Last Tuesday my blog hit a milestone with the 10,000th visitor since I started the blog at the end of August this year. Even though a couple of artists got in touch with me, thinking perhaps they had won the "Christmas Surprise" package I had planned for the 10,000th visitor, it turns out that the 10,000th visitor will remain a "mystery".
My "Holiday Surprise" goodie package still wants to brighten someone's day when they receive it in the mail, so here's what we are gonna do...
Leave a treasured holiday memory in the Comments section to this post! You have some time to think about it. This "holiday memory" contest will close on Saturday, December 6 (St. Nicholas Day). The names of those who have left a favourite memory will be put in a santa hat and the winner's name will be drawn. All you'll need to do is to check back starting Dec. 7 to see if you have won and get in touch with me. If I haven't heard from the winner within three days, another name will be drawn. So please remember to check back.
Here are some of my favourite memories to help get you into the spirit ...
It can be a Christmas memory from your childhood, perhaps a toy you received that you just loved. I still remember the doll I received when I was five. Oh, I just loved that doll to bits. We went on many adventures together over the course of a couple of years. It was a sad day when she finally fell apart from so much lovin' and had to go to doll heaven.
It can be a holiday memory from your teenage years. I met my first, really serious boyfriend at a New Year's Eve dance. It was THE enchanted evening that many a teenage female with raging hormones dreams about (na, you're not going to get the details LOL). You know, the day when Prince Charming finally arrives to sweep her off her feet! He did too... for about two years....wonder where he is now?
Perhaps it is a humourous memory of a family Holiday dinner... like the time my Dad asked my little brother to say grace before we "attacked" the turkey.
Bobby (as he was known then) said "Grace"!
That was it.
We waited and waited... nothing. "Aren't you going to say grace?, said Dad. "Gosh Daddy you said to say Grace so I did. Can I have some peas please!"
We all burst out in great gales of laughter. The look on his face told us he didn't have a clue as to why we were laughing so hard. Mom passed him the peas!
Wishing for snow on Christmas Eve and my wish came true! It was magic walking home from the skating rink that crisp, December evening... with my tongue stuck out to catch the snowflakes!
Seeing the Christmas lights in Paris for the first time... The Christmas market in Germany with it's wonderful smells and delicious goodies all waiting to be sampled... Baking Christmas cookies with my (at the time) two year old son.....there was more flour on us than in the cookies!
Enjoy your trip down memory lane!
Sharon
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
37+ Ideas for Recycling Reader's Digest Condensed Books
Last week, the "librarian" in our community complex got in touch with me to tell me that they had a number of old Reader's Digest Condensed Books and other hardbacks they were culling from the library in our community building.
Knowing that I am always on the lookout for books, she asked if I would be interested in them. She estimated that there were around 50 of them! All I had to do was take them away. "WOW", I thought, "What a find. Can't turn this offer down."
Later on that day, I went down to the community building to see just what kind of condition they were in. Even though some of them were 40 years plus old, most were all in pretty good condition. They had been taken care of by their owners over the years before they were donated.
I estimated that there were about 70 or 80 of them! But where would I put them all? And, what would hubby say when I came home with yet even more books? My first thought was to share them with other artists in my art groups. Then I remembered Canada Post's mail charges. They charge an arm and a leg to mail stuff and it just wouldn't be feasible. Scratch that idea!
I have to admit, my second thought was to hide them somewhere! LOL A secret stash! I figured that hubby might have a fit if he came in the door and saw a gazillion books lying around. But hubby and I don't keep secrets from each other (it's just another reason why we have such a successful marriage) so I made the decision to talk to him about it when he came home that evening. I figured out where I could put them... on a long shelf that leads down to our family room and my art "playroom".
Surprise, surprise. He agreed with me that they were a find, as long as I could come up with something I could do with them and actually use them (not just having them sit there doing nothing for the next ten years).
I told him about putting the "call" out to the art groups I belong to for ideas... Altered Books, Art Techniques, Art EZine Cafe and the Latest Trends and showed him the list of ideas I had compiled from the input of my fellow artists. "Okay", he said, "I'll help you bring them home."
When we started loading them into the trunk of our car, I realized that I had grossly underestimated just how many there actually were. In the end, we brought home 120 of them!
I couldn't get them all into one photo for you. It's pretty impressive when you actually see it. But to give you an idea of just how much book shelf space they took up.... that shelf is 10 feet wide and when we ran out of room we had to start double stacking them! Here's a photo of just some of them:
First, I know that there are some people who get very upset at the thought of altering books. Some books lovers think it is a sin! If you can't bear the thought of dissecting a book for its parts, then this blog post is not for you. If you have some books and would like to clear out some of your collection, I'd suggest giving them to a local nursing home or perhaps a "traveling" hospital library.
However, be that as it may, I can tell you that RDCB's are not suitable for altering as in "altered books". The spines are week, the paper is poor and not the best quality for altering. They just will not stand up to rigor of some art techniques when transforming them from a book that no one seems to want into something wonderful filled with gorgeous art.
Most public libraries do not keep Reader's Digest Condensed Books on their shelves. Many libraries will not even accept them as a donation. However those that do will often give them away "gratis" to patrons who want them.
A quick search of e-Bay revealed that although there are many of them listed for sale from anywhere from $1.00 to $5.00 a book, there is a distinct lack of any bidding going on. Charity thrift stores in our area sell them in the same price range as E-bay and have racks of them that have been there for years.
Although they may look "good" on a shelf because of their colourful covers, both my book loving hubby and I agree... they may have some good stories in them, but they are not well made "quality" books.
We both believe they were originally made for the "masses" to encourage people to read and purchase the books at a price much lower than the original hardbacks of the featured stories in each edition. However, once read, they languish on book shelves for years and finally like many worn out paperbacks, they land on a garage sale table, get sent to the landfill or (hopefully) to a paper recycling plant.
I like to think that re-purposing these RDCB books is making lemonade out of lemons. We book artists "salvage" what we can that is still usable, infusing new life into the elements and present them, once again for people's enjoyment, in a different form.
There are many things you can do to recycle these "unwanted" hardback books into your art. Here are some "re-purposing" ideas the very talented artists in my art groups and I came up with...
1. Gut the book. Use the paper to make paper beads, as scrap paper to try out new art techniques or as scrap paper at your art table for cleaning your paint brushes (and making serendipity papers).
2. Cut the paper up to use as "text" backgrounds in collage for cards, collage or use as wrapping paper for small gifts.
3. Sew or tape the paper together to get big sheets. You can use the sheets on your art table as a cover up when painting, for a barbeque tablecloth or wrapping bigger gifts.
4. Salvage the illustrations in the book for future use in your artwork.
5. Cut out the book titles. They used some interesting fonts when typesetting the books.
6. Some of the earlier books have wonderful, coloured end papers made from quality paper. Salvage them!
7. Save the bookplates from the front of earlier editions of RD books to use in your art. Recycle them into "modern" bookplates with the addition of some art work. Check on the web to find out whether or not these bookplates are collectibles. Many bookplates are. If they are, I'd love to hear from you. I've been too busy writing this article to check this out myself!
8. Many of the later editions have colourful covers. Photograph them and use them to create background papers in a graphic program.
9. The "bookboard" on the covers is very strong and the colourful backgrounds on some RDCB's make great backdrops for collage.
10.On some of the older, padded covers from the 60's, the "chipboard" beneath the outer cover has a thin layer of foam glued to it. Although you can't take the foam off, you could re-use the padded chipboard for "mini quilt" creations or anything that you want a padded surface for.
11. Some of the RDBC books came encased in an outer cardboard case. You can leave these outer cases as is and alter them, give them a nice new look with a coat of paint, use the light cardboard and the coloured end papers for diecuts, embossing with a cuttlebug, etc.
12. Use the block of paper in the book to make a book sculpture. Check out this photo show from artist Terri Noell , one of the very talented artists in my group, for inspiration.
13. Remember those angels, snowmen and Santa Claus' from the 70's and 80's made with the RD magazine? Well they are back! Do a search on the Internet for how to directions.
14. Stack the books up, drill a hole through the center of the book piles, insert a hollow metal rod and make a "book" lamp. You can also glue the books together in a random fashion before drilling for a more interesting arrangement.
15. Stack the books, drill a hole for a dowel through the center and use for table legs. You can paint them or leave them as is.
16. Use the covers as a canvas for collage and art plaques to hang on the wall.
17. Cut a hole in the center of the book cover and use to frame a photograph or art piece.
18. Glue the pages of the book together. Hollow out to make a book "case" for your treasures, a sewing box, a jewelry case, a love letters box, a "book safe" for hiding keys, important stuff you want to keep from prying eyes!
19. Glue the pages together and make a "book shrine".
20. Glue the cover and the book pages together. Cut an opening in the book cover and cut a niche in the book pages (just like in tip 18) for a shallower "display" area.
21. Make a book display. Open the book up in the middle. Letting the book pages fall naturally, glue the pages together on the right side, repeat on the left side so that you have an open book. When dry, decorate the book. When you are finished you can lay a copy of a favourite poem on the open book. Makes a nice display for a wedding invitation, Golden anniversary memento, special photograph, etc...
22. Cut out same sized figures from the book pages and use them in an altered book for pop ups, families, etc.
23. Cut out the titles of books and mix together for a collage of letters.
24. Found some vegetable illustrations in your RDCB book? Cut them out and make a pop up garden.
25. Turn your RDCD book into a purse. This particular article is geared towards a steampunk costume accessory, but it could be used in lots of ways.
26. Heather, who works in a library with children and young folks, sent along the instructions for a handmade journal she made in a workshop with the younger, budding artists set
"... we ripped out the guts and then added in blank pages to fill it- voila handmade journals with 'professional' covers. One girl went home, printed off a whack of daytimer pages and made another (journal) to use as her school agenda. To bind the pages together. we used regular paper (misprints, scrap sheets ) cut in half, clamped the pages to keep the edges even and glued away, applying a muslin strip to the wet glue for added strength and hold, created endpapers and used those to add the new guts. As these were to be notebooks for random notes/jottings, the partially used/printed sheets didn't cause any problems. Finally the covers were embellished/personalised. These random papers/covers books make great glueboooks. of course these can be done with any hardcover, not just RDCB's"
27. Use the books in assemblages.
28. Pile them up, put a board on top and use it as a shelf.
29. Use the gutted book cover (with the spine still attached) as a birdhouse roof in an assemblage.
30. Use a cover to make a very large postcard. Wouldn't that make a great mail art postcard?
31. Make "book board" out of the paper. Just glue and layer a number of pages together!
32. Use as a tablet for gluing smaller items. When you are done, just rip out the used page. You can also use old phone books if you don't have a RDCD.
33. Make a stationery holder with a cover. Make the cover pretty, add a pocket to the front and back for paper and envelopes.
34. Some of the later books have dust covers printed on good quality glossy paper. The dust jackets feature the covers of the original books that appear in the condensed book and use some interesting fonts. They could be "salvaged" to use in your artwork.
35. Look at these marvelous book vases created by Laura Cahill. What a great idea!
36. Jim Rossenau makes the coolest bookcases and book shelves you have ever seen. I've been a fan of his since I first saw his website a year or so ago. Visit his site, This into That to take a look at his funky creations.
37. Read this article about Book Lovers at MIT who make furniture out of books!
There are a wealth of sites that you can visit on the web. When you have a few minutes, go on a search to discover some of them!
So there you have it... 37 plus ways for you and I to use those unwanted books!
Stay tuned... I am already working on my first paper sculpture! Terri inspired me to take a crack at it!
