Latest Fun In The Studio

Craft apron I made for my sister

Time sure seems to fly by, doesn't it? At least it seems to for me. I've been busy lately getting several things ready for swaps I signed up for, and other projects in which I find myself involved. For instance, my sister wanted to join a Craft Apron swap, but that seemed sort of iffy to me; one could put a lot of time and effort into making an apron, and get something totally unexpected back. I knew my sister would be upset if that happened! So i suggested we make each other an apron. Jim found a cool craft apron made out of canvas at the craft store, and I dyed it green and added all kinds of decorations on it. It was a lot of fun to make. Lindy made me a really cool Queen Apron with sparkles and a wild print. I need to take a picture of it to add but trust me, it's cool. Above is a picture of the one I made her:

I signed up for several swaps and had to get a dry-erase board to keep track of them all! There were swaps on Swap Bot, Alpha stamps and Vintage Dragonfly! I got all of them done and mailed except for the Alpha Stamps swap which doesn't have to be mailed until the end of the month. 

I've added several photos to my Flickr photostream of the various projects. 

There is a new Hobby Lobby in Wenatchee now which is great! We didn't even have a Michaels here and the JoAnn's is very small. The Craft Warehouse is pretty good, but isn't nearly as big as Hobby Lobby. It's nice to have options.

We have to make a trip over to "the coast" (Chelan-speak for Seattle area!) one of these days which will be fun as we haven't been over that way for a while. It will be fun to see friends and family that live over there, and go places like Trader Joe's that we don't have. But we are always ready to come home after a few days of being in the traffic and the rain!

Altered Book Exchange

I've been busy working on my "book" for our Altered Book Exchange 2013. A bunch of friends (and relatives - my sister and niece) and I decided to do an Altered Book Exchange last year. We had such a good time and enjoyed the process so much we decided at our "Wrap-Up Party" to do it again this year. I decided to do my entry as a box rather than a book. My subject was The Tarot, and I found these wonderful chipboard plaques at the craft store in Wenatchee which would make great cards. i bought enough so everyone could do three cards. 

For those who may not be familiar with Altered Book Exchanges, this is how it works: a group of people - seven in our case - agrees to participate. Everyone picks a theme for his/her book. The owner of each book does the cover (or box!), a Sign-In Page (or card!) for each of the artists to sign in, and a page telling about the book, any "rules" the owner has for his/her book, and any other information pertinent to the project. The owner does one or two or three pages, remembering to SIGN them so people will know who did which pages. When it is done, it is sent/given to the next member of the group. There is a mailing list; each member must mail the book on to the next member in the time frame decided upon by the group. In our case, each recipient has one month to do the pages before mailing it on. It mails in a big circle, and it will end (come back to the original maker) when everyone has worked in the book. In our case, that will be August. We are planning to get together at that time and look at all the completed books. It's so fun to see them when they are all done!!! Last year our Wrap-Up Party was around Halloween, so we decided to dress up according to the themes of our books. that worked out good for some (like me! My theme was "Steampunk Dreams" so I could dress Steampunk) but some books, like my sister's "Thresholds" were more challenging! 

The really neat thing is at the end, every participant has a beautiful creative book filled with artwork by special friends (and family, in our case!). 

Well, I've been working on my box and my cards as the end of February will be here before you know it!Here is a picture of the box I made:

This was a plain box I got at the craft store, and I painted it, let it dry, painted it with Elmer's Glue, and waited for it to get tacky before painting it again. That makes a lovely, old-looking crackly finish. I tried several versions of this on some small wood squares I had to see what combination I liked best. You have to use a base of one color and the top coat of another and dark and light show up the crackle best. I had purchased the top plaque and did it by antiquing some paper and then waxing it on. The word "Tarot" is wooden letters I antiqued and then nailed on. Bit of problem there - the nails were longer than the box was deep so they stuck through the plaque about 1/2" on the back side! But Jim cut them off for me so the plaque could be glued on the box. There is a mirror on the inside of the lid,so I couldn't nail into that! I remembered I had these cool green glass beads, so they were resined into the lid around the plaque. And the feet I had received in a Swap-Bot swap and they were perfect for this. 

So that's what I've been doing lately!!!!!

Moon Over Lake Chelan

Jim took this picture of the moon rising over the lake at twilight. I thought it was really pretty and thought I'd share it with you!!!

