Mixed Media Workshop

I have been dabbling with different types of creative expression over the past year. I love the idea of Mixed Media--I love that it incorporates many types of materials and I can mix old, found items with newer pieces that I find interesting.

This weekend I had the most amazing experience--I was able to attend a Mixed Media Collage workshop taught by Wayne Brezinka. I learned so much and met so many great people. There is just something so invigorating being around  other creative people, listening to them talk about their art and seeing the creative process at work.

Here is my finished piece:

 (I used acrylic paints, picture turns, twine, string, and various papers that I had laying around)

Wayne was just amazing. He is also a great teacher. If you ever have the opportunity to take one of his workshops, do it!

Scarves

 I go back and forth with what I like to create with and right now I am doing a lot of crocheting. These are a couple of scarves that I have made recently and given as gifts. 

I love the way the yarn feels as it goes through my fingers.

I love how one piece of yarn starts out as one single long thread, but by weaving and twisting it in and around itself, can become something useful and beautiful.

Birthday Gift for a Friend

I have several friends that are avid canners and we pretty much all love anything mason jar inspired. One of my friends has a birthday coming up so I thought I would make her some note cards. For the one set, I used a coordinating papers on a background of kraft paper and each one has a mason jar on it. A couple of them are holding flowers, one fireflies, one buttons and a couple are empty. Us canners love empty jars too! We always have something in mind that can go in a jar.

I also made her a couple of canning journals. I have a couple of these myself, one I use to keep track of what I have canned and the amount that I canned, along with the date each project was canned. I didn't label hers though because I am not sure of the system she uses. This way, she can use them for whatever purpose she desires. 

Papers are DCWV, the stamps used to make the note cards are from Recollections, the larger mason jar on the composition book is from EK Success.

Crocheting

Wow it has been forever since I posted on here. I am still creating and making things though, I have just had a very busy year. My Mom was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and has started chemo. I decided that I wanted to make her a lap blanket to take with her. I started out with the concept of a prayer shawl, but knew she would prefer a blanket, Many prayers were said for her, my Dad, and for her nurses and doctors during the making of this blanket. I wanted a physical reminder that she was covered in prayers. Mom really wanted something a little longer than a lap blanket, so I made it long enough that she could completely cover herself with it. 

I haven't been crocheting for very long and this was by far the biggest thing I have made. I have only done a couple of small baby blankets before this. I am having  fun with it though and have already started another project!

Take Note

Good Morning. I have been on a roll making note pads and journals lately. I made several of these size last year (a jr. legal pad cut in half length-wise) for Christmas gifts and got requests for them again this year. I love this size because they are great to use up scraps of paper that are often too small for a card. I also think they are very functional and slide into a purse, Bible cover or whatever so you always have paper handy. I like a very thick card stock for the cover and here I used paper from Papertrey Ink. The bowl of cherries is from a Unity set and was colored with Copics. "Take Note" is from a Papertrey set.

Have a great day!

I am back...with a canning journal

Hello! I know it has been a while since I have been here. Sorry about that. I kind of put myself on a "technology break". It had gotten to a point that I was spending a huge amount of time every day sitting  in front of my computer or the TV and I always had my phone or my iPad in my hand. So other than using Facebook to keep up with my Dad and using the computer to access some recipes, I have been ignoring my computer. I have been able to get my life back in check and have gotten back into a better schedule as far as my technology goes. Originally it was going to be for the month of December, but it stretched out a little longer than I meant for it too.

I have been crafting though. I made a bunch of things for Christmas gifts and actually got every thing done that I had planned to do. If you have been reading my blog over the past year you know that I revived an old hobby and I have been canning a lot. I am still doing that and learning more and more. I decided I needed a way of keeping up with all that I have done. I altered a composition book with some papers and embellishments from the October Afternoon line Farm Girl and letters from Jenni Bowlin. I loved all of these papers too. And can you believe it, a project with no coloring! My canning journal will allow me to have a record of what I have canned and when, where I found the recipe, how much of it I canned and when we finished each batch. I thought by adding when we finished the batch it would help me in the coming years to know how much I need to can and how much we are actually eating. Kip thinks we will never get through all the jars, but I told him he would be surprised that we will run out of most things before they are in season again. I am also decorating a binder to store canning recipes that I have found online using the same papers and embellishments.

I will be around to visit your blogs soon!

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So while I have been missing, we celebrated Kip's birthday, our anniversary and Christmas. I will try and post some of the things that I made for all of those events.

Girl in Chair

FrankenRiley

Reach for the Stars

Good Morning! I hope everyone here in the US has a great Thanksgiving. We certainly did! In addition to Thanksgiving we also celebrated Kip's birthday. Some of his family from Texas flew in to Nashville in time for his birthday dinner and then stayed for the holiday. I have been off of work since Wednesday and man, was it hard to get up and get going this morning!

My card today is one that I have made for Card Cupids. I am getting a box ready to go out tomorrow and this is one of the "happy mail" cards I will be sending. They are also asking for "Winter Wishes" cards and I am trying to get several of those done as well. HERE is the list of current card requests.

Have a great day!!

Smile

Good Morning! I can't believe the middle of November is here already. This time of year just seems to fly by for me, so many birthdays, the holidays and our anniversary all happen in the later part of the year. The 15th also brings a new Card Cupids Challenge. Our sponsor for this challenge is Just Some Lines. This was a new company to me, and I enjoyed looking around at all of their images. My card uses an image called Birdday. I like that this image is versatile enough to use for lots of card occasions. I colored the image with Copics, used paper from DCWV and some ribbon from my stash.

Have a great day!