Thanks again to all the artists who sent me emails privately or posted their ideas and suggestions to our group.... Pam x 2, Heather, Gale, Elizabeth, Terri, Lisa, Maxine, Bonnie, Alicia, Mary, Lee, Cathy, Ellen, Theresa, Kathy, and Cindy. I hope I haven't missed anyone! If I have just know that your contribution was much appreciated!
Have a great week... A Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. Wishing you great bargains on "Black Friday"!
Hopefully I will get to posting on Friday but can't promise. It's a very busy week this week... heating up for the Christmas party season already... have three invitations this week, two of them before Friday!
Sharon
Knowing that I am always on the lookout for books, she asked if I would be interested in them. She estimated that there were around 50 of them! All I had to do was take them away. "WOW", I thought, "What a find. Can't turn this offer down."
Later on that day, I went down to the community building to see just what kind of condition they were in. Even though some of them were 40 years plus old, most were all in pretty good condition. They had been taken care of by their owners over the years before they were donated.
I estimated that there were about 70 or 80 of them! But where would I put them all? And, what would hubby say when I came home with yet even more books? My first thought was to share them with other artists in my art groups. Then I remembered Canada Post's mail charges. They charge an arm and a leg to mail stuff and it just wouldn't be feasible. Scratch that idea!
I have to admit, my second thought was to hide them somewhere! LOL A secret stash! I figured that hubby might have a fit if he came in the door and saw a gazillion books lying around. But hubby and I don't keep secrets from each other (it's just another reason why we have such a successful marriage) so I made the decision to talk to him about it when he came home that evening. I figured out where I could put them... on a long shelf that leads down to our family room and my art "playroom".
Surprise, surprise. He agreed with me that they were a find, as long as I could come up with something I could do with them and actually use them (not just having them sit there doing nothing for the next ten years).
I told him about putting the "call" out to the art groups I belong to for ideas... Altered Books, Art Techniques, Art EZine Cafe and the Latest Trends and showed him the list of ideas I had compiled from the input of my fellow artists. "Okay", he said, "I'll help you bring them home."
When we started loading them into the trunk of our car, I realized that I had grossly underestimated just how many there actually were. In the end, we brought home 120 of them!
I couldn't get them all into one photo for you. It's pretty impressive when you actually see it. But to give you an idea of just how much book shelf space they took up.... that shelf is 10 feet wide and when we ran out of room we had to start double stacking them! Here's a photo of just some of them:
First, I know that there are some people who get very upset at the thought of altering books. Some books lovers think it is a sin! If you can't bear the thought of dissecting a book for its parts, then this blog post is not for you. If you have some books and would like to clear out some of your collection, I'd suggest giving them to a local nursing home or perhaps a "traveling" hospital library.
However, be that as it may, I can tell you that RDCB's are not suitable for altering as in "altered books". The spines are week, the paper is poor and not the best quality for altering. They just will not stand up to rigor of some art techniques when transforming them from a book that no one seems to want into something wonderful filled with gorgeous art.
Most public libraries do not keep Reader's Digest Condensed Books on their shelves. Many libraries will not even accept them as a donation. However those that do will often give them away "gratis" to patrons who want them.
A quick search of e-Bay revealed that although there are many of them listed for sale from anywhere from $1.00 to $5.00 a book, there is a distinct lack of any bidding going on. Charity thrift stores in our area sell them in the same price range as E-bay and have racks of them that have been there for years.
Although they may look "good" on a shelf because of their colourful covers, both my book loving hubby and I agree... they may have some good stories in them, but they are not well made "quality" books.
We both believe they were originally made for the "masses" to encourage people to read and purchase the books at a price much lower than the original hardbacks of the featured stories in each edition. However, once read, they languish on book shelves for years and finally like many worn out paperbacks, they land on a garage sale table, get sent to the landfill or (hopefully) to a paper recycling plant.
I like to think that re-purposing these RDCB books is making lemonade out of lemons. We book artists "salvage" what we can that is still usable, infusing new life into the elements and present them, once again for people's enjoyment, in a different form.
There are many things you can do to recycle these "unwanted" hardback books into your art. Here are some "re-purposing" ideas the very talented artists in my art groups and I came up with...
1. Gut the book. Use the paper to make paper beads, as scrap paper to try out new art techniques or as scrap paper at your art table for cleaning your paint brushes (and making serendipity papers).
2. Cut the paper up to use as "text" backgrounds in collage for cards, collage or use as wrapping paper for small gifts.
3. Sew or tape the paper together to get big sheets. You can use the sheets on your art table as a cover up when painting, for a barbeque tablecloth or wrapping bigger gifts.
4. Salvage the illustrations in the book for future use in your artwork.
5. Cut out the book titles. They used some interesting fonts when typesetting the books.
6. Some of the earlier books have wonderful, coloured end papers made from quality paper. Salvage them!
7. Save the bookplates from the front of earlier editions of RD books to use in your art. Recycle them into "modern" bookplates with the addition of some art work. Check on the web to find out whether or not these bookplates are collectibles. Many bookplates are. If they are, I'd love to hear from you. I've been too busy writing this article to check this out myself!
8. Many of the later editions have colourful covers. Photograph them and use them to create background papers in a graphic program.
9. The "bookboard" on the covers is very strong and the colourful backgrounds on some RDCB's make great backdrops for collage.
10.On some of the older, padded covers from the 60's, the "chipboard" beneath the outer cover has a thin layer of foam glued to it. Although you can't take the foam off, you could re-use the padded chipboard for "mini quilt" creations or anything that you want a padded surface for.
11. Some of the RDBC books came encased in an outer cardboard case. You can leave these outer cases as is and alter them, give them a nice new look with a coat of paint, use the light cardboard and the coloured end papers for diecuts, embossing with a cuttlebug, etc.
12. Use the block of paper in the book to make a book sculpture. Check out this photo show from artist Terri Noell , one of the very talented artists in my group, for inspiration.
13. Remember those angels, snowmen and Santa Claus' from the 70's and 80's made with the RD magazine? Well they are back! Do a search on the Internet for how to directions.
14. Stack the books up, drill a hole through the center of the book piles, insert a hollow metal rod and make a "book" lamp. You can also glue the books together in a random fashion before drilling for a more interesting arrangement.
15. Stack the books, drill a hole for a dowel through the center and use for table legs. You can paint them or leave them as is.
16. Use the covers as a canvas for collage and art plaques to hang on the wall.
17. Cut a hole in the center of the book cover and use to frame a photograph or art piece.
18. Glue the pages of the book together. Hollow out to make a book "case" for your treasures, a sewing box, a jewelry case, a love letters box, a "book safe" for hiding keys, important stuff you want to keep from prying eyes!
19. Glue the pages together and make a "book shrine".
20. Glue the cover and the book pages together. Cut an opening in the book cover and cut a niche in the book pages (just like in tip 18) for a shallower "display" area.
21. Make a book display. Open the book up in the middle. Letting the book pages fall naturally, glue the pages together on the right side, repeat on the left side so that you have an open book. When dry, decorate the book. When you are finished you can lay a copy of a favourite poem on the open book. Makes a nice display for a wedding invitation, Golden anniversary memento, special photograph, etc...
22. Cut out same sized figures from the book pages and use them in an altered book for pop ups, families, etc.
23. Cut out the titles of books and mix together for a collage of letters.
24. Found some vegetable illustrations in your RDCB book? Cut them out and make a pop up garden.
25. Turn your RDCD book into a purse. This particular article is geared towards a steampunk costume accessory, but it could be used in lots of ways.
26. Heather, who works in a library with children and young folks, sent along the instructions for a handmade journal she made in a workshop with the younger, budding artists set
"... we ripped out the guts and then added in blank pages to fill it- voila handmade journals with 'professional' covers. One girl went home, printed off a whack of daytimer pages and made another (journal) to use as her school agenda. To bind the pages together. we used regular paper (misprints, scrap sheets ) cut in half, clamped the pages to keep the edges even and glued away, applying a muslin strip to the wet glue for added strength and hold, created endpapers and used those to add the new guts. As these were to be notebooks for random notes/jottings, the partially used/printed sheets didn't cause any problems. Finally the covers were embellished/personalised. These random papers/covers books make great glueboooks. of course these can be done with any hardcover, not just RDCB's"
27. Use the books in assemblages.
28. Pile them up, put a board on top and use it as a shelf.
29. Use the gutted book cover (with the spine still attached) as a birdhouse roof in an assemblage.
30. Use a cover to make a very large postcard. Wouldn't that make a great mail art postcard?
31. Make "book board" out of the paper. Just glue and layer a number of pages together!
32. Use as a tablet for gluing smaller items. When you are done, just rip out the used page. You can also use old phone books if you don't have a RDCD.
33. Make a stationery holder with a cover. Make the cover pretty, add a pocket to the front and back for paper and envelopes.
34. Some of the later books have dust covers printed on good quality glossy paper. The dust jackets feature the covers of the original books that appear in the condensed book and use some interesting fonts. They could be "salvaged" to use in your artwork.
35. Look at these marvelous book vases created by Laura Cahill. What a great idea!
36. Jim Rossenau makes the coolest bookcases and book shelves you have ever seen. I've been a fan of his since I first saw his website a year or so ago. Visit his site, This into That to take a look at his funky creations.
37. Read this article about Book Lovers at MIT who make furniture out of books!
There are a wealth of sites that you can visit on the web. When you have a few minutes, go on a search to discover some of them!
So there you have it... 37 plus ways for you and I to use those unwanted books!
Stay tuned... I am already working on my first paper sculpture! Terri inspired me to take a crack at it!
Thanks again to all the artists who sent me emails privately or posted their ideas and suggestions to our group.... Pam x 2, Heather, Gale, Elizabeth, Terri, Lisa, Maxine, Bonnie, Alicia, Mary, Lee, Cathy, Ellen, Theresa, Kathy, and Cindy. I hope I haven't missed anyone! If I have just know that your contribution was much appreciated!
Have a great week... A Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. Wishing you great bargains on "Black Friday"!
Hopefully I will get to posting on Friday but can't promise. It's a very busy week this week... heating up for the Christmas party season already... have three invitations this week, two of them before Friday!
Sharon
Friday, November 21, 2008
The Elves and Mrs. Santa
have been busy in my art room! The Christmas season is one of my favourite times of the year. I truly enjoy getting out my glues, paints, inks, ribbon, lace and sewing machine and making a big mess LOL at this time of the year for me!
These past couple of weeks have gone by in a blur. Mrs. Santa's workshop has been in full swing working overtime creating all sorts of goodies for the upcoming holidays.
Many of the "creations" I had set aside for the arts and craft fair last week ended up being sold before the craft fair began to friends and folks who check in with me to see what I have been up to lately! So it was back to the art table to make "more stuff"!
The cozy arts and craft fair I participated in was the first one I have done in years! The atmosphere was great, the room was filled to brimming with all manner of luscious goodies and the women who participated were hilarious to be with. We shared many a good laugh over the course of eight hours.
It was delightful and fun chatting with the shoppers who stopped by my table. How lovely it is to hear comments like "Oh, that is just gorgeous. How creative you are!" or "I just have to have that!" or "My goodness where do you get all of your ideas? I don't have a creative bone in my body. Your things are absolutely wonderful. " or "Oh look at that! Isn't it cute?"
Even though I do my "work" from a place of love and would do it regardless of what others think of it, there is something wonderfully gratifying and empowering to hear words of praise and appreciation from others. The proof of their words is definitely in the pudding when they purchase something that really speaks to them. That's the most gratifying and in a strange way, humbling part... knowing you have created something that they want to purchase as a gift to themselves or for someone special.
Do you participate in Christmas "art swaps"?
