Ted his skin tone. He was supposed to be a light tan color. He turned orange instead. He's still a very happy fellow though and he cares not what anyone thinks of his fake tan!

The Shamrock Bikini

ATC

markers on cardstock

I realize that isn't exactly a bikini. Unfortunately I realized that just after I had written 'the shamrock bikini' on the back of this one for its title.

Close enough, I guess.

The Circus Elephant

Markers on orchard paper.

This one is going in my paper bag book.

Herbert's Job

ATC

markers on cardstock

Green Spotted Elephant

ATC

markers on cardstock

Trees at Sunrise

ATC

markers on cardstock

Round Green Elephant Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

In the Aquarium

ATC

markers on cardstock

Hairy Pink Pig Chunky Page

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

Little Green Elephant

ATC

markers on cardstock

Green G Giraffe

ATC

markers on cardstock

Green Eyed Gray Cat

ATC

markers on cardstock

Green E Elephant

ATC

markers on cardstock

The Art-a-thon is not over yet. Doesn't end till 11:59 this evening. If there are more pieces done by then, I'll post them tomorrow or the next day. I'm pretty sure I won't be lacking something to post. Not a day goes by I don't make something!

Be good to one another!

Peace!

831

Home With Things to Show

Hello Readers!

I haven't downloaded the camera card to the pc yet so there are no pictures from my road trip. Maybe next time. 

I only made a couple of dragonflies on the trip. Only one is pictured cause I gave the one I made in the car to my sister and didn't take a picture of it. The other one is pictured below.

I brought home some skulls to add to my collection. I need to find out what kind of they are. One, I think is a cat. My sister gave them to me along with a bunch of other arty farty things.

There's a St. Patrick's Weekend All Types of Art Athon going on over at ATCsforall. The link's up there on the side bar if you'd like to go see what fun we're having over there! The athon runs through Sunday, I do believe.

I've made dragonflies.

all are made with copper wire and glass beads. The middle one was a successful experiment. Wasn't sure if that idea was going to pan out or not. Looks pretty good to me.

Dragonfly charms.

Green and purple seem to be my color choices today.

The theme of the athon is green so there is a lot of green going on in this post.

This is a chunky page sans its danglies but showing the charm that will be among the danglies once I get it attached with green yarn. This one is markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper. 

I got the paper at the etc. shop when I was on my road trip. It reminds me of a paper coaster like you'd find at the bar but it has no printing on it and it came in a sheet about 12 inches square. I cut it down to 4x4s. Well one sheet of it. 

I think there are probably about 8 of them in that stack. there is also what appears to be handmade paper in that stack of 12 inch square papers. I spent 58 cents at the etc shop. Everything was 75% off the day I was there. The paper was originally only 25 cents so either way it was a steal!

The backside is not decorated at all really. There's a hand written quote that says:

I wonder in what fields today

he chases dragonflies in play...

my little boy, who ran away.

anonymous

Green Indian Elephant 

ATC

markers on cardstock

My muse got busy with green elephants, as you're about to see.

Green Zentangle Elephant Chunky

markers on orchard paper adhered to thick mat paper

I haven't decided what I'm going to do about danglies with this one. I think it will get some green string and green beads as well.

Mail Inspection

ATC

markers on cardstock

I did this one Tuesday and am just now getting around to scanning it.

Early this morning, with my first cup of coffee I drew this chunky page.

Shamrock Coffee Chunky

markers on thick mat paper

the dangly charm is the polymer clay coffee cup I did a while back

Pink Beetle Coffee Chunky

Needed some toast with my second cup of coffee this morning. 

The beetle is glass beads and silver craft wire

this is the first dragonfly of the day

glass seed beads and copper wire salvaged from a dead appliance motor

yellow green elephant bookmark

markers on cardstock

there are two layers of cardstock glued together with this quote handwritten on the back:

When there's an elephant in the room introduce him.

Randy Pausch

I'm sure before the sun sets tomorrow I'll have been back with 

more creativity to share.

Right now though, I'm gonna climb between the sheets cause I am whooped!

The trip to the zoo the day before yesterday 'bout did me in! I had a great time though!

Well worth the aches and pains of today so I'll not complain too loudly about the aches.

I got an invite for another road trip this afternoon. I had to decline that one though...shame, it would have done this old body wonders!

Be good to one another!

It matters!
Peace, Friends!

831

Drawing, Wirework, Sewing and Papercraft

hello Readers!

Apparently I've been busy since yesterday....I have a few things to show you today. A few of them are older than just yesterday. Not sure how I spaced them out in the last post! 

Not much going on in my world other than sitting around making stuff!

That's to change tomorrow though. I'm going on a road trip. You won't be hearing from me for at least 2 days. I believe a trip to the zoo is in order along with visiting a couple of my sisters, my son and his family and just generally running amuck with a couple of my other sisters. Should be a great time! 

Guess what is here will have to tide you over till I get back from my trip.
Don't worry, I'll have something to show you! I'll probably take along some wire and seed beads to make more dragonflies. I won't leave home empty-handed. I'll need something to occupy those hands on the three hour drive to get there and home again. Even more driving time if we go see our other sister. The itinerary isn't exactly set in stone at this point. It will be a good time though and I promise to have something to show for the trip other than a bunch of junk brought home on the shopping sprees in thrift stores along the way!

