Small World of Inchies and Twinchies

The theme on Small World of Inchies and Twinchies is the color “yellow” = here are my inchies

looks like it’s time to clean the glass on our scanner

Anna May Wong (on the right) does not have a line across her eye in real life

Disintegration Collaboration Update

At last count there were 108 artists participating in Seth Apter’s Disintegration Collaboration.

My paper lantern finally melted after days of rain.  I had added a couple of pieces of duct tape in hopes of holding it together, but in the end it dropped into the bucket I had placed underneath it, just in case.

My lantern bundle is now part of my rusty basket bundle, so all is well.  It will be 1 May before we know it and time for the big reveal.

Thousand Handed Goddess of Mercy

Thanks to Lennie for sharing this graceful and beautiful YouTube

This amazing Thousand-Hand Guanyin dance  is performed by 21 deaf-mutes from the China Disabled People’s Performaning Art Troupe (CDPPAT) and is nothing short of amazing.   Their first major international debut was in Athens at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics (so this may not be new to some of you). The lead dancer,Tai Lihua, and the other 20 dancers, together with their choreographers and ‘sign instructors’ signaling from the four corners of the stage deliver a visual spectacle that is mesmerizing.  They have been traveling and performing around the world and have earned a lot of money to support charities for the disabled in China.

“The ultimate message of this performance can be summed up in the following words from Zhang Jigang, the choreographer who put it all together:

As long as you are kind and there is love in your heart
A thousand hands will naturally come to your aid
As long as you are kind and there is love in your heart
You will reach out with a thousand hands to help others”

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Marlynn at Honeysuckle Breeze is having a great giveaway, be sure and stop by for all the details! She made me tell you for a chance to win of course

My Heart Has Wings

Here is my 5 x 7″ canvas for the Mixed Media Monday, “Come Fly With Me” challenge this week

I began by covering the canvas with a piece of peeled decorative napkin that had a cello on it, along with other papers, some paints and inks and dotted Swiss fabric around the edges

I used a Cavalieri lady from Tallulahs

Saturday’s Workout

Saturday’s Workout is to make a shrine.  I have several shrine stamps that I like very much, so I used one of those to get started on my 6 x 4 postcard

“The wisest follow their own direction” ~Euripides

le petit roi de lion

The Dans ma maison il y a… challenge is …un petit roi……….”a little king” this week.

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

SPA: Life is Good

For some reason Mona Lisa came to mind with the SPA “Life is Good” challenge this week……she has had a nice long life

“Mona Lisa is the only beauty who went through history and retained her reputation” ~Will Rogers

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Many thanks to Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover for awarding me with the Kreativ Blogger Award.

I am breaking the rules a bit by not passing this along, you can see by my blogroll there are so many wonderful blogs out there.   I do appreciate being thought of!

Be sure and pay Elizabeth and Bleubeard (her cat) a visit, she has more neat tutorials than you can shake a stick at and is an altered book lover too!

Gothic Arches

The Gothic Arches challenge this week is to use two colors from the rainbow, two stamps and a word of inspiration in your arch.  I made an ATC and added a piece of grosgrain ribbon near the bottom

*click for a closeup*

OK, the thought “is black a color?” crossed my mind, here is the answer I am going with:

“black is not a color; a black object absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them to the eyes“

“You don’t have a soul.  You are a Soul. You have a body” ~C.S. Lewis

Time Out

For today’s challenge at Art Creations Friday, we were given this great image of a sitting boy. I gave him a big robin’s egg to sit on. His hat says “misunderstood”.  Each week there is either a wonderful image or background as the challenge inspiration.  I am happy to finally get to play along.

*you can click for a closer look at my background*

Many thanks to Lynn for presenting me with the “Makes My Heart Smile” blog award.  It is so nice to be thought of and included in this award.  To find out more about it and have a chance to see Lynn’s great artwork, you can visit her at her Trash to Treasure Art Blog.

ABAA: Altered Cutlery

Imagine my delight in being invited to be Guest Designer for the fabulous Awfully Big Art Adventure challenge blog this week!  Thank you Linda and Rosie!

