Collage 1951

Sometime ago I bought several vintage magazines at a thrift shop that were very inexpensive.  Yesterday while I was again digging thru bags and boxes in my craft room I came across a Woman's Day magazine from 1951.  In the same box was a folded pattern tissue minus the Simplicity package that it was suppose to be in. So, the wheels started turning and I decided to make a fabric themed collage.
First I glued down the glossary of the pattern tissue that was written in 4 languages. Stippled some ink onto the pattern tissue. I then cut out some images from the old Woman's Day magazine. I also had an unfinished piece of vintage crochet and when I saw the crochet article...that worked into the collage perfectly. I had some fabric that looks like a tape measure, and cut out a strip to add to the piece. Along that strip of fabric there were dots to show what colors coordinate with the colors in the fabric. I cut out the numbers 1,9, 5 and since there wasn't another 1,  I cut out a 1 from the number 11 and glued that to my piece.  Applying glue around the edges I added tulle over the collage and then finished it with buttons. Do I have a use for the piece, well no. What will I do with it?? I don't have a clue. I just felt like making it.


Do you keep everything you make? I have so many pieces, including  jewelry that I haven't used or have no idea what I will do with them. I just enjoy creating.

P.S..Sherri...I don't know why the photo didn't upload the first time. I write my posts on live writer, and the photo was there when I sent the message. I went back and tried again. I am also having problems with responding to comments. I write a note, and blogger accepts it and tells me it's waiting for moderation, but I never find the message to approve it. Does anyone know why that is happening? I have so many problems leaving messages on other blogs too. Sometimes I can leave a comment and other times after numerous tries my comment never goes thru. Very frustrating.

Small decorative fabric collage quilties

I was up really early this morning. I just couldn't sleep.  I started digging in one of my fabric bins, and decided I would make a few more little decorative fabric quilts.
I didn't take time to iron my finished pieces, and if they look a little wonky here that is the reason.
My first quilt collage that I did this morning. I cut down a sample Waverly upholstery fabric piece that I bought in Joann's in a mark down bin. I then scanned onto fabric canvas the image of the lady with the doves using my ink jet printer and the photo from the Art to Wear Book's CD that I recently bought. After stitching the canvas to the background fabric I stitched decorative trim around the image.  I added a flower and a small bird. The bird is resin, and I bought it at Michaels. The backing is wool felt.

My 2nd little fabric collage: I have had the little fairy fussy cut and adhered to heat and bond for I can't tell you how long. I came across her this morning and ironed her onto the lavender fabric. I then stitched around her. Then I stitched a silk flower to the fabric, and  felted some yellow wool roving to the center of the flower. The piece is sewn onto moss colored wool felt for it's backing.

3rd fabric collage: Sorry for the horrid photo. Believe me, the finish piece isn't uneven like it looks here. I had an all over printed collage print fabric that I cut out pieces that I really liked. I stitched the black framed Love/Paris floral piece of fabric to the brown speckled fabric and I added a piece of vintage lace. Then that fabric piece was stitched to cranberry colored fabric. It is backed with a piece of wool felt that is a dark red/black blend.

I may still do a little more tweaking, but for the most part...these are done.

Now, to show you my eye glass case that really didn't turn out how I wanted it to. It is pretty bad. (LOL)
This afternoon I took out the piece of red wool that had started off as a wool skirt that I bought at a Salvation Army store.  A year or so ago, I bought several wool skirts in many colors so I could cut them up to felt. I washed the skirts in hot water in the washing machine, and then dried them in a hot dryer to felt the wool. Some of the wool pieces came out thicker than others. The red wool that I used for my eye glass case isn't very thick. This was my first attempt, and all I can say is I better dig out the book that has embroidery stitches in it, because I haven't done any hand stitching in years, and it really shows in this piece. I am not very happy with it, and may undo the stitches and start over. Anyway, here is my not so wonderful felted eye glass case. Don't laugh too hard.

It's been a little while since I shared a picture of our little granddaughter, Bella or Bellz as her daddy and mommy call her. Bella turned 9 months old on February 24th.