I do. They are a favourite Christmas activity for me. Last year, my time was fully consumed with tracking down long lost ancestors and putting the finishing touches on my family genealogy project. Writing the family stories, finishing the digital art work, putting all the pieces together and getting it published kept me busy well into the night for about seven months. Once that was accomplished I was off to San Francisco to spend ten days in early December with my favourite aunt.
She had no knowledge of the project (boy did all of our family members keep that secret well) so it was a complete surprise. I wanted to deliver her copy of the book, which I had dedicated to her, in person. It was very timely. The day that I arrived in S.F. she was diagnosed with cancer. I am certain to this day that the timing of my being there and the book being published was divine intervention. My lovely auntie died this past May. However she died in peace and the comforting knowledge that she finally knew her roots. It was something that she had wondered about (and sometimes agonized over) her whole life.
Needless to say, I didn't get to participate in any swaps last year. But I shall not be "swap deprived" this year!
Over at The Latest Trends yahoo art group, we currently have two swaps going. One is for Christmas charms and the other is for Christmas ornaments. I am also in a couple of "secret buddy" swaps but to tell you any more than that would be to give the secret away!
This week, I finally got to making some of my "stuff". Here's a photo of both the charms and a few of the ornaments for the Latest Trends swaps. I'd appreciate hearing what you think of them. Your comments are always appreciated!
With company coming for Christmas this year, I have also been sorting through all my projects stored in the guest bedroom! I must admit I was rather amazed at just how much I have done this year. My gosh I even found some things I had forgotten I created when I started pulling out the boxes.
A number of my online (and offline) friends have been pushing me (albeit gentle, but persistent nudges) towards opening up an "etsy" shop. Looking at all that I have accumulated over the past year, I am now seriously considering it. I am running out of space to put it all and next year is right around the corner.
So who better to ponder this question over with than those of you who visit my blog! If you have an etsy or other online shop and would be willing to share your expertise and experience with me about selling online, I'd love to hear from you. I am open to all suggestions and ideas. I'd like to hear both the pros and the cons. Click here for my email address to write to me privately.
Here are a few photos of some of "ma' favourite things" that I pulled out of the boxes and have been thinking might be suitable for an online shop...
Add some pizazz to the back of your bathroom or bedroom door! Store your bras, socks, pantyhose, tights, nightie or p, j's in style in a lace, pearls and satin Victorian Corset Bag! Oh la! la!
Hope you have enjoyed this week's "picture show". I'd love your feedback on these projects and your opinion as to their suitability for an online store. Just email me your comments. Gracias! Vielen Dank! Merci! Dankjewel! Tack! Grazie! Arigatou! Tak! Kiitos! Thanks bunches!
Time to get back to my art table. See you all next week.
Sharon
These past couple of weeks have gone by in a blur. Mrs. Santa's workshop has been in full swing working overtime creating all sorts of goodies for the upcoming holidays.
Many of the "creations" I had set aside for the arts and craft fair last week ended up being sold before the craft fair began to friends and folks who check in with me to see what I have been up to lately! So it was back to the art table to make "more stuff"!
The cozy arts and craft fair I participated in was the first one I have done in years! The atmosphere was great, the room was filled to brimming with all manner of luscious goodies and the women who participated were hilarious to be with. We shared many a good laugh over the course of eight hours.
It was delightful and fun chatting with the shoppers who stopped by my table. How lovely it is to hear comments like "Oh, that is just gorgeous. How creative you are!" or "I just have to have that!" or "My goodness where do you get all of your ideas? I don't have a creative bone in my body. Your things are absolutely wonderful. " or "Oh look at that! Isn't it cute?"
Even though I do my "work" from a place of love and would do it regardless of what others think of it, there is something wonderfully gratifying and empowering to hear words of praise and appreciation from others. The proof of their words is definitely in the pudding when they purchase something that really speaks to them. That's the most gratifying and in a strange way, humbling part... knowing you have created something that they want to purchase as a gift to themselves or for someone special.
Do you participate in Christmas "art swaps"?
I do. They are a favourite Christmas activity for me. Last year, my time was fully consumed with tracking down long lost ancestors and putting the finishing touches on my family genealogy project. Writing the family stories, finishing the digital art work, putting all the pieces together and getting it published kept me busy well into the night for about seven months. Once that was accomplished I was off to San Francisco to spend ten days in early December with my favourite aunt.
She had no knowledge of the project (boy did all of our family members keep that secret well) so it was a complete surprise. I wanted to deliver her copy of the book, which I had dedicated to her, in person. It was very timely. The day that I arrived in S.F. she was diagnosed with cancer. I am certain to this day that the timing of my being there and the book being published was divine intervention. My lovely auntie died this past May. However she died in peace and the comforting knowledge that she finally knew her roots. It was something that she had wondered about (and sometimes agonized over) her whole life.
Needless to say, I didn't get to participate in any swaps last year. But I shall not be "swap deprived" this year!
Over at The Latest Trends yahoo art group, we currently have two swaps going. One is for Christmas charms and the other is for Christmas ornaments. I am also in a couple of "secret buddy" swaps but to tell you any more than that would be to give the secret away!
This week, I finally got to making some of my "stuff". Here's a photo of both the charms and a few of the ornaments for the Latest Trends swaps. I'd appreciate hearing what you think of them. Your comments are always appreciated!
With company coming for Christmas this year, I have also been sorting through all my projects stored in the guest bedroom! I must admit I was rather amazed at just how much I have done this year. My gosh I even found some things I had forgotten I created when I started pulling out the boxes.
A number of my online (and offline) friends have been pushing me (albeit gentle, but persistent nudges) towards opening up an "etsy" shop. Looking at all that I have accumulated over the past year, I am now seriously considering it. I am running out of space to put it all and next year is right around the corner.
So who better to ponder this question over with than those of you who visit my blog! If you have an etsy or other online shop and would be willing to share your expertise and experience with me about selling online, I'd love to hear from you. I am open to all suggestions and ideas. I'd like to hear both the pros and the cons. Click here for my email address to write to me privately.
Here are a few photos of some of "ma' favourite things" that I pulled out of the boxes and have been thinking might be suitable for an online shop...
Add some pizazz to the back of your bathroom or bedroom door! Store your bras, socks, pantyhose, tights, nightie or p, j's in style in a lace, pearls and satin Victorian Corset Bag! Oh la! la!
Fun and funky "Daytimer" game piece earrings There is a second set of earrings "The Numbers Game" that have numbers of them so you can "mix and match" with this set!
"Strategies 4 the Road" License plate key chain.
"Dare 2B You - Who You Are Counts"
The idea for these key chains originated in a personal development workshop series I wrote and conducted in my coaching practice called "Strategies 4 the Road". This is just one "plate" out of the series. Clients loved them especially because they got to pick the one that had the most meaning for them!
"Show me the money" T-shirt earrings made from a U.S. dollar bill.
You'll never be short a buck again with these on! They are... uhh... priceless!
Hope you have enjoyed this week's "picture show". I'd love your feedback on these projects and your opinion as to their suitability for an online store. Just email me your comments. Gracias! Vielen Dank! Merci! Dankjewel! Tack! Grazie! Arigatou! Tak! Kiitos! Thanks bunches!
Time to get back to my art table. See you all next week.
Sharon
Friday, November 7, 2008
Christmas is Coming...
This has been a busy week finishing up some of my Christmas projects for an upcoming arts and crafts show. Needless to say it hasn't left a lot of time for writing! It has been a bit of a struggle as my arthritis has been acting up again... the November rains have hit the "wet coast"... so I decided that instead of writing a piece that probably wouldn't get finished until tonight LOL, I would "show off" some of the things I have been working on.
A French Lavender Hanky Sachet
Here's just one of the sachets that I have made with some vintage and antique hankies and vintage jacquard brocade material that I have had for about 30 years (and was about 20 years old when I got it). I loved this material so much that I have never wanted to part with it until now. It was perfect for making the sachets. I have made 10 in total and they all have a secret pocket to store your hopes, wishes and dreams. I nearly fell over when I went to buy the lavender from a local supplier. The cost of culinary French lavender has risen to $40.00 a pound! But oh my gosh, the sachets turned out beautifully and smell absolutely wonderful...
Potpourri Christmas Jar
And speaking of potpourri... here's a Christmas jar filled with Christmas lights and cinnamon potpourri that I made. It has an antique doily on top. It looks wonderful when it is turned on and the smell is just delicious. The Christmas lights (35 in all) warm up the potpourri and permeates the air with the smell of Christmas!
Vintage Style Christmas Cards
Christmas isn't Christmas without making some cards. I love making Christmas cards... but this year I have limited myself to a baker's dozen otherwise I'd have enough for this Christmas and next. CHUCKLE.
Here's a delightful card made from a vintage Santa image. He sure is one cute Santa...LOL... Yesterday, on my way home from the bakery (I had gone to purchase some pie boxes for my Potpourri apple pies), I saw a sign near the farmer's market that read "Leave wine, not milk. Love Santa" Yo Santa... will do!
"Artisan" Glass Pendants
This is a photo of some glass pendants that I made from recycled tumbled glass. The photo just doesn't do them justice... they are absolutely gorgeous. I used a combination of fantasy film, Angelina fibres, Franklin Opals, embossing powders and glitter. I am just tickled with the way they turned out. It took awhile to do them... waiting for the glass to finish tumbling seemed to take forever! But once they were done... my heat gun, my "stuff" and I had a date... and here is the result
Next Tuesday is Remembrance Day in Canada. Instead of Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips, I hope to post a tribute to our war veterans... past and present. Without their sacrifice to our country, we would be living in a much different world.
There is something really wonderful about the days leading up to Remembrance Day. Everyone you see has a poppy pinned to their jacket, sweater or lapel.
Rain or shine, you'll find me at the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Sydney, B.C. to watch the military parade (including hubby's band) march to the cenotaph for the ceremony to honour our war dead. After the ceremony is over, hubby's band goes on an all day "pub crawl" playing a few sets in each pub! Thank heavens they have a military bus with a driver to transport them around. He should be in fine shape come 7 p.m. when I join him at their last stop LOL!
Have a great weekend... I'll be sending pleading messages to the rain Gods that the "pineapple express" (the rain that is coming from Hawaii and absolutely soaking us) doesn't last too long!
Sharon
A French Lavender Hanky Sachet
Here's just one of the sachets that I have made with some vintage and antique hankies and vintage jacquard brocade material that I have had for about 30 years (and was about 20 years old when I got it). I loved this material so much that I have never wanted to part with it until now. It was perfect for making the sachets. I have made 10 in total and they all have a secret pocket to store your hopes, wishes and dreams. I nearly fell over when I went to buy the lavender from a local supplier. The cost of culinary French lavender has risen to $40.00 a pound! But oh my gosh, the sachets turned out beautifully and smell absolutely wonderful...
Potpourri Christmas Jar
And speaking of potpourri... here's a Christmas jar filled with Christmas lights and cinnamon potpourri that I made. It has an antique doily on top. It looks wonderful when it is turned on and the smell is just delicious. The Christmas lights (35 in all) warm up the potpourri and permeates the air with the smell of Christmas!
Vintage Style Christmas Cards
Christmas isn't Christmas without making some cards. I love making Christmas cards... but this year I have limited myself to a baker's dozen otherwise I'd have enough for this Christmas and next. CHUCKLE.
Here's a delightful card made from a vintage Santa image. He sure is one cute Santa...LOL... Yesterday, on my way home from the bakery (I had gone to purchase some pie boxes for my Potpourri apple pies), I saw a sign near the farmer's market that read "Leave wine, not milk. Love Santa" Yo Santa... will do!
