Charms, Buttons and Embellishments

I have so much fun with kid's crafts and Shrinky Dinks are a little obsession mine. Last year I taught kids at Martin Luther King Middle School to make cool key tags from Shrinky Dinks and had a blast. So I had to revisit this craft, but this time I wanted to give it an adult twist, make something I would wear and use myself. I experimented with Ink jet printer shrink plastic and created a series of Victorian Wine Charms and Pins, as well as interestingly patterned buttons that I embellish greeting cards with. If you are tempted to join in the fun, come and take my class at The Workshop, September 24th.

1001 Butterflies

I spent 6 wonderful years at Oxford Elementary school volunteering and teaching art to the kids. My favorite art project was a farewell present to the leaving principal Kathleen Lewis. Inspired by the story of the 1001 origami cranes, I set out with the kids to create 1001 butterflies. A group of parents and I pre-cut 1100 butterflies in 4 different shapes and 3 different sizes. The kids decorated the black construction paper butterflies with glittery or flurescent gel pens (which I got for free from the Sakura Gelly Pen Company). For several weeks I went from class to class until all 300 kids at Oxford Elemantary had created 1001 butterflies. My friends Pam and Ellie helped me turn the unveiling of the butterflies into a powerful event. All kids, teachers and the beloved pricipal were present and blown away, by the power of 1001 butterflies!

Artist Trading Cards

Sometimes I need to pull back and just enjoy the creative process. Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are the perfect project for a lazy afternoon, when you want to craft without the pressure. These small cards are not intimidating and invite you to try out a variety of techniques. I love to combine decoupage, drawing and stamping. If you are interested to learn how to make some, sign up for Courtney Cerruti's ATCs class, also at The Workshop. Her cards are delightful and she masters many different techniques! She is also a fellow arts and crafts blogger and has a wonderful blog.

A paper dress

My daughter made this beautiful dress from architecture plans at her friends house. It fit her perfectly and I loved taking the pictures.

Printing on fabric

Class samples
My student Cleo's work place
First stamps were carved out of buttery soft rubber
The stamps were used to print on fabric:

and on card stock:

I am still catching up and try to post all the groovy things that happend in the last several months while I wasn't blogging (due to elbow issues). I taught a wonderful and fun class for The Workshop a while back. It was part of my stamp making series, but this time we stamped also on fabric. More stamp classes are actually coming up in October, November and December. Check out The Workshop website and see all the classes I and other teachers teach for them.

a special present

Necklace of faceted carnelian gems hand knotted on silk with brass pendant. Brass bugs and green tourmaline teardrops on 14k gold filled lever backs.

Here is a necklace and earrings I made for my daughter's teacher. I like the vintage feeling of the brass findings. I particularly love the bugs as earrings.

Summer fun in Potter Valley

I am back after a 4,5 month hiatus from blogging due to problems with my elbow. A fabulous physical therapist made me all well and I jumped back into arts and crafting about a month ago. It got immediately really busy, but it wouldn't be summer without a little fun trip. We went to Potter Valley in Mendocino County and visited our wonderful friends Emjay and Jim, who own the beautiful Naughty Boy vineyard and make the most yummy wine. If you have a chance try their divine Pinot Noir or Chardonnay.