For the Birds...fabric wall hanging

One of the swaps I signed up for this month in the yahoo group, Art Haven, was a fabric swap. I still have to add something to hang my 7 x 8 inch fabric piece. I was thinking of a stick and wire.
The back is black wool felt. For the front...I used a piece of upholstery fabric, and then I stitched a strip of burlap down the left side. To which I stitched a square that I cut from some bird fabric that I bought the other day at Joann's. I then sewed some vintage lace to the top and bottom of the bird fabric. Stitched a silk flower and added a resin birds egg to the center of the flower. I think I am pretty much done with the piece, but I'm not quite sure. I hope whomever receives my bird piece will like it.

I have also been working on a felted eye glass case for my reading glasses this afternoon, and hopefully I will finish that tomorrow.

2nd OWOH door prize...card from Finland

I received my 2nd One World One Heart door prize from the blog event in today's mail.  I have to say, my photo just doesn't do justice to this gorgeous card. I won the card from Mervi , you can visit her blog here.....http://leikkaan.blogspot.com

Mervi also sent a box of candy and two lovely ATC's

Thank you so much for the awesome mail day.  I loved all of your art that came my way.

I won three door prizes, and now I am just waiting for the handmade doll that I won to arrive.

I'm Shrinking...

Well, not really, but this morning I decided to play with shrink plastic. I want to join a swap on one of my yahoo groups using shrink plastic.  With the piece I created this morning, that was the last of my white shrink plastic. Well, maybe not, as I am sure I have more, but where is it hiding in my craft room is the question. At the moment all I can find is the frosted shrink. I just need to keep on digging in boxes and drawers. I am so disorganized...too much stuff, not enough room, but I am guessing I am not alone with this problem.
Front of an inexpensive foam block rubber stamp that I used for this project.

Below: back side of the rubber stamp

For those of you who have never used shrink plastic this is how I did my completed pin.
I started by lightly sanding in both directions of the shrink plastic with a sponge nail block front and back sides. Then choose a fairly large rubber stamp that I inked with black memories ink. I quickly passed my heat gun over the ink to set it. I cut out my design, and added some color with colored pencils. Then shrunk the plastic. For the base I cut out a larger piece of shrink plastic, and stippled pigment ink , cut out my shape, and then shrunk it. To the base I used a light coating of diamond glaze or dimensional magic for a gloss, and then sprinkled very lightly some fine glitter, and let dry.  I did the same to the sun ( top piece of shrink) when that piece was dry, I then used foam tape on the back of the sun piece and added it to the base.  Then on the back I glued a pin back.
Finished pin: You really can't see the sparkle in the photo. The finished piece is 2 1/2 inches long.

Lots of wonderful projects can be done using shrink plastic. tutorial website

Got Soap?...Felted that is

On the yahoo group, Art Haven, Eileen posted that she took a soap felting class from someone in her building and posted a picture on her blog.
You maybe wondering why would anyone want to felt a bar of soap. Well, for one thing I have lots of wool rovings in a lot of colors.The felted bars make lovely gifts. The bar of soap also isn't slippery with the felted covering, and the felt also doubles as a wash cloth/scrubber in the shower or bath.
When I got home from taking my mom to the doctor's this afternoon I opened a box of lemon grass scented soap, and selected some blue and fushia wool rovings to cover the bar of soap. I then felted the soap by hand. I wet the wool using hot water. My hands feel so soft and smell so good now that I am finished.  I also used a plastic paint tray liner for a scrubber at the very end to make sure all the wool was firmly in place and molded to the bar of soap.
For a quick refresher on how to make felted soap, I did a google search for felting soap. and there were many sites to look at, but I liked this one...Little Birdies Secret .
Next bar that I make I will add some designs to the felt. In the photo below my wool isn't quite dry.

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had gone to Joann Fabrics craft store.  Here is a photo of fabric that I fell in love with, because I just love birds. I have already cut some blocks from the piece and will sew them onto fabric collages. I love fabric that I can get a lot of pieces from. I used a 40% off coupon on the 1/2 yard piece of fabric that I bought.