"Artisan" Glass Pendants
This is a photo of some glass pendants that I made from recycled tumbled glass. The photo just doesn't do them justice... they are absolutely gorgeous. I used a combination of fantasy film, Angelina fibres, Franklin Opals, embossing powders and glitter. I am just tickled with the way they turned out. It took awhile to do them... waiting for the glass to finish tumbling seemed to take forever! But once they were done... my heat gun, my "stuff" and I had a date... and here is the result
Next Tuesday is Remembrance Day in Canada. Instead of Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips, I hope to post a tribute to our war veterans... past and present. Without their sacrifice to our country, we would be living in a much different world.
There is something really wonderful about the days leading up to Remembrance Day. Everyone you see has a poppy pinned to their jacket, sweater or lapel.
Rain or shine, you'll find me at the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Sydney, B.C. to watch the military parade (including hubby's band) march to the cenotaph for the ceremony to honour our war dead. After the ceremony is over, hubby's band goes on an all day "pub crawl" playing a few sets in each pub! Thank heavens they have a military bus with a driver to transport them around. He should be in fine shape come 7 p.m. when I join him at their last stop LOL!
Have a great weekend... I'll be sending pleading messages to the rain Gods that the "pineapple express" (the rain that is coming from Hawaii and absolutely soaking us) doesn't last too long!
Sharon
Friday, October 31, 2008
The Ghost of Victoria's Most Famous Architect - Francis Rattenbury
Happy Halloween!
If you enjoy tales of ghosts, eerie hauntings and strange sightings, an opportunity to experience one of Canada’s most haunted west coast cities… Victoria, B.C. …on Halloween has to be one of the best reasons to make your way to this island city on the last day of October in any given year.
There are dozens of spots in the downtown core and beyond that are said to be haunted. One of the more familiar stories is that of a tall, dashing, handsome chap with a moustache who lurks in the stairwells of the Empress Hotel.
A beautiful, grand hotel at the head of Victoria Harbour, this historic hotel opened in 1908. Designed by the architect Francis Rattenbury, many people are immediately smitten by their first glance of this hotel’s majestic, old world charm. Little do visitors to Victoria know that the ghost of B.C.’s most famous architect, whose life ended in scandal and tragedy, has been seen on numerous occasions, roaming the splendid wood staircases of the Empress Hotel.
If you enjoy tales of ghosts, eerie hauntings and strange sightings, an opportunity to experience one of Canada’s most haunted west coast cities… Victoria, B.C. …on Halloween has to be one of the best reasons to make your way to this island city on the last day of October in any given year.
There are dozens of spots in the downtown core and beyond that are said to be haunted. One of the more familiar stories is that of a tall, dashing, handsome chap with a moustache who lurks in the stairwells of the Empress Hotel.
A beautiful, grand hotel at the head of Victoria Harbour, this historic hotel opened in 1908. Designed by the architect Francis Rattenbury, many people are immediately smitten by their first glance of this hotel’s majestic, old world charm. Little do visitors to Victoria know that the ghost of B.C.’s most famous architect, whose life ended in scandal and tragedy, has been seen on numerous occasions, roaming the splendid wood staircases of the Empress Hotel.
Francis “Frank” Rattenbury arrived in Victoria in his early 20’s and set about creating a name for himself in Victoria Society. Shortly after the Legislative Building (one of Rathenbury’s first of many architectural triumphs that still stands on Victoria’s harbour) was opened in 1898, Frank married Florence Nunn.
The daughter of a retired British Indian Army officer turned prospector, many of Victoria’s young maidens gossiped behind closed doors at the time of their engagement wondering what this successful, handsome and most eligible of Victoria bachelors could possibly see in the very plain Florence. Nevertheless, Rathenbury did marry Florence in a June wedding and they went to live in a beautiful beachfront home in Oak Bay. They subsequently had two children, Frank and Mary.
Rathenbury’s professional success made him the darling of Victoria society. However, trouble was brewing behind closed doors in his Oak Bay home. On a personal basis, “Ratz” was often thought of by his peers as an “ill tempered” and “mean” man who was extremely frugal with his money. This side of his personality quickly reared its ugly head.
Florrie and Frank soon discovered that they were ill suited to each other. In the years following, they grew to dislike each other intensely. Despite this sad state of affairs, they continued to live together. Ratz, now drinking excessively, took up residence in separate quarters of their home. It is said that in later years he refused to even speak to his wife directly and only communicated with her through their daughter.
One evening in 1923, at a dinner in his honour at the Empress, Rattenbury, now in his mid 50’s met Alma Parkenham. Still in her early twenties, already once widowed and once divorced, Alma was a beautiful, accomplished pianist, composer and musician visiting Victoria from Vancouver to give a piano recital.
Frank was instantly smitten by this vibrant, daring, young (and for the times, loose) “flapper” woman who reportedly drank and smoked openly in public! Within days, the pair were embroiled in a publically open, torrid love affair much to the dismay of the elite in Victoria society.
The tongues of Victoria’s upper crust wagged furiously when Frank and Alma began appearing at social functions together, apparently oblivious to public opinion and with scant regard for Florence’s feelings and reputation. The titillating rumours circulating in town, about Alma in particular, were numerous, harsh and cruel.
Within a short period of time, Frank approached Florrie and asked for a divorce. Florrie refused. Frank, not about to give up his mistress, began entertaining Alma nightly at the family home in Oak Bay, no doubt hoping that Florrie would quickly change her mind. She did not.
Frank, now becoming desperate to be rid of Florrie, upped the stakes. He began to harangue her with decidedly cruel behaviour. He invited Alma for overnight stays at their home. Florrie was forced to listen to their squealing lovemaking accompanied by loud drinking and drug use.
When Rattenbury realized this was not getting him the desired result he sought, he decided to move out. His parting “gift” was to have the heat and lights turned off in their home. Tired, heartbroken and deeply embarrassed by the antics of her estranged husband, Florrie finally gave up. She agreed to his request for a divorce.
Frank and Alma married in 1925 as soon as the divorce was final. His reputation in ruins through the scandalous affair with Alma, he was publically shunned by his former clients and colleagues. With commissions no longer forthcoming, his finances suffered greatly.
The couple became social pariahs. They were no longer invited for dinners, parties or the theater. Shunned on the streets of Victoria by the social elite, people no longer spoke to either of them.
In 1929, they decided to move to Bournemouth, England for a fresh start. He and Alma, along with their infant son, left Victoria for good.
The move to England did not bring the hoped for betterment in their finances and social standing. Financially strapped, Frank’s relationship with Alma, who loved to spend money, began disintegrating. Bitter and despondent, he quickly turned into an impotent, alcoholic old man who sat hour after hour in a dimly lit room.
Alma, on the other hand, still young and enjoying some success as a composer and musician, craved excitement. With her usual carelessness, this 38 year old woman began an affair with George Percy Stoner, an 18 year old high school dropout Francis had hired as a chauffeur.
One night in 1935, while sitting in the drawing room in a drunken stupor, 67 year old Rattenbury was murdered from behind. Several blows to his head with a carpenter’s mallet quickly rendered him unconscious. He remained unconscious for a number of hours and then died in hospital. Alma and Stoner immediately came under suspicion. Murder charges against the two for the gruesome crime followed quickly.
The sensational trial, laced with all manner of titillating sex, drugs and tales of infidelity lasted five days. As a witness, Alma “described how, trying to bring her husband round, she first accidentally trod on his false teeth and then tried to put them back into his mouth so that he could speak to her. … Mrs. Rattenbury said when her lover got into bed that night and told her what he had done, "My first thought was to protect him." In the end, Alma was acquitted of the charges. Stoner, on the other hand was convicted and sentenced to death.
Was Alma distraught at the thought of losing her lover to the hangman? Had she committed the murder herself and was now riddled with guilt? With her reputation permanently destroyed and faced with the prospect of living the rest of her life in disgrace, was she consumed with guilt and shame? We shall never know. She committed suicide four days after the verdict. She stabbed herself repeatedly in the heart, fell into the River Avon and drowned. Her body was discovered within hours. There was no note. The headlines in the London newspapers were said to be the most dramatic and sensational since the sinking of the Titanic.
Meanwhile, the public was outraged at Stoner’s verdict. They blamed Alma for leading him astray and corrupting this young lad with “undue influence” and her sexual charm. A petition for clemency, signed by thousands, was presented to the courts and the Home Secretary agreed to commute Stoner’s sentence to life imprisonment. He served seven years for the murder of Francis Mawson Rattenbury.
And Frank… well I believe he still roams the staircases of the Empress in his long, black frock coat begging for forgiveness… hoping to redeem himself for his ghastly treatment of Florence, seeking to repair his tarnished reputation with the public and his peers, wishing he had never crossed paths with the likes of Alma!
Happy Haunting!
Sharon
Copyright 2008 Sharon House. Please do not use for either oral or written presentation without written permission from the author.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips - juice boxes, elastic bands and gift bags
Today for your thrifty arting pleasure we have 41 tips for juice boxes, elastic bands and gift bags PLUS a terrific gift bag project with instructions.
Yesterday, I went back to do a count on how many art tips have been published since I started the blog. I thought I had made an adding mistake (math has never been my strong point ;) when I saw the number....267. I added it up again and sure enough it was correct. Of course this doesn't cover all of the tips that were submitted in the recycling contest, remembering that there were duplicate tips in most of the lists and there are still some to come. But anyway you look at it... that is one awesome number!
Thanks to Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Elizabeth from Kansas, Alicia Edwards and some from yours truly for submitting these great tips!
Please take a moment to say thanks to them for their generosity when you visit their blogs or come across their name in the various art groups on the web.
Please take a moment to say thanks to them for their generosity when you visit their blogs or come across their name in the various art groups on the web.
Thanks too to all those folks who have written me an email about the tips, posted a thank you in one of the art groups, left a comment on the blog. I try to answer all the emails and comments, if I have an address, to personally thank those folks who have taken the time to write. I sincerely appreciate each and every one of you and am just tickled when I get an email from a blog viewer!
On to today's tips...
Save those small juice boxes and ....according to Donna Zamora, “wait until Thrifty Tuesday suggests a workable idea for them.” So Donna, here are 15 nifty ideas just for you! SMILE
- Make small shrines
- Create bodies for art dolls
- Add a chipboard roof to create a little house/birdhouse.
- Make shaker boxes. Cut the top off of one juice box. Cut an second juice box to make a lid for the first juice box. Fill the juice box with beans. Push the lid on top of the first juice box. Put tape around it to seal it and decorate the box.
- Use to line a niche box in an altered book
- Use an altered juice box on a belt as a rather unique embellishment.
- Cut off the top on three sides leaving one side for a hinge, rinse them and use for storage of small items.
- Use juice box straws as arms and legs on stick figures. The accordion part of the straw makes great joints.
- Save those small juice boxes and take them back to the recycling depot for money to buy some new art supplies. (Note: not all recycling depots accept juice boxes)
- Fill with plaster, then decorate as building blocks for children or to use in a shrine.
- Make a juice box purse or tote by cutting apart, punching holes and sewing, or crocheting them back together
- Cut off the top of a juice box on 3 sides add a latch and you have a little treasure keeper or gift box.
- Make a stackable mini storage unit from empty juice boxes
- Use as a backing for art work, book cover/pages
- Cut off the top, wash thoroughly, then decorate to use as favor holders for parties.
Save those elastic bands and ...
- Staple them into your art as a great embellishment.
- Use them to hold things in place as the glue dries.
- Use them to hold overstuffed notebooks closed.
- Use them to create a closure for note card booklets or handmade books.
- Cover them with a fabric tube and use as hair scrunchies that don’t pull your hair.
