My first challenge

This is the first time I have participated in a challenge. Helga Strauss at ArtChix has created the most beautiful masterboard to play with, and I just couldn't resist!

I made three color copies, and a transparency.Then I cut one of the cardstock copies into strips and wove it back together to make the background and gave it a wash of thinned acrylic paint.

I chose two images with words that spoke to me this week, as my daughter starts middle school:

"Be you" and

"you are marvelous"

I accordion-folded a dictionary page to put under the bird and then added bead fringe and a wire and ribbon hanger.

My daughter asked me if she could put it in her locker. Of course, I said yes, but the whole time I'm thinking "How can my baby be old enough to have her own locker?"

This is a second piece that I did with the transparency. The cage and the bird are on cardstock. The background of the cage is a transparency layered over a sheet of white paper. I added a piece of doily at the bottom of the cage, and edged the whole thing with a white gel pen.

There's still time to play. This challenge runs until Tues., August 25.

It's hard to believe that the kids go back to school next week. We went for middle school orientation today, and a single yellow leaf fluttered down onto the windshield as we were driving away. It has been a really fun summer, though.


Lesley Venable of Flatwoods Folk Art was kind enough to come to FCCA and teach an altered tins class for us. We started with a regular band-aid tin, and then rusted, stamped and embellished them. I found an old button cover to go on the top. I like to use button covers because they are hinged, and you can hide the hardware you used to attach it to the tin underneath it.

This is my final product. Lesley often puts a little handmade book inside of her tins, so I am hoping to do something similar with mine.

I also got to do a lot of junking this month. Here are a few of my recent finds. I don't know if these marbles are particularly old, or valuable, but I just love the colors. And the dice are very old ceramic dice.


In the background is a vintage pillow. I just fell in love with the variety of colors in it. It seems to be made of old silk handkerchiefs, and it is all hand sewn. The shape and the layering of the pieces remind me of feathers. I think it may eventually become the top of a circus scene that I've had in mind for awhile.


I'd love to hear from you if you know anything about the way this pillow was made, and when they were popular. I don't think I've seen one quite like it before.

I have been meaning to show you what I made in the Illuminated Shrine class that I took with Jane Wynn back in the spring. The second photo shows where I put the lights. I want to put a transparency of a man and woman in the door of the phone booth, but I haven't found the right image yet.


I enjoyed Jane's class so much, and learned a lot of hints and techniques for putting something like this together. Plus, we got to play with lots of "boy toys" like drill presses and torches.


I got off to a rough start with this piece. I had an idea of what I wanted to do going into the class, and I got thrown off a little by the ornateness of the frame.


At lunch-time I was in a panic, thinking I wasn't going to have anything done at the end of the day. Magically, when I came back to it after lunch I was able to resolve the design issues I'd been struggling with.


I am always surprised that a group of people can start out with the same basic materials and come up with such a wide array of designs. At the end of the day we turned out the overhead lights and illuminated our little shrines and every piece on the table was a shining little jewel. Jane's May 4 post has lots of photos of our little works of art. And while you're there, be sure to look at the knockout jewelry she's doing now!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Last Tuesday the Virginia Artists Group met at Handcraft House to try our hand at zipper flowers. We'd seen them on the blogs of Trina and Patty and decided to give it a try.

None of us could make one that looked like Trina's or Patty's, but we all ended up with something that looked very much like a flower. We discovered that adding leaves was a big help.

I'd gotten my mom this coconut candy earlier in the day at Yoder's Country Market, and decided that the two belonged together for a birthday treat. I am going to add pin backs so that they can be worn. I'm thinking these might be great package toppers for a Victorian Christmas theme. Hmmm... maybe if I start now I can make it happen!

Rocket Baby at Liberty Town

Meet Rocket Baby. He's my newest assemblage piece. He was made for the Discarded Potential Show at LibertyTown here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. (http://www.libertytownarts.com/).

The show requirements were that the pieces submitted had to be primarily made from discarded materials. Rocket Baby's car is almost entirely made from cast-off items. The only new elements used were epoxy clay to bind some of the heavier elements together, and acrylic paint to blend the transitions. Even the wire that binds many of the parts together is made from a discarded craft kit. Of course, Rocket Baby himself had been discarded as well.

