Huskystar ER10

I've been playing with my new embellisher - trying out different fibers to see what will felt and what won't, it's fabulous! This is just some doodling i did yesterday.
So what works - you can join almost anything to wool - joining fabric edges to each other needs natural fibers - if it's synthetic organza you can stick some batting under the edge and make it stick, but silk and cotton join nicely, something with wool in it, or very fibrous makes the seam look gorgeously lacey, I couldn't find any silk organza at Joann's so I'm looking forward to seeing that, those colorful silk hankies that you can pull apart look fabulous, I'm planning a purse of wool felt with hankies and roving circles of bright colors, then beaded. This thing is going to keep me busy for a while. My friend Frances says she has to limit her time on her embellisher or she'll go without food and sleep. lol

Color Charts

I played with different brushes on each chart also. The red chart in the post below was done with a sable brush which holds more water, (I've read sable is supposed to the best). It made big wash puddles even though I dabbed some of the paint off on a paper towel. The yellow chart was done using a synthetic watercolor brush, and the blue chart was done with a cheap nylon brush.

color chart

I've been painting color mixture charts - they are so pretty.
Reds, greens, blues, and purples, just gorgeous!

Painting Lesson

Jude gave me a painting lesson, (my first -I really needed one - check out her blog for my before pic). Anyway, she showed me how to mix paint for gradations, how to paint an eye, and how to shade. I love the results. My before painting really was abysmal. So these are the two Fiesta Ornaments I made from her designs.

Mitsuwa

We went to Mitsuwa, (a Japanese Shopping Mall), the other day. What an amazingly colorful place. Here is Judy looking at the beautiful craft magazines.


These are the little goodies I picked up. In the center are candies shaped like mushrooms for my grandson, a gorgeous book of Japanese designs for embroidery, a booklet of little blank cards, (how much fun is that!), and some tiny little bottles that I plan to use to hold mixed paint colors. The caption on the bottles reads - "Pal Time; We had a good time today. If it will be fine tomorrow, let's play together. I wish everyday is holiday."
Sounds good to me!!

Painted Fuseables

I used some painted Misty Fuse and Steam a Seam on these - what a great addition to a mixed media stash!
You can make up a bunch in advance and have it on hand for when you need it.

I love Chenille!

It makes great ATC material. The background on the right is a newAmy Butler print, the designs are gorgeous as usual.

mixing it up

It's great fun to mix it up, using my supplies complimented by bits of stuff from Judy's stash. That swapping factor is one of the cool things about art groups! I'll be seriously looking for one, either to join or to start when i get home so drop me a note if you're interested.



The fabulous seaweed, (or sweetpea), paper on the right hand card came from Paula's Kit Club. She finds the most gorgeous papers and ephemera.

Mixed Media ATCs

One of the great things about getting together with Judy is that we can raid each other's stashes. Her first altered book was from my stash, and I raided her scrap bin for bits to use on these ATCs.
Both pieces have bits of her altered and stitched Peltex, and the one on the right has a bit of painted Misty Fuse. Way cool ideas I'll be incorporating into my art from here on out. The Peltex adds dimension as well as interest, the piece on the left card is left over from one of her houses.

Embellished Purse

I picked up this nifty purse along with a bag of roving and some felting needles from the Art girlz at the Chicago show. After raiding Judy's wool stash and cutting out circles I started felting the centers and arranging the circles in groups, Jude suggested notching the top ones, which looked great of course. After adding leaves, embroidery and beads it looked way cute, so I just twirled up some yarn and felted it to the handles. Art girl Allison inspired me to try this out with her little free hand felted purses - I was a fiber artist before mixed media and I'm finding myself really jazzed about adding more fiber into my work.

Quilt Festival Treasure

Here's a photo of my festival treasure. often the goods at these things are over priced but you can find goodies, The two cards of antique lace were marked down to two and three dollars, and the buttons were in a big package with some other not so great ones for five dollars. I paid a dollar for the beaded bodice and a dollar for the antique silk rose, and got a big bag of chenille scraps, I adore chenille! Also I discovered needle felting, I know you all have been doing it for ages but wow, it's very relaxing! So Judy and I have been busy. I needle felted a purse, and made a bunch of mixed media ATCs. I'll start posting them tomorrow but I had to show off my cool stuff first.