Give away...sewing machine

Charms that is. This afternoon while I was going thru bags of stuff I came across this baggie that I had bought for a $1.00 at a quilt shop on the Cape a few years back that had sewing machine and tiny spools of thread charms. Of course, you know I can't pass up a bargain, and had to buy them.
I will probably never use all the charms that came in the bag.  So I am going to offer 6 of the charms as a give away to anyone who  thinks they could use them on a project. I will send 2 charms to three different bloggers in my give away. Just leave a comment telling me what you will use them for.
The photo below came out terrible because of the lighting, but you can get the idea of what the charms look like.  They are approximately 1/2 inch long.
Also just want to share this funny story of what happened to me this afternoon. I had gone out to lunch with a friend, and then we took a ride to Joann Fabrics. On the way back I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I then dropped off my friend and came home. When I got in the yard I called for the kitty, and then I whistled for him. We taught kitty to come when we whistle.
I then opened the back hatch of my SUV leaving it open while I walked to the mailbox. I stood looking thru the mail and walking back to the car with my head down reading the back of a magazine. When I went to reach in to get out some of the bags, much to my surprise I found our neighbors, female golden retriever sitting in the back of my SUV. She must have come when she heard me whistling for the kitty. I left the hatch open, brought in the ice cream to put away, and went back out...Sweetie was still in the back of my car. I went back into the house again to bring in another load of groceries, brought out Bears old dog leash and went back out..Sweetie was still sitting in the car. I put the leash on her collar and was walking her home, when I met one of the daughters and I handed over Sweetie. I don't know why I didn't think to just drive Sweetie home instead of walking her.
Sweetie is tiny compared to how huge our Bear was. Seeing her in the car really made me want another golden retriever. Sweetie really is a lovable Sweetie. Now that I think about it, I should have run in and got the camera to take a picture of Sweetie looking like she belonged in my vehicle.  My husband Tom  badly wants another dog, but I didn't know if I wanted another one after losing our male, golden retriever to cancer.  So, who knows...I am starting to rethink the dog issue as it's been over a year and half with no dog in the house.

I won a giveaway

Wow, this morning I picked a winner for my giveaway, and then I received this email letting me know that I had won a giveaway drawing.  How wonderful.
Hi Elaine!
You are the winner of my "Chick" on the 'Arts a Flutter blog
Thanks so much for entering!
Please send me your address and I'll get this little fellow to you right away!
Sincerely,
Candace
Howling Moon Designs
http://www.howlingmoonsblog.blogspot.com

http://www.artsaflutter.com

http://ehagemporium.blogspot.com

http://queenscastlebootique.blogspot.com

http://www.ahaartistsstudio.com

Just a note of warning...about deleting gmail

I sent Barbara Moore an email this morning to find out what happened to her blog...Pineland Patches. I tried visiting her blog this morning and I kept getting this message on blogger.
Blog has been removed. Sorry, the blog at pinelandspatches.blogspot.com has been removed

 So, this is what Barbara emailed me back and she wanted to let others know so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
Thank goodness you checked in Elaine. I'm devasted here.
Because of a new droid cell phone that requires a gmail account, that acct.
was set up for me at Verizon when I got my new phone. So, silly me, thinking I
didn't need the old gmail account anymore, I deleted it. What a shock to
find that old account was linked to my blog, so of course now my blog is
totally gone.
I've dug on the web a little bit, and this is a common occurence, but
there's not an easy answer. Even if I was successful in reactivating my old
google account and getting my blog back, the photos seem to be gone forever.
So I googled my blog name and found some cached pages which may help remind
me of what's important to re-post and a list of the blogs I follow. But my
Followers and everyone will now get a notice that my blog is gone, and I
have no way of knowing who all of them are.
Would you please post a note on your blog about this with a warning to everyone NEVER to delete that gmail account even if they don't use it or think they need it. If they want to keep their blog, they need it. I just didn't remember that it was necessary to have it from a couple years ago when I set up my blog.
I have a new blog already, but there's nothing in it. However, I'm going to post this and hope everyone will be able to find me again, perhaps with the help of some of my bloggy friends. It's a different name:
http://pinelandstreasures.blogspot.com/ 
Thanks...this too shall pass! :)
Barbara

So, if any of you visit my blog that normally follow Barbara...visit her at her new blog address.

Announcing my 1 year blog anniversary winner

Thanks to all that left such nice comments. I entered everyone's name into a basket and my friend drew out one name.
The winner is Nancy B, and in the comment Nancy wrote that she would like to have the green earrings and beads.
Nancy...I will get those mailed out to you this week.

