Thursday, September 30, 2010

paperlicious: recycling teabags

(stitched teabag paper, teabag tag, teabag string)

I ran out of the tea stained muslin scraps for my Gulf Spill Quilt
so I reused the teabags themselves
and the tags
and the string

Here is Mr. Brown Pelican:

Today Rebecca @ recuerda mi corazon is hosting a fun papertrail
reveal your favorite paper art
(your own or someone else's)
paper touches us all
folded
torn
stained
painted
sketched
written
crumpled
decayed


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tea and Butterflies


I'm drinking tea today with 7 butterflies that I made yesterday.
Each butterfly represents one in 1.5 million children that perished in the Holocaust.
I'll be sending them to Two Dresses Studio
in participation with the Butterfly Effect project
at the Houston Holocaust Museum
Click on the butterfly below 
to learn more about how Trudi Sissons at Two Dresses Studio 
is collecting butterflies to send to the museum.



* * *


In honor of our newest Tea on Tuesday blogger, Gayle of Bliss and Gesso, I'm drinking Madura Tea from New South Wales, Down Under.
(Gayle may join us this week or next - it's a little confusing with the nearly 36 hour time difference.)









(It was on Gayle's blog that I first read about "The Butterfly Effect" project.)




I just love how this tea is described as 
"a unique, coloury, flavoursome tea." 

"Flavoursome"
what a fabulous attribute for a tea!

"Coloury"
I like that!
especially for tea dying techniques :)





* * *

I hope your Tuesday is flavoursome and coloury!
Please visit the other tea blogs listed in my sidebar for more
flavour
and
colour!

Cheers!



Friday, September 24, 2010

what "a little talking to" will do


I had lunch with my Dad today.
I wanted to show him my photo transfers - knowing I would get his honest opinion.
I have to say that I've been like a stick in the mud getting my etsy shop back on track
even with this next "big idea" I had (of the photo transfers)
I get an idea and then a little voice says,
sheesh
big deal
that's not going anywhere
what a waste of time
and effort
there's way better stuff
than yours
etsy is big
you are little
no one will see it
no one will want it
no one will buy it
etc
etc
etc
do you know that voice too?
That's when you need to talk to someone like my Dad.
He's like a kick in the butt and a hug all at the same time.
Thanks Dad.



Thursday, September 23, 2010

oil spill quilt progress

I started with basting the watercolor patches to my muslin:

The watercolors are from my sketchbook over the summer
(posts labeled: oil spill series)
I used a "light fabric transfer paper" (Avery brand) that I just ran through my inkjet.
I scanned all of the original watercolors first 
and flipped them to mirror image before running the transfer paper through the printer.
I must say that I am very pleased with the quality of the transfer ...
... and the ease of the transfer process
- easy peasy -



I dyed the muslin scraps with tea
(green tea, black tea and hibiscus tea to get the different colors)
and have started stitching them between the images


this is where it's really getting fun
it's just so peaceful to do handstitching
very similar to knitting
pick it up
put it down
stitch and think
think and stitch


thanks for looking :)


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

special tea

One of our stops in Seattle (see yesterday's post)
was The Vital Leaf tea shop


It's a tasting room where you can 
enjoy sampling all sorts of teas that
you might not ordinarily try.
The first question the host will ask is:
"what is your favorite type of tea to drink?"
(I said black)


... and then they proceed to show you the best way to brew it ...
 the idea is to start out with what you already know and like
and learn how to improve it by a better brewing technique.
For instance,
with black tea,
she said that traditionally the hot water is run through the tea first to warm it and wash it,
then it is steeped - only briefly - about 1 minute.


The teas I tasted: 
lychee black, coconut green, dragon well, 
siberian rose and osmanthus, jasmine pearl, and hibiscus.


I think my favorite was the coconut green tea.
Oh my goodness .....
yum!

***
For more yummy tea, please visit the "Tea on Tuesday" blogs listed in my sidebar



Monday, September 20, 2010

pictures from my weekend

These are pictures from Saturday in Seattle
this one is the of the north end of Pike Place Market
(Seattle's Public Market is the oldest and longest running farmer's market in the country)
This sign was made famous in the movie Sleepless in Seattle:


This is the sign at the south end of the market
the one you're more likely to see on a postcard:


All along the way, don't forget to look up:


And of course, inside the market, lots of good food:


Here we are (mom, sister and mom's good friend) enjoying a bite to eat:
(I am 2nd from the right)


Looking up again:



A good day to get married - no rain!
I have no idea who these people are - but isn't a cool place for wedding photos?
Some of those posters are VERY vintage (Rolling Stones for instance)


A back alley behind the Market:


And this is what we found there:


Yup, lot's of germy a.b.c. gum:


I couldn't have said it better myself:



Friday, September 17, 2010

gulf spill project



I'm revisiting this heartache
maybe it's because The Thing will be permanently capped tomorrow
now THAT makes me happy

I've used iron on transfer stuff
and have muslin squares ready to piece together into a quilt (like the Gulf?)
 the muslin pieces that go in between it all (like booms?) 
will be tea stained (like oil?)
and I am inspired by many other fiber artists out there in blogland (like kindred hearts?)
with their magnificent threads and stitches (like the essentials of life?)

