Christmas ATCs

Finally catching up with all the holiday blog posts.  I tend to get all my latest art news on Facebook these days.  I made a card that says, "Happy Everything" and some Christmas tree ATCs.  The trees are made of buttons with glitter - so very festive.

JAMs Holiday Party

Each year my art group has a fabulous holiday party where we swap hand made goodies.  We even decorated the bags this year.  Good food, friends and lots of lovely art!  Here is what I made this year.

A LOVELY Basket

The closing of the Mixed Media Metallics Challenge show and auction at Artistic Artifacts http://www.artisticartifacts.com/ was so much fun.  More information can be found here http://www.artisticartifacts.com/metallics/index.htm

More than $1,800, and more than 60 lbs. of collected non-perishable food, are going to benefit Food for Others, a local nonprofit!

 I did leave a bit too early though.  The curator Daine Herbort mentioned that one of my pieces Walkies pictured above needed get a shout out for use of a variety of metals.  Then my name was pulled out of the hat for a gift basket.  What fun!  I totally love free cool art supplies.  Thank you Artistic Artifacts for the lovely basket with scissors, misty fuse and tons of angelica fiber.  I can't wait to experiment with the angelica fibers - the little bundles look like Easter eggs!

JAMS December 2012

The December JAMS meeting was a combined meeting with the quilt group gals and mixed media gals.  It's always fun to see what the quilters are up to.  We had tons of snacks and had an ornament exchange.  A good time was had by all.

Here is the basket of ornaments in plain brown bags:



Here is the ornament I made - a slight variation on the ones I made for the 12 Days of Christmas swap.  I added some bling and beads to this one.



Here is the lovely ornament I received in the swap, the middle part spins around:



I also swapped one of my mixed media angels for this lovely lady made by Laura Hummel. 




And here are some picture of the meeting.  Lots of show and tell.

These trees are made from old bits and pieces of jewelry.  Everyone just loved them.  What a great way to use up all those bits and pieces you may have.  They also have strings of electric lights incorporated in them.



The best shoes ever!  They zip up the inside.




Now for the projects from the quilters in the house:

JAMS September meeting

This month we learned how to make silk paper.  A throw away tin brownie/cake pan, foam brush, netting and a $5.00 supply fee - now that was an easy supply list.  Judy Gula provided the silk, silk roving and bits to add to the paper.  Our teacher Carol Hamilton had lots of tips and samples and made the class fun!  We all loved our silk paper and couldn't wait for it to dry.

You start off with a piece of netting on the bottom of the pan, then place a very thin piece of silk on top, then start layering what ever you like, very thin layers.  When you are done, you put netting on top and dab on fabric medium and water mix until well saturated.  When it's almost dry you can peel off the netting and shape your paper if you like. 

Here are some pictures of my paper, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  Everyone's paper looked like the start of an under the sea scene to me.

Silk, bits of fabric, lace, sequins, and threads under the netting with fabric medium and water.

Here is a close up after it's dry and the netting is removed.  The colors are amazing!  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  I love the one of a kind cannot be duplicated even if you tried all day look of this paper.

I found a piece of blue sparkle thread and put it on last.  I should have put some thin layers of roving on top of the thread to hold it down.  I'm planning on using some thread and beads to secure the thread to the paper.

Judy had a table of linens for us to go through which were 1/2 price.  This is my idea of heaven.



Here are my treasures.  I'm starting to think about the Christmas exchange ornaments I will be making this year and found a few items that I may use.

August 2012 JAMs meeting

We all had a great time at the August Judy's Altered Minds meeting at Artistic Artifacts http://www.artisticartifacts.com/  It's nice to catch up with everyone and meet new people who love making art.

This month Judith showed us how to use permanent markers (sharpies) and rubbing alcohol to create dyed fabric.  We also got to meet beautiful Daphne (8 months old now) for the first time and see all the fabulous art work mom Andrea has made for her including a quilt.



Using small pieces of fabric (I had some cotton napkins that I torn into quarters) and sharpie markers I started coloring stripes.  Once the fabric was all colored in I put a piece of the napkin below the colored fabric and poured a bit of rubbing alcohol on it which blurred the colors.  Make sure to work on a piece of freezer paper shiny side up.  The dye from the colored fabric transferred to the fabric below.  Then take another piece of fabric and place it on top.  This gives you 3 separate pieces of dyed fabric.  I must say that with 30 or so people using sharpies and rubbing alcohol it did get a bit stinky.  This is a nice fall project to do outside. 

I only did one sample - it did get too stinky for me.  I am going to experiment with lace and different kinds of fabric. Judith passed around some silky material and I used it to mop up the color and alcohol left on the freezer paper.  You can also scrunch up your fabric, place it in a plastic baggie and pour alcohol in the baggie, a bit less messy and stinky.

Be sure to let the fabric air dry then iron it to set the dye. I can't wait to experiment with this some more.  If you make something from one of your samples, please bring it to the next class to share!

Judith showing samples





The lovely art quilts in the background are part of the Arts and Old Lace challenge qults.



My fabric with rubbing alcohol poured on it



Fabric below, original fabric on top, and fabric used to mop up on top



Silky fabric used to mop up what was left on the freezer paper

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.

Judy's Altered Minds - April 2011

Our monthly meeting of Judy's Altered Minds art group was today.  Judy is at the beach for some R&R.  Elizabeth opened the store so we could have our meeting.  A small but lively group brought all their projects to share.  We really enjoy seeing each other, all the different kinds of work and sharing ideas.  One of the projects Elizabeth brought was her tattered roses she made into hair barrettes.  I immediately fell in love with one.  It's wonderful, special fabrics, lace, beads what more could you ask for?

Next month Elizabeth http://elizabethcreates.blogspot.com/ is going to teach us how to make the roses!!!!!!

Learning a new skill

At the March 2011 meeting of Judy's Altered Minds - a mixed media group that meets monthly in Alexandria, Virginia we learned how to crochet beads on wire to make necklaces.  After three frustrating hours of learning how to hold a crochet hook and crochet with wire and beads I finally got it.  Everyone said it was because I was left handed and I was learning right handed.  I'm proud to say with the most patient teacher in the world that wouldn't give up on me and a very nice lady sitting next to me I now have a new skill!  I think eveyone I know needs a beaded necklace.  I can't wait to bring them to the next meeting for show and tell.