Eight Postcards

Greetings!

Well, over the last couple of days, I've not only been working on Tanya's Pink Journal, but also a set of eight postcards with a birds theme. These still need to dry (which is why I photographed them rather than scanned them), and I think I'm going to give them at least 48 hours to do so, since there are several layers on them. But here they are... and I don't think they'll look too much different after the curing time...

This first one - the photo ended up coming out a little blurry. Hey... I've never claimed to be a photographer!








Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. I still need to add a backing to them - I'm going to use a nice handmade paper and stamp the "postcard" marking on it.

These were a lot of fun! I look forward to seeing everyone's work in the finished booklet!

~Anne

Finally getting around to posting some new art...

Greetings! Wow ... it took me a while to get around to posting this... that this art doesn't even feel new to me anymore! haha!

For the Fall Tea Swap for my Tea Group we had a "destinations" theme. Each person in the swap was to select up to three destinations to where they'd like to travel. These destinations could be real or fantasy.

My partner chose "Art Gallery in Paris," "Fall Festival" and "Outdoors/Camping" -- the Outdoors/Camping one was also specific to the sounds of nature.

For a combination of the Fall Festival and Outdoors/Camping theme, I made her this field journal, where she could sketch or write (or both) ... I imagine with her emphasis on the sounds of nature, she could also use it to write her feelings as she listens to those sounds...

As you can see, I used the box of my favorite cookies from Trader Joe's (these cookies are awesome!) as the cover of the journal, and inside I used blank watercolor paper that I stained and stamped with inks (just to take away the new whiteness of the paper ... I find that intimidating sometimes, don't you? It's much more fun to journal when you have something already on your page!) Finally, I bound the pages with my Rubicoil machine... which I love!

For the "Art Gallery in Paris" destination, I decided to create a "having tea in a Paris Museum" type of route, and included tea and chocolate truffles, and wrapped the box in a cool Paris themed paper. I also made a "scrapbook" type of fatbook for her that includes images of famous paintings that can be found in Paris's Museums. The fatbook ended up being 14 pages thick (I think -- I can't remember!) and is anything but conventional, as I took a cue from one of my favorite artists, Aileen from Outside the Margins and went a bit outside the margins of this book. Several of the images of the paintings were larger than the 4 x 4 size, so I simply ignored that and so some of the pages don't look like they fit!


Neither my hubby nor my oldest daughter liked the fact that this book went beyond it's boundaries, but I really did like it. Sure, when the pages fit nice and neatly inside a book, it's all well and good, but I like my fat books to be chunky and a bit unusual, I think it gives the book more character like that.

~Anne

Fairy House Tip In!

Hello Everyone!

Well, I sent these off the other day, but, I didn't get around to formatting the photos until this afternoon... so I thought I'd share with you one the final two tip-ins that I made for the swap... this one is Carole's "House" tip in...


Carole wanted "Houses" to be her theme for her tip ins... at first, I thought I'd make a 'tea house' but my oldest daughter told me "everything you do is tea... do something different" and she is right, it is my most common theme! What can I say... I love tea!

So I decided instead I'd create a fairy house layout for Carole. The door opens to reveal a little baby fairy. This piece is very dimensional, as all of the leaves and many of the flowers are silk...

I hope Carole likes it!

~Anne

Postcard Art

Hello Everyone!

I have been working hard on several swaps... I finished most of this stuff last week, but I didn't sit down and sort through my scanned material until now... so, I thought I'd share with you a few of the postcards I made for the Spring Postcard Swap.

In all, I made 7 postcards. Yeah, I made the postcards, rather than altering existing postcards. The way I saw it, I could either alter some of the vintage and antique postcards I have in my stash, or I could go out and buy some new postcards, or, I could use some of my card stock and some of the piles of patterned paper I have in my stash... so I chose to go with what I already had on hand.

The theme of the swap was to be "Spring" and since Spring is a pretty broad theme that can be interpreted a number of ways, I decided to go with my own interpretation... and what I think about when I think about Spring... and that would be the Cherry Blossoms of Washington DC. Yeah, other things come to mind too, not just Cherry Blossoms... however, I've visited Washington DC twice, and both times were amazing... but one thing that I missed both times was the showy display of the cherry blossom trees along the Tidal Basin.

So these postcards are a celebration of the beauty of Cherry Blossoms. Only the first 2 postcards are Asian inspired. The one connective link between the seven cards in this series is the set of 3 cherry blossoms with rhinestone center...

Here's one more with a more vintage look...

I'll post the final four cards tomorrow!

