Fur Hats & Martinis & Bonnets & Cussing.....

Fur hats, martinis, bonnets and cussing...........do you see a connection or theme here? It's all about things you put on your head and things you do or consume that can be bad for you. But, you know, my motto is: moderation.......for all things good or bad! I really didn't consciously set out to make collages of kids in hats doing bad things, but after I completed them and took the pictures of them.....the connection hit me. Trying to interject humor into the smiling faces of the kids in these long forgotten photographs, these collages attest to the sometimes "real" stories behind the pictures. For example the Easter Bonnet girl.....so sweet looking but could probably swear like a sailor because she rode to school with her brother and picked up a few choice colorful words (yes, I'm speaking from first hand experience......that's what I did as a first grader riding to school with my brother who was a senior at the time!) Needless to say, I began to ride the bus when my language got a little too colorful!

And the winner is............

There is a winner of the "What is the pink cone going to be?" contest. The winner is Dr. Gregg, who I hope checks this blog today so he knows he's is a winner! He is currently on his southern medical lecture tour (and fishing tour too!). Congrats Dr. Gregg, now you have another piece to add to your growing folk art collection.........I hope this one makes it to your office display case!

Vintage paper party hats have caught my eye lately, whether it's pictures of them like the ones at ArtChix Studio in paper collage sheets or these new-wave party hats at Wacky Wendy's Queen of Hats website or Joann Sayler's vintage inspired Easter Hat, Easter Village Hat. I will be making more paper hats in the future now that I've got inspiration from these hats!

The chicken head is made out of paperclay, the cone is covered with multiple
layers of pink tissue paper and is decorated with decorative papers.

Tiny Bunny....No Ice Storm.....

The big ice storm that was going to hit us.....missed us. It's rainy and cold, 37 degrees, but no ice! I have been working on a tiny project with paperclay. He is a tiny 2 inch by 2.5 inch spotted bunny sporting a silk washed out peach colored ribbon tied into a bow. He's perched atop of foam core board covered with decorative paper and green paper "grass". Framing him is a muted yellow picket fence cut and pieced together from thick cardstock. I'm not sure what to name him, does anyone have any suggestions? What does he look like to you?

Humor is important.....

I think humor is so very important in life as well as in art. When I create something I would like it to bring a smile to someones face. Still on my small collage kick I tried to interject some humor into the ones posted below. These collages will be copied and reduced in size to fit between two, 2X2 squares of glass and then will be soldered to make a pendant. The pictures will be on the front side of the pendant and the sayings will be on the back side.

Paperclay + Styrofoam = Spring Bunny

Ohhhhhhh the snow is melting and I think I caught a wiff of "spring" today.....you know the smell? It was ever so fleeting but it was that fresh smell of nature coming awake after a long winters' nap. I was inspired! Inspired by the Polkadot Pixie's paperclay creations and inspired by that "wiff of spring". So I broke out the paperclay, styrofoam, acrylic paint and hand creme....wow does that paperclay dry your hands out! May I introduce you to Sherman the Spring Bunny...........I dig those slippers! Sherman likes them too!

Sherman is wearing a tissue paper collar with paper flowers and glitter.

Getting ready to cut and solder.......

I worked on a small 5X5 collage tonight. I'm going to shrink and copy it in color and then cut clear glass and solder it between the 2 pieces of glass to make a pendant. I got the idea from a book I bought a few months ago called "Pretty Little Things" by Sally Jean Alexander. There is going to be a front and back to the pendant since it is sandwiched between glass. I'm thinking about taking vintage photos and making tree ornaments too.

More of the cone mystery.........

Look! New elements added to the cone! I've got some great and imaginative guesses about what the pink cone will be. Because of my snowshoeing adventure yesterday, I'm a little behind on the cone...........soooooooooo I'll be taking guesses until Wed. at 5:27! And then a winner will be announced so get your guesses in!

Taking a break!

As much as I love to craft and feed my habit of crafting I've noticed a strange phenomenon.....my butt and thighs have been getting bigger. All of the great holiday food along with with cold, snowy weather and little to no exercise have taken it's toll on the body! Therefore I've decided a need to find more balance between crafting, computing and moving so yesterday I packed up my snowshoes and poles and went to my mom and dad's farm to snowshoe with their dog Buddy. He is a great snowshoeing companion......a border collie with a lot of vim and vigor, to say the least. He's somewhat hyper and raced around trying to herd anything in his path! It was a beautiful day with the sun peaking out between snow squalls and a brisk 19 degrees! Mom said Buddy slept most of afternoon and night and is still moving slow today! I, on the other hand was even too tired to go down to my studio and craft last night!