I am also thinking I may draw out a few more names and just giveaway every prize that I offered.
Thanks again everyone!!!

Charm bracelet

Yes, I am still working on charms, and as I was going thru my bead findings I found a charm bracelet that I had picked up at Michael's a few months ago on a clearance sale. At the time I had no idea what I would do with it, but it was on sale, and I bought it.
This morning I started adding some of the charms I have created to the bracelets links. I will add a lot more charms after the swap from AAWA.  Last night, I found the last dog license that we had from our beloved golden retriever, Bear before he passed,  and so I made that into a charm. I have some bottle caps that I am working on and dominos.

Below...enlarged photo of a small rubber stamped domino and a flattened bottle cap that I drilled a small hole at the top so it could be used as a charm. Now, I just need to put a protective coating on them.

metal face, foreign coin, and two round wooden pieces that were rubber stamped

The bracelet looks pretty good when on my wrist. I still have some of my charm bracelets from the 60's when I was in high school. Everyone wore charm bracelets back then. 

When I went to put some letters in the mail this morning I noticed that snow had melted away from the foundation near the kitchen steps and that my daffodils had poked thru the ground. Yeah!!! A sign of spring. Larger patches of grass are appearing, but there is still a lot of snow covering the yard.

Scrabble Tiles and more

I still had my Dremel out this morning, and I thought I would make some pins and a few charms by drilling holes in some Scrabble game tiles and adding pin backs.

I don't know if you can see what the charms are...so double click on the photo to see a bigger photo.
C - charm that looks like a Laurel Burch cat, G - angel, W - pair of flip flops, A - kitty, F -high heel, R -boxed heart, G - red heart
B & E scrabble tiles were made  into charms

I also found an old watch that came in a box of junk from a yard sale. The watch didn't run but the hands still moved. I added a jump ring and made it into a charm.

Then when digging thru another box I found the ugly fella pictured below. The pendant is approximately 3 inches. Don't know where the heck I found or bought this piece, but I know I wouldn't have paid very much for it.   I plan on making a mold out of this pendant and then using paper clay or sculpey to make some skeletons for some Day of the Dead  or Halloween art.

 

Simply Charmed

I joined a charm swap on the Yahoo group, An Affair with Art this past week.  I wanted to start on the charms right away, because I am a terrible procrastinator. I hate being late and so I figured better start early or who knows what will happen and then I'd be scrambling around at the last minute to get them finished in time.
Yesterday afternoon I started digging thru some craft drawers, bead and button boxes, and a box of assorted game pieces.  Then I went and dug out my small rechargeable Dremel drill.  Several years ago, I asked my husband, Tom for a Dremel for Christmas. My sons and hubby thought I was nuts, but I guess after they saw me using my sons, big, heavy, Makita drill they thought the little Dremel was safer for me to use. Just wish I had a small drill press to hold onto my tiny objects that I want to drill holes into. My son, Steven kept telling me that he was going to come home one day and find me with the drill bit bored thru my hand and he'd have to take me to the Emergency room. Thankfully that never happened.

My Dremel is and  small cordless that runs on a rechargeable battery pack. It is approximately 8 inches long with the bit inserted. MultiPro Cordless 7.2 V. There is probably a new and improved model out now since my Dremel is probably 10 years old.

  My dremel came in a hard plastic case with the charger and a pack that included sand paper discs, bits and other accessories.

I worked on a few more charms this morning as it was snowing again and I wasn't going to venture out on the slippery roads. I still want to make  more. I wouldn't  mind trading some charms with others.
Below...just some of the assorted dice and wood game pieces

Below: beads and clear vintage button, skull beads..glass, wood and bone.

Below: rubber stamped wooden disks that were originally from a trivet mat that I pulled apart, blue lamp work bead, copper coiled wire& beads, metal button, and frog head lamp work bead.

Well, what do you think of my charms? Any suggestions? What have you made charms from?
I also have some other objects that I want to make into charms. I've been drilling some Scrabble tiles and small domino's. I use to drill domino's all the time and make art dolls with them. You can see them here...Domino album in my picture trail album
Have a creative day.

