My New Old Notebook

I made this book many years ago.  

And the pages have been filled with notes and scribbles.   

But since the cover was still in pretty good shape and I needed a new notebook -

 I decided to sew in some new pages. 

And now my old notebook is new again

and ready for new notes and scribbles!

A Stack of Bowls

And so my stack of paper pulp & tea bag bowls has grown. 

This one is thick and chunky and 

I decorated it with a copy of a drawing I did a few years ago. 

I loved the look of the layer or overlapping tea bags in this one,

so I chose not to cover it up with paint. 

This bowl has a number of layers of paint on 

and I really like the texture on the outside of the bowl.

And this final little bowl is decorated with trees from 

a photograph I took a few years ago.  

I love when I can use my drawings or photographs in new creations. 

These bowls have a final layer of wax that seals and protects them. 

They are great for holding collections of stones and sticks

..... not so good for holding soup!

More Christmas Decorations

Making Christmas decorations has taken up lots of my time lately. 

There are some with trees....

and some with bicycles...

and some with branches.

And now I better get busy with getting a tree to hang these on...

and finish the shopping...

and wrap some presents .....

and do some baking ....

and clean the house.......

Christmas Decorations

I made these Christmas decorations just in time for 

the local Christmas sale a couple of weeks ago. 

They sold out very quickly, 

and I have been trying to find some time to make some more.

They have many layers, including paper pulp, tea bags, gesso and paint, 

and then images or stamps, some ink and collage bits 

before adding a final layer of paste wax. 

Maybe tomorrow I will have some time to play with some more of these

..... although I do have some snow shoveling to do!

Bikes & Biking

My daughter was in a bike race last weekend - and I drove her support vehicle. 

It was a beautiful sunny day,

but the pictures do not tell the tale of the ever present head winds.

Besides the strong head winds, the hills were big and the miles were many.

She rode for 11 hours - and in my books she is a winner

I enjoyed riding with her as she prepared for this day, 

and with so much biking on the brain, 

bikes showed up in my creations. 

Then there was an old bike tube laying around the house

that also grabbed my attention.

So I used it to make covers for some small notebooks. 

This bike stamp I carved a few years ago has become one of my favourites, and tends to show up in lots of places!

But for now - it is a beautiful evening

 - so I am heading out for a bike ride!

Bowl Making ..... Again

I have been on a bowl making spree.

I made the forms out of egg cartons that I soaked 

and pulverized into pulp.  

The forms were covered with emptied tea bags and paint
then other paper, and sometimes drawings or images were added. 

They have a final coat of paste wax to seal them.

These bowls can't hold soup, 
but I can imagine them holding some of my 
rock or shell or feather collections. 

I also made a couple of small bowls 

To add to my small bowl collection.

And my stack of larger bowls is also growing.

Its been fun making these bowls,
but I have decided to take a bit of a creative
and blogging break to get outside
and enjoy what may be the last bit of our summer.

I will be back in a couple of weeks!

See my previous bowl post here.

A Bowl Binge

I enjoyed making bowls out of egg carton pulp for my 

Art at the Dump project,

so I decided to make a few more. 

I had been wanting to try making a bigger one

And so I made this one. 

I decorated it by adding some layers of tea bag paper

and some stamped on tissue paper and a bit of paint. 

I finished it off with a layer of wax medium to give it a nice finish.

I made a little ball of paper pulp as well, and decorated it in the same colours.

When you swirl the bowl, the ball rolls around in it very nicely.... it is funny the little things that bring me delight. 

I also finished a couple of small size bowls. 

This one was painted.... 

And this one was covered with layers of coloured tissue paper. 

They can't hold soup or anything,

but I think they will look great  holding all my many treasures

(probably rocks..... )

Besides building bowls, 

I have been trying to get out and enjoy our summer. 

I went hiking with my daughter and her friend

And we enjoyed some time taking pictures together. 

More hiking adventures and bowl making are in the works!