On The Road Again

no art today as I am out on the road in the truck again. We loaded crane parts in North Dakota on Tues. Unloaded in Lincoln, Kansas on Wed. Loaded locomotive wheels, yes for a train, in Lawrence, Kansas, Wed. night and unloaded those this morning in St Paul, Minnesota. Now we are on our way to Dexter, Minnesota to pick up more crane parts going to a wind farm in Midland, Texas. So been putting in some long hours. We stopped and slept for 2 hours while we waited for thm to unload us in Kansas. I got an hour or so cat nap last night while Lance drove then did a 3 hour shift, lol. Hard work huh? We were going to unload in TX on Friday but decided to take it easy and unload Monday and catch up on some sleep. The crane loads paid very good so we can do that.
Back on my table at home is my new postcard made from fabric. I decided to do a polka dot theme in turquoise and lime greens. Using some ribbons I got from one of the gals in our fabric group on yahoo. All but one of the new fabric cards I made are swapped. That made me feel great. The postcard went to Cindy in MN and she even made 3 to give me a choice. She does such neat fabric cards and I picked 2 more from her so have to get my butt busy when I get home. We have quite a few new artists in the fabric group. That's the first group I check when I log in. I have made so many great friends there. So supportive. That's it for now. Hugz

Fabric card not much color

Back to not much color on this one but trying some textures. I added paper, plastic from theword tape, mesh threads from some burlap, fibers, button and a charm from Articusstudio. Gotta get back to colors. They do NOT scare me, they do not scare me, lol.

Paper Card

I made this anniversary card for some fdriends of mine. Hubby was on the computer so I had to piece together the words so wasn't totally happy with the end results but thought it turned out fairly good.

1st fabric postcard

ok after drooling over Mary's art, (link is on the right to her site), I decided to try some more color and layering. Neither am I good at but that's how you learn right? I made this card and asked for comments from the group. Several said they wouldn't change a thing, which warmed my heart. Those girls are so good for me. They help out in so many ways and support me when I need it. But following Cindy's advice to maybe add some buttons, which I love but never think they look as cool on my art as on other peoples. I added 3 vintage shell buttons . My daughter, Candice, decided a thimble flower pot with scissor petals and a wire stem might add to it. I dyed the lace flower with color mists from OTM(link to the right) . I dug through photos until I found that one from ARTchixstudio(link to the right). I think maybe I should have added some words but didn't. Maybe that's why it didn't seem finished to me? But happy days, Cindy wants to trade for it. And Peggy wants the "Unshakable Girl" card. It always makes me feel so warm and fuzzy any time someone wants to trade for my art.

So now I am going to try adding some turquoise into the orange and yellow tomorrow and possibly some red. Who knows. I bought some scrapbooking paper to try a collage tutorial on painting paper and might actually do it tomorrow. Letting it scare me but as I always say(but not sure I really totally believe) "If the flowers you paint, don't look like everyone elses...that's a good thing." I think if I can manage to skip by that scared it won't look as good as the one I am following the tutorial on, I will be fine.

I also need to make myself 2 fabric itty bitty's to go with the sets we traded in the fabric group. We are still waiting on one gal's and then maybe I want to try a quilt type dispaly like Helen from the UK did for her cards. It's gorgeous and she hangs it on her wall. One of my cards is on hers. What an honor to be hanging on a friends wall. Well my art is that is, lol. Thanks Helen.

Ok off to bed.

New Fabric ATC

Just had a new gal join our yahoo fabric group, Mary, and she has the most wonderful cards. She uses lots of beautiful colors and it inspired this one. I am not comfortable mixing colors yet but working on it . I wanted to add some pink to this one but it didn't want it, lol.

This was made using a transparency, a paper image that I coated with gel medium, paper from a book also covered with gel, a vinatge flower I found when going throuigh a box I got from a ebay auction. I almost threw the little basket with flowers out thinking, when in the heck will I ever use that? Glad I didn't now. And a torn up dryer sheet with some orange beads. Was going to add one more but it rooled under the fridge, lol. I am going to trade it if anyone likes it. Off to load some pictures of Dad's birthday party so Mellow can see them. My daughter in OR and I share pictures on Walmart's site so we can also order prints when we want them.

The fabric yahoo group I belong to is having a spring card swap. These are 2 cards I made, the first one for the swap and one just because I had time. Trying to find some tutorials on backgrounds for fabrics right now. I have some transparencies I want to use and have some muslin all ironed onto some freezer paper for printing but at a loss so looking for more inspiration than I can muster up by myself. I did find a book by Suz I need to get maybe, Kaleidescope. I didn't realize she did fabrics as well as paper. So reading up on the booki reviews to see if it has what I am looking for. Looked through 3 issues of CPS and all I did is work on some fabric and paper beads. No articles with supplies I have on hand there so still looking but wanted to post these now that hubby is down for a nap and off the computer. Evidently no loads on the board for the truck today. Off to browse some more. Having issues with MS right now so will post the pictures after it finishes updating. Hugz

Fabric Card with Lace and Beads

I made this card for a girl in the fabric yahoo group I am in. I hope she likes it as it is my first since Christmas. I have been wanting to use those flowers since I got them but just never could see what they would go with, lol. I decided after this I need to use more colors and not try to worry about matching shades and such. And I also need to get more brown threads, ugh. I ran out half ways through and Bismarck is 40 miles from me so won't be getting any until next time I go to town. The brown I was using was off a wooden spool from Gradma Hins' sewing caddy. The fabric I got from Tootsie. She had a box of Fabric samples she gave me. What a trreat. Thanks again Tootsie. The lace I got from Lost Art Creations (link is on the right side of page), the shell button is from Mom's collection in her tin I ended up with. I remember spending many hours as a child playing with mom's button tin. When I got it, it had to go into a bigger tin as I added my button collection, but I have always loved playing with buttons for some strange reason. Very soothing to the senses?All the textures. When we would go to the 2nd hand stores, Mom would grab any clothes in the free box that had buttons so she had a really neat collection of sizes and shapes. The shell buttons actually have the brown markings of sea shells on the back and unfortunately some are chipped from years of rattling around in the tin but they are still beautiful and delicate.

Fabric beads

Creative Embellishments: For Paper, Jewelry, Fabric and More by Sherrill Kahn

I made some fabric beads from Sherrill Kahn's book. They were a blast to make. I used plastic drinking straws, Fabri-Tac glue, fabric, various fibers and beads. I beaded right through the straw.

I did try to match the color of the straw to the fabric as close as I could in case you could see some of it after I cut them apart. My daughter came over the day I was making them and we had a blast wrapping fibers. I just got some new fibers from Terrie at Lost Art Creations so might have to make some more if we don't leave in the truck this week.

On a sad note. I went to Harold Heinze's(87) funeral today. He and his wife, Tootsie are sisiter and brother in law to my dear friend Mayvis who passed 2 years ago. I made my first baked beans today using Tootsie's recipe and took them for the dinner after the funeral and I should have asked Tootsie if she was bringing some too, darn it. Oh well 3 pots of beans and they were almost all gone so maybe it wasn't too much? Lol. Plus I got to bring some home for Lance(Hubby), Paul and Dale(2 friends) for lunch. Harold, we will miss you.