Anyway.....here's what's new....

this is the green polish star I forgot to take a picture of yesterday.

I'm still fiddling with those pink felt stars. I think they're done now. 

I played a bunch of games of mahjongg in the last few days. This ATC is laying on my list of scores. Didn't realize the background was almost the same color as my ink pen until I go that picture here. 

Markers on cardstock.

I played around with paper a few days ago. 

This paper flower magnet resulted. That's a metal button in the center of it. It's about three inches across, five layers of paper curled or folded. An experiment that worked wonderfully! This one is made of orchard paper. Orchard paper is my go-to paper for experimenting with folding. That or magazine paper. I'll probably make more of these in the future.

Still on the dragonfly kick.

These guys are made of copper wire and two seed beads. I made them a little differently than the string dragonflies. These aren't knotted the length of their bodies. I only knotted to just past their wings and then twisted the wire around their bodies. Wire dragonflies are faster to make than string ones. I think they are prettier than any of the string dragonflies also. 

I am taking dragonfly making supplies on my trip so you will see more of these.

I gave the monster twin some eyes this morning.

Here's the first of the twin monsters.

They don't look near as much alike as I remembered them appearing when I cut them out.

This is the beginnings of a project I've been working on since around October 2011. I started on these 2 inch quilted squares about the same time I started making monsters. I add a square or two when the urge hits me. I recently dragged them to the livingroom so they'd be right at hand when I am sewing monsters or mug rugs. Still a long ways to go before I can call this project anywhere near finished. 38 squares does not a quilt make! Not even a doll quilt can be made from 38 squares! 

All the squares are from material I have used for a sewing project of one thing or another; be it monsters, rug mugs, hot pad holders or dottee dolls. There is a piece of quilt batting sandwiched between two pieces of fabric. Most of the squares have a different fabric on either side but some are the same on either side. 

You'll see this project again when I've made a bit more leadway.

It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood! 

You can barely see the green of the wheatfield back by the evergreen trees.

I really need to get Sammy to haul that old table out of the front yard and to his wood pile! 

You all be good to one another!

I'll see you in a few days!

Peace! 

831

Polish Stars, Dragonflies, A Couple of Green Things and Progress

Hello Readers!

I watched a bit of television programming today. About 9 hours worth of The Firm. 

The dishes got done. A monster was sewn, though not finished completely. I drew a couple pictures,

I sewed a little book, I folded and assembled a few polish stars and I made a few more dragonflies.

I've been a busy girl.

Whether or not you consider any of it art is entirely up to you.

I just make the stuff. Others can argue about its virtue.

Here we go!

The two orange ones are the two I showed you in the last post. I said the yellow one was in the works and it would probably have a mate when you seen it next. Yep, it does have a mate and a few others to go along with it! Watching TV is quite conducive to assembling polish stars!

Here are three more. It has just dawned on me that I did not get the other polish star made today in the picture with these three....it's hanging on a peg not three inches above the green one in this picture! It too is green, just a different shade of green.

They're all made from magazine paper.

I believe I now have right at 40 polish stars completed. There are still many circles cut and ready for making more polish stars so expect to see a few more in the future.

I have become almost obsessed with dragonflies.

I have made a dragonfly out of almost every type of string I have on hand. 

Some are quite successful, like the green one with white beads on its body...that one turned out great! And then there are the not so good ones like the black one, made out of some sort of stiff ribbon. The sparkly green one doesn't look like a dragonfly at all to me...more like a butterfly or moth. Not a complete failure though. The white one in the middle is the first one I made that the eyes actually worked out like they should! I soldiered on! The easiest one to tie was the big pink one!

I'll probably be making more of these.

I did a bit of drawing....

A one-eyed, no armed green monster for the paper bag book.

Markers on orchard paper.

Green was the theme of the day apparently....

another green thing for the paper bag book.

Markers on orchard paper.

I sewed a little book.

This one was cut out and readied for sewing couple weeks ago.

It has an owl on the other cover. 2x2 inches, 3signatures of Day Runner Refill paper.

Sewn with crochet cotton.

And finally...

the flamingo. His beak still needs carved. He still needs his head paper mached. I did however add a bit of masking tape to his neck....the flamingo just isn't talking to me much these days....He will though. Soon.

I sewed a monster today as well as all these other things shown. The monster isn't shown cause he's not quite done yet. He still needs some eyes and maybe some hair....I may turn him into a her by the addition of some pink hair cause right now he looks a great deal like the last monster you all saw on these pages. 

I started another project the day before yesterday. Still a bit of preparation to do with that project before I unveil it though. Some thought needs put to it as well as some hands on approach. At the moment that involves covering something to disguise what it was and to make it useful in an artful endeavor. I know it will work, I've done it before....I think there were six of them when I first did these...I've just never undertaken the number of them I intend to take on this time! You all will see what I'm talking about when it gets off the ground a bit farther than it is at present.

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace, Friends!

831