Category Archives: Passions

tiny sequins



saffron dress, originally uploaded by Charger’s Mommy.

WHY oh WHY did I decide that making fancy ball gowns in sequined fabric and silk for my niece’s american girl dolls was a GOOD Idea??? 3 broken needles and a sewing floor covered in broken sequins. and I don’t even know if they will fit. I need a doll to do the finishing touches. on the plus side NO other girls will have dresses like these for their dolls.

this is out fit #3 a little 2 piece fancy party outfit for my neice’s americal girl doll. made with all recycled party dresses that I got in a bag of fabric scraps from my (passed) GREAT AUNT

2009 EBSQ Show List

I really like the One-word concept monthly idea…

January:
Alice in Wonderland ~ will probably enter this
Self-Portrait Show ~ will totally enter this
One-Word Concept: Economy
Flower of the Month: State Flowers

February:
The Figure in 3-D ~ will totally enter this
Encircled: Necklaces, Bracelets, and Rings
One-Word Concept: Hidden ~ will probably enter this
Flower of the Month: Snow Drops

March:
Steampunk
Squid (& Other Deep Sea Monsters) PERFECT! since this is also the same theme as ARTFEST and the SAME time frame… so obviously ~ will totally enter this
One-Word Concept: Motion ~ will probably enter this
Flower of the Month: Cyclamen

April:
Robots
The EBSQ Junk Mail Show
One-Word Concept: Balance ~ will totally enter this
Flower of the Month: Muscari

May:
Reinterpreting Children’s Art I would love to get a drawing from one or both of my nieces and turn it into an art quilt ~ will totally enter this
Bridges
One-Word Concept: Scintilating
Flower of the Month: Fennel

June:
Macro Bug Photography
Tattoos: Designs for and Depictions of
One-Word Concept: Malice
Flower of the Month: Foxglove

July:
9th Annual Ripped Off
Parades
One-Word Concept: Liberty
Flower of the Month: Nasturtium

August:
8th Annual Pet Portrait Swap ~ will probably enter this
In the Bag: Artist-Made Purses & Bags ~ will totally enter this
One-Word Concept: Wanderlust ~ will probably enter this
Flower of the Month: Weeds

September:
Rodents
Design the next EBSQ T-shirt!
One-Word Concept: Deconstructed ~ will totally enter this
Flower of the Month: Butterfly Bush

October:
Think Pink: A Fundraiser to Benefit Susan G Komen
Zombie Chickens ~ will probably enter this
One-Word Concept: Decay ~ will totally enter this
Flower of the Month: Squash & Gourds (both flowers & fruit eligible)

November:
9th Annual Portrait Swap
Two-Tones Only ~ will totally enter this
One-Word Concept: Bored ~ will probably enter this
Flower of the Month: Bark

December:
Annual Better Late Than Never Show
The Art of the Art Journal ~ will totally enter this
One-Word Concept: Ancient
Flower of the Month: Eucalyptus

Beaded Journal Project September 2008

Sept2008

So this is the first of my 12 alter/door style journal pages. I am still up in the air as to how I am going to finish/back them. If I will do the sculptural approach in which case I will need to do more work on this one.

So I am a teacher, a middle school art teacher. September always means fresh starts, new kids, new lessons. I like endings, but more I like fresh starts. that is why September is one of my favorite months EVER. perhaps this was wired into me at an early age, since we moved every 2-3 years and I had to start over, make new friends. I always thought I would reinvent myself and start over. becoming the me that for some reason I had not been in the place before. We always moved in the summer with September being that moment of the fresh beginning…

This piece is 11″W x 8″H at the peaks. It is made from a ‘novelty’ fabric (one with the teachers, combined with a separate one of the flowers and edged with a third of the measuringtape. I included the tape because I have been working hard and lost 13 pounds over the summer. Plus it looks like a school type thing.

The ‘crazy’ art teacher has red hair (like me) and I added a fuzzy yarn to give it dimension. She also wears funky shoes, apron and glasses…like me too now (the glasses are new)

Sept2008DT

Now to go figure out October’s page….

PS I would LOVE to hear feedback, as I am pretty much new to the beading thing…

Quirks?

Tagged by Cynjon

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about some (6) unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag Some (6) bloggers by linking to them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Quirks? I think I am somewhat boringly normal so not sure if these will count…

April 2008

1) I can’t really sleep without Charger snuggling with me. He loves to snuggle, but is having a harder time getting up on the bed, so sometimes I snuggle with him on the floor for a little bit.

2) I read several books at a time, mostly young adult fiction with a few art related non-fiction and an occasional adult Scifi in the mix. So the stack of books by my bed is often quite tall.

3) I almost always sleep with ear plugs. Not that my sleeping partners or neighborhood are terribly loud, but they do snore and I am a light sleeper. So I always take them with me when I go on trips too. But I always seem to take them out at some point in the middle of the night, unknowingly and in my sleep. So when I wake up, I have to rescue them from the cats, who think they are toys.