First of my OWOH door prizes arrived

When I went to the mail box a little bit ago I found a package with one of my door prize winnings from One World One Heart blog event. Inside the package I found a bracelet of beautiful green ( aventurine), silver and pearl beads and it came wrapped in a lovely hanky from Sharon Maynard. Sharon's blog can be found here.. amethyst and lilypads. Thank you, Sharon.
 

Yesterday we had high winds and heavy rains all day long. Not a good day to be out and about. Then, when I was making homemade pizza for supper, I looked out the window and saw that it was snowing. Crazy weather!!! When I woke up this morning I saw that there was only got a inch of snow on the ground. This morning we woke up to sunshine, and I can see a few patches of winter grass, but the yard is still covered with lots of snow in most areas.
My erosion bag that has been hanging from my maple tree in the back yard since January really got a good drenching of rain yesterday, and so I am hoping that some magical changes will be going on inside that hanging bag.
Have a wonderful Saturday. :-)

Celebrating My **One Year** Blogaversary with a Giveaway

Somehow I missed the one year anniversary date of starting my blog on February 9th.  I just wasn't paying close enough attention to the calendar. So, I am a tad bit late in posting my 1 year giveaway.
I can't believe a year has already gone by since I first started my blog. I didn't have a clue how anything worked or what I was doing that morning that I clicked on the blogger site.  I still haven't figured out how every feature works on Blogger, but it has been a fun journey.
I am offering a giveaway to thank all of you who have visited or become followers. This little giveaway is just a small way of saying Thank You. Also, thanks to those who have taken the time to leave such nice comments throughout the year. I love to read them.

The winner can choose 1 item from below.

 I made this stuffed fabric hanging heart. It has ribbons and beads as an embellishment.

Tim Holtz ruler ribbon
. a new set of 4 stamps

OR: a pair of green earrings with Sterling silver wires and a bag with beads  enough to make many more pairs of earrings.

OR:  a gallon zip lock baggie filled with fabric pieces.

 

Please let me know which prize you'd like to win when you leave a comment. Also a way for me to contact you if your name is drawn as the winner. Good Luck!

Fabric canvas pink pond lily postcard

I bought a package of fabric canvas sometime back at a clearance sale. The package was marked down to $2.00. Unfortunately there was only one package or I would have bought more. The package contained 8-
8 1/2 x 11 sheets.


The photo above ...I scanned 4 images from the Art to Wear CD onto one sheet of the fabric canvas. When the ink dried, I sprayed the piece with a fixative so the ink wouldn't smudge or run. The bird image will be my next project. I just haven't decided if it will be a postcard or if I will use it on a mini quiltie hanging art piece. Probably a hanging piece.

 
In Joann Fabric's they had a book... The Vintage Workshop Art-to-Wear: 100 Images & 40 Projects to Personalize Fashion" by Amy Barickman, that I wanted.  The photo above, I took in the store with my cell phone. The book was $29.99, but it was missing the CD that came with the book and the book was pretty banged up.  The store checked, but none of their other stores had another book. 
So, I checked out Amazon.com and found that Amazon offered the book. 
I ordered  a book that was in the used section from another vendor. It was stated that the book was new and had never been used. With the cost of the book and shipping the total came to $9.98. My husband had a $10.00 credit.  So, I was thrilled when he ordered  the book for me.  I used the pink pond lily that was in the book/CD and made a canvas fabric postcard with the image.
I used a glue stick that is made for fabric to hold the canvas photo onto a green brushed velour type fabric and then stitched around the canvas. I then ironed muslin fabric onto a stiffened material for the backing. After the piece was layered and completely stitched, I then stitched a piece of pink netting over the front and then added a mauve and gold trim to finish off the piece. The trim was also another bargain. I just love bargains.
I created this piece as a little thank you gift for Sharon of amethyst and lilypads blog. I thought it would be a fun thing to send to her as she also loves lilypads. I plan to create a little something for all 3 of the ladies that I won door prizes on their blogs from the recent OWOH blog event.

That's my fun art project for the day.  I have always loved pond lilies. The pink lilies were always harder to find, at least around here. So, as a child they were my favorites. I can remember falling into the water, as I tried to reach out and grab one from the water. :-)