Peek at My Week (Nov 7-13)

It's been one of those weeks that stretched out before me with opportunity and inspiration. I'm not sure if that's because I began The Artist's Way* (TAW) or because of the time change or if there are some other factors at play. But, I tried to take advantage of it as much as I could. Take a peek. 

Sunday began early with the added hour because of Daylight Savings. The temperature had dropped dramatically as well. It felt more like winter than fall. Though, the leaves disagree. I began my first week of TAW ready to find inspiration. 

I spent the day on a variety of tasks, including working on The Magpie's Nest Workshop from Aimee Bishop. 

I wasn't loving those magpies, but they've grown on me as I've accepted them as they are. 

Monday was full of surprises.

This photo was taken on Monday, but only as a representation of the actual dead mouse that I discovered when I woke up that morning. I'm relieved to have the cats because I had no idea we had a mouse!

While working on a project, I encountered another surprise as I flipped open a recently-acquired vintage dictionary. 

I just happened to open the book to the exact pages where this photo had been nestled for who knows how long. I was super excited! 

Though I felt like nothing was getting accomplished that afternoon, I was able to copper-foil a few items for my soldering session on Tuesday morning.

I wish I had soldered a wider variety of pieces but was relieved to have this batch done. 

In the afternoon, I took myself on an "artist's date" along the shores of Mobile Bay. 

I worked most of the day on Wednesday on a project for a friend. But, then treated myself (and my family) to the baking of my favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

I stayed home all day Thursday and put my nose to the grindstone to work on a few ideas. I got to break out my heavy-duty tools, and that's always fun. 

Though I have loads of cardinals at my birdfeeders, the brightness of this one especially caught my eye Friday morning (sorry for the blur, I was zooming in.)

Not long afterward, I ran out to the post office and then felt the pull to do a little thrifting.

This is the bulk of what I brought home (there were a few other items I had already put away.) Now, I NEED to begin actually making something from them!

Saturday was a bit of an odd day as our Bama football game was early, and I had plans in the afternoon with a friend. So, I busted out a few chores and a little art-time before kickoff.

After the game, I broke down one of my tins before heading out to meet my friend for a little time at Super Second Saturday at Southern Antiques and Accents and dinner together. 

It was a full and fun week. I'm looking forward to seeing what the week ahead holds. But first, here's some of the inspiration I found.

• DIY these lovely Autumn Leaves Earrings from Halcraft. 
• Fiber-based wall-hangings
• Land art that gets wiped away by the ocean
• Christmas Tree Earrings from Fire Mountain Gems
• The Cathedral of Junk (in Texas)

How was your week?

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Peek at My Week (April 18-24)

There was a lot in the works this week. Take a peek.

While doing some yard work on Sunday, I caught a glimpse of the red flash of berries and discovered our first patch of ripening blackberries. They grow wild here and are really a nuisance because of the thorns, but the berries are so tasty that I can't help but get a little excited. 

Once the yard work was done, I couldn't bear to sit in the house on our first nice day in a week (SO MUCH RAIN!) So, I took my beadwork outside to enjoy the weather. 

Monday was a standard, get-things-done day full of errands and whatnot. I did decide to try something new on the bead table though! (It didn't work out but has spurred some other ideas.)

Since the weather has been so nice, I started the day with a walk in the neighborhood. I was rewarded with finding loads of beauty and a patch of ripe blackberries on the side of the road. Of course, I picked a few before heading home. 

Those roadside berries were easily worked into my breakfast!

We were happy to see that the nice weather brought out the concrete guys to finish framing up the foundation of the new building. In the evening, we met a few friends (and bumped into a few others) for dinner at an outdoor venue. 

My plans for Wednesday included helping a friend set up her own Facebook Page for her art then visiting with my mom for a few hours. Since I knew I was going to be out of the house most of the day, before I headed out I did a little prep-work for a soldering idea I had. 

I worked on adding copper foil to those bubbles and a few ceramic shards on Thursday but had to put them aside after a while because I had a lot of tasks on my list to get to including making the cake for my niece's birthday. 

Friday was FULL of activity.

It began at 5:30 in the morning with us waking to the dog barking and someone knocking on the door. The concrete guys were back to pour the slab. That was great news, but we didn't know they were coming and they couldn't get to the framed area until we moved our cars. We were frantic and there was a line of trucks down the street trying to get in our driveway. 

