Ah, happy, sunny Monday!
I've been hard at work with my online blog design class and as such haven't been doing much in the way of creating any new content. One step at a time!
In the meantime, these photos of the banner I made my mom for Mother's Day a few years ago seemed appropriate.
Here are a few close ups...
Mother's Day 2012 is less than a week away, I guess I should get started on this year's gift!
Thanks for stopping by,
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When I took down my Valentine's door decoration the other day all of a sudden my apple green door looked awfully bare.
Green door, St. Patrick's Day approaching? How could I not put something up??
I didn't have anything in my holiday decorating inventory so I decided to make something. I was thinking some kind of wreath but my materials instead led me to a door canvas.
Inspired by Lisa Kaus' new gift collection, particularly this banner, I got to work.
Here's what I came up with:
Materials: 18x24 studio canvas, canvas paper, book pages, watercolor paper, ball fringe, acrylic paints, gouache, gel medium, charcoal pencil
Some highlights of how I did it:
I thought about adding '17' somewhere on the bottom right but decided against it. After everything dried overnight tonight I hung it on our front door this morning.
After all, everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day ☺.
Linking up to these fun parties:
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Hard to believe, but today is the final day of my '14 Days of Handmade Valentine Projects' series! Thanks so much for checking in, hope you're enjoying the projects and gleaning some inspiration as well!
One of my kids' favorite sayings is 'Save the best for last'. While I'm not sure this is my best project, it is the softest, cuddliest and maybe the cutest~a Valentine Love Monster ♥.
And yes, there was plenty of Pin-spiration for this project including these adorable softies:
Source: emmallamb.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest
It took me about an hour to put together, using my usual hand-cut, no pattern, learn as you go method. I had all the fabrics on hand including the pink chenille, the super soft dotted pink minky, and the assorted pink and red fabric scraps.
I meant to stuff the ears but when I turned things inside out I realized I had sewn a seam right along the opening. Oh well, at least they are right side out and in the right place! They stick up on their own anyway...
I also used several different attachment methods including fast grab glue, hot glue, straight and zig zag machine stiching along with hand stitching.
I must say, he's awfully endearing, sitting around on the hot pink pom-pom throw, looking all sweet. He might just need some friends...
Thanks for stopping by and do let me know if you have any questions about any of the projects!
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Eek, we're almost there--day 13 of 14!
I considered making several different projects for today (mobile, cards, pendant or bracelet) but in the end I decided to make a sweet Valentine angel.
My inspiration came from a trio of angels my mom gave me several years ago when Sarah Lugg had a licensed line of home decor items.
I love her work.
For my angel, I started with a cardboard cone from my stash. I started to draw a face but it didn't look quite right so I turned to my collection of vintage children's books. Jackpot! This lovely face was perfect. It was a black and white illustration, I added color with pencils and glitter glue. Her halo is thin gauge wire.
Her wings were handcut from scrapbook paper. The heart she's holding is wooden (painted) with book text.
Along the bottom I painted a row of scallops and outlined them with charcoal pencil.
I find her to be simple, sweet and quite endearing ☺.
Thanks for stopping by,
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Today's project just kind of happened. There were a few different ideas spinning around in my head: the uber popular subway art, Valentine's Day themed song lyrics and using the new, tiny tipped brush I bought for $1 at AC Moore to paint cursive words. Add that to a scrap piece of plywood and some acrylic paints and this is what you get:
The lyrics are excerpted from The Beatles 'All You Need Is Love'. I sort of painted them by the seat of my pants, without a lot of thought to spacing or exactly which lines of the song I wanted to highlight. I started from the beginning and pretty much painted what fit (with at least one word omission) until it became clear that not all I wanted to paint would fit--so I skipped a few lines of the song and finished up with 'all you need is love, love is all you need'.
