Another ATC for New York

I have finished another ATC for the New York swap i talked about earlier. The theme is domestic things and such... it doesn't get much more domestic than strings. I like the multiple meanings and symbols behind the idea of 'mom's apron strings', with both good and bad connotations.

It didn't scan great because of the bump where the knot and ties are, but it is good enough to see what it is :).

This one was fun to make. I used both hand stitching and machine stitching on fabric.

Two down, seven more to go to be ready for the exhibition in New York.

Life Changes

I know i haven't been posting much lately. I have been sort of thinking about things and doing my best to stay as busy as possible. Last week, i ended my relationship with Ray, after having been together for 9 years. This had been coming for some time and wasn't a shock or anything, but still is a little unsettling and sad. However, i am doing surprisingly okay.

I just got back from a visit with my grandparents. My grandmother gave me some lovely art supplies that i am very excited to give a go. Most exciting is a lovely set of gouache paints. I remember there once being a challenge on Jen Worden's blog that used gouache that looked great but i didn't have any.,... maybe now is the time lol.

I have finished off a couple more atcs that i need to post. I will get to doing that soon :)

Back to ATCs

So, I received an e-mail saying that a gallery in Vancouver is holding an ATC exhibition, and they are calling for submissions. Although i will not be able to attend, it still seems pretty neat. I love trading in new ways. I will be sending 9 ATCs to the Richmond art gallery by August 22nd. They are asking for the submissions to be along the themes of things like domestic life and such. You can find more info about it here.

So, i've been creating more atc's lately. There is a swap on saturday in a nearby town that i'll be going to... this should be fun. I have to buckle down and create some cards for trading before saturday. I really like how Secret Glen turned out.

Here's two i've finished. The first is for the exhibition, and the second is for the swap on sunday.




























I have finished the second jewelry project from Stephanie Lee's book Semi-Precious Salvage. I'll be posting it tomorrow, or soon. Time to move on to the third :). However, i think my ATC making may take precedence over it for this week.

Tash's birthday present

Yesterday, I finally finished my other friend's birthday present. My friend tasha, the seamstress discussed in a previous post, is having her birthday get together tonight, although her actual birthday was about a month ago. So, essentially this gift is about a month late... but so is her party so that's ok hahaha.

Tasha really likes unicorns, and i have had a facination for some time with the beautiful tin art shrines that i have been seeing on flickr. I especially like the ones i saw on Teresa's flickr here. I figured it was time for me to try making one myself.

So, i started with this super cute tin that my mom gave me. It had a lid, and i started using the lid, but it just scratched up the paint to put it on later so i tossed the lid. I painted the tin up, and while the effect of the tin showing through was cool on the inside i wanted thicker paint on the outside so i guessoed it (haha new word) and then re-painted the outside a delicious purple.

I went to the dollar store, and bought a cheap unicorn. I cut the head and front hooves off, and glued them inside the tin. My boyfriend is working at a heavy equipment construction company. As i was there for a picnic, i noticed this sparkly, shaved thin metal strips beside the dumpster..... and totally took them lol. (my boyfriend and his co-workers thought i was crazy and that i'd never use it... well who's laughing now? lol). I broke the metal into pieces and glued it around the head and hooves, as the colour was just too perfect. Found a cute pair of earings with skulls (haha) on them, and added them in on the little shelf inside. Voila, a couple final touches with flowers, painted horn and jewels and the inside was done.

I drilled holes in the top and bottom. I threaded wire through the top and bottom, and added a chain with a large soldered charm nameplate for the horse.

I really hope tasha likes her present! The shrine is in the green package :).

Judy's fabulous tutorial

I stumbled across a fabulous felting tutorial for an absolutely stunning project on Judy Scott-Kinross' blog. I absolutely adore the project she made and she has a wonderful tutorial laying it all out. Fabulous! Go check it out!

As for myself, i now have all the supplies i need for the next jewelry project, except nickel. Where on earth do you get nickel?????? Could i use copper instead, or are there certain special properties nickel has for etching and jewelry making?

New Challenge... for myself :)

It's here! It's here! I just got a call a couple days ago from my local bookstore, saying that my copy i'd ordered in of Semi-Precious Salvage, by Stephanie Lee had arrived. As soon as i picked it up and flipped through, i knew it was the next step for me. I already fell in love with Stephanie's sense of style and beautiful art jewelry on her blog... now it was time to start following some of her projects. I immediately flipped to the first project and checked it out... gorgeous as expected. I scanned through the list of things i would need to create this, and saw that all i was missing was 24 gauge wire, a brayer (which i ended up not buying.... just couldn't find one i really liked! I need to find a brayer at some store that i can bond with...haha) and metal files... that is very reasonable for price! Everything else, i already had. I love it when things work out that way... :)








So here are the pictures of the first piece i created from this book. I deviated slightly from the instructions... prefering the hammered copper look over a stamp of white acrylic paint and only able (and prefering?) the gold wire over black. I skimped on the pearls and used these gorgeously smooth green beads i had instead. As well, instead of making this a brooch (in which i'd probably never wear it) i made this into a necklace pendant instead. Other than that i stuck pretty much to the instructions. Jewelry creation is rather new to me, but i am so very pleased on how this turned out.


I am creating a new potential challenge for myself... i want to try working my way through the projects in this book. This is very similar to Jen's challenge of last month, but i am not happy with teh book i picked... it was way too many techniques and lacked specific projects to work on. My other book is still a valuable book to have about photo altering techniques, and i did create two projects (i loved the lilac one, and the keyboard one turned out okay), but it is not quite the 'start from the start and work to the end' type of book. I am giving myself a personal challenge to work on this one.

I am also working on another birthday present. I have a friend who adores unicorns, and i'm making her an art shrine. I had the perfect little matchbox, and found an adorable plastic unicorn at the dollar store. I'll post you some pictures when it's done.

Flickr Mosaic Meme

1. Dale Chihuly in Iceland, 2. Tarako spaghetti lunch, 3. Angkor Thom #1, 4. Autumn walk, 5. Juno, 6. El pez en el espejo / The fish in the mirror, 7. Boat, 8. vintage tea set with cupcake, 9. Young At Heart, 10. Always Marry An April Girl, 11. Last day in Paris, 12. A WINTER'S DALE


I decided to participate in a Flickr meme that looked like a lot of fun. I find myself enjoying flickr more and more lately... it really is a great social photo sharing site. Here's the challenge, as i saw over at Leah's blog. The instructions here were copied from her blog.

Anyways, here's the idea behind the meme:

* Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
* Using only the first page, choose an image.
* Copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker over at FD's image maker.

The questions:
What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
Favorite drink?
Dream vacation?
Favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
One word to describe you.
Your Flickr name