The Color Purple

 Several years ago I bought a Hydrangea in April from Home Depot. The plants had colored foil covering the pot (for Mother's Day gifts). While my husband was shopping, I put a healthy dark pink plant in the cart. It was too early and much too cold to plant my Hydrangea outside, so I put the plant under a grow light and watered it regularly. Finally the plant was ready to go outside at the end of May. I had several large dark pink blooms and then the plant started to wither and die. My husband laughed at me for wasting so much time on this $10 Hydrangea. I loved this plant and knew it was probably going through shock. I felt sure that I could save it. I pruned the plant almost down to the ground and fed it Miracle Grow every 2 weeks and watered it daily. I consulted the internet Hydrangea sites for help but they all said that these type of plants never live when planted outdoors: they were meant for short term decorative use. Still I refused to give up! After 2 months of devoted care, my Hydrangea had some green leaves appearing on the stems. Before the end of the summer the plant had a few small blooms. The plant is now four years old and quite healthy. Apparently the Hydrangea didn't know that it wasn't supposed to thrive outdoors. I have been able to achieve this beautiful shade of purple by alternating feedings with acid and alkaline Miracle Grow. Every time I look at this Hydrangea, I am reminded that all things are possible with faith.

My latest projects are from French Girl Knits. I found this book at the Knitting Sisters in Williamsburg, VA. I was intrigued by the title and found a beautiful array of tops and sweaters in the book. Anjou, is an airy, lacy mohair top that is knit in Louet Kid 'N Linen. I love the way that this is turning out. The top is knit in one piece on circular needles and then the sleeves and hip band are knitted separately and grafted on.

Anjou

I am also knitting Nadine, a lacy tunic knit in cotton and bamboo. The construction of Nadine is different from the usual knit  construction. The side panels are knitted first and then the main front piece is knitted side to side (horizontally) with lace shaping inserts on each side of the front panel. The side panels are then grafted to the main front panel. I am enjoying knitting this tunic. The original tunic was knit in Be Sweet cotton and bamboo, which was not available from my local yarn shop. I decided to substitute Valley Yarns Southwick from WEBS (www.yarn.com). I have ordered from WEBS many times in the past but this is the first time that I have ever ordered one of their yarns.  I love Valley Yarns Southwick! It's reasonally priced at $5.49 for a 50 gram skein, making the total cost of my project less than $50. The yarn is luxurious- soft to the touch, drapes well and easy to knit with. I can't wait to finish this tunic.

Nadine knit in Valley Yarns Southwick.

Recycled Photo Album

A couple of weeks ago I was purchasing some new clothes and the store was offering a free gift with a qualifying purchase. After ringing up the sale, the store manager told me that I qualified for the free gift (photo albums). I didn't want or need the photo album, but the manager was so happy that I qualified for the gift that I didn't want to make her feel bad by refusing it. I accepted the album and headed home.

The album was fairly nice quality although the cover was ugly-dark olive green with large embossed flowers. I felt bad throwing a perfectly good album in the trash and offered it to several friends. No one wanted the album in it's current state. I had been looking for a make over project for my blog and this seemed like the perfect candidate. There was only one problem, the deeply embossed flowers covered a large portion of the front cover.  I covered the entire album cover with gesso. The gesso soaked into the embossed areas, but didn't cover them up. Next I tried modeling paste. I built up two thick layers of modeling paste but the flowers could still be seen. I painted the front cover with acrylic paint and let it dry. I mixed the blue paint, modeling paste and white paint together to produce a slightly lighter shade of blue. I dabbed the mixture onto the front cover with a foam brush to produce a textured surface. I set this aside to dry.

Here's the work in progress.

Original free photo albums.

Album covered with gesso and modeling paste.

Layer of textured paint added.

Close-up of textured surface.

Finished Album

I am so happy with the finished result and the fact that I turned an ugly photo album destined for the trash into an album that I would be proud to give as a gift. The textured finish on the album can be made in any color simply by mixing modeling paste with acrylic craft paint.



