Twas the night before Christmas . . .

a rare quiet day.

creating my own magic.

 

wishing all of my blog readers their very own

 magical christmas holiday

bursting forth with laughter, love and beauty.

art journal every day ~ december 6, 2013

i had decided to share some of the background work that i've been doing within my art journal pages today and then as a last minute (much needed) diversion i took my background image into photoshop and created a digital art journal page with it.


the top shot is of the backgrounded page and is a piece of cardboard from a cereal box that has been painted with a white acrylic paint.
i added:

• a piece of calendar page
• a white paper doily
• dylusions spray inks
• a stamped image/sepia & light green ink
• lots of glue 

i'll keep adding to the page but for now . . .  

this is the digital art page. i added several layers of my own photos and textures. i played around with the colors, opacities and just generally had a good time immersing myself in the process.
it turned out a bit dark but i think i still like it. at any rate, it felt good to create without any other purpose in mind.


i am linking up with  Art Journal Every Day at Balzer Designs . 
the very talented Malita Bloomer of Artful Fancies by Malita Bloomer is guest posting today and i can hardly wait to see the pages that other art journalers have posted.
feel free to link over and see some of the mixed media eye candy for yourself.


i do have some stitched goodies to share but they will have to wait until another day.


recent gifts include:

• good friends happily sharing their smiles and time
• warm wooly socks on my feet
• the generosity and kindness of other bloggers
• surprise packages in the mail
• long chats with my mom and daughter over the thanksgiving holiday
• the (always reliable) comfort of creating

art journaling friday - november 22, 2013

 my art journaling habit has really been suffering. i've been putting all of my extra time and energy into prepping for my quilt guild's christmas bazaar and until this a.m. have really been unable to focus on much else. it's interesting how much i miss it and how much less creative i feel in general when i'm not art journaling.  i hope to be putting myself back on track with this habit now that many of my other obligations have been fulfilled.

 

this is the second page of my two page fall themed spread. i was originally going to add more to it but it's been so long since i looked at it that i've forgotten just what i had in mind . . . so after adding the tag to my little sack (created from a tea bag~!) of self harvested hollyhock seeds i decided that i was going to call it good enough for now. i may do more on it later.

 

i continue using lightweight cardboard for the pages as i find that it holds up well to all of the wet media and glue and, best of all, is free.
some of the supplies/techniques that i have used for this page are:

• a used tea bag
• self harvested hollyhock seeds
• a piece of red perle cotton thread
• acrylic paint
• dyelusions ink spray
• a beat up re-used tiny price tag
• newspaper
• found hollyhock image (from a seed catalog) 
• bee and tiny leaf stamp & stamp ink
• collected leafy stems from my favorite tree within the garden
• stencil created from a box of Barilla pasta
• bits of twine
• micron pens
• lots of glue

tiny double sided tag art
side 1

tiny double sided tag art
side 2

 



 

 

LOVE this extra bit of texture that i accidentally achieved on this part of the page~!

 

 

 

 

i think i'll be prepping pages with backgrounds for the next little while as it's a fairly mindless art journaling activity to do while getting through the holidays.

 

 

 

i'll be linking up with Art Journal Every Day at Balzer Designs today. 
in addition there are many other art journalers linking up with her and sharing their own art journaling.

Julie is sharing her newly carved number stamps today. seeing them makes me want to carve a stamp or two of my own again.

inspiration abounds~!~

 

recent gifts include:

• a beautifully extended fall season
• that satisfying feeling i get when i can cross long term goals off of a list
• using up more of my scrap fabrics while achieving those goals
• anticipating a thanksgiving holiday with both my daughter and my mother :D  here within our home



"Faithful" Quilt-A-Long

this weekend i spent some time finishing up a small quilt-a-long piece . . . well, to the flimsy stage anyway.
this was hosted by Lori of Humble Quilts and was inspired by a larger quilt that she made. you will see a portion of her bigger one within her header as well as some doll sized versions if you pop over for a visit today.

i decided to go with a fall(ish) color scheme. 
i also changed my outer border sizes slightly in an attempt to get it rectangular. it's still not quite the rectangle that i want it to be so i will add a bit more to the top and bottom using the same hand dyed fabric that i used in the first tiny border.
the first and second unpieced borders are my own hand dyed fabrics. the third unpieced border is a cheddar colored solid that i had on hand.

i felt a bit rushed in the photography of it and so the photo shows it being wonkier than it actually is . . . it did sew up a bit humble though.  ;-)   this was a fun little diversion. i'm not sure when i'll actually get it quilted but i'll be sure to share/show it again once that happens.

thank you Lori for hosting yet another wonderful doll quilt quilt-a-long for us all to enjoy.

i'll be linking up today for the show and tell over at Humble Quilts.


recent gifts include:

• snuggling with a book on a cloudy/rainy/snowy morning
• getting my sick gracie to eat a little bit of breakfast
• enjoying a walk around "our" beautiful mountain lake with my wonderful husband and Suki
• remembering the many and various joys of making my own bread

art journaling friday ~ october 26, 2013

i've been a little less disciplined with my art journaling lately but i am working on a two page fall themed spread. i now have one of those pages finished.

i have continued using lightweight cardboard for the pages as i find that it holds up well to all of the wet media and glue.
some of the supplies/techniques that i have used for this page are:

• water color ~ paints & pencils
• acrylic paint
• a batik fabric scrap
• newspaper
• various found images & words
• my (used) fall to-do list
• a notecard recently sent to me
• bits of artificial leaf that fell off of one of my fall decorations
• stamped images & words
• a skeleton leaf
• some stitching
• washi tape
• micron pens
• lots of glue

 

remember when i posted about Barb (of Fun with Barb) sending me that fabulous fairy book? i have turned my scissors on it and snipped out this cute little fairy. it was fun to position him hanging from my fall to-do list. i also enjoyed including the pretty card that she sent along with the book and have created a special tab to mark the page with.

i'll be linking up with Art Journal Every Day at Balzer Designs today.
not only is Julie hosting many talented art journalers, she is also sharing more of her own pages and talent. i'm always inspired by what is going on here~!

recent gifts include:

• the slow rhythm of wonderful husbands sleeping breaths
• watching the recent full moon (orange) rise up and over the mountains
• discovering and creating fabric beads
• safely arriving home after a long travel day. there really is 'no place like home'.

