Nature Is Blooming!

My perennial garden is bursting with color! Succulents........
Russian Sage..........

Sweet Williams...............

Oriental Poppy...........

Foxglove..............

Lupines...........

Poppy............

German Bearded Iris.........

Shasta Daisy just waiting to happen...........
What's blooming in your garden? Isn't nature beautiful?!?!?

On a serious note, I'm boycotting BP and I hope my friends in blogland will consider doing the same thing. Usually I reserve this blog to just art, gardening and cooking but I think what is happening in the Gulf is a real travesty. How about that butthead BP CEO saying this week that he just wishes they could get the leaking well fixed because "he just wants to get back to his life back". Are you kidding me? Just look at the lives that have been interrupted both human and animal and this joker makes such a comment. What a major league @ss0 (you can probably guess what this word is!)

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Driftin' Toward Summer........

Memorial Day is next Monday and I'm driftin' into summer with my newest Beachy Bohemian Jewelry creations.

This bracelet reminds me of the ocean with floating green sea glass and white fluffy clouds floating overhead.

Another braclet inspired by the colors of water and sky. It has glass seed beads, shell, fresh water pearls, an aqua square ceramic bead and handmade fabric cord.

This necklace has been created with 3 fiber cords, a suede cord, tiny seed beads are sewn onto one of the fabric cords. The danglies hanging above the shell are wood and bone beads along with orange sponge coral beads. This one is my favorite!

Fibers.........fibers...........fibers...........fabric..........seed beads.............

I wire wrapped this antiqued metal cross with silver wire and stone chips and nestled it into a shell.

Can't you just picture this necklace with a cute sundress? or tank and shorts?

If you're interested in any of these pieces, they are available, just give me an email shout!

A Filing Cabinet Brain.....

I've been experimenting with fiber and making my own cord out of strips of material. I don't know about you but I have a "filing cabinet" type of brain, meaning that I see something I like and I file it away deep in the inner recesses of my brain only to have it resurface at some strange time, sometimes even many years later.......Such is the idea for the fabric cording! I remember seeing a fiber art display at a modern art museum many, many years ago with a necklace made from about 50 fabric cords and last week while I was driving to work that memory resurfaced.
Suddenly I'm driving down route 82 designing a necklace in my mind!

And, this is the end result of my filing cabinet brain, resurfacing ideas, a long drive to work!
The necklace is made up of 2 plain fabric cords, one cord with tiny seed beads sewn on it, one cotton string with antiqued bone beads, one knotted cotton string with wooden beads on it, a leather hand painted heart, silver metal charm, tiny shell and orange fresh water pearl. It measures 16 inches.

Does anybody else out there have a filing cabinet brain? :-)

The Big News.......

Well here's the big news that has to do with this leather green heart pendant. I'm conducting a few mixed media/altered jewelry workshops this summer. I'm calling them Green Heart Art Retreats. If you'd like more information and a list of the July Workshops please go to the Green Heart Art Retreat blog. The retreats are set in a wooded area in a covered pavillion by a Shenango Lake. I like to think of these workshops as "where art meets nature". I welcome beginners as well as advanced artists. When you get to the blog look to the left of your screen for the July class listings. Please email me if you have any questions: Tootieu@yahoo.com

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! I'm consider myself very fortunate to have a wonderful mother. I hope all the mothers in blogland have a great day!
I made these pins for my mom and my mother-in-law. The center face is paper on wood and the face stamp is from Lost Coast Designs (one of my favorite stamp companies). I call these pins my "sea flowers" because the batik fabric reminds me of the colors in the ocean and that sweet little face looks like it's looking through a port hole in a ship.

I've got some exciting news to blog about this week so please visit again to see what it is. It has something to do with this...........

Are you curious??????

Altered Jewelry....

I've been working on many different pieces of altered jewelry lately and experimenting with different backs, materials and images.
I used Grungeboard for the wings on this glass tile piece. Sorry about the photo quality, I must have moved just as a snapped the photo! I attached the wings with Loctite Gel Glue. This stuff has a really strong bond and bonds almost instantly, plus its easy to dispense with the skinny tip, you can place it exactly where you want it.

I cut apart an old heavy duty yardstick, (you know the kind that your mom use to chase you around the kitchen table with because you wouldn't do your math homework......well maybe that was just me, perhaps others didn't get threatened with the yardstick!) to collage on. Old thick yardsticks make a great base. I used Distress ink to give it the subtle yellow color. Again, I must have moved when I snapped this one too!

Oh no! Some poor butterfly lost a wing! The wing is from Tim Holtz new line of Alterations Steel Cut Dies. This pendant was also done on a yardstick. I left the back natural so you could see the numbers and lines on it.....looks pretty cool, actually you could wear it on either side.

I entitled this pendant "King Neptune". This one was created on a wooden blank. Again I used Distress Ink to color the wooden blank and then layered it with decorative papers. I just love that little seahorse. I've always wanted one of those for a pet.

Ahhhh, vintage wooden dominoes! One of my favorite things to collage on. How about this broad? She's all ready for summertime fun! I think her name was "Trixie" and she liked to dance the Jersey Shore Rag.

And here's her best friend "Myrtle". Myrtle was the Jersey Shore Swimming Champion circa 1924. What's even more amazing is that she won that title while swimming with both her black wool knee socks and her hat on!!!! Notice the silver cup she's proudly holding.

