Ornament Thursday: Freedom

It's Ornament Thursday for the OT Gang, so I thought I'd post links, even tho I'm not participating anymore. Happy Thursday everyone! :-) H.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Craft some red, white, and blue drink charms from vintage wartime posters. They'll make a big bang at your 4th of July cookout!
Art Bead Scene Field of Poppies bracelet project from Heather.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Celebrate the Independent Spirit

Hurray for Red, White and Blue Lisa takes a shot at teeny tiny beads for a change
Linda at BeadStyle Magazine Childhood memories of Independence Day's past inspired this necklace.

Michelle's take on Indpendence Over at http design, Michelle has scuplted a piece which gives a different perspective on independence.
Strands of Beads Melissa sees stars this month while considering the meaning of independence
What is America to Me? Michelle's favorite words on our country...

Ornament Thursday: INSECTICA

I knew immediately what I'd be featuring for this month's OT. For Christmas, I made Grasshopper Quote cards for the creator of Grasshopper Notes, John Morgan (also my boss and friend). My mother is also a huge fan, so for Mother's Day, I made her Grasshopper Quote cards, too. Here's the bag I sewed to hold the cards. I printed the image of the grasshopper onto T-shirt transfer paper & then ironed on to the fabric.


You could do this with any favourite quotes. I used Publisher and created a template to put the quotes, and then I made the back of the cards with the picture of the grasshopper.

I painted a plain white box with green acrylic paints, and glued an image I printed of the grasshopper onto card stock. I liked "Grasshopper Quotes" because it rhymes with Grasshopper Notes, and because I write my favourite quotes on sticky notes and post them on the wall where my desk is.

Click here for links to the rest of the talented OT gang!

Ornament Thursday: MOTHERHOOD

I love looking at families and picking out familiar features through the generations. My mother and my sister look like twins from different time periods. I have all these wonderful photos of my mother's side of the fam & I love to get creative with them. I've wanted to do a book featuring family photos with stories, poems, and recipes for a while. And since this month's OT theme was motherhood, I got the inspiration to trace through 5 generations from my great grandmother to my niece.

This was my first attempt at doing an altered book. [Note to altered book artists out there: I welcome your advice & feedback--like what kinda glue do YOU use????] Back to the project: I chose an old Spanish textbook, which is appropriate since my great-grandmother's grandmother was Spanish. I printed out photos in black and white onto matte photo paper and then coloured them with coloured pencils. I used acrylic paints, metalic markers, and sparkley dimensional paint. I used regular glue and glued 5 pages together for each section for the first half of the book. Then I cut out a frame (you'll see) in the last half of the book.

Cover of book.

Mum's mum. Sparkley paint is not translating well in photo!

Niece & grandmother together.

After doing this water theme of Mum, I think I'll turn her into a mermaid!

Favourite photo of Mum & niece on left. Sister Mag & niece on right.

OK, let me splain. The end of the book is a family joke. When we were very young, we used to love to sift through Mum's jewelry box. My youngest sister Mag was about 5 at the time, and she would hold up some trinket and say v. innocently, "Mum, when you die, can I have this?" So that's the punchline at the end of the book.

For links to see the rest of the OT gang, click here.

Ornament Thursday: SPROUT

WELCOME to Ornament Thursday! Here's what I did:

I found this really cool rock down at the river that was shaped like those ancient goddess figurines. When it came time to do something for this month's theme of "Sprout" I was looking at the rock and thinking that on one side it looked like a pregnant woman, and on the other side, it looked like she was holding a baby. I was going to be more realistic in my painting of it with a face, but it turned out more abstract. On the holding-the-baby side, it reminded me of Mother Mary and she's always in blue. The rock was dark grey, so I painted it white first so that the crayon would show up better. Then I heated it up in the oven at 100 degrees and melted blue crayons on one side. I really just followed the shape of the rock to make the face. Initially the heart was a baby.

