Things I am Digging Right Now

This gorgeous custom made ring my husband gave me for Xmas. It’s the work of the very talented Lana of Lana Betty. I fell in love with the stone which is a rutile quartz. Lots of drama! I love the rain drop cut-it’s so very west coast. 

Dogs with Wings, an organisation out of Alberta that trains future service dogs is being supported by Naked Ape from January-March. For every bracelet sold from their special collection during this campaign, they will be donating a percentage to Dogs With Wings. I ordered this Amazonite mala and they are going to add their dog charm to it for me. It reminds me of Indy. Always happy to support service dogs! 

 

I happened to spot these adorable boots on Instagram. When I followed the link to the online store, Shoes For the Soul, I discovered that the brick and mortar store was located in Nelson, BC, an area I am quite familiar with. I decided on the spot to order myself a pair. These are so, so comfy-they’re European made and are a boot that wears like a shoe. I am wearing the h*ck out of them. My feet are so cozy. My experience with European made shoes is that the quality is excellent, so the shoes last forever. I live in El Naturalista clogs from Spain most of the year and these will be my go-to footwear in the colder, rainy seasons. 

 

I also came across these fun leggings from Leg Art and had to order myself a pair. I’ve never owned leggings before and I mainly wanted these for wearing at home. They arrived in record time and are super soft. We’ve had some warmer weather lately, so I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, but soon!  I just ordered a grey tunic from them last night as well. It's already on its way!

I downloaded this app called One Second Everyday. I wanted to do a daily art practice of some sort but didn’t want it to become a chore. I am liking this so far because all I have to do is shoot a super short video (usually no more than 10 seconds) and then load it into the app and clip it down to 1 second. It takes hardly any time at all. The other option is to use a photo. I’ve been using a combination of videos and photos and so far have 2 weeks worth collected. At the end of the year, I will have a 365 second video of my entire year.

The app allows you to see the video you’ve compiled as you go too, which is fun. It’s a lovely way to document daily life and all the little things you might otherwise forget. The app has a paid version, but I’ve been using the free version so far. I may buy a year membership which is $35 and allows for longer clips and music, etc. I’m still thinking about it.

I saw some lovely art supplies online and called my local source to pre-order them. I have some Xmas money still and figured this would be a really nice treat. Above is a book full of art papers that looked delicious. I liked it so much I've ordered two copies.

Some stencils and masks to play with on my gellie plate. Cannot wait for these!

And some washi tapes. I haven't bought any new ones in over a year (I own about 140+ different rolls!) but these called to me, so I figured why not?

When I was out at a medical appointment the other day, I popped into Micheal's to see what was new and came away with this little packet of Jane Davenport washi tape. They are marketing it as washi tape, which is weird because as you can see, it's not on a roll like tape nor is it actually tape-it's printed sticker sheets. They are 3 inches long and the height of each one varies. There are 5 different sheets in the packet. Still, they were interesting and pretty, so I got them to use in my journal. 

And in my eternal quest to find a white pen that can write over mixed media, I finally found a Sharpie white paint pen. I really wanted a finer tip, but I'll test drive this one and if it does what I want it to do, then I will track down a smaller tip version. I can't tell you how many pens I have purchased over the years, only to have it be a huge disappointment. Gel pens, sigma pens, etc. I am hopeful this one will be what I want because it's water based paint. They also had an oil based paint pen in white, but I don't think I want to expose myself to the smell-I don't need the migraine I would get from it. If you have a white pen that writes really well over mixed media pages, please tell me about it. I would appreciate the info!

And just in case you're wondering, this post is in no way a sponsored post-it's just things I have purchased and loved and wanted to share with you. I'm not being paid by anyone to say nice things-all opinions are my own. 

Sneak Peek #1 for October!

It's that time again!! I'm the guest designer on Paper Artsy's blog this week! October is my favourite month, Autumn is my favourite season and Hallowe'en is my favourite holiday. What does that add up to? Some really fun designs over the next three days. I am really excited to share them with you! 

Here's a sneak peek of what's in store for today: 

Want to see more? Click here to be transported!

Playing With Paint

Yesterday I spent the entire day making papers on Penn's Gelli Plate. This was the end result of 6 1/2 hours of non-stop printing-a 1 1/2 inch thick stack of yummy papers EIGHTY IN TOTAL (!!!) I can use however I please! (Made with a fracture wrist, no less! I've decided that either I am insane or just really hardcore about art!)

