New techniques

Isn't it fun to try something outside of your own box! I did that this week. It all started with a piece of paper fabric I created when playing at my friend Kathy's house. Here is the piece I made sometime last winter.
I wasn't sure what to do with it, or if maybe it had already served it's purpose. It gave me time to create with my friends.
I was looking at some of Beryl Taylor's work. She likes to use grids. The paper fabric seemed to speak to me, telling me it would be a perfect background fabric for a grid. She also does some work with metal, which is fascinating to me. Not sure what the draw is but I really like to work with metal. The grid was cut from some light weight blue metal. I sewed it to the fabric paper with a piece of felt to cushion and protect my sewing machine. The fiskars punch was a perfect way to create flowers in two different colors.
The paper fabric grid seemed to end up looking like a basket to me, so a basket of flowers was born. It's all about the experiments with this project so I decided to use a stretched canvas to pull it all together. I added some of my modeling paste and some beaded gel, some paint too and strategically hand sewed all of my parts to the canvas. Now it needs a name. Maybe a leaf or two as well. I'm just letting it hang out while I decide if it is finished.
Have a creative day
Janet

In Remembrance

November's theme for the ATC's is "in Remembrance". I finished my card today so I thought I would share it to thank those of you whom I can't thank personally. I know I have many people in my own family to thank for all of the freedom I have today. In loving memory, I thank my dad(Air Force) and Harvey(Navy) (WWII) and Dick(Air Force) (Korea). I thank my brother John, cousin Doug and his son Mike who were all members of the National Guard. My brother Jim(Navy) and sister Judy(Army) for their service in Vietnam, I know you never received the proper thank you, you deserved. My brother-in-law Joe(Air Force) and nephew Mike(Marines) for their multiple tours in Iraq. I hope I am not missing someone, but know that you are all in my heart today as well as the hearts and minds of a grateful nation.

My ATC is a miniature version of Van Gogh's "Field with Poppies." I filled in the field with tiny red beads for the poppies and I added a little frame to make it more like his work of art. In America we use the poppy more for our Memorial Day in May. Many of the people in my group are from other countries. The organizer is from England and today is Remembrance Day in England and Canada as well I believe. Here it is called Veterans Day and we are thankful to all veterans for their current or past duties.

"The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918, to signal the end of World War One."

Have a creative day
Janet

October ATC

I am in an ATC (Artist trading card 2.5" x 3.5") exchange group in Stitchtalk. We exchange 1:1 each month. There are about 10 of us in the group and we are spread across the globe. So fun to receive a little package from England. For October I decided to try something I hadn't done for awhile. I made mine using needle punch. I have to admit I had forgotten how to thread the special needle used in this technique. It's amazing what you can find online though, and I easily found video's, patterns and more. Since it is fall here and Halloween is in October, I went with a pumpkin design for the needle punch and some Halloween fabric for the back.


Here is the lovely ATC I received from Mandy in England. She used silk ribbon embroidery which I just love but have never tried. It is called Autumn Blush. Might have to try this myself soon.

The suggested November theme is Remembrance or Veterans Day. I'm thinking thread painting might be a good choice for this month. I need to start thinking about December too. We are sending to everyone in December, so something that can be done in quantity, yet still show how much I appreciate each of these little treasures.
Have a Creative Day
Janet

New Show--The Palm Tree challenge

My small group, The Rosie Quilter's, had a challenge to create a quilt based on a photo of a palm tree. We each started with the same photo and created our own version of what we saw in the photo. Our quilts are now hanging at Woodbury City Hall for the month of November. There is something very exciting about seeing your work hanging in a public place. I feel fortunate that we were able to have this opportunity. Here is a mini tour of our show.

First, the original photo we all used for our work.
Here are the individual works.(remember if you click on the photo, it will enlarge)

Zannah Martin
Kathy Tuominen
Melissa Nellis
Janet Hovde
Stephanie Forsyth
Nancy Wick
Janet Hartje

These are the photos taken at City Hall.

It was fun to do this challenge. What should we try next? Our small group is a spin off group from Minnesota Contemporary Quilters. Judy Lewis is also a member of our group but was unable to do this challenge, maybe the next time Judy?
Have a creative day
Janet

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