Salon des Cent - the end

Yes, I promised you the final pages of my little brown paper bag book. My Salon des Cent - the voyage. It was really fun making because it was the "first" ... yes, the first time I made a little brown paper bag book those many years ago. And I might add--it did spur others to follow: Lizzie Borden (which you have not seen); Marie Antoinette (it was published); Alice in Wonderland (it was rejected); and others waiting inside to be created....the one in particular waiting is the "first witch of Salem." These started out as a series of "misunderstood" women and along the way I was sidetracked. But these are the kind of little brown bags that know no deadline.

The final two pages are simple. Splatter paint on both sides. On left, add a page of an old book (I used a paperback of MacLaine's Out on a Limb with its fascinating quotes....as backgrounds are great). Stamp "Dear Diary" and then uesed one of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotes, "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something SENSATIONAL to read in the train." Inkadinkado makes this stamp.

On the opposite side, I used a vellum die cut from Paperbilities. Loved these 15 die cuts - which of course are not made anymore..... Added a book page behind and also used a little bit of felt tip pens on the back to give a hint of color.

You have seen the tag.

I am very happy they sent this back to me even though they held on to it for a very long time. I have no complaints and would still encourage everyone who wants to - to submit your art work. I (laugh) when I say it was "rejected" - that is not true. It was not what the publishers were looking for at that point in time (most of the time this is true).However, I believe this little book got caught in a change over of editors and was stuck behind something since nothing from that "challenge" was ever featured or published or referred to again.

I have been working hard on "office work" this weekend since I took my Thursday snow day BUT I also got a new little red machine in the mail. I have resisted buying this one since it came out - but i caved in... The little Binderie and I have fallen in love with each other this weekend. And besides work I have really had fun creating and making! WOW, what a concept, huh? OK, as you know I haven't been doing this lately, but it is coming back.

I am using items sent to me by one of my best buds and who knows this little book may be sent back to her - a new concept in "Regifting" - don't you think? LOL

Love this image from an old book and, of course had to use it after I sewed some lace on the page.

Marie is always good with a little ear piece added in the appropriate "black" along with feathers!

And, of course I always have to have my stuff hanging out with me since I just don't know what I might "grab" to glue on a page,

Headed over to Larcy's in a bit for dinner - will get to see my nephew pup Oliver! So will close this out. You all have a good evening!

Inspirations in the Breeze

Yesterday, as you know, I stayed home to have a play-date with me instead of going into work. Yes, I had me a snow day at home.

Was it worth it? You betcha! Did I have fun? You betcha! Was my home made soup good? Oh yes, especially the garlic bread. Hungry? I am all of a sudden!

As my rust garden grew, I was inside being inspired by KC Willis. She sent me some fabric a month ago as a trade for her canceling a workshop in our area. Believe me I really would have loved to have taken a workshop with KC. Here is a piece that was in her package.

It is so beautiful to me that sometimes I just hold it and look at it to see how she made it-OK I admit it - a little weird! This gal's creativity blows me away.

So, I tried my own by first of all finding a cardboard box, found a lighter, and burned it (yes, I did it outside - see the snow?)

Then I found pieces of fabrics and grabbed her "clumpy" threads and proceeded to break my sewing machine needle. Found a spare (thank you Elizabeth - my organizing Guru!) located with other "like" kind of things - what a concept and resewed.

Pulled out some more material I had along with a beautiful piece of lace Terri over at Artful Affirmations sent me. (I love Terri - we bonded years ago when we found each other as newbies over at PaperWhimsy and the rest is history. She sends me cool stuff on a whim. I owe her more than she knows!)

Started sewing away! I really had fun fun fun yesterday with my sewing machine!

Going to change the  topic suddenly on you - - - I saw Dr. Rosemary my radiologist (remember I don't need chemo *yea*) today and we are getting ready to start the treatments:  18 treatments / broken down it will be 5 days a week for three weeks and then the last three right after that. I am excited to start this new venture in this part of the journey. I will go on Monday to get my CT scan and my "Tattoos"..... don't think they will let me select butterflies. Drat it. Crummy. How about a heart? Nope, just some dots. But they will be my very first tattoos. Cool dude, cool!!

I really promise over the weekend to show you the last two pages of Salon des Cent. Here's a peek at the last tag in the book:

Love that quote on the tag: "I have found that if you love live, Life will love you right back--"  In the mean time, I am watching an Australian Open Match and later Ghost Adventures on tonight, and I need to go cook dinner, take phone calls, LOL...... You all hang in there!

Where the Wild Rust

Yes, where the wild rust .... Today I have a snow day - so declared by me! Late yesterday afternoon into the night we accumulated 8" of very wet and heavy snow. Many cars have been abandoned on the highways and the horror stories out there on  anywhere from 3 to 8 hour drives to get home.

At the office -- today no Internet, power down at the provider's office. Trees down on roads, one lane roads and it is just not worth it. So hello, Annual Leave, that is why I have you! At the beginning of the storm we had rain, thunder, hail, thunder, sleet, thunder, and then the snow started falling at 3:30 pm.

Interesting comments on Tuesday's post on an artist's slump! Thank you. I know we all go through it and it is different than a block. But, we also take it one day at a time and manage to work it out.

Now back to the topic at hand:  Where the Wild Rust Grows.  Today I have planted a rust garden and am tending to it with tender loving care. As you know from an earlier post, I am working on the creation of some rust-themed swap pages.  To-Do List:  Research  Rust. Check it off - found my stand-by book:

If you don't have this book, I would highly recommend it. Amazon has it and it is worth the dollars.  Find it by clicking on the name of the book here:  Collage Discovery Workshop. Yes - found chapter on Rust!