Penn gave me a quick demo and then I go to work playing with all the possible colour combinations I could come up with. She and I own a fair bit of cheap acrylic paints, so there were lots of colours to choose from. Penn also owns a ton of stencils, to the combinations really were endless.

Here are a few samples:

Left: Made using a simple circle stencil. 

Right: I used a number stencil, which I put on backwards, but I really don't think it matters-it's still cool.

Left: Using a Cathedral Windows stencil. 

Right: The circle stencil again, but printing the black circles first and then over printing them with straight colour. This is one of my most favourite papers. It's very Basic Grey-like.

    

Left: I used a rough organic like material that is loosely grid-like. This is my other most favourite paper. Again, very much like Basic Grey's style, which I love so much. 

Right: I used a grid of plastic letters which are actually stickers. Penn took the sticky off using baby powder. The letter are sort of the kind you might see in old fashioned restaurant menu boards.

Sadly, the colours here are not as vibrant or true as they appear in real life, but at least you get the idea. I took some photos of the process of using the Gelli Plate so you can see how simple it is:

All you need are cheap dollar store acrylic paints. The paint needs to be thin and runny, so save your Goldens for other projects. Bright primary colours work so much better than earth tones or muted shades. My favourite magic colours are always bright turquoise, a bright true orange, bubble gum pink and a grape purple. Add a dab of these to any other colours you are working with in any medium and you've got magic.

Stencils don't need to be store bought. Penn and I used a variety of things that were just lying around in our studios-old doilies, laces, plastic bottle caps, tools for making marks & scraping, etc. The lace doily pictured here is from the dollar store and is actually rubber. 

First you squirt a small amount of paint onto the Gelli Plate and use a large brayer to spread it out evenly. You only need a thin coat. Next, you press your stencil into the paint. In this case, we used the number stickers I mentioned.

Next you lay your paper down on top of the plate and smooth it either using your hands or a brayer. We used cardstock weight papers to print on. Penn had some old tabbed dividers we used. The weight of the paper matters-it has to do with how the paint gets transferred, so regular computer paper doesn't get the best result. The paint needs somewhere to go, so thicker paper seems to work better.

Once you have smoothed the paper into the paint, you just peel it up gently and set it aside to dry. It dries almost instantly, so you can move on to your next print. If there's paint left on the Gelli Plate, that's great-we didn't clean it off, ever-we just kept adding paint because part of the magic is the wabi-sabi effect of having random colours and bits of left over stencil shapes show up in a completely different print.

I especially loved over printing my pages. If I got something I wasn't keen on, I just printed right over it. Some of my best papers were done this way. There really is no waste of paint or paper-everything is usable, including the stack of book pages we were using to clean the brayer off on, in between prints.

My plan is to colour copy my papers to use in future art projects. Penn and I are also copying our pages for each other and we'll trade. Since all our pages were made using binder tabs, they are already 3 hole punched, so I will trim the tabs off and pop them into a binder for storage.

Now all I need to do is get myself a Gelli Plate! The 8 1/2 x 11 is $30. That's very inexpensive when you consider how much you can create with it! There are tons of video tutorials online of ways to use it too, so the possibilities are endless! Penn says the plates are only available online via the Gelli company so far, so if you want one, you have to order it through them.

When I got home, there was mail waiting for me from my friend Lisa Call. Don't you just love the presentation?!?

Lisa is a very talented Precious Metal Clay, jewelery and mixed media artist. Her work is exquisite. Years ago, at my first Artfibrefest, we met in person for the first time. She said she had a special gift for me and gave me a letter "L" charm. She was surprised to know I'd never owned anything with an "L" on it till that moment. I put it on my silver bracelet and I treasure it still. It was one of the sweetest and most unexpected gifts I've ever received. 

Yesterday, she sent me this adorable camera charm she made for me, to add to my bracelet. If you look at the back, there is "XO" on it too. LOVE IT! I will treasure it forever as well. I was so surprised. Lisa, THANK YOU! You are so thoughtful!

All in all, it was a very lovely and productive day. 

