Merry Christmas!

I much prefer to create Halloween stuff but I have been working on these two Christmas wall hangings for some time now and I have finally finished them!  

I designed and embroidered this nutcracker adding beads and sequins.  The face and hands are hand painted with acrylics.  I then free-motion quilted the entire wall hanging.  It has a rod pocket on the back for easy hanging.

My "cutesy" snowman was created with the coiled fabric bowl method.  The red and white background is actually an upholstery remnant.  The snow is three-dimensional (gel medium) and I hand painted all of the buttons

The back is pretty fun too!!

The Newport News Fall Festival

I have loved going to the Newport News Fall Festival since I was a little girl.  My mom has been doing this show with her artwork for a number of years (25+) and I have helped her set up since I was young.  Two years ago she suggested that I apply (I had to be juried in with my own artwork) and sell my stuff.  I was honored and humbled to say the least.  I have always looked up to my mom, she is an amazing artist and for her to acknowledge my work validated me.  I was accepted in last year AND this year and it was a total blast!  I love that it's the first weekend in October, the weather was perfect and because it's in a park the woodsy smell is just heaven.  

A big huge thank you to everyone that came out and supported me!  I was sad that my cousin Susan couldn't come down from Northern Va to help me out so my dad had to do double time between my mom and me (giving us potty breaks, etc.) 

Here are some pictures from this past weekend:

 On Sunday my creative juices were flowing so I sketched 3 pages of notes!  I am so excited to start my new ideas so stay tuned because next year's NN Fall Festival will be definitely be better than this year's! 

More Art Dolls!

Here is a glimpse of some of my new (and not so new) art dolls that I've been working on this summer:

And now a look at a few "dolls" from my Halloween collection (my favorite holiday)

All of these will be for sale plus many more (including my Christmas collection) at the Newport News Folk Festival the first weekend in October!

52,000 Buttons

The number 52,000 is an inside joke between my mom and me.  When I was a little girl I used the number 52,000 to describe something very large.  It didn't matter what it was, 52,000 years, 52,000 steps, 52,000 feet (you see where I'm going with this) so this is what I decided to call my new shop on Etsy.  52,000 buttons because that is about how many of these little jewels I have. 

I started buying buttons about five years ago for my arts and crafts and what I realized was that they were too pretty to use, I just wanted to put them on display.  I love all buttons!  From celluloid to glass, from bakelite to fabric covered I love them all.  The older the better.  What I have found is that there are other button lovers as obsessed as me!  So I have decided to sell them on Etsy.   

I will have a number of categories such as vintage yellow, vintage metal, celluloid and my favorite category will be my hand painted buttons.  Here is a picture of some of my hand painted lovelies:

These things are virtually indestructible because of the special topcoat I use.  I have run them through the washer and dryer to see if they could withstand a good beating and they all survived!

 

 



I will be closing up shop for a few weeks because I'll be on vacation (buying more buttons up North) but please bookmark it and stop back by!
The address is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/52000Buttons

Art Dolls

A new artistic form for me but the possibilities are now endless!  I am using everything from Celuclay to paper mache and from Styrofoam to dowel rods.  I am scouring the thrift stores for items to use and using buttons, beads, wire and anything else I can find to create these one of a kind pieces.  They are fun and whimsical and I'm having a blast creating them!

I started out by making pumpkin heads from Celuclay and Creative Paper Clay.

I also make a cat head because I love cats. 

At this point I had no idea what these would turn into so they sat on my work table until I went to a thrift store looking for something that I could possibly turn into a body.  And this is what I ended up with.  I ended up gluing candle holders upside down to bases.

The one on the left would eventually become the cat's body and the one in the center would become the body for the juggling pumpkin head man.
I created the body using wire, batting and creating my own pattern for the outfit.

 

I'm not completely finished with these two but I'm getting there.

And here's a sneak peek at two more I'm working on, again still works in progress:

My Dream

These are a few quotes I found on the Internet about loving what you do:

Do what you love.  When you love your work, you become the best worker in the world.   Uri Geller

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.  Dr. Wayne Dyer

Never continue in a job you don't enjoy.  If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace.  And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.  Johnny Carson

Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life.  Harvey MacKay

I have never had a job that was my "dream job".  I majored in psychology with a minor in sociology and because I couldn't find work in my field I fell into the retail industry.  At night and on weekends I would explore my creative side: photography and quilting.  Over the years my tastes have changed but one thing still remains the same... I love to create.

I have sold my stuff at local farmer's markets and on Etsy but a dream of mine came true last week when a studio space became available at Olde Towne Art in Portsmouth, VA.  Just think I could display my stuff year round, I don't have to be there in order to sell something AND since it's my space I can put whatever creative thing I'm working on at the moment in there... from my art dolls to my zentangles.  My little art studio for everyone to see.