4) I recently organized the books on my bookshelf by color. It looks really pretty.

5) My legs are so short that they don’t reach the ground when I sit in a chair. SO I almost always sit with my feet tucked up or crisscross on the chair. This is probably not good for my posture.

6) I am not usually a big meme/quiz/blog-game person. But will play is tagged.

I will tag

What If?

CQR_sept, originally uploaded by Charger’s Mommy.

Crazy Quilts Revisited a new challenge started by Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth asks us to as “What if?”

So my first What if? Crazy Quilt piece came from:
What if I pieced together fabrics that are really different in texture? This has fun fur, Corduroy, silk, linen, taffeta, felt, and tulle combined. Then I asked, What if I made pockets in the tulle and sewed in beads? Only one pocket is filled so far, because this is still a work in progress. Finally I decided, What if I added a cut out window in the middle? Which is a new technique for me.

SO I will start by saying I don’t like it. It is all scraps so I haven’t lost anything by trying. It was hard to sew through the layers since I started with the thickest stuff towards the middle and used felt as a backing. I am not sure if this block will go any further. Or I might have to ask, What if I kept working on something I didn’t like and finished it anyways?

BJP prototype

BJP_prototype with pages side by side and open, originally uploaded by Charger’s Mommy. Check out my flickr for more views of this project.

This is what I whipped up today to be my prototype for my bead journal project. I was having a hard time trying to explain what I wanted to do. Plus I thought I better make one to see if it really worked the way I wanted it to.

So These are some fabric and paper collages that have been sewn and embellished with ribbons and beads. They are cut in an alter book type shape. They have a layer of cardstock on the inside for support. They have 2 old paint brushes that slide into the back to support the book so it can stand. (will have to come up with a slightly better way to get them into the pages, as I just cut a hole in the fabic and shoved them in. the Ribbons are sewn to the back in such a way as to allow the different ‘chapters’ to be tied to each other. Another set of ribbons hold the front doors closed. in the final pages these will be little metal bead clasp things I found that have the letter S on them.

Since these are prototypes the edges are unfinished. and the outsides are fairly plain.

These are made from scraps in my studio.

In other news… my favorite online fabric store is now selling fabric for my favorite TV show.

2008 Bead Journal Project

As I love challenges, I have signed up for an ALL YEAR challenge. Hopefully I will not regret this. This challenge requires us to make a journal page for each month of the year. The pages must include beading of some kind, but does not have to be 100% beaded. (thankfully)

You can (try to) follow all the projects of the 260+ participants on the 3+ blogs and websites. The main site with links off to other places is the Bead Journal Project.

Stay tuned for the September “Back to School” beaded page

My Mask Keeps Changing

My Mask Keeps Changing, originally uploaded by stilettoheights.

I have to say, and in only 3 days, Seth’s newest edition to the PULSE is going to change my life. I am discovering some new wonderful artists. Yet, I have barely read through half the list of artists. WOW!

Jennifer is my new favorite artist! I discovered her on Seth’s PULSE. This entire set is to die for! I love her style and her sense of sophistication is stunning. I thought they were digital at first, but after reading descriptions at etsy, it looks like they are all paper and paint. She is self publishing several books of these collages, some with poetry.

Here is what she said about her style:

Um….I am pretty wordy so this is hard for me, but here goes. My work is mixed media collage based, heavily influenced by emotion and a sense of longing. Pieces are shrouded in metaphor and color to create visual poems.(not sure if that makes any sense to anyone but me)

She has a great etsy shop and has self published some books that I think I HAVE to buy!

If you haven’t checked out Seth’s Blog yet… get over there right now!

Playing Favorites: Picture Perfect

Seth at The Altered Page will be going LIVE with his next round of questions with The PULSE this coming Monday. As he prepares for a month of Q & A with 80-plus artists (and counting) I am taking a walk down memory lane. Next on the list is Picture Perfect.

I have been taking photos since my early days as a kid travelling though Europe. Dad was a dark room enthusiast and shared his passion. Before college I often found his passion to be a burden, when he forced us to stand in front of every statue, windmill and geyser in the world!

 

(Photo by my dad of the Family at Yellowstone park circa 1970’s)

But then I took photography, learned darkroom processing and the joys of taking pictures. Later I finally got my hands on a digital camera so the cost and time of taking/ processing pictures went down dramatically. I love taking pictures… admittedly most of them of my dog or my art.

Ever since I bought my first digital camera, I have taken many opportunities to go on Photo Walks. Sometimes by myself, but more often with my dog and occassionally with friends. I prefer to look at things close to the ground, often setting my camera on the ground to take the shot. I love to look for patterns and textures.

Up Close and Personal This one recieved an award at EBSQ

06242005_sewer 

This photo has not been altered nor cropped.