New Beginnings

My creative muse has been on an extended vacation while I attended to family things and Christmas preparations. I couldn't show what I was working on because some of them were for Christmas gifts and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. But for starters, here is the first scarf I did for Deni, my first daughter. It was my first attempt at knitting a "lace" pattern and was quite a challenge for a novice knitter, believe me!

I was so thrilled with the success of Deni's scarf, I chose another lace pattern for a scarf for daughter #2, Lisa. This one is an alpaca yarn and yummy to work with!

I just discovered that I don't have a photo of the third scarf I did for my daughter-in-law! Drat!! It's in a lovely eggplant alpaca yarn in yet a different lace pattern. I was very pleased with the way they all turned out, and I'm currently working on two new scarves for myself! Narrower scarves this time, in easier patterns!!! Photos of those later when they get done!

Wings again

I made the mistake of ordering new colors of film for wings, and just had to try out a couple of them today. The first pair was made with a pale color film and really looked washed out when I hit it with the heat gun. So it got a treatment with alcohol inks. I wasn't too thrilled with it at first, but after glittering it up with micro beads and glitter(of course) I like it a bit better. The second one was made with a richer colored film and so many colors appeared when it was heated, I wouldn't have known what to add, so I left it as is. I wish the sparkle of the beads and glitter showed up better in the photos!

Wings!

You can see what I've been doing this week, having too much fun in Jean Bernard's free wings class. The individual wings you see are my first two attempts, one with a tutorial Jean shared with us by "Shar", and the second with Jean's own design. The sweet little elfin creature is a doll I made from Sherry Goshon's Echlin pattern some time ago, who now sports a set of wings of her own! Jean's method is so very easy, using a craft film called Textiva, micro marbles, and glitter. I repeat, TOO MUCH FUN! You can find her free class here: http://www.classheaven.com/jeans_free_wings.htm

More fun!

I wanted to try some brown Prosculpt for these pieces and here are my first results.
I heard that Genesis paints were recommended for polymer, so the lower left piece was my Genesis trial. I was not happy with that one at all, so I went back to my Lumieres for the others, drying them and hopefully curing them sufficiently with my heat gun. The colors and bright finish are more to my liking. I like the brown clay as a base and I'd also like to try some black like Linda F. has done.

Fun with Clay

Inspired by Sherill Kahn's latest book Creative Embellishments, I've been allowing myself some play-time with clays and paints. The first batch shown here was done with an air-dry clay called Hearty, painted with Lumiere colors. They're very light, but there was some warping. In the second photo, the oval piece is again the Hearty clay and it warped, too. The other two are Sculpey UltraLight, which requires baking to cure, but there was no warping in those. I love playing with the Lumieres, I've just ordered a whole new batch of colors! These pieces will be fun embellishments for journal covers, boxes, etc. Sherill suggests they could make cute wearble pins, too, but you'd need to use a sturdy clay for that purpose.

ATD Swap

My ATD group is doing a black and white swap this month and this is what I came up with. I fudged just a bit and added some silver, but it just needed that extra punch! I hope my partner will like it.

The Sweater is Finished!

After many weeks and much tearing of hair, the sweater is finally completed. If I didn't love the color so much, I might not have been motivated to finish this one. It required much more time and determination than I thought it would. But I'm glad I stuck with it. The color is called "Emerald City" and is much richer than in this photo. The stitch is called "double moss" and I enjoyed that very much. It was probably a little more advanced than I was ready for, having knitted only socks and dog sweaters until now. It's a little big for me and I'll do a smaller size if I try this pattern again, but it will be great for layering during the Maryland winters!

Been tagged!

Whew! I've been tagged three times this morning! What that means is that I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself on my blog, and then tag 7 other people who will, hopefully, do the same thing! Be sure to let people know you've tagged them!
Sooooooooo, here you go:
1. I love to create, but it doesn't come easy for me. I often begin a project without the faintest idea what I'm going to do, and with little confidence in the outcome.
2. I was a college dropout, but went back to school when my oldest daughter began her college career and finally completed my program in my 40s.
3. I used to love to cook, but I can't enjoy the things I like to cook best anymore....like breads and cakes and pies and good stuff like that. So now I take the quickest, easiest route to meal preparation I can find.
4. Roy and I will celebrate 55 years of marriage in August! People tell me I look too young for that, but I think I look pretty old!!
5. TV doesn't appeal to me very much these days. So much sex and violence, or just plain foolishness in most shows....and that's just the newscasts!
6. I'm not as easily offended as most people think I am....if you met my two brothers, you would understand that! LOL!
7. I love to birdwatch in my backyard, but right now the grackles have pretty much taken over the feeders, except for the thistle feeders. So I still get a number of goldfinches to watch everyday, a rabbit or two, a lizard here and there, and an occasional deer. An owl comes to oversee the property once in awhile, too.
Now, I must go look for someone who hasn't already been tagged!!!!

