Jen Bowles Design

Some early October favorites

Head on over to flickr to view the full size versions...

{I love those heart shaped rocks(!) with the pumpkins, such a great photo--of course I love all these pictures.  To quote children's author Sam McBratney,  You're All My Favorites }

Torn paper collage

Yet another art technique I've been fascinated by lately. 
The work pictured here is by an artist named Eileen Downes .  It's called Tangerine Heels .
I really need to start an art journal so I can try out some of the cool techniques out there.  I mean, I've had a chunk of beeswax sitting in my studio since I took a class with Claudine Hellmuth in 2005.  Hmmm.
I guess the first thing I need to do is clean my studio so I can see my desk. 
And my work table. 

Yard Sale Saturday

Ebby and I headed out (sort of) early on Saturday morning to visit a few yard sales. 
The first one was at a house I've been to a few times before, I think he must be a dealer or something.  He usually has a pretty cool assortment of junque (isn't that the French term for 'stuff so old, ratty and neglected that you have to wash your hands after you paw thru it??) that looks like it came from estate sales.  I spent $5 and got some fun stuff including...

The 'Hurdy Gurdy' is some sort of vintage musical toy with a winding arm on the side.  It's in rough shape, doesn't really play anymore but it was only $1 and the artwork is cool.  The Who Lives Here book was in great shape and only 50 cents.  I really like those penguins : - )
My favorite collection though was the group of vintage costume jewels--along with the personalized swizzle stick.  I love that idea!  Not sure what I'll be doing with my finds, for now I'll just be admiring them.

Fancy Flours and Ga Ga Garlands

So my last post was about Weight Loss Wednesday and this post leads off with...cupcake wrappers.  Makes perfect sense.
It all started with painting my downstairs bathroom.
About a year ago I painted our downstairs bathroom a persimmony-orange color.  I thinned the paint with glaze and did a faux technique.  And that was all well and good until about a month ago.  I decided I wanted to paint the bathroom.  I went to Lowe's after Labor Day and picked up a gallon of Lightweight Beige from the mistint table.  Love the $5 gallons of premium paint.  Yesterday (and again today with a 2nd coat) I did indeed paint the bathroom.  Now that I have a nice, neutral background I have to decide what to do in there.  It's a full bath and now that I've repainted of course we need a new shower curtain.  And I want to make some artwork to hang in there.  There's a large space above the toilet crying out for artwork.  Really.  After a family trip out this afternoon to Target and Home Goods yielded no leads on a shower curtain, I began looking online.  I found a couple of things I like at Bed Bath & Beyond.  Then I thought I'd go over to flickr and try to get some ideas for bathroom art.  Just a tip: typing 'bathroom art' into the search box on flickr is not the best way to find folk/collage art suitable for a family bathroom.  If, on the other hand, you are looking for public restroom art, search away.  While on flickr I got distracted, as I often do.  I was browsing some of my contacts' photos.  I saw a vintage ballerina cake topper.  I wondered to myself, can you still buy ballerina cake toppers, new ones?  I googled and yes, you can.  And that's what led me to Fancy Flours.
They have many fun and wonderful baking accoutrements at Fancy Flours, including some of the coolest cupcake liners I've ever seen.  Laser cut cupcake wrappers?  Who knew.   There aren't cheap but they sure are unique and fun.

Another thing that I love to make, in addition to cupcakes, is banners.   And I'm not the only one.  Even if you don't make banners, who doesn't like to look at them?  Well, Tamy has started up the Ga Ga for Garlands blog .  She was even kind enough to put my Dia de los Muertos banner from the Sweet & Sinister swap into one of her photo albums (thank you Tamy!).  She's hoping to make it a collaborative blog where people can enjoy garlands, banners, and wreaths and exchange ideas, tips, and inspiration.  Go on over and check it out, she just started it up but already there's lot of eye candy.  And I hear there's a swap in the works... 

WLW Journal

I joined the Weight Loss Wednesdays art & support group over on Laura's blog .  Hoping to jump start myself 'back on program' and lose those last 30 pounds.  Laura partnered us up with another participant (hi Tammy !) so we could exchange words of wisdom and encouragement. 

