Tins and Lids ...Magnets?

A few months back my sister came to visit mom, and as always, we decided to do a little art while she was here.  This trip was no different.  The day came to play and she took out of her carpet bag, tin lids from glass jars, tea tins, bits of paper, buttons, 2 part epoxy and other embellishments. Ok, this has my attention.   I have always been an instant gratification kind of gal.  I am intrigued.  We lightly glued paper on the bottom of the lids, added buttons (we shaved off the shanks) and words from a book for typed it from the computer.  I found that to be the easiest. As you can see from the photo above the words from the book didn't turn out as well as I would have liked it to.  You can see the words from the other side of the page.  So, in the future I think I will just type out the words I need.  (Squirrel...much easier to read)  After placing all the do-dads you want in your lid, you mix up the epoxy according to the instructions and pour in the lids. Be sure and cover all your treasures. Sister has us take a straw and gently blow the bubbles out of the epoxy.  Let them dry over night and we slapped a magnet on the back and called it good.  All of our lids turned out so different. The sky is the limit, so have fun!

Good fun, good times and great laughs!

Mom's Chair

It's been a long summer! Lots of things have been going on like vacations, resting and having tons of fun! So one day I was feeling very creative and decided to start working on Mom's chair. This is a chair that she found somewhere many years ago and painted it an adorable yellow and sponge painted white on top. After many years out in the weather it needed a little help. Mom asked if I would collage it. Sure, why not! I had just finished a table for my sister. I do believe that Karen O'Brien has created a monster in me...I just love to collage! Nothing is safe in my house. Someday my partner will come home and I will have collaged everything including the TV!

With lots of love, paper, glue and paint the process begins. My favorite papers to use are maps, book pages, music and a coloring book page (this makes for interesting marks). Layers after layers are put on the chair. Karen taught us NOT to fall in love with any one section because before you know it...it's changed. I love to watch it transform from one look to the next after each layer. Add a coat of transparent paint to the end and watch it change again.

Grunge Meets Karen

Hello fellow journal people! Today was an awesome day for creativity! Mom and I went to another class with Karen O'Brien! Once again it was fabulous. We had been asking Karen to help us with the pages of our journals. She taught us how to create background pages....well, that's great, but what do we do with them now?? Today was just a small spattering of what we could do! With an image, glue, paint, tore paper and a few markers I came up with this little doll of a gal. Not sure what to name her yet, but it will come to me.

The left side of the spread is a grunge technique that we learned from a video we watched from Comfortable Shoes Studio. Leslie has some great videos on You Tube if you get a chance to see them.

Our Family...

Our best friends, Dana and Fran, had a baby back in May. He is just about the cutest thing you will ever see. Sweet face, sweet nature, just a sweet boy. Sigh! I seem to cry every-time I see him. Not sure why, I just feel the emotions and smile....

While visiting them in October we walked into a baby store and I saw a wooden frame that was so-so done with the words "Our Family just grew by two feet". Clever, I thought, but I think I would like to make one for them and make it more personal. So, as Fran was giving Lee his bath, I asked if we could take a couple of pictures of his feet....so sneaky! Christmas was coming and I thought that would be a great time to give them something special. So Cat and I put our heads together and came up with a great wide black frame, the pic of his feet, some velum for the words and the collage technique Karen O'Brien taught, I was off and running....

My Painted Journal

This is the first time I have painted in a journal. What an experience! Last February, Mom bought me a class for my birthday. She didn't tell me a thing about the class, let it be a surprise, just said she hoped that I would enjoy it. And I did! This was our first (and defiantly NOT last) class we took from Karen O'Brien. We took a book and tore out pages, glued on images and other paper. Whatever you want, glue it....then we painted the pages with acrylic paints. Moving the paint around on the page with an old credit card, disinfectant wipes and paper towels. Let them dry, then added a little more color with oil pastels, watercolor, stamps, gel pens and more paint if needed. This gives a great place to start journaling....I have stayed away from journaling most of me life because, I am not a writer and I get hand cramps! But in looking at others artists work, you don't have to just write like we did when we were in junior high. It is all about art, color, texture, some writing, movement and exploring your world around you. Next, for me comes the "art it up" part of the journey. I now have unique pages to lay my art work.

Intuitive Journal

This past weekend, my sister, who is an artist/teacher on Whidbey Island in Washington State, recently came down and taught a couple of classes in the Southern Oregon area. The class I took from her was "Intuitive Journal"...it was a timed journal. Let me explain, in 15 minutes we were to paint papers she had given us. Cardboard, old calendars, torn out large coffee table book pages, etc. Paint, just paint them any way we wanted. Then she gave us 20 minutes or so to look through magazines and cut or tear out pictures, words and textures. Then we had a few minutes to find words from old, well loved books for "found poetry"...you get the idea. What you end up with is a great journal that really found you...thanks, Wendy! If you have a chance go visit her blog...she's in my "Creative Souls"