Some of the items used in Rocket Baby's car are: a typewriter hood, clock gears, broken model car parts, four vintage pencil sharpeners, metal game pieces and a hair curler.

I was thrilled when I got to LibertyTown's opening the other night to discover that Rocket Baby had won first place at the show!

Art & Soul Hampton Part 2 - Lisa Kaus' "Gridlocked" class

Here's another project that came out of the Art and Soul Retreat in Hampton, Virginia.

I spent the early part of the week soldering, drilling and hammering. I was in full tomboy mode when I got to Lisa Kaus' "Gridlocked" class on Sunday morning. I pulled out a big, rusty patent lock that I'd brought with me to use as the focal point of my piece. I measure it's size and started drawing my grid to accomodate it.

Lisa did a great painting demo, and showed us how to use transparent acrylics to get wonderful depth. And then she started talking about "telling your story" with the piece. And it made so much sense. And we had a grid to work with. And clear, bright colors. Gradually, I felt myself relaxing and enjoying something new.

Then something wonderful happened.

Lisa suggested that I take some of the big pieces off of my board while I did my painting. I took a quick reference photo before I moved them so I wouldn't forget what I was doing. This is how the piece looked.

Then, when I picked up a towel to dry my brush, two old penny dolls rolled out. I'd forgotten that I'd even packed them. I looked at their colors and they matched the backgrounds I'd been painting. I looked at their size, and they fit perfectly in the square I'd drawn for the patent lock.

And suddenly, I was telling my story, and the story was a really girly, happy story. And that was exactly how I felt.

Before I knew it, the entire day had passed. I left Art and Soul that day, with a hug from Lisa and a peaceful feeling that I still can't quite describe. But the words I chose to affix to my piece when I got home were "happy" and "play".

I wish that I had taken photos of the other pieces done in the class. Every single one was amazing, and every one had a story to tell.

Back from Art & Soul Hampton Part 1

I can't believe it's been a month since I was at Art & Soul. I had such a great time, and learned so much in each of my classes. It was really fun to be with a group of people who really "get" what I do!

Vendor night was terrific as well. Thanks to all of you who bought my collage sheets and porcelain glove forms. I promise to have both on my etsy site soon.

In the meantime, here is the project that I created in Michael deMeng's Demented Toys class. If you haven't taken a class from him, I highly recommend it. He is as entertaining as he is knowledgeable. I also learn so much from the critiques that he takes the time to do at the end of each class. Here he is doing a critique under the watchful eye of the woman in the painting.

I was going for a steampunk kind of feel with my piece. She is constructed from an old roller skate, an articulated toy dinosaur tail, tiny bones, a china doll head, a christmas ornament and a vintage toy-camera pencil sharpener.
The main compartment is an old bob-bet bait box (Just half a turn and there's your worm!),
If you open the side of the bait box, there is a bone-y little surpise inside; the inner workings of the machine.

I was amazed at the variety and creativity in all of the pieces that came out of that class. It was such a fun day!

A Very Happy Mother's Day

I am having the most wonderful Mother's Day. My family knows me so well. It started with my favorite breakfast in bed -- an egg mcmuffin and a coke!

Then, I received the most wonderful gift. Here's the story: About a month ago I saw a little soldier doll in a thrift shop. He was in terrible shape. His clothes were torn, his paint was peeling, and he was missing an arm and a leg. But there was something about him that I loved.

He was ridiculously overpriced, but the owner wouldn't bargain with me at all, even though she admitted that "this little soldier looks like he's been through a couple of wars." Once we got out to the car I whined that he really should be mine -- after all who else but me could love a little doll like that?

I didn't forget about him, but I hadn't mentioned him again, either. As it turns out, my husband went back to the store several times to try to get a better price, to no avail. Yesterday, he and my daughter made the trip to Orange, Virginia to get him for me anyway. You cannot imagine how surpised I was to see him! I'm anxious to clean him up a little, but for the most part I'm going to love him just as he is.

Isn't my family wonderful?