Holiday Hats

I decided to join the "Hoo's Got Talent" round-up over at Night Owl Crafting this week and thought I'd share some of my recent projects...





I've been keeping myself occupied recently with my new 3 month old and her 2 year old sister, but in my spare time (HA!) I've been loom knitting some cute hats for her and her older sister... Thought I'd share them with you and pass along the links to my sweet friend Brenda's blog where she shared the patterns with us in our loom class...

Here's the first one is a "pumpkin" head hat made following Brenda's pattern that you can find here.

As modeled by 2 year old Emma

And a smaller version modeled by then-2 month old Hannah

 The second hat is a Turkey Hat, again from Brenda's blog

Emma LOVES hats :)

The last one I did is a snowman hat following the directions Brenda posted here, but I'll have to share photos of that one later since I've not gotten them taken yet! Hope you enjoy these few and will check out Brenda's patterns on her blog! Be sure and check back with me next week for a new "Hoo's Got Talent" post!

F page completed

Ok, I've completed the F page for my art journal and while I'm not completely happy with it, I guess it turned out "ok". I was out of town (in Corpus for our church annual conference) last week and so am trying to catch up before we head out of town again to go to Ohio next week. I'm going to try and get my S page done tomorrow :)

Process description:
Fawn colored background - watercolored floral scraps from flower catalog - center is a "wordle" collage of various F words as shown below

- letter F negative stenciled with ivory paint - Entire surface stippled with walnut ink - dry brushed over all with forest green and french rose paint colors mixed with glaze medium - F stencil outlined with black sharpie then entire surface sanded for distressed finish.

Here's the finished results. Click the thumbnail for a closer shot. Enjoy!

N pages complete

Well, I've completed my first layout for the ADW (see next post) and thought I'd share it as well as my process. Started with two page spread which was gesso-ed white. Right side had window cut into it which I turned into a door opening. Painted light blue craft paint over entire area and let dry. Mixed medium blue paint with glaze medium (half & half) and then spread over light blue. Wiped most of this off leaving a heavier concentration around the outer edges and let dry. Then mixed dark blue paint with glaze medium (1/3 paint, 2/3 glaze) and again wiped off most. Took gold Brilliance ink and stamped random stars over background. Using a waded up paper towel, "swiped" some gold on as comet trails then rubbed a bit around the window opening on right page. Next, stamped the word "NIGHT" in white Brilliance ink followed by random fonts of the letter N all over background. Again "swiped" a bit of white ink as comet trails. Used white paint on fingertip to create white "background" for wording of poem, Lord Byron's #600 (She walks in beauty...). Using a black sharpie, lettered the poem, then inked around window opening and "stitched" around "NIGHT" stamping. Finally, I created a gel medium transfer of a vintage woman. I cut out a "door" of cardboard which will be adhered to reverse of right page and painted it with gold craft paint, then adhered the transfer to this "door". Enjoy!

New Adventure - Alphabet Discovery Art Journal

Ok, so I'm trying to break out of my creativity rut and have enrolled myself in Trish Bee's Alphabet Discovery Workshop. Our goal is to create an art journal using the alphabet as inspiration. First letter chosen was the letter N. I wanted to capture "before" photos of my book so you could see the results as I post them and compare. So below are photos of the "Before" pages, gesso-ed and ready to go. I decided to use a book I purchased for altering quite some time ago called "The Doll House Book". Bought it damaged from the used book store for another project and never "got around to it" so am using it here. The book is "house" shaped and the front opens like two barn doors. It should make an interesting altered book. Anyway, here are the photos of the before work (click on them to be taken to the photos with descriptions):

Friday Fill-ins

1. I believe whatever doesn't kill you mustn't be all that bad!.

2. If you're good at something, improve.

3. Why so many rude cell phone users?.

4. Something is out there, it's just a matter of finding it.

5. If my life were a sitcom, it would be titled Waiting for What?.

6. Sitting on my back porch [if you don't have one, use your imagination] I see sunflowers growing over my Astroturf lawn.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting more unpacking done, tomorrow my plans include knitting and watching hubby paint and Sunday, I want to sleep!

1. A smile is contagious.
2.Trivial Pursuit is my favorite board or card game.
3. I would love to have more time in my life and less stress.
4. When I think of the Summer Solstice, I think of sunshine.
5. I just remembered I need to get a haircut!
6. One of my favorite song lyrics goes like this: I hope you'll dance.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to having time with my hubby, tomorrow my plans include going to the Habitat re-store for house stuff and Sunday, I want to get the nursery painted!

1. On my laziest day I like to sit in the sun and read or knit!
2. Checking things off my to-do lists makes me feel like I'm being productive.
3. I love little babies and big hugs!
4. This summer I want to get the nursery completed!
5. Narcissism (LOL!) made me start my blog. No, really, probably my love to write...
6. Red roses and orange sunsets.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending time with hubby, tomorrow my plans include working on the house and Sunday, I want to go to church and spend time working on my digital photos!