Directions for Butterfly Album:

Photo album or memory book
Golden Modeling Paste
Liquitex Basics Acrylic color-light blue, white
Recollections Adhesive Faux Pearls
Recollections Pearl trim
Recollections Butterflies- Aqua, Purple
Sheer white wire edge ribbon
Parchment color paper
Gesso
Hot glue gun
Clear craft glue
Foam brush
Duraclear Satin Varnish


1.   Coat the album cover (front and back) with gesso. Let it dry.

2.  Apply a light layer of modeling paste to the cover and let it dry, then repeat.

3.  Using a foam brush paint the album front cover light blue. When it is dry, paint the back cover and album spine.  Apply paint to the edges of the album and let it dry.

4.  Mix light blue paint with modeling paste. Add white to the mixture until desired color. I added white until the paint mixture was one shade lighter than the paint in the tube. Be sure to mix enough paint and modeling paste to cover the entire album.

5.  Dip the end of the foam brush into the paint mixture. Dab the paint mixture onto the front cover. Place the end of the foam brush on the cover, press down and then pull up to create the textured surface. Once the front cover is completely dry, dab the paint mixture onto the spine and back cover. Let it dry.

6.  Apply a thin coat of craft varnish over the album (front cover first, then spine and back cover).  Let the varnish dry before applying to the spine and back cover.

7.  Apply a thin layer of clear craft glue to the adhesive faux pearls and press in place along the front edge of the album cover. Position the pearl trim on the lower part of the front cover and press in place. Leave a space wide enough to glue the butterfly in between the trim.

8.  Glue the aqua butterfly (with hot glue) between the pearl trim. Hot glue the purple butterfly to the right edge of the clear window on the album.

9.  Tie the sheer white ribbon around the front cover of the album and tie a bow. Trim ribbon edges at an angle (to desired length).

10. Print Memories or some other sentiment using Microsoft Word and the font of your choice onto parchment paper. Cut out and insert in window on the front cover of the album.

Creative Journaling

Brittany and I were running errands and decided to make a detour to Barnes & Noble with the idea that it would have to be quick because we had several other stops to make. The plan was to find our books and head over to the check-out. NO BROWSING! We walked into the store, headed toward the books and suddenly our plan fell apart. When we met in the middle of the store each of us had an arm full of books. We headed toward the check-out desk an hour later, but never quite made it there. Brittany spotted the journals lining the shelves along the wall. I found a beautiful handmade Italian leather journal with the Medici Lion embossed on the front cover. I love the Medici Lion! This book had beautiful ivory lined pages. Great for writing poetry but I wasn't sure how it would work with sketches. The journal was removable so I could replace it with a similar size sketchbook. The journal is so beautiful just as it is that I decided to sketch on the lined paper and cover the paper with gesso or some other medium when I don't want the lines showing through my drawings.
 

Medici Lion Journal

First sketch in the Medici Lion journal.

This sketch is based on the Afghan Hound sketch that I did in August 2010.


Directions for journal page:

The dog was drawn with a No. 2 pencil. I used Prisma Color pencils for the face and fur.

Highlights to the muzzle and the fur were added with Derwent Ink Tense pencils. Wet a No. 4 round paint brush with water and blot the excess water on a paper towel. Carefully paint over the lines that you made with the Ink Tense pencils.

Color the background with a dark blue Ink Tense pencil and paint over it with water. Be careful not to get the page too wet or the paper will curl. Let the page dry and paint over it again if necessary.

Add a quote or your own thoughts. I added both. I used the quote by Eugene Delacroix: "Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything."

 I used the EK Success fleur de lis paper punch and gold handmade paper to make the fleur de lis for the heading. The heading is written with an India Ink fine point pen. Highlight the heading by going over the words with a magenta Prisma Color pencil.

Decorative Towels

Any one who has ever priced the decorative hand towels in the stores knows that they can be quite expensive. A few years ago we were throwing a party and I wanted a decorative hand towel for our Powder Room. I needed a Williamsburg Blue towel with lace trim to match my decor. After searching several stores I realized that this towel simply didn't exist, at least not in the market place. I ended buying blue hand towels and headed over to the fabric store to buy lace trim, fabric and embroidery thread.

