Photo Blogging - Color Makes the World Go Round

I love this painting that is called Yellow Trees. It has very bright colors which are my favorite. 

I have not found its home yet in my house.

I purchased this painting at a Gallery Show in March.  It was on this display for that month. 

I met my aunt Maria the artist this week and she delivered the painting.

She produced a set of cards with the 2 designs in this series.

This is the flower of the Tamarack Larch Pine Tree. 

It is a great bright pink color and appears early when there is no other color on the tree as the green has not yet appeared.

It is a sure sign of spring but we have snow again this morning!

This was taken at the park down from my house along the river valley.


This yellow glass cat was at the gift shop at the Muttart Conservatory when I visited this month. 

I love it because it is glass and yellow and since the theme this month was color I took it's picture as it posed for me.

The ear is not broken it is like that.  Love the black button nose.

 Spring sure has some great colors coming in.

These bright orange leaves are on this Japanese spirea bush. 

I took the photo on a visit to the Heritage Hill Wetlands earlier this month.

As you can see the ground is still very bare and dull but the leaves provide a nice contrast.



 






Orchids are wonderful flowers.  I was not able to find the name of this one with an internet search.

I took the photo when I visited the Muttart Conservatory earlier this month.

This one was quite small at about 2 inches tall.   Very spring and Easter colors.

Sharing with P.J. host at A Lil Hoohaa for the Photo Blogging Challenge - Color makes the world go round.

Recent Photos!

I bought tulips for my Mom and sister at Easter.

I decided that I deserved a bouquet of them myself so on the weekend I added these to my table.

I chose the same color that my Mom loved.

They were pretty closed so they will last a few days!


I finished this book this week. 

It is a very intriguing book and the tag line is what inspired me to bring it home.  "Creative Living beyond Fear"  by the same author as Eat Pray Love.  I have been struggling with the end of my card making classes and was looking to find some ways to move forward with my photography.  Basically, I took away the following: Stay Curious, Always Do Something!, When Stuck - Look in a different direction, Inspiration is always looking for a place to land so be open and accepting, Everyone is Creative, and “It`s just that inspiration comes from another world, so sometimes we have trouble understanding each other.”

I bought this watch on the weekend thinking I could adapt the bracelet for my watch. 

Well, that was not possible so I bought a battery for it but that was a bust too!

I finished my taxes today. I had to pay this year which was unusual for me so I had to learn a lot to figure out what happened! 

The research I had to do sort of fell into the lessons in the book above. 

I found these shadows this morning. I will have to learn how to photograph these better. 

This was the best composition I captured this morning. 

Love the softness of the edges.

This was an idea was generated by a book I read quite a while ago, Window Sill Art.

Again, following inspiration from the book in this post I had nothing to lose by trying something new.

I created a mosaic with my bouquet of tulips. 

I used several backgrounds and captured some nice colorful bokeh!

I remember when creating bokeh was a challenge and after a couple years of practice I can do whenever I want.

Sharing with
Angie host of Mosaic Monday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf.

Mersad host of Through my Lens


The challenge for Flickr Macro Monday was "Eye of the Beholder"
I took a picture of this spinning wood top.  I love this object.

You can check out my Flickr photo stream.

This Week in photos!

I had an Easter Bunny at my place at the breakfast table Sunday morning.

Milk chocolate my favorite and in such a cute shape.

The bell around his neck actually jingles. Way too cool.

I shared it around the table and had  the left overs with my supper last night.

I always bring flowers to Mom for Easter so those are the pink tulips.  They will open later this week. There was a basket of mums on the table and see the blue bunny hiding amongst the blooms.

There was a little boy celebrating his 2nd birthday on Saturday.

His Mom had made this beautiful cake.  The train actually ran around the cake on the track.  Very cool!

The fondant decorations was very well done.  Hills, mountains, gulls, flowers, a big sun were all around the cake.  Chocolate cake was great.

I stopped to take a photo of these stands of trees along the highway.  They soon will lose their silhouettes and but leaf covered.  It was early evening and the sky was starting to be multicolored.


The theme for Macro Monday this week was "bottle cap". We could photograph anything which would seal a bottle.

This is a glass stopper for a glass perfume bottle.

I added some bokeh in the background.  You can check Flickr here.  My photos here.

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday and Mersad who hosts Through my Lens.

Birthday Card - Circle Greeting

I made a card for my sister who celebrates her birthday this week.

A No.8 card using designer card stock as a base.  Great blue and green graphic design.

I added the required card stock strip in the center of the card. 

I punched a 2 inch circle from the same navy card stock, added a 1.75 inch color printed greeting.  This was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.  On its way to her today.

Happy Easter 2019

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter.

This is a piece of bead craft made by my Moms neighbor. 

It has gorgeous jewel toned small pony beads assembled in this cross design.  Very well done.

Love the colors.

Sympathy Cards - Recycled

I refurbished a couple of commercial Sympathy cards for Mom.  At their age Mom and Dad have a need for quite a few of these. 

I have put together a couple of sentiments for the inside and I will let her choose the one she likes.