At the end of the day, we had a concrete foundation! Now, we have to wait for the metal to come in, and they have no idea when that's going to happen. sigh.

The frenzy of the morning and the hum of trucks in the yard left us exhausted all day. I stayed at my desk and worked.

I finished copper foiling all the pieces to be soldered but knew that I wasn't in the right place mentally for soldering so I put it aside for the next day.

Instead, I played in a couple of art journals with some paint and other mixed media supplies. I'm really happy with the results.

In the evening, I got my second wind as we headed out to celebrate my niece's 21st birthday.

It was a long day!

Saturday's stormy weather gave me a chance to recover from the day before. 

I worked my way through the You, Me, Same 3 reveals.

And, I soldered almost all day long. 

I'm in love with how some of these pieces turned out. My original idea that had spurred this soldering stint didn't work out, but another technique I've been wanting to try did. So, it was a win. And, a couple of the ceramic shards have already sold to an Instagram friend. Woohoo! I'm actually considering opening a section of my Etsy shop to selling some of the pendants and charms I made (soldered, resin, tin, etc.) rather than hoarding them away for my own designs. What do y'all think of that? I'm toying with a couple of ideas related to that but would LOVE your input. 

Here's some of the inspiration I found over the week:

• Tammie of Daisy Yellow shares some Ideas for filling a Tiny Journal. 
• Over at The Graphics Fairy, there are 25 Nest Clipart Images that could be great for a spring project of Mother's Day. 
• This Feather Sculpture is not only gorgeous, but it's also a beautiful tribute to the aid the American Indians gave to the Irish people during the potato famine. 
• I feel finding ways to make your own flowers. I guess it's because of spring. This Edwardian Rose made from Ribbon is especially nice. 
• All of the elements in this Earring Tutorial from Moois Van Mie make for a really fun accessory. 
• Helen Wells shares how to Make a Sketchbook from One Piece of Paper. 
• These little stop motion food prep Lego videos are so impressive and cute at the same time. I do love me some Lego. 
• I've always got a stockpile of mason jars so these 10 Mason Jar Craft ideas are definitely right up my alley. 
• I am gaga over these amazing, colorful sunset embroideries. 

I hope you found something to inspire you in that list. I know I've been feeling uber inspired myself. What have you been making lately?

Have a fantastic week!

Hollow - AE July Theme Challenge Reveal

The moment I saw the Art Elements July Theme of "Hollow", I was stricken with the realization that it could be interpreted in so many ways. Just some of the images/connotations that came to mind included an empty vessel, a nook or open space, an echo chamber, the feeling of being empty of lacking substance/drained, and a location like "Sleepy Hollow". Of course, in my usual fashion, I pushed these ideas away for "later in the month". sigh. I had one idea in particular that came to mind almost immediately, but it took weeks for me to get to it, and then it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. We'll get to it at the end of this post.

The one idea that did work is so simple, it pales next to the expansive theme. But, I kinda love it. 

These earrings feature some of my most favorite beads ever: those hollow bone beads with the dots carved all over them. I simply topped them with Czech glass beads in a mercury glass color and formed a loop with the wire at the bottom to further echo the hollow/empty theme. 

I can't get over how simple but stunning they are. 

And, though they'll likely head to my Etsy shop today (they're there now as Hollow Earrings if you want to see ALL the pictures of them), I have to admit that I've worn them several times already. 

I'm aware that this is a beyond-basic interpretation of the theme.

But, they do go with it!

As for my other idea, I finally broke down a few days ago and had a go at it.

I wanted to turn pairs of tin discs into puffed vessels of a sort by doming them, clipping the top and bottom, and soldering them together. 

The clipped top and bottom gave me a little space to add something into the vessel. 

I was working with flower beads on headpins for a really neat design when this (below) happened.

My copper tape failed and the domes came apart! I'm not really sure if it was the type of tin, the tape itself, my own failure to burnish well, over-handling the tin, or something else entirely. However, I still really like this idea and have brainstormed a few ideas with my husband on how to make vessels like this using cold connection techniques as well as sealing it better with the solder. So, I will likely try at it again another time. 