I went about designing the hand towel. The process wasn't as simple as I had envisioned because the towel had two 1/2 wide chevrons (the same color as the towel) stitched 4 1/2 inches from the towel's hem.  Hmm, how can I work around this? The lace trim covered the chevrons but it's placement so far from the hem line looked out of place. I decided to use the fat quarter of fabric that I purchased for the heart design as a border. Next I made a heart template and drew the hearts on Heat and Bond. After fusing Heat and Bond to the wrong side of the fabric I cut out the hearts and then fused them to the towel.

I hung the hand towel in my Powder Room on the day of the party and forgot about it. Later, several guests approached me asking where I had purchased the towel? My mother-in law said "I know you made that towel and I want one for my bathroom." So on Mother's Day she got two towels to match her bathroom decor.

These towels make great Mother's Day, shower or hostess gifts and they are easy to make. 

Finished hand towel.

Close-up of hearts.

Directions for Decorative Towel:

Hand Towel
Fat Quarter or 1/4 yard of fabric to match towel: 100% cotton fabric
1 yard of lace trim
Heat and Bond for fusing fabric
Rayon machine embroidery thread to match the fabric
Natural color thread

1,  Pre-wash the cotton fabric and put in the dryer. This will pre-shrink the fabric so that your ruffle and hearts won't pucker when the towel is washed.

2.  Cut the fabric approximately 12 inches wide by 18 inches long. Fold the fabric in half so that it measures 6 inches wide. Fold under almost 3/8 inches on side edges of the fabric and the upper ends of the fabric and press (set the iron to cotton). These will become the finished edges of the ruffle. Sew the side edges of the fabric, using a 1/4 inch seam, with the natural thread, but don't sew the top edges yet.

3.  Use a long gathering stitch on the sewing machine to gather the fabric 1/2 inch from the upper folded edge. Pull the threads to slightly gather the fabric to make a ruffle. Pin the ruffle to the towel 4 1/2 inches from the bottom edge, covering the chevrons. Sew the ruffle in place using the natural thread, using a 1/4 inch seam.

4. Pin the lace trim approximately 1/4 inch from the top of ruffle and sew in place, using the natural thread.

5.  Make a heart template by drawing a heart at 1 1/2 inches on plain white paper and carefully cut it out. Use the template to draw two hearts onto the paper side of the Heat and Bond. Fuse the Heat and Bond to the wrong side of the fabric. Cut out the fused hearts. You can also use the Cricut to cut the hearts out of the fused fabric. 

6.  Pin the first heart approximately 5 inches from the side edge of the towel and 1 1/4 inches from the top edge of the ruffle. Pin the second heart slightly to the right of the first heart. The edge of this heart should touch the edge of the first heart and be 1 inch from the top edge of the ruffle. Carefully remove the pins, trying not to disturb the design and fuse according to Heat and Bond package directions.

7.  Wind a bobbin with the natural color thread and thread the rayon embroidery thread through the sewing machine. Set the sewing machine to satin stitch and carefully stitch around the edges of both hearts. You will need to stitch very slowly because of the towel thickness and the temperamental nature of the rayon thread. This thread has a tendency to break easily.

Cinco de Mayo Decorative Plate

With Cinco de Mayo just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to do a decorative project. Besides it's nice to use the Cricut for something other than card making. I chose the images that I wanted to use from the Ole cartridge and headed off to Michaels to buy some art supplies and a suitable background for my project. While in Michaels, I came across a display of colored plastic chargers. Naturally I gravitated toward the deep turquoise one, but the light red would be better suited for my project.

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday that has gained popularity here in the States over the last few years. The celebrations are festive and fun. Although I love Mexican food and Margaritas, I  personally can not bring myself to celebrate this holiday because of my French heritage (French defeats are not something that my family celebrates).  I wanted to post a project for those of you who do celebrate it. I had a lot of fun working on this project and am pleased with the final result.

Work in progress!

Finished Plate-the highlighting on the phrase did not photograph well.

