Jen Bowles Design

Mosaic Monday

Love the flowers, love the colors, love the vintage...

Love the flickr :-) 

1. Winged Heart Clock 1, 2. Tulips from my garden, 3. 171. Red Bistro Table and Chair, 4. .dotty double. {explored}, 5. Untitled, 6. little friends, 7. flea market office, 8. Vintage Trophy Cup, 9. old verson of my "squirrel butts don't glow" illustration, 10. Bilingual Valentine Romantic Nickname, 11. TEXTURE CP 0231, 12. Lovely cupcakes, 13. .green wicker chair., 14. letter holder, 15. Vintage Mini Bowling Pin

Love & the winged heart

Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.

                                        ~Diane Arbus

Inspired by Chrissie Grace and her winged heart tutorial, I made this Valentine decoration for my studio.  I didn't have a paper mache heart, so I made one using tin foil and paperclay.  I took a large sheet of foil and shaped it into (more or less) a heart shape.  I then rolled out a hunk of paperclay and laid it over the tin foil.  Not so attractive from the back, but I decided that's ok.

After my heart dried, I painted it red and added some freehand white polka dots.  I covered the polka dots with glue and then sprinkled them with German glass glitter for some sparkle. 

I had the wings on-hand, I made them a while back using a process outlined in Kelly Rae Roberts' book, Taking Flight (awesome book, btw).  I just attached the wings, along with a loop of ribbon for hanging, with a glue gun. 

Because I can't seem to make anything lately without cutting out letters from old books, I cut out the letters for 'love' and glued them on for a finishing touch. 

Wishing you a {love}ly weekend!

WIP Update: By the Sea Gridlocked piece

I'm still moving items up from the basement into the dining room art space, but I finally glued a whole bunch of stuff down on my Lisa Kaus inspired Gridlocked piece.  A few pictures of how I started are in this post.

I just have a few more pieces of sheet music to glue along the edges, then I'll be ready for beeswax--the final step (!)

  The last square I had to fill in was right above the center square.  I tried a bunch of different items there.  I thought I had decided on a shell with stamped words 'Sun & Sand'.  But I wasn't 100% convinced.  I was going through a pack of vintage Spanish flashcards  for another project, when I happened upon the fish card.  I loved the image but wasn't crazy about the Spanish word for fish (pez).  However, I knew Ebby had the same package of cards, only in French.  After some hard negotiating, she gave me the French fish card :-).  I was also in the mode of cutting letters out of books (I have a new stash from EXCL last week) and so I reworked the 'sun & sand' phrase as well.

It's been a long process, but finally I'm happy with all my squares.  You could say that my patience paid off.     Or you could say it took my waaaaay too long to make a decision.  Either way, on to beeswax!     

Mosaic Monday

A bit late, but lovely nonetheless...

1. my heart valentine envelope, 2. Bottles Cropped, 3. eighteen, 4. More Mother Bird Nest Necklaces, 5. Private Beach Cabana, 6. roses, 7. Rosas e flores, 8. New in the shop : Paper straws are pretty, 9. sea glass mantra

Happy Friday!

  I haven't done a '(Makes Me) Happy Friday' post in forever.  Oops.

I am constantly seeing images, quotes and websites that inspire & delight me though.  I was piling up quite a few post it notes on my computer desk writing them all down.  Not terribly efficient. Or organized.

So I decided to try out a tumblr site.  I'm still getting the hang of it, but it sure is fun.

Go ahead and take a peek:  Virtual Goodness

Have a wonderful weekend!

Yarn Wreath: Gold, Cornflower & Crimson

It feels like I was making this wreath for a long, long time.

Maybe that's because I started it about 6 weeks ago. In fact, I seem to recall watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' while wrapping the yarn. Hmmm.

This wreath is a belated Christmas/Birthday gift for a good friend of mine in New York.

It's been a while since I've been to her house, but I'm hoping that these colors will work in her current decor.  Or she can stick it in some out of the way corner in her hallway until I come to visit. ;-)

For this wreath I used a wire form wrapped with batting.  It wasn't nearly as thick or sturdy as the straw or styrofoam base, but it worked just fine.  My favorite part is the yarn-wrapped twig.  I went back & forth about whether to leave it 'au naturel' but in the end decided to wrap it.  It was oh so soothing to spin the stick and twirl the yarn around it.  The felt flowers were die cut in my Big Shot machine--with felt my mom supplied from her stash.  Thanks Mom.

So finally, after all sorts of production delays, I packed this wreath up and sent it off into the world--hopefully to be enjoyed as a harbinger of spring for years to come.

{And yes, this is the first project I worked on in my new dining room studio--hurray!}

Monday Mosaic

Latest favorites...

