Is it Spring in Virginia?

It's February 23, 65 degrees and sunny in Northern Virginai the flowers are starting to grow and I'm aleady sneezing and my eyes are red.  It's a bit early for all this.  We are having the mildest Winter this year which is perfectly fine with me.

What is growing in your yard?

Valentines Day 2012

LOOK what I got!  Beautiful tiny heart cakes - I can't wait to eat them!

I made my husband a card using images from my one of my favorite stores Papersource http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/new/index.html they always have fun stuff and lovely paper.

Here is the beautiful card from my husband

 I made myself some flowering tea to enjoy while I work at home today!  It's called Starlight Rose - delicate silver needle white tea leaves hand sewn around a tender rosebud.  The soft, lucent liquor and subtle aroma of roses yields a smooth, mellow flavor illuminated by the calming benefits of white tea.  Wow, what's not to like about that.

Isn't this lovely?

Valentine Charm swap

The group that got together for the Christmas swap had so much FUN we decided to do a Valentine's charm swap.  I've always wanted to do a charm swap.  I had big plans for my charms I was trying to make polymer clay cake slices with roses on top.  Well, they ended up being hearts with weird flowers on top.  Making slices of cake proved to be much harder than it looked on the u tube videos.

Here are the wonderful charms I received.  Leslie included some darling heart erasers that I also turned into charms.

I love, love, love this charm from Barb our hostess, she also included the bracelet for the charms. 

Corrine had such lovely packaging I used her charm as the centerpiece of my necklace.

This artful heart is from Elizabeth.

Hope made this very sweet heart charm.

Leslie included a box with stickers, a paper heart, erasers and the most delightful bird sitting in a nest of eggs.

Here are my clay hearts.

Martha made a metal etched heart with a very cool ribbon.

Patti used a bottle cap for her very romantic charm.

Terry made a tiny collage heart which has another tiny heart attached to the corner of the card.

Vivian how in the world did you get so much in such a tiny package, charms, button, a tiny tin jello mold with a cute picture frame - I have plans for the tiny jello mold.

The packaging of the charms was just as wonderful as the charms.  Lots of stuff to reuse in future projects.  Here is the finished necklace.  Definitely CHARMING!  Thank you ladies.

Pin cushion doll

When I was out and about today I stopped by the antique store in town.  Once in a while I find something that I just have to have.  Well today I found this really sweet pin cushion girl.  I don't think anyone ever used her as a pin cushion.  She now has a new home in my studio hanging from the ceiling.  She has silver painted hair which looks original - I thought this was a bit odd.

Luck is with me in 2012

My husband gave me a $50 VISA card he received as a rebate when he purchased a new phone and Michaels just happened to have 40% off plus another 15% off on beads.  I now have some lovely beads for my Art and Old Lace quilt challenge project.  I also spent some of the money on beaded trim at JoAnn fabrics which happens to be next door to Michaels.  $50 gone in 30 minutes.

Oh and I won $20 from a random drawing at Retro Cafe Art http://www.retrocafeart.com/ I already ordered and received my wonderful assortment from Kristin.  Wow, who knew that $20 could get so much cool stuff.  Thank you Retro Cafe!  Every Wednesday on facebook Retro Cafe has a drawing for $20 along with great contests and challenges.

The tiny brass bottle (on white lace) was described as a poison or perfume bottle.  It is so cool.  I prefer to think of it as a poison bottle and will be turning in into a necklace.

SNOW

Our first snow - January 9.  I'm working at home today - this is the view from my window.  It was supposed to rain today - this is much prettier.

Welcome 2012

Happy, Health 2012 to everyone.  I just wanted to share some lovey pictures of my granddaughters from Birmingham, Alabama. 

The delightful volleyball playing Miss Alex

Miss Campbell

Campbell is very artistic - we were completely surprised and delighted to receive a framed painting from her.  I love her choice of colors and the balanced composition.  Reflections of Trees and Moons. Amazing work, we are very proud of you Campbell!

