Inspiration Avenue's fun, easy crafts week

One of my favorite posts was on April Fool's Day this year.  I have rewritten it here so you, too, can try this fun, easy craft.  I've even added a few things that I learned over time.  I've made these shimmering mists three times, and even showed my friend Kathy how to make them when we had a play weekend recently.  And now I'm sharing it with you.

I was planning to show this post on Thursday, but didn't get around to writing it when my internet went out for nearly three days. I'm just thrilled I was able to get back online and can now share it with Nancy, this week's host, and all my friends at Inspiration Avenue.

Supplies you will need for the shimmering mists (from left to right):

*Small refillable sprayers that have been washed and cleaned
Luminart brand mica powders (the type that DOES NOT have a binder), the colors of your choice.
**Distilled water
***Elmer's Glue-All or any good PVA glue
Stick or spoon for placing powder in bottle

*A note about the refillable bottles.  I had some spray mists that I used, then cleaned them up after they were empty.  Later, I found some after-bath spray at the Dollar Tree (in US, where their slogan is "Everything's a Dollar")  that was in a package of two for $1.00.  I emptied the bath spray and used the bottles.  Much cheaper than going online to find these really pricy spray bottles.

**A note about distilled water.  Distilled water will last forever in these bottles, while tap water will cause the mists to get moldy over time.  Although I have shown this water in a container that originally held bottled water, I assure you, this is distilled.  If you plan to use the entire container immediately, you don't need distilled water.  However, if you plan to let this product sit for any length of time, distilled water is the way to go.

***A note about Elmer's glue.  Any good PVA glue will work, since many who live in areas other than the US don't have access to this glue.  If using Elmer's be sure you use the Glue-All because their "school-glue" brand is watered down.

Now that we have all the essentials out of the way, begin by pouring distilled water into each of the spray bottles.  Don't fill over 2/3 of the way.  You'll need air in the bottles so the liquid can be shaken each time they are used.

Add a bit of the glue.  Originally, I wasn't sure how much glue to add, because I had never made these mists before.  But I squeezed and counted to five (5) in each of the bottles.  As you can see, some of the glue has already started to settle in the bottom of the containers.  And it didn't matter what size bottles I used (some were larger than these shown in the photo, but none were smaller), I still counted to five (5) each time I added glue.

Now use a stick or small spoon to add some mica powder to the container.  I have seen where Tim Holtz made something similar with his product that has the binder in it.  He suggested using no more than a tiny amount, but I'm actually hoping to make a dent in this product, so I used anywhere from two to three times what he would have used.  Holtz also started with silver mica powder and added different color distress inks.  My mica powders were already colored and didn't need any colorant.

Talk about surprised.  The first time I made these, I was shocked because the powder in the container looks NOTHING like the color in the water!!  

Place the cap and mister on the container and shake, shake, shake.  Shake your booty oops, I mean container.  Keep shaking because it takes awhile for the mica powder and glue to assimilate into the distilled water. The nice thing about this is, once you've done all that shaking, the next time you use the container, which must be shaken each time you apply the product, all you need is a cursory shake or two.

I guess you can tell I was a bit shocked by how much the mica powder color changed once it was out of its original container. It also made it hard to replicate the same colors when I visited my friend.  I had failed to label the bottles, and tried to guess from the amount of mica powder that had been used.  So, the second time I made these, I mixed several colors together, thus creating a totally new look.  After all, I have LOTS of these mica powders I hope to turn into shimmering spray mists.

Next, it was time to test these misters.  And yes, it worked!  I was thrilled.  I hope you will try this, too.  I allowed these to dry awhile and sprayed a bit more.  I  didn't want to muddy the paper with too much water and spray mist.  I was also able to tell that I got enough binder in the mists, too.

 

Once dry, I ran my hand over the two pages and noted the mica spray stayed perfectly in place.  The savvy reader will note I have rotated the pages 90 degrees and sprayed again, filling in any white spots.

One of the nicest things was, my friend Kathy had purchased a LOT of spray mists and thought we were making the same old, same old.  However, we went outside to spray the mists onto card stock and she was shocked, after seeing the backgrounds shining in the sunlight, that they were so shimmery, unlike the products she had purchased in the past.

