French Gothic arch in progress

A few days ago I started working on a Gothic arch piece, which will feature French proverbs with their English equivalents (which sometimes, of course, is not a word-by-word translation).

I started with cutting out the shapes - a manila folder became the 4-panel base; I painted the edges with gesso and then with pearly champagne acrylic with some gold accents. The backgrounds for each panel are cut out from the Chateau en Lavender stack I acquired during a recent trip to Joann's.

Then I heat-embossed some more golden accents and dyed the proverbs in strong tea to make them look historic. Ah, there is also some plant life stamped faintly in the background. I just love when the details are layered and you can discover some surprises when looking at the piece.

A few more steps to accomplish - adding some more details (I'm thinking flowers, burlap, a little bit of metal, maybe lace) and the Gothic arch will be ready for its French-loving recipient!

recycling musically in January

In January a few music-related items based on recycled materials have passed through my craft table. The most recent one is a result of a find that happened on a cold and windy morning, when on the way home I spotted an old electric organ by the dumpster. The instrument, beautiful as it must have been in the days of its glory, looked broken and damaged beyond repair... so I allowed myself to partake of it as well. I still felt like a vulture yanking off parts of a carcass (by the way - did you know that vultures have such strong stomach acids that they can eat putrid meat, which potentially includes anthrax and botulinum, and it won't hurt them? What's more, they can also use their stomach content as a weapon, vomiting a defensive projectile at the enemy. Gross, but interesting.)

Back to my find... the most exciting key was "vox humana" - human voice", which I used incorporated into a necklace. I'm no jewelry expert, so it's not a perfect piece, but in my opinion it qualifies as "good enough" :)

Another musical craft was a little album made from an old cassette tape. I had to find one I wasn't emotionally attached to, because I still occasionally play some old cassettes I dragged here from Poland.

And then I converted the box from the cassette into a little stand for inspiring Scriptures and other thoughts:

Yay for recycling!

a new collectionary for the new year

After a flurry of Sunday School crafts that stormed through my craft table, the time has come to focus on some other items. I've started with the first pages of the new collectionary which will travel with us to Israel. I always write a few intro pages after the dates have been settled, tickets purchased etc.

I had to do it by the end of December so that I could use the expression "L'shanah haba'ah birushalaim" - Next year in Jerusalem :)

The pages include a bunch of pictures from travel magazines, a teabag wrapper (since the Mount of Olives theme matches perfectly), a credit card flier (that;s the hat image), miscellaneous scraps and a printout of the itinerary. Can't wait to go - but then there is so much to do before it happens!

pasture and palace

In preparation for the Sunday schools this weekend, the craft table (and the craft floor, as it turns out) are covered with David-themed items.

David the Shepherd will appear with his sheep in green pastures by cool waters, with sheep and a scary lion and bear. Then the kids will be making their own sheep, which will mostly consist in attaching cotton balls to their bellies.

David the King will reside in a palace, which looks like it needs some more decorating. Even though I think the kings in those days more likely lived in stony castles, we'll stretch history for the sake of prettiness here :) The kids will also make crowns for themselves and participate in a royal feast.

For the David-the-Musician episode, the kidlets will decorate lyres (which I still need to make) and create little books showcasing the themes on which he was singing: creation, Israel's history, life as a shepherd, prayer, God's word, life at Saul's court.

Also on the table - there is a stack of cutouts prepared for the initial pages of the Collectionary that will cover the Middle East trip - we purchased the plane tickets on Monday, so it would be good to start. 

So glad to have a helper on the craft table - I couldn't possibly do it all by myself!

another tag-a-day spread

Wonder of wonders - the second tag spread in my art journal is finished! Where did all these days go? I was doing so well, but now, after a super-busy weekend, I'm three and a half tags behind.

8 - prototype of the bauble card series
9 - first snow
10 - helping with a mailing at the press
11- a wonderful Christmas concert
12 - prototype of the lacy card series
13 - setting up branches in a clay pot, a.k.a. the floral foam fiasco
14 - Egg Harbor Cafe breakfast at work
15 - product day at work

between the kitchen, the bathroom and the home improvement store

The card below, which I started about two months ago and finished this morning, includes some regular scrapbooking supplies (like a punched flower, glitter and shiny cardstock), but then we also have some less obvious materials from my stash, like the blue mesh, which I intercepted when a little piece was heading to the dumpster when our office was being insulated.

For the bathroom, there is the shaving cream snowflake, and also paper dyed with the same plus food coloring. The semi-glossy paper is a scrap from a press where some of my friends work (and bring me the said scraps). Finally, the silvery background for the bauble has been cut out of a fancy envelope we received at work.

And it's all good and fun... as long as you don't mind packratting odd materials at home, and walking from one room to another while constructing a simple card :)

snowballs?

Nope - these are actually experimental beads made from salt and cornstarch. I found the recipe online and tested how it works in real life.

The beads look ok, especially after sanding and painting. They are really hard after they dry thoroughly, and have nice weight.

I really like the translucence of the flatter pieces - maybe it could be the material for some sort of tealight holder?

However, it was much easier to make a newspaper bead (it's the green one on the right); even though it could never pretend to be made of clay, because it's really light, I found it easier to sand it and handle in general.

This is is for a salt/cornstarch experiment - next, we will return to the regular paper programming.