The directions for Cinco de Mayo Decorative Plate:

Plastic charger style craft plate- available at Michaels
K&Company Que Sera Sera paper pad- orange print paper
Cricut Ole cartridge
Modge Podge
Foam brush
Small dark yellow and black crystals
Black, sea-foam green, light coral, light beige,bright pink,light orange, dark orange, dark yellow, light yellow, bright blue, grass green and dark green card stock
Xyron machine (optional)
Zots
Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink
Craft glue
Dark brown glitter



1.  Using the Cricut Ole cartridge cut the Mexican man at 4 inches out of black card stock. Press the shift key and cut the image again out of sea-foam green card stock.  Press the Layer key and cut his hat and serape out of light coral card stock. Press the Layer and Shift keys to cut his face out of light beige card stock.

2.  Next cut the Sun at 1 3/4 inches out of the dark yellow card stock. Press the Shift key to cut a circle out of the bright blue card stock. Press the Layer key to cut the Sun's face from the light yellow card stock. Press the Layer and Shift keys to cut the cheeks out of dark orange card stock.

3.  Cut the Cactus at 3 inches out of dark yellow card stock. Press the Shift key to cut the Cactus out of grass green card stock.  Press Layer to cut the dark green  top layer of Cactus. Load bright pink paper in the machine and press Layer and Shift to cut the Cactus flowers.

4.  Cut a circle approximately 7 1/2 inches out of the orange print paper. The circle needs to fit inside the plate. Apply a thin layer of Modge Podge with a foam brush to the back of the circle. Slowly press the circle down onto the plate, smoothing out air bubbles with your fingers.

5.  Position the images on the plate and glue them down with craft glue. For the ground apply a small amount (a very thin layer) of white craft glue around the base of the man's feet. Sprinkle dark brown glitter over the glue and shake off the excess. Set aside to dry.

6.  Select the Cinco de Mayo image and load light orange card stock in the machine. Set the size dial to 2 1/2 inches, then press the Layer and Shift keys to cut the phrase Cinco de Mayo. Center the phrase over the picture and glue it to the top rim of the plate. I found the easiest way to do this is to run the phrase through the Xyron machine.

7.  Load the Cricut Ole cartridge into the machine and cut the Maracas at 2 1/2 inches. Press the Maracas key and cut the Maracas base out of dark yellow card stock. Press the Maracas and Shift keys to cut the next layer out of grass green card stock. Press the Layer and Maracas keys to cut the next layer out of dark pink card stock. Finally press the Layer, Shift and Maracas keys to cut the top layer of the Maracas out of aqua card stock. Assemble the Maracas.

8.  Dab Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink over the Maracas handles and Cinco de Mayo to add highlights. Attach Zots to the back of the Maracas and press into place to the right and left of Cinco de Mayo. Add a small dark yellow crystal to the center of the flower on the Maracas.

Hello Kitty Graduation Card

This weekend is Cricut weekend! Cricut projects and cards. It's been a while since I have "fired up" the Cricut to create cards, but hopefully by the end of the weekend there will be several new cards to post.

For those of you patiently waiting for a Hello Kitty project, this post is for you.

Brittany will be graduating in a couple of weeks with a Master's Degree in German. After two years of hard work, we wanted to send her a special card. Brittany loves Hello Kitty and just receiving a card with Kitty always brightens her day and makes her smile. The image of Hello Kitty in her cap and gown is adorable and would make a cute graduation card.  I used map print card stock from K & Company's Que Sera Sera paper stack for the background to symbolize graduating and going out into the world.

Directions for Hello Kitty Graduation Card:

Cricut Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge
Cricut Classic Font cartridge
K&Company Que Sera Sera paper stack- Map print card stock
Black, white, bright pink, aqua, dark blue, olive green, gold and parchment card stock
Pink jewel tone brad
Twinklets Diamond Dust
Paper flower and small button
Martha Stewart leaf paper punch
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Nine
Sanding pad
Zots and small foam dots
Colored pencils
Hot glue gun


 1.  Fold the parchment card stock in half to create a card.

2.  Using the Cricut Hello Kitty cartridge cut Kitty at 4 inches out of black card stock. Cut her fur out of white card stock and cut her bow out of bright pink card stock. Next, cut her cap and gown out of dark blue card stock and her tassel out of gold card stock. Assemble Kitty. Use a dark yellow colored pencil to color Kitty's nose. Highlight her cap and gown with a dark blue colored pencil. Attach the pink jewel tone brad to the center of her bow.