So now what? These papers are ready to use as backgrounds, cut into ATC or postcard sizes, or turned into tags.  You might even want to create a design using a mask or stencil with the mica sprays.  Of course, you can always use your imagination and make something special with your papers or your mists!  Think of the possibilities, such as old book pages, or ugly scrapbook paper you want to jazz up.

Thank you Inspiration Avenue for issuing this challenge.  I hope you enjoy this fun and easy way to make your own shimmering mists.  And please let me know if you try this project, too. 

Inspiration Avenue: TIME

Can Maggie really be serious?  TIME?  TIME? This week's Inspiration Avenue challenge is time?  What could be more perfect than time! 

So let's step back in TIME and I'll show you a few of my favorite spreads from my Time Altered Book (AB).  If these photos appeal to you, and you want to see more, there is a link on my right sidebar that will take you to the entire AB.

Open the cover and step inside the pages of Time, the book.

Although this page seems to be falling apart because of poor adhesives, I'm fairly certain you can read the quote, which led to the Memories and Dreams I created from stickers.

This was one of those "extra" tip-in pages I made for a "Memories swap.   I started to cut the image from the tip-in, then realized how much I liked the background and the dry brushing I used over the image.  Silly me had already started the cut when I realized I should keep it intact.  I used a bit of green scrim for the backing. 

 

Maggie gave us many quotes to help inspire us.  I had a few, too.

What happens when you are trying to run a ring of gold leafing around a CD and the ink suddenly floods out?  You make the best of it by making it appear to be planned.  I was so lucky to have found these old calendar pages I printed out on a weekly basis from when I was in grad school.  It appears I never throw anything away.  Seems these were the remains of my birthday party.  In reality, most of this trash was leftover bits and pieces from the vinyl letters I used and were on my craft table at the time I created this page.  A genuine "flopportunity."

It would have been so much more enjoyable to see these two pages together.  The yarn is only attached at the two ends and under the airplane.  The yarn flops free otherwise.  I must have had a lot of extra CDs when I was making this AB.  The metallic blue and red paints were both scraped onto the background, while both CDs were covered with portions of a mileage map.

 

Another two page spread, this time with no CDs (grin).  The calendar on the left page is framed with four 10 cent stamps with the words "TIME FRAME" created in vinyl letters.  The frame on the right is composed of calendar pages, while the picture is an actual postcard by a famous artist.  Do you know who the artist is?

It was hard for me to edit the 95 spreads in the book down to just a few. And I had a lot of favorites.   I can't even classify some of the ones I showed as favorites.  But I thought they were probably representational of TIME.

I hope I didn't waste your TIME and you'll also visit Inspiration Avenue for links to other participants.

Inspiration Avenue's Show and Tell Challenge: This little piggy

Inspiration Avenue is asking us to show and tell a favorite post.  I haven't played in an IA challenge for a long time, and I felt I should drop in and see what changes have been made.   I hope everyone considers it a viable Show and Tell entry, since I believe this is as much a work of art, as my mixed media art.

Lou Ann said we could share a piece of art that we created.  We could share something old, if we so desired. So I am bringing back this post I created back on September 7, 2010.  It seems quite appropriate, too, since I recently started a T Stands For Tuesday group, where you can drink anything and talk about anything.  This was one of my favorite Tea posts from days gone by.
 
This little piggy went to market,

This little piggy stayed home,

This little piggy had roast beef tofu,

This little piggy had none.

And this little piggy went...

"Wee wee wee" all the way home...

Totally trivial information:

Nursery rhyme words and lyrics first published in 1728.

"Marranitos” or “cochintos” is a Latin American pan dulce (pastry) brown, piglet-shaped molasses cookie that translates to “little pig.” Traditional marranitos get their spicy flavor from molasses and anise. Although sometimes called gingerbread pigs, there is no ginger or cinnamon in them.

They can be found in Mexican bakeries that sell pan dulce. 

If you want to be decadent, serve them with ice cream.

These piglets go by many names: cochinitos, lechoncitos, chanchitos, and marranitos. Whatever you call them, you can’t keep them from jumping into your coffee. They also go well with black tea.

