Second on the 2nd for July … Swans

altered books have fascinated me since early in 2000 and I have always admired swans…

today I am revisiting a post from July 2008 and joining with Elizabeth’s second look on the 2nd of the month … here goes:

Swan * Schwan * Cygne * Cisne * Labed

“Originally” Posted on July 17, 2008

 “For his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every Art.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Happy Birthday to my Mr Magpie…

celebrating the wonderful man in my life especially today…

Spread Your Wings by Patty Szymkowicz

the talented and inspiring Lesley Riley has a new book out by C&T Publishing and I am thrilled to have something that I created in it…

this has been in the works and kept quiet for over a year…

as some of you may already know Lesley is the queen of transfers and most recently TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) …

TAP was voted the winner of the 2011 Innovations Showcase...

I have been a big fan of Lesley’s since I took a fabric board book class (two of my pages above) from her back in 2003 and a transfer class a couple of years later at the Rubber Chicken…enjoying every minute of time spent with her …

Lesley is an excellent teacher and generously shares her passion for creating…

back in February of 2010 she invited me to be a contributing artist to her CREATE WITH TRANSFER ARTIST PAPER book…

as you can imagine I was over the moon about that…

it is such a big thrill to see my creation in print as the book is now available in both softcover and ebook  here…

it is loaded with inspiration and how to’s on using TAP not only on fabric but lots of other surfaces as well..

Lesley also gives great tips on editing your images before transferring them… 

for my part on pages 44 and 45 I decorated the cover of one of C&T Publishing’s blank board books with a transfer done on canvas paper…

I got excited and did a couple of spreads inside also…

here is a closer look at those…

I used TAP for a favorite Swan image and transferred it onto sheer White Unryu paper with gold/silver flecks which I liked very much…

I transferred the rubber stamped and colored hand onto some vintage sheer fabric…because the fabric was so thin it made a second image on the piece of cardstock I placed behind the sheer fabric to protect my work surface … double transfers!

another favorite artist of mine…theresa mARTin has a beautiful piece called “Grace” in the book…

what an honor to be included amongst so many talented artists…

many thanks to Lesley for this brilliant opportunity…

heartfelt thanks to each of you for supporting me along my creative journey…you know who you are

***as soon as my second copy of the book arrives I will be having a little giveaway***

Six Players: Sunflowers for Marlynn

here we are at our last turn in the Six Players swap…

Marlynn from Honeysuckle Breeze chose Sunflowers for her theme….

you may remember the wonderful India pages she created for me last year…

here are my first and last pages for her theme…

the cover page I created for her sunflower theme is my favorite…with the arch…and Paper Whimsy sun face…

I even found sunflower written in Japanese for the top right along with other languages too…

the lady on my last page is from the NYPL digital library…

a wonderful source for copyright free images…

I used sunflower seed stickers … I like the quality of them very much…

I really liked the sunflower stickers too!

…it seemed that my center pages were in limbo for a good while…

I was getting a little hung up on the flowers and needed to think beyond that a bit…

like what goes with sunflowers…

quotes are always good inspiration…

and birds like seeds…

thanks once again to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for the wonderful bird image…

a piece of snipped parchment paper cupcake liner made a nice frill and layer along with other bits of paper and faux greenery…

and a favorite of mine…

bees…

where would the world be without bees…

I found the perfect little metal bumble bee pin from Japan in my stash and attached it with gel medium…

one of the most versatile adhesives I know of…

here are my center pages … I used a twill binding that came with the round metal bits attached to add some interest across the center of both pages…

I created a tag with some of the extra bits I had on hand too…

nothing better than when it finally comes to you what you’d like to make…

then all there is to do is to get busy and do it…

“The earth laughs in flowers.” ~E.E. Cummings

I could have sworn that this quote was also credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson…there must be a story there somewhere?

OWOH * Martina Style *

 

had to share what recently arrived from Germany…

I was the very lucky winner of Martina’s OWOH giveaway…

which included this beautiful etched metal triangle canvas that she artfully altered…

along with this lovely Triptych ATC…

gorgeous both inside and out…

she included so many special creations…

I adore arches…

Martina is not only a very talented artist…

but most generous as well…

I am so grateful for all of the beautiful connections here in blogland…

danken Sie lieber Martina so sehr sehr viel oxo

gothic arch pendant

it was my good fortune recently to be the lucky winner of a really gorgeous giveaway…

Lynn of Her Creative Spirit and Lynda of Diva Designs collaborated on this generous giveaway…Lynn offered her image for Lynda to create beautiful clay transfer pendants with…

it is stunning front and back…

Lynda will be having monthly giveaways…so be sure and check out her blog…you will be dazzled by her polymer clay and gemstone jewelry here as well

footnote: I have no idea WHY the font toward the end of this post is smaller? does not appear that way in my Edit Post version on my Dashboard??? I even tried retyping it…AND why is this footnote the proper size??? I seem to be having a tech challenged week on several fronts…my sewing machine is misbehaving too … boohoo!

