Last Post of 2014

Hello Readers!

There are only about four hours left of 2014. Not sure how this year flew by so fast. Seems like yesterday it was January. 

I haven't done my count of art for 2014 so I'll give you that in the next post. Each year I keep track of how many things get done during the year. The numbers are usually pretty high. Last year's total was 576, though the actual number of things made is higher. I don't always count EACH item separately. If I do a dozen of something--like the peanut humming birds--I only count that as one project, not 12 projects. As I haven't written all projects down yet, I can't give you a total. I can tell you that the last thing written in the book are the pistachio flowers I showed you a few posts back. 367 is the last number in the book at present. 

I have almost finished Brenton's monster pillow.

Monster is still blind at this point. I'll be sewing his eyes on within the next two days. His new owner is supposed to be coming to visit on Friday so I better get cracking on giving this fella some eyeballs! 

Brenton requested a hugging pillow. I asked him if he wanted a new monster,big eough for a hugging pillow. His eyes lit up, a big grin spread across his face and he said, "Yeah! Can you make him striped?" I couldn't promise stripes but the monster gods smiled down on Brenton and my sister gave me this striped sweater the next day. This monster cost me nothing to make! Not a dime! He's stuffed with green polyester filling that came out of a dog bed. Ma found the dog bed somewhere. She said it came out of a dumpster behind a store in Norton. It was a brand new big dog bed that was slashed open with a knife on both sides of it. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with it otherwise. Don't know why they threw it out. It had never had a dog sleep on it. Ma was going to sew it up, put a new cover on it and give it my brother for his dog, Flomar. She changed her mind and was going to throw it in the trash. I confiscated it and stuffed the monster with it. There's still enough of the filling left to stuff a regular sized monster. I could have saved the fabric covering from the dog bed but I didn't save that cause I really don't like sewing with cotton fabricand it really wasn't anything special. I did save the zipper that was in the cover though.

I finished an embroidered ball.

A different shot of the same ball.

And I started another one. I sewed the wool fabric on this one a bit different than all the others. I sewed it with embroidery thread instead of regular sewing thread. I'm going to attempt to cover this one completely with embroidery stitches. What you see is all that's been embroidered thus far. Might be awhile before this one is completely done.

I worked on the newest fish picture for a few days. This one is 8 x8 inches. The canvas started out life as a home decor picture. It's actually a plastic box with 2 holes in the back, made in China. On the front of the plastic box was a design done in a thin sheet of rubber. You can see the pattern if you look real close at the red background. I didn't really try to hide it, just wanted to disguise it so it wasn't so blatantly there! 

Someone brought these home decor pictures to me. There are three of them. Apparently someone else didn't think they were anything special. When I got them they were covered with thin cotton material. This one had yellow fabric stapled to it around the back of it. The other two are white and brown, I think. I have no idea what design is on the other two. I'll figure that out when I take that fabric off.

I used the yellow fabric for the reef. I tore it into strips and made 'blobs' from it. Kinda like flowers, but not quite. I covered the bottom third of the canvas with the fabric and then started adding things to it. I actually painted the whole thing first and added the blue sticks before the reef. The blue sticks are toothpicks, glued willy nilly. The yellow on the sticks got there after they were already glued down. There are sequins, crewel embroidery yarn, origami paper modular units from a failed bucky ball or two,  some wire doodads with beads red yarn  and some other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. I drew the fish on chipboard, painted it white, cut it out and then painted it with fingernail polish before gluing it to the canvas with tacky glue. This is the 11th fish picture I've made. It's also the smallest fish picture I've made thus far. 

For the new year I am making the goal of doing 6 fish pictures. The big ones take weeks to do! This little one only took about five days. 

6 down, 30 to go...

3.5 x 5 inches

Guitar cat

cat is drawn with markers on drawing paper, cut out and glued to sheet music that is glued to cardstock.

3.5x5 inches

The Eye

markers on sheet music glued to cardstock

I'm still working on hot cocoa ornaments. Three are ready to be assembled. Five more are waiting ...waiting...waiting.  Eventually I will clear these off the work table and move onto something else. I've painted all the papers I need to finish these. Just need to sit down and put them all together. 

I made a couple of little origami books last night. I forgot to take pictures of them before I downloaded pictures for this post. I'll show them to you in the next post. 

My intention for the new year is to blog more often so my posts aren't mini novels. Whether that intention happens or not remains to be seen. 

I have not made any resolutions for the new year. I never stick with them so what's the point? I make little goals through out the year. And I don't fret too much if things don't work out as planned. 

I do wish for the new year to be a good one. The older I get, the more I worry about the state of the world. I worry for my grandchildren's future especially. What kind of world are we making for them?