I believe that God works in each of our lives but most of us can't see it, or don't recognize that it's by God's hand, but when we do it is so powerful.  And it's yet another testimony of His loving grace.

Here is a peek at my studio space.  I'm still trying to fill it up but if you're ever in the area please stop by!

My space 

A few of my art dolls

My zentangles

One of my painted mirrors

My painted button pendants and brooches

Follow this link: Olde Towne Art

Innertubes and Pleather

When my mother-in-law came for a visit last week she wore this beautiful pin that I had to "pick apart" to see how it was made.  She explained to me that she had gotten it from an art show and that it was made out of innertubes.  An innertube... as in tire, innertube?  Yes.  And it was beautiful. 

Well that got my wheels turning, of course.  Hmmm. I know I could just go to Walmart and buy an innertube for less than $5.00 but let's hit the thrift store first.  I ended up finding a steering wheel cover at the thrift store that I could cut apart, perfect.  I did end up buying an innertube at Walmart also.  Wow, experimenting is so much fun!

Yesterday I was in JoAnn's buying pleather (fake leather) to experiment with also.  I was quite disappointed that JoAnn's only had black, cream, grey and bright yellow.  Where were the rest of the bright colors?  Hot pink, lime green, radical reds?  In the same shopping center was another thrift store. So I head on over there to find... innertubes, pleather, hard fabric... anything that I could make a pin out of because I now have more ideas in my head.  

As a side note I LOVE painting on buttons.  I have about 100 buttons in various stages of being painted.  But I don't exactly know what to do with them.  I can always turn them into pendants which I have done in the past and wear them quite frequently but the artist in me is always trying to create new things.

My idea was to create a larger base for my painted buttons and turn them into pins that women could wear on their coats and also light weight enough to be worn on blouses as well.

In the thrift store I stumbled upon the purse section.  WOW!  Why didn't I think of this before!  Purses are made of various pleather, vinyl and  "hard fabric" that could easily be cut up.  Perfect.  This is what I found (totalling maybe $5.00):

And this is what I created last night:

I just love the way they all turned out but here are my two favorites:

To me, the one on the left looks like a face with it's hair standing straight up.  The black and white one is my largest one so far. The diameter measures 2.5"

Eventually all of these will be for sale at my Etsy shop but I don't think some of them are quite done yet.  I want to add lime green backings to some and make others bigger and bolder.  The thrift store had one green purse, why didn't I buy it?!?!  "oh darn" I say sarcastically "I may just have to go on another search today".

New ideas

I love buttons and I love painting on them but lately I've been knitting and water coloring.  Well I've revisited my buttons because I have some new ideas for them.  My first step was to collect aluminum can lids (easy, I had them leftover from another Christmas angel project).  Next I visited the hardware store for washers; big heavy washers.  Who knew that creative people LOVE hardware stores because we NEVER use the supplies for purposes intended.

The next thing I did was to glue the buttons on the aluminum can lids then prime them for painting: 

Then let the fun begin!

So this is almost the finished product.  I can't decide whether to make them pendants or put pin backs on them because some of them are rather large.  The diameter of these 3 measures about 3".  So the front is finished but the back isn't.

And here is another look at some of my creations drying in the sun:

Button Obsessed

I haven't collected too many things in my life. I did collect Barbies for a long time... vintage, 1959-64 and yes I do have the #1 Barbie. I studied the different types of Barbies and I knew how much each piece of clothing was worth and what hat went with what outfit. My mom and I would travel hours to doll shows. I also collected anything with a hedgehog on it for a while. During that time I went to England and I'm here to tell you that if you collect hedgehogs England is the place to go. Right now I have a small collection of pictures of girls holding cats, some modern, some antique. I also might have a small collection of fabric, paint, paint brushes, beads, etc. (but I don't consider these collections really).

My newest obsession is buttons. I love buttons. But I don't collect them for their market value. I collect them for 1.) their uniqueness and beauty and 2.) because their creative possibilities are endless. I started painting on buttons a few months ago. The blue ones at the top of my blog are my favorite painted ones. But then after I painted about 100 I really wasn't sure what to do with them. I have since started to make magnets out of them. I have also glued them onto picture frames, mirrors and clocks... oh the possibilities. I'm also partial to old fabric covered buttons...

And here's a photo of my red, orange and yellow buttons (just a few of them)...


I also make stacked button pendants. I absolutely love making these because I get to use various colors and sizes. Because my first creation was a painted button I sometimes paint my stacked button pendants with various designs and colors.


So there it is, my current obsession: buttons.