Tricky

 

I have a number of errands to run today and I could use one of these wigs the grand kiddies tried on at their local thrift shop.  My hair is at that in between stage that makes smooth coiffures tricky.

Creativity 101 featured the booklet we'd made last week. My gal painted most of the backgrounds green, her favourite colour.  The theme has now been decided and it'll be Christmas.  First technique was to spread some white stuff on all that green grass.  ;)  Lines were laid down for snow banks.  But green still figures prominently in our first pages where the hunt for the perfect tree will be portrayed.  Trees are just lines that have been enclosed, completing  a shape.  Lines also give direction and we talked about moving our eyes around but not out of the page. Using the shape of a triangle we exaggerated it to make three spruce trees in different sizes.  We are also learning to practice a bit before we commit to the actual page. ;)  Next week we commit.

I have challenged myself to use a blue monochromatic colour scheme for this week's scrapbook page. "The range of different blues is enormous, and using too large a selection can end in disaster.  There is a vast difference in tone and atmosphere between a greenish blue, like turquoise, and one that veers towards mauve.  The wisest and safest course is to experiment with different degrees of one shade, using it deeper or lighter as needed or adding one of the gray-tinged neutrals as a highlighter."  I don't often use blue.  If I do, it is usually  robin's egg blue which is heavily influenced by green.  "Turquoise is the trickiest of all the blue-greens. It is really in a color class of its own and rarely blends well with other blues unless the very lightest or darkest shades are chosen."  My favourite colour!  :O

 So I deliberately steered clear of my blue-greens and tried my hand at regular old blue which I don't have very much of. I don't have many embellishments either.  I'll need to be creative to use what I have for a successful layout. 

I continue to move fabric around the wall hanging as I chase those tricky bits of sunshine and shadow.  Blur is good for the squint test but I think I am needing a new camera as it is slow in some light conditions and the on button is very tricky and needs a deep press on one side.  :O  Hey, time to treat myself!

Today's trick will be to get my errands successfully completed and back before the colourful grand kiddies arrive for supper. Another treat!

Let there be flashes of light

I decided I needed to consider the light source for this wall hanging.  I have an east window in the front room and the light should come from the top right hand corner and filter across and down to the bottom left.  That really helps to arrange all the greens.  I want a small hint of water and a bit of greenery that is more up close and personal.

I took the whole shebang down to the front room and worked over a hot stove to tweak it.

 And I tweaked it.  And I tweaked it some more.

This is quite enough tweaking for this wip Wednesday.  I am all done hot flashes! ;)

This is the general idea and I need to add, subtract and divide up some of the sections.  I also need to multiply some leaves.  I shall leave  it up (oops, pun) and wait for the Rooster to notice and comment on it. ;)

If any of my visitors from The Needle and Thread Network care to shed some more light, I would be delighted to stand still for a few more hot flashes! LOL

My happy place

It is my playroom/sewing room/art studio.  Lots of times it is creating things that makes me happy but I am seriously wondering if organizing is my real happy place.  :(

I needed to find a couple of sheets of coloured paper.  I have coloured card stock, patterned scrapbook paper, gelli plate mono prints, old book pages, music sheets, napkins, etc.  OYE!  I am in serious trouble.  I started to sort into colours.  Just like fabric, some doesn't slot into categories easily.  Then I began to dream about a storage rack/system.  Ahem!  I don't have a week nor do I have extra funds at the moment.  I have a couple of hours and that's iffy.  So I got creative.  I did a quick shuffle with the bead paraphernalia and repositioned the shelf to hold all those manila folders I had saved.  I designated similar pages into folders and I just may not even need to buy anything! Phew! 

 

The space isn't completed as the tub of mono prints is still in its tub but I had to switch happy places.  lol
I also have to deal with all the small stuff.  But I found card stock that I just knew I hadn't used up.  Yay! I also have emptied 2 shallow drawers that I have big plans for.  Again, I need to hold that happy thought and get back to the project at hand.

