Initial Boards and Craft Night with friends

I realized something the other night as I was hosting a craft night with some of my friends, there are a lot of last names that start with "B".  Earlier in the day some of us were at a little antique/consignment store and we saw a simple board with an initial glued to it.  I was so cute that we decided to have a craft night and make our own version.

We collected supplies, most of them we already had at our houses.  One friend had an old board that she cut into pieces (I love a girl that uses power tools).  If you don't have scraps of wood they are easy to get from the hardware store.  I like to have my husband dumpster dive where there are new houses being built.  It's like Christmas for me but free and I am recycling. I pulled out my collection of house paint samples and odds and ends burlap pieces. The colors were mismatched but we made them work.  I recommend that you only use house paint if there is a possibility of these going outside.  Regular craft paint does not hold up well in humidity or you can buy a sealer that is specially made for outside projects.  The only thing that really cost anything was the initials and they were a few dollars from the craft store.

They turned out to be adorable!  The plan is that sometime in the future, we will drill holes and run jute or burlap ribbon through the top so they can be hung.  Maybe that will happen, probably not. 

 

It was a great night with an easy and inexpensive project and lots of laughter.  I can't wait to see what we come up with next.

If you wondered, I have started the background on one but my scrap board is a piece that I have been saving.  It is a couple feet long and I plan to paint a mixed media painting on it and prop it against the brick wall at my front door.  I'll post a picture of it when I am finished.

steampunk/military messenger bag for the tomboy

We are still using those steampunk inspired pendants.  They were so much fun to make and I have set a few aside to use in my mixed media paintings.  I have so much "stuff"collected for paintings.  My previous post shows how we made them and then turned them into a banner Steampunk Banner.

Gigi is a tomboy.  She doesn't get why girls like to spend time fixing their hair, putting on make-up or worrying about accessories.  (I love all those things.)  I was so excited when I found out that her friends talked her into using a purse.  She refused to carry any type of bag that looked girly or pink or had flowers or had anything that indicated she could possible be a girly-girl.  I showed her a few of the Kavu bags, which are functional, durable, and fun.  I carry one.   She didn't really love any of them so off we went to look through my fabric scraps.

Gigi designed her own small messenger tote by using left over pieces of an Army uniform, chevron canvas, left over military patches and pins from her Dad's collection and some of her steampunk charms and pendants.  It turned out so cool.  Or should I say epic?  I can never keep up.   Now she's not walking around school with her pockets full of her phone, chapstick, pens and pencils, papers... her new steampunk/military inspired bag holds it all.

Singing Forest - recycled pallet painting

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for He comes,

He comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Psalms 96:11-13

 

 

 

 

 There is an art show coming up in March and the theme is recycled art.  Recycling is close to my heart.  I feel a deep responsibility to take care of the natural beauty that God created for us.  My heart aches at times when I think about the lack of respect we show the earth and although I frequently fail, I try to avoid the "more" trap.  It doesn't take a ton of energy to recycle or cut down on waste.  Plus, it saves money. I can find an hour a week to take my trash to the recycling center.  

 

 

 

 Gene was sweet enough to scavenge a pallet tossed to the side at one of the construction sights in our neighborhood, tear is down, and put it together as a canvas.  I'm so thankful for his willingness to support my passion.

 

 

 

I had the idea for this painting for several months.  God has gifted me with this ability and my inspirations usually come from my sermon notes during church.  I have a notebook that I take notes in during church.  On the right side of the page is the actual sermon notes and the left side of the page is sketch after sketch of inspiration based on what spoke to me during the service.  It is fun to browse through my notebook.

 

 

 

I tried to incorporate additional materials that would normally end out in the garbage.  The wings of the moth are made from a world map that was heading to the dumpster and the circle of the large flower is made from a scrap of waxed paper.  There are also bits of paper from a credit card mailer worked into the picture.

This was a fun piece to make.  It is definitely different from what I usually do and  I will absolutely do it again.

  

 

Something for myself - a new purse

Hard to believe, but I finally made something for little ol' me.

I bought this fabric months ago with the intention of making something for myself.  I love all the colors and the floral suggestion of the pattern.  When I want to shake things up with my sewing I go to Goodwill to look for items that I can upcycle.  A few months ago, this great military inspired green belt caught my eye.  My waist is not in any shape to draw attention to it by wearing a cool clunky belt but I thought it might make a neat shoulder strap for a purse.

A month or so ago I found the time and inspiration to create a new purse pattern.  I only cut out the body of the purse because... well, that is all I had come up with.  I didn't know how I would finish the purse, I just knew what size and shape I wanted.  Now that I have carried to purse for a few days I know that when I make this style again that the side pockets and the purse body would work better for me if they were deeper.  I carry around a lot of big stuff like books and water bottles.

This past week, Greta was sick and missed a week of school.  You might think that I had an entire week at home to create but not so... I was needed every couple of minutes to sooth and comfort a sick child.  That's my job.  On day five of being homebound, and Greta starting to feel better, I had an hour or so of uninterrupted time.  As a result, I am enjoying my new purse!

On a side note, I work in spurts.  I might sew for a week and then paint for a week.  Then I get bogged down with other distractions.  I like to jump from partially finished project to partially finished project.  Right now, I have an art journal page sitting open on the desk waiting for the last touches of paint and details.  Maybe I'll get to that today.

My next sewing project for myself is going to be a big weekend travel bag.  I have been snapping pics at the stores whenever I see one I like.  I want to remember all the little details.  Hmmmm, I wonder how long it will take to complete the travel bag?