stuff, stuff, and more stuff

I've been busy creating just for my sake - I am giving myself til the first and then it is back to the norm.

This clipboard is called "Great Expectations" (gee - imagine that)...the quote says: "I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her."

The photos are sweet - all featuring flowers. I love the one on the top right - it has an old shed and hollyhocks and a little girl - reminds me of my maternal great-grandmother's place - the old 'garage' and the hollyhocks.

The lower-left has a image of a seventeen year cicada. The mirror came out of an old accessories suitcase (I bought at Goodwill recently) - it was one that had elastic straps to hold a mirror (which had no frame on it).



This clipboard is called Doll - the middle photo had the name Doll scribbled on the top. The top photo is humorous to me - the images in the wall are apparently old fashion images (say Godey's or something).

I ripped a definition of Doll into the collage - the definition reads: "a toy in human form"



I love the background on this one - it is painted lace - I painted the clipboard and then laid the lace on it and painted it down in several colors and then pulled the lace off.

I am very happy with this one in spite of the mishap - I accidently spilled half a bottle of glue on it. I used a wet sponge brush and sponged, and sponged, and sponged away. The tea bag says "Fortune favors the brave" I have an old book lining with some quotes on it that I want to slip into the library card pouch when it dries.



These silhouettes of the girls are for my MIL for Mother's Day. I had fun with them. I love the frames - I would have not distressed them except one of them had some sort of green oxidation going on so I painted and sanded...(thrift store frames - what else do you do?)




BTW anybody want a clipboard? I will trade you for something - (I would love dozens and dozens of cardboard egg cartons (I am in the midst of a massive paper mache project) and I can always do clip boards or beads or...let me know...

I am also willing to give away - Intelligent Design or I'll Fly Away which you can see here: Design - is the big Sun and Fly Away has a big musical bird.

Wendy has snagged 'I'll Fly Away; and Christine has requested 'Great Expectations'

o pioneers

My 'big' gift for the girls this year was a pair of dress-up costumes. We have the first three unabridged audio books of the Little House Series and C loves them and so I made the girls prairie girl costumes. I decided to do this at the beginning of December so most of my free time this month was taken up in making their costumes and wrapping endless gifts (just when you think everything is wrapped - but hooray - I put away the gift wrap today). I must say, I am extremely pleased with the costumes. C wears hers every waking moment that we allow her to. Both girls have bonnets but K isn't too keen on wearing her's.

teacher gifts

This button pin is a boquet of buttons set among 'silk' leaves that I took from the stem that the following flower is made from. I am not sure I like the balance of this arrangement - but I love the buttons. :)



This is the button pin that C chose for the para who works in her class. When I was working on the pins yesterday this was her favorite. It is a commercial 'silk' flower that I deconstructed and made over with an oversized blue button. I fancy this one myself.



This is the button pin that C chose for her main teacher. The flower is made of some pretty red and white paisly fabric and the buttons are just some plain ol' buttons. I am not sure if I like it or not.



I made the gift boxes from old album covers - I am not sure which I like more, the carolers or the 'joy to the world' box.



The boxes are about two and a half inches deep.



Since I had to make a few extra Christmas cards (including the cards for the teacher's), I thought I would share them here. Enclosed with the cards were various photos of my girls.

little 'big' gifts given me

This was given to me by a long time internet friend Jerry who is a poet and an artist. I first met him through a poetry forum. His work is lovely and he has had several shows as of late. It matches the walls too...that I assure you was not intentional.



This was given me by a new and rapidly becoming very dear friend. Lisa at Groggy Froggy. I think he is darling and he absolutely makes me smile.



And finally, this gift from my FIL. My inlaws and I do not have the best relationship. However, on occasion my FIL will see something that makes him think of me and will on impulse buy it. I love unique nativities and have several. Now I have another from him, it was carefully wrapped and adressed in his own hand.

a few blips about Christmas

A Note About Saving Money

If you are like us and have no family near it means shipping all gifts which can be quite expensive. Please take them to a multi-purpose mailing place and get a good price. I found out that shipping the gifts to CA was cheaper when sent via UPS rather than the United States Postal Service.

Fabric Gift Bags!

I love how these turned out and am thrilled by the idea of the reusability and ease of storage. Plus, I have a strong aversion to the activity of gift wrapping - I would rather sew up these bags.



Gifts For Grandparents

For many people shopping for their parents as they get older becomes more and more difficult most older people do not need or want a lot more stuff. I become particularly irritated by my in-laws who really want expensive items and aren't interested anything but how it makes them looks (i.e. my chilren give me such wonderful gifts - I raised them so well). In frustration with my inability to measure up I decided to give them very personal gifts of their grandchildren. I hope that someday my children will receive an ineritance of memory from their grandparents. My in-laws are okay with it and I like to think my Mom loves it.

Often the gifts I make are photo albums or some keepsake or other pertaining to my children. I've done paper mache handprints and this year I got more creative for the girls sake they are getting older and can participate more. They painted shapes and then I painted their hands so that they could handprint them. I wrote their initials and the dates on the plaques.