I'm looking at it as an experimental piece. It could probably benefit from a darker background color to give more contrast with the writing. Maybe some sort of mixed media heart in the center instead of just a painted one. But I do love how the script turned out. I freehanded all of it, and it took a while to complete but I just sat at the table while the kids did their homework so it didn't feel like a big deal. I got more comfortable as I went along and by the end was hitting my stride.
Maybe I'll paint another one with a Springtime theme...and a bit more pre-planning☺.
Thanks for stopping by,
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Today we kick off the last week of my Handmade Valentine Projects series. It's been a fun challenge to come up with new projects for each day--just the kickstart my creativity needed for the new year. We'll see where it takes me ☺.
My latest creation is a Valentine wand.
Combining a stitched, stuffed heart, a painted dowel rod and a variety of ribbons, this wand is definitely capable of casting a spell of ♥.
Thanks for visiting,
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When you think of Valentine's Day, of course you think of...fish, right?? Me too, that's why I created this trio of Valentine fish!
The thing is, I love whimsical fish--they are so much cuter than the actual fish remains we often find on the beach during the summer. I also love the art of the talented Catherine Thursby of Red Shoes. Months ago, I pinned this fish created she created from scrap wood.
Source: redshoesllc.typepad.com via Jen on Pinterest
Hello inspiration!
Now, I could've used wood for my fish. But I didn't. Instead, I used a different, easily cut with scissors material...
Yep, I just sort of went to town cutting out cardboard shapes, painting them and gluing them together.
I love the dimension and all the little extras like glitter, wire and ball fringe that were so easy and fun to incorporate.
I also love how lightweight these fish are. Mine are adhered to the wall with poster putty.
So fun, so easy, a great project to do with kids! Maybe not my kids--can you believe my teenage daughter rolled her eyes at me when I suggested we make Valentine fish the other day when she had a friend over?? It would've been a different story if she was 7. Or had even more teenage friends over. Then I'd surely have them crafting up a whole school of these love-ly fish!
Wishing you a great weekend,
Linking up (still trying to get the hang of this!) to:
Friday Flair at WhipperBerry
Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
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Today's project is quick, easy and cute.
Here's my "pin-spiration" photo:
Source: bloomsburyloft.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest
Ingredients: thrifted sweater, stuffing, puff balls, wire, ribbon, and book text.
The sweater I used for this heart didn't have very much wool in it so it isn't particularly "felted" though it was washed and dried at least twice. No matter, it was the right color so I used it.
After cutting out two heart shapes from the sweater material, I used the sewing machine to stitch them together, leaving a small opening. Then I stuffed with polyfil and machine stitched the opening closed. All done, time to embellish.
Wire works very easily as a hanger, just poke it through the sweater and twist a few times to secure. Instead of the flowers used in the inspiration project, I used little puff balls from my favorite yarn to give a polka dot effect. The finishing touch was a sheer ribbon bow, with a little message cut from book text.
This stuffed sweater heart is now hanging from a knob on one of my kitchen cabinets (no, those are not my kitchen cabinets in the photos, that is the apprently very dirty knob on our mudroom closet...), adding a touch of Valentine whimsy ☺.
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Today's project started with a canvas that's been lying around since 2007. Well, it's only been at my house since 2010. Again, with the stockpiling of art supplies.
This canvas is from an unfinished project at Creative Escape, a scrapbooking/art retreat. I didn't attend the year they did this project but a friend did. When she cleaned out her studio ahead of a move in 2010, I took home several discarded canvases, including this one. At that time it was covered with torn strips of a Chinese newspaper and painted a mustard-yellow-gold.
Look at it now, though, butterfly bliss...
Here's some insight into the metamorphosis of this 8x8 raised canvas (see what I did there).
I sanded down the decoupaged paper and repainted a turquoise-robin's egg blue color. Then I let it sit for another 6-9 months. Just to make sure it was dry...
When I picked it up again last week I was determined to make something out of it. I used gel medium to attach the following:
It's now a lovely addition to my handmade Valentine decorations and I no longer need to know Chinese to be able to enjoy it ☺.
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