Sketchbook Challenge January 2011

The first challenge for the Sketchbook Challenge was "Highly Prized". It was harded than it sounded. Because I'm used to sketching objects and things around me not concepts and emotions. So here's what I came up with! Enjoy!

Images from the top left are-

Love-Enlightment-Color/Rainbows

Time-Music-Favorite Books/Reading

Flowers-Coffee&Sunshine-Blue Sky/Birds

Dreams-Home-Nature

Ocean of the Mind-Hands&Eyes-Peace

FAMM January Challenge

Well here's my 2 entries to FAMM for Jan. Challenge. The first one in my hand dyed fabric with fabric leaves and foil candy wrappers bonded to the background. Then I machine stitched a chiffon fabric over the top and then burned holes through the chiffon.



My second offering for this month is a piece of cotton batting that I used to absorb fabric dyes and paints for another project. I thought it looked pretty good so I used a Thermofax screen I had made and screenprinted on top of the batting. I thought it turnout pretty good.



I'm Back!!!

Hello and Happy New Years Day!
Well its been awhile and I realize just how much I missed doing this blog! About a year and half ago(seems like so long ago) time became very precious to me and I had to make some decisions on just how I was going to get things done that really needed to be taken care of. So the amount of time that I spend online and on the computer was huge so I gave up blogging and other activities that were just eating up a lot of time. That being said I now feel I have some time to devote to my blog and other online projects and classes. First on the list is going to my participation with the Sketchbook Challenge.So I'll be posting here and on Flickr my sketches for the monthly challenges.
That's it for now!

All you need is Love-BJP-Feb.09

Here's my Feb. piece for the BJP. Not much beading its a short month and I got behind beading due to that terrible cold that was going around! Plus I decided that I love this fabric and I wanted it to show more than I have done in previous pieces.
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Women Dreaming-Jan.09 BJP

Here's my BJP piece to kick off the New Year! The background fabric is from Australia and the print it based on Aboriginal drawings called "Women Dreaming". For me January is a time to de-stress, relax the holidays are over-lets renew our creative selves and see what happens this year.

Big Stick Art w/ NanC

In January I had the pleasure of getting to make Art with one of my favorite people-NanC Meinhardt! Her latest spin is to have us pick a stick or branch that appeals to us artistically, then fix it up and bead it till it says "Were Done"! We got to play with all kinds of tools-Dremels with all of their attachments (that I had to have but never got out of the box! Well its out now!),Foredom Flex-Shafts (Very awesome tool to have!), all kinds of paints, wood carving tools, air drying clays, wires and fibers and more! By the end of first day we were cover in fine sawdust but the room smelled great with all the wood being worked by 12 very busy artists! So I have to admit that I haven't touched it since that weekend but thats going to change starting next Sunday. I'll have a whole week to work on nothing else so I'll keep you posted!

Personal Symbols an Online Classes w/ Susan Sorrell

I've taken online classes before but this is the first one that really lit my creative fire! It combined everything I love beads, paper, fiber, paint, sewing machines, rubber stamps and etc. Everything I've been collecting for years all of sudden made sense and I found a way to use all the stuff I've saving-greeting cards, calendars, all the odd bits and bobs!
When I was involved with Master Class a few years back it gave me the courage to think outside the bead box and see the possibilities that were possible with all mediums and then combine the best of everything and make something you love!
Susan Sorrell is a wonderful teacher and great supporter of the arts-her online class is up there with Christi Friesen whose online classes I have taken. The directions are great, lots of photos, attention to detail and lots of contact with the teacher including calling her and leaving a voicemail!
Thank you Susan for a wonderful experience which I am still working on (Lesson #3) and I'll be posting the remaining lessons as I get them done. Wait until you see what I did for Lesson #3!
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Poinsetta Reds-BJP08

Hey Everyone!!!
I'm back to blogging after a very busy start to the New Year! I know its already March but its still only 2 months since the Jan. 1st.
So here's my BJP page for Dec. I love the everything about Pointsettas so I had to make them part of this project. Enjoy!

Fallen/Nov. BJP08

Here's my BJP for Nov. I'm calling it "Fallen" because of the falling leaves in autumn. I know big surprise on that one! I love this time of year-the colors-the chill in the air-the smell of someone's fireplace burning logs. The downside it signals is that I have to do all the holiday stuff besides start working on the next page!

Scary Fun- Oct.BJP08

Here's my bead embrodiery for Oct. its called "Scary Fun"! And it was a lot of fun to do! Enjoy!!

Apples

As promised here is a much better photo of my Bead Journal Project for Sept.2008. Enjoy!

1st Bead Journal Page

As I have explained in previous posts I am doing the Bead Journal Project 2008. Sept. was our first month and these are my photos.

First I fussy cut and collaged my fabrics.

Then I covered the picture with lots of machine embrodiery.

The finished page.

This scan is just temporary until I can take a better photo.

                              

Carol Cypher Wooly Weekend

This last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with Carol Cypher! Besides a full time teaching gig she has also authored 3 wonderful books! Here are some photos of the Wool Cane Class.

Table of Wonderful Wools!

Making the Canes

Finishing a Class Project the same day as the Class!

AMAZING!

Check out the wonderful colors in these Canes!

I took the Thur. classes which were a felted bracelet and a wool felted captured marble. I will post pictures of these as soon as I finish!

Jewel of the Sea

Jewel of the Sea
Originally uploaded by Mimi Ditchie

This photo belongs to one of the Groups I belong to "Brillant Jewel Photos". I can see lots of bead inspiration coming from this photo!

GO FISH

GO FISH
Originally uploaded by l.wilcoxen

Hi Everyone,
Its been a while since I last posted! Life just gets you busy sometimes! I've been cruising around Flickr and checking out everyone's awesome photos and couldn't resist posting this one! Enjoy!

Heavy Metal Weekend with Janice Berkebile

The weekend with Janice happened a couple of weekends ago but last week I was to busy to post so here it is!

First up was 2 wonderful days of etching copper and then making all this amazing jewelry from those etched pieces. Students had a great time making their visions of what self adornment should look like! Not your ordinary stuff from the department store! Monday's class was all about fusing metal to make rings and bangles again giving you the artist the ability and knowledge to create exactly what you want. When you take a class with Janice or her partner Tracy Stanley you learn so much that you can use towards making your jewelry your own! We love it when Janice comes to teach because everyone goes home very happy and they have some very nice pieces of jewelry to show-off!

Treasures from Maggie Meister Weekend

This is one of the treasures I got when Maggie Meister visited us last weekend. Its an Italian Tapestry that I can't wait to add some beads to! I also bought the silk tassels to finish it off with an old world touch!

Maggie Meister Weekend at the Castle

This weekend at the Creative Castle we were fortunate to have with us teaching Maggie Meister . Her beadwork spin is to take old Roman icons, symbols and artifacts to create one of a kind art pieces. Maggie uses different bead stitches to achieve beautiful innovative jewelry that is different from anything else you've seen. If you've never taken a class with this delightful teacher than you really must try to next year when she returns again. Besides teaching next year at Creative Castle she'll be doing an "Italian Bead Adventure". So if this sounds like something you would like to do be sure and check it out at Creative Castle .

Flickr of Inspiration - Fractal 95 - Somewhere.... on another Planet!!!

Fractal 95 - Somewhere.... on another Planet!!!
Originally uploaded by objowl

Art is everywhere you find it! So be sure and check out the rest of these Fractal photos. When you visit this photo be sure and view with the black background option.

I always wanted to take one of those incredible photos of a bee or bird up close and I think that this one is pretty good! Enjoy!