From Cruisewear to Casa Azul

So, there I was last weekend, relaxing on the couch, watching a recorded episode of NCIS, when I get an urgent text from my friend Heidi:  "Quick....turn on QVC NOW!!!"  Fortunately the remote was within reach, or this might not have happened (I did mention I was relaxing), and there was this very famous comedienne and jewelry designer hawking a very lovely necklace made of fabric flowers.
I knew immediately why Heidi wanted me to see this....not to buy it, of course, but because she knew,  WE COULD TOTALLY MAKE ONE OURSELVES!
It took a little thinking and fiddling with supplies, and of course I didn't make an exact copy, but I'm really happy with the result:

I had a roll of white tulle that I swear was leftover from a wedding project I did in 1996.  I cut a bunch of flowers from it with Tim's tattered florals die and stacked a lot of them together to make each flower.  They are held together with a running stitch which also pulled them into a more dimensional flower-like shape.  

I did say the tulle was white.  So, I concocted a spray with black reinker and a little perfect pearls for a hint of shimmer and sprayed them.  Just a side note:   those suckers took forever to dry and the ink has only just left my fingers.

The original design actually had five flowers, but honestly, I thought it looked more like a scarf than a necklace there was so much going on, so I pared it down to three.

Now, I feel a bit like I'm pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz and revealing his true identity, but here's a view of the back of my piece, so you can see just how it was constructed:

Yep, the flowers are attached to flattened bottlecaps.  A pretty humble material, but it worked perfectly.

And this is now on my "must pack" list for the cruise.  Oh, and did I remember to point out that the "original" was selling for over $40+tax and shipping?

Casa Azul refers to Frida Kahlo's home in Mexico, and that was the focus of my pages for Lee in our Frida collaborative journal group.

This may very well be the first time I've used a ruler so much in a piece of art.  Not at all my usual thing, but my muse insisted on straight lines.  Here's the two page spread:

I drew and colored everything (except the Frida image, which is from a collage sheet....but I did rework it with colored pencils) with markers and oil pastels.  Everything done on watercolor paper.  From what I have read, Frida really loved that house, and it was the only place she considered home.  Closer looks at the individual pages:

Did you notice on the countdown on my sidebar that we're in single digits now, leading up to the cruise?  I noticed, and I'm so excited I can't think of much else.  Not just the cruise itself, or even the prospect of more classes with the one and only Tim, but also getting to see some friends who live very very far away.  I'm giddy!