For now, I'll enjoy my super simple hollow-inspired earrings and hope that you do too.

Plus, I'd still like to explore the idea of hollow in a few other mediums like my art journal and perhaps even an assemblage piece!

Thank you to Marsha for the inspiring theme. I am sorry I don't have more to offer this month. Make sure to head over to the Art Elements Community on Facebook. There, you'll find the July Theme: Hollow Album with the images and links of the other artists who took on this theme with much more exciting results. 

Peek at My Week (July 12-18)

So many items on my to-do list were knocked out this week, but alas, there weren't many pictures of my week or even many picture-worthy moments. I'm hoping to remedy that in the week ahead. Almost all the pretty pictures I took were from Saturday. 

On Sunday, we had a super lazy day inside but finally forced ourselves outside into the pool in the afternoon. That evening, we had a terrible thunderstorm roll through that knocked out the power for over an hour. Poor Zoe (our dog) was in a panic between the storm and the power outage. 

I actually crossed off everything on my list on Monday!! Tuesday wasn't as productive, but I had a super exciting moment when I spotted this comment in my Instagram feed.

Y'ALL!! THE Tim Holtz commented on one of my #The100DayProject spreads! Actually, he commented on TWO, but I was so shocked that I didn't notice the other one for another day or two (that's horrible, right!? 😂)  But, it helped spread out the excitement. 

And, my week went on. 

By Friday, I had accomplished so much and finished the 100 days that I had some "spare" time in the afternoon to just play. 

I started by pulling out my soldered bits and deciding what needed to be aged/darkened. Before long, my desk was covered in bits of tin, wood slats, and the soldered charms. I couldn't settle on how to use any of them and never really accomplished anything but played with a little of everything. I supposed I can't complain about that. 

I was up early on Saturday.

After some yard work in the Alabama heat, we took a dip in the pool before lunch and a few rainstorms rolled through. To stay busy inside, I worked on eco-dyeing a batch of papers.

Once the last storm was over, we threw some potatoes and steaks on the grill while taking another swim in the pool. 

Can you see the mist developing in the deep end from the drop in temperature after rain? It was so cool. We could see the mist in the trees in the front yard too. 

Then, it was back inside for an amazing dinner.

It really was a lovely day.

As I mentioned above, I finished out #The100DayProject this week. Here are the last four of my #MakeArtDontFakeArt project. 

For Day 97 I had to use at least one piece of the Grungeboard in my stash. I picked out a little heart to alter and just happened to find a strip of dictionary paper on my desk that contained various Love definitions. 

Some basic cotton twine was my material on Day 98. I seriously just pulled a length of it apart before gluing it down with gel medium. It worked though. This was the other page that THE Tim commented on!!

Here's Day 99 that was a bigger hit than I thought it was going to be. I struggled so hard to get this one to come together with the washi tape I used in the background. And, I wasn't sure it had come together, but the comments made me reconsider it. 

I had wanted to go out with a bang on Day 100, but the oil pastels held me up a bit. I really don't ever use them and had a hard time really knowing what to do with them. So, I played and experimented and am not too disappointed with the end result. 

As always, I'm so glad I made it through the 100 days. On the other side of the project, I feel like I was able to stretch the bounds on my creativity and explore art. This project was no exception. I do encourage you to explore your supplies and see what you can make with them.

Now, for some inspiration from the week.

• This Lion Embroidery from Kimika Hara is so great. Go take a look at her Instagram and all the other amazing embroidery she's shared. 
• Here's a fun Chains and Charms bracelet tutorial from Rena of Jewelry Making Journal. I think it might be a great project for extra bits of chain and those charms you don't know what else to do with. 
• I've seen a lot of this type of street photography where the artist finds coincidences in everyday life a lot lately. This collection is a pretty fun one.
• Here's a polymer clay earring tutorial that includes all kinds of clay-working tips. 

And, that was it for my week. I do hope to find more inspiration and be more inspired. Please share with me what's inspiring you right now. 

Peek at My Week (April 26 - May 2)

I left the house more this past week than I probably should have. But, I was preparing for another birthday - Pat's (my husband)!! It kept me busy and distracted. And, that's always a good thing. I did take all the necessary precautions: mask, sanitizer, social distancing! I promise.