1. Love, 2. bluebirdBlue Bird of Happines Holiday Home Decor Collectible Altered art One of a Kind Original Humour, 3. Shenandoah Sundial (2008), 4. Complex Songbird Construction, C-188 (2009), 5. Untitled Rescued Wood Construction (2008), 6. maske, 7. diptych 2, 8. Bicycle Boy, 9. Heart Chairs, 10. Rose Cottage, 11. credit without fuss, 12. Vintage Auction Paddles, 13. Yard Sale Chair, 14. Chippy Crown, 15. Vintage Fisher Price Little People, 16. Vintage Fisher Price Little People Prince has a Chest X-RAY. Guess which Machine He is Using. Ha Ha., 17. Untitled, 18. Peggy & Toms First Party, 19. Selflessness..., 20. Turquoise, 21. Big heart little heart ., 22. flickr faves--all about loving you, 23. Valentine kiss filled cones, 24. Sweet Little Boys-Mixed Media Collage

WIP: New Dining Room Studio Space

During the cold New England winter, our unheated basement is pretty much the last place I want to be.  Unfortunately, all of my art supplies and work space are located--in the unheated, as-yet unfinished, basement.

At least they were.

Last weekend, my husband gave me the go ahead to transform our dining room into a (temporary) studio space.  With no more food-centered holidays on the horizon for a while, the dining room was available, sort of.  For many, the dining room only gets used a few days a year.  For us, it's actually the only room that has a table and a place for all of us to eat together.  Our kitchen has an island and a peninsula (sounds so tropical) but  a total of only 4 stools.  There are 5 of us.  It usually works out ok because a. BGD gets home late and the kids have already eaten dinner or b. BGD doesn't seem to mind standing up at the island to eat.  At any rate, I'm going to try to keep one end of the table clean & clear (or at least easily clear-able) so we could all be sitting down and eating as a family--albeit in different rooms.  Fortunately we had the opening between the two rooms enlarged when we moved in so we can have the illusion of togetherness while dining in semi-privacy.  We do  have a 6 seat table out on the deck...

I'm still in the process of deciding what to bring upstairs and what to leave in the basement, however, things are coming along nicely. Here are a few glimpses...

My tiered work/storage table, with paint spinner, sewing machine and my still not quite finished Lisa Kaus inspired Gridlocked piece.

I love these tissue paper honeycombs.  I got them last month at Pearl River in NYC.  They hang above a very comfy chair that I hijacked from the family room. 

I took the salt and pepper shakers out of my $6.99 Pottery Barn Outlet shadow box shelf (sold as an advent calendar) and filled it with glitter, flock and specialty paints.

Ok, I had to leave one S&P set in.

 

 We brought up my white 5 tier wire shelving unit and a smaller bookcase and free standing shelf for storing lots of goodies. I love the barber shop glass jars--99 cents each a few years back at Old Tyme Pottery in Charlotte. 

The space is still in transition but I did feel obligated to get out my sketchbook and play for while. Can you tell what my favorite colors are?? 

Looking forward to finishing up organizing and beginning to create...and Spring!

{though I have no plans to head back down to the basement until at least Thanksgiving ;-)}

Mosaic Monday

Aaaah flickr, how I love thee...

1. Ici Icecream - Berkeley, CA, 2. 3446, 3. Lou Lou & Eames, 4. Butler's pantry/Dining, 5. Camera-Hungry Crested Bird Performs Mating Dance For David Attenborough At An Art Opening, 6. Door Knob Arrangement, 7. crunch some numbers, 8. mothers day gift, 9. town, 10. Hedgehog Wreath, 11. Untitled, 12. roses, 13. wood (& wool) x-mas tree, 14. IMG_3941, 15. Owl Yarn Wreath in Mustard, Berry and Aqua

Valentine Wreaths & a new shop

Back in December when we got together with my crafty cousins to make wreaths, we had an idea.

For a new etsy shop.

A collaborative shop in which 4 artful women, 2 mothers and 2 daughters could showcase their creations.  And share inspiration, motivation and expertise.

After a few adjustments, Artful Hands Studios was born.

In theory, all 4 of us (me, my mom, my cousin Penny and her daughter Audrey) will be listing stuff in the shop and posting on a yet to be created blog.  In reality, currently anyway, my mom & Audrey are stocking the shop.  And doing a lovely job.

Just today, my mom listed 3 new Valentine themed wreaths. 

    Valentine Love Wreath

Pretty in Pink wreath

To My Valentine wreath

My favorite wreath of Audrey's sold last week, but she still has quite a few listed.  I'm particularly fond of the Blue Chenille Shimmer wreath

as well as the Pretty Bird wreath.

We're all getting together again this weekend for a post-holiday fete, an Artful Hands business meeting, and no doubt, a bit of crafting and creating--as long as the winter weather doesn't throw a monkey wrench into our plans (as happened last weekend).

Wish us luck, and do check out the AHS goodies at the shop :-)