First set of pages is coming together.  hmmm, hum, hum.  Nothing glued but a good start.

I thought I was humming along until I put the flap down. :(

These flaps are complicating things, alright!  ;)

hmm, this might even work out better.  I will loose the yellow bow and...

put a nice one on the flap!    I can move the centre sentiment to the side and show case the bling. :)

I have three more sets of pages and only one more flap.   hmmmmmmmm   I hope I can stay happy!

Typical!

 

 

A typical start for my week.  I was considering my options when the pen was snatched from my hand, the wind blew through the open window scattering the to-do list and the reins were snatched from my hands as I  set the direction for the day.  I should be used to this by now. ;)

 I am gathering my thoughts after spilling this week's mood board.  Gold glass beads figure in the plan! :( 

Finishing the week

Friday was a great day but not a pretty day.  The Rooster was home and got us moving in spite of weather forecasts and chilly winds.  We got a lot of things put away and the flowerbeds are looking more ready for the approaching snow.  We came in for supper just before the drizzle began.

I had planned on working on my book/card and a scrapbook page.  My arms and hands were a bit sore and I was looking for a book to read and a bed to stretch out in but I spent a few minutes on the scrapbook page. I don't know what these little albums are called.  Even though the size, 6X8, is a bit challenging, they will work for my kids. I did a general plan and fixed them in place first thing this morning.  I need to work on lettering. ;)

For Creativity 101 I discovered how valuable cereal boxes that are gessoed can be!

I had a number of interruptions during the week but I am still pleased with all that I did get to work on. Now to finish that chicken coop and get the replacement hens all moved over and ready for winter!  They will luv the access to the great outdoors and the nest boxes.  Then I can finish off the week!

Which comes first, the forest or the trees?

I had my coffee this morning in the front room as I studied my focus fabric and made observations and notes.

I had thought square for the dimensions but I think a rectangle fills the space better and echoes many of the design elements in this room.

I think three long sections with a vertical sashing that shows off the gradation on each side of the centre section.  1/3 of the six by twelve inch blocks can be strips, 1/3 plain with some stenciling, and 1/3 I thought could be applique.

I did a quick inventory of my fabric paints and reviewed the technique.  I'd want to make my own stencils, probably from freezer paper.

Then I measured and measured again and cut my sections which will be cut again into blocks but I need to audition more fabrics.  I haven't determined the sashing width either but it'll be narrow.

I don't plan on going shopping so I shopped my stash.  This can work although I can see lots of tweaking.

The first thing is to move the centre section up about three inches.  A bit blurry but this gives the squint test.  ;)  I don't intend to procrastinate but I do want to give this a bit of time to percolate.  Sometimes I get a better idea but it is too late. :( 

I also need to do some multi tasking and work on some paper projects.  I do believe I have some kind of forest happening and now I need to find some trees so I can identify the leaves!

Wow, which way did it go?

I so badly just want to do something easy, fast, but wonderful.  Drat, I can hear that old adage- anything worth doing is worth doing well.  Slapping a few leaves on a background isn't going to do it.

I dragged out references to a few of the persistent design options that have stood the test of my time and that cling to my memory of remarkable designs.  I like a simple block that is rotated to become a complicated visual pattern.  I prefer rectangular blocks.  I like a grid but not clearly defined.  I want an overall impression that pulls me in to the subtleties of the detail.  All this green, will it look like so much grass?

I like the work of Ruth B. McDowell but it kinda scares me.  I get simple nine patches mixed up never mind symmetry in all its rotations. eek!  Swirling leaves?

I like the look of lots of stitching in all the variety of threads and all the patterns that are available.  How to combine that with a simple leaf shape. ???

I want this work of art to be a KISS. ( keep it simple stuuuu dent of creativity)   I don't want to wimp out, work fast and chock up another project on my notched ruler. ;)  I don't want to rush through the process but I can't afford to stall and have another super idea flitting in the nether regions of my foggy mind. 