Sunday was much like Saturday. We lazed around most of the morning, then did a little yard work followed by a float in the pool. (Admittedly, that will likely continue to be our weekend plans until it gets cold again!) 

I stayed super busy on Monday with my usual errands (grocery shopping) and chores then spent the afternoon like this.

No, it wasn't for another trip to the store - I was soldering! The re-breather is a bit of overkill, but I like to take precautions. 

Once I had tackled the soldering I needed and wanted to get done, I took a little break out on the porch before making dinner.

It's been my habit lately to have a beverage and enjoy the outdoors before it gets dark. It helps me break up the day and decompress. On Monday, I actually grabbed my good camera and my big lens to get some shots of the birds.

We just got a new hummingbird feeder, so those have been my obsession lately.

They're so cool. Most of the time, the birds are actually perching on the feeder. Our previous feeder didn't have a perch, so they would just hover. I'll have to share some of the perched photos later. I was just smitten with this photo. It's the only hovering one I got.

After getting Tuesday's chores started, I went out to try to get some videos uploaded. I started at one of my best friends' houses but the videos ended up stalling out after a while. Then, I drove through a local coffee place and used their WiFi. I was able to get one video up before the next one stalled. DANG! At least the coffee was yummy. In the evening, I got some puppy snuggles to console me.

I'm not even sure what happened to Wednesday. I mostly spent it finishing up my projects, taking pictures, and writing my post for Thursday's reveal for the Art Elements Bee Theme Reveal.

Thursday also included one of my biggest excitements of the week. I discovered my first gardenia bloom of the season!

It's not the prettiest thing, but it smelled spectacular!

Friday is always my main house-cleaning day, but it was also the first day of the month. So, I started it in my bullet journal, getting my monthly tracking set up.

And, before I got the bathrooms cleaned, Zoe got cleaned.

Despite the photo, she was thrilled to be clean. (I was holding her tennis ball to get her to look at me!) I ran a few errands that afternoon to pick up some things for Pat's birthday and try again to get videos uploaded. Again, I had trouble at the coffee place but found another location that worked out great, and I didn't have to interact with anyone or get out of the car. That really made my day! 

Saturday was Pat's birthday, and I did my best to make it special with loads of presents and some of his favorite foods. A few friends stopped by but kept their distance as well. We spent the afternoon out by the pool. And, it was really lovely.

We topped it off with a yummy meal and strawberry shortcake. It was low key, but I think he enjoyed it. I'm sure that today will likely be another weekend repeat. And, we have no problem with that. 

I've continued to work on my #The100DayProject of #MakeArtDontFakeArt. Though I fell behind a few days, I made sure to catch up. What can I say? It's been a busy week!

I combined days 19 (thin Masking Tape) and 20 (Distress Crayons)

Using a napkin on Day 21 was difficult, but I think I made it work.

I put off using my mounted stamps (Day 22) for a day then ended up just embossing and watercoloring a few of them. They were cut out and added to a page for Day 23 (Master's Touch paint set).

On Day 24, I was to use at least part of a page from one of my vintage timesheet books. The focal (above) worked out great, but the rest of the page...

ehhhhhh......

I fell behind again on Day 25 as I couldn't decide what to do with my StazOn ink. I toyed with the idea of doing a little metal etching but thought about it too long. And, I ended up not getting to them until the next day when I made myself just use some stamps that were sitting next to my desk.

I then incorporated one of those stamps into the page for Day 26. I was to use the ink from ink pads through stencils. I used some Distress Oxides and added them to the art journal both with water added and without in order to see how well they worked. I like how precise the non-watered ones were as compared to paint, which often seeps under the stencils.

Again, I fell behind on finding inspiration as I was staying so busy. But, there were a few links to share.

• Lisa at Wisconsin Magpie totally transformed a few thrift store decorative birds by Decoupaging Newspaper onto them. You really need to see them!
• This roundup of Super Sassy Embroidery Patterns really tickles me to no end. I may have to get a few and test out my embroidery skills again. 
• At Jewelry Making Journal, there's a really easy Fabric-wrapped Choker Tutorial. 
• If you've got a die-cut machine, check out this free DIY Feather Earrings SVG File at Mad in Crafts.

And, that was my week! How are you hanging in there?