On the other side, I painted it green and then added a finger labyrinth "sprout." When I looked at the whole thing, I realized it looked like the earth! So it's a Mother Earth celebration of Spring.

I added ocean labyrinth waves around the sides.

Links to the rest of the OT gang!

Alexa Westerfield - a.k.a. Swelldesigner Now that's it's time for spring, ideas are "sprouting" all over the place. Alexa creates this eye-catching notebook to keep them in order.

Art Bead Scene Some good karma is sprouting up at the Art Bead Scene with Heather's Lotus Flower Bracelet

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva The Brooklyn National Anthem sprouts every year when Cindy's in Spring mode. See what it inspired this year!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie giggles and remembers a furry friend, brings back an old mold, and sprouts up a beaded LOLhammy ceramic ornament

Helen Bradley and Michelle Zimmerman at http design It's spring and we're sprouting all sorts of wonderful art at http design. Michelle is toting her art to the market and Helen revisits a fun art school assignment for her inspiration.

Humblebeads Humblebeads celebrates spring with a Berry Good bracelet inspired by some juicy disk beads.

Jennifer Heynen of Jangles Jennifer has come up with a cute little necklace to remind you of spring.

Katie's Beading Blog Create some spring flair of your own with this easy bead embroidery idea from Katie's book, Hip to Bead.

Kriss Cramer - Spring Is In The Air Not much of a horticulturist? Me neither! But I love flowers and I enjoy growing these ones with some paper, paint, and rhinestones.

Linda and Tea at Make It Mine magazine Tea decided to join the fun this month. Check out her quilt blocks and Linda's purse.

Melissa J. Lee - Strands of Beads What do Korean playing cards have to do with a sprouting spring? Check out Melissa's blog to find out.

Michelle McGee - S-P-R-O-U-T Michelle just can't stop creating in green! A little wooden birdhouse becomes a beautiful palace!

Savvy Crafter Candie shares some happy spring memories with a cheerful felty flower idea!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean tells a touching, poignant tale of some beads who help one another, and after a small amount of sturm and drang they get it together and help each other! In fact, they prettify whatever YOU choose! Go see! It's fun!

Spring is Sprouting for Joolz by Lisa Even without a green thumb, Lisa managed to "grow" a garden of sorts this month.

Sprouting Up with Beading Help Web Lynn Kvigne's used wire and a lentil bead to create a "sprouting" pendant for wire workers who want a bit of a challenge!

The Impatient Blogger How does your garden grow? With metal mesh, Czech glass beads and vintage French images all in a row! Margot just returned from Paris where she discovered a treasure trove of vintage paper. This scanned and sized postcard image fit the theme of sprout perfectly and the necklace was in search of a new home...add some teal metal mesh bows and accents and voila...a design sprouts forth!

Vintage Girl Teams Up With Her Vintage Momma! What does a gal do when she finds herself far from her crafting supplies? Why, she raids her mom's basement and then puts dear old mama to work! Stop by and you'll see why mom's basement is fertile ground for things that sprout!

Happy St. Pat's

I'm not Irish, not even remotely. Not even third generation Irish-American claiming to be Irish. But I used to have an Irish education professor at Shepherd College. He had the best accent; I would get lost in the lilt of his lyrical voice. And once I ate green eggs--wait, that was for Dr. Seuss Day. Never mind. Luck is often associated with the Irish and so in case you missed it from last month's Ornament Thursday, you can check out my Labyrinth o' Luck. And here's my green inspiration for today:

Looking back often gives you a glimpse of the plan at work. How many times in your life have you noticed that something wonderful or fulfilling that you now experience could have never happened if something specific didn’t happen? Many times that something was not a pleasant experience, yet you, in retrospect, recognize it was a necessary step to get you to where you are now. You may have never consciously written that script but if it wasn’t written for you, you would have never arrived.

P.S. Check out John's blog post on luck today. :-) H.

