Embroidered Christmas Tree

Made this card in a class I'm taking from Sylvia Valle, a former contributing editor for Stampington. Now I know why I don't quilt. I almost flunked geometry. Following a pattern is not really my thing. The fact that I was not using the correct needle made it very tedious. But I was just plain determined to finish it whether I liked it or not. I'm making another card with some random beading, and I like that. Just don't give me that counting pattern thing!!!! Sylvia is a wonderful teacher. It's just that I am a retard in that area!

Melted Crayon Technique

The Yahoo group I belong to - Arttechniques - did a fat book swap with 120

participants and each participant did a different technique. This is my rendition of

painting with melted crayon.

Envy

This past week-end I got some beautiful molds for embellishments to my artwork. I'm either doing something wrong, or I'm going to need a lot of practice. I used Crayola Fusion air dry clay, as I really want to avoid "cooking". I've been told if I'm going to bake clay I need to have a dedicated toaster oven and not use the one I cook in for consumption. I don't know if it's the clay or me -- the clay is too soft to remove from the mold to dry. I've tried removing from the mold immediately. I've tried cooling in the frig. I've tried the freezer. First time I forgot to powder for a release agent, but I have tried several other times using cornstarch for a release. Nothing seems to work. The conundrum -- try a different clay or try a different release agent like water. I think I'll try the water. I did manage to do this sketch of the two girls. That gave me some satisfaction. Okay, back to the kitchen counter for another try. Wish me luck!!

tar gel over painted paper

I did not realize it's been so long since I posted. I've been wrestling with a Trojan horse virus and finally was able to rid my computer of the pesky threat. Why can't these people find something positive to do with their skills? Aarrgh!!!! This is clear tar gel dribbled over painted paper. It's one of the techniques from our fat book swap. Thank you Nancy Lynn. I like the way the tar gel picks up the colors underneath it and changes as the colors change. It's a little difficult to see here. She also suggests dribbling the tar gel over white paper and then painting over it after it dries. The tar gel will stay clear.

Mini Zine/Journals

I promised to post my finished project using some art supplies that are neglected. I randomly picked several items with no idea what I would do with them. You can see the items in the previous post. The easiest project was a mini book. Here are three samples of these books. The one titled "Scrap Book" was the one I did for this project, and it was also a way to use up some ephemera, scraps and papers I've been hoarding. I know none of us does this, but.....I still have lots and lots of scraps even after my last purge. It's so simple. I just pick some sort of painted or decorated cardstock and cut to size to be the cover and fold it in half. I then cut slightly smaller pieces of whatever -- painted papers, specialty papers or cardstock and decorate them with scraps. I "bind" the book using a couple staples (so you have to leave about 1/4 to 1/3" clearance as that part will be stapled over). Then I glue on some type of ornamentation to hide the staples. EASY!!!! You could even use ATCs and bind this way. My pages are not quite but almost that size.

My least favorite supply was the "blow pens" - Why exhaust my lungs when I could just use misters?? I'm sure there was a really important reason I purchased them at the time.