I thank each of you who come to read my ramblings. And those who comment always make me smile! May you all have a wonderfully healthy and wealthy 2015!

Remember to be good to one another. 

It truly matters more than any of us really think about enough.

Peace

831

Art Dolls, A Finished Fish Picture , Some Drawings and a Bunch of Birds

Hello Readers!

It snowed last night. It all melted today. It is cold as the dickens out there though!

This morning when I got up there were dozens of little black birds in the front yard, sitting in the trees and scattered heavily across the roof of the burnt house. I'm guessing there were upwards of a couple a hundred of them. They aren't necessarily blackbirds, just black birds of some variety. 

Murray saw them!

This is the only picture I got of them. I was going to quietly open the door to get a better picture of them but a big truck went by on the highway and they all flew off! I really wanted a picture of them standing on the roof of the burnt house. It was so crowded with birds, they could hardly move around! And the trees were full too! I saw them all later sitting along the high wires between my house and Sister Susan's house next door. All lined up in a row. The phone was on the charger so no picture of that spectacle! What the heck are all these little black birds eating? I'm glad to see them, but why didn't they fly away to warmer parts? I wouldn't let the kitties out until after the birds flew off. That was about noon, it's now almost 11 pm and that dang Murray cat still hasn't come home. Dang fool critter will be gone for a couple days.

4 down, 32 to go. That would be 3 x 5.5 inch marker drawings on cardstock.

The Colorful Robot

Big Eyed Fishes

Apparently I have my act together somewhat tonight. Here's that fish picture with its fishes attached.

The fishes are done in fingernail polish on cardstock.  This canvas is not very big. 11 x 14? I don't think I ever measured it to be honest. Somewhere around 11 x 14 inches.

I'll be doing another fish picture before long.

I made this wild thing the other night. It's the front of the envelope Nanner will get her goodies in! It's very strange and I really have no clue who that fella is nor just where he came from. He's a happy fella though!

I'm pretty sure the mohawk was inspired by

this kid. My youngest son. He was on my mind all day yesterday when I did this painting/drawing. This is as close as he ever came to having a yellow mohawk and I doubt the boy's ever worn a striped robe of any sort! RW was about 17 in this picture, taken I believe sometime in 2002 or 2003. At any rate, I do believe that crazy envie was a result of this here boy being on my mind. Thankfully he's outgrown his rebel teenage years! I don't know how either one of us survived that!  He's a responsible 30 yr old now.

And here's that ATC I said I would take a picture of.

ATC

Green Eyes

I showed you all a bucket of junk in the last post. I dragged out the glue gun and played with some of that junk.

I sorted out the junk in the bucket and gathered a few other containers of little art fodder from the cutting room. I had stuff scattered all over the kitchen table. I tried not to drag out too much other than the stuff in the bucket cause my goal was to use up some of the stuff in the bucket.

I accomplished that, by the way.... 

Everything but the wooden bead, one of the springs and the ball chain came out of the bucket for this little battery girl. She's about 2.5 inches tall. I didn't really measure any of these, all the measurements are totally guesstimates on my part.

All of this junk came out of one appliance, electronic, dead corded machine of one sort or another. Your guess is as good as mine as to where my brother got some of this stuff.  This one has a large capacitor for a body, rubber stoppers for feet, copper wire, a couple buttons. I have no clue what her arms originally were. There were 8 of those in the bucket. She didn't want to stand by herself so I glued her to a plastic cover of some sort that I found in the bucket too. She's wearing a rubber grommet hat. Everyone's head is a wooden bead. Wooden beads came out of their own container. This one stands about 4 inches tall.

This one is about 3 inches tall. Her capacitor body was originally black but the covering was torn so I did away with it. She has a tiny resistor on top her head. Her silver arm came out of one of the junk containers I brought from the cutting room. The rest of this stuff came out of the bucket.

This one stands about 3 inches tall. Everything but her ball chain hair and her pendant hat came from the bucket. Her arms and hands are all one piece. Should have used these arms on a taller kid.

This one is about 4.5 inches tall. Everything but the pink glass bead, her boobs and the ball chain came out of the bucket. Her boobs are a pair of sterling silver enameled earrings that someone removed the backs from. They make perfect boobs for this little lady! I'm pretty sure all of her components with the exception of the capacitor came from a computer. Her neck and shoulders are plastic doodad out of the bucket too. Her head is a huge wooden bead.

This one is about 3.5 inches tall. She's holding a tiny wooden pencil in her hand. Her hair is thread fine copper wire. All of her came out of the bucket, even her hair.

