Switching Gears

Lately, I haven’t had much time for creative play…

And when I do, I seem to have difficulty switching gears in my brain from work to art!

I really liked this quote from Audrey Hepburn; when life feels overwhelming or impossible, I need to switch gears in my thinking…

How about you, how do you get past the impossible to the I’m possible?

Cheers!  🙂

Every New Beginning…

I had a busy weekend… still fridge shopping.  I think we have it narrowed down to the one we want!  Hoorah! 😉

We made a slight detour to a furniture store on Saturday and I got the bargain of the century!  Score! 🙂 I think everyone likes a good bargain, I know I do!

I got this table that is counter height, includes 4 chairs for $230.00 – all because it had a slight dent in one corner.

I am very excited because the middle of the table has a lazy susan that spins.  It will be the perfect table for my art space!  And it has storage in the middle section of its base, which you really can’t see in this photo.

I have been looking for a table that is counter height and was thrilled to find one. 🙂

I am in the process of selling my “formal” living furniture and changing it into a creative art space.  More on that later…

I thought this quote was fitting, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Seneca

Do you have a creative space where you create?  I’d love to hear more about it!

Cheers! 🙂

A Little Silly Fun…

I needed a gift for a “white elephant gift exchange.”  I’m not quite sure where this terminology came from as it has nothing to do with elephants! 😉

To me, it means to re-gift something I received and don’t need or perhaps, give something “creative.”

I decided on a little silly fun this year and created this one-of-a-kind gift!

A “Caroler” in a former life that I purchased at a thrift store years ago, I made him into a quirky guy that loves the lake!

It was super fun to create a poem to go with him… I will get to that later in this post.

This silly guy actually moves – his head slowly turns in circles and his right arm moves up and down when he is plugged in to an outlet.  A little weird, I must say!

I started by giving him an old cup for a hat and taped a bird on top.  The bird house came next.  On the back, I added this “key” message (from a candy wrapper):

He needed a beach towel, so I cut-up an old wash cloth and sewed the outside edges. I used a paper napkin to represent “happy hour” where friends gather to share an appetizer and a drink as you can see in my first photo.

Below, I created a fishing pole from an old paint brush and beads – including a bead for a fish:

He needed a little summer outfit so I sewed some fabric to give him some pizzazz and cover up that ugly green outfit he was wearing – who says men can’t wear skirts!! Hahaha!

I finished him, by adding a Christmas ornament of a chair, a rubber stamp image of an image in the woods and writing a message on the base:

Below is one of the stanzas I wrote for my poem to the song, “Over The River And Through The Woods.”

 

Over the river and through the woods

We look forward to each year…

The memories we make

At this beautiful lake

Are the treasures we hold dear.

I look forward to seeing who receives my creative surprise… I encourage you to “think outside the box” when you give a gift!

Cheers! 🙂

Oh, Carp!

If you read my post from yesterday, I shared that today I would show you a piece of art that was a mistake or maybe what I should call an “unsuccessful experiment!”

I can’t really remember my reasoning for creating this acrylic painting on pastel paper… but it didn’t turn out that great… I think we all have these unsuccessful art pieces!  Am I correct?! 😉

Yesterday, I made it into a fish… An “uncommon” Carp:

I’m liking it much better now!

I encourage you to keep your “mistakes” and turn them into “possibilities” at a later date!

Cheers! 🙂

 

What?!

I had a little leftover glass bead gel from a recent art experiment… so instead of wasting it, I added fluid acrylics in Turquoise and spread it on a scrap piece of hot press watercolor paper.  I decided to add watercolor to it yesterday:

What would YOU do to complete it?

I’d love to hear your ideas!!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S.  I’m thinking of making this a weekly feature on my blog… would you like to hear other creative ideas on how to complete a piece of art?!  🙂

It’s A New Day

Remember the art tote bag that I showed you last week?  Well, I figured out how to patch the holes!  I also added color to the bag!  (You all know how much I like color!)

Isn’t it totally wild?!  🙂  I printed it with Golden Fluid acrylic paints on my Gelli plate yesterday.  I covered the holes with circles I cut from deli-printed gelli prints:

I used a stencil to cut out the colored circles and ironed on a fusible web stabilizer to the papers.  I then sewed the papers over the holes on the bag.  It was a bit tricky to sew so my lines aren’t too straight.  I may finish the edges with hand stitching – I haven’t decided yet.

On the other side of my bag, I sewed 3 colored circles:

I like the colors on this side best!  I used stencils and Spirograph circles to make my patterns with my gelli plate.

I think my art tote bag looks so much better now.   I’d love to know what you think!

Happy Creating!  🙂

It’s In The Bag or Um, Envelope?

Sometimes it is fun to repurpose items I have around the house rather then purchase something new!

And I found making these items just might help me be better organized!  Are you curious?

You see, one of the things about collage is that I keep every little piece of paper!  And sometimes, the pile grows so that it takes on a life of its own…

The creative envelope to the rescue!  YAY!

I made the above one from a recycled gold padded envelope.

And the one below, I made from a piece of junk mail that I folded in half –

And then glued some of those little pieces of collage paper that were floating around to one side.

I used a little bird I created from a leaf print for the other side:

Punched holes in the sides of the cardstock and then sewed the edges closed with embroidery thread.  The perfect place to keep my bird feathers!

When hubby came home with a Starbucks bag, I cut it in two:

And made envelopes out of each section – here is the top half:

I used patterned tape to seal the bottom.

And decorated both sides of the bag….  a perfect place to keep my postage stamps!

I hope I inspired you to repurpose an item you have around your home as a storage container!  I’d love to hear what you did!

Happy Creating!  🙂