I'm Back

I'm back to creating again!  It's been a while.  I have created a mixed media banner that will be taught as a class at the store on September 10th.  I promise to post more pics as the creating continues.

The W from the Iowa banner.  So fun!

This is the whole thing even though it is hard to see.

Of course, this is Tim Holz inspired with his calendar stamp and an altered clip.

The football is made from cardboard painted and sanded.

4 x 4 Canvases

Being brilliant, I decided that I would make a gift for my students for the last day of school.  There are 12 of them, 6 boys and 6 girls.  I knew that I wanted to make girls and boys for them, but I didn't want to make full sized canvases. I found packs of 9-4x4" canvases at JoAnn's.

  I decided to use paint for the background as it would be easy and less time consuming. Since I was on a deadline and was already a couple of weeks behind, this would be the safest approach.  I always gesso a canvas when I am only using paint; even if it is already factory prepared.  Gesso is cool!  I knew that I had to be rather formulaic about the process or I would never get finished on time.  All the girls were done in pink and the boys in blue.  I dry brushed the main layer of paint making sure to leave some white canvas showing.  Stamps, rub-ons, more paint, etc and I was ready to do the people.  The only thing was that I hadn't really considered the fact that these were really small canvases so I would need to make really small patterns for the bodies, clothes, etc.  This entire project required the use of my super sharp embroidery sized scissors.  There were lots and lots of re dos on the patterns, I can tell you.  It was exhausting!!!

I finally got 12 heads cut (out of big lined Kindergarten writing paper, cool huh?) and then grabbed my 6 x 6 paper pads to figure out the clothes.  Thank goodness I had plenty of those pads to choose from.  I wound up using some odds and ends for the girls, but lots of Echo Park "Be Mine" papers.  I love that these are the same designs as the 12 x 12, just smaller prints.  For the boys, I used odds and ends of 6 x 6 papers.
After cutting out all of the pieces and getting them on, I realized that I might not have much in the way of small rub-ons.  Or, egads, boy themed rub-ons!  Eeek.  What to do, what to do?  Luckily, I wound up having plenty of the appropriated sized rub-ons.  I just happened to have purchased a bunch at my favorite scrapbook store's (Scrapaganza) garage sale and lo and behold, there were some Halloween rub-ons in the pack filled with spiders and bats.  Perfect!!!  I also happened to have some from KaiserCraft that looked like splotches, etc.  Saved!  Sometimes it's good to be a hoarder.  A few stick on jewels for the girls and some Tim Holtz gears and spinners for the boys and voila!  Project complete!

I love her hair!

Okay.  So I admit it!  I am still a little anal about my stamps and was super reluctant to use my texture stamps in paint.  After using an ink that wouldn't stay when I added the Mod Podge, I sucked it up and used paint.  What a cool texture it left.  I will admit to scrubbing the stamp a little after I rinsed it.  Just a little.  I am getting better at 'letting it go'.

Everyone at school knew right away who this was.  It was the hair.

I love my Unity stamps.

My first boy!!  You should have seen all of my doodles on my table covering as I tried to figure out how to do boy hair.  I had never done it before.  I also have to say that I about panicked when I realized I would have to paint on arms.  Sheesh. Why did I decide to do this again?

The kitty stamp in the corner is kind of an inside Preschool joke.  The kids all love to hear stories about my cats Skittles and Pluto and they call them the "Skittles Stories".  I put a kitty on all of the boys.

All scrapbookers know that a mistake is an opportunity.  I didn't use the correct pronoun when I printed these out, so I just wrote it in.  It works.

I couldn't believe that I had this spider on his thread.

I thought I had gotten something green on this guy's face.  I tried to rub it off, then I remembered it was part of the face paper.  Yeah, I'm getting old.

Finished mom's gift!

 Here is the final product.  It's a gift for my mom.  The last pic is the inspiration for her look.

Can you say saddle shoes and bobby socks??

Mom had super short curly hair.  It was so hard to get right.  Not quite there I don't think.

All dressed up and ready to go to STL.

This was taken for my dad.  I think that she sent it to him while he was in the service.  I am sure that it was taken in Forest Park.

More canvases, part 3

Okay.  Here are a couple of teasers for you. 

This is the face of the original girl that I made for mom.  I love her white bird rub-on and her bouffant 50's 60's retro do.

Okay.  This looks really weird, but it is a landscape type view of the girl's dress.  Very dimensional involving lots of mod podge and yummy, messy hands!

The face of my latest girl.  She is a kickin' redhead!!

More canvases, part 2

Okay.  The theme for this canvas is vintage memorabilia that is personal to you.  I made a girl for my mom's bday (so I thought) and then I had this lesson and this will be hers.  The canvas is copies of things that I have of my mom's.  I then kind of 'whitewashed' the whole thing with Tattered Angels, wet brushed that, then kind of washed it off.  It still left a brownish tint which is what I wanted.  I dry brushed the edges and randomly through the finished background.  I will finish this one this weekend.

This is nearly the whole canvas.  I love my new typewriter stamp!!!  

The 'passport' is another roller stamp  The blue chicken wire looking thing is actually blue paint on the bottom of a spring basket that I cut up.  I got it at the dollar store and it so looks like chicken wire.  The background is a recipe in my grandmother's handwriting.  Thought that mom would like that.

This background is my great grandfather's conductor's pass that I found.  It's from 1922.

Okay, this is funny.  The blue background is a copy of my mom's college 3-ring binder cover.  I can't believe I have that.  She wrote Carl Edward Day all over it (dad's name).  I think he was all she was thinking about.  He was at Ft. Leonard Wood at the time.