I started this on C's first Christmas every year the grands get a framed ornament of the girls. I hope that someday it will serve as a unique record of their growth. On our tree I hang an ornament of a family picture and of a picture of the two of them together. When I started this project I had a hard time finding frame ornaments I liked so I decided to simply buy the little frames used for wallet pictures. I remove the kickstand, drill some holes for ribbon and tada!!

a gazillion Christmas gifts

I picked up this shadow box shelf at a thrift store. I am not sure how I came up with the inspiration to put it together as I did but I am quite pleased. My FIL likes John Deere's (at least according to my MIL who decorates the entire house as she sees fit). Anyhow, I decided it would be fun to paint the box using 'John Deere' and dirt colors and use it as a display case for die casts (my FIL has a thing for die cast toys and anything 'collectable'). So I sponge painted it - I went through some really hideous stages when I painted it however the result was worth it once I decoupaged on the images and looks great with the models sitting in it. I like it so well, I wish it were for my bro.





Last time my MIL was here she was obsessed by the sponge painting I did on a mirror in the kitchen. I love sponge painting If you mix a good blend of a variety of colors the effect is quite nice. You will probably notice that a lot of the tissue boxes were sponge painted. So when I conceived the notion to do a Victorian box for her (and then found the picture frame shelf at a thrift store and decided to make a matching set) I decided to paint in the colors of her guest bathroom. I was very unsure of how the colors would work - I threw in the silver to make it a bit 'glossy' as I like metallics in sponge painting. I think it works okay if you don't mind the colors. My mother loves it.




These are switchplate and outlet covers as a gift to hubby. He seemed genuinely pleased with the sailing ones I did for our bedroom last Christmas so I decided to do these for the living area. He is very fond of paintings from the Hudson School so last year we had a calendar of Hudson School artwork. These year I used it to make these. I should mention I read once in a book about Christian homemaking that it is important that a house not just reflect the home-maker but also the man of the house. To not decorate to please him is disrespectful. I remember a woman who was apalled that I let him hang is sword collection in the living room. I know it matters to him and so I work with it. Perhaps, someday, when the girls toys and accoutrements are more adult and we don't have Fischer Price Little People, and Rody, and stuffed animals all over the place I can draw it together into a more cohesive look. But right now, they live here too.






This is a tray for my Mom's bathroom. She has a sea-life theme. When I conceived this I thought there would be room on their sink for it but the basin is not as large as I thought so I am not sure what she will do with it. Hide the cuttle-fish probably. I picked up a Taschen Folder of Albertus Seba and became obsessed with this cuttle fish (and a really frightening possum). I had fun painting the various colors on this before I sanded it down as I love shades of blue and green. BTW you will discover a theme in all the following projects "natural history drawings" I am fascinated by the artwork of natural historians. I think the idea of carrying a journal/sketchbook with one to note and sketch is a wonderful way to enhance the powers of observation. I try to carry one when the girls and I go on nature walks and we jot notes about what we see.





Clipboards to be given as stocking stuffers to the guys in the family. The images are from the dictionary and from an Audubon book of Mammals of the Americas. You might think that these are too big for a stocking stuffer, they are. Our family decided a few years ago that buying big gifts for everyone was too spendy but there was still the desire to give gifts to everyone so we decided that we would have a rotating schedule by which we could give big gifts to one member of the family and small inexpensive gifts for everyone else - we call those small inexpensive gifts 'stocking stuffers.' Only the lynx clipboard is a thrift store buy - unfortunately, clipboards are hard to come by. Fortunately, they are cheap even when new (although new ones lack character).




The images on these tissue boxes are from a Hammond's Natural History book. The brown box is for my Dad and the green one is for my SIL.






This is a tissue box cover for my Mom. When I saw this box at the thrift store and it was only 99 cents, well...I knew it would have to be a special box so I decided to do it for my Mom. I cut the flowers and butterflies from a Hammond's Natural History book. I gave myself a headache cutting the flowers that is about as much fine detail cutting as I have ever done. I gave myself a second headache when I clear-coated it. For some reason, I decided to go with the super-thick glossy clear-coat on it and so more propellant and more fumes. But if I do say so myself, it is lovely.

a gift for toppy

A tissue box cover that I made for my friend in Scotland. I've made 9-10 of these as Christmas gifts this year. I like making them - all the tissue boxes are thrift store buys (at the thrift store you 49 cents to a dollar for them as opposed to 4 or 5 dollars minimum at a department store or craft store). Painting them is always fun, cutting out the papers is usually fun, putting on the layers of decoupage medium is relaxing...the only part I don't like is sanding - it is a bit tedious - and clear coat is something to rush through. But I do enjoy it. In fact, if you want one let me know!!










To see more of them you can go to my gallery: http://www.pbase.com/marybell/other_outlets

button mania and feeling a bit like Frankenstein

A button broach I made. I love buttons!!



I button mosaic picture frame I’ve made for my Mom for Christmas.



This is my second button bouquet. I really enjoy making them. This one is for my Mom for Christmas. Only for my Mom would I pull out this many cool buttons that I like...The previous bouquet had more flexible stems and I wrapped the stems in florist tape. However, this time I liked the way the stems looked plain. This time I twisted the wire more to create a more rigid stem. I like the stems both ways – the look is just different.










I finally tried my hand at an art doll and now I feel like Frankenstein – I am not sure I like her. Unlike Frankenstein, I don’t detest her. She just isn’t what I envisioned so I am having a hard time responding to her. Sometimes I like her and sometimes I don’t. Poor thin – it isn’t her fault she was created.