New Love: Fabric Twine

I. Am. In. LOVE!!

I saw this tutorial for making fabric twine on Pinterest and just had to give it a go.  Finally!!  I'm putting fabric to use that has been in my stash for 20 years!!  (Not even exaggerating!!)

Once I had a good amount of twine twisted up I played around with ways to use it, from tying up pretty packages to making this:

I painted a canvas with a couple shades of brown, then covered it with a piece of burlap.  A bit of pinkish paint around the edge to coordinate with my twine, and then the fun of looping the letters began.

I used needle and thread to carefully baste and weave the twine securely in place.  What's next?  Words, shapes, pot holders, a rug??  Who knows!!  But I'm definitely going to be twisting up some more twine!!  

Thanks for stopping by!

How Funky is My Chicken?

Easter came and went.  The kids are older, well into High School.  The Easter Bunny's excitement at our house has devolved as this burnt out working rabbit's effort at "doing her best" has really, sadly, dwindled to the point where she doesn't even use Easter grass anymore, and the baskets were too hard to locate in the garage so oversized Tupperware made do.  And there weren't even jellybeans. Weren't.  Even.  Jellybeans.  Pretty lame.

The Easter Bunny, rather, spent some post-Easter energy doing a little Spring cleaning and purging, and came to the realization that she is in fact, an Easter Squirrel.  No, a Year-Round Squirrel. Tucked behind packages of expired microwave popcorn and a bag of fossilized miniature marshmallows were these two little rubber chicks, meant to be included in the baskets...er, bowls...this year (or possibly Easter 2009).

They were deflated, misshapen and could no longer stand on their own, but trash? No.  I diverted them into my squirreled stash of mark-making tools and objects, things I use to add texture to wet paint, gesso, or gelli prints.

ICAD was the perfect opportunity to experiment with them right away.  First I used them with Distress Inks to make this:

I just pounced those little fuzzy chicken heads right onto the ink pads and onto my card.

Pretty cool!  Then I thought, what if I could be more purposeful with shading and make a face?

I used three shades of Distress Ink:  Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, and Gathered Twigs.

Even though I tried to expand the illusion of the "canvas", I think using a larger format would be more successful.  I used pencil and black pen to define the features.


My Cocoa Daisy kit arrived the other day, and I was super excited because I purchased the Project Art add-on this month starring Dina Wakely's new line of acrylic paints and BLACK GESSO!!
I could not wait to (literally) get my fingers into their creaminess, grabbed an index card and smooshed and smoothed those vibrant colors all over it.  I used a chicken to stipple on some black gesso to add contrast, and wiped a tree trunk on with the left over I'd squeezed onto my work surface.

A few nearby additions including cuttings from a plastic tray insert from a box of Christmas cookies or chocolate, a worry doll and some dictionary page and my latest, most favoritest little piece of art was born!

Yes, I do love my alone time.  Especially when I'm feeling creative and go get lost in my art supplies.

How 'bout you?  What do you like to do with your alone time?

Thanks for stopping by!!
Have a great day!!

Index Card A Day

Through the magical clickity-click of the World Wide Web maze I came across Tammy Garcia's blog, Daisy Yellow just in time to join in with her 61 day challenge, Index-Card-a-Day, or ICAD, which started on June 1st.  The idea is just to make a daily habit of creating.   The only criteria is that you use index cards, and as index cards are pretty much considered disposable, you should feel free to make art without any stress or worry, no thought or goal of perfection, no pressure to even produce every day if you don't want to, and no pressure to catch up if you skip a day or join in late.   Feel free to join in now if you'd like!  It's very laid back.  The only criteria is that you use index cards.

There are prompts, themes, quotes to jump start your creativity if you want, but they are completely optional.  See?  No stress!  Use a pencil, use a ballpoint pen, use some crayons, or your finest oil paints if you'd like.


Here are a few I've created so far.

Totally mindless, carefree fun--if you want it to be.
Or, if you are feeling more deep and philosophical, that's awesome, too!


If you play and want to share, be sure to join the Daisy Yellow Flickr group!


Have a great day!