Cards are so expensive these cards.  This will save her cash for other things.

I know she has a funeral this week to attend.

Card Making Session - OSW Cards - Fundraiser

I have been making cards with a friend once a month.

This is a One Sheet Wonder card kit.  I brought the kit to Compassion House and these are the left overs.  The ladies there wanted the Thank Yous so I have birthday greeting in this set.

These cards are designed with the One Sheet Wonder design which makes efficient use of designer paper.  This my OSW1 layout design for 6x6 inch paper.

The greeting is from the So Happy For You stamp set in the same color as the card was trimmed with scissors to the frame. The greeting is cut to 3 inches. It was then layered onto a square of white card stock.  This layer is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape centered on the card front.

The greetings are for these 2 card are designed with Stampin Up So Happy For You, Owl Occasions and Blooming Marvelous stamp sets.

The designer paper is from the Patterns Print III pack.














These will be in a Greeting Card Gift Set in our fundraising event at Welcome to my Kitchen.  This effort was unsuccessful as only 2 of us brought contributions.

Welcome to my Kitchen

We had a room full of ladies this morning for Welcome to my Kitchen fellowship group.

We had waffles, syrup, fruit and whipped cream this morning.  I had several wonderful cups of tea.

I had to go back to get photos as I wolfed down my waffle in a hurry.

A couple of readings were taken from this book.  I got it to read then it will be passed to the group in our book swap.

We had a great time as usual.



There was a good prayer time. Several cards were taken to send to those we prayed for.

This group is such a blessing.

Unfortunately, our fundraising effort was a bust with only 3 of us participating so I just brought my cards home.  Am I getting the message?

Exchange Cards - Alchohol Ink background with black accents

I made this cards for my card exchange buddies.

I started with 4x6 photo paper.

I applied drops liquid acrylic color to my glass plate surface and spritzed with water.

I pressed the paper into the color and pull back.

These were allowed to dry completely.

I just love making these backgrounds.  They needed focal points so I moved to black paint.

I then used black liquid acrylic to make marks on the colored surface.  The circles were made with a plastic lid dipped in the black. The spots were dropped with a eye dropper. 






Again, these were left to dry completely.

Once dry I adhered them to heavy card stock in the A7 size.

I hope they enjoy the cards.

2019 Cardmaking - CH - Class 4

I had a class tonight with the ladies at Compassion House.  I am using the Tropical Note Card stack kit.

The accent layer is glitter paper which has been painted. It was cut with the Tim Holtz Cabinet mover shaper.

The yellow was cut with the TH Cabinet die.  I added a circle punchie layered with a Stampin Up Five Petal Punch and held in place with a yellow mini brad.

The yellow layer was embossed.  I added a length of yellow fiber. 

I decided to add greetings to this set. The greeting was color printed on ivory and punched with the Stampin Up Large Oval punch. It was mounted with 3D foam tape.




The greeting on the blue one is the Stampin Up Modern Label punchie.

The purple greeting was color printed and punched with the SU Modern Label punchie.

These were printed on white & turquoise card stock respectively.

I brought this kit as well and we made most of these as well.  Great stash busting session.

Check out the details with these links Eiffel Tower  Butterfly   Bee & Flower

Thank You Cards - donated

I dropped another set of thank you cards at Compassion House as I was there to facilitate a card making session.

The women staying there for their cancer treatments are encouraged to prepare a thank you card for those who donate funds to keep this wonderful house running.

These are recycled commercial cards with additional layers added to provide more interest.

Love the gold foil ones.  I have the backs which will show up somewhere in card making on my desk.




I love these daffodils.  Watercolor always feeds my soul.  I love the border and the cute butterflies.  With a good variety to of colors I was able to coordinate them with ivory and yellow card bases. I added green layers.


These glitter cards I was able to watercolor myself.  They are very sparkly and I really enjoyed the process of applying color as I saw fit.

I added thank you circle greetings in turquoise to coordinate with the handmade flower to these copper flower cards.


I added layers to these beautiful blue stripes and marbled ones.  Adding turquoise card base on the first with a daisy punchie in the bottom left and corner.  I added black to the second one.  




I added purple silk flowers to the one on the left.  Then coordinated the card base with the flowers.


The one on the right I added to a burgundy card base to match the border around the greeting.  I added a daisy punchie from burgundy card stock and held in place with a small brad.

That is 14 cards.   I do not really know how many the house uses but I keep the box full as I can.

Warm Birthday Card

I made a quick card for my brother in law who celebrates a birthday this week.

I chose a warm ginger colored card base. 

I added some polka dot designer paper top and bottom aligned to card edges.

I cut greeting with the Memory Box Jumbled Happy Birthday thin lit.  I cut 2 happys and 1 birthday.  The light ginger ones were mounted over the designer paper and the dark brown one was adhered in the center of the card.    I used Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive to adhered these as the bottle has a fine tip which makes applied the glue where I want it easy.  In the mail this afternoon with warm wishes.

Recent Photos

I finished another Kate Morton book this week. Loved it!

Another great read.  Based on her formula of book writing we go between 1940s, 1960s and 2011.

