Dance With The Wind

This weeks challenge is hosted by Patrice.  She came up with the wonderful theme of DANCE.

I thought about it for a while, and decided one of my favourite dances is with the wind.  Be that a person, a bird or a tree dancing with the wind - I love the interaction.

And since I felt like playing with collage this week, I laid out bits of resin paper and tea bag dyed paper into this plant dancing in the wind.  It is not glued down at this point ....

and it continued to change a bit when I glued it down. 

 

 Then I decided to play with the words. 

 I love the way words look, but have always steered away from making words the main focus of my creations.

  Perhaps this is because  in grade 2 my teacher made me stay after school and write lines because my printing was messy.  I had to write - 'I will print neatly.' over and over every night.

  So I believed I would never have 'nice' handwriting.  

I enjoyed making this so very much.... and have been thinking of what other words I may create with.

I then had a look how both of these pieces looked  in a mat.

Have fun dancing with the wind!

For more art inspired by the word dance, please visit Patrice

The Catch Up Continues....

 

 I continue to work on finishing projects that have been sitting around my studio for some time. 

 I made these rustic pins over two months ago, and started the necklace below at the same time.

Hand drawn little pencil doodles on painted paper, captured in layers of resin and wax, and supported on a reclaimed piece of metal that I cut and filed to size. 

  I then wrapped the cord with cotton thread as I sewed each link onto the cord.

 

A bit of a busy necklace. . . .

but at least it is finished!

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And now for the weather.......

 

  It may not look too spring like because of the snow, but to me spring is very much about getting the long day light hours - this picture was taken at 10 PM last night.

 

The snow continued and it looked like this by morning, and by lunch time  we had a total of 12 inches of fresh snow (on top of the snow we still had).  It was a very beautiful day.... but the snow was very heavy to shovel!

Thank You Gifts

I have been busy catching up on a few THANK YOU gifts that I have had in the works for a while. 

 

The first one is a book I made.  The image on the front cover was taken by the recipient of this gift and is a image of her young daughter wearing her heart sweater.

 

and the back cover.

 

 

I made this necklace for a women that has helped with my daughter's hockey team for the past couple of years.

 

 The bezel holds 3 beautiful little polished stones.

 

And these rustic earrings are for another women that has done lots of work for the same team. 

 

 

I am so happy to have finished these items and that they will soon be received by these wonderful people. 

 

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UPDATE: 

 I would like to thank so many of you for  your lovely comments.

 It was such a gift for me to get all of your comments.

 

AND NOW FOR THE WINNERS!

Winner #1 - Susan  Christensen(winning Necklace #1)

Winner #2  - Cyndi (Necklace #2)

and because this is so much fun I decided to draw a couple more names...

Winner #3 - Louise (delicate book in pocket)

Winner #4 - Fuzzy Fingers (Painting)

I will e-mail you all to get your addresses.

Thank you again so very much!

 

And now A Thank You Gift for a couple of you  - the readers of my blog.

 I wanted to offer up a couple of thank you gifts to you the readers of my blog  - the supporters of my creative endeavors.  I can not tell you how your supportive comments have assisted me especially over this past year.  Your comments always make me smile. 

 

 If you are interested in being gifted an item in this image, please leave a comment here by 

Sunday  April 28 (8PM Pacific time) and I will randomly choose 2 winners. 

 (Please let me know what item you would like, and ensure I can contact you)

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The following images are close up images of some of my creations that I am offering up for gifts.

Necklace #1  - A pendant I  made with a copy of a face I painted encased in resin (glossy finish) on a bezel I made from metal.  It hangs on a black cord that can be slipped over your head, and adjusted to different lengths.

 

Necklace #2 - made the same way as the first necklace, with a different face painting.

 

Necklace #3 - made of reclaimed metal, with image encased in resin with a matte finish.  Hangs on an adjustable cord.

 

 

In case you are not a wearer of jewelry, I have added the following items to the give away list.

A small delicate book made with rice paper pages and  tea bag cover, with a sturdy pouch to keep it protected when it is not being used.

 

 

 

3 blank cards decorated with prints of  nature collages I have made.

 

 

 

And lastly a small original  painting I did on a tea bag that is mounted on watercolour paper



Finding Yellow

This month's rainbow search is for yellow.

 

And I share with you a book I made some time ago that is filled with yellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also share a few muted yellows I  found around the house.

 

 

 

 

For more yellow discoveries please visit Julie or Jennifer.



Unfinished Creations Finished

 

 I am a bit of a procrastinator, and I told myself it was time to finish a few items that have been sitting around the studio for far too long. 

I decided to start with finishing these three blank books.

 

This one has been sitting in my 'to finish' bin for some time - all it needed was to be sewn together.

It is made with a cover that has layers of paper, fabric, glue, paint and paste wax.

(front cover)

(back cover)

 

Here you can see a bit of the original text and images that were on the paper I used for the cover.

 

The cover is quite stiff, but still bendable. 

 

The layers of fabric and paper to make this cover, as well as the pages, have also been sitting in my 'to finish' bin for too long.  It was time to finish it.

 

 I glued all of the fabric and paper layers together and added a coat of paste wax to protect the cover and give it a nice feel.   The cover is more flexible then the previous book. 

 

Before I sewed the pages into the book,

 I took it to my lovely old sewing machine and bravely added some circles on it. 

My machine is the one my mother used to sew my clothes many years ago when I was a young girl.  It is a heavy duty machine that can sew through many layers, but it can't do free motion stitching, so my circles are a bit rough. 

 

Then I made a hard covered book using a handmade piece of paper that I made and painted on some time ago.  I finished it by adding a bit of collage and paint and stamps and mounted it on book board.  It to is covered with a layer of paste wax to protect it and give it a nice feel.

(front cover)

 

 

 

(back cover)

 



It is nice to see these completed, and out of the stack of  unfinished creations!

Filled with Beauty

This weeks challenge theme is 'BEAUTY'. 

 

And I have chosen this spot to tell its tale of beauty.  It is a place we go to often, not far from where we live. 

 

We have a small rustic cabin here, and we always enjoy the beauty of family fun.

 

I find different beauty each time I go.

 

I went there a few days ago, to do some work with my husband. 

 

It was an extremely windy day as you can see by the bending  spruce trees.

 

I took a break from working and lay down on the beach to take these pictures

 

 

 

 

And after our day of work, I came home and played with them on the computer.

 

A place

 

that for me

 

 

 

 

is always filled with beauty.

 

To see more interpretation of beauty please visit Nadine!