Ornament Thursday: LUCK

I designed this labyrinth based on a 4-leaf clover. You can see the template in the previous post.
There are a couple variations. The first one I did on cardstock and used graphite paper to trace the image. Then I applied the dimensional paint (I use Scribbles). I mod-podged a real 4-leaf clover in the center. I used a gloss varnish for the finger path, and then used gold sparkle paint around the labyrinth. Then I glued it to the cover of a journal.


My favourite way of creating finger labyrinths is to use regular copy transparency sheets (for an overhead projector). I put the labyrinth template underneath and trace over with the dimensional paint. It dries in a few hours. Then you can apply that to a note book, journal, etc.
On this one, I painted the cover of the journal with acrylic paints, and then put the labyrinth on top when it dried. I used a metalic marker for writing.

This is my favourite! Glow-in-the-dark dimensional paint, great fun at night. Also, the dimensional part adds a nice kinesthetic feel to tracing the labyrinth with your finger. You could also close your eyes for a different experience. This one is on a transparency sheet and I put it over a pretty piece of shimmery paper I got from Michael's. I've also used wallpaper to cover notebooks, steno pads, etc. and then the transparency sheet goes right on top.

HAPPY ORNAMENT THURSDAY, everyone!!! :-) H.

Here are the links to the rest of the gang:

Art Bead Scene Lucky ABS!

We're part 2 of Lucky Knots!Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Luck is knotted up in Part 1 of this tutorial

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie is inspired by a lucky Leprechaun to make a fairy tale, treasure filled necklace

Jennifer Heynen of Jangles Lucky Charms Bracelet...The name says it all. This bracelet has everything to bring you good luck.

Joolz by Lisa As Luck Would Have It...Lucky Earrings

Katie's Beading Blog Make your own luck with these fun, swingy earrings!

Linda Augsburg at Make It Mine magazine Lucky doesn't begin to describe the adventure I had making this T-shirt...

Lucky Lucky to be... based on a coin holder a friend made for me...

Lucky To Be Me Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Well, YOU, of course. No matter who you are when you look into this magical mirror, you'll be reminded you're lucky to be you!

Lynn Kvigne - Beading Help Web Irish Proverb Window Ornament - step by step instructions for making this year-round ornament that may bring luck right through your window!

Melissa J. Lee - Strands of Beads Good fortune is yours with this cookie-inspired necklace.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! You'll "make Jean's day " if you check out her lucky Pendant with a Clint Eastwood eighties twist

Swelldesigner Swelldesigner gets lucky this month with some super colorful, sparkly painted bangles

The Impatient Blogger Luck starts with a wish...Margot shares an project she created for Simply Beads last August.

Labyrinth o' Luck

Oops! It is the end of the day & I'm just realizing I should have added the rest of the project on this post, not a new post for Thursday. Thanks, Jean! I didn't mean it to be secret. Click here to see the finished product & to get to the other OT links. Below is a template for the labyrinth.

Luck = preparation + opportunity

When I think of luck, I think of 4-leaf clovers. I have a knack for finding them. Once I found 11 all in about 2 minutes! This is a labyrinth based on one.

New note: I recently discovered a link from Barbara Martin, with some lovely ideas for creating a Lucky Labyrinth garden. Go see. And thanks, Barbara! :-)

Appreciation

I can't begin to express how grateful I am to have received such WONDERFUL comments for my artwork yesterday. No one has ever said "astounding" to me before. THANK YOU, Jean! And to be acknowledged for sharing my creative process--I'm always fascinated to read about everyone else's creative experiences. It doesn't matter what the medium is: paper, beads, clay, fabric, etc., I appreciate the energy of creativity that went into the final product. I think it was Julia Cameron who said that part of being created in God's image is that like God, we are creators.