Hoar Frost

It's recently been so cold here, and yet foggy. It's lifted a bit now, but about a week ago, the conditions were just right to create hoar frost. Hoar frost appears on branches, wires, posts - and is comprised of zillions of tiny spiky crystals that look sort of like miniature horizontal icicles. Here are some pictures:

Playing With Pendants

My sister recently came for a visit with her husband and dog. It was a lot of fun as we celebrated a late Christmas together. Lindy (sister) and I got time to play in the studio, where we had fun making Valentines Pendants which we strung into banners. She made one for her daughter who's birthday IS Valentine's Day and one to keep. I just made one. With my uncanny ability to make things more difficult than they need to be, I designed my pendants to be strung together with chain and then got the idea to make little heart "charms" to put between them. And I coated the little hearts with Glossy Accents to make them look glossy. I did like the way it turned out. Above are some pictures.

For Danny

My brother-in-law, Dan Uhrich, has let me know on several occasions that I am doing an exceedingly poor job of keeping up with this blog. So one of my goals for 2013 is to be more attentive to this blog. I look at all the absolutely amazing blogs out there and wonder why anyone would bother with reading mine. But I guess if no one reads it it doesn't matter anyway, and if someone does read it, well that's just great!!! It IS fun to write so I guess that's all that's important!

I have been busy as usual. My sister and i got started in a group called "SwapBot". It's free to join, and people from all over the world sponsor different swaps. You sign up for a swap - there is a posted deadline for signing up - and there is a deadline for completing the swap. There are ALL kinds of swaps, from food, to artwork, to candy, to tea, to ......you name it! Some are even "computer swaps" of sorts where people swap lists of things that interest them. Some are for people who love to write and they may swap stories, poetry, letters to pen pals, etc. Most of the ones we do are for art of various kinds. After the swap is completed, one rates ones partner. Not following through on a swap you've signed up for is very poor form, and many swap hosts won't allow people with a low rating to enter their swaps. (One would obviously get a low rating for not following through.)

Anyway, it's a lot of fun and I've received some wonderful artwork and met some great people. The picture above was from a Fairy Jar Swap. This was the one I did. It had little lights inside (the battery was under the leaves on the top) and a polymer clay fairy (you can sort of see her on the left).

Inspiration

Lately I've been thinking about inspiration. What triggers the urge in one to try to create a work of art, whether it be a painting, sculpture, piece of jewelry, poem...... Inspiration can come from many directions, take many forms. It is a mysterious process. Sometimes something I read will create a vivid picture in my mind. Sometimes I will look at something that someone else has made and that triggers a thought, a question, in my mind. Usually totally unrelated to whatever inspired the thought. And sometimes I think inspiration comes from quiet, uncharted recesses of our hearts and minds. Perhaps remnants of  dreams, fragments of visions, tidbits of forgotten thoughts. 

Once an idea for a creation forces it way to the front and center of my conscious mind, I positively itch to make it happen. Just to see if the idea turns out in reality as it shows up in my mind. I think, really, that's what drives me to create. Pure curiosity! Sometimes the vision and the reality are pretty close, and that's very rewarding and pleasing! And sometimes the creation takes over and becomes something else entirely, and that's surprising and intriguing. And sometimes the whole endeavor is an entire bust. Hideous mess!! And that's disappointing and, somewhat, amusing. Keeps one humble!!

One thing I've learned from Wyanne's class is to step back and try not to judge too harshly, too quickly. Take a break, go do something else. This has been difficult for me. I like to finish things. But sometimes it's better not to. Do just so much and walk away. It's remarkable how different everything seems after a break away. I've found that something I didn't think I liked at all has possibilities. I've found that when I've reached an impasse and didn't know what to do next, the best thing to do is nothing. Go do something unrelated. Come back with a fresh perspective. It's amazing what that will do! Amazing to me, anyway. Suddenly the next step will be clear and obvious. I'm learning to use this knowledge when I work, as I feel the results are positive.

I have all kinds of bits and pieces in my studio that inspire me in one way or another. (Love the marshmellow toaster, don't you? Can't you just see a room full of people, all dressed to the nines, hovering around - a marshmellow toaster??? "Adds novelty and ZEST to your parties!!!" What a hoot!

What inspires you? What stimulates your creative processes?