3.  Using the Hello Kitty cartridge cut the diploma base at 1 1/2 inches out of black card stock. Press the White Fur, Bow and Nose key to cut the diploma out of white card stock. Press the White Fur and the Shift keys to cut the diploma seal out of gold card stock. Assemble the diploma.

4.  Load the Cricut Classic Font cartridge into the Cricut machine, press the Base Shadow key and cut Congrats at 3/4 inch out of black card stock. Reset the machine and cut Congrats out of aqua card stock. Layer the aqua Congrats over the black base and glue in place.

5.  Cut a piece of aqua card stock 5 1/4 inches high by 4 1/4 inches wide.  Center the largest Spellbinders label on the card stock and cut out the label. Save the label for another project, you want to use the negative image for this card.

6.  Insert the aqua card stock containing the negative image into the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and run it through an embossing machine. Highlight the raised dots by lightly sanding them with the sanding pad.

7.  Cut a 5 inch by 4 inch piece from the map card stock. Center the map on the card approximately 1 1/4 inches from the bottom of the card and glue in place.

8.  Apply the foam dots to the back of the aqua card stock and layer it over the map card stock and press in place. Apply a thin layer of craft to the map card stock and sprinkle the diamond dust over the glue. Shake off the excess "dust" and let it dry.

9.  Apply Zots to the back of Hello Kitty, center her on the map and press into place. Apply small foam dots to her cap and attach to the edge of the aqua card stock. Apply small foam dots to the diplomas and attach them to the upper left and lower right corners of the aqua card stock.

10.  Center Congrats! over the aqua card stock containing the Hello Kitty image and glue it approximately 3/4 inch from the top of the card.

11.  Use a hot glue gun to attach the paper flower to the right of Congrats! and glue a button in the center in the center of the flower. Use an awl, pencil or other object to press the button in place, to avoid being burned by the hot glue oozing through the button holes.

12.  Punch two leaves out of the olive card stock with the Martha Stewart leaf paper punch. Glue the leaves under the edges of the flower.

Projects, Projects, Projects!

Congratulations Brittany for passing the written part of your Masters Exam!

Today was my first day back in my atelier. It's nice to be back in my space sitting at my drafting table with all of my art supplies close at hand.

This past month I have been reading, knitting and sketching to pass the time. I finished the first half of Louisa Harding's beaded scarf. I love how it's turning out and can't wait to finish it. The Grace hand dyed (wool/silk) yarn is a joy to work with. The yarn is soft, luxurious and glides along the Addi needles.

Louisa Harding Beaded Scarf

While searching for projects to occupy my time, I came across several interesting books. Amazon suggested Doodling in French-How to Draw with Joie de Vivre by Anna Corba. It seemed like a fun book from the on line preview. The book takes the reader step by step through each of the drawings, which can be used to highlight scrap book pages or collages. Having trouble drawing the Eiffel Tower or a fleur de lys? Don't worry, Anna Corba's step by step  instructions make it easy. This book is very beginner friendly and a great way to pass time.

Misty Mawn is one of my favorite mixed-media artists. Her work has been published in Sommerset Studio magazine and she teaches workshops. She recently published her first book, Unfurling, a mixed-media workshop with Misty Mawn.The book is in workshop format and starts with portrait drawing, and ends with journal making. The journal section shows the reader how to create (bind) a journal from sheets of paper and then gives a variety of exercises to inspire creativity in journaling. There are also projects for making stamps, sculpture, pottery and paper dolls. I found this book to be inspiring.

Zentangles have recently become very popular. I was intrigued and wanted to try it but didn't know where to start. The books on the market contained a few "tangles" and projects but they weren't beginner friendly, they all assumed that the reader was familiar with the process. Walter Foster art books has recently published The Art of Zentangle. This book explains Zentangles and the tools used to create them and then walks the reader step by step through each of the "tangles" and then step by step through each step of the Zentangle projects. As a beginner, I found this very useful. After completing several of the beginning exercises, I created the mushroom garden below. I started with the toadstools on page 46 and added my own "tangles" using the "tangles" from the exercises in the first part of the book. My materials for this practice Zentangle was a piece of drawing paper, #2 pencil and eraser. I really enjoy this book and try to Zentangle every day.

Toadstools