3 Part Project.....ATC Holder

Post Part 1

ATC Holder

Hello Everyone:)

I took a day off from Blog Land, as you have to from time to time to get some Art Time in:)

I've been playing with some Commercial Products, and have put together something, I think is a little different.

I'll be posting this project in 3 parts, as it is completed, so if you wish to follow along to make these yourself, jump right in and enjoy:)

I'm thrilled that this part of the project, 

 last month, was chosen to be  posted on 

Retro Cafe Art's Gallery Blog Page, 

featuring this, 

( Thanks so much Kristin!), 

as I purchased the blank ATC Holder from Retro's Online Shop.

(You'll find the link to the Shop in my Favourites List:)

The ATC Holder comes flat, and is easy to put together, (I used Inkssentials, Glossy Accents to glue together, but standard glues will work fine too). Then, I chose my paper and covered the entire outside of the box, (to glue the  paper, I used Gel Medium).

Then I used Tim Holtz, Distress Ink, Walnut Stain, to grunge up all the corners and edges...then came the fun part, embellishments:)

The first picture was of the front of the ATC Holder, using some of Tim Holtz Embellishments, this picture is the back of the Holder. I also put embellishments on the sides, but you'll notice they aren't as detailed as the front and back....there's a reason  that will reveal itself in my Part 2 and Part 3 Posts still to come:)

 

You'll also notice, the feet:)

I found that the material that the ATC Holder is made of worked great for a 'mini foot' idea that I came up with. 

The Tim Holtz 'Hitches' that are used in two parts to put things together, I used just the 'nob' end. I used a craft pic to make a small hole and filled the hole with Glossy Accents, and put the post of the hitch in the hole.

Hence the feet!!! ( I think they are cute)

Then I used a new paint that I haven't tried before also purchased from Retro Cafe Art, called No-Prep Metal Paint, by DecoArt, that painted on like a dream! I love this new paint, as it dries, all blemishes and brush strokes disappear! I also used it on the 

Number 2, (also a Tim Holtz Product), and again, as it dried, no brush strokes!

So this is Part 1, hope you'll think about giving this a try:)

I'll be posting Part 2, of this project either later today or tomorrow so please check back. I think when you see the complete project, you'll be tempted to make this yourselves!

Enjoy!

Love Shopping!

So for those of you who know me personally, just about anyone who has met me, knows that one of my favourite things is to shop. (GRIN)

I'm always looking for something unique and special to add to my art room, or home, that stands out....

I am also a great fan of the Etsy Community of Shops, and have been a buyer for the past couple of years of many different vintage and handmade collectables.

But my most recent purchase I think has taken the 'cake' so to say:)

I have found an Etsy.com shop in Paris, France, (Yippie!!!)

Called LaPomme

(I have Lapol's link listed in my favourites list)

This is a vintage piece that was from a turn of the century sewing store in Paris! You may be saying to yourselves, 'what would she want that for?'

Well!

All of my ink pads, with which I have a huge collection of will now be housed in my new vintage shelves:) 

I thought this was clever! Although the cost of shipping isn't so great, but if you go to Lapol's shop, you'll see her prices are more than reasonable!

(It'll be our secret between us)

Wink:)

I'll post a picture when it arrives and is full of my inks:)

Cheers

Eat Cake:)

Ok, so it was late night, nothing sweet to eat...

so I decided to try my hand at making a 

paper cake....I think I got a little

carried away:)

Enjoy!

Canvas Book

This is one of my largest, and most complex assemblage pieces to date. (With full intentions to do more:)

It's an 8" x 8" Canvas Book. I started off with 2 - blank 8x8" canvases, and covered them with handmade paper, (sorry to say I didn't make the paper, but plan on learning how to this year:)

Then I hinged them together on the wood 'spine', and off I went!

Two pieces that really motivated me to make this were the wonderful 'Tim Holtz' feet, that can be inked and altered, but I chose to leave them blank, as I thought the details were interesting enough. And the other piece that gave me this idea, were the salvaged door knobs and plates. I love digging through salvage stores, and looking for interesting unusual items that can be incorporated as elements in my projects.

The front cover is papered chipboard with metal embellishments, all inked and glued. I loved how the handmade paper has large flecks of gold paper and threads in it's layers, helped add to the piece.

The back cover, I again played with an embellishment from the 'Tim Holtz' alterations product line, and as I usually do, incorporated an element of something from nature.