This guy is my favorite one! He's about 6 inches tall. His feet are Ken's tennis shoes, legs are bullet casings, his hips are a plastic gear, his body a capacitor, his arms are springs, his neck is a plastic lid from a tube of something and his hair is copper wire. He's wearing a motherboard necklace and has a rainbow heart made from glass on his chest. 

I ran out of capacitors big enough to make people out of. I'll pack up all the junk and drag it out again one day. I'm thinking I need to make a junk picture on one of those many canvasses I have in the cutting room. We'll see. 

I made another aluminum bird. The larger one to the back is the one I showed you all in the last post. The red one here is only about an inch and half wide. It's a cute little bird! Wasn't any harder to weave a tiny one than it is to weave a big one!

I made two more photo paper birds too. These are about 2 inches wide.

Cookie baking did not commence today like it was supposed to. I keep telling myself I still have a few days before I need to have those cookies baked and ready to go! Which means I'll be scrambling at the last minute. Happens every time so it really is nothing new. I work best on a deadline! 

That's it for me today. 

Thanks for hanging in there!

Remember....

be good to one another.

It matters!

Peace

831

Some Progress on the Art Front and Critters

Hello Readers!

I was sick as a dog for a few days but now feeling much better and back into the swing of things. Cookie baking commences tomorrow!

As is usual for me, I have lots of things in the works and have, since the last post, added more works in progress to the list! Somedays I do feel a bit obsessed! 

Being sick only slowed me down for one day. So there is a bit to show. I forgot to take a picture of the fish picture with its fishes attached and I also forgot to take a picture of the ATC I told you all about in the post before last. Perhaps next post I will have my act together and you'll get to see those? There is no way to know except to see if it happens.

I ran across this clothes pin snowflake ornament tutorial this morning. I promptly got out the clothes pins and made one for myself! Fred dog sat at the back door barking to be let out while I was trying to finish painting these. My fingers were covered in white paint! He waited patiently through about four of them before his barks got louder and closer together. He gave up on the back door and headed to the front door when I had only a couple left. I wasn't real worried about him having to go outside. He's been a pain about going in and out today. I am that dog's butler, but he has to work on my schedule sometimes instead of his own. 

I have enough clothes pins disassembled to make two more. I will glitter them all before they are finished.

I put the string on mine a bit differently than they did in the tutorial. I used crochet cotton string and I sandwiched it between two of the clothes pin halves. It is still sitting on the bureau in the bedroom drying so I'm not sure how sturdy it really is. I used tacky glue but I'm thinking it might need a bit of glue reinforcement. 

I started another magazine paper basket. It will be sometime before it is finished. The last one took me a couple months to put together.

I really wish I would have saved this tutorial to share! I didn't though. I got all fired up about this cute idea that I shut down the computer and went to the kitchen table to make them. 

Edited to announce:

Success! I found it!

Hot Cocoa Mug Ornament Tutorial

Here's one sitting in the branches of the tree. I started 2 of them the day before I got sick and finished them two days later. 

Here are the two I made. 

You'll need one tp roll to make two mugs. You'll also need a coffee filter and some chipboard from cereal boxes. 

I got out the stuff to make 8 more of them earlier today. I painted the papers that give the mugs their patterns. The brown painted paper is the hot cocoa for the mugs. You'll see the rest of the mugs next time.

I told you we would revisit the tiny house neighborhood. It appears a tornado went through this section of the neighborhood.

In the comments of a previous post Tandy said something about glittered houses and I got the inspiration to glitter the remaining little houses. I've still no clue what will happen to the white walls of the houses. Perhaps more glitter? 

Another aluminum bird. This one has a little tag attached to it. I engraved my info on that little tag and hung it by three links of chain. There's also a shiny wine glass ring threaded through the bird to hang him with.

An experiment that actually panned out! Fingernail polish flowers and leaves. More on this subject at a later date.

I'm kinda upset with myself about this envelope. I was almost done painting it when I discovered that I cannot spell worth a damn sometimes! This is the time it mattered! I'm still going to send the goods in this envelope even though there is a spelling mistake. Can you find it? 

I got a present from my brother the other day. He gives wonderfully creative presents! He also doesn't consider these things he hands off so freely to be presents. They are just things he knows I will eventually put to better use. Sometimes he gets some of the things he gives me back because he overestimated my abilities with the materials.

I'll be keeping this lovely pile of chain though!

I also got a bucket of cool junk! Weird junk. Junk no one else has. I have no idea what will become of this bucket of junk. I will have to drag out the hot glue gun and see what happens.

Tippy was sitting on the cat table in front of the window, looking intently at something out there when I snapped this picture. The click of the camera did not deter her from her query.

Whatever is out there has moved.

Oh, it's just Lola snooping around the yard. 

