Keys4Art 2014....two more sleeps!

I haven't been doing much, except for things like this:

Getting ready to see some of my BFFs in the Florida Keys at the week-long art fest known as:

The very talented Teri came up with a brand new logo.

And no, none of us actually have such waists. LOL! But we do plan to have paint brushes, palettes, and cocktails in hand very soon.

Once again we have pooled resources and rented a house. And what a house it is! Last year's was pretty fabulous, but this one.....I've been told the photos don't do it justice. Can't wait!

I don't know if I'll have time to keep in touch while I'm away, but I promise many photos when I return. And as if all this isn't enough, we have the one and only, the fabulous DJ Pettitt coming down to hold a private two day workshop for us. Right now I'm thinking life couldn't be any better.

The Lace Journey Ends......And Some Art With Friends

Just before the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, I received Marita's luscious lace journal from Elena, and spent a good part of those days working on it.  Marita's is the last one I had to create for, and soon I'll be getting my own back.  I've loved being a part of this group, and fully intend to continue to incorporate fabric and lace into my projects.

Marita's theme included vintage faces, hankies, and the colors ivory, ecru, and black.  In anticipation, I set aside all the elements I thought might work, and selected a focal image.  So when I actually had the book in my hands, putting together my spread came very easily.  Don't you love when that happens?

You can see I had plenty of lace in the right colors; the pocket for the "hankies" is just an oval doily cut in half.  Since I didn't have a hanky that went well with the colors Marita requested, I made a faux one with black and white netting.



 

 

There is a bit of batting under the image to make it puff up.  I went over her headband and earrings with flat backed pearls and crystals; the gold "chains" on the earrings are lines of Ranger's Liquid Pearls.

 

 

 

The back is simply decorated with lace and some beaded trim.

 

 

 

As for the "art with friends" portion of the title.....I recently got together for a play date with Pat and Teri.  After a wonderful Greek dinner we headed for Teri's place where we each brought a project.  Pat was up first, and we received these:

 

 

 

What to do with a wine glass, a paper template, and an electric votive candle?

 

 

 

Pop in the candle, then using the template, cut out a skirt.  I used a gelli plate page that my pal Lillian gave me when we were at Keys4Art in March.  A dab of glue holds it together.  I used decorative scissors when I cut the top and bottom, and a tiny flower punch to make some holes so the light would shine through.  I also added the beaded trim because.....well, because Pat thought it was a great idea, and it was!

 

 

 

Pardon the pun, but Chinese take out food takes on a whole new light when consumed with this little beauty on the table.

 

Teri's project was altering old photos.  She picked up a huge supply at a second hand store.

 



 

 

They do have to be traditionally developed photos, not computer printed ones.  It's all about the coating.  First we submerged them in water for a few minutes, then dried them off, and proceded to scratch and sand them.  On some I altered only sections, on some the whole photo.  It's a very cool way to isolate one area and then create an entirely new picture surrounding it.  After scratching and sanding, we added paint, and then some stamping.  Here are three I've completed.  I like this!

 

 

You can't see the original photo at all on this one:

I left the stones untouched; I think it looks like seagrass

and weeds are growing out of water:

On this one the wall was unaltered, and the cityscape

stamped over it.

 

 

 

My project was a birthday card using the wrapped package from Tim Holtz's Birthday Blueprint set.  I've seen a few very similar cards in the blogosphere, so I'm not taking any credit for the design.  I have no idea who originally came up with the idea of paper piecing, but it sure wasn't me.  Coupled with pop dots, it does make for a wonderfully dimensional card.

 

 

 



 











Journal Mania

This past weekend was spent constructing journals.....a thoroughly enjoyable two days at Michele's studio, with great friends, and putting together two different books under the guidance of the very talented and lovely Dawn DeVries Sokol.

Saturday was Tape  and Doodle Stew.  I brought along about 50 pounds of tapes; masking tape, tissue tape, duct tape, washi tape.....lots and lots of tape.  Which is what we used to bind the pages together, as well as decorate many of the pages.  The covers were made from a flattened cereal box, and the pages themselves, an assortment of papers, bits of previous projects, and items my friends and I kept swapping back and forth.  Oh, and of course, a bit of doodling too.

 

I used some favorite papers, and leftover pieces from a Lynne Perrella workshop, Julie Fei-Fan Balzar's stamp carving class, and some art done by friends.  I think that's what makes this book so appealing to me.  Of course the question (for me) always is......will I actually use this as a journal?  I'll let you know how that works out.

 

Sunday was Jingle Journal, advertised as a holiday journal, but I really don't celebrate anything so I opted for a winter theme instead.  For this book, we deconstructed a hard cover book and used the covers (painted and otherwise decorated), substituting our own papers, done with a very simple sewn binding, and only one signature.

