SEWN first project

hi from northern ny where it is partly sunny and 36 degrees (i'm not ready for winter!)

well, this is not really my first SEWN type project, but it is the first since i signed up for the class. i made a few previously and for the most part my guessing got is right. these are the group of papers i showed in my last post. they were made with a set color scheme of golds, oranges, browns, and burgundy. not exactly my normal choices, but i love them. i think it is because the leaves have been such beautiful colors and fall is my favorite time of year. so here goes with the results of my day

i cut a lot of hexagons and strips this morning and as usual i got carried away and have enough for several projects with tons of paper left over, lol.

this is a pic of the cover after arranging the pieces.

this is after sewing the pieces down.

this is the inside cover. i couldn't stand looking at the back of the stitches so i used scraps to cover them up.

this is the front cover. the edges ended up a little uneven and i had to trim them. since the papers were only tapped in place and not glued down i worried about the edges tearing so i put some duct tape on the edges. not really what i wanted but it does the job.

inside pages.

more inside pages.

back cover.

i'm calling this my "trash book" because all the pages and the inside layer that the cover is stitched to are pieces of paper that i have literally gotten from the trash or saved as i was unpacking cartons at work. they are all sizes and different weights. most are a grey chipboard color. a few are tan, and a few are white on one side. there are 8 papers in the signature so that gives a total of 32 pages. i am all fired up and ready to make more but it is time to stop for the day. i get up at 3:00am so i have to cook, eat and clean up early to get to bed on time.

mary

SEWN papers

hi from northern ny where it is cloudy and 48 degrees

well, as you can see it has been a while again. no excuse, just procrastinating. any way, i recently signed up for mary ann moss's SEWN class. as usual her classes are extraordinary.

it is forcing me to get out of my comfort box and be a little more creative. also, all of you who have already done the class and posted beautiful examples that are great inspiration. so, what fun i had making patterns and cutting them up for new projects. i tend to get stuck on one thing and go all out. i also like to work in a color scheme too.  i started with my watercolors and used a few colors i like, then i added more and pretty soon i had a color combination i liked. who knew i would like golds, oranges, burgundy, and grey together? i'm a reds/blues/turquoise girl (more on that later). then i just had to go get some markers in those colors. then i got out my acrylic paints and my gelli plate.

here are a few of my favorites from my playing. all of them can be seen on my flickr page at MJKcreations.

 

this one was my very favorite, i didn't want to cut it up. i love just looking at background papers, but i hate using them because i love them as they are. i finally made up my mind to just cut it, so i did. as soon as i got that first piece cut i realized i had not scanned this group of papers. #(*$&#(*&$.

 

 

this is one of my favorite marker pages. i like quirky, what can i say?

 

 

this page doesn't really fit the SEWN "pattern" idea. it goes back to traci bautista's Doodles Unleashed style of painting. i had to reset my mind to be able to do this kind of painting. i love it's quirkiness too.

 

 

 

i also like these two papers, one markers and one acrylic. if you like these and want to see more just jump over to my flickr site. thanks for visiting.

 

 

 

remembering past projects

hi from northern ny where it is cloudy, rainy, and 55 degrees.

i've been drooling over Mary Ann Moss's newest class Sewn since she posted the first tease pick of it. however, it won't be in the budget for a while (sigh............. hey, do you need class testers mary ann? ;)), but it reminded me of several other projects that i made a couple of years back inspired by MAM. i made theses shortly after starting her ROD class where i ended up with a huge pile of scraps on my desk (and that hasn't ended since, lol). mary ann's original post for these spiderwebs was here

this one hung in my window for over a year until it became really faded. i have another one, i need to dig that one out and hang it up. i love the way the light comes through the needle holes. (hmm, love that little mess up there where xmas decorations were hung before).

while i had piles of scraps i also made these. for the file folder i sewed the squares directly to the folder. for the journal i sewed the squares to another piece of paper and glued it to the cover of the composition book and covered the spine with duct tape. i still use both of these items and have made several more sets since then.

have a good day, mary

ICAD - days 5-8

hi from northern ny where is is cloudy and 55 degrees.

got my card for today finished and photographed numbers 5-8. i am still working through exercises from the collage workshop book by randel plowman. i have also challenged myself to use only what scraps i already have and that i can reach from my chair (with the exception of one box of art scraps and my tapes). that included several boxes and drawers. so you would think that it would be easy to collect items to use. it took me longer than it should because 1) i tend to use similar color palettes all the time (blue/green or white/tan/black). i really had to dig to find the pinks, some yellows and oranges (for the next couple of days), and some reds; and 2) i tend to make books so many of my scraps are what are cut when i size book pages, usually to 6x9. i did find a lot of pieces in the 3x6 range and i can make a couple of mini books from them, so that was a plus.

any way, here are my cards:

day 5 - turquoise

day 6 - green

day 7 - pink

day 8 - red (i liked this one until i added the doodling, so i added the black tape to try to balance it out but i still don't like it). the clearance is in reference to trying to clear out paper and stuff!

linking up to ICAD. thanks for stopping by and have a good day, mary.

