Altered Box

I altered this box that I found in the Target after Christmas clearance to hold the pages I create in the Life Book class.

I used white gesso to cover some of the snowflakes on the lid, applying it with a brayer.

 I started an inspiration board in conjunction with the Life Book class.  I love to use paint chips from the hardware store to play with color combinations.  The Japanese masking tape that holds them up can be easily removed with no sticky residue - and it comes in tons of patterns and widths.

Prayer Flag - Courage

It takes Courage to quit your job to follow your dreams, to leave a bad relationship, to return to college later in life, to start your own business, or make any big change in your life.  To anyone contemplating taking their life in a new direction, I offer Courage.  

Materials: Cotton fabric strips sewn to a muslin base, embellished with hand embroidery, beads, yarn, bells, and dimensional paint

Follow along with the Prayer Flag Project here. 

Prayer Flag - Balance

Balance in our life is so important to our health and happiness - balance between work and play, caring for others and caring for ourselves, etc. - so I made it the focus of my second Prayer Flag for The Prayer Flag Project.  See my first flag here.  I had some trouble deciding what color to use for this flag, but in the end I decided on grey as it is the balance between white and black, light and dark.

On My Desk

I used a foam sticker sheet backing, a brayer, a stencil brush, and craft paint to add some light pink circles to the backgrounds I started here.

My daughter requested purple trim for the Valentines' Day cards she and I are making for her to hand out to her friends at school.  I didn't have any purple trim on hand, but I did have an industrial roll of ivory lace and watercolor paint - voila!  purple trim.

Prayer Flag - Vibrant Health

I recently joined the Prayer Flag Project after reading about it on Jane LaFazio's blog.  It seems like everyone I know is sick this winter, so I made this flag to send out my wish for Vibrant Health for all.  To create this flag, I sewed strips of fabric in various shades of green to a muslin backing, couching down a few yarns along the way.  I used my  Cricut
machine to make stencils out of cardstock for the words and used acrylic paint to stencil them on the flag.  Hand embroidery, beeds, buttons, sequins, and gems were added because they make me smile.

Studio Tour - New Years Resolution

I have resolved not to buy any new art supplies or books/videos this year as I already have such a vast supply I may never run out.  How about you?  Is your studio filled with supplies you had to have, but haven't opened yet?  


Check back weekly as I focus on a different supply or collection and give you ideas on how to use it in a finished piece of art.  


Here is a little video of my home studio. ** I forgot to give credit to the cat appearing in the video: also starring Milton Bradley (I just adopt them, my husband names them)

CPS Post

Here is a little fabric postcard that I created and mailed off to Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine for their reader challenge.  

I started by stitching fabric selvage strips to a base of cotton batting, machine quilted it, then added paint and Caran d'ache neocolor II crayons.  

Wonder Under was used to attach cardstock to the back and then I couched variegated yarn around the outside to finish it off.