~Anne

Tip In #2

Hello Again!

Well, as promised (and this is a momentous occasion, because even though I do promise -- and strive to keep those promises -- I rarely remember to go and post to the blog when I say I'm going to!) here is Tip-In #2 for the swap that I'm participating in.

This one is for Cathy, who stated that she'd like to have an "open theme" in other words, our choice! Now, usually I like these, but since I'm pretty new to Tip-Ins, I wanted to get a gentle nudge in the right direction, so I asked her what kind of themes were her favorites, and among the favorites she mentioned, she included one of my favorite themes (and my theme for this Tip-In swap!) Asian!


I am really quite pleased with this piece... another layered piece, and dimensional as well, the flowers at the corner left and the little Geisha in front of the bridge overlooking the irises "stand out" courtesy of pop-up glue dots. These two pieces are bits from an antique store find some time ago, they are "stand up" place cards. I trimmed the excess card stock away from the flower place card. I think they add just the right touch to this piece.

I hope Cathy likes it too!

Thanks for checking in with me!

~Anne

PS: don't forget my sale! It ends Sunday night at midnight!

Tip Ins!

Hello Everyone!

I've been working on some swap art lately, specifically, for a tip-in swap that I'm participating in. I have five tip-ins total that I need to complete... and I'm nearing the finish line with them... yay!

Here's the first tip-in that I completed...


As you can see, it's a Marie Antoinette layout. The scan doesn't show the layering in this piece very well due to the dimensions in the crystal embellishments, but I'm pretty happy with the way the piece looks in person. I hope that Stacy is happy with it as well...

Anyways, it's late... thanks for checking in with me.

~Anne

PS: I'm having a HUGE end-of-month sale! Please check my tea journal for details!

Artfire Finds!

Good Morning Everyone!

Wow, it's 10:41 am on a Saturday... Usually, I'm still asleep!

Before I get to this edition of my Artfire Finds, I want to mention a few things... first of all, I closed my yahoo group, EccentricPastiche, last night. It was a very painful thing to do, but, also, I felt it was a necessary thing to do. I didn't feel as though I was (No... I KNEW I wasn't) giving as much to that group as I once was. And that was incredibly unfair to the rest of the group, so I chose to close it.

However, for those who are interested in keeping up on the lastest concerning my 'zine, please feel free to join my newsletter. Sign up to the right of this post! Don't worry, I won't be spamming you with newsletters, I will only post a newsletter when there is news to post concerning my 'zine.

Second, I wanted to remind you to join byHand.me!

Now... let's move on to the Artfire Finds! This week, we have a couple of jewelry finds, as well as an amazing photograph!

First, let's kick this off with a gorgeous fused glass pendant from AAE-artglass Studio...


Now, let me start by warning you, when visiting this Artfire studio, be prepared to want EVERYTHING you see! All of her pieces are simply stunning. Choosing a favorite was a difficult thing, but something about this particular piece - which she calls "Blue Canyon" - really spoke to me. I love the colors, and the swirls... it's a spectacular show!

What a great addition to any wardrobe, what a great conversation piece!

The photograph I'm going to share with you today comes from Spice of Life Designs Studio...

I found this photograph from Rainwolf (another Artfire Artisan), who Plurks with me, and posts a "photo of the day" on Plurk. This was one of the photos of the day last week and I just fell in love with the colors! So bold! The Glass Ceiling II is part of a series of photographs that were taken at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

Spectacular... and can you imagine what a burst of color this photograph would provide for your home? Wow!

My final Artfire find comes from Sunny Skies Studio...


It's been a long time since I've worn any ear jewelry (I allowed my ear holes to close up when I had my second child as I didn't want to go through the pain of having another tug on the earrings by the baby!) and it's been almost 2 decades since I've worn ear cuffs, but this work of art makes me think about wearing them again! And all of the jewelry found at Sunny Skies Studio is not only beautiful, but also affordably priced!

"Secret Garden" is a gorgeous earcuff, handcrafted out of sterling silver wire. Amazing!

So, that's my Artfire hotlist for today... I hope you enjoy what you see, and maybe it will inspire you to do a little shopping and support an artist or two!

And while you're shopping, don't forget my Weekend Rebate Special... this weekend only!!!

Thanks for reading along!

I actually got in on time to make a treasury!

It doesn't happen often, that's for sure!

I enjoy making treasuries on Etsy, I guess because it gives me a chance to look at all the amazing works of art that fall into my chosen theme.

This time I chose -- can anyone guess? -- TEA TIME! haha!