ICAD cards

hi from northern ny where it is cloudy, windy and 61 degrees

i've been gluing once again, seems like that is just about my creative limit these days. don't have much motivation for anything else. but i am trying to keep up with aimee's glue it tuesdays and have also taken on the ICAD (index card a day) over at daisy yellow. also, i working through some of the exercises from randel plowman's collage workshop book. so i am getting a lot of bang for my buck, lol. here are my cards for day 2, 3, 4.

day 2 - using shades of white

day 3 - using black and white

day 4 - adding color to black and white

linking them up here: glue it tuesday week 12

have a good day, mary

ICAD 2013 (index card a day)

hi from norther ny where it is cloudy and 65 degrees.

for the past few years Tammy over at Daisy Yellow has sponsored an ICAD (index card a day) challenge. the challenge is to complete an index card with some type of art every day for 61 days (june and july). so, this year i have decided to join in and try the icad project. not sure if i can keep up for 61 days as my creative juices tend to come in spurts between dry spells, but i am going to give it a go.

when i looked around though i realized that i didn't have any index cards. one of the questions about the project was did it have to be on index cards and tammy's answer was "yes". i kept digging and spotted a spiral book of cards. but realized that it was not plain cards but rather "wild notes" from crayola. they have a special pen that you use to make the colors show up on the paper. while the idea is rather intriguing, it is also rather pastel, boring and bland. however, i used it for my first card show here (bonus, it fits the rainbow theme too, lol).

so, while index cards my indeed be cheap, they aren't if you don't have extra money. so.... do i cheat and make some cards from card stock or just use these for now? haven't decided yet, but i do like the idea of  making master boards (large pieces of work that are then cut up to use as smaller pieces). plus i like 4x6 rather than 3x5, just way to small for me. time will tell what i decided, but for this weekend, i forge on with what i have.

i am excited to see what all the other wonderful contributors come up with. the amount of real creativity that God has put on this earth continues to amaze me each and every day.

have a good day, mary

more gelli printing

hi from northern ny where it is sunny and 90 degrees (and humid)

well, i can't seem to get past the gelli printing. i need to stop because at the moment it would take me quite some time to use up what i have printed. but, a few days ago i looked at the Gelli Arts blog and they had a new technique posted. it is a transfer from the plate onto packing tape. pretty cool. it took me a little bit to get the hang of it because you are building the whole design on the plate just like you would on paper. what you see is what you get when you lift it to the tape. here are a few pics of my first tries. i am linking these to carolyn dube's gelli print party for may.

 

 

these are the first two i did. i used a gold color perfect pearls on these.

 

 

 

 

on this group a used a variety of perfect pearls. in the center photo, the strip on the left (which you can barely see) i used a blue powder. i don't like this one very much. on the center piece i didn't use any powder. instead i put the tape directly onto a piece of book paper. i like this look but there is not really enough sticky left on the tape. it probably should be attached with some kind of medium. the one on the right has a white powder on it. i really wanted silver but don't have any and i was too engrossed in what i was doing to get up and go get some aluminum foil to try. in the bottom photo the strip on the left has a reddish powder and the one on the right has gold. i want to try some more this weekend remembering that you have to build from the bottom up on the plate.

i also played in paint shop with some of my gelli prints that i have scanned. in this photo i have combined several prints, adjusted the layers and they i played with some effects. i think it kind of looks like it used molding paste.

 

in this second one i used a different filter and got this starburst effect. i have done a lot more of these and will post some more later.

everyone have a good weekend, mary

where i find stuff i forgot about

hi from northern ny where it is sunny (after days of cold rain) and 50 degrees headed up to 74, WOOHOO!

i've been playing around with stacks of paper again. no matter what i do the stacks just seem to rearrange themselves, they don't get smaller, eventually they will, right? yesterday i was pulling materials to make some junk journals and sorting through old papers and came across a couple of collages that i did quite some time ago, and of course had forgotten about. so i pulled them out, scanned and adjusted size and contrast. i will be linking them over to artsyville's glue-it tuesday. proof that i sometimes do make more than just backgrounds, hehehe. one of my things is, what to do with them when they are done. what do you do with yours? do you bind them, frame them use them in journals (these are loose pages), or do as i do and just have them stacked up somewhere? i have pages from 4x6 or smaller up to at least 9x12 or more. let me know what you do and give me some ideas.

 i used spray inks, gesso, acrylic paints, rubons, tape, stickers, wrapping paper and probably more. they were each done on a 9x12 sheet of watercolor paper.

tuesdays are one of my days off so today i plan to work some more on journals and maybe get the gelli plate out. that thing is soooooo addictive (hello, my name is mary and i am addicted to gelli printing) LOL. but i have a couple of new tools so i have to try them out, right? right. so i'm off to play for a while.

have a good day, mary

glueing again

hi from northern ny where it is sunny and 58 degrees.

time sure does fly by. can't believe it is tuesday again. so that finds me cutting and gluing again. i recently picked up Randel Plowman's book The Collage Workbook from the library. and since i have already had it a week i decided i needed to get it out and get started. the first exercise is to make five, 5-minute collages. set a timer and go. i collected a pile of materials and got started. it was easier than i thought it would be. i was done with most of them in under the 5 minute time. however, i thought they still lacked something so i added some washi tape and now i like them a lot better.

linking these over to Artsyville for glue it tuesday. go on over and look at all the wonderful collages.