Good Medicine

Things have been quiet here for a bit because I was off having treatment. By treatment, I mean spending 3 days last week shuttling back and forth to the hospital to have IV steroids, which is about as much fun as it sounds. Somehow, I don't remember steroids being as rough as it's been this time. About an hour or so after the first dose, I get pretty sick with side effects and it was all downhill from there.

I've spent a fair bit of time in bed since then, though on Monday, I had to schlep out to UBC for a specialist's appointment and in a moment of insanity, also agreed to meet with a med student for an interview afterwards, even though I felt like death warmed over. I have NO idea how I managed it, other than sheer force of will. (or insanity...)

For the last 4 days, my throat has been absolutely raw, so I went up to my GP's office to see if I needed to worry about it. Being on immuno suppressants, I have to be very careful about infections. While I was up there, I popped by my post box and there was a package waiting for me in the magic mailbox! I wasn't expecting anything. The parcel was from my friend Amy. 

This is what it said on the side:

Which I found amusing, given the state I've been in. When I opened it, it was chock full of goodies-like this beautiful three strand bracelet she made me! 

This bracelet is autumn, any time I want to experience it! The yellow pearls remind me of kernels of corn. There's a old brass oak leaf, which reminds me of home and an "L" charm. Oddly enough, I only have one other piece of jewellery with an "L" on it. Years ago, Lisa Call surprised me with an beautiful "L" charm she made especially for me from precious metal clay. It was the first charm with my initial I've ever been given. I put it on a charm bracelet and I treasure it. I LOVE that Amy has given me a second one. It's just so thoughtful and special. 

There were also some great art supplies:

This funky journal, which reminds me of a zine.

An interesting variety of embellishments to play with-birds in cages, trees, clocks, mini red clothes pegs and cards in tiny paper bags. There was also a cool hexagonal box, which I somehow forgot to photograph. Oops! The bracelet was inside of it.

And three packages of washi tape! (8 individual rolls in total.) My washi tape collection must surely be at 100 rolls now-I will have to count later. It's just a wee bit of an obsession. Artistic crack, really. *grins*

The box did not lie-what was inside was pure medicine. Just the kind of medicine my battered soul so desperately needed this week. I am convinced that the cure for anything is art therapy and the love of a good friend. THANK YOU Amy for your perfectly timed gift. It meant everything in this moment.

What goes around, comes around-a parcel for you will be in the mail soon, I promise! 

Pressies!

The birthday love continues, right into May! *grins* This week, this sweet little package from my friend G arrived in the magic mailbox. G and I met in our Wading In class and she's wonderful. We have alot in common and she has a great spirit.

Inside was this lovely bracelet she made for me. There are delicate little birds and pretty blue tinted stones and charms that say imagine, dream and believe. It was such a wonderful surprise and I'm going to love wearing it! Thank you G for this beautiful piece of work. I will treasure it!

She also sent me some art making goodies-ephemera and an aqua ink pad and a blank book to alter. Fun! I am *so* spoiled.

In other news, I finished the camera strap cover I wanted to make. It was super quick to sew and fairly easy to slide on. The fabric is a combination of regular cotton and a flannel, so it will be nice and comfortable to wear around my neck. This is one of my all time favourite fabrics-I love the colours so much. I think it's a vast improvement!

When I told my husband what I was sewing (he asked) for once he didn't look at me like I'm wacked. He seemed to think it made perfect sense to want to cover up the giant Canon logo and make it as comfortable as possible. I guess there's a first for everything! Don't get me wrong-he's hugely supportive and proud of what I do, but I know he thinks some of my ideas are a bit off the wall. As he often says, "Sweetie, life with you is never boring." He's a keeper!

The weather is scheduled to be dismal tomorrow and I am pretty bummed about it. We're supposed to have more rain. In April, we had TWO days that were rain free. UGH! It's the one thing that drives me nuts about the west coast. I don't mind intermittent showers, but having weeks on end of non-stop rain is a drag. I guess it's the price you pay for living in paradise.

I'd hoped to be able to go on a shoot with my son and take the new camera for a spin tomorrow, but if it's going to be wet all day, we'll have to rethink that plan. Guess we'll have to wait and see what we wake up to tomorrow. Forecasters have been known to make mistakes. Here's hopin'!

The Sweetness of Friendship

There was good stuff in my magical mailbox this week! Pilar sent me a Yule pressie! She made me the beautiful textile bracelet with a beaded, felted heart layered on the front...