#bringbackourgirls: A Charity Art Auction

It has been one month since nearly 300 girls were kidnapped in Nigeria from their school by the terror group Boko Haram.  As of this writing, the girls have not yet been found, though it seems that 50 of them were able to escape.  The U.S. is flying drone planes over an area the size of West Virginia in an effort to help locate them.

Unable to sit still, artist Jessica Sporn stood up.  She stood up and asked other artists to stand up with her.  Her Call to Art has summoned more than 50 artists to donate works to an online auction beginning TODAY as an effort to raise monies and awareness of the importance of educating girls.

Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls' education; their mission is to change the way the world values the girl.  All proceeds from the auction will be donated to girlrising.com


I created two pieces for the auction.  The first I have titled Illumination.

As important as education is to bringing enlightenment to those in the classroom expecting to learn, my hope is that any group or individual who feels threatened by the idea of education for girls or women may be awakened and illuminated to the positive impact and societal depth they are denying their own selves by not allowing females the opportunity, the right of an education.

I punched around 300 holes in a piece of painted and inked patterned paper.
As I was collaging them on I was thinking about the girls wanting
an education, and their captors needing one.

Lots of texture and layers to create the elements.

I also created a small mixed media papier mache piece called Little Reminder.  It's important to remember that Change is Good.

I really enjoy making these little shadow box-ish hangings.
from constructing the bases from torn book pages to deciding who
will live in the recessed area.

I hope you will visit the auction site and check out the lovely mix of art items and jewelry up for bid.

Here is a list of blogs and websites of many of the other contributing artists.  You can find out more information about the particular pieces they've crafted and also get to know them and their style, too!

Jessica Sporn   http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com

Linda Kittmer  http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca

Ronda Palazzari  http://rondapalazzari.typepad.com

Marjie Kemper   http://www.marjiekemper.com

Judy Shea   http://thekeytomyart.wordpress.com

Glenda Hoagland   http://pilgrimsthoughts.blogspot.com

Astrid Maclean  http://astridsartisticefforts.blogspot.com

Lisa Pace   http://lisapace.com

Jackie Neal   http://creatingwithoutcrayons-jackiepneal.com

Claudine Criner   http://claudinesartcorner.blogspot.com

France Papillon   http://www.france-papillon.com

Kristin Van Valkenburgh  http://TwinkleTwinkleLikeAStar.blogspot.com

Marcia Beckett  http://marciabeckett.blogspot.com

Ruth Levy   http://lerusho.wordpress.com/

Sally Lynn MacDonald   http://www.SallyLynnMacDonald.com

Renee Zarate   http://renee-boltonhouse.blogspot.com

Natasha May   http://natashamay.blogspot.com/

Carmen Whitehead   http://www.serendipitystudiobycw.blogspot.com/

Seth Apter   http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Marybeth Shaw   http://mbshaw.blogspot.com/

Amy Ingardia-Walker  http://creativelyquirkyathome.blogspot.com/

Kelly Warren  http://happyshackdesigns.blogspot.com

Julie Bernier http://juliebernierphotography.zenfolio.com/

Adrienne Hoban  http://www.allure-decor.com/

Krista van Tol   http://craftylittlepigtails.blogspot.com

Cheryl Grigsby http://cherylspaperartz.blogspot.com

Jill Meyer www.jillmeyer.com

Kerry C. Mitchell http://kerrycmitchell.com

Lizabeth Harrington http://www.craicarts.blogspot.com; www.facebook.com/craicarts.com

Barbara Lanza www.barbaralanza.com

Thank you SO very much!

Keep Calm

Our family has a bit of a reputation.

We are an easy-going bunch.  No arguing, no bickering, no drama.  No rushing about.  No worries. We go with the flow.

Friends lovingly tease us about our family vibe, and "Flaherty" has become not so much an adjective or a verb, but more of an attitude, a way of approaching stress or chaos.

Keep Calm and Flaherty On.  

I hand cut the words to create a stencil and used flexible modeling
paste to "screen" them onto an old green T-shirt.  It was an
experiment, to be sure, but fairly successful.  Next time I would
cut the stencil out of card stock instead of flimsy copy paper.