Mug and matching freshly ironed dish towel by Taylor and Ng, both dated 1979.

Who in the world would iron a dish towel other than for show!

My drink of choice this lovely Tea Tuesday is freshly ground French roast coffee with half and half.

Obviously, I'm linking to Inspiration Avenue this week and NOT to Tuesday Tea.  Thanks Lou Ann, because this brought back lots of fun memories.

Inspiration Avenue: Paris, France

This week Hettienne set the challenge at Inspiration Avenue. She wanted us to pay homage to Paris. I took a few liberties and used a map of France, over which I added a couple of tape transfers that didn't want to give up their backing very well. The top transfer is of Paris. The scene is the Seine and Notre Dame. Not your typical view of Paris, I have to admit. The bottom transer is from the lowlands, where agriculture is prevalent. Aren't these old tractors cute? I love the mid-century photos and chose them for their historical value. I made this page for my 7-Continents Altered Book.

If Paris is someplace you dream of, please visit Inspiration Avenue this week and see what others find interesting about France.

I'm not sure, but I was hoping I wasn't the only person who couldn't get on Blogger yesterday. I could get on both TypePad and WordPress blogs, but not Blogger. I could also access web sites, but Blogger just wouldn't load. I keep having problems with my computer, but this seemed like a very specific problem. Please leave a comment if you experienced the same problem.

Inspiration Avenue: Fly

This week Diane chose the theme "Fly" for the Inspiration Avenue weekly challenge. I had so much fun playing in my Houses Altered Book a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would do it again.



Now I'm not sure what a real housefly looks like (other than annoying) and I couldn't draw one if I did, but this is my interpretation. Paint, paper, Stickles (red flowers), and one black Zig pen were what I used this week to have a bit of fun in my AB.

I'm posting this a day early for me this week because I'm joining the "Where Bloggers Create" blog hop tomorrow (Friday).

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Inspiration Avenue and Artists Play Room come together

I have never combined prompts before, nor entered the same art piece in more than one challenge. But for some reason, these two prompts came together so flawlessly, I couldn't help myself.

Maggie, our favorite Magpie at Inspiration Avenue, suggested we probably all knew how to art journal. Well I admit it, Maggie. I don't journal. It's one of those paper crafts I don't do. Why? Because my life is an open book on my blog, and I have none of the fears and feelings of angst I read about when I visit many blogs devoted to journaling. Since I'm a pretty positive person who is comfortable "in my own skin," I leave journaling to people who need that self assurance. I use my blog as my "journal." It may sound cliche, but that's one of the reasons (OK, the MAIN reason) I started my blog. I wanted the daily record of what I did without the demands of having to write it down on paper using a pen, pencil, crayon, or bloody paw.

But for some reason, I can't seem to let Maggie down. I always answer her IA challenges, no matter how hard they are, or how far off track they send me.

Then I was reading Jenn's blog, Just Add Water, Silly,
where this week's challenge for the Artist's Play Room is "In the Garden." Now you see how both these prompts came together to make a single spread in one of my altered books.


What I used:
The book: my techniques AB I bring to altered book class with me.
The paint colors: pink, yellow, gold, orange.
The pen (Sharpie) colors: green X 2, purple, turquoise.
The flowers: real pressed from my garden and others crudely drawn.
Magazine image fussy cut.
The sentiment: my own creation. After all, I love anything positive!!


The left side,


and the right side. I think I've mentioned before I can't draw. This should affirm that and attest to my inability to draw even simple "flowers." I'll probably stick with collage and altered images in my altered books from now on, but this was a fun exercise, ladies.

And while you're here and I have your attention, please feel free to enter my blogoversary HERE. There are no commitments or obligations, just a comment is all I'm asking for.

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Inspiration Avenue: a Stay-cation

Some of you have been following my day tripping adventures, so when Maggie (Magpie) suggested a virtual vacation OR a stay-cation for the Inspiration Avenue challenge this week, I knew I had to join in this Friday. After all, that's what this entire summer is all about for me!! I find mini-vacations wherever I go, and visiting a friend in the hospital was no exception.