- Save those elastic bands and make a huge "stress" ball … slowly… one elastic band at a time!
- Save those elastic and rubber bands to bundle mat-board or cardboard pieces for a unique disposable stamp or applicator
- To create an interesting design…. wind one around a brayer, then run the brayer over ink pad or acrylic paint spread on a flat palette.
- Wrap elastic bands around a wooden block, randomly or in a design, to make your own unique rubber stamp.
- Save those elastic bands to bind a book.
- Wrap WAXED PAPER, FOIL, TP ROLLS with rubber bands or yarn to make printing tools.
- Save those elastic bands and use in collage. Alicia said: "I once saw an octopus made out of elastic bands. It was awesome."
Save those gift bags and
- Use for instant covers; the handles are great for closures, elements for theme pieces.
- Metallic gift bag (free) paper is wonderful to emboss or make bits into highlight elements like stars, crowns, birds etc
- Cut gift bags up for backgrounds on cards, collage, ATCs, art journals, covers and ABs.
- Sit on a shelf as pretty storage for bulky art items. Don't forget to attach a 'gift tag label' so you know what's inside.
- Cut them up to use as you would any paper stock.
- Save those gift bags, alter and keep them on hand for the next gift-giving event.
- Add your own embellishments and reuse them as gift bags. Re-art them for someone special.
- Tear them apart and use the pieces in paper mache for book covers. The color is great!
- Save those gift bags and stand a pot-plant inside
- Cut them up into flats and use them for wrapping smaller gifts
- Make paper beads
- Use the designs in collage, altered book or a pop up book.
- Save the cord handles to bind a book.
A Gift Bag Project and Instructions
Here’s an idea for gifts bags that I just love! You don’t want to miss this one….
Create a miniature scene in a gift bag. Imagine a little Christmas scene for someone special. What an awesome gift it would make!
Fay Zerbollo of St. Louis, MO makes absolutely fabulous “gift bag room boxes”. I got in touch with Fay last week and she graciously agreed to allow me to post a few of the photos of her gift bags to whet your appetite and tantalize your soul until you can make one of your very own
To get a copy of Fay’s “how to” instructions click here.
Even if you aren't ready to take on another project right now, drop by Fay’s site to see all of her wonderful creations and get inspired. You’ll be glad you took the time to browse through her site. She is truly a master artist when it comes to assembling these wonderful gift bags.
Have a fun Halloween week... Time permitting, I will see you on Friday with a spooky story!
Sharon
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips - Old Business Cards and Plastic/Paper Grocery Bags
59 great recycling ideas submitted to the September 2008 Brainstorming Recycling Contest by Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Alicia Edwards, Elizabeth and some from yours truly!
Save those old business cards and
- blend them together with other paper to make great handmade papers.
- Use calligraphy, stamps or tiny cut out word to make a quotation on an old business card and fill a business card holder for instant inspiration.
- Use an old business card to add a layer to a collage.
- Save those old business cards and alter them like an ATC.
- Save those old business cards and paint or glue pretty paper on them, add a name and you have a place card for a dinner party.
- Glue two together to make them thicker cut them into inchie size and make inchies.
- Save those old business cards and use the reverse side for sentiments on greeting cards.
- Wrap business cards in interesting cloth or paper scraps as 3-D embellishments
- Decorate with paint, beads, clip art, drawings and use as "found" art or bookmarks.
- Paint and cut out shapes with paper punches.
- Collage them as art pieces or alter them to become YOUR business card.
- Use old business cards like a squeegie when painting backgrounds, etc.
- Make a fan book out of old business cards.
Save those tags on new, store bought clothes and
- You have a ready made tag for your art, along with the hanger. Start by gessoing or adding a collage background, then proceed to decorate as you would any tag.
- Stencil or stamp them, the hanger thingy makes a great way to display small 4x6s, add to make depth, use in a collograph.
- Cut up the tags to make Inchies or other small items
- Add altered tags to books, pages or cards, gifts
- Alter and use as bookmarks or decoupage material in your art.
- Use the tags as a template for quilt designs or book inserts
- Paint unusual shapes as a base for your new embellishment designs
- Save those tags on new, store bought clothes and if they are pretty or have catchy phrases, cool looking fonts you can use them in any collage. If they are big enough you can use them as a base for ATC’s or Moo cards. Some tags are really pretty and need just the right picture or embellishment.
- Save those tags on new, store bought clothes and paint, collage, embellish to make ornaments.
Save those plastic shopping bags and
- iron them together to create a "fabric". Use at least two or three bags, iron between two craft sheets, allow to cool, and peel. You can sew on them, or just use them as the entire background. If you are in a swap, they are light as air to mail.
- Save those plastic shopping bags and mash into wet stuff for texture or dip a wadded one into paint and apply backgrounds.
- Cut plastic bags into strips and crochet/knit a shopping bag. Tape one side to your worktable top leaving one side open; handy to scoop trimmings, and other refuse into the bag.
- Using two plastic bags, insert one into the other. Tie off the top, trapping air inside, and use as a cushion for packing items to store or mail.
- Run an ATC-size chipboard (cut from a cereal box of course) through your Xyron sticker-maker, then wrinkle a piece of the bag and brayer it onto the sticky side of the chipboard. Paint, gesso, ink or use as is.
- Save those plastic shopping bags and use to make cool designs by cutting them flat and squishing them into wet paint. Lift when dry.
- Weave them into mats to protect a work surface or ease you bottom during those long work sessions or in the football stands during long games.
- Save those plastic shopping bags and melt them together with an iron into layered "cloth" to dress scarecrows
- Save those plastic shopping bags and make beads out of them. Cut into triangular long strips and wind around a bamboo skewer blast with a heat gun and there ya go!
- You can cut them into strips and knit or crochet them into tote bag, purses, or pool side slippers.
- Cut into strips braid and make a rug or kneeling pad for gardening.
- Save those plastic shopping bags and iron them together and sew them into your newly created art bags/grocery bag/etc as a liner.
- Save those plastic shopping bags and crinkle up to use with paint for great backgrounds.
- Split them apart and use to cover your work surface to keep it clean.
Save those brown paper grocery bags and
- Make mini-books.
- Create background papers. Crumple and place in a mixture of glue and water, then remove, wring out, and add bits of mica powder and paint while still wet. Hang to dry. When dry, swipe black or dark colored dye ink over the hills. Iron if you choose.
- If you are lucky enough to get brown paper bags with cool pictures on them, cut out the pictures and incorporate in an AB spread or art journal.
- Save those brown paper grocery bags and unfold them to make book covers, whole books or just a page or two.
- Make envelopes and home-made tags, good for ATCs.
- Cut into smaller sizes for Moo cards or inchies.
- Tear and collage onto background for ATCs Cut selected words to use on collage, altered books, cards.
- Cut brown paper bags into usable sizes and use as you would any paper stock
- Fill brown paper bags with a few inches of sand, insert candle, for a lovely outdoor lumineria for parties or holiday decor. Fold the tops down into a cuff to stabilize the top and punch/cut decorative holes if desired.
- Save those brown paper grocery bags and spray with Walnut ink. Gives a nice aged look.
- Use to protect work surfaces when painting/crafting.
- Use them for wrapping when mailing gifts, boxes, etc.
- Use them in brown paper mache to create covers for altered books.
- Use the paper from brown paper grocery bags for layered and distressed pieces - it's strong!
- Use as background paper. It is very versatile and can be painted, inked, chalked, embossed, glued etc.
- Brown paper bags make terrific homemade prim style wrapping paper tied up with twine.
- You can wet brown paper bags and mold it around items, let it dry and it holds the shape, much like paper mache’.
- Tear into pieces and incorporate into a design with other paper and fabric
- Make faux leather paper from brown paper bags. Spray it with Perfect Ink Refresher. Crumble it. Spread it out and go over with with an ink pad.
- Print on it for wrapping papers of all kinds.
- Crumple and spray paint it.
- Crumple and web it.
- Use brown paper bags as blotters, to cut templates and patterns. Use to cover books.
Happy Arting... see you on Halloween!
I will be in Vancouver this coming Friday and over the weekend watching hubby pound on his drum (he's a tenor drummer in a military pipe band... you know the guys that twirl the sticks GRIN) in the Salute to the Military at the B.C. Lions Football game. Ah he looks so cute in his kilt...and boy you should see him twirl those sticks! I wouldn't want to miss it LOL!
Sharon
Friday, October 10, 2008
Wisdom Tale - The Eight Cow Wife!
Whatcha think? Time for another tale? Well, let's see. I think I'll tell you my alltime favourite tale... “The Eight Cow Wife". Ah good, you're intrigued already.
I love the message in this tale and delight in telling it any chance I get! This story was also a favourite of my very special auntie Flo who passed away last May at 86. I must have told her this tale a dozen times in the year before she died. She never tired of hearing it... always requesting it again and again and just sighed every time she heard it. I miss our phone calls (at least once a week since forever) but most of all I miss her and her cute giggle!
So just sit back with a nice cup of tea or coffee and imagine you are on a tiny, remote island in the warm South Pacific. Are you comfy? Good, now let the tale begin.
*******************************************************************************
Now Johnny Lingo wasn’t exactly his name. But that’s what Shenkin, the manager of the guest house where I was staying called him. You see, Shenkin was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the villagers on this tiny island in the Pacific.
Everywhere I went on the island, Johnny’s name was mentioned.
If I said that I wanted to spend a few days exploring one of the neighbouring islands, talk to Johnny Lingo they’d say. He’ll show you around.
If I wanted to fish, talk to Johnny Lingo they’d say. He’ll take you to where the fish are biting.
If it was pearls I sought, talk to Johnny Lingo they’d say. He’ll get you the best buys.
The people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke of him, they smiled, but those smiles were slightly mocking.
One morning, as I sat chatting with Shenkin, even he advised: "Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want. Let him do the bargaining. Johnny knows how to make a deal."
"Johnny Lingo!” hooted a boy seated nearby. “Ya he sure knows how to make a deal”.
I didn’t get it, so I turned to Shenkin. "Hey Shenkin, what’s going on here?. Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then they break up in gales of laughter. What’s the big joke?."
"Oh, the people like to laugh about Johnny." Shenkin said. "You see, Johnny's the brightest, richest and most handsome young man in the islands. But five months ago, at the fall festival, Johnny came here and found himself a wife. He actually paid eight cows for her! Nobody here pays eight cows for a wife, but Johnny Lingo did.”
“Guess there’s no accounting for love,” I thought to myself, but I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four or five a highly satisfactory one.
"Good Lord!" I said, "Eight cows! She must be a beauty that takes your breath away."
"Sarita is not downright ugly," Shenkin said. "But she’s… well rather plain. Skinny. Walks with her shoulders hunched and her head down. Why, that girl is scared of her own shadow. Her father was pretty worried that he’d have her on his hands for the rest of her life. But then along came Johnny and he got eight cows for her. Now the villagers get a lot of pleasure from the fact that the sharpest trader in the islands got the wool pulled over his eyes by her father… dull old Sam Karoo. And that’s why they snicker and laugh when they talk about Johnny."
Now I was really curious. So I asked Shenkin, "How did that happen?"
"Well no one really knows for sure and everyone still kinda wonders. All the cousins were urging Sam to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was absolutely certain Johnny’d pay only one. But then Johnny went to visit Sam and said, ‘Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.” Well old Sam nearly fainted on the spot. He was mighty relieved when they married the next day before Johnny could change his mind."
In that moment I knew. I definitely wanted to meet this Johnny Lingo.
The next afternoon I beached my boat on the island where Johnny Lingo lived with his bride. And I noticed as I asked directions to Johnny’s house that the mention of his name didn’t bring any snickering smiles to the lips of the villagers on this island.