The link will only work for as long as the treasury exists, and it's supposed to expire in the wee hours on Sunday...

~ ARTFIRE FINDS! ~

And now, how about some of my more recent additions to my Artfire hotlist!

I fell in love with this Boro Art Glass Lampwork Pendant instantly, the moment I saw it on the homepage. It evoked thoughts of my favorite painting, Starry Night, from Vincent Van Gogh. This is so beautiful. The listing also states that this can be purchased as a cabochon as well as a pendant. GORGEOUS!

The next item will beautify any room in your home, from Shades of Splendor Studio...

I know, stunning, right? This is the Spring Bouquet Table Lamp. There are many colorful, whimsical, and gorgeous lamps/shades in the Shades of Splendor Studio, however, this particular one caught my eye because these are my youngest daughter's favorite colors, and this would be a perfect match for her bedroom! LOVELY!

Today's final item comes from StarSeedCharms Studio...

,
This handcrafted charm - Tree Soul - created out of Precious Metal Clay is breathtaking! The rainbow moonstone is what first caught my eye... the colors are beautiful. And the little tiny trasvorite stones (the little green stones in the branches) bring the tree to life!

There are so many beautiful, fun, whimsical, and amazing works of art to be found at Artfire... stop in today and see what catches your eye!

~Anne

Neutrals Journal

Hello Everyone!

Well, I finally finished Nancy's journal, and it's all dry. I chose to scan this journal instead of taking a pic because while it was a bit larger than the scanner, the colors are light and I thought that the photo would lose much of the more subtle details.


I am really enjoying the "true colors" journal round robin... I find it a lot more liberating than a set theme.

Nancy chose neutrals for her color palette. Her journal cover is so incredibly beautiful... and it evoked a feel of "vintage" for me, so I chose to go with vintage "time" as a theme for my composition.

I had a lot of fun with this piece. I hope that Nancy enjoys it too.

~Anne

PS: Don't forget to visit my tea journal and enter to win the contest. There's only a few days left!!!

More from my Artfire Hotlist...

Well, I had hoped that I'd be posting some of my art this time -- specifically, Nancy's True Colors Journal -- but I'm not yet finished with it. Hopefully I'll get it finished tomorrow, so that I can post about it and share the photos on Thursday. In the meantime, I thought I might share with you some more really cool works of art from Artfire Artisans! These are a few of my favorite things that I've "stashed" on my hotlist!

Hotlist item #1, from Tatsuko's Studio...

The Square Sushi Platter Necklace... I don't really like sushi. I've tried a few vegetarian varieties (sorry, but I just can't knowingly eat raw fish, I just can't) -- none which have really impressed me. This pendant, on the other hand really does impress me. Entirely handcrafted out of polymer clay, the detail in this piece is amazing. Having worked with polymer clay a bit (certainly I'm no expert, but, I'm at least familiar with the stuff!) I just can't imagine getting this detailed with it.

So, while I might not be interested in eating the stuff... I certainly wouldn't mind wearing it...

Next on my hotlist, from Wovenlight's studio...


These GORGEOUS hand knitted angora/wool blend mittens! I love the color of these mittens! And, if you'll visit Wovenlight's studio, you'll see the cute little bunny (named Rosie) that donated the angora fiber to craft these beautiful mittens. And did you know that wearing angora can help with arthritis, and other joint or muscular pain? That's something I didn't know until I read the listing for this item... perhaps I might try to have Rosie donate some fiber to have a pair of socks to help me with my feet...

These mittens are definitely at the top of my "I WANT" list... yeah... visiting Artfire on a regular basis can be hazardous to your pocketbook!

This next item definitely appeals to the abstract artist in me... from Gwendoline's Studio...


These one of a kind, abstract lampwork beads are stunning! Gwendoline calls them "A Nice Morning" ... and I guess I can see that... the colors are joyful and celebratory... then again, the one on the bottom, center kind of looks like one of those things from last night's episode of Fringe! Each one of these beads are playful and fun!

These would be a stunning addition to any charm bracelet... or as the focal point to a necklace!

Speaking of charm bracelets, my final hotlist item that I'll share with you today comes from Radical Recycks Studio
This charm bracelet is titled "Whales Ashore" and I implore you to click on the link or the photo for a better look at this bracelet! The charms are crafted out of up-cycled plastic bottles! The bracelet is simply stunning, and being eco-friendly is a bonus!

Amazing!

I hope you enjoyed window shopping at Artfire with me!

Support the arts!

~Anne