ATD Swap

Here are the ATDs I received in my first swap on our Artist Trading Doll list. I am so very pleased with both of them! The first is from Mary Ellen who received my ATD with the wink! Mary Ellen also sent along some beautiful papers I will enjoy using in future projects...more ATDs????
The second doll is from Yvette who specializes in miniature bears! She also created the card on her computer (wish I were that talented). Yvette received my "foldy" ATD below.
I think both girls did an absolutely terrific job, don't you? I smile every time I look at them and they will grace the bulletin board in my studio so I can see them when I'm working. Thanks, my friends!!!!

New Header!

I hope you like my new header as much as I do! It was designed for me by my friend, Linda Fleming. Not only did she create it, she had to insert it on the blog for me because my talents don't stretch that far! Thank you so much, Linda!
Now I'll go back to my knitting. I'm working on the sweater front now. At the rate I'm going, it may be ready to wear when the weather turns cool again in late fall!

Well there's just no limit to some folks' audacity! Summoning up all the courage I could muster I decided to take a sweater-knitting class. The instructor vowed I wouldn't be out of my element....but I'm not so sure at this point. However, I have completed the back, except for the neck shaping and will do that tomorrow in class. I can't seem to get the color quite right in this photo, but it's a beautiful jewel toned color called "Emerald City"..quite yummy in "person". It isn't perfect, but as a newbie knitter, I'm pleased to have gotten this far with it without pulling my hair out.....although I'll admit I came close!

Another ATD

Okay, I'm beginning to get it and this one was fun! This is from Judi W.'s template, using papers from Somerset Studio magazine and head, arms, and leg images from TenTwo Studios. Maybe the next one won't take all day to do!

ATD #1

ATD, you say?? Artist Trading Doll, that is. Paper variety, fun to do and NO SEWING!!
This one is from Sherry Goshon's template, now I'm ready to start one from Judi Wellnitz' "foldy" template. That should be fun, too! It took me awhile to get into this project, but I can see now that it may well become addictive.....oh dear!!!!!!!

Mini book open

These little books are fun to do and don't take much time and effort. Very good for getting me into the studio. Now I have ATDs to work on, wings to make, a doll to finish, some headdresses to play with, and another sock to knit! It's supposed to snow tomorrow so I should have plenty of time to play!!!

Domino mini-book

I've had alcohol inks for some time, and when friend Jeff came to visit we played with the inks on small dominos. I've just taken a class making these small "books" with regular sized dominos and it has been great fun. I'll include photos of the book opened up in my next post. I'm experimenting with Photoshop Elements and I'm not at all sure how these photos will look on the blog. More later.....

Uglee socks

My friend, Carole has encouraged(bullied??) me to learn to knit socks. Not having done any knitting in lo, these many years, I was hesitant, but determined. So here are my first efforts and they are far from beautiful, but wonder of wonders, they fit! Now I'm so flush with my success (Heh-heh!) I'm signing up for a class in sweater knitting! Is that courageous....or just fool-hardy? Carole you've created a monster...or maybe worse.

Mini-tuffet

Sherry's project for the weekend on our dollmaker's list was a mini-tuffet, or pin cushion made from a tuna or similar can. I only had a can from some water chestnuts, but it was about the same size. A small pineapple tin would work as well. The can is decoupaged with tissue paper, and the poof(!) on top is a fabric circle gathered and stuffed with fiberfill. Velvet ribbon around the can and a decorative button on the side, three wooden balls for feet and there you have it!
So quick and easy, I think I'll make another one!

Cookbook Round Robin

Some friends and I have begun a round robin to swap recipes from our collections. These are some pages I've created to get my book started on its journey. There are thirteen of us, so this will take thirteen months to complete, but it will be fun to see each book as it arrives for me to add something to!

New Hobby!

My friend, Carole suggested I try knitting socks, and although I haven't knitted for years and was never good at it, I did attempt a beginner pattern. Well! I soon discovered that I just wasn't ready for turning heels and dealing with gussets quite yet. So I found a pattern for leg warmers that looked easy enough, no increasing, decreasing, or any of that SSK or YO stuff! Just plain old K2, P2 at top and bottom and all knit in between! So here is one of the pair I've finished to keep my ankles cozy warm during these cold winter evenings in front of the TV.
Dear husband liked them so well, I got yarn to make him a pair and that's what I'm doing this week! Maybe I'll get up my courage to try the socks again after awhile. But I must get back to my dolls soon, too!