Perhaps a walk will clear the mind and the feet will choose the path that leads to creativity!  Make that the path of commitment.

Lining things up!

I've been giving lots of thoughts to lines as I consider my options for my wall quilt.

Horizontal lines are fairly passive, calming.

Vertical lines are strong, stable.

Diagonal lines are much more dynamic.

But I'm not feeling any pull as far as inspiration for my wall quilt.

A curvy line creates more movement.  Falling leaves? 

Going back to my quilting roots, I recognize that lines make grids.

What if...  I shake up that grid?

I can also add lines with stitches and with quilting.  I think things are beginning to line up!

Monday's Moods

The idea of a mood board has always interested me.

A mood board is a type of collage that may consist of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition of the choice of the mood board creator. Designers and others use mood boards to develop their design concepts and to communicate to other members of the design team.

I need to get in a better mood for what I need to do this week.

We have gotten the white stuff and it is the wet and sloppy kind and I doubt it will stay but it certainly puts a damper on productivity.

A Canadian author, Alice Munro, has won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature.  She is the first Canadian woman to win this award since its launch in 1901 and there have only been something like 13 women that have won.  So I scooped up a couple of her books on short stories and read two on Sunday and gave her another try this morning.  I am admitting I am not a fan. Sheesh! I am all about happy ever after, giving it the good ol' college try and overcoming adversity, or at least 'she made the tough but right decision' kind of story.  I definitely need to shake off the lingering sadness. 

The Rooster wants curtains for this patio door and I am admitting defeat here as well.  Any curtains I find are not the right colour, not the right size, not the right washable material, or not the right price.  I shall have to go material shopping and make them. :(  

And speaking about material...
I read about low volume quilts in a magazine a number of years ago.  Quilting Arts, I think.  It immediately resonated with me and is very much what I want to pursue/produce.  I am trying to resist a quilt along for a low volume quilt.  But I was in the mood to at least pull some fabrics.  I am not sure I am in the mood for a quilt along though! ;) ;)  The good news is that I was definitely in the mood to buy some low volume fabrics.  Surprisingly I found lots of options in my stash.    I do so want text fabric though! We'll see if I make it to the checkout! :O

I need to work on the pink book/card but I'm leaning towards adding  lots of  gold. 

To set the mood for Creativity 101 and for Scrap booking 101 I need to revisit the elements of design beginning with line.

Hopefully this is what this week's mood board will look like!  And we'll see how I feel on Friday!  ;)

In the Pink

I am making another book.  This will be a group card for a friend who has been diagnosed with the C word.

I wanted a warm colour scheme as she doesn't like to be cold.  She has Florida roots! ;)

These are just the first layer as I will wait to see what my fellow contributors bring to the book.

A Tree of Life and leaves for healing. I had fun with the gelli plate. ;)

I anticipate some 3-D embellishments and pockets for notes and cards, photos and ephemera.

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine and I hope this will be the good sugar that helps the medicine go down!

oops, about the creativity 101 books

Books are on my mind and I had begun to gather materials for the booklets on colour for the grand kiddies.  I didn't realize I would have so much fun and have so many papers.  I arranged them in the order of a basic colour wheel using six colours.  Darn rainbow has seven and messes up the colour wheel concept!  oops!
I also should have made two signatures, not one.  another oopsie!

My gal came and we made a book following Teesha Moore's tutorial.

We got some colour laid down and we will 'really' begin next week.

Then instead of going back to my colour books I checked out a link a friend sent me and the rest of the afternoon flew by as my feet danced away under the 'puter desk!  oops!

So this morning I was hard at it and got caught up on my books.

This was a ton of fun and I tried not to add too many things as they are going to collect their own pictures and embellishments.  I tried to add a variety of pages in the colours, textures and materials.
 

 I have closed them with a paper clip and reinforced the spine with good old duct tape!

I spent way too much time enjoying the link a friend sent me.  This could be my theme song!