One fine day

One of the bloggers who I follow regularly is Kim of Art in Red Wagons...lately she has started an on-going theme of One Fine Day...reflecting the positive enlightenment that can occur if one just tweaks their thinking a tiny tad...and takes a moment to breath...


I like this idea...I'm adopting it as my mantra...


edited with kk texture "may" at soft light 72% with
second layer at color burn 42%

The white lilacs are in bloom...the tree is in my neighbor's yard but a good share of the branches are hanging over my garden fence...the fragrance is astounding...and I love how the green leaves pop in my white composition photo...linking up to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday...it is indeed one fine day...

Springs!

Never underestimate the determination of a woman with a power tool...

I have been working on finishing up projects for Farm Chicks...and needed assistance with some uncooperative wire...those really hard-core steel wire springs...that you can't bend with your hands or a pair of pliers...




I called on my artist friend Shelley...not only could she help but she had even more springs for me...she was dismantling a stripped down '51 Chevy truck seat...making it into a flower bed...here's a picture of the completed project - isn't this incredible?  It will be for sale in her booth at the garden art show, Sorticulture...

After I was done gawking at the flower bed, we bent into shape the wire springs I had...with the help of a very large vise...and then we were inspired...there was an old mattress box spring in Shelley's yard...with all of the fabric long gone...and the wood gray and weathered...and the springs corroded and rusty (and I could just kick myself for not getting a "before" picture!)

In no time at all, a power jigsaw cut the box spring into smaller pieces...and then it was just a matter of squaring off the ends with the table saw...Shelley wanted to remove the springs from the weathered wood...but I liked the patina of the wood...and decided that I would mount each spring on a painted piece of lumber to give it more heft and character...

When I got home...out came more power tools...cut up pieces of painted wood...sanded the edges...smoothed on a layer of paste wax and then attached each spring to the top of the painted piece with a squirt of glue between the two wood pieces and a couple of finishing nails pounded in from the bottom to securely hold the two pieces together...a rubber bumper on each corner ensures that the weathered wood won't scratch the table surface...

I added test tubes to each spring...making them into funky vases...

Some of the vases are singles, some are doubles...

And then I saw this pic from Curious Sofa...

and it inspired me to do this...

So I'm open to suggestions...what else could I put in them?

Simplicity in threes

Three old growth fir boards...the patina is so lovely...I couldn't bear to paint them...
rather I added a layer of wax to highlight the grain and their well-worn look...

Three vintage glass bottles...more oval than round...

Three old-school broom clips...

Three metal paper fasteners...from which I removed the flat metal sliders...to make them into label holders...

Add in three screws, some upholstery tacks and a couple of posies...
and you have three simple bottle vases...

Each vase is complemented with its own description adjective...culled from a vintage dictionary so the brown, aged paper highlights the wooden board...

 

Three vases...to use inside or outside...to hold a fistful of flowers...

or a single bud...

And while all of this commotion is going on in the garden...one patient dog waits for his walk...

Linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special...with a highlight on pets...

 

Like a kid in a candy shop...

Next to getting money in the mail, finding out that I won something ranks right up there for me...early this morning...checking my email before work (that day job that interferes with my creative process!)  I found out that I had won a gift certificate from French Kiss Collections ...

For those of you who aren't familiar with this fab site...its a grand place to get all sorts of inspiration for editing your photographs...since I  have become enamored with Photoshop Elements and discovering all the variations of what one can create, its been a glorious exploration of creative possibilities.  French Kiss Collections offers for sale a wide variety of premium vintage inspired textures, brushes and overlays to use with your Photoshop editing...most of it French-inspired (the designer, Leslie, lives in France with her French husband).

The drawing I won involved posting pictures either of your creative work space and/or you being creative...and winners were selected randomly - oh lucky day!

So before I scrambled off to work, I made my selections from the shop...it was tough but I finally whittled down my choices...and downloaded the files so I would be ready to play later in the day...

Here is my first image...a combination of old postcard, vintage bird etching and French postmarks...

My second design used a photo I took last weekend of fresh tulips...editing in Elements with two grunge textures and an overlay of an old French sales receipt...