Altered cutlery has been near and dear to my heart ever since I was inspired by a Jan/Feb Somerset Studio magazine article last year. (I noticed that Charlotte Kemsley has closed her blog, she actually did not have any cutlery on the blog last year.)

My husband is very good at preparing pieces we’ve collected by flattening, bending, cutting and drilling them into shape.

*If you scroll way down on the right side of my blog, you’ll see CATEGORIES, click on ALTERED CUTLERY and you will be able to see all my posts on that topic which include some tips on altering cutlery….as you can see, I’ve started and can’t stop*

*click for closeup view*

“Celebrate”

The “wings” are made of flattened champagne cages (the things we do for art supplies) with silver and gold wire bullion wrapped around them, I added a PW face, some bead dangles,  the word “Celebrate” is glued on with UHU glue stick

“FLY”

The “Wings to Fly” knife is close to an example of not needing to bend or drill holes (although there is one hole at the bottom),   plastic coated wire and beads are wrapped with a loop at the top for hanging

“Medieval Lady”

This flattened spoon pendant has a bit of velvet wrapped around the top, the hand deco in the middle is an odd earring, I beaded the other dangles to tie in with it.

Here is an example of an altered teaspoon that was not bent, cut, flattened or drilled, but used ‘as is”.  The grape motive on the handle led me to this…..

I used gel medium to adhere torn German book text to the spoon, rubbed on a little color, added a wine glass beaded charm (you know the ones everyone made so they could tell who’s glass was who’s when they set them down at a party or gathering).  I then attached some covered green wire and curled it into tendrils, adding the butterfly as the final touch.

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the possibilities are endless….. can’t wait to see everyone’s creations

ABAA: Birdhouse

Playing along a little late on the Awfully Big Art Adventure’s “Birdhouse” challenge.  I used an ATC size chunky wooden arch shape to create my bird house.

*click for a little closer look*

Clear stamps from Michelle Ward’s Bird Sanctuary and Catherine Moore’s Character Constructions. The Forget-me-nots are cut from a beautiful postcard image that Elizabeth Golden shared on her blog.

*tweet tweet*

“Spring would not be spring without bird songs.” ~Francis M. Chapman

WS: Transfers

Using “transfers” is Hermine’s challenge over at Wednesday Stamper this week.

I used matte gel medium to transfer this girl onto a piece of cotton fabric.  Using at least one rubber stamp is also part of the challenge.  I stamped the vines onto the striped paper.

The tassel got a little cockeyed in scanning

Here is a short Stampington video showing another of my favorite transfer techniques using packing tape.   It works well with most magazine images also, nice and quick!

Wordless Wednesday: Shadowplay

Tag Sneak Peek

A peek at some tags I am working on for an international swap, the fronts are finished, now to get busy on the backs!

As you can see by my stitches, I am not a “real” seamstress, I  just enjoy playing with paper and fabric

Cottage Wooden ATC

When creating with someone else in mind I find that it can take me awhile sometimes to get going…..finally…..my wooden ATC is ready to swap with a friend.

If I had to pick just one Paper Whimsy girl, which would be pretty near impossible, I would have to pick this little miss!

I began by gluing pattern tissue on with gel medium and painted over that.  I pounced white gesso through a plastic doily with a paintbrush to get an interesting texture and patterned surface.

Then I got busy covering it up with snippets from some vintage postcards, crocheted doily pieces (I know, I can’t believe I cut them) and a stamp or two!  Then again with the gel medium, (it’s such a great glue, no odor), attaching velvet ribbon, grosgrain ribbon and a piece of old costume jewelry as a topper…ta dah!

It’s off to the post office tomorrow

Many thanks again to Belinda for helping me learn some editing tricks with Photoshop (see my photo sampler above).

My samplers at WS are finally beginning to look a lot better.

MMM: Oriental

Another great challenge; I have wanted to do more asian creations lately.  My 5 x 7″ (12,7 x 17,78 cm) collage is a mix of images and papers, with a Japanese and Chinese influence.

Finishing the gold embossed edging was something to see…….two cups of tea and embossing powder do not mix (caffeine makes me jittery)…..I had gold sprinkles everywhere

Be sure and visit the Mixed Media Monday challenge blog to see lots of special Oriental creations, including Rosie’s beautiful inspiration boxes.