 

 

 

A weekend of art, wonderful.  A weekend of art with friends, priceless.

 

 







Many thanks to Michele for organizing these classes, and to Dawn for a great two days.  Oh, and thanks Michele for the classroom photos, which I swiped from your Meetup board.  :))  Speaking of which, why not go and join Michele's Meetup group so you'll find out about future classes.  She always has something going on, in the works, or on the calendar.



A Heavenly Weekend, But First.......

.......a bus ride from hell.  I really do not like long bus trips under the best of circumstances.  But put together a surly driver, traffic, two car accidents, and a detour, and a two hour ride becomes a three hour test of patience (I have little).  But, Pat and I finally arrived in Warwick NY for a crafty weekend with some of our peeps.  We were the first to get there, settled into our lovely rooms at the Warwick Valley Bed and Breakfast, met the warm and friendly owner Loretta, and just hung out until the rest of the group checked in.  Why did I forget to take pictures of the rooms?  Each different from the next, all beautiful.  But I do have some nice outside shots.

OK, I just snagged some photos of my room (The Paisley) from the BandB's website.  Click on the link above to see the whole shebang.

We'd get three meals the next day (Saturday), but we were on our own Friday night, and went to a really nice restaurant called Coquito, which specializes in food from Puerto Rico.  Pasteles, tostones, empanadas, sangria, mojitos, oh my.  Afterwards we returned to the BandB, hung out for a while, then crashed.  Breakfast at 8:30 and a full day of projects to rest up for.

Each of us brought something for everyone to do, and they were all different and interesting.  Heidi showed us how to make really cool bracelets with leather cording, ball chain and embroidery floss.

These were addictive, and most of us continued to make them at night while watching a movie.  I think Heather made about a dozen of them.  I did the two above in the afternoon, and made one more at night.  I have all the supplies at home, and I'm sure I'll be making more.

Speaking of Heather, she brought about a ton of feathers so we could make embellishments for a headband, a barrette, a pin, or whatever else we feel is in need of some feathery bling.

Above, Kahena and Gayle work on their designs.

Laurel is making a headband to wear when she goes dancing.

My masterpiece.  Don't know what it will be used for, but trust me,

I will NOT be wearing it on my head,

Lunch break!  Loretta prepared wonderful meals for us, served in this charming room:

Lunch was homemade beefsteak tomato soup and delicious toasted sandwiches filled with chicken or turkey and all manner of vegetables and sauces.  And a spinach salad.

Each table had these odd little salt and pepper shakers, and we had fun re-arranging them into all sorts of poses.  'Nuff said about that.

Laurel had a card with faux stitching.  My actual stitching is better than my faux, so pay no attention to the cockeyed lines.  Still a lovely card.

Pat also had a card, featuring masking an area with torn paper to create a snaky wave of color, over which we did some stamping.  Here are mine and two others.

Kahena had us do resin pendants, but not just any old resin.  These were done with the type that cures under a UV light (yep, just like in the nail salon) in minutes.

Above, one of my pendants.  I embedded some tiny watch parts and glass glitter in between two layers of resin.

Corris, our resident bath products expert had us making sugar scrub.  Here she is explaining the process.

In the next photo (of Heidi's supplies for her bracelet project) look at the top right, and you'll see a jar of the finished scrub.

I kept changing my mind all week about what I'd bring.  I was so taken with Tim's shattered stains, I decided to bring some grungeboard and chipboard shapes and share the technique with everyone.  They all loved it, of course, and I think a few of them will be signing up for his class now.  Heather turned hers into a pin.

Gayle's project was t-shirt scarves.  To be honest, I did not know what to expect, but it is really a cool thing to do, and I think a great project to do with kids.  It just involves some cutting (which does not have to be exact), and pulling (which anyone can do).  Here I am, in all my glory, adorned with t-shirt scarf, t-shirt necklace, t-shirt sweatband, and of course, some feathers.

This is only one of many ways to alter t-shirts into scarves.  Click here for some other ideas, or just do a google search and you'll find lots more.

We finished all 8 projects before dinner, had time to clean up, check emails, etc. and then another bountiful meal of salad, sweet potato soup, stuffed zucchini, roasted chicken and/or tilapia.  Then we all managed to stay awake for a movie, and a few (not me) made it a double feature.  The next morning, omelets, stuffed french toast, and sausage baked with maple syrup.  Packing, saying our goodbyes, then on to the dreaded bus.

The trip home was better than the Friday afternoon ride, but still a bit bumpy.  I wish this BandB was near a train station.  However, Marty (Heidi's husband) picked us (Heidi, Pat and I) up at Port Authority and we all got rides home from there.  Yea, Marty.