I used a cut piece of packaging plastic to make a dust cover for the feather in the embellishment frame, and was pleased that it makes the beauty of the feather pop. (The picture doesn't do it justice:).

But it was the inside that was the most fun to create:) When you free form pile 'like' objects, it is so much fun and relaxing! It took days of 'try this here' and 'see what this looks like' to come up with the finished piece. I found it hard to stop, as I kept finding more items to glue in, stamp, and layer.

This project also helped 'justify' my hoarding of all bits and pieces, with the intention of their possible 'use' in the future:)

I had a great deal of fun with this piece. And after stopping, and proclaiming it finished, all extras, new ideas, and things I learned while making it from my mistakes, will be the motivation to start another one:) :) :)

Hope this motivates you to give it a try too!

Enjoy!

Rebel Assemblage Collage

This assemblage/collage,  I did a while back, using all 'found' pieces and vintage pieces. It's a reclaimed 8 x 10 frame, painted copper, that I made a box insert for the back to give have a deep space to work in. As you can see from the subject matter, I was feeling rebellious that day:) I love the dodo bird:)

As you can see, I found a different way of hanging the finished piece, using reclaimed vintage brass knobs, and chain, but what I enjoyed most was playing with 'Tim Holtz' Tissue Tape, which is what I used to wrap the outside and inside of the frame.

The fuses are filled with pearls and tiny sea shells. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I'm still trying to master taking pictures of framed projects, as no matter what background you use, they reflect like a mirror. But you get the idea at least.

Enjoy! 

Something a little different...books:)

I'm new at the idea of making books.

I've just recently invested in all sorts of machines, and gadgets in binding and such, so I'm looking forward to many attempts at this medium since I love working with paper and graphics so much.

This is one of my early examples of my book making.

'Ornithological Studies 1889'

it's a 5" x 6", chipboard paged, embellished book, 

which I really enjoyed making.

( Of course, the subject matter is 'birds', and yes

that is a shoulder feather from my 'Connie the Kitchen Conure'

I used a metal embellishment and Glossy Accents to

imbed the feather, great fun:)

I love the 3D effect of this page.

Might seem strange to have a 'gear' at the top of the page....but the next page will make sense:)

  

I attempted to create some 'movement' or interaction with the page..I'm pleased how it turned out:)

I like the contrast between the metal corners and the 'feminine pinks' of the page. And how the butterfly 'pops' out:)

I do love birds:) :) :)

I'm looking forward to some more 'book making time' in the art room, once I figure out how to use all the binding gadgets I've just received:) Art is learning!!!

Enjoy

In Memorial....

In Honour of two people who were very Special in my husband's and my life, I was inspired to make these two canvas's in their honour of their lives, and to mark the moment.

First is my canvas honouring 

'Stan' a.k.a. 'Sandy' my Husband's Dad

Who leaves behind a Wonderful Family and an incredible vast Group of Friends. We all miss him very much.

And my other Memorial Canvas

is to my Mum

'Renay'

Who we dearly miss everyday, and with her support, is why I am able to call myself an 'artist'. She enjoyed clowns, collected clowns, 

and the joke in the family is that she married one:)

She still inspires me.

And still makes me laugh:)

Who can guess what this was????

My crown:)

'Story Boards'

I coined the phrase 'Story Boards' after a couple of reviews of my work seemed to have a common thread. Seems that I tend to tell 'Stories' with my pieces. I also have great fun with using French Laundry Hangers for my Story Boards, it's a great way to be able to 'hang' them on the wall for display, and adds a little something to the piece. Also, I have a collection of Vintage 'Adopted' Family Photos, that I mix with my own family photos, and Vintage French Postcards, ( many thanks to French Kissed, be sure to check out Trishia's shop!)

These are two of my favourites.

'They were the Best of Friends'

and 

'He and Fred loved to Dream'

Both are made from my Vintage book and photo collections, with added embellishments from Kristin at Retro Cafe Art 

and graphic from Piddix on Etsy.

Who can tell me which one is Fred????? (grin).

Another Story Board using a larger image of my new Vintage Family Member:) I love the original photo, she looked like a wonderful happy kid from about 1890+.

This one is called 'The Darling of the Exposition'

(Mixture of graphics used, but special thanks to Piddix)

This one still remains unnamed as she isn't my Vintage Child. She's one of the wonderful Children from Gale Blair at Paper Whimsy, and I just can't bring myself to name her, ( isn't it funny), but she spoke to me of a sweet child full of love and pink colours. I'm not so inclined to be flowery in my work, but she obviously 'spoke to me' (grin).

