Lucky Day!

Fall in Minnesota



Lately I have been having some good luck! I won a blog draw prize from Belinda Spiwak and she sent some fun extras, I received an ATC from Charlie in England along with some bonus prizes, and I won first place in a photo contest.

Belinda Spiwak is the moderator of the mixed media friends yahoo group. She taught at Create in Chicago, and has been published in numerous magazines. After Create Chicago she had a series of giveaways on her blog. I won three stencils from Crafter's Worshop which are wonderful. If that wasn't enough she also sent me one of her Halloween themed ATC's and some additional cut out's I can use with future projects. I made my technique book from an exchange in this group, the altered altoid tin purse and fabric paper are two other creations from being involved in this group. These are photos of my prizes.

I am also a member of Stitchtalk, not as active as many people but I have joined the ATC group. We have a one on one exchange each month. If you don't know ATC stands for Artist Trading Card, they are only 2.5" x 3.5." So far I have sent and received three cards. September's card came from England. Charlie sent a wonderful representation of her part of the world and I feel as if I just went on a virtual trip to the Peak District. The little cookbook she included has a number of pictures of the area. The postcard is a photo near where she lives, she said she likes to walk her dog in this area. Isn't it gorgeous! The red strip is a leather embossed bookmark. And the tiny stitched English Cottage is just amazing work. Thanks Charlie, I love it. Here are some photos of my bounty. I guess I will need to start a new slideshow for my ATC's. My October card will travel to Australia so I hope to finish it today and get it in the mail, it has a long way to travel.


My third lucky project was winning first place in the pets category for a local photo contest. Although maybe it is more persistence than luck. I have been entering this contest off and on for about 11 years. My son has a pet hedgehog. Not your typical pet, I know. He told me he was going to be watching her for a friend who was going on vacation. About ten days later I asked him when his friend was coming home. Well, the red flags went up when he kind of hedged the answer with a mumbled reply of "Not sure." Turns out his friend no longer wanted the hedgehog and he thought I would fall in love with her and not mind. She is kind of cute. I told him as long as he took care of her completely he could keep it. He does ask me to watch Boom(that's her name) while he cleans the habitat. Most of the time I just hold her with a towel on my lap. It was a beautiful day so he decided to let Boom walk around on our patio behind the house while he cleaned the hedgehog home. I came out to keep an eye on her because she can move really fast on the exercise wheel. She didn't go far in the yard, it was a pretty new experience for her. I brought my camera and caught quite a few shots. Last night at the City Council meeting I received a certificate from the mayor along with a $50 gift certificate to Axel's of Prestwick(a local restaurant). Boom's photo was in the city newsletter (October 2011) I received yesterday and may be published in the monthly city magazine(October, 2011). She is famous! This isn't the photo I won the contest with but I thought you might like to see a photo of "Boom."

Have a creative day.
Janet

Embellished Songs

I've started my postcards for a group exchange. In Postmark'd Art I signed up for a group making postcards that fit a song title. I originally thought I would make them for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." But, my son looked at it and said perfect timing "The Lion King" is coming out in 3D soon. I only did one so far and have six to go, seven if I want one for myself. Maybe by the time I finish all of them I will have made up my mind, or come up with another lion inspired song.

I started with a blank piece of felt. I added cream colored roving for the cheeks and chin.

Next I added black for the mouth, nose and eyes.

I mixed a few colors together for the face to give it a little more dimension and to try to define the nose. Finally I used yarn for the mane. It was fun, I'm going to have to pull my embellisher out more often.

Have a creative day
Janet

Artist Trading Card

I finished my ATC (Artist Trading Card) for the September exchange. Hopefully it will arrive on time, this one is traveling to the UK.  This exchange is through the stitchtalk online community.  I'm 'meeting' some very wonderful people on this site.  

I'm trying to extend summer by making a card which brings to mind flowers and water.  The fabric I used for the background has always made me think of Monet's garden.  It's a flowery color wash. 

I worked on this card at our small group meeting for Minnesota Quilter's earlier this week.  I asked the others to help me come up with a name for the card.  Nancy's first thought was that it brings to mind Monet's garden (Great minds think alike!).  So, I said "Monet's garden if he had worked with beads."  It seemed a little cumbersome for such a small card.  June came to the rescue, suggesting "Monet's beaded garden."  Much better!  I could fit that on the back of my card.

Monet's beaded garden

Artist trading cards are only 2.5" x3.5."  The front of the card is an example of your work and the back has your name, the title of the work and the date you completed it.  You just slip it in an envelope and send it in the mail.  Very fun to work on such a small scale.

The photo at the top of the page and the second photo  I took last summer at a local garden show.  They were a little of my inspiration for this card. 

Have a creative day

Janet

Pat on the back, new ATC

I have exciting news. Judy Coates Perez posted a photo of my technique book on her blog. It's always fun to get a pat on the back from someone. I love her work so knowing she liked something I made is very much a compliment.

I went to our city's celebration today. Lot's of businesses have booths, a few craft people, some restaurants, and of course there was a parade and carnival rides. Sometimes you can get good coupons from the business people if there is something you want to buy. There aren't as many craft people as there used to be. Kind of expensive to set up a booth and even harder to sell enough to make it worth while. It's tough to find a place to sell our work that doesn't eat up all the profits. I did buy a tiny purse that someone had for sell. I needed something for change. It isn't homemade but it is very cute.

I also received an ATC in the mail. I sent one in return but forgot to take a photo before I mailed it. Darn! I hate it when I do that. Isn't this cute! The little knitted part can be removed from the ATC and worn as a pin. Very clever.
My husband and I have been doing lot's of walking in the parks lately. That is where I took the butterfly photo. I've been getting quite a few nature shots. We have been blessed with beautiful weather.
Have a creative day
Janet

Technique Book Cover Art

Some time ago I posted about a mixed media exchange. I received about 40 half sheets of paper, each with a different technique for surface design, each completed by a different person. I wanted to put them all together in a book so I would be able to find them when needed. Each of the pages has directions on the back of the page detailing the steps to replicate their beautiful work.
I took a class taught by Judy Coates Perez at the Minnesota Quilt Show and decided that was the technique that would make a perfect cover for this book. I made the cover art soon after the show in June. Summer gets so busy with travel, yard work, getting sick (bummer!) but I did finally finish my book cover.

I didn't want to leave the edges of the metal exposed, because knowing me I would have cut myself at some point. I used to make fabric frames, so the front of my book is basically a frame. I used leftover fabric from a couch I re-covered, it's a faux leather. I think it looks really good with the metal. Now I need to start experimenting with some of the techniques in the book.

Have a creative day
Janet