Note the Fort Leonard Wood stationary.  Here you can see the remnants of the mist I used.

The top document is a copy of the letter dad sent to mom.  I have all of his love letters to her from when he was in the service.  She gave them to me for some reason.  Okay now I am not going to read them because I tried at it grossed me out.  Yuck.  Some things aren't meant to be shared.

More canvases (is that a word?)

Okay.  I am posting a few pics of a couple of my newer canvases.  This first one I made for Lauren.

This is the finished product that I sent up to Alaska since Lauren was going to be there for her bday!  She is an OC beach girl so that was the inspiration for the girl.  Can you see the sand castle, shells, starfish and dolphins??

Now how did that get in here???  Oh well.  Total concentration on that lady bug.

We learned how to do backgrounds in this lesson.  The teacher did grass and sky, but I did it differently due to Lauren.  Note the headband.  I think that was my favorite part.  And the pillow ticking stamp is one of my favs!

I am having a love affair with rub ons!  Especially white ones like the zig zag stitching on the dress!  The white paint is both positive and negative effects using punchinella which is the backing from sequins.  I know, weird.

Well, I figured Lauren wears a lot of shorts!  The bumpy stuff is called glass beads and like gesso and modeling paste, you can add color to it.

I love her little top.  Happy Birthday, Lenny!

Irish Soda Bread

Hey.  I got this off of patch.com and it is a really good recipe.  I made it tonight and we ate the heck out of it.
http://clark.patch.com/articles/need-an-irish-soda-bread-recipe-weve-got-you-covered Enjoy!

My First Mixed Media Canvas

This is the entire canvas.

Yes, I painted the hair myself.  I used an ink pen for outlining and doodling.  There is a doily as the decoration on the shoulders, a button in the hair, a tp tube circle and rubons on the belt part.

The canvas background is a cut up pattern from a dress pattern dry brushed with some paint.  The dress is paper.  The white bits are rubons as are the flowers.

The dark edges are ink and there are stamps throughout the canvas to give more texture.  They don't show up well but that is okay.

It's amazing the textures you can find:  bubble wrap, grippers, shelf liner, the back of sequins (punchinella), etc.

The funny green stuff is actually tinted patching plaster as I didn't have any modeling paste yet.  It is too thick for my taste, but it gets the point across.

Okay, here are some pics of my first canvas from the fab class that I am taking.  I didn't do too badly.

Some things I have been working on...

I made this one for bucko using an embossing folder for the numbers, some gears and spinners from Tim Holtz, a page from an old dictionary and an old book, and some Maya Mist.  I think that he will like it.

I made this one for Hannah.  I doodled the stems and leaves, stamped and embossed the yellow flower and greeting and then stitched on all the sides with my machine.  I am using my machine more now than I ever did to make clothes.

This is for Nancy.  The doily is sprayed with a pink mist but doesn't show up well.  I made the flower with a die cut that makes it easy to accordion fold.

This is for Uncle Glen and I cut the little flags out using my Gypsy that my wonderful kids gave me for Christmas.  A little embroidery floss and stickers and you have a banner.

I have been doing birthday cards for the family and finally finished all for the year today.  I just have a few anniversary cards to do and I'll be done.  Then I can just fill in with new cards as needed; sympathy, thank you, etc.  I thought that I would show you a couple that I have done.  

Egg Casseroles for Adam

Here are a couple of the egg casseroles that I used to make for swim practice.  They are super good and you can eat off of them for a few days.

FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE

This one is good for large groups.

ATTENTION:  Needs refrigeration before cooking.

Recipe:

1 – 16 oz loaf cinnamon bread

8 – 10 large eggs

3 ½ cups milk

5 t. sugar

¾ t. salt

1 T vanilla

2 T butter

Grease 9 x 13” inch pan.  Cut bread into 1” slices and arrange in a single layer on bottom of pan. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs with milk, sugar, salt and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly and pour over bread. 

Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 – 36 hours.

 

To bake, uncover pan, dot with 2 T butter and put in oven.  Turn oven to 350 degrees and bake 45-50 minutes, until bread is puffy and lightly browned.  Remove and let stand 5 minutes. 

Serve with syrup, fruit or your favorite yogurt topping.

FRENCH TOAST STRATA

I can’t remember where I got this, but I have made it a lot for swim breakfasts and for when we have a lot of company at breakfast. 

ATTENTION:  Requires refrigeration overnight.  Make the night before.

Special equipment:

Blender

Recipe:

1 loaf (1 lb) cinnamon bread, cubed

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

8 eggs

2 ½ cups milk

6 T butter, melted

¼ cup maple syrup

Arrange half of the bread cubes in a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish.  Top with cream cheese and remaining bread.  In a blender, combine eggs, milk, butter and syrup.  Cover and process until smooth.  Pour over bread.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean and a thermometer reads at least 160 degrees.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with syrup.

FYI:

-I have only ever used a blender to make this.  If you don’t have one, use a hand mixer or just stir really, really well.

SAUSAGE STRATTA

Granny gave me this recipe.  I have made it a couple of times for the swim team breakfasts.

Recipe:

1 lb pork sausage, fried

2 cups milk

6 – 7 slices bread

6 eggs

1 t. dry mustard

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

3 T butter

1 t. salt

¼ t. pepper

Spray 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray.  Break bread into small pieces and cover bottom of pan.  Beat eggs, milk, dry mustard and salt together.  Pour over bread; add drained sausage over bread and egg mixture.  Sprinkle with grated cheese over top.  Dot with butter or margarine and bake for 30 minutes or less in 350 degree oven. 

May be made ahead and kept covered in fridge.