More Fun Artist Photos

Deb, Laura and Judy in front of Laura's Quilt


















Laura Wasilowski in her Art Fabrik Booth
























And here is the Quilting Arts staff in their "Surviving the Runway" gear

















Bernie Berlin, I love this woman, what a wonderful spirit!
























Lynn Krawczyk, gorgeous work.



















Frieda Anderson doing
her Open Studio.

















The always smiling Bernie
demonstrating
LuminArte Primary Elements, they are brilliantly colored powders that you mix with different mediums, next on my wish list!
















Tracy Stillwell of Artgirlz
Surviving the Runway
























And Kelli working on her surviving
the runway creation

Beryl Taylor at Open Studios

I adore Beryl Taylor's work so it was a treat to see it up close. It's absolutely gorgeous, as is she. She was demonstrating needle felting on an embellishing machine. I want one!

Open Studio post two

The lovely and talented Kelli Perkins took this photo of me doing my thing for Open Studio.
Kelli is doing "The Hustle"in the photo of her, stop by her blog and ask her about it, (see I told you it was fun)~ lol

Open Studios

The Quilt Festival was amazing, as usual. I have many, many photos of the action. But just to get things rolling, the first gals we ran into were the always fun and fabulous sister duo of the Artgirlz. So here is a group sister photo, Tracy, Me, Judy, and Allison.

ipod sweaters

I've been busy knitting sweaters for my ipod touch - they're such fun to make I just can't stop so if you'd like to have one for your very own ipod make me an offer!
oxoo

Sedlec Ossuary

I'm involved in a fabulous mixed media group project whose focus is body parts - I found the photos of this Ossuary very inspiring.

Make It University!™: Open Studios

I'll be participating in Make It University™ with Cloth Paper Scissors®
Open Studios again this year at the International Quilt Festival -Chicago!
Click on the link to see who else is coming...

I'm going to be working on a re-bound altered book.
I had such fun last year. I'm so looking forward to seeing Frieda Anderson, Laura Wasilowski, Julaine Lofquist, Debbi Crane, Kelli Perkins and the lovely and talented Ms Pokey Bolton herself, (as well as the folks I haven't met yet)!

Also....
I found a really great flexible cover journal, (not spiral bound), with unlined pages at Borders. The cover is some type of textured vinyl so customizing wasn't difficult. It lays open well so is easy to write in, and the blank pages are thick enough for collage and paint - best of all it was only fifteen bucks.

And Then I Read the Directions

Yes, I finally read the directions. Apparently you use the paper quilt stuff to cut into, how much fun is that!

New Paper Quilt

I was wondering why Judy's Paper Quilt's were so different than mine when we both took the basic idea from the Quilting Arts Magazine Challenge. Turns out when I did my my usual quick skim of the directions I got them totally wrong and Judy didn't read them at all... I
guess neither one of us have ever been directions girls - but I like what we came up with, (she said modestly).

Bunny Botanical

Judy, (my sis Judy Perez), has been working on mixed media paper quilts and it looked like so much fun I had to join her. My first one was abysmal, just wretched. But this one I like. If you're wondering about the title, I was thinking about a time when Judy and I were little that we got labeled. Judy drew constantly, I swear the girl drew 500 bunnies, anyway, she got labeled the artistic one, and I was the smart one, which explains why her paper quilt is so much better than mine. In her honor, I hid a bunny in my quilt, can you find the bunny?
lol
Love you Jude~
oxooo

Independent Fashion Label

Oh My! Go check out Designs by Bonzie to see some exquisite creations!! This is a
Regal Victorian Tatter Cuff

Nightmare Journal Page

I had a dream based on childhood abuse, but basically it had a good message. It was about coming up through the depths of very deep water , ledge by ledge, which i equated with releasing pain.
~ I'm ready to release old pain - anyone care to join me?

Frustrated Journal Page

I'm so frustrated I can't even spell it right!
If you look at the label on the poor annoyed girl's chest you'll see she's "frustrasted"
Can you relate?

Woohoo Red Redux!

So, at the risk of sounding like a reality show, (if you can't laugh at yourself on the verge of 50, you're in trouble), so back to the self parody - lol
I just wasn't getting the red i wanted - whine - and I finally found it! And I love it - it pops my hazel eyes to green too - what could be better!