...and stitching that says "sweetness of life" beside. It's just gorgeous and feels so nice on my wrist. I love it for several reasons: it's from one of my most treasured friends; it's RED, my favourite colour; it's soft; it has tattered edges; it's a heart, which Pilar sends me as her way of letting me know I am loved and it has a beautiful glass button (I LOVE buttons!) in the center.

It totally amazes me the amount of control she has to be able to coax the words out of her sewing machine and onto the fabric so that you can read them. I am guessing that she uses a darning foot and having been a quilter for about 16+ years, I can tell you it's a testament to her skill as an artist! I couldn't do it-it would be this hideous tangled rat's nest that I would probably have to use scissors to yank out of the feed dogs. Seriously!

Pilar has an Etsy shop, which she working on restocking, so go now and bookmark it. You can click on her "sold" items and see the scrumptious goodies that have already been snapped up to get an idea of what she has to offer. I promise you, they are fabulous! Also, I want to share with you that a little birdie told me that Pilar's going to be appearing in an upcoming issue of Sew Somerset, so be sure to keep an eye out!

The sweetness in my life comes from the people I am blessed to call my friends. Each of them has their own endearing qualities and Pilar has the kindest heart and a gentle soul. She lifts me up in her own special way and every time I wear this bracelet, I am going to feel the warmth and love of our friendship wrap around me. Yes, I know that's mushy, and terribly sentimental, but it's true!

Thank you Pip. xox

Art For the Cure Auctions

Photo by Jeanette Janson

So the Cups for Cancer fundraiser is in full swing and this afternoon I got an email from Jeanette saying that my bra had been on TV in South Carolina! Apparently the curator of the gallery took it with her to share on the local news! I wonder if they mentioned it had come all the way from Canada?

Jeanette also sent me this photo of my bra hanging in the show, which was really nice of her, seeing as it would be a bit of a commute for me to attend. *laughs* I did notice that something was amiss though....

The "hope" embellishment has gone astray. I emailed Jeanette and she said she's going to see if she can find it, as it was on the bra when it arrived at her house. Ah well...these things happen! Hopefully she'll be able to find it and glue it back on. Apparently my super duper strength glue has failed me.

On a positive note however, she also informed me that my bra already has bids on it! YAY! That makes me really happy-the whole point of all this is to raise funds for breast cancer support services, so I was hoping it would do well. It's reassuring to know it's off to a good start!

Remember these charms I made for the Ties that Bind ovarian cancer project?

The doll made the cover of Stanislaus magazine, was featured in Art Doll Quarterly (the current issue, on stands now) and also made guest appearances on a couple of TV shows! How's that for exposure? It was finally raffled off and the project managed to raise a whopping $5442!! Isn't that just amazing?

But wait! There's more news!

Remember these charms I made a couple years ago, along with a button bracelet for A Charming Exchange?

Well those charms became parts of these pieces:

And were published it this book:

and now, at long last, many of these lovely pieces of jewellery from the book will be going up for auction on Ebay with the proceeds to go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, benefiting breast cancer research.

If you'd like to have the opportunity to bid or to learn more about this fundraiser, please visit the Charming Exchange blog for more information and links to the auction which goes live today!

You know, I've always believed that art saves lives and I think it's really an honour to be able to use our gifts to help someone else, even if we never see the ways in which that help manifests. I think of it as tithing to the universe. It's been my sincere pleasure to have played a small part in these projects and I hope that if you can, you will go and bid.

For Lisa

So Sunday afternoon was spent making this gift for my best friend Lisa. I've been meaning to make her something for awhile now and finally had the time to sit down and create. I was inspired by a necklace that Jacque, one of my housemates at Artfest and new friend, gave me for my birthday. The necklace she made me is asymmetrical, which I love and that gave me the idea for this piece.

I bought the ribbon in Port Townsend, Wa. at the bead store a year ago and had been hoarding it for some time, but it seemed too perfect for this project, not to use it.

I also got the hand charm at the bead store-I bought a couple because they are double sided. I love hand themed things.

You can't tell from this photo, but this side of the hand has numbers 1-3 on the palm, along the lines of the palm.

My best friend is an RMT and so I thought using the hands as a symbol for the healing work she does with her own hands was perfect.