 

 

the pieces above are all done on a 4x6 piece of card stock using a variety of gelli papers, vintage papers, clip art, printed papers, etc. the following piece is done on a dryer sheet and is more of a paper fabric. it is about 6x9.

 

 

thanks for looking, i hope everyone has "gluey" fingers today.

glue time

from far northern NY where it is wonderfully sunny and 70 degrees (high up to 81)

well, i am still a bad blogger. so many times i think of things i want to post or wish i had posted and just can't get motivated to do it. but, i have been following along with aimee's Glue It Tuesday over at Artsyville. every week i think i'll get some pictures posted and then tuesday goes by so fast and i don't get around to it. but, this week i've made up my  mind to get it done. so here we go.

i took an insert from a company magazine i get in the mail and gessoed all the pages. started doing some collages in them using gelli prints, magazine pictures, vintage papers, etc. going with a garden/nature theme. they are not very exciting at the moment, i need to do something more to them but not sure what. add some paint, doodles, stamping whatever to add layers to them. i get this far on things and get stuck.

i admit it, i just like doing backgrounds and basic pages.  i have piles of gelli prints, and citra solve pages, and painted pages and such, but i can't really get into journaling. i look at so many wonderful, meaningful pages and feel  like my life is so uninteresting that i freeze up. i've got to get over that. in the mean time i just do simple, lol.

thanks for visiting, maryk

Glue It Tuesday

hi from northern ny where it is mostly sunny and 50 degrees, yeah, almost all of the snow is melted!

recently aimee at welcome to artsyville started a "glue it tuesday" on her blog. while i have done a lot of gluing lately i have not linked to her site before. you can see pics of some of my recent gluing at this post good morning.

mostly i just glue on what ever is handy, cardstock, loose journal pages, index cards, etc. and while i am really good at starting projects, hehehe, i  don't finish a lot of them. i like to make backgrounds but i'm not really a journaler. hence, i have a lot of lot of loose sheets of collage/paintings started. they are all over the place so i decided this morning to make a small book to use just for glue it tuesday.  i started with an empty box from my latest treat, aka unhealthy indulgence. i cut off one side and the top and bottom and had this:

 

then i started gluing. i used pieces of wrapping/found paper, ledgers and pieces of my art work for the cover.

i used a piece of deli wrap from a gelli print session for the inside. loooove it. i have really come to like the red and aqua/turquoise color combination lately. i want to use it in my house.

now i just have to find some papers to make signatures and sew them in. next week i will be ready to rock and roll.

p.s. please forgive the pics. the sun is not around to this side of the house yet and i was too lazy to get up and go somewhere else.

Hoarding 101

hi from northern ny where it is sunny and a windy 25 degrees.

i've decided i'm very fickle about my art projects. i like to do everything from sewing to painting to gelli printing to jewelry making, etc. the problem is that i don't have a lot of room (i craft in my bedroom) and i am not very organized. i had paint, fabric, books, papers, inks and everything spread all over as i go from project to project. but, you know when you get to that point where you just can't stand it any more? well i reached it this past weekend. this is what it looked like.

what a mess, just try to work in that!!! so, i went to town and got a new batch of sterlite containers (what would i do without them). then i started pulling everything out and sorting. i should have taken a picture of what that looked like. the bed was piled high. the poor dog scooted over and over and finally had to abandon the bed altogether. but i got all like objects roughly sorted. all scrapbook paper together, all full sheets of paper, all partial sheets, add-ons, etc. this is what it currently looks like. a big improvement, but a long way to go.

 



here i am today wanting to gelli print (i got a bunch of new tools when i was at the dollar store the other day). and it's not like i "need" to gelli print (i have two magazine boxes full of prints). so, what wins: gelli printing, more cleaning, printing, cleaning. you'll have to come back to find out :)

i love this photo

from northern NY where it is sunny and 35 degrees (supposed to 40+, yahoo

well, as you can see i still am bad about blogging. i admire those of you who do it every day. so, as i was surfing around this morning i happened upon this site lorik art where she hosts a mandarin orange monday post. while looking at the links there i realized i had the perfect photo for this. it is a photo that my daughter took from the ferry where she works.

pretty dark photo so i played with it some and this is what i got:

 

 

i love this photo of the sun coming up over lake champlain between new york and vermont. hope you enjoy.

 

eta, okay my daughter said the sun was actually going down. i have no sense of direction since we moved to ny.