'She never saw herself as a farmwife'

I was mad at my husband that day.

Just kidding, (grin).

So there's a few examples of my Story Boards.

Enjoy:)

My 'Oh Deer' Series....

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've found that I tend to work in 'series'. What ever the medium, I get motivated to make groups of the medium. These are examples of my 'Oh Deer' Series of collages, some are boxed into frames, and some are what I refer to as 'Story Boards' a fraise that I now use for a collection of my works.

This is my framed collage piece that is called 

'Oh Deer Garden Chaos'

(I will list the wonderful shops that I've purchased some of these graphics from, mixed with my own photographs, (Bubbie at 6 months of age:) :) :)

This one is called 'Oh Deer Tightrope Walker' I enjoyed playing with the metal incorporated into this piece. Also the feather in her cap is another one salvaged from our menagerie of pet birds:)

And another, called 'Oh Deer Garden Party'

This is an example of one of my 'Story Boards'

These are a few examples of one of my many series that I've produced, more to come later:) In the meantime I'd like to give credit and thanks to a few of the many Internet Shops and Etsy Shops that I have spent time with purchasing graphics and supplies from over the past year and have become friends with, Retro Cafe Art, Melissa Samuels, Itkupilli, Ceremony, Paper Whimsy, Art Tea Life, Altered Art Graphics, French Kissed, and many more that I will mention over the coming weeks. All of these wonderful shops, and the women who own them, are great supporters and wonderful mentors to anyone who is interested, and I am personally proud to have them involved and supportive of my efforts in becoming an artist:) :) :) 

Cheers to all of you:)!!!

More.......

Now that I have started this, and going through all of the pictures of some of my projects, it's 'gobsmacked' me, (you'll see me use that English phrase from time to time:), just how much I've made in just the last couple of years...talk about trying 'everything'! So over the next little while, I'll just pick certain pieces to highlight in different categories of mixed media, collage, atc's, etc, so you can see what I've  up to.

WAX.....my first attempt at encaustic painting.....As you can see, (and as I pre-warned all of you, (grin), I'm also interested in wildlife and pets. As many of you who know me, they are incorporated in many of my pieces, including photographs of my own local deer population where I live. Many of the photos that you'll see incorporated, are of my favourite and most tamed deer, Bubbie.

 I won't elaborate now, but later, his story is quite something, and he and my relationship is a 'treasured' one in my life. This canvas was a delight for me, and working in wax was a blast!

I particularly enjoyed the layering of fabrics and papers and encourage anyone to give it a try! 

Enjoy! And as I always say, Try it All!!

My first 'Real' Post

I figured since I've committed to calling my first Blog, Birdnuts Mixed Media, then the first picture I should showcase of my Mixed Media pieces should be what is called 'Bird Brains' (grin). Yes those are real feathers, humanely retrieved from one of my pet birds cages. (No one was harmed in making this piece:) That's a lot of tail feathers though! It was a fun piece to put together and was a 'challenge' by my dear friend and fellow artist Leslie Patterson. She handed me a blank mannequin after I had been admiring her assemblage pieces and stated the challenge....go make one of these....it took me weeks of looking at it, then losing it in cupboards so it would quit staring at me, all blank and white, a real lesson in avoidance...you see I hadn't made an assemblage before. Then in one night, all night, it yelled at me 'come retrieve me from the box in the cupboard', ( I'd made a huge effort to hide it away), and 6 hours later, 2 pots of coffee, no sleep but full of interest and lessons and exercising my brain, this is what I had come up with. 

Enjoy

Welcome to my first Journey into the Blog World:)

Hello and Welcome to my new project. Over a year ago, I set a list of goals for myself, and starting my first blog was a step on my list. Starting this late in life, has been a wonderful experience in learning, and a real exercise to my brain:)  My intent with this blog is to share my art work and projects, and to interact with fellow artists and creative people to learn from them, and to maybe even pass on what I have learned. I also like to encourage others to be creative, and hope to include other talented peoples in their creative world, whether it be art, writing, music, cooking, sewing, whatever! I am also a nut for wildlife and pets, as I share my home with 11 birds, (7 species), and 3 dogs, and my outside pets of deer, racoons, birds, squirrels,  and a very supportive husband, and you'll notice that many of my art projects are Nature inspired. So here I go, dipping my toe into the Cyber Blog World, once I let go of my grip to the seat of my chair:)
Cheers for now, hope you'll enjoy.
Denise.