Lisa is the kind of friend everyone should have. She is incredibly smart and wise. She is always giving and loving. I have great admiration for her as a woman and as a human being. She has stuck with me through the best and worst of times and always found ways to make the bad stuff laughable.

So Lisa, this one's for you dear friend, in gratitude for all the ways you bless my life. I am so lucky to call you my friend and to think of you in my heart as my sister. xo

Hot Off the Presses!

Friends Deryn Mentock and Catherine Witherall have just published a brand new zine, Jewelry, the Zine for all you handmade jewelry enthusiasts out there. I am very excited to be a part of this project, even if only on a small scale. My advanced copy is winging it's way towards me right this minute and I expect it should be appearing in the magic mail box this week.

If you're wondering who else is in the ground-breaking zine, here is a list of what's inside: (Click to enlarge, I think.)

According to Catherine, the zine is a delicious spiral bound 128 pages and includes 17 how-to projects and idea pages. There are also specialty pages chock full of inspiration in full color. If you would like to pre-order yourself a copy, you can find all the info here. You'll want to get right on it though-it's a limited edition publication so when they're gone, they're gone!

As soon as my copy arrives, I will tell you what I think. I can't help but feel that this is going to be extraordinary, given the deep pool of talent involved and Deryn and Catherine at the helm. I wish it were Monday already-I am itching to get my hands on my copy!

The Spirit of Giving

Copyright Tattered Edge 2008

Hello again! Have you been checking out all the eyecandy over at the 12 Days of Xmas blog? Only 5 more days left till we being opening our gifts!

I've been busy practicing the fine art of altruism. In our family, this is not something we save for the holiday season, but something we strive to do all year long. It's important, I think to give back in any way you can, as often as you can-and I don't mean by simply giving money, but giving of your time and your spirit.

With that in mind, I spent this morning in the studio making bracelets for two girls (12 and 15, if I remember correctly) whose family was adopted for Xmas by a group I am involved with. Our goal is to provide not only food on their table, but gifts under their tree as well. The nice thing about doing something like this with a group of friends is that everyone does what they can.

I wanted to make something personal for them, so I made them silver wish bracelets. Every little girl needs some *bling* for the holidays, I think. With these little tokens of love goes my wish that 2009 will be so much better for their family. May it be so.

I've been enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having. Today it was warm enough to leave the screen door open! It's unseasonably warm for December, that's for sure. Indy and I have been walking at the lake every day. I bought him a red velvet jingle bell collar and he wears it when we go for walks. It makes me happy to hear the bells tinkling as we go and people smile when they see him. I will have to try and get a pic of him wearing it and post it here.

Tomorrow I am doing something really exciting. Can't say too much yet, but it's one of those "once in a lifetime" things! I'll report back as soon as I can!

Published in a Charming Book!

So in January 2007, I was invited to make art for a new book on collaborative mixed media jewellery. The book was a spin off of an exchange I was in. It finally hit the stands this month!

I was supposed to get an advanced copy, but unfortunately, it's been lost in the mail, so I am waiting on a replacement copy. In the meantime, I had asked my library to purchase a copy (for the mixed media section I have quietly been building in the last 5 years) and it came in on Friday. I was finally able to see the end results!

This is a charm I made using a metal tag, glass glitter from Papier Valise and a tiny real sea star from Hannah Grey.

That charm became the focal point of this beautiful bracelet. I love it since I live by the ocean. It's very west coast.

Another piece I created was the button bracelet base for this sewing themed bracelet. I went through my precious stash of vintage mother of pearl buttons to make it. I also created the measuring tape charm that is up on the top right. (Unfortunately, it got flipped over so you are actually looking at the back...oh well...)

This charm, which also became a focal point for a wonderful necklace was created using a cog from my Gramps' workshop. The leaf fold over and the metal bird came from Papier Valise. I added sheet music and ultra fine glitter (that I call faerie dust) over top of the music.

Ruth Rae and Kelly Snelling did a wonderful job pulling all the pieces together. If you are interested in collaborative art jewellery, this is the book for you! You can find more info on the Charming Exchange Blog.

I just love doing work for publication. It's the challenge of it that amuses me. It's never the same thing twice and I love working under a deadline. It really gets the creative juices flowing!

P.S. The photos in this post are not exactly as they appear in the book. My scanner is not working so I had the camera and the flash washed them out a bit. (My apologies!) Trust me, the book is waaaay better than it looks here!