I can tell that this is going to be quite a diversion from work at hand...
I encourage you to check it out...creativity loves company!

Art party redeux

Start with a studio crammed with supplies...
and an obsession with tin cans...




























Add in four creative artists...with plenty of glue, rivets, wire and gumption...

Fueled by tasty treats and a bit of red wine...

And you have an art party!

After hosting February's inaugural art party, I decided to make it a (semi) regular event...this time the loose theme was May Baskets made from tin cans...but given any one's inclination, it could be whatever one wanted to make...given the peculiarities of schedules, not everyone from the original group could participate...but that did not diminish the enthusiasm of our Saturday afternoon soiree...

After a couple of hours of creating/chatting/nibbling/pounding/drilling/gluing/kvetching/incubating/laughing, here are the end results...

Jane Ann used a smaller can to make a petite basket, holding a bouquet of paper petals...

Shelley made two creations...using the rusted metal items she had previously created in her studio...here's one up close...her other creation is the can with the metal arrow and heart pictured in the group photo...

Jody decided to take a different route...and set upon creating an organizer for her studio...here it is in process...

























and then she sent me a photo the next day...project completed and already put to use!

Here's my creation...love the handle from an old iron kettle...with Shelley's help, it fit just fine...

 

For each of us, it was a relaxing break from a host of other creative projects...let me give you the rundown...

 

Shelley Holm - From the Alley to the Gallery - is in the throes of prepping for one of her biggest shows of the year - Sorticulture.  Its a combination  art and garden show...here in Everett, June 7, 8 & 9.  Shelley also shows her art at a gallery here in Everett, We Do Art...

 

Jane Ann Engel is an accomplished viola player and is in rehearsal for a local production of the musical "South Pacific"...get all the details here...

 

Jody Carlson Cain - Latitude Studios -  will be a artist vendor at the upcoming Farm Chicks Show...and she is an exhibiting artist and instructor at the Schack Art Center here in Everett...she presently has two creations in the current curated show, The Creative World of Book Arts...

 

Meanwhile...its Monday morning...and I need to clean up my mess from the weekend...I couldn't just stop with one can...see what I mean about an obsession...

Unlikely combinations

You wouldn't ordinarily think of pairing rusty pin nails with fine silk thread...but then I like to think that I'm not ordinary...thus the tag line of my blog (and my business) "creative combinations of everyday ephemera"

I often find that I stumble upon an idea...in this case, a creative process...and then I see how many different ways I can use that process...in particular, using thread and nails to define a boundary...

Since I never like to throw anything away...I have been looking for months at a box of MOO business cards that I ordered...which I had screwed up my contact information...but I had 100 skinny cards...with my collage images...suddenly I had a eureka moment...what if I make a collage out of the cards...

I sorted the cards according to theme and/or color, looking for striking combinations...then I set out to have 6" rectangles cut out of 1"x6" pine boards (I love the guys in our Lumber dept. at work...always willing to help me out with my creative ideas!)

I painted the sides and back of each rectangle a solid dark color...and then created a layered paper design for the front which would be the background for each mini-collage.  Since the mini-collages would be digital copies, I made the layered background different for each collage, using original ephemera...so the recipient wouldn't be getting a total original piece of art...but they wouldn't be getting a total reproduction either...instead, a combo of both!

I wanted a way to frame out each mini-collage...to make it stand out a little more from the background...so I hammered a small wire nail into each corner...and wrapped a length of silk buttonhole twist around the outside perimeter of the collage, securing the ends of the thread with a knot at one of the corners...

 

I think it adds the finishing touch I was looking for...

The type of this dictionary page was a little too intense...a layer of gray tissue paper tones it down...

I looked for papers that would relate to the collage subject...a geographic listing of towns is well suited for this travel motif...

 

And an old French letter is a great match for this collage...

Thirty of these mini-collages will be part of my booth at the upcoming Farm Chicks show...June 1 & 2...there's a giveaway going on over at The Farm Chicks blog for free tickets to the event...deadline to enter is Sunday night, April 21...so get over there right now...I want to see you at the show!