Christmas Eve

A package arrived today from Elizabeth http://elizabethcreates.blogspot.com/  Just look at these amazing COTTON fingerless gloves!  Elizabeth has been making them in wool from old sweaters.  She brought them for show and tell at our Art group Christmas Party.  I asked it she could make them in cotton because I can't wear wool.  She said she didn't see why not.  So she went home and this is the very first pair!  What a surprise.  Just look at the wonderful colors and patterns in the gloves.  I'm going to wear them later today when my friend stops by for tea.

It has been a wonderful December for art.  The ornament exchange that Elizabeth organized (see tree beside me) was a big hit and we are all going to do it again next year.  I will definately need a bigger tree.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my family and art friends!

Gray with a splash of pink

 It was a cold gray day (with scary trees looming).  I saw this little splash of color in the garden and the day seemed to brighten a bit.

Old quilt scrap

I found an old quilt scrap and added scraps of lace, buttons, beads, flowers and some embroidery.  I wish I had a photo of what it looked like originally.   I will incorporate this into a larger piece.  But for now it's done.  I'm taking a class next year on crazy quilting - I can't wait.

Art group Christmas Party

Good snacks, excellent company, interesting conversation and show and tell, we all had Fun, Fun, Fun at the Christmas party.  We had an ornament swap - everyone put their ornament in a brown paper bag then all the bags were put in a basket and you get to select one.  As luck would have it no one selected their own. 

Judy made double sided stars with buttons. She didn't realize that we were doing a one for one swap.  So we all got a lovey star to take home. 

 Barb made angels for everyone.  The angel is holding a book made out of a piece of coke can and has a button for the base and halo.  Barb does a lot of art work with soda cans.  She taught us how to cut, weave and sew tin cans.  I put a piece of string around her neck and hung her on the tree.

Here is the ornament I received from Elizabeth in the swap.  It is made from a small canvas and is double sided.  I really love the collage work and the little bead hanging from the bottom. 

These are all wonderful additions to my little Christmas art tree.  Thank you ladies.

Easy and Fun to make

This fun tree ornament is made of cut up pieces of old sweaters, a spool of thread, beads, a button and a piece of wire.  It was a make and take project at the open house I attended at Artistic Artifacts http://www.artisticartifacts.com/  Two lovely young ladies showed us how to make them.

You start by picking out a button and making a loop to hold it with the wire then start with smaller pieces of sweater thread them on the wire add beads on the wire after a few layers - I added some beads but you can't see them.  Add more circles of sweaters gradually selecting larger circles.  When you have a nice fat tree pick out a spool of thread put the wire through it and the wrap the rest of the wire around the spool and you're done.

Very easy and fun!

More Dolls

I just made these two dolls - I am done making dolls this year.  17 total to give away!
This doll now has blue glass glitter on her wings and I'm thinking about adding beads to her skirt.

This lovely lady in her velvet dress was given to Judy Gula at our art group Christmas party.  Judy has provided our group with a positive, supportive place to share art, take classes and buy all the cool stuff she has in her store.  Thank you Judy.  Visit Judy at Artistic Artifacts http://www.artisticartifacts.com/

The clothing for the dolls was created from dyed scraps of velet from Judy's.  I am in love with dyed velvet.

Art Group Ornament Swap

I have one more doll to give away.  Our art group is having a holiday party and ornament swap tomorrow.  This little lady will be going to a new home.  I made 15 dolls for presents this year.

One of the ladies in the group posted a photo of the doll she received on facebook and someone commented that it has a face only a mother could love.  I think her doll had a blue face.  I thought that was an interesting comment.  Sounds like someone trying to be nice. . . .

My fabulous ART tree

Here is my lovely tree decorated with 13 days of handmade ornaments from our Christmas Swap.  Thank you Elizabeth our hostess and all my new art friends.  Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Day 13 - Pat

On the thirteenth and last day of  ourChristmas swap Pat made for us a pin filled with lavender what a wonderful smell (my favorite) with an old fashioned ice skate decorated with roses, beads and lace.  This is so beautiful and looks just fabulous on my art tree.

Thank you Pat.  You can meet Pat here:  http://www.gatherings100.blogspot.com/

Our swap is over for the 13 days of Christmas.  I have the most amazing art tree.  Thank you all once again for the lovely gifts.

Linda