Sketch Book Challenge December 2011

Trash, ruined, decay. Happy New Year to All!! (raylee).

Mixed Media Art

"Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected" - William Plomer. (raylee).

Crochet Nativity

Merry Christmas to all

unpacking my Christmas decoration box......
and look what I found...

made over 30 years ago by my lovely Granny...
held in storage for all these years....
for the room to display...
and someone to appreciate....

little Miss5 and MissNearly2 have had the most wonderful time...
inspecting these treasures...
rearranging them...

wobbly heads and all...
they've held up with the attention...

may the peace and joy of the Christmas Season be yours....

off to Mirabel Foundation

this baby is going to a new home...
she is going to find a new place and I hope she is loved...

have a good trip....
lots of love and cuddles coming...
and a new name too...

Playing with paper

still in clean up mode...

moved things off this old table...

that's used to hold cuppas...

and remotes...and whatever...

and I noticed the bit of decopage I created many moons ago...

thank you for all those magazines with lovely pictures that I used...

this table gets lots of use as you can see by the grubbiness on the edge...

it's hard to clean because I didn't finish it properly...

too busy getting on with the next thing...

Mixed Media in Progress

Hello.....are you all busy preparing for Christmas & the holidays? ......... i have been a little bit busy this last week, always something to clean etc.,
.......i am still using old watercolour paintings, or should i say trying to. using them is easy, the hard part is making art that i am happy with at the end of the exercise.
i like to experiment so hopefully i will learn something along the way. i started this piece by tearing & then gluing bits of painted paper onto an old painting that i had already repainted yellow.......but i didn't like it...... .......these bits of purple & burnt sienna paper were torn from a pen & wash of gum leaves........the arrangement i had started putting together on the plastic folder appealed to me more than the first one.......

......so i gessoed the first piece......& started again........

......remembered a silk shirt i had been given recently that had some purple in it. the shirt had a rip in it already so i didn't feel bad about ripping strips from it......i glued these onto the gessoed paper , then arranged the flower & stuck it onto the silk.

there are more bits & pieces waiting to find their place in this artwork.......& i need some time to think about where it is going........will it make me feel something? will it have something to say? not sure yet......does art speak to you?

(raylee).

from this to that

my footstool...

leftover from one of the kids moves...

that never went home...

badly in need of a makeover...

leary green is so not my colour....

let alone the obvious tears and rips...

but it has been very usefull...

toys climb it...

food bowls get set on it...

and little bottoms as well as the occasional big ones...

ta daa!!..

new footstool to match my chair...

if you look really close...

you may see the other bit of holly from a doily...

or maybe even the robin on the other side...

Flights Of Fancy Journal

Ebony & Ivory........sometimes the unexpected appears......

......interesting unintentional shape in the negative space. (raylee).

a gathering of dolls

here's the gathering of the latest dolls...
even a boy version in the making...

just lolling around....
enjoying a cuppa...maybe...

Flights Of Fancy Journal

and then there were Two

the bibs I used originally have run out now...
so I have found some old tshirts and jumpers...
with stains or non wearing problem...
have been busy with these babies...
they are growing quite fast....
my brain is going faster than my fingers...

and I even made some dolly blankets while I was at the machine with the leftover bits...

more to come....

Sketch Book Challenges Oct. & Nov.

October Sketch Book Challenge - "View". November Sketch Book Challenge - "Imaginary Animals".......*What The???*

......Oh what fun this one was......i had not tried this before......no real thinking involved.......the shapes were just there. ....one more to go.....(raylee).

Sketchbook Challenge September "Unfurled"

I know its december already!!...... ......i am now looking for a "view", october's challenge. i will do it! (raylee).

Flights of Fancy Journal

(raylee).

Rocket no more

just thought I'd let you know of the demise of the rocket we made in May...
many hours of fun were to be had...
Miss nearly2 would drag it around....
and climb on it...and in it...
and then Miss 5 would join her...

squashy...but fun...apparently...
it even survived a redecoration attempt by some extra little visitors...
for a while...
RIP Rocket....thanks for the memories....

"Flights of Fancy Journal"

Sometimes the simplest things are all we need.......after a hectic few days all i needed was some quiet time with paper & glue.....

.......so created a double page collage in my "flights of fancy journal". each page in the journal has some kind of wings.
these two pages have lots of birds, some butterflies & dragonflies, also a "bird of paradise flower", a feathered fairy, a lamp & cushions with feathers,......& a "bonsai tree"....... **all torn from magazines.... just one of those paper stacks i have**. (raylee).

Sparkles

another peek at what I'm playing with...
not good photos again...
will get around to working on that soon...

I was lucky to receive a 'tree of life' as a gift a few years ago...
a bonsei type tree in a little rectangular pot...
growing over a rock....
it lasted a while but I somehow managed to let it die...

I kept the basic structure in the hope that I could remake it into something interesting...
have been thinking recently of all the bits hiding in my jewellery box...
other gifts that normally dont see the light...
found a bit of wire that I had to liberate from its plastic insulation...
some sparkly bits from a wedding table decoration....



what I wanted was a tree shape....
with dangly bits as the leaves....
its still a work in progress...
but you get the idea....

trying to get the dangles hanging straight...
manipulating the wire into a tree shape...
arranging the sparkles to a more...
pleasing arrangement...
something else to work on....

Bib Doll

I'm a little bit excited...sorry to bump Raylee's lovely bag but...
I was up before the birds this morning...
had the leftover bibs on my mind....so I started cutting...

then the shapes started to go together...
I wasn't sure whether to make a dolls blanket or move onto something bigger...
then she started to take shape...

so I found the stuffing and had a go at putting her together...
no pattern...just me and the scissors...which is not normally how I do stuff...

and then she was here...in an hour or so from whoa to go...I amazed myself....
she's a bit rough as usual...and the photos aren't good as usual...
but I am pleased with how she worked out...
just need someone to test her out now...

"Horse Shoes" Bag

Machine stitched from hand block printed cotton previously curtain lining, cotton crochet doily, & cut cotton & linen embroidered doilies, pieces of printed leftovers, & some floral & plain linen. the pink shoes are brocade.the bag is fully lined with new fabric. it has a long strap for over the shoulder which can be placed inside the bag when not in use, & two handles for carrying by hand, if preferred. these bags are machine washable & may be tumble dried. (raylee).

Horse Shoe Bag Underway......

Do you get an idea of what you want to make but don't seem to have all the right bits?.....this happens to me every now & then......i have learnt to be patient.......wait & the right bits appear......on her last visit, simonne brought me some of her bits she had no use for......i found some embroidered "horse shoes", just the right thing for this new bag! I am making it for someone who loves horses..... so have combined the two different kinds of shoes keeping to the "shoes bag theme". (raylee).

Texture

Birds nest.... Glass door...

Timber stacks...

Rusty metal.....

Bark & moss.....

.......photos from my ever growing "stack". i like to touch things to really "feel" their textures. my decision to use certain materials sometimes depends on how they "feel". i also like to experiment with things that don't always go together just to see how it turns out. (raylee).

Biscuit Cutter Kitchen Hanger

I have had a love for corrugated iron for a very long time .......so couldn't resist taking a photo in the morning sunshine of the "kitchen hanger" i started last saturday (see previous post). i added a rusty piece of chain as a hanger, some cup hooks on the lower edge for hanging tea towels or potholders.

These potholders were used by my great grandmother. she hand stitched them from some of her old "cretonne" kitchen curtains. a lot of the cooking was done over an open fire in her kitchen. there was no electricity or running water. the water was carted by hand in kerosene tins from the river. (raylee).