Laura is also posting weekly challenges on her blog each Wednesday.  I'm running about a week late, but here is my journal for the week 1 challenge. 
I liked the idea of an altered composition notebook so that's what I went with as well.  I used a piece of Basic Grey paper (from the Lilly Kate collection) and a piece of vintage wallpaper.  I  used cloth book tape from Paper Source to cover the edge.  The image of the birds is something I printed out a while ago from a free site.   I like the large ball fringe along the side, I'm not sure if I cut it short on purpose but let's just go with yes...I found some vintage seam binding in Nana's sewing machine drawers and used a piece of that for the leaf element under the fabric and Prima flowers.  I really like the quote, it came from  Rhonna Farrer's 21 Day Challenge Site .  I took a class with Rhonna at Creative Escape and she is such a talented artist and designer as well as an inspiring person herself.  She has some excellent quotes on her site and this one seemed very fitting in this instance.

Just in case you can't make it out, it says:

"It's not that some people have willpower and
                           others do not.  It's that some people are ready to change and others are  not."  ~ James Gordon

Here's to change!

Paper Lanterns

lanterns
Originally uploaded by sujinee

I was going to make another mosaic of all the paper lanterns favorites I found on flickr but no luck. Instead, I'm just posting this picture which is my favorite of my favorites. Makes sense, right?
I'm noticing paper lanterns are popping up all over the place lately. When I saw them in the Pottery Barn Teen catalog I knew it was all over. Yet I really like them.
I'd love to hang some in my studio.
And in Ebby's room.
Wouldn't they look good in the playroom too...

Some Halloween favorites from Etsy

I was browsing around Etsy today and found some fun Halloween goodies.  Behold...
Cat Collage by Danita Art
Kari Craft treat bucket
Jenny Holiday Haunted House Cake art
Happy browsing!

Vintage Banner Swap--complete!

Phew!
My second fall swap is now completed. 
I was invited to take part in Tini's Vintage Banner Swap on flickr.  That was back in August.  Well, today I finished my banner (the deadline isn't until 10/15, unless I'm reading that wrong--I hope not!) and it will soon be on its way to RuthRae.  Ruth does absolutely beautiful work with all sorts of mixed media including fabric and she's just finished writing a book.  I, on the other hand, just finished cleaning up cat vomit in my foyer.  :  )
The banner I made for Ruth is vintage and vintage inspired.  The vintage items include wallpaper, sheet music,  ledger paper and buttons.  The rest of the items are vintage inspired including the trims, crepe paper and decorative paper.  This banner is also a new size for me, the 3rd one I've tried.  The pennants are 6 inches across the top and 8.5 inches high.  I'm happy with the way it turned out (seems like I usually am--not sure if that's good or bad)  and it is definitely different from the work that Ruth creates and posts on her blog. Hopefully she will enjoy it, she did encourage me to create in my own style...
Tini set up the swap partners as a list so though I am sending a banner to Ruth, I am receiving a banner from  Gaby...in Germany!  My first international swap swag, and she mailed it today.  I guess I'll wait a couple of weeks before I begin stalking my mail carrier ;  )

Sweet & Sinister Swap revealed...

  Sweet & Sinister Folio 
  Originally uploaded by fertree33

I can finally reveal the projects that I made and sent to Julie for the Sweet and Sinister Swap.  I got the sweetest (hee, hee) thank you email from Julie today --you are welcome!
All of the projects can be seen on my flickr .
It was a great theme for a swap, cheers to Kari (Artsy Mama)  for hostessing!
Here's what I made:
A Dia de los Meurtos (Day of the Dead) banner.  This was totally inspired by Julie and her love of this day.  The images I used were ones that I've been saving for years.  They originally appeared in the Boston Globe newspaper and are drawings by Mexican artist Jose Guadalalupe Posada.  I knew I'd find the perfect project for them someday!
I made a black and white crow folio inspired by the class project taught by Tracey Niehues at Creative Escape.   I still haven't finished the one we started in class but now I've made another one so that must count for something...Very cute and very cool design by Tracey.
The last thing that I made, that I haven't shown yet, is this crow plaque.  It's mounted on plywood, has vintage sheet music, vintage game pieces and a crow silhouette it took me 3 tries to cut out.  Luckily, I was quite pleased with the result.  Oh, and there's also a Basic Grey rub-on in the top corner.   

I packed (almost) everything in a cool cream and black damask paper suitcase I found at Jo Ann and shipped it off to Julie.  Swaps are definitely a great way to get your creative juices flowing.  And the best part--I'm not sure if it's more fun to create & collect the items to mail out or having the thrill of opening a package full of goodies.

Win win.  Love those situations!

Swap Update, Part 1

I'm working on a banner for the Vintage Banner Swap that Tini is hosting over on flickr .
Can you guess who is might be for...