Some of us follow that calling. Growing up in all my geeky-quirkiness, it's always such a JOY to connect to other artists. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been called "weird" or worse throughout her life. I used to want to be "normal." Once you accept yourself for who you are, you define your own normal. And then you discover that your normal is someone else's too. How cool is that? And then weird becomes an acronym:

Wonderful Energetic Intuitive Radiant Delicious

THANK YOU ALL for your kind words of support, encouragement, and inspiration. MUCH LOVE, :-) Hali

Last Ornament Thursday!

I LOVE dimensional paint, especially for creating finger labyrinths. So here's a simple Christmas tree labyrinth, made on cardboard. I mapped it out on graph paper first. I used metallic green paint, followed by green sparkley paint, and then used glittery silver for the labyrinth lines.
And here's another Stephen Colbert ornament, The Retro Ornament of Truthiness:
I had cut it out last week and had not done anything with it and then I saw Alexa's retro-inspired ornaments from last week and had the Ah-ha to do a similar treatment. Thanks, Alexa!

Here are the links for everyone participating:

Christmas cookie - Jennifer Heynen http://www.jenniferjangles.blogspot.com/
Ring in the New Year - Kriss Cramer http://www.art-interrupted.blogspot.com/
Quilty pieced snowman - Linda Augsburg http://cs.makeitminemag.com/mimcs/blogs/makeitmine/
Simply striking sparkling spheres - Margot Potter http://margotpotter.blogspot.com/
Beaded memory wire - Elaine Luther http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com/news
Wire & beaded tree - Lynn Kvigne http://beading.consumerhelpweb.com/blog/
Beaded sun catcher - Debba Haupert http://www.girlfriendologytoo.blogspot.com/
Jolly and yummy ceramic candy - Melanie Brooks Lukacs http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/
Polymer snowflake embedded in resin - Melissa Lee http://www.strandsofbeads.blogspot.com/
Beaded candy canes - Candie Cooper http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/
Polymer clay gift tag/ornament - Heather Powers http://www.polymerclay.craftgossip.com/
Twisted blues - Lampwork Diva aka Cindy Gimbrone http://lampworkdiva.blogspot.com/
Holiday spiral tree & party pixie - Art Bead Scene http://www.artbeadscene.com/
Wire bird's nest - Rebecca Peck http://vintagegirlmodernworld.wordpress.com/
Plush gingerbread doggie - Jenny Harada http://pomly.livejournal.com/
Swell ornament - Alexa Westerfield http://swelldesigner.blogspot.com/
Holiday paper crafting - Brandy Lung Gill http://accesstoexcess.blogspot.com/Shaving cream & chipboard ornament - Michelle McGee http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/
Easy needle-felted orb - Katie Hacker http://www.katiehacker.com/index.htm

P.S. BIG THANKS to Margot for the invitation to participate and Katie & Candie for starting it!

Ornament Thursday

This is a variation on last week's theme--and then I promise I'm doing something completely different! No really--just wait til you see! I've been sorting through family photos and I LOVE the ones I have of Mum's family. I've always had in the back of my mind that I would do a family quilt with them (yeah, THAT's happening). In the meantime, I was so inspired by Margot's ornament of her grandmother that I thought I could do something if I created a system for whipping these up fast. So this is how to do it using Publisher:

* Create a template: 6 circles with squares to fit inside. (My squares are 2" X 2")
* Copy photos and then crop them to be square.
* Insert photos into the different squares.
* Print on card stock (you could use different colors like red & then you don't have to...

* Paint around pictures (I also used a metallic pen)
* Score around the squares.
* Cut out circles and paste together.

Each ornament follows a different theme: great-aunties, grandmother's wedding, my mother & her sister, etc. You could do this all by hand and colour-copy photos and physically cut & paste photos to fit into the squares. It was just a bit more stream-lined & quicker to do it on the computer. Then I just painted, cut, glued while watching Ellen & Oprah.

And this is what they look like:

P.S. I've successfully failed to upload the template, so I'm going to give up and get this posted!

P.P.S. To check out all the other creative artists who are participating, go to Margot's blog for a listing.