Saturday, March 13, 2010

artistic moms, a basket and a book....

I recently joined the Artistic Mothers group hosted by Trudy Callan....(click on the button on my sidebar to find out more....) The first project we are working on is making our background papers....Tonight I got down to it and made a huge creative mess and had a whole lot of fun...I already learned something awesome, when making background papers...I used regular copier white paper which is thin...normally to just paint it, it would still be flimsy. What I learned is to cover it with gesso first, then add your paints, inks or whatever you are using....I used a lot of gesso, a little water and had no trouble with the paper curling up at all...I made six papers..( from the mess you would've guessed at least 100!) I did three of the elements....fire, water and air.....Earth to me is brown tones, and I didn't have the right colors...next time....Each set had a mono print off the beginning page....Fun stuff and not a lot of thinking required.....






I also made another little Easter Basket for the basket swap hosted by Miss Rhea...These are so fun to play with....here is the end result.





Guess what color the recipient likes?
The other day I got some really cute Easter egg fabric and I am making pin cushions and pot holders......I made up this "big and bold" pincushion tonight.....it is big! The pattern is from a Better Homes and Garden Magazine...pillows, pincushions and bags....I whipped this baby up for practice in about twenty minutes total...I need to get button forms before I make the "Real ones"...The picture makes it look crooked, but it is not....The pins have flat heads and I just hot glued little jewels on them....cutie patooties...





Last of all, I wanted to share something really cool with all my blogging friends...Did you know you can turn your blog into a book complete with your pictures? You can with Blurb.com and it is super easy...




I put a lot of heart into my blog and who knows how long blogs will be around....I especially wanted a record for the kids, because a lot of my blog chronicles our lives together and a book is forever...This is my 2007 blog book....I have two more complete years to turn into books. I am super pleased with the way it turned out and it was only 29.99...My 2007 book has 145 pages and a ton of pictures...






I think it is a great buy and a great keepsake.....

17 comments:

Mandy said...

love your papers...your pin cushion is so very cute!!!xxx

Julie Harward said...

You are amazing...I am not crafty at all but I do so admire it! Come say hi :D

Kristin said...

A blog book - I LOVE it - I want to copy you!! Wonderful art papers: I love your idea of using the 4 elements. So creative and so beautiful. Adorable babies too, Kristin xo

Tamerie Shriver Halliday said...

I love the idea of making a book from my blog. Of course, I may be the only person who really cares, but so what? There's nothing like a book you can hold in your hands. And this is coming from someone who has lots of audio books and loves listening to books. Still, I like having the actual book, too.

Your pin cushion and basket are adorable.

Hugs,
Tamerie

Trudy said...

Those are great papers. I also love your pincushion and Easter basket.

Thank you so much for sharing about Blurb.com

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

You have been very busy :o) Great creations shown.

And thank you for the heads up on Blurb.com... I will need to look into this (even though I just started blogging).

Blessings & Aloha!
(Thank you for stopping by :o)

Little Lady Patchwork said...

Your background pages are beautiful! I am really drawn to the colors.

Thanks for sharing your blog book! It is super awesome and I think that I will have to treat myself to one of those beauties. I always have a great time looking back through my blog and this would be a great keepsake.

Have a good weekend.

Laurie said...

Oh! I love your blog book! What a great idea!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful art. Thanks for sharing.

Colette

Robin (RsIslandCrafts) said...

Your papers sound like they were fun to make. A bit messy maybe but some of the best crafts are a bit messy. lol

Love the pin cushion...nice and bright.

Barb said...

You sure are busy.

I was going to have the book made when I left the island. Last I checked...it was 66 dollars and I think that is not bad at all, I am sure it has gone up since...

Together We Save said...

Wow - you are so crafty!! It is awesome!!

Anonymous said...

i love your carefree attitude towards the projects. i will try to use your example!

Kristin said...

Hi again! Thank you for your visit and for your sweet comment about "Having a Ball." Happy Monday, Krisitn xo

Lorraine said...

like the ideas of a blog book and your pin cushion..nice and bright coloured paper and thanks for visiting my blog

Unknown said...

Blog book looks interesting! I love the pin cusion and Easter basket lots of goodies thanx for sharing

Love Dawn xx

Marva Plummer-Bruno said...

Melinda I love your pincushion!!! And the book of your blog is fabulous!!!! I've often wondered if I could save mine to a disk but this would be even better!