I knocked on Johnny’s door and he graciously welcomed me in. As we sat and talked he asked where I had come from. When I told him, he smiled gently and said: "My wife is from Kiniwata."
"Yes, I know." I said.
His eyes lit up. "Ah…They speak of her on Kiniwata? What do they say?"
The question caught me somewhat off guard. I wasn’t sure how to reply so I said: "They told me you were married at fall festival time."
The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
”They also said the marriage settlement was for eight cows and they still are wondering why."
His eyes sparkled with pleasure. "Everyone there knows about the eight cows?"
I nodded.
"Well everyone here knows about it too." He said. His chest expanded with satisfaction. "Always and forevermore, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita."
So that’s the answer, I thought: vanity.
And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood still a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she swiftly left the room.
She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful, poised and confident woman I had ever seen in my life. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle in her eyes all spoke of a pride which no one could deny her.
I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me. "Oh Johnny, she is absolutely gorgeous. I.. I.. don’t understand … why they would snicker and laugh about you.”
Johnny looked at me and said. "I know you probably heard that she was homely and they think that I let myself be cheated by her father. But have you ever thought what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? And later, when the women of the village get together and talk, they always boast about what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows, another maybe five, sometimes six. How do think the woman who was sold for one cow must feel? I would not let this happen to my darling Sarita."
"I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman. I wanted her to be happy, but I also wanted an eight cow wife.
Now you say she is different than what they told you. This is true. She is. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside, things that happen outside. You see, on her island, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. but when I paid eight cows for her and treated her like an eight cow wife deserves, she began to believe that she was an eight-cow woman. She discovered that she is worth more than any other woman in the islands. And what matters most is what a woman thinks of herself.
************************************ SIGH ************************************
I won’t be posting until the 21st again. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and hubby and I are taking a four day weekend together to buzz around, have some fun and stuff ourselves with turkey dinner and pumpkin cheesecake pie. Hey with all the economic woes going on, we need to do something to get our attention away from the stock market! Laughter and tasty comfort food seem to be the only commodities left that can actually make you feel good these days.
Next week I will be at a storytelling festival for four days. While I am there, I'll be doing a workshop with Donald Davis... North Carolina storyteller extraordinaire... and boy am I looking forward to that. I sure do miss North Carolina storytellers (and that lovely N.C. drawl) since moving back to Canada. I am also looking forward to seeing Gay Ducey, as southern a woman as they come, a librairan and a storyteller who can spin a tale out of nothing and make you laugh till your sides ache! And of course, all my storytelling buddies plus my dear friend Kathy from near Seattle who will put up with me being her roomie while we are there LOL.
Perhaps in the meantime, it will give you a chance to get caught up on all the posts you may not have read yet or go back and re-read some of your favourites!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a lovely weekend.
Sharon
P.S. I've been tagged by my South Dakato art buddy Mar... what a little devil she is... but I won't be able to do much about it until later in the month. Be prepared... you might be next LOL!
I love the message in this tale and delight in telling it any chance I get! This story was also a favourite of my very special auntie Flo who passed away last May at 86. I must have told her this tale a dozen times in the year before she died. She never tired of hearing it... always requesting it again and again and just sighed every time she heard it. I miss our phone calls (at least once a week since forever) but most of all I miss her and her cute giggle!
So just sit back with a nice cup of tea or coffee and imagine you are on a tiny, remote island in the warm South Pacific. Are you comfy? Good, now let the tale begin.
*******************************************************************************
Now Johnny Lingo wasn’t exactly his name. But that’s what Shenkin, the manager of the guest house where I was staying called him. You see, Shenkin was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the villagers on this tiny island in the Pacific.
Everywhere I went on the island, Johnny’s name was mentioned.
If I said that I wanted to spend a few days exploring one of the neighbouring islands, talk to Johnny Lingo they’d say. He’ll show you around.
If I wanted to fish, talk to Johnny Lingo they’d say. He’ll take you to where the fish are biting.
If it was pearls I sought, talk to Johnny Lingo they’d say. He’ll get you the best buys.
The people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke of him, they smiled, but those smiles were slightly mocking.
One morning, as I sat chatting with Shenkin, even he advised: "Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want. Let him do the bargaining. Johnny knows how to make a deal."
"Johnny Lingo!” hooted a boy seated nearby. “Ya he sure knows how to make a deal”.
I didn’t get it, so I turned to Shenkin. "Hey Shenkin, what’s going on here?. Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then they break up in gales of laughter. What’s the big joke?."
"Oh, the people like to laugh about Johnny." Shenkin said. "You see, Johnny's the brightest, richest and most handsome young man in the islands. But five months ago, at the fall festival, Johnny came here and found himself a wife. He actually paid eight cows for her! Nobody here pays eight cows for a wife, but Johnny Lingo did.”
“Guess there’s no accounting for love,” I thought to myself, but I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four or five a highly satisfactory one.
"Good Lord!" I said, "Eight cows! She must be a beauty that takes your breath away."
"Sarita is not downright ugly," Shenkin said. "But she’s… well rather plain. Skinny. Walks with her shoulders hunched and her head down. Why, that girl is scared of her own shadow. Her father was pretty worried that he’d have her on his hands for the rest of her life. But then along came Johnny and he got eight cows for her. Now the villagers get a lot of pleasure from the fact that the sharpest trader in the islands got the wool pulled over his eyes by her father… dull old Sam Karoo. And that’s why they snicker and laugh when they talk about Johnny."
Now I was really curious. So I asked Shenkin, "How did that happen?"
"Well no one really knows for sure and everyone still kinda wonders. All the cousins were urging Sam to ask for three cows and hold out for two until he was absolutely certain Johnny’d pay only one. But then Johnny went to visit Sam and said, ‘Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.” Well old Sam nearly fainted on the spot. He was mighty relieved when they married the next day before Johnny could change his mind."
In that moment I knew. I definitely wanted to meet this Johnny Lingo.
The next afternoon I beached my boat on the island where Johnny Lingo lived with his bride. And I noticed as I asked directions to Johnny’s house that the mention of his name didn’t bring any snickering smiles to the lips of the villagers on this island.
I knocked on Johnny’s door and he graciously welcomed me in. As we sat and talked he asked where I had come from. When I told him, he smiled gently and said: "My wife is from Kiniwata."
"Yes, I know." I said.
His eyes lit up. "Ah…They speak of her on Kiniwata? What do they say?"
The question caught me somewhat off guard. I wasn’t sure how to reply so I said: "They told me you were married at fall festival time."
The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
”They also said the marriage settlement was for eight cows and they still are wondering why."
His eyes sparkled with pleasure. "Everyone there knows about the eight cows?"
I nodded.
"Well everyone here knows about it too." He said. His chest expanded with satisfaction. "Always and forevermore, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita."
So that’s the answer, I thought: vanity.
And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood still a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she swiftly left the room.
She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful, poised and confident woman I had ever seen in my life. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle in her eyes all spoke of a pride which no one could deny her.
I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me. "Oh Johnny, she is absolutely gorgeous. I.. I.. don’t understand … why they would snicker and laugh about you.”
Johnny looked at me and said. "I know you probably heard that she was homely and they think that I let myself be cheated by her father. But have you ever thought what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? And later, when the women of the village get together and talk, they always boast about what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows, another maybe five, sometimes six. How do think the woman who was sold for one cow must feel? I would not let this happen to my darling Sarita."
"I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman. I wanted her to be happy, but I also wanted an eight cow wife.
Now you say she is different than what they told you. This is true. She is. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside, things that happen outside. You see, on her island, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. but when I paid eight cows for her and treated her like an eight cow wife deserves, she began to believe that she was an eight-cow woman. She discovered that she is worth more than any other woman in the islands. And what matters most is what a woman thinks of herself.
************************************ SIGH ************************************
I won’t be posting until the 21st again. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and hubby and I are taking a four day weekend together to buzz around, have some fun and stuff ourselves with turkey dinner and pumpkin cheesecake pie. Hey with all the economic woes going on, we need to do something to get our attention away from the stock market! Laughter and tasty comfort food seem to be the only commodities left that can actually make you feel good these days.
Next week I will be at a storytelling festival for four days. While I am there, I'll be doing a workshop with Donald Davis... North Carolina storyteller extraordinaire... and boy am I looking forward to that. I sure do miss North Carolina storytellers (and that lovely N.C. drawl) since moving back to Canada. I am also looking forward to seeing Gay Ducey, as southern a woman as they come, a librairan and a storyteller who can spin a tale out of nothing and make you laugh till your sides ache! And of course, all my storytelling buddies plus my dear friend Kathy from near Seattle who will put up with me being her roomie while we are there LOL.
Perhaps in the meantime, it will give you a chance to get caught up on all the posts you may not have read yet or go back and re-read some of your favourites!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a lovely weekend.
Sharon
P.S. I've been tagged by my South Dakato art buddy Mar... what a little devil she is... but I won't be able to do much about it until later in the month. Be prepared... you might be next LOL!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips - Bottle Caps, Blister Packaging and Canning Jar Lid Inserts
Now who could have guessed that Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Elizabeth and Alicia Edwards would come up with 24 uses for a "lowly" bottle cap, 9 ideas for "useless" blister packaging and 12 ideas for canning jar lid inserts that usually go into the trash without much thought? Certainly not me! I don't know about you but I was pretty impressed by those numbers!
Here, for your arting pleasure, is the result of their brainstorming.....
Save those bottle caps and
- alter them to use as an embellishment on a page, ATC or tag
- paint/decoupage and make into Christmas decorations
- bottle caps make funky earrings or pendants on necklaces
- make magnets for the fridge using your favourite photos
- cover with fabric, glue a cardboard circle that fits the back of the bottle cap. Glue a thumbtack to the cardboard backing and voila you have a “designer” thumbtack
- glue bottle caps to a Styrofoam tray to store tiny findings or beads
- adhere stickers to the top of a bottle cap for embellishments in scrapbooks, altered books, etc.
- mount small fun-foam shapes on the back of bottle caps - more small printing blocks!
- cover with fabric, threads and beads for Christmas decorations
- drill a hole in the top and attach to a book page as an embellishment
- fill the deep side of the bottle cap with resin and embed artsy bits, objects, micro beads, fiber, printed graphics, pictures or photos in it.
- make into games pieces or charms
- use as a dangle in wind chimes
- plastic bottle caps are great for holding glue when you are applying with a paint brush for glitter
- use as a stamp to make rings or bubbles for fish on your "canvas"!
- bottle caps make nice tiny frames, distressed and painted for a textured area.
- chain bottle caps together to make a jingly addition to a book, page or ???
- flatten, bend in half and attach as page tabs
- glue a makeup sponge inside a large 2 liter bottle cap to save your manicure when applying inks
- make a finger-size pincushion
- use as "feet" for a box or shrine
- use to create a "Shadow" box with a mini-scene or art bits. Wrap the edges with fiber or micro-beads. A pin-back will turn it into jewelry.
- melt the bottle cap liners together, stamp them while hot, colour with inks and they look like a wax seal.
- use as a head on an art doll.
Save that clear plastic blister packaging and
- emboss it or make a die cut for your art out of it.
- paint with alcohol inks to make 'polished stone' backgrounds
- frame 3-D artwork in clear plastic blister package boxes
- recyclable plastic can be die cut (or stamped then cut out) to shrink with heat gun or oven just like the store-bought shrink plastic materials.
- cut out a design, press into wet paint and “stamp” onto paper with it.
- cut blister packing into cloud shapes. Paint them white. While the paint is still wet, spread tiny bits of cotton on them. Use as cloud embellishments in your art.