"Love" at Our Beautiful World on Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - October 16, 2013

wordless wednesday

Big Skies in October and Slow Stitching Sunday

it's october and the mountain begins to change from it's peaceful summer greens to it's bright fall colors. the aspens are now leafy torches.


on this slow stitch sunday i'm working a little bit on my second stocking. 

maybe i'll use one of my fabric covered embroidered buttons on this one . . .

consider joining the slow stitch sunday link up and/or just checking out what it is that others are putting their hand stitches into over at Kathy's Quilts.



i have finished and delivered the first stocking. it will be auctioned in a fund raiser for our local family resource center.

detail of the cuff

 



i enjoyed working on it and  am happy with the results.

all finished

detail of stitching

as usual you can click on my images and see everything  better.

 

i will be linking up with:

 

 

 

 

 

Pixel Dust is pitching a "sky" prompt and at Our Beautiful World it's all about "October". take a minute to visit one and/or both for some talented photo sharing.

 

recent gifts include:

• seeing the tiny specks of baby fish growing into "fry"
• watching the mountain change into a bright blaze of color
• getting LOTS done with good energy
• seeing Suki (the grand-dog) improve at her frisbee skills



"Together" on Our Beautiful World and Wordless Wednesday

 

 

art journaling friday ~ september 27, 2013

i'm finding out how art journaling affects me. and it's absolutely amazing how much i look forward to getting into my studio and getting in just those few minutes. i didn't think it would really be enough daily time but it works out perfectly.
i sit down and evaluate what i did previously and then make a quick decision about what i will do next and get that done.
often i find that something needs to dry a bit anyway so i'm ready to put it away until the next time. until then i carry ideas around with me about how i might continue and as i go about my other activities (both art and routine stuff) i find that new ideas (or variations) occur to me.

and best of all, i'm finding that i get such a good energy from doing the work/play within my art journal that i'm getting more done in other areas of my life too. can't beat that~!

my newly finished page is on the left and the page on the right has had a few small additions to it so that the pages 'work' together.

i'll be linking up with Art Journal Every Day at Balzer Designs today.
i enjoy seeing what other art journalers are doing to their pages and sharing mine with them is fun too. today Julie is "sharing some art journal pages from the end of August and the beginning of September."  her artwork is also very inspiring~!

as the weather cools off i'm finding that i want to do a page or two representing the fall season so i'm currently working on that.

recently i received a surprise package in the mail from Barb of Fun with Barb. i was delighted to find a book inside called "Fairyopolis ~ A Flower Fairies Journal" by F Warner & Co. The artwork within was done by Cicely Mary Barker and is absolutely wonderful~!! thank you so much Barb for thinking of me when you found this treasure and for passing it along.
Barb noted that i could do anything i'd like with the book and so far i've spent quite a lot of time with it as i sip on my steaming morning coffee (well, it starts out steaming). it's been inspiring and a beautiful way to start each day.
the artwork is stunning in every detail.


i'm finding that i love the interactive inclusions within the book. i really must try to do this type of thing more often in my own art journal.

isn't this small "guide to fairies and trees" fun?

it accordian folds out and is full of further artwork.

i realize that when things like this are on the page the book becomes a sort of playground for the reader.



this sweet illustration of a blackberry fairy is tempting  me to cut it out and apply it to my newest pages . . . wouldn't it be perfect for a fall themed page in my own art journal?


i'm not sure that i can cut it though~!





recent gifts include:

• the unexpected generousity of a special internet friend found within the blogging world
• time spent with a good book
• the affects of art journaling on my life
• a cup of hot tea with honey in the afternoon as i enjoy the slight chill of a fall day

slow stitching on some christmas stockings

the new autumn season is definitely upon us. we've had some close calls with frost and next week's forecast indicates we'll not be missed again. the tomatoes have their cold frame back up around them and although they weren't very productive we'll protect the last of what has grown.

i've been stitching on many different things over the last couple of weeks but am making progress with several christmas stockings. my wonderful daughter's stocking is getting the last of it's decorative stitching and i won't show it again until it's sewn up into something that looks like it will hold a few christmas surprises.
i am also working on some christmas stockings that will be for local fundraisers.

these two stockings have been cut from some over sized vintage pieced star blocks. the blocks were apparently done by an inexperienced hand and did not lay flat (not even a little). i can cut carefully and make a few tucks here and there to make them work out well for stockings.

 

once they were cut out and fixed up i layered them with some thin batting and did some quick utility stitch hand quilting on them. 

 

this one is being 'interviewed' with a bit of vintage linen as a cuff. the lacy bit was quite shredded in one place but i decided to try my hand at some (slow stitch sunday) lace repair which i've never done before. it's certainly not professional looking but does look nicer than it did and will hold up much better.
i'll also add some embroidery to them.
consider joining the slow stitch sunday link up and/or just checking out what it is that others are putting their hand stitches into over at Kathy's Quilts.


recent gifts include:

• the mountain just beginning to show it's dramatic fall colors
• oven roasted cherry tomato 'jam'
• the satisfying feeling of late summer/early fall garden clean-up
• an old black cat happily purring and joining me for my afternoon naps