Monday, November 21, 2011

Got Lace?

I went out picking on Saturday morning. It’s my new favorite thing to do. I went to an estate sale where a sewing and crafting hoarder lived. Fabric boxes to the ceiling, multiple sewing machines and tons of craft supplies. It was overwhelming because you couldn’t possibly look through all of it since there was so much. I managed to leave with only a couple things. I got a great old cutter quilt for only $2 and also this beautiful embroidered piece.
Then I went to a church flea market and was thrilled to find a huge box of vintage lace and linens. I only wanted the lace and they were kind enough to sell me just what I wanted so I didn’t have to buy a pile of tablecloths and napkins. I would have bought it all just to get this lace though. There are many pieces of handmade lace and one plastic bag in the box was filled with old cuffs and collars.  Two of the collars are the high neck kind they wore a hundred years ago. I’m selling those to pay for my Saturday habit. The rest are just waiting for me to create with them.

Last night right before I fell asleep I had an idea that I thought was brilliant. I was going to cover my mannequin with pieces of lace, like a collage.  I dreamt about it all night.  This morning I thought I was crazy for coming up with such a silly idea.  I told my mother about it and a little later she asked me if I had read my horoscope. “No, I don’t believe in that,” I said. She then insisted on reading it to me.

“Talk is cheap, but your ideas might be priceless. Your creative ideas can bring you recognition and monetary rewards. New ideas or information may revolutionize your prospects.”



This is different than the one I imagined.  It was more of a patchwork piece because the pieces were smaller. Since I’m not chopping up this gorgeousness I had to work with whole pieces. It's just pinned on.

Now, I’m not expecting I’ll win the lottery today (I didn’t buy a ticket) or be the next winner on Project Runway but this was still a great creative exercise.  Don’t throw out your ideas and call them silly.  Encourage them like my sweet mom did and just create!






Saturday, November 19, 2011

Finished Gluebooks

Hi! I just thought I would show you how I finished up my Christmas Gluebooks. I made two different sized books. These are the last two pages of each book.

When I photograph these they come out too dark. Scanned they come out too light but you'll get the idea.

The last step was to put holes in the pages and tie them up with ribbon. I love the way they turned out!

You can still sign up for the My Christmas Gluebook class. It isn't live anymore but it is self paced and you have lots of time to make some books for Christmas. One of the best parts is seeing what the other students created in the Flickr group. I'm really happy I took the class! 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

My Christmas Gluebook

I've been busy working on the My Christmas Gluebook class given by Mary Green. It's lots of fun! Here are a couple of my pages.



This is getting me in the mood for Christmas!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Stuff

Since doing the Gluebook Page Swap, I've enjoyed getting back to doing some pages for myself.  I did these in a Moleskin though, not the gorgeous binder from the swap. Not sure why I didn't think of that.
 I love making these crazy backgrounds with my scrap pile. I could probably be happy just making a book of backgrounds, that's how much fun it is for me.

This one is similar to one I made for the swap. This is all vintage paper except for the lady. I love how bright the paper flowers are after all this time. They were very brittle though and hard to glue.                                 

Check out this 830 page pile of messy gorgeousness!
It is the Werner Universal Educator from 1895. I got it for $2 at the flea market. I was beyond excited when I saw it and when I got it for 2 bucks because it's filled with images that I've seen on The Graphics Fairy. I even used one of the downloaded images in a collage recently. But now I own them!!! Woot!!!!  Is that a kid word or do adults understand "Woot!"? I'll bet you understand! 
I'm lucky I keep finding these old books that are falling apart so I can use the paper for collages, right?

Wrong! I still can't do it and my brother-in-law made me feel like poo when I said I was going to.
 So many nice bloggers share images so that would be a good thing to do with it.
I just don't know how. Do you where I can get some instruction on that ?
This lovely photo was tucked inside.
This image is glued to the inside cover. Gosh, I love old stuff!!

I'm also working on the "My Christmas Gluebook" class that Mary Green is giving.  

This is a cover for a book I am making. It's lots of fun so if you haven't signed up, check it out!



Thursday, November 3, 2011

Vintage Gluebook Page Swap

Yesterday I received my Vintage Gluebook in the mail and I was so excited to open it. I received the most beautiful pages from some very creative ladies!

This first page is from the lovely, sweet Linda from Kansas and Unlimited Possibilities.
                                         I love the old recipe and the Pittsburgh label!

Next is a beauty from Liesbeth in the Netherlands. Her blog is Liesbeth's Arts and Crafts.
                   The colors are so rich and beautiful on this. I hope my photo does it justice.

  Next is a collage of lovely papers from Leslie Sowden. Her blog is One Woman's Hands.
Such a darling photo and I love the bluebird image!

This next beauty is from Linda Freeman. Her blog is Lambsworld.
These images with aqua and brown are gorgeous! 

This precious collage with the children gardening is from Barbara Warrick-Fischer.
I love the colors and the way she made the ground out of the different papers!

The last page is by Kim Smith at Tabby's Place.
Great color and images! I love the little girl!

Along with these beautiful pages, Mary sent us a cover and binder rings to put it all together.

She also gave us some beautiful vintage papers so we could use them to make more gluebook pages.
Thank you Mary for having this swap! I had so much fun doing it!

Thank you also to the talented ladies that made these awesome pages for my new gluebook!



Wednesday, November 2, 2011

November Collage Challenge

Time for another collage challenge from Mary Green at Green Paper. Mary provides three beautiful images and you have to make something using at least a part of each image. As soon as I saw the Eiffel Tower I thought of a lamp!!??  Did I think of handsome French men with wonderful accents, a gorgeous apartment on the Champs-Elysees or a patisserie?... No,... I thought of a lamp.


Besides the Eiffel Tower and the beautiful lady, the third piece was used to make a lampshade and art for the wall. The table is from The Graphics Fairy. She is admiring her new home decor which she bought with the money that was given to her to buy plane tickets to Paris. She preferred a staycation.

Check here to see what others made from these same three pieces. I could be wrong but I'm guessing you won't see any more lamps.

Thanks, Mary, for another fun challenge!