What is it?

Hey it's another snow day! I'm kind of getting sick of these snow days! I'm longing for spring and I'm in the middle of a craft frenzy! What am I making? Check out the photo below........any guesses? Any one who correctly guess what it will be, will win it! If there is more than one correct entry, then a drawing will be held. You have until Sunday at 2:23 PM to comment with your guess. More to come..........I will keep adding to it to give you clues about what it is. Stay posted..............he,he,he!

Mousey Stitchery

This is #2 in a series of 4 stitcheries. Please feel free to use the pattern! Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow or Spring?

I just got the call.......NO SCHOOL tomorrow!!!! SNOW DAY! We have a lot of snow, about 7 inches and we are supposed to get up to 15 inches by tomorrow at noon. Wow! It sort of makes you wonder if spring can be a month away! Well, they say "hope springs eternal"..........or should it be "I have eternal hope for spring". I'm thinking of spring even though it is nasty outside. I created this little stitchery, it's one in a series of 4. Pictured below is the finished stitchery....it's Bunny Boy! Here's the pattern too. Feel free to use it to make your own little 'announcement of spring'! Post your Bunny Boy pics, I'd love to see what colors you use!

Craftapalooza Earrings!

Valentine Craftapalooza earrings..........

Valentine Craftapalooza 2007

Today I hosted the Valentine Craftapalooza party! We made earrings, drank tasty adult beverages, ate snacks and dip and brownies and about 6,000 Kiss candies! We really had a good time. Ah, it's amazing the power of creativity.....it's here, it's there, it's everywhere and this afternoon it was in my house! My friends do not consider themselves "crafters" but today I think they amazed themselves with the spark of creativity which lit the fire of "artist" in all of them!
Valentine Craftapalooza was a success and they were talking about what we are going to make next month already. Could have been bitten with the craft-bug? I wish my friend Malibu could have joined us but she spends Sundays with her family creating yummy food and happy memories.

The crafting wenches..............whewwwww-whooooooo!




Check out our cooooool earrings....................

Cake Plate Delight!

I love cake plates. All kinds of cake plates but my favorite cake plate is the milk glass cakeplate. Milk glass is so clean and pristine looking and anything you put on it looks great. A friend of mine got me this cake plate for my birthday one year. I think it's wonderful......milky white with the hobnail design, it's perfect to display just about anything on. Here are a few pictures of my completed cakes on my cake plate.........

Why do you make cake?

Still on the felt cup cake and cake making jag! These things are addicting to make! Well at least I'm not eating cake which is good. I had a friend ask me the other day, "what's the purpose of making these"? when I showed them to her. I said, "excuse me?". "Why do you make them? What are they for? Isn't it a waste of time?" she asked. I was taken back with these questions........hmmmmmmm......I was at a loss for words which doesn't happen very often! It was crystal clear to me why I spend time lovingly hand sewing each tiny treat of faux confectionery delight, but why wasn't it clear to her? Apparently not everyone shares our (fellow crafters) need to create things or understands our need to do it! When I'm finished making the cakes I'm going to display them on my antique milk glass cake plate.....I'll post it soon!

More cake please!

Here's the little gem with the piped icing. Looks pretty real, eh? Don't eat it though.....felt is NOT a good source of fiber!

Yummy Felt Desserts

I was inspired by the tutorial for making felt cakes on Crafter that I blogged about yesterday. Further inspiration came from the Japanese website with the incredible felt goodies! So here is my stab at it. This little cake is about 4 inches in diameter complete with felt whipped creme and a strawberry on top! Does it look good enough to eat? I'm working on another one with felt icing piped around the edge. The best thing is that it's exactly zero Weight Watcher Points!

And the cold continues.......

Last night I was eyeballing the Turkey Feathers blog and came across the adorable little felt cupcake pincushions she made. They look just like real cupcakes, but without all those nasty calories! Craftster has the cupcake pattern and tutorial. There is also a tutorial for how to make felt cream puffs! They are quite extraordinary. Speaking of extraordinary you must check out these felt desserts from Japan.... amazing! I did venture out into the cold to buy some felt today.....guess what I'll be trying to make tomorrow????

School is closed again tomorrow because of the extreme cold! That means more crafting! Yeah! Here's what I made today on my day off.....more little 2 inch X 2 inch pins. I ate left over chili and brownies and cut and glued until my heart was content (the paper....I cut and glued the paper, not the brownies)!