It was the idea I had for the crown that pushed me to actually create this piece.  And with "Calm" being the Word Up at the One Little Word challenge, I had a deadline.  No worries, though. :)

Chill.  

It's a little wonky, but I was free handing the embroidery from
 a sketch I drew up based on a piece of clip art.  

Head on over to One Little Word to check out all the loveliness created by the design team and other Wordsters.  And, if you'd like to link up your own calm-inspired creations, you have till April 14th!! 

Have a chill day! 

Thanks for visiting!

Trend Setter

Los Angeles Times

January 19, 2014

Lisa Flaherty

November 26, 2013

Just sayin'….  ;)   

 Lol!

Maybe this is just the recognition I needed to post more often. 

Here's a look at something new from me to cleanse your eyes from seeing that crazy layout again (Jeremy, once again, horrified that it exists on the interwebs. #sorrynotsorry):

It is a collage I made at an awesome class taught by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer at Studio Crescendoh a couple weeks ago.  I'm finishing up another in a series, and will share more soon!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Bunny Canvas

Our little bun-bun, Edward. *sigh*  We've been missing him, as he passed away earlier this year.  He was the best rabbit.  We loved having him hopping free about the house, and snuggling in like a pup when we'd eat dinner at the coffee table or settle in to watch TV.

I know you are resting in peace, little guy, except when you are happily bouncing from cloud to cloud
 or having your ears and face cuddled and petted by your loving angels.

I made this canvas for Remember When a few months ago, using some papers from Fancy Pants and inspired by this post on Pinterest.  

Various papers from the collection were cut into 1/4 inch strips, randomly chosen, and trimmed to size

Heidi Swapp Color Shine painted on the edges.  I think I use that stuff on almost every project!

Pierced holes and embroidered around the edge of the silhouette
sharpens the shape and adds a finishing touch

This was a super fun project, and a great way to use up scraps!  Thanks for stopping by and having a look!  Have a "hoppy" day! ;)

No Worries

Today I'd like to share a couple projects I made inspired by another canvas-making technique from Alma Stoller's Mixed Media class.

I made these little shadow boxes from the lid of an ink pad, and added a soda can tab to the back for hanging.

I have a bunch of Worry Dolls in my stash left over from this project.  I was thinking about how far Jeremy has come in the past few years and how I don't worry about him or his future the way I did when he was younger.  So, what do worry dolls do if they are not given worries?  They chill out and relax!

The swing is made from a cardboard coffee cup cozy.
They look a little frightened, don't they?  Lol!  

This one I made for a friend's baby shower this past weekend.  I stitched up a "Mother's Work" heart pillow, too, to give her a place to hand over any worries--big or small--that come with being a mom.

I think I will make a little series of these scenes--worry dolls on vacation or something. :)  I am obsessing over putting a couple into a little canoe!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you a worry-free day!

Queen Bee

I'm taking an online mixed media class by Alma Stoller, and having so much fun!  I think it is just what I needed to get the ol' noggin jump started with some fresh ideas.

Alma's voice is soothing, the music that leads into each video lesson is lovely, and the techniques and materials she teaches with are resourceful, often recycled, and innovative.  She really speaks to my true heart.

She presents many ideas for making "canvases", surfaces to art on, and the first one I needed to try was making a stitched surface from magazine pages.

I gessoed over the page to prime the surface, then used a brayer to apply some green and yellow paint.  I had this song, "Honeybee" by Steam Powered Giraffe stuck in my head for a few days, and stumped over what to do next, decided to scribe the lyrics onto the background.   This lead to me looking for an image of a bee on the internet to collage on top.  I added some spray ink and gesso'd stenciling; meanwhile, those Googled links had me thinking about the plight of the honeybee and it's impact on the ecosystem.  "God Save the Queen," I thought, (queen, as in queen bee).

I stamped with StazOn ink on some scraps of canvas and stitched them to the piece.  The crown was freehand cut from a cardboard coffee sleeve and spritzed with Heidi Swapp's gold lame Color Shine (I love that stuff!)

I love the way this turned out!  It is the first thing I've made in a long time that I've felt a strong love for and had to find a place to hang up in the house. :) 

I'm looking forward to exploring more techniques in Alma's class!  

Thanks for having a look!