Sunday, April 30, 2017

Assemblage Art: "A Little Bird Told Me"

Good morning friends and happy Sunday!

We returned home earlier this week after 10 days at The Wren's Nest, and it has taken me this long to catch up on laundry and garden work, so here I am at last. Doesn't it seem like there are never enough hours in the day?

We finally hung up an assemblage piece that I started a while ago, and finished over the winter.

Here is the piece, which has been hung
next to the window in the living room.
We actually managed to get in the last
two new windows this trip.
More on that saga later this week!
You may recall that we had completed
16 of the 18 but work came to a
standstill last June when the issues
started with the Mister's foot.
We even put up our first curtains,
which are a little more "printy" than
what I would used here at home,
but "cottagey" enough for this place
without being too cute!...


This was a generic Michael's wood shadow
box that I originally purchased for I-don't-know-
what and painted with Waverly Chalk paint
from the craft section of Walmart.
The color is "plaster".
The inside of the box as purchased
was lined with beige fabric.
Of course, its so hard for me to create
something without using an old photo...


The feathers were found in our yard some
time ago. As I always do with found feathers,
I placed them in a zip lock baggie with
bug spray, sealed it shut, and let them
sit in there for a while, ensuring that any
mites on the feathers would be dead.
The nest was a vacated real one found up at
The Wren's Nest when we cut down some
old bushes up there, and was also treated
the same as the feathers.
Because it was crumbly,
I sealed it with spray acrylic
and carefully glued it to a background
of wax paper to make sure that it
didn't crumble further once placed in the box.
The eggs are little paper eggs that I
think were part of a home decor set once
purchased at Target.
You can read more about the actual nest here...


A copy of some vintage sheet music,
and some paper flowers fastened with
brads,
along with some twigs,
seed pods from daylilies here at home,
and game letters...


But my favorite part is the old rusted doorbell
that I bought a long time ago and was
waiting for the perfect place to reside.
It's all about home!...


What have you been up to lately?
Thanks so much for coming by!


Sunday, April 16, 2017

Easter 2017


Wishing you and yours a wonderful day.

************************
The beautiful tulip above was blooming in our garden last week.

XO
Sue

Monday, April 10, 2017

Progress on my first junk journal...

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope that your week is getting off to a good start.

I have had very little time for crafting as I have been working a lot in the gardens, but as I mentioned recently, I am working on a junk journal. It is with a nature-inspired theme (prompted perhaps by all the yard work I have been doing!), and I've been picking away at it bit by bit, working one page at a time. It's much more labor intensive than working on greeting cards, but I'm enjoying using "stuff" that has been kicking around a while. I have not yet worked on the cover, but rather, I am just working on trying to plan my pages in some integrated manner.

Nothing I touch makes the cut without at least
a few vintage photos,
this one incorporated with words from
some vintage sheet music...



Sorry the next photo is sideways,
but I don't have time to fix it.
The ties holding the feather are on the back of the page...


...of the layout on left below.
Some scrapbook papers and a use for
an old rubber stamp that I hadn't used
in years.
Crinkled seam binding tied up in the corner...


...which shows on the next page below.
In the glassine envelope is a vintage Bridge
tally card purchased on eBay.
Some of these have lovely graphics,
especially the nature-themed ones,
and those from the art deco period of the 20s.
On the right is vintage ledger paper
along with the egg, which was from a
piece of scrapbook paper...


Some more ledger paper on left, with a page from an old
book covered with tulle and a paper flower,
with more scrapbook paper on the right...


Pretty young sisters from their First Communion or
Confirmation photo, and I gave them some paper daisies
to hold to match those in their hair,
a page from a vintage book,
and a rubber stamped quote and words on the
envelope...


As with all collage, assembling items to work with
that will result in a cohesive theme is the hardest part,
but here are some things that I hope to work with next.
More sheet music, printouts from garden books,
vintage photos, and some lovely digital downloads
purchased on Etsy...




I am not one to keep journals myself, so the hardest part for me has been allowing room for someone else to journal and to not get overly carried away on the collaging of everything else that I love. I guess I'll see where this takes me!

I won't likely post for a bit now, as we are getting ready to open the place in the mountains and resume the work that we began last year before Bob's surgery. Until then,

Happy Creating!!