Pear pattern ….. vintage sketch for pillow

By on 8-06-2013 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Vintage

This is the pattern I used for my pear card …. it was published in the McCall’s Needle Art magazine Vol IV. It and a sketch of apples were included. The apples were used to create a pretty decorative pillow that would hold up on your couch today. These vintage patterns lend themselves to so much more. I love to honour them and their creators by using them in what I do today.

pear

This pillow would look just as great on a dark homespun and stitched with white cotton or one of each light and dark for contrast. Done on ecru or white homespun and framed it would look perfect on a kitchen or dining room wall. Both sketches could be used as a quilting pattern in a solid coloured block in your quilt. Wouldn’t that look good on your love seat?

decorative pillow

If you want both the apple and pear pattern you can grab it here: Apple Pillow with extra pear pattern

Card of the Month …. pear cards

By on 8-06-2013 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Vintage

These cards were created for a swap on the Art for the Creative Mind Yahoo group. Until I joined this group I hadn’t done a card and now I do one for almost every month.

pear card

This is the card I sent to my partner. The pear itself was drawn onto a piece of acrylic and held on with brads. I first designed the template in Photoshop Elements and then chose the papers to go beneath the pear sketch.

pear card

This was the first card I made and I think my favourite of the two, but when putting it to the group they liked the other better so that is the one I chose for the swap itself. Although I used the same template and sketch for both card the choices of papers and colours makes the design look completely different.

More ATCs … made for Random Acts of Kindness mailings

By on 8-06-2013 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Vintage

These were made with leftover bits of everything I had in my stash …. it was a lot of fun to see these come together one little bit at a time, no two alike

first set of two ATCs

The top card was made with a piece of leftover embossed card as the base. Little tangles of threads along with an extra ‘A’ and flower from previous swaps and lots of leftover glitter in the corner are glued on and held in place by a piece of acrylic held on with brads. The lower card’s background was created with leftover roses from the napkins I used for my journal pages. The word ‘friends’ was in my stash as well and although it’s colour was close to the roses it didn’t stand out so I outlined in silver and of course a little bling on the corner.

second set of ATCs

Here is the second set, made in the same way as the first two but with different little bit and pieces. These little cards can become addictive.

Sisters ….. vintage photos of my sister and I

By on 8-06-2013 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Vintage

When the ATC theme of sisters came up on the Art For the Creative Mind Yahoo group, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had these two great photos of my sister and I when we were very young in Toronto. I’m the little blonde. One was taken with us dressed in our ballet tutus and the other in dresses made by my grandmother. She was one of the best artists with a needle I know. She could take a bit of this and a bit of that and make wonderful outfits for us. The little kitten in that photo just did not want to be there….I can still remember the scratches even now.

sisters
I gave us both new outfits in Photoshop Elements along with Princess crowns…lots of glimmer and bits of threads as well.

sisters

These dresses had bright red trim and buttons … I loved this dress and wore my sister’s hand-me-down as well. The front bib bodice was pleated as well…where the bruises were I added band aids and another pair of Princess crowns of course. These were so much fun to do as they brought me back to the early years.

sisters,backs
sisters, backs
These are the backs of the ATCs … I create a back that is interesting and holds all the information as well. The front of a piece is not the only canvas to cover and it is always important to sign your work.

Journals …. this is my first mixed media journal page

By on 8-06-2013 in Art For The Creative Mind Yahoo Group, Digital Images + Collage, Mixed Media, Vintage

journal

This is my first attempt at a mixed media journal page created for the Art For the Creative Mind yahoo group. The only criteria for it was that we had to use a stencil. My stencil was the waste from a little flower die. Never throw those out until you have used them somewhere. There are several layers of bits and pieces of almanac pages, lace, gold striped and dotted tissue paper as well as a couple of dollar store napkins with roses. I also used some threads to create more texture in the piece. Creating more pages is now a priority in my little art cave.