Gothic Arches eBook

Nancy Maxwell James is a very talented and generous artist … I am honored and tickled to be included in her Exploring Arches Through Mixed Media online eBook … she did an amazing job of compiling eleven different artists arch creations

here are a few of the arches I created that are included in the ebook … the two arches on the right are made of wood

supplies and techniques are shared for each creation with a nice range of mixed media projects … close to ninety pages of eye candy and inspiration free to download as a pdf file

for details on how to access the book … visit Nancy here

WS: Flowers

flowers bring so much color and interest to life…they are among my favorite things

there is even a “language of flowers” which has been used to communicate feelings since Victorian times

this week’s challenge theme for Wednesday Stamper/Mittwochstempler is “flowers”

my postcard began with a beautiful painted background from Linda in Norway

a B Line Design arch stamp and a Rubber Stampede daisy stamp … flowers from Dover clip art and a seed catalog

clickable for closeups

the bluebird of happiness was not a frequent visitor at Frida’s Casa Azul
Here’s Hoping you all had a Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Steampunk: Aquatic Toy

Steampunk is something I have wanted to try for some time now … the lovely and talented Martina chose it for the Gothic Arches challenge this week

the duck images are from Karen at the Graphics Fairy, who continues to delight blogland with her fantastic free images … the great German numbers at the bottom a surprise gift from Trina

the odd embellishments are mostly from my father in law’s cigar box of treasures … some of them rusted to perfection … I also added a bit of wool for texture and to fill in the blanks on the sides of the gentleman

fun to finally give “steampunk” a whirl

Gothic Arches: Crackle

Crackle is the theme over at Gothic Arches this week

I have been majorly distracted with our wonderful snow … every window in the house has a great view of the white stuff

I am happy to finally get myself in my art room … it is always fun to make something 🙂

here are some of the things that went into my arch … thanks to Eliza I have some lovely Polish book text and a beautiful postage stamp … one of many she shared with me

the Stampendous Crackle stamp cube has always been a favorite of mine … hadn’t used it in a while

pieces of mica also added to the crackle look along with some Ranger crackle paint that I forgot to add to the supplies photograph … my arch began with some thinish balsam wood and measures 5.75 x 5 inches

natural light was fading so my photos are not as sharp as usual

“Life is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination” ~unknown

Turquoise

Gothic Arches is back after a little holiday break with a really imaginative theme …  “Birthstones”

turquoise is the modern stone for December (my birth month) … both the stone and the color are favorites of mine

here are some interesting tidbits about the stone:

Turquoise was initially brought to Europe by way of Turkey, this stone is one of the first gems to be used in jewelry.   Turquoise was considered by ancients to be a sacred stone, protective against all manners of evil and ill health.  This beautiful gemstone is mined in Iran and the southwestern United States.  A gift of Turquoise represents friendship and luck.

my arch … which measures just shy of  7 x 5 inches … began with paint and I ended up covering most of that … I do like the way the color shows through the thin pieces of table napkin … the candle in the round mirror is an image torn from a magazine … as a finishing touch I spied a roll of stick on paper lace perfect for the bottom of my arch and opened my cigar box of words when “a moment of silence” found me

what a difference Light makes … this photo was taken out on our freezing cold back porch … I was out for just an instant … Michelle’s lace made such a beautiful backdrop

then I decided to do a scan to see if the colors showed up any differently

the colors are so much more true and turquoise  (not always the case with scanners)

“There are times when silence has the loudest voice” ~Leroy Brownlow

seeds of change …

before ringing in the new year last night I put the finishing touches on a couple more December Journal pages …

inspiration came from several places … the gorgeous image Marilyn Rock shared on her blog … then a pomegranate (one of nature’s more beautiful and mysterious fruits … delicious and healthy too) which was cut from a leaflet I picked up at the supermarket on how to open pomegranates … had to have it because of the picture …

I have finally gotten better at opening the fruit and removing the seeds … practice practice practice 🙂

the blue Turkish tile image that I cut and used in pieces is from Wikipedia … such gorgeous colors … the pomegranate inspired me to add a touch of gold to the spread, something I would not have done on my own … can’t beat Mother Nature!!!

… here it is Twenty Ten … a bit easier to say than two thousand and nine … I am one that likes to ease into change …  for at least a few days I’m sure I’ll hear myself saying .. 2010 … already!!!

have you chosen a word to guide and inspire you into the new year?  I forget my word from last year … oh my! but the word BALANCE keeps coming to mind … could be the same word from 2009 ?

asked Mr Magpie what his word for 2010 would be (didn’t say inspiring and such) … he said “undecade” … he is annoyed at the talk of this being the beginning of a new decade because according to him it’s not … please … don’t get him started … 🙂

Happy Healthy New Year One and All!!!

“Enter these enchanted woods, You who dare” ~George Meredith

*** I am joining in Ana’s Friday Archive Dive with this post ***

Hark …

shades of red paint for the background … a recycled angel greeting card

water soluble crayons for shading … bits of special gold paper to accent along with gold krylon pen and gold rickrack

the arch and JOY stamps were stamped onto tissue paper and glued on the painted pages of my December Art Journal … my offering for the Open Theme at Wednesday Stamper

Wishing each of you JOY and PEACE this holiday season  OOXOXO