I have a few rules that I abide by with each trip. In case you aren't familiar with them,

The self imposed rules:

1. Round trip must be less than or equal to 80 miles.

2. Must be achievable in a single day.

3. No more than $15.00 can be spent (does NOT include fuel).



So the other day, when I was visiting my friend in the hospital, I was taken by the incredible


beauty of the landscape, as well as the history of the hospital itself. I've already shown a few photos, in case you want to see others here and here.


Today we begin at the beginning. Back in 1912, when first built, the hospital looked more like a mansion than a hospital.


Nurses in their caps and white starched dresses. And as one person pointed out, stockings, too (which were more than likely perfectly straight due to the seam in the back).


I am assuming the house soon gave way to the building that they called the "House of Healing on the Hill."


By the early 1920s, nurses had their own place of residence. Apparently women needed good, watchful shelter back then!


Skipping forward, you can see how the hospital has started to grow in just a few years, although it is a far cry from the four main buildings and many satellite buildings it has today.


I only wish I'd gotten a better photo of the iron lung from the 1940s. It was the best of several photos I took, and it was still lousy. I had never seen a photo of an iron lung, but my grandmother sometimes spoke about a friend who had polio and had to stay in one.


Even the bake (kitchen) staff got photographed when they presented the hospital with a decorated 50th Anniversary cake in 1962.


And here's what the hospital looked like from an aerial view three years later in 1965.


I really enjoyed this trip down memory lane in photographs, even though I've never had any dealings with the medical community, other than visiting a few of my friends in the hospital.

So how did I do on this, my second Stay-cation? Let's review.


1. Round trip must be less than or equal to 80 miles. Round trip was less than SIX miles.

2. Must be achievable in a single day. Even with taking photos, it took less than an hour to walk the halls and enjoy the history.

3. No more than $15.00 can be spent (does NOT include fuel). I spent ZERO dollars, because I went home to eat and didn't stop at the gift shop!

I hope this shows what can be found in your town and you can have a real Stay-cation instead of a virtual one if you just look around and keep your eyes open.

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Inspiration Avenue: Wishes

First, I want to apologize for the lack of images this week. I realize you couldn't see them and neither could I. The server where I keep my images was down for several days. Then my internet connection went down, so I was unable to visit anyone or create any posts. All in all, it's been a rather frustrating few days.

This week's Inspiration Avenue challenge was issued by Jenn.



Here is my "Wishes" entry. The sentiment reads: "We often confuse what we wish for with what is." ~Neil Gaiman

This is an ATC I created using magazine images and scraps of scrapbook paper. I colored the edges of the ATC with a gold leafing pen.

Inspiration Avenue: Turquoise and Lime Dreamy Teapot

That's what happens when you read a post, work on the challenge, then leave for several days. The challenge gets changed and when you visit to link up, you learn you can't play in the challenge. So, even though the rules were changed, I decided to use this as an Inspiration Avenue Challenge because I even hand dyed some fabric so I could play this week.



I'm on a new kick. I'm making art flags. I know some people call them prayer flags, some affirmation flags, and others call them art flags. I prefer to use the term art flags because that's how I think of them. They are to be placed outside in the elements for the world (and the environment) to take over and change them. Here is one I made for my friend Sally. There will be a total of either three or five, depending upon how enthusiastic I get over these colors.



Here's what this one looks like hanging on my clothes line. Yes, I hand dyed the green fabric which was originally an old bed sheet. I used the same dye for the lace, too. The turquoise was originally a blouse I bought last year at the thrift store.

So regardless of the fact I got the wrong challenge information, when I went to post my entry, I learned the challenge had been changed to teapots.


I quickly went to my studio because I already had some hand dyed fabric I could use. I sketched a teapot and sewed it. I have no feed dogs, so following my sketch was a bit difficult. I had planned to have this read "Drink," but my brain froze and I wrote Dream instead. The D is loose and it didn't scan properly, but I think you can see what I was going for. So here is my dreamy teapot that I will use as another flag for someone else to enjoy. I hope Shel likes my choice, even though the link to her blog was wrong.