Laurel`s 90 year old mother Dorothy Nicolson is nearing the end of her life and the children come home to be close.  Laurel comes from London to rural England back to her childhood home of Greenacres.  This is where she witnessed shocking violence when she was a teenager.  She has kept the secret but now she wants to find out who the stranger was who came up the lane that fateful day.

Realizing that this is her last chance to discover the truth about that long-ago day, Laurel searches for answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past. Clue by clue, she traces a secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds thrown together in war-torn London—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—whose lives are forever after entwined. A gripping story of deception and passion, The Secret Keeper will keep you enthralled to the last page.   There is a twist at the very end.

I captured this Canada Goose playing coy the other day.

She was trying very hard to not to let me know she was paying attention but as you can see her eye was clearly on me.

I love the way the dry cattails in the foreground support her detached look.

It is so nice to see the big birds back.  The pelicans should be back soon as well. Good times walking and taking pictures.

I found pussy willows in all stages at the wetlands.  Some were grey and fluffy as they emerge from their capsules.  Then they start to show some yellow pollen.  Then they are in full bloom with these wonderful bright pink red ends.

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday 23 at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf and Mersad at Through my Lens 187.

"Save the Bees" Textile Project

This is the project I am submitting to the AAC "Uncommon Threads" show.   I am delivering it today.  It is a piece which speaks to the need to save our bees.  We would have nothing to eat if we did not have bees as pollinators.

Plant Flowers

Provide Water

Build Beehouses

Save the Bees

It took me over 2 weeks in January to make it.  The background is handpainted, the flowers are all hand stitched and the layers are held together with a blanket stitch edge. 

The materials are fleece and felt.  Fleece was used for the background.  The flowers and house are felt. I used sequins and e-beads to enhance the flowers.

The thread is embroidery thread split in half and the edge is all six strands.

 

Color Experiments

I spent some time figuring out if I could color the fleece and the felt the way I wanted. 

Some colors were not permanent and others worked really well.   I sprayed a small tab of white fleece with diluted color from each bottle.  They were allowed to dry over night.  I then rinsed each of them to see if the color was permanent.

The Rotring and Dayler Rowney FW Acrylic were permanent.  The Radiant Rain sprays were not permanent though stained the fiber.

 

 

 Colors Chosen and the Process

I chose liquid acrylic ink to color the white fleece background.  The colors are Raw Umber Hue, Sap Green, Olive Green, and Indian Yellow.
Nature has lots of shades so I tried to reproduce that with the colors I had in my stash.

I cut 2 pieces of white fleece larger than the 12x12 piece of chipboard. 

I placed the fleece on a large piece of glass. I used a spray bottle to apply the color.  It allows even color and specific placement of different colors as I needed.

I placed it over rods to allow the most exposure to air to assist in the drying of the fleece.

Again, drying overnight.

Laminating the Layers

I cut the fleece layers down to a generous 12x12 inches with a rotary cutter.

I placed a piece of interfacing in the zigzag stitching to prevent stretching of the fleece.

I stitched the 2 layers of fleece together before I stitched the elements to the front.  I did put a zigzag border all the way around and then I chose to apply organic lines in the center rather than evenly spaced lines.  Most will not show.

I love the color!

Elements

I created the BeeHouse from black felt.  I stitched pieces of wood for the roof along the angled top edges.   I used round donut beads which mimic pieces of bamboo which creates holes for the bees to live in.  These houses provide shelter solitary bees which do not in hives.

The bees on the piece are buttons.  They are a great color and just the right size.

I cut rain drops to which I added blue sequins and beads to represent providing water for the bees. 

The water should be moving or regularly changed.

The flowers were cut with dies.

1) Sizzix Flower Layers & Leaves
2) Flower Layers #10
3) Flower Layers #7

I chose turquoise, purple, pink, grey, yellow, white felt for the flowers. 

Flower sequins in small pink and medium sized in silver.  Round sequins in several colors.  E-Beads in blue, white, pink and black to coordinate. 

The thread was chosen to coordinate with the felt in the flowers.  The flowers were stitched to the background with many stitches to ensure they stayed in place and did not droop.

 

Finishing the Edges & Hanging the Textile Art

I chose a coordinating piece of fabric in purple for the back which covers the knots and stitching done the front (flowers, raindrops, bees, and house).  I cut it 13x13 and folded the edges over. 

I sewed 2 tabs at the top of the piece to allow a skewer to be placed into them which will provide support when the piece is hung. 

I then used green embroidery thread to place a blanket stitch around the edge of the piece. This was very difficult as there was 3 layers of fabric and the interfacing to be punched through.  I used a thimble but my fingers and hand on my right hand were very sore when I was done.

I printed details and the small instructions on a piece of fabric and stitched that to the piece.

I added the instructions card stock hanging below the bee house so they will be visible when on display. I added a turquoise glass bead below the details.

This was an extreme reach from my regular paper crafting experience.  I learned a lot and some of the tools from paper crafting came in handy.  

I hope it strikes a cord with the folks who visit the gallery.