- use the flat pieces to cut out a stencil pattern
- make a miniature scene inside shaped blister packing
- use flat blister packaging as "windows" in shaker boxes, cards. slides, frames or collages.
Save those canning lid inserts and
- cover with fabric, used gift wrap, ribbons or images from cards, attach a hanger and use as an ornament for your Christmas tree.
- drill a hole in the top and attach a chain. Use as a chime in outdoor wind chimes.
- cover the insert with batting and fabric. Glue to the underside of the insert. Cut out a cardboard circle to fit the bottom of the insert. Glue to insert. Paint the outer canning ring. Push the insert into the ring and you now have a decorative jar lid for buttons, cotton balls or even preserves/jam you make to give away as gifts.
- use the inserts to make picture magnets for the fridge
- use the inserts to make interesting/different/unusual place cards for a party
- make an unusual book. Collage on the inserts. Drill a hole to “bind” the inserts together with a binder ring
- glue an image to the insert and mount in a scrapbook, altered book or card
- paint and decoupage the inserts to make sun catchers, mobiles, etc.
- use the inserts as a base for decorative candles
- use the canning inserts to make bodies for “metal people”, bird house roofs, and tin assemblages
- use as a base to make a round pendant. Drill a hole in the top and attach a jump ring and chain
- use to cut out metal “dog tags” for your art.
I'll be taking next Tuesday and a couple of Fridays off from posting this month as I prepare for an upcoming art show in November. a workshop I will be doing on the Latest Trends in Mixed Media art group at the end of this month, eating turkey with all the trimmings on Canadian Thanksgiving (October 13) with my family and four days away at the Forest Storytelling Festival in Port Angeles, Washington.
WHEW... that should keep me off the streets and out of trouble for a few days!
Have a great week...
Sharon
Friday, October 3, 2008
“A” is for Apple Pie…
Last Saturday morning my ten pounds of peaches and forty pound box of apples arrived from the fruit farmer! Hubby’s eyes lit up. He licked his lips in anticipation and I swear I saw some drool escaping down the side of his chin. LOL.
It wasn’t rocket science to figure out what was going through his mind. My pie loving hubby had visions of hot peach or apple pie, flaky sweet pastry with a dollop of homemade ice cream and a cup of his "killer coffee" to wash it all down, spinning wildly out of control in his head. LOL
One of my Fall rituals each September is a marathon session baking pies. I have my Gramma to thank for that. She taught me how to make pie pastry when I was all of eight years old.
Gramma and Grampa lived on a very large dairy farm in northwestern Ontario that my French Canadian grandfather inherited from his father when he died, well into his nineties, in the 1930’s.
What a wonderful farm it was! Acres and acres of hay fields, a small fruit orchard and a vegetable garden filled with row upon row of corn, peas, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsnips, pumpkin, carrots, squash and turnip. Rows that seemed to stretch for miles and miles.
An old fashioned barn for the cows and the horses.
A long white hen house for mama hens and their chicks.
An ornery barnyard rooster named Big Ben named after the Big Ben clock in London, England. Need I say more? What a noisy character he was....
A building that served both as a root cellar for storing the fall harvest and ice house for cooling and storage of perishables.
A mud pit with a fence for Papa Porky, his wife Bess and their squealing little piglets.
A hay barn and place to store the wagons and farm implements when the day’s work was done.
A rambling, old farmhouse with many tiny rooms, a large attic filled with all sorts of goodies from years gone by (including great-grandfather's fiddle) and a gigantic kitchen with two long tables that probably sat at least 12 people each. I remember the old rocking chair that sat by the large wood burning cook stove. I was rocked to sleep in that chair on many occasions when I was really little.
A water well and bucket just outside the back door. And yup the outhouse was a bit further out in the backyard... with a fancy curtained window in the door no less!
A long porch with rockers and chairs for sunset sittin’ and watchin' before bedtime. Grampa was up at 4 in the morning to milk the cows before they went out to pasture. He "hit the hay" pretty early each evening.
A miniature "farmhouse" and tiny flower garden filled with pansies, daisies and sweet peas. Such a lovely playhouse built by a proud grandfather (my great-grandfather) for his first granddaughter.
It was to this land and home, a handsome young man with a delightful French accent brought his pretty, Minnesota bride to live and raise a family prior to WWI.
In the early 50’s Grampa built a modern, new house with a small “tearoom” porch for Gramma just up the road. Gramma just loved her new house even though she complained every now and again that the kitchen was “too small”… she couldn't fit 12-14 people around the kitchen table at one time now! It was in this kitchen that she taught me the “art” of making pastry.
For as long as I can remember, I have loved apple pie and homemade ice cream! When we went to visit, Gramma always made sure she had a freshly baked apple pie sitting on the sideboard waiting for me. Grampa, of course, always needed help to finish off churning the ice cream. He needed a “tester” to quickly dip a small index finger into that cold, cold mass of cream and sugar and have a taste. This, of course, was just a “precaution” to make sure the ice cream was really ready.
Each summer, my cousin Lanny and I (we are close in age) would get to spend a couple of weeks on the farm with our grandparents just as our three older “girl” cousins (now teenagers) had done when they were our age. Not only would we get to gather the eggs, feed the chickens, pick vegetables and fruit or play in the old playhouse my great grandfather had built but we got to go on the tractor out into the fields with our grandfather or help gramma in the kitchen. It was the highlight of our summer school vacation.
During harvest time, the farm bustled with activity and people! The “clan” of aunts and uncles, farmhands, and friends all gathered to bring in the bounty and put it up for the winter ahead. While my mother and her sisters canned fruit and vegetables in the old farmhouse kitchen up the road (it was wired for electricity in the 1920’s), Gramma, aided by her granddaughters, would get busy in the new farmhouse preparing the evening feast for a crowd of ravenous “workers”. Pies, made with a variety of fillings and freshly churned butter, were always on the menu!
Each fall, these wonderful childhood memories come flooding back to me. As I put on my apron and get out the butter, shortening, flour, sugar and cinnamon, eggs, cream, pie tins and my gramma’s old rolling pin, I am magically transported back in time to gramma’s kitchen! My grandmother is my kitchen angel at pastry making time. Even though she died suddenly when I was just twelve, I can still feel her presence and hear her voice instructing me in the fine “art” of creating flaky, delicious pastry.
- Now Sharon, never make pastry on a rainy day. The flour can absorb too much moisture and make it dry.
- Make sure dear that everything is very cold before you start. The flour, the butter, the lard, the water.
- Cut the butter and lard (shortening) into the flour until it is the size of the peas in the garden.
- Mix your pastry as quickly as you can and handle it as little as possible. The heat from your hands will melt the “fat” around the flour and that's what makes pastry tough. We want the heat of a hot oven to do that job!
- Form the pastry into a nice round ball and pat it down into a circle. Put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to get it cold again.
- Roll the pastry circle eight times. Once up, then down. Turn the pastry sideways, once up and down. Imagine it is a clock. Put your rolling pin in the middle of the clock. Roll once towards ten o’clock; once toward five o’clock; once toward two o’clock and once toward seven o’clock. That's enough... just practice and you'll soon know how to do it like this.
- Wind your pastry onto your rolling pin and transfer it to the pie tin.
- Mix a beaten egg until it is frothy. Add some cream. Now brush the egg wash on the top crust to make a pretty brown top crust once it’s baked.
- Sprinkle some sugar on the top of the pie just before you put it in the oven It will caramelize on top and it’s very tasty.
- Bake on the middle rack in a 370 degree oven for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees. You'll know when the pie is done. It will be lovely and brown on the top. It will burn if you put it on the bottom rack or don't turn the oven down.
Last weekend, I doned my apron and had a marathon pie making session ! I made eight peach pies and some homemade vanilla ice cream on Sunday. So far this week, I have made another 22 pies… cinnamon apple, cinnamon apple/blackberry and apple/raspberry… all but three of them headed for the freezer to enjoy at Thanksgiving, Christmas and over the winter.
My hubby is a very happy man. All is right with the world when there’s pie in the oven and the house smells of cooked apples and cinnamon when he walks through the door at the end of the day. I love all the appreciative compliments I get when he takes his first sniff and looks at all the pies cooling on the counter. He never fails to praise the pastry as he savours his piece of pie after dinner! LOL
Now just to prove that I am not fibbing… here’s a photo of half the top shelf of my freezer….double stacked with 20 pies... the remaining were still cooling when I took this photo
And… just to make your mouth water… here is one of the pies…
Now… if you aren’t into making pastry, here’s an art project for you.
But first a humourous little story.
Remember that photo of the apple pie at the beginning of this post? Well...
One of my husband’s uncles loves my apple pie and raves about my pastry. I swear that man can smell it all across town because he usually shows up for a "cuppa" (a cup of tea), out of the blue and unexpectedly, just as they are out of the oven and cooling on the counter.
One afternoon he stopped by for tea and saw that same pie at the beginning of this post, sitting on my counter. We chatted about this and that and I noticed how he kept stealing a sideways glance at it. But he said not a word about the pie.He drank his tea and nibbled at the cookies on his plate. He waited and waited and waited for a piece of that pie to be offered.
Finally he could stand it no longer. “Do you think I could have a slice of that nice apple pie you made?” he said boldly.
"Sure," I said. "But I don't think you'll like it. The pastry is rather tough."
"Oh, just a little piece will do!" he said, licking his lips in anticipation.
Well the jig was up. I told him the truth. He just roared with laughter when he found out it was a “fake” apple pie. He has never let me forget it!
Want to try your hand at making an apple pie top? Make a batch of flour and salt playdough. Cut out strips and weave them together to form the top of the pie. Decorate the pie with an apple and leaves made from the "playdough". Place it on the middle rack in your oven (about 225 degrees) until its dry. This can take some time at this low heat, so just be patient. It will look "cooked" when it's fairly white with no moist spots. Remove it from the oven with oven gloves. It will be hot!
Let it cool, preferably overnight, then ink the “cooked” pie crust and apple with vintage ink. Fill the aluminum pan beneath it with cinnamon pot pourri and hot glue the crust to the pan. It will make your kitchen smell wonderful and you'll probably fool your best friend with your newly acquired, fantastic pie making abilities!
Best get busy. I still have a third of a box of apples to deal with!! Hmmm… guess I’ll make some southern fried apples to have with the pork chops tonight. Maybe I’ll make enough to bottle up for over the winter too… or what about some apple mint jelly for lamb… or a filling for apple crisp… or maybe some apple chutney for curry… or .....
Tootles for now…
Sharon
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips – Recycling Egg Cartons, Cardboard Inserts and Flat Styrofoam
This week there are 32 ideas for recycling egg cartons, cardboard inserts and flat Styrofoam pieces into your art… plus a project using one of my favourite techniques when I am in a quirky mood or my art muse has gone on vacation - “The Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan” background collage technique!
Compiled tips, including some from yours truly, submitted to the September 2008 Brainstorming Recycling Contest. Thanks to Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, and Alicia Edwards.
Save those egg cartons and
- use styrofoam cartons as disposable mixing pots for dye, paint, perfect pearls, glue, etc.
- use as plant starters for seeds/seedlings
- use for sorting and storing buttons. beads, brads, charms, small jewelry bits, sequins, vintage game pieces, grommets
- use them for drying blown out eggs that you will be painting and/or using for mosaics
- soak cardboard cartons in water until they turn to mush and make stiff pasteboard covers for books or other papier mache creations
- use to sort and store stickers and alphabet letters.
- use Styrofoam cartons to make extra ice cubes when you need them
- use Styrofoam cartons as a watercolour palette
- fill with wood chips, cover with beeswax or melted down candle stub wax and use as fireplace, bonfire or grill fire starters.