So this morning, off I went to plant my rust garden on my patio. . .

All it needs is the secret formula found in Claudine's book:

Rusting........ and now to play with images that were cut out last night while watching the Australian Open.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, its off to check my rust garden to see if there is any progress - I know, I know, a "watched pot" does not boil - but we are talking rust, boys and girls.....Later on today will make homemade minestrone soup with toasted garlic bread!

Off to play with rust! smooches and hugs to my peeps, stay warm today!

Old, Rusty, and Irascible!

Yes, some mornings I do feel old, rusty, and irascible -- but the topic is not about ME today, for once.

I've been reading and catching up on my magazines the past week and caught an article in Cloth Paper Scissors, November/December 2010, issue. The article by Loretta Benedetto Marvel found on pages 94-95 under her regular feature called "The Artist's Journey" --"artist, heal thyself!"  In this article she discusses how she began to lose her creative footing and fell into a creative slump.  Oh, man oh man, I felt her frustration as I read the article. I knew the feelings when looking at "the disastrous state of the studio; piles of half-read books; art purchases unopened. . ." I kept reading on - yes, she had me at "disastrous state of the studio." She then managed to touch my spirit again when she mentioned writing posts on her blog and hitting delete before they were published. YES, I have been skating on this thin ice since last spring and don't know when I lost my footing. Yes, before the breast cancer - i can't blame it on that - I was in the slump prior to that. I was bored and frustrated with tennis, I didn't feel like creating, I didn't even want to go blog viewing. The slump had me stumped. I heard her heart cries when she talked about walking away from all of it instead of fighting to get back. And then...... yes the rest of the story -- deals with the spark that "jump-started" her...a painting class. 

To be real honest with you the one activity that has forced me into creating is the 6X6 round robin I committed to last August. All of a sudden in January, I really had fun working on the "tree" theme (not to say the other themes that went before were not enjoyable, I was just in a weird mood when I created the pieces for the others....) but my weeping willow reminded me of a wonderful creative time back in 2005 and the scrapbook I created around the London and Paris trip.

Anyway, moving on - I am really excited about the next creation for my wonderful group of artists and the theme I need to work on is rust. I have been piddling around for two days looking for rusty stuff (besides me) and it has been fun.  Here are some bits and pieces that are beginning to take shape and wiggle in my brain:

Rusty Book Pages:

Beautiful old materials and a rusty button:

Other stuff just sitting around waiting for me to begin the process.... yes you can see a little bit of where I have already been sewing on paper below ....... but remember you will not see the finished pages until Elizabeth receives them.

And another spark for me on Saturday was a workshop with non-other-than the charming, adorable, Claudine Hellmuth! The workshop at Angela's A Happy Stamper was fantastic. I so enjoyed the three hours of creating a simple paper wreath which involved using up scrapbook paper I was tired of.  .  . a little paint. . 

a little gesso. . .  rip rip and.....

and then the wreath:

A closer view of the papers,

and so much fun, thank you Claudine!

and so my ramblings for today come to an end...... am planning to cruise the web and visit some of my favorite blogs! Until the next time, my honeysuckle peeps - until the next time,

When the morning gives you clouds

When the morning gives you clouds – wear your sunflowers!

It was one of those days, not bad, just there, which is good, not bad. Too much to watch on TV:

1) Australian Open

2) Fringe (starts on its new night tonight)

3) Ghost Adventures

So no time for blogging – so this will be quick, easy, and not too complicated. This week I ordered (on Tuesday) a long sleeve t-shirt from Sundance (love their shop) and it came yesterday?! And that was regular postage for shipping.

Bear with me while I head back to my younger days singing, “we shall overcome, we shall overcome,” and “Michael row your boat a shore, . . .” and “Those were the days, my friends….. we thought they’d never end. We'd sing and dance forever in a day...” (do you see me giving you the peace sign?)

Good grief, Charlie Brown, a pink peace sign and in long sleeves!

And - newsflash - At the last minute on Wednesday, I signed up for a class with Claudine Hellmuth at Angela's Happy Stamper. You all know what a groupie I am of hers. This time we will be making a beautiful paper wreath which I fell in love with when it was announced but I felt I might not be “well” enough to attend following the surgery. Little did I know this cut-job would be a breeze. If you are around and want to take the class, call Angela’s because they may have some space available. Also noted on Claudine’s blog are two workshops in New York City, March 19-20, at The Ink Pad – yes, one of my favorite stores. I love that store so much, that I would be willing to catch a train to NYC for the day just to go to that store and have lunch at the Gotham Restaurant! Don’t tempt me because, yes, we would have date.

I have taken both of these workshops before and feel these are two of her greatest workshops and would be willing to take them again. You just suck up so much knowledge from Claudine and she is an incredible teacher and just so darn nice. Click on The Ink Pad above for the link if anyone will be in the NYC area in March ……………….

Finally found a copy of Sew Somerset at Michaels today at lunch. Yes, it has two of my fav artists in it:  Lovey and Patti. However, I must admit,  Lovey hit pay dirt with a three page spread…..

Patti also has some beautiful work in the magazine! You can view both artists on their blogs at Fabric Photo Memories (Lovey) and Patti over at Magpie's Nest.

OK, I have to R U N…………….. time is running out to get dinner, get settled, get TV going for a busy night of watching three shows at once. What did we do in the good old days, pray tell? See you tomorrow or Sunday!

Bliss is in the eye of the beholder and in the heart of the beholdee. (giggle) I made that up as if you couldn’t figure it out! Hugs peeps!