Paper Quilts & Beads

I've been working on some paper quilts which are incredibly fun to do. The paper is mixed media, made with various papers, muslin, tissue paper and white glue. Here is one of them, more on my blog. Also a pic of some more paper beads I whipped up. I found some more cool things you can embed into the clear UTEE, but man, did I make a mess! KElli

Mass Production

I wanted to send out change of address cards that were handmade, fun, and eyecatching - so I brushed off one of my hand-carved stamps from this year and let the frog tell our friends and family we have moved. The backside of the postcard has the addressee's address, stamp, and our new address.

getting unstuck

Despite the recent outpouring of tags chez moi, I've been stuck. Mercury in retrograde blah blah February always sucks blah blah blah when will revisions be over blah blah blah and once more for good measure blah blah blah.

I've been trying to do morning pages. I've been trying to walk more. I've been trying to doodle in my sketchbook. But...I hate crawling out of bed most mornings. It's been really friggin' cold. My sketches are all in pencil because even though I love my pens, I just can't picture my drawings with colour at the moment.

Enter Ptichka, Fixer of All Things.
I asked her tonight as I read something on-line: "What should I do?"
She responded: "You should grab some paper and make a collage in ten minutes like that collage-a-day woman."

So I did it because I always listen to Ptichka. Well, I fudged the time limit. I set my timer for twenty minutes. This collage took twelve. And? I'm happy with the resulting collage and think that I may even use it as the basis for a lino print.

I can't say that I'm really unstuck but it was a relief to make something.

Working on Foam Core

This is my second attempt using this very cool material. It's either a mum or a cabbage rose. I haven't decided yet.
I saw this segment featuring Rachel Koepke, on HGTV That's Clever yesterday and instantly had to try it! Tutorial:
at HGTV.

By carving away the shiny paper you can achieve amazing texture and variation of color.

link edited

Productivity at last!

I had artists block the last couple of months of last year. Well, there was a lot going on at home with my daughters and it took most of my energy. But this year has been highly productive for me. I was so inspired by the painters among us that I was ready to take a stab. This is my first EVER acrylic painting/collage. I'm afraid I'm hooked already. It was an adventure in unfamiliar territory, but a complete joy! I needed to take the plunge and just do it so I could open up this whole new world. So much to learn. This is a self-portrait. Bill told me that I have the nose ring on the wrong side--but I only see myself in the mirror, so it looks right to me, lol! Kelli

Here are the right sized tags!

I got it right this time. I loved making these too. I may host a swap for these at EC!

Not procrastinating, but....

I have been making tags too. I whipped these out for a swap, then realized I had done the wrong size. Ooops! But, I love them, and I am looking forward to making the other size too. I put them on ebay to see what might happen since they didn't have another destination.

procrastination central: tags

As mentioned before on my personal blog, I am teaching myself how to draw. My progress happens in spurts. I improve and plateau, improve and plateau, improve and plateau, and so on and so forth. I can always tell when I reach the end of a plateau because I start feeling restless. I find myself wanting to sign up for more swaps. I start using techniques that don't involve drawing. I look at a tonne of books. Eventually, I get tired of doing everything but drawing and start doing it again until my technique experiences another growth spurt. At the moment, I'm at the end of a plateau. How can I tell? I've been making tags and coveting scrapbook paper like there's no tomorrow.


I'm going to be sending these instead of valentines this year.

X-posted with even more pictures here.

Valentines Mini Art Quilts

I worked on these last weekend for a little shaker shop in town. First I cut out 4"x6" pieces of muslin and got them wet in the sink. I crumpled them up and sprayed them with some diluted powdered fabric dye I keep in spray bottles. Then I wrung them out and ironed them to set the color. I made a few dabs of artist acrylic on a palette and stamped them with mixed colors and various large stamps. The hearts were cut out of various fabric scraps and set against small pieces of fun fabric I got from the quilt show. Then they were hand embroidered, beaded and stamped text was added. I ironed them to stiff double sided fusible interfacing with a piece of plain muslin behind. Finally I ran over the border with the sewing machine. Voila! Kelli