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Inspiration Avenue: Heart

Hettiene issued the Inspiration Avenue challenge this week and told us how hands and heart went so well together. We were challenged to make art from the heart. On that note, I started this challenge on Tuesday and got all the elements together I planned to use.


My camera is so bad, you can't even see how I filled the holes in "her heart" with glitter glue. As I was cleaning up the excess glitter glue, I noticed I was also removing the oil pastel "shadow" I put on the heart. I thought I could fix it later. Then, instead of just gluing everything down like I normally do, I actually did a dry run and found the word "LOVE" didn't even fit on the block, no matter how much I manipulated it. Then I ran out of time, because my friend arrived and I have been gone ever since. So, this is my entry this week, which I must call a "work in progress." When I finish it, I'll show it, but it won't have those glittery LOVE letters! The sentiment reads: "Love healed the holes in her heart."



I know several asked about my friend who is visiting. This is my friend Ed, who I went to grad school with. He was actually a year behind me, but we became steadfast friends and stay in touch, even though we haven't seen each other in at least ten years. Although there is a big age difference and there is no romantic connection, he and I have sat up two nights in a row reminiscing over our days in grad school, the teachers we loved, the ones we disliked, the ones we tolerated, our dissertations, other classmates, classes we taught, and other stories from years gone by and our time at Wichita State University. It's been a lot of fun and he plans to stay through the weekend. Also, my friend Scott, who remembered Ed, dropped by two nights in a row to eat dinner with us.

Sorry if my visits have been spotty this week. I hope to visit everyone when I have a bit more time on the computer.

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Inspiration Avenue: Hands

This week Shel and her mother Loretta chose the weekly Inspiration Avenue challenge, which lasts until noon on Mother's Day. I had not planned to enter this week, because I honestly don't have time to prepare anything. But with the challenge being HANDS, how could I not dig up a few of my Hands AB pages to show everyone.


These could be a mother's hand holding all these concepts.


Of course, a mother might teach her children to achieve their vision. But words of encouragement aren't the only things found in this altered book.


There are whimsical pages,


holiday pages,


and pages using vintage images and matching tissue.



Hands from other cultures can be showcased, especially if they are made from polymer clay.


I'm sure most people would be aware of X-rayed hands. The "real" X-rays are covering the book pages and also act as embellishments in the corners, while magazine images become the important focal elements on these two pages.


I have been reading that Inspiration Avenue participants are part of a postcard swap. Mail from other countries, all "hand stamped," is always welcome.


Sometimes we wear our hearts on our sleeves, and other times they become electric hand held (or sewn) hearts.


Those who are following along in my AB class know I use gesso as a covering for AB pages as well as a glue. Here I did both! I was very lucky to find the right magazine image for the spread.


For this two page spread, I began with some silk fabric I dyed. Next, I stamped several images, then layered hand dyed cheesecloth and hand dyed silk over the background fabric and sewed them together. After ironing the assembly into my AB, I added two tape transfers I made from magazine images. To get a better idea of the texture, I hope you will be able to enlarge this spread.


This is a zipper spread in my Hands AB. I had never put a zipper in a book before, so this was a real challenge. Closed, the page is made up of magazine images and various scrapbook papers.


Open, the zipper reveals a hidden page. I used my handmade paper and wallpaper to hide the zipper elements and to fill in around the inside image.


After I had been making this AB for awhile, I discovered sewing on paper. Both the front (or at least I'm calling this the front)


and the back show how I incorporated the sewing, even though I don't have a machine that has feed dogs.


I made the background for these two pages at the same time I started my Hands AB. It was when I removed excess pages from my soon-to-be AB. I cut two "hand" stamps from potatoes and colored the pages using lime green ink. I had SO many extra little images that made no sense or were not cohesive that I had to figure a way to incorporate them. I have several pages like the ones above.

These are not necessarily my favorite Hands AB pages, but they were the first ones I ran across. And since my time was limited this week, it was easy to search for AB pages and copy them onto this post.

Thanks again to Loretta and Shel for this week's challenge. Had it been ANYTHING other than Hands, I would not have played (or rather had time to play). Now I must remember to link to Inspiration Avenue on Friday (the day I post my IA challenges) because this is definitely a scheduled post I finished Monday night.

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