There was snow on the ground early this morning when I got up. Or was that yesterday? I think that was yesterday that it snowed. Snow was gone before the day was done. It's colder than snot out there though! Tippy and Murray had been out earlier when Fred dog made his first venture outside this morning. Lola refused to go out and took a nap in the middle of the hallway while everyone else was outside.

Fred went out for the umpteenth time and Lola decided that would be a great time to go out as well. Tippy and Murray had come inside earlier.

Murray took a nap in my bed all afternoon.

That is all from me today.

Remember to be good to one another.

It truly does matter.

Peace

831

The Christmas Tree version 2014

Hello Readers!

Today we're going to go off track a bit and take a look at my Christmas Tree instead of looking at art projects.  I finished putting ornaments on the tree when I got up this morning. It's been standing in the livingroom for two days, naked of all but its lights. The lights never come off the tree. Whoever came up with the idea to make fake tree with lights already attached, was a genius! 

This poor old tree is headed into its 8th Christmas. 

Every year I add a few ornaments to the collection and most years I retire one or two. Retirement only happens when an ornament just can't survive another year.

I like the tree to be chaotic and fully covered with ornaments. This little ceramic boot is my favorite ornament on the tree. There are a good mix of handmade and store bought ornaments. The ceramic pig off to the right in the photo above is another of my favorites. There's an inchie cube to the left of the boot that one of my art friends made. I'd have to go look at it to tell you who that might have been...There are quite a few ornaments on my tree made by others.

If you click on the pictures they will get a bit bigger. The purple spikey ball aka Polish Star was made by me. The crocheted star with the purple gem was made by an art friend.

There's a big brass bell that has been on my tree every year for the last 30 years or so. The paper star was made by an art friend. The bells are as old as I am. Ma tells me they've been around since I was a little kid. I've had them for a few years now.

There are two circus lion ornaments on the tree; one for each of my sons. That red thing is a little cloth stocking.

I made both of these. The red and white one was made from a letter I wrote to someone. What I had to say in that letter didn't need to be seen by any other eyes than my own. I had said what I needed to get off my chest but I wasn't prepared to throw those words away because they still mean a great deal to me and I still feel the way I felt when I wrote all those pages! So I cut them into 2 inch squares and made a flower ball ornament.  

The blue one is a Polish Star made from security envelopes.

There are a lot of birds on my tree. This pheasant isn't really an ornament, but he has sat on the tree for at least four or five years. He goes nicely with all the other birds. That pink and clear glass beaded ornament was made by an art friend. The candy cane is another ornament from my childhood. There are a couple of these chenille candy canes on the tree.

Another flower ball to the left of the cardinal bird. Gold poinsettia leaves fill in a bare spot. The red flower thing with a gold bell is really a package decoration but I have put them to use as ornaments. There are four or five of these fastened to the branches here and there. There's another inchie cube above the pink flower ball that was made by an art friend. 

Another little bird. This one is a carved wooden bird. He just sits among the branches. The red thing in the middle of the picture is a button butterfly that you will see better shortly. The eggnog ornament is one Ma gave me a few years back. There's another inchie cube; this one made by me. 

There's an inchie cube, a polish star, a flower ball and an origami crane folded out of cellophane on the lefthand side of the picture. That green blob just right of center is a little wooden bird.

More polish stars and a flower ball along with a teddybear and a drum ornament. 

A polish star made from phone book pages, a ceramic bird and a ceramic angel.

There's a flower ball, a beaded cross, an origami tree made by an art friend, and a felt snowman. If you look real close you can see me taking the picture in silver ball. 

More polish stars, a crocheted copperwire medallion, an inchie cube and that pink flower ball again.

Some of the polish stars are big and some are small. There's a paper mache heart, a wooden santas and some plastic candy canes.

The white stars are a paper garland I made a few years ago. There are several of the little trains on the tree. All different from one another. There's another polish star, pink this time.  I have no color scheme on my tree! None at all!

Here's the button butterfly ornament. There is a white one somewhere on the tree. Not sure I got a picture of it.

Gold crocheted star made my an art friend. Felt snowman made by me. And a wooden santa ornament that has been hanging out my tree for quite some time!

A catnip ornament, a wooden rocking horse and two acrylic candy pieces. I have no idea what that purple thing above is. I think it is the light reflecting off something. I don't recall putting anything purple on the tree. Not that color of purple anyway. 

Alright. I take that back. There is this purple bird I put in the branches. The gold stuff beneath him is poinsettia leaves.  

And here's the angel atop the tree.

In the dark, lights shinning off the windows in the china hutch. 

I am pleased with the result!

Thanks for taking a look!

Remember 

be good to one another!

It matters to us all!

Peace

831