AED Day 15 -Halfway Point

It is Day 15 of the Art Every Day Month challenge, and this is what I'm working on today. It is a fabric portrait of a young woman and I'm still in the process of designing it even as I begin sewing. That is how I usually work - with a rough, unfinished sketch which develops as I go along in the project.
It poured rain here most of the day yesterday, but there are signs of clearing today. I'm looking out my porch window at more leaves that need to be raked, but today is a day for inside work, reading the Sunday paper and sewing.
Hope everyone who reads this is having a great day!

AED Day 6 - Apple Picking!

Today, on day 6 of the Art Every Day challenge, I finished up this little lady carrying fresh picked apples from the orchard! I'm thinking she looks like a Mary Jane - what do you think?

She is cut from commercial fabrics fused onto muslin and appliqued with a machine satin stitch.

The muslin background was then painted with fabric paints and the details sketched in with a machine straight stitch. I then went back and added a bit more shading with colored pencils.

I also wanted to show some beautiful handmade gifts (the best kind, I think) given to me as a belated birthday gift by my friend Karen.

                                      

The pillow is filled with lavender and smells heavenly!

The towel to the right is neatly trimmed with lovely birch tree fabric.

And the pretty bag in front is filled with balsam needles from the trees on Karen's property in Vermont!

Am I a fortunate lady or what!!

Thank you so much, Karen!

AED Day 5 - Enjoying Art

Today, instead of making art, I appreciated art! I went to A Quilter's Gathering, a quilt show in Nashua, NH with friends Andrea, Pam and SooKhim. In addition to looking at all the beautiful quilts, we hit the vendors mall and I couldn't resist picking up a few pieces of fabric, some beads and an embroidery kit!

                                

I also want to show some atcs exchanged at the recent craft days I shared with Elaine and Karen. These are the cards Karen made for Elaine and me (click to enlarge). She used cotton and silk fabrics, ribbon trim and beading. Such rich colors!

Elaine made a whole batch of atcs, which Karen and I took turns choosing. All are made from cut paper, with Elaine's special touch! Below are more of Elaine's paper cuttings.

So, even though I didn't get to make art today, I feel like I soaked up some arty vibes from other people!

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a productive day!

AED Day 4 - Paper Boxes

Today was the second day of Elaine's, Karen's and my crafty 'retreat. After going out for a delicious breakfast, we gathered around Elaine's dining room table, checked out etsy shops and worked on some projects. While Karen worked on a 'secret slipcase' made from paper, Elaine taught me how to make a nifty little box from scrapbook paper. It was a bit complicated so I tried out a few. Here's an explanation of how they're made:

Start with a square piece of scrapbook paper. Mine was printed on both sides, but it can be white on the back, and I made it 5"x5". On the back of the paper, draw 2 pencil lines from corner to corner, which will cross at the center. Fold each corner of the square into the center and go over the fold with your fingernail or a bone folder to make it crisp. When opened up it looks like this.

Fold the corners back into the center. Now fold the opposite straight edges into the center, unfold them and fold the other opposite edges into the center. Opened out it should look like this.

Make 2 cuts on 2 opposite sides - a total of 4 cuts. They go from the outside edge to the first fold, as seen in the photo above.

Open out the paper. Now take the two sides without cuts and fold the points back into the center

Fold up those sides and fold the corners in.

Now fold the short sides up over the first set of sides, down the inside wall and ending up with the points meeting on the floor of the box interior. You can glue these points down or even make a contrasting square to cover the floor and glue that down.

Here are some little boxes with covers, made by Elaine. The covers are slightly larger, starting out with a square 1/4" larger than the square for the box bottom.

I hope this tutorial is clear. The boxes are really cute and light, and, with the variety of papers out there in the craft stores, the possibilities are endless.

Tomorrow I'll post more about our crafty get-together!

It was fantastic!

AED Day 3 - Artist Trading Cards

Today I am meeting with two dear friends - Elaine and Karen, mother and daughter, and we are having an artsy craftsy two days together! You may know Karen from her blog, Sew and Sow Life. Here are my ATCs which I brought - a tree for each, and the left card for Karen, the right for Elaine!
We are having a great time - more to show tomorrow!!

Sneak Peek - Kristy Looking Out

I can see that the Art Every Day challenge is going to get me to finish some long neglected pieces and create some new work, too! Kristy's little head, cut from fabric and highlighted with acrylic paints, has been floating around my studio for a while! Today I made paws, but now she needs a body and a background. My original intention was for her to be peeking out from under a blanket, so I'll go with that. I need to cut out the missing elements from fabric, fuse and stitch the whole piece, and highlight it with some paints or colored pencil!!
I will get it done this month! Yay!

A New Challenge!

I've decided to participate in the Art Every Day challenge for November, hosted by Leah at Creative Every Day.
I ask myself, "Am I nuts? This is a busy month for me!" But I know for a fact that a challenge like this excites me and gets me moving. I love the idea of doing this in concert with other artists, checking in on how they are doing and offering encouragement. The parameters are pretty loose - it isn't necessary to produce new art every day - it can be art-in-progress or even just art-related, and it doesn't have to be every day. But I'm going to do my best to keep up and I'm hoping that the momentum will continue on into December and onward after that.
My first piece is simple, reflecting one of my favorite things about Autumn - the sight of yellow trees glowing the day after a rain, their trunks nearly black with moisture, contrasting with the deep golden leaves sparkling in the sunlight.
I hand painted fabric for the yellow leaves last night, sprinkling the paint with coarse salt to disperse the color. All of the fabrics are fused in place with Wonder Under. I'm planning to add stitching, but that will  be done another day!