Save those cardboard inserts and
- use the heavier cardboard for book covers
- place in an envelope as a stiffener when mailing art for swaps, etc.
- use the lighter cardboard to create templates for patterns, luggage type tags, small drawings, notes, file folders, dividers, postcard backs, bookmarks
- lightly score them in half and make a funnel. Use to catch glitter, embossing powder, etc. and return to the bottle or jar
- use to reinforce altered books and art
- make small boxes, frames, backing material for your art.
- use corrugated cardboard for adding texture to shrines, roofs on houses, etc.
- strip parts of the outer layer of paper from one side of the cardboard and use as background for collages, etc.. Can also be painted/collaged for super textured books covers.
- Wine box inserts can be used to organize your drawers
- Use lightweight cardboard to create chunky book pages
- Gesso both sides and paint on them to make art postcards, ATCs, Moo Cards, inchies
- Make shims for diecut machines
The Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan Painted Collage Technique/Project
Here’s a neat project for an interesting, highly textured background or collage using a heavier cardboard insert! I call this my “Ugly Duckling into a Beautiful Swan” Technique and you’ll soon see why.
Gesso the cardboard. Glue bits of string, yarn, cheesecloth, dryer sheets that have been shrunk with a heat gun, fabric leaves, play sand, bits of torn paper, cardboard and anything you can find that might be useful in your waste paper basket onto the gessoed cardboard! If you have a sewing wastebasket,,, go through it and pull out bits of knotted up thread, cut material bits, bits of fabric, serger threads or anything you find that is flat! Glue it down on your substrate. Let it dry for at least 24 hours.
Does it look as ugly as sin LOL? Great… that means it will be beautiful when you get done with it!
When dry, paint over it using some of your favourite colours in a haphazard manner. Use a comb to add even more texture in the paint. Just have fun using color and letting your free spirit guide you!
One of my favourite pieces of art was created just like this! I liked it so much that I had it framed. The art gallery that framed it actually valued it at about $900.00! It is unusually gorgeous, sits above my piano as inspiration and no, I won’t sell it,,,,
Where's the picture of this masterpiece LOL? Well, I took one but it didn't turn out very well because it is now behind glass and the texture/metallic paint doesn't really show up in the photo! Sorry....
Save those flat styrofoam pieces
- cut to size, place in a container and use it to stick paint brushes in to keep them upright.
- carve, paint and make into “adobe” miniature houses
- make Styrofoam cutouts to paint or cover with paper or fabric and embellish for books, cards and art
- you can use the soft, pliable Styrofoam packing material sheets much little cotton batting (wadding) in mixed media art because it can be quilted, glued, sewn to create a puffy effect and used as stuffing.
- draw a design with an empty ballpoint pen or cut out designs for instant, textured printing blocks
- Use as a backing for small wall hangings or in assemblages
- Use blocks of Styrofoam as a holder for things you want to dry, i.e. beads you have painted and stuck on a pin, waxed leaves on picks, etc.. Just stick the pin or picks into the styrofoam and they will stay upright!
- Use as a filler in plant pots to make them lighter. You can also use syrofoam egg cartons or peanuts as well. Just fill the bottom of the pot with styrofoam to the level you want, cut the flat styrofoam piece to fit the pot, place on top. Add the plant dirt and plant.
- Use the flat styrofoam pieces to build light weight extensions or create frames
- Emboss them with your Cuttlebug, Sizzix machine Diecut or punch them to create embellishments.
- Thicker (1/4 inch) flat Styrofoam can be used in much the same way as foam core board to make small shadow boxes or to reinforce larger niches. This kind of Styrofoam was used to make the window wall in the French Bistro shrine in the Sept. 26th blog posting.
Have fun this week with your art... See you Friday!
Sharon
Friday, September 26, 2008
How to create a French Bistro Cafe...
Take One Black Photo Box
+
One Favourite Art Calendar
then
create two French Waiter stand up "photo dolls"
and
A minature table with bread, wine glasses & cheese
Mount old ceiling tin to the ceiling
Paper the walls and lay a "tiled" floor
Add baseboards around the inside of the box
Add a recessed picture window wall
Glue an outdoor scene to the back of the box
Mount Mucha Art on the walls
Electrify the box with real lights
Plug the lights in and admire your creation
Meet Monsieur Edgar
and Monsieur Henri
Come join me in my Paris bistro for wine & cheese!
I adore the whimsy of Guy Buffet's art, especially his French restaurant scenes! This is my tribute to this wonderful French artist who brings a wide smile to my face and a chuckle to my heart.
It is also my personal "memory shrine" of many wonderful days, weeks and months spent in
- funky Paris bistros drinking coffee and eating Petit Pain au Chocolat (brioche dough baked around a piece of chocolate);
- lunching on the steps of Sacre Coeur Cathedral on warm, sunny, spring days;
- skipping merrily along the left bank of the Seine;
- experiencing pure joy in my heart in my many wanderings through the Louvre;
- feeling mesmerized and deeply moved by the majestic sounds of the organ in Notre Dame Cathedral;
- smacking my lips in total delight sampling the delicious cuisine and wine of Alsace;
- the experience of true freedom flying gliders in the Loire Valley each summer;
- singing the French children's song "Le Pont d'Avignon" at the top of my lungs the first time I saw the bridge at Avignon and
- admiring, for hours and hours, the simply magnificent windows in the Chartre Cathedral.
Sharon
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips - Recycling Plastic Drink Bottles & Fruit/Meat Tray Styrofoam
40 fantastic ideas for recycling plastic drink bottles and meat/fruit Styrofoam trays to use in your art work, studio or around your home…including instructions for two art projects.
Tips and ideas submitted to the September 2008 Brainstorming Recycling Contest by Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Alicia Edwards and some from yours truly!
Tips and ideas submitted to the September 2008 Brainstorming Recycling Contest by Terry Howard, Martha B., Leslie, Donna Zamora, Susan Marie, Kelsey Jones Evans, Stephen du Toit, Moon Willow, Christine Bell, Pam Yee, Pam Crawford, Donna Hall, Alicia Edwards and some from yours truly!
Save those plastic drink bottles and...
- use them to carry water to do watercolours outside the studio
- fill them with paint or diluted inks and pour washes over your work.
- use the lids on bottles as tiny mixing pallets
- use them as a package in mail art and to mail surprises for art friends or grandchildren
- cut the tops off of several of them. Tape together like a wine rack. Use to store items that come in rolls, i.e. waxed paper, shelf paper, contact paper, Cut down small plastic bottles to store rolls of stickers, paper lace, etc.
- Keep a bottle filled with water for washing brushes, filling watercolour troughs, mini misters, or spray bottles. Saves a trip to the bathroom or kitchen sink!
- Fill them with craft items for storage or to send them to your crafty friends.
- Fill with water, freeze and use as a “cooler” for picnic lunches at the park or beach. When the ice melts on a hot day at the beach, you can drink it!
- Make them into wind twirlers! Cut off the top and bottom. Start cutting them evenly around the bottle from top to bottom.
- Cut bottles into sections or strips. Heat gently with a heat gun to make them flat. Use markers to colour and reheat. Use them as embellishments in altered books or art.
- Fill bottles with sand, cover with a glove puppet and use for doorstops.
- Fill small plastic bottles or containers with sand. Use as weights when sewing or anytime you need to “weight down” something in your art to flatten it. Can also use them as pattern weights when you are cutting out a sewing pattern.
- Make a pretty collage vase or paintbrush/pen/pencil holder by first painting with gesso, then painting and collaging.
- They can be cut down, inked, painted, embossed and stamped and shrunk down in an oven or with a heat gun to make unusual jewelry.
- Cut them up and punch holes all around and crochet or knit together to make a see through tote or purse.
- Use them as a string dispenser. Cut off the bottom, slip in the string making sure to pull the starter out of the hole and attach to a wall. Punch another hole and tie on some scissors.
- Fill with water. Insert plant cuttings you want to root.
- Fill with sand and use as a rolling pin.
- Cut plastic bottles in half and use the top as a funnel to put glitters, confetti, glues, sealers back in their containers. Use the bottom for mixing custom paints, soaking brushes, as water dishes, mixing bowls for grout, small trays for beads or trinkets.
- Here’s a gorgeous project from my art friend Zeb Loray using a recycled drink bottle with Radiant Rain Daubers available from After Midnight Art Stamps. You won’t believe just how beautiful these look until you make one yourself. If you like texture, you'll love to have one of these in your art room.
- Use them for mono-print plates. Draw into them or texture them for unique textured prints on your paper.
- Use as covers for a book about groceries, a vegetarian or anti-meat theme.
- Use them to sort beads, bits you’ve assembled for a small project.
- Trays make a wonderful, disposable paint palette and are a flat surface when using a brayer with ink, paint or rubber stamps.
- Use the trays to capture excess glitter or embossing powders.
- Punch out snowmen, animals, flowers with punches for craft projects.
- Flat Styrofoam pieces make super bases for Christmas decorations or to mail breakables.
- Use the meat/fruit trays to plant seedlings for your garden.
- Cut into squares or circles and use them to separate your burgers before freezing.
- Make your own stamps by carving a relief design into the Styrofoam. Ink and stamp.
- Use as holding trays for project embellishments, brads, tiny watch gears, beads, etc.
- Put a baby wipe in the bottom of a tray and use it to clean your brayer.
- Cut Styrofoam trays into pieces and make stencils or quickie stamps.
- Use as a postcard or ATC back.
- Glue to the back of elements (i.e. photographs), cut out and create a 3-D effect when they are placed on your collage or assemblage. You can use the Styrofoam as a substitute “glue dot” or foam tape and as a way to “build up” different levels of element layers in your art project.
- Cover with paper and use to make frames or mats for photos/images in your art.
- Smaller pieces of Styrofoam can be covered with wide decorative ribbon for an interesting mat for an embellishment or image in your art.
- Cover Styrofoam squares with fabric and use as embellishments in your art.
- Sandwich Styrofoam between two pieces of heavy cardboard, cover with fabric and use as a “bottom” in an art tote, handbag or satchel.
- Cut them into shapes. Heat with a heat gun to shrink. Brush with paint to make unusual charms, embellishments or jewelry. Here’s a photo of some charms I made for a swap using black Styrofoam meat trays, some recycled pearls, corrugated cardboard and metallic paint. The instructions to make your own are below. Unfortunately metallic paint does not photograph well but you’ll get the idea of what you could create!
Styrofoam Fruit/Meat Tray Project
Cut the Styrofoam into rectangles (or alternatively just break them into unusual shapes) Make them larger than what you want in the end… they will shrink. Put on a mask and go outside.
Fire up your heat gun. Hold the Styrofoam down with a long bamboo stick while heating (Styrofoam is light and will fly away from you if you don’t hold it down). If you are not planning on mounting it onto another substrate and want a hole in the top to attach a jump ring to, pierce the Styrofoam with a safety pin. Leave the safety pin in while you are heating it.
Dry brush the shapes with metallic paint. Glue a bead or pearl to the shape when dry. Mount onto a piece of corrugated card board cut to the size you want the finished charm to be (you can either recycle some cardboard that you have ripped the top layer from and paint it or purchase some coloured corrugated cardboard). Pierce the top of the cardboard and attach a jump ring to turn your creation into a charm.
Raid, Repurpose, Rejoice
is a new recycling 3 R's slogan just for artists that popped into my head the other day! RAID your recycling bin (and your neighbours too if you are so inclined LOL), REPURPOSE what you find, REJOICE in making art from stuff headed for local landfills)
Go forth and make recycling bin art today my friends… See you all again on Friday!
Sharon
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