I am so excited about this project
this is what I love about creating
... when something just feels right ...




Wednesday, September 15, 2010

twinchie transfers

Lisa Lee over at Inchie Arts asked me if this technique would work on twinchies
(that got me playing some more ;-)
are made from a high quality matte board
... they worked quite nicely in fact!
Thank you Lisa!


Here you can see that I've adhered my Twinchie Squares (dark cream) 
directly onto the images
I used Mod Podge - which is a decoupage medium
If you cannot obtain this, I would suggest Golden Acrylic Medium or white glue


Here they are individually cut out and fully dried
I allow at least half a day drying time
Next I simply wet the paper and gently rub it away leaving the ink jet image
(my original post about this process is HERE)


... and here they are all finished ...
The nice thing about using the Inchie Arts products for this project
was the sturdiness of the material
You definitely want to use something that will stand up to the abuse
(glue, water, rubbing, etc.)




this one is my fav
(these are all pictures of my dear old Dad)


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

a portrait of tea

 my cuppa today is partly Prince of Wales tea and partly Exotic Fruit Sencha
I didn't have much left of the Prince of Wales tea
so I adulterated it.


- wikipedia

Edward VIII was the prince who caused a major scandal by marrying the American socialite, Wallis Simpson.


Sencha Tea is a Japanese green tea

when choosing green tea, you have basically 2 choices:

Matcha
or 
Sencha

Matcha green tea is powdered
Sencha green tea is the whole leaf


- wikipedia



maybe Wallis Simpson was "the whole leaf"
with something exotic thrown in there as well


and they both ended up in hot water

poor Edward.

***

for more tea and stories, please visit the tea blogs listed in my sidebar


Friday, September 10, 2010

more photo transfer

today's playtime


this newest batch was on a smoother paper than the watercolor paper in my earlier post
they seemed to transfer more consistently using a paper that didn't have a rough texture

Elizabeth asked, "Is it possible for a non-artist to try this?"
well - if you can frost a cake or bake a cobbler you can do this
(E is a trained pastry chef!)

and Teri said, "I assume that you put the MP (mod podge) on the photo before you put it face down on the paper, right?" 
 IMPORTANT: apply the MP to the receiving paper NOT the photo
- if you do, the ink will dissolve and smear as you brush on the MP

Those were the only things I thought I should clarify :)

***

I think I may put some of these in my etsy shop
what do you think would be a fair price for something like this?
(just the raw print - no mat, frame, etc.)
is $5 too much?


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

photo transfer

... is something I've been playing with a little bit...


for this example I started with an inkjet image
(my own photo) and some watercolor paper


I tore the edges using a ruler,
and I marked the corner placement with a tiny pencil dot


I adhered the image, face down, using mod podge


when the MP was dry,
I soaked the back of the inkjet image with water
and began rubbing the paper off



what remains is the ink and a very thin layer of the inkjet paper
as you can see, it's an imperfect result


some areas transfer well


some areas - not so well



but this is exactly what I was hoping to achieve
a sort of ghostly and soft image
when I was done, I applied a coat of MP as a clear coat
helping to bring up the color a little bit 


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

"t" is for thankful

It seems like fall is a good time for feeling cozy and thankful about stuff
(you may still have summer where you live - but there is a definite chill in the air up here)
a good day for snuggling up with some hot cocoa
:)
"snuggle up peppermint" hot cocoa this last day of summer vacation
***
I'm thankful for my T on Tuesday friends ...
Christen sent me this fun package of treasures!
Christen has an amazing gift for precise needlework, beading and art doll creating
 (click here for her blog)

Like this beautiful pansy brooch:


... and Christen must know that I love 
street altered bottle caps
AND
sea turtles


... and that I love a good cuppa ...

Thank you Christen for all the thoughtful gifts and kind wishes!
That was so sweet!

***
I'm also thankful that school starts tomorrow
:)
for some obvious reasons
3 kids and Sweet Husband back to school tomorrow - "ya know I'll miss ya!"
***
I've been thankful for a summer of good reading for all age groups
(check out the titles - there's a couple of funny ones in there)
library books ready to be returned
***
And I'm also thankful that new shoes for 3 kidlets were in the budget
... especially cute ones :)
super cute shoes to be exchanged for a larger size
***
I was even making Halloween and Thanksgiving Day plans with my sister yesterday!
(argh - I know it - who could be planning that far ahead?!?!)

***
I hope your summer has been splendid
I hope the change in seasons is good to you
I hope your days are filled with a sweet kind of fulness
and
thank you for stopping by today!

***
please also visit my other T friends listed in my sidebar
they're a sweet bunch!