This collage pendant is made out of a clay filled poker chip. Remember the way we view things has a lot to do with our perspective at that given time. I've learned through experience that time and distance can greatly change your perspective of events that have occured. Lastly, Saturday was the first day of Spring Turkey hunting here in Pennsylvania. Gary got one up on my mom and dad's farm. I had to take of picture of the beautiful feathers. Just look at the iridescent quality of those feathers!

I hope all my friends in blogland had a great weekend!

Winner!

The winner of the "Secret" Pin is #6 which is Cat from http://inthelightofthemoon.blogspot.com/
Congrats Cat! Please email me your address so I can get it out to you.
Smiles-
Melissa

Mixed Medial Jewelry Give Away and Starfish Bracelet

The idea for this pin started with a small scrabble tile and took off from there. This is truly a "mixed-media" piece of jewelry. The scrabble tile has been collaged and sealed with resin. I made the fabric bead above the tile and sewed on glass and freshwater pearls over a piece of vintage lace. It's all on a webbed piece of off white material sewed to a 3 inch long kilt pin. This my friends in blogland is my offering for my giveaway. Please leave a comment and you will be entered in the drawing. If you are a follower or become a follower you'll get your name entered twice. I'll randomly draw the winner on Thursday! Good Luck!

We all have secrets, now don't we???????

Tossed carelessly upon the shore through the glimmering aqua waves the starfish wait patiently in the bejeweled tide pool for the waves to sweep them back into the ocean...... I love starfish.....such benevolent little creatures....

They were the inspiration for this cuff bracelet. The waves and starfish are cut from leather and painted. I sewed on the glass and pearl beads onto the leather waves. The base is a somewhat flexible off white webbing layered with vintage lace.

The Starfish Story

An old man was walking down the beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a young man picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. As the old man approached the young man, he asked; "Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?" The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish, exclaimed the old man. "How can your efforts make any difference?" The young man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea, he said; "It makes a difference to this one!"

This little story reminds me that even the tinest gestures can make a big difference in other peoples lives. Hope you all had a great Saturday!

Spring Giveaway!

It's a Spring Giveaway to be posted on Friday..............stop back and check it out, you won't be sorry!!!!!

Fairy Problem?

I'm not saying I've got a fairy problem.....but, I SUSPECT I have a fairy problem in my perennial gardens. Last night I caught this little girl out in my creeping phlox......

She told me her name was "April" and she was the fairy that brought the showers. She even had beaded raindrops hanging off of her cloud and umbrella. She carried a bucket full of raindrops and looked well prepared for a deluge in her slick yellow rainboots.

Then tonight as I was checking out what popped up during the past few days in my side perennial garden, this little fellow scampered about and introduced himself to me as, "King Flowers". He had a pet Swallowtail butterfly attached to a leash!

And an armful of flowers.

I don't know for sure but I think he's French (see the French text on his hat?).

Well, what is your take on this? Do I have a fairy problem? Should I just let them hang out in my garden?

Fabric Beads..........

My spring coffee cup is going to tell a little story......

This chicky had a great Easter Sunday!

I got up early and hopped to the studio to make fabric beads and drink Duncan Donut coffee.

After dinner I waddled to the back porch and sat in the sun! The End.

How perfect is this tulip with the fresh dew still on it?

Ok, now onward to the fabric beads. I made two sizes, 1 inch long and 1/2 inch long. If you'd like 1 inch long beads then cut your fabric strips one inch wide. Then cut them 7 inches long. I use a quilting ruler, self healing cutting mat and a rotary cutter.

Oh yah! Gel medium. How much of this stuff do I use? A lot, that's all I'm going to say. I should really bite the bullet and buy the gallon jar of it for $65! You are going to use the gel medium to glue and wrap the beads and seal off the ends.

Mmmmmmmm, just look at these lucious batiks. Great colors!

Go the the dollar store and buy a bag of bamboo skewers to wrap the fabric around. Grab a very small paint brush too while you're at the dollar store.

To make the bead, grab a strip of fabric start to wrap it around the skewer, give it 2 full wraps (do not wrap too tight!!!! check to see if you can move it up and down the skewer) then dip your paint brush into the gel medium and dab some on the inside of the fabric and continue to do 2 more full wraps......dab on more gel medium. Keep doing this until you get to the end of the fabric. Dab a generous amount of the gel meduim on the endof the fabric and then smooth it down with your finger (don't leave a gob of it, smooth it out).

Let the beads dry for about 45 mintues. Pull them off of the skewer. Trim off any rougue threads and then using your little paint brush dab a small amount of gel medium on each end of the beads to keep them from unraveling. Let them dry. Now you're ready to use them in all kinds of beading projects! I'll be posting some projects using them soon. They are time consuming but worth it!

Hope you all had a great weekend and super Monday!

Happpy Easter!

Happy Easter! He is Risen! Amen!

Easter is a time of renewal, hope and redemption. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and enjoy the time together with family and friends. I will be going out to dinner with my husband, my mom & dad and his mom & dad.

Hey, where did that Easter Bunny come from anyway?

The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s. These were made of pastry and sugar. The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s.

Question: What part of the chocolate bunny do you bite first? :-)

I bite the ears first!