It's that Christmas time of year...

I have been having so much fun making ATC sized Christmas dioramas. I first saw them here, and knew right away I would make my own. I just love them! I've made 9 now, each one unique and one-of-a-kind. I'll give some away as gifts and I will display a group of them on my dining room table this year. Here is one of them:

I love the whole process of making these little beauties, from the paper construction to the embellishments. I love pouring through my stash to find just the **right** decoration or color or knick-knack for each one. 

steampunmk, gears, metal

Not sure why I love the metal-steampunk-gear-vintage look, but I do- I love all things industrial looking too. So I've been having fun turning paper and card stock into metal looking gears and gadgets. I saw this very cool 'thing' on You Tube and then had to make it. It's called a telescoping card- taking three circles and making it interactive. The one I saw had the gears/metal thing going, so it inspired me to make one too. I love how it turned out. I have no idea what it is for. It doesn't 'do' anything, except make me smile, and I guess that's the point of it! 

 

These first pictures are of the gears before I put it together. I love how they look like metal. I used Gilders paste on the paper and chip board to give the paper a real metal look and feel- with patina and rust too. I also used Distress Embossing powder in Vintage Photo for more rust. I used both dies and embossing folders. Then I put it all together to make this:

close up of **it**

 

 this is the card closed- the nut is the handle used to open it.

 

This is the card open- it actually works- like a cog wheel- the middle cog will go round and round when you move the card with the nut. Like I said, this has no purpose other than it makes me smile.

 



Christmas tags

Christmas in Paris

the mess I am making, but I sure am having fun!

 

Each year I like to make tags for gifts. The Eiffel Tower one is most likely for my

oldest daughter who loves all things French. (She also rarely looks at this blog)

 

I make a mess if glitter, die cuts and glue. I also make cards, but that's for another day.

 



Newest Assemblage Doll - Scrabble Queen II

I've completed another assemblage doll that is going in to the Bliss Coop Gallery in Sugar Loaf, NY. (If you live in the Hudson Valley, be sure and drive up to Sugar Loaf on a Sunday- makes for a lovely day! And with Christmas around the corner, you can buy some hand made gifts.)

I made her before, but each time I make a doll they are still
one-of-a-kind because each one is different and each one is hand made. They look similar but are unique.

 I love her crown! I used the double-word star from the middle of the Scrabble board for the star on the crown. If you are a Scrabble player you will recognize it. I used great and real Scrabble words on her as well, along with a few sayings. 

I used a beautiful vintage hand beaded ribbon as her belt and attached a vintage rhinestone earring to the front as her belt buckle. The multi-colored necklace is also vintage. The arms and head are antique doll parts that were excavated from a doll factory in Germany.  Her arms move.

nesting and art galleries

I have not been in a creative mode since I got home from vacation. I am in a nesting mode. When I am in this place, I do a lot of cooking and rummaging through my craft stuff. I pull out my book collection I use for collage, review my dies I own, look at my stamps, rearrange things. I guess it's all part of my creative process.  For years I fought my process. I would make myself creating something. This really worked at my paying job- as a creative designer I HAD to create, the suits didn't want to wait for my muse to inspire me...they just wanted me to create, and I did, for almost 20 years.

But I am retired now...so now I respect my process. If the muse is telling me to nest, I nest.

I also feel a shift coming- from my fine art back to crafting. I do go in cycles...around a circle of fine-art  to  crafting   to fine-art   and back to crafting...I don't know why, just is.

On another note, I've placed my art, both paintings and craft items at a local art gallery. It's in Sugar Loaf, NY. If you are ever wanting a wonderful place to visit on a Sunday, consider Sugar Loaf. My work is now in the Bliss Art Gallery. It's a coop gallery filled with all kinds of handmade art/clothes/craft items/pottery...too much to list...all made by local women of the Hudson Valley. It's a wonderful place, just chock full of beautiful handmade items.  I have several of my assemblage dolls and Frozen Charlotte angel ornaments on display, and other items.

I've been on vacation

While typing that title I had to smile...being on 'vacation' when you are retired sounds a little silly...but I just spent 3 weeks with family in the south. Two of the weeks were spent on Edisto Island, a remote sea island off the coast of South Carolina. I am not kidding when I say REMOTE. We rented a house on the beach, and the beach is 17 miles from the beginning of the island to that beach. To get the beach, you drive through 17 miles of ancient live oaks with Spanish Moss draped and hanging over the road. It's a scene right out of movie- almost looks fake!! It's a jungle in many respects.

I did not do any crafting while there. I did so some painting. You can see one of my vacation paintings here.  Lately I have not been doing much in the crafting arena. I am more focused on painting. I tend to do that- go in a cycle where I do the crafting or the painting. I find it hard for me to do both at the same time. Not sure why.

These two images I took while on Botany Bay Preserve. It's an area that was once a plantation and now a protected preserve. The jungle/forest grows right into the ocean here. You are not allowed to take any shells from the beach. People who visit tend to 'decorate' the area with found shells, much like this fallen palm with the line of conches. It' is 'other worldly' here. Just one of the many reasons I love Edisto Island. 

What would you do?

2.5" x 3.5 collage

 

I would paint HUGE pictures in pastel or watercolor. I would bake more cakes. I'd once and for all lose the weight I want to lose.   In thinking about this challenge, I realize I am living the life I want to live. I don't have any big unspoken or unrealized dreams. That is a blessing!  I made this collage a long time ago and it was sold. It is part of a series of thought provoking comments.  What would YOU do? I love to hear from you...