212 Art Center Sale

Please take some time to shop at the 212 Arts Center Holiday sale.  There are lots and lots of wonderful

handmade creations.

The Fritz and Friends open house and sale was a great success!
They may hold one again in June.  I'll keep you posted.

Off to create some gifts in the metals studio.  Hope you are enjoying this wonderfully snowy day Michigan is experiencing.  It is beautiful when you don't have to go out into it!

Jewelry Studio Open House and 212 Art Assoc. Sale

The Fritz and Friends studio Curt and I have been studying with will hold a Precious Wine and Metals Open House December 5th from 1pm to 6pm.  We will both have pieces for sale. The studio is located at 32722 Franklin Road, Franklin, MI.  Below are a new pair of sterling silver and freshwater pearl earrings that will be for sale.  The studio has lots of creative, talented artists.  There will be several pieces for sale from the Fritz and Friends staff as well as students.  Curt and I have really enjoyed studying with Leslie DiPiazzo.  I hope you can join us.

I will also have some jewelry at the 212 Art Association Sale in Saline starting Saturday, Dec. 11 and going through Saturday, Dec. 18th.  More details to come.

Heart Felt

With pun intended, I have been working 

heart felt lately....creating lots of hearts from recycled felt. 

   

Blogging again

Family changes had me using my time differently.  I am able to have more creative time and thanks for your interest in my jewelry and creative endeavors.  

Mosaics from Art Retreat Weekend

Star fish mosaic approximate size 12" x 9"

Flaming heart mosaic approximate size 9" x 12"

Art Retreat projects

Journal cover and some inside pages from the art retreat weekend

My art retreat weekend journal is made with a needlefelted cover - ribbons, yarn, dyed cheesecloth and copper metal mesh pocket with a mailing tag inside, nail heads, free motion machine stitching and hand embroidery. The inside pages are made from canvas with a monoprint, leftover silk screen images and doodling.  I will add photos and more memories to the pages about the weekend.  I love visual journaling!

Bagettes Art Retreat Weekend

What a great weekend we had snowed in at a wonderful home near Saline.  We laughed and laughed while creating mosaics and deconstructed screen prints onto cotton.  I am anxious to spend more time on the deconstructed screen print method.  It is so exciting and serendipitous.  I also loved just painting on top of the screen with a brush and dye.  Thanks Kat for introducing me to this method!  It goes back to my days of creating rainbow dyed wool roving and decorating paper with radiant pearls and wax pastel sticks.  I could dye or decorate forever and never worry about using the end product - just creating color and patterns is very satisfying for me!

Baby Gifts

My oldest daughter and I have been sewing burp clothes that make great presents for expectant moms.  It is really fun if there are ribbons from shower presents that can be recycled as the decoration on the burp clothes.  It is best to pre-wash the diapers and then sew on the ribbons.   Can you think of other versions of a burp cloth?

Happy Valentine's Day

I have been working on Valentine's Day gifts.  In the above pic are the package toppers for cup cozies or cup warmers I needle felted for my art study group - the Bagettes - and my co-workers at Knitter's Kove.

Hugs and Kisses and Hearts for Bagettes

Hearts and Initials for co-workers to tell our coffee cups apart!

The cozies are needle felted from all felt, double layered, sewn and pinked around the edges with an elastic loop and button closure.  They were a lot of fun to create!  Happy Valentine's Day to all - Hugs!

Earth Challenge Show

If you have some time in the next couple of weeks visit 212 Art Association in Saline to see the Earth Challenge show.  It is a great mix of fiber, jewelry, mixed media, paint, and more.  I entered two enameled jewelry pieces.  Only remembered to take a picture of one....

The inspiration picture is posted at the bottom of the piece.  My jewelry has a very organic feel to it all the time.  I've always spent  a lot of time outside.  As a kid playing and collecting in fields and swamps and as an adult gardening in my yard.  I even studied nature at college.  It just comes naturally to me.....

More gifts

My daughters supplied pics of the handknit gifts I gave them for Christmas.

Sarah took this pic of her fingerless gloves as we waited for a table at Slow's BBQ in Detroit.  Yummy food - love the "yardbird" sandwich.  If you get a chance to eat there don't pass it up.

Anyway.....handknit socks for Molly.  I do love knitting socks.

"Birdie"

I finally finished gluing all the glass onto my "Birdie" mosaic.  The design came from one of my journal pages.  Thanks to all the encouragement of my "bagette" friends, I stuck with finishing this mosaic.  Now sometime Deb will have to help me with the grouting!

Journal page that inspired mosaic.

New necklace

A new piece created from sea glass from Orcas Island, Washington.  I really like pieces of sea glass with a little fold or lip.   I like to use that as a "cap" to hold beads or pearls, etc.  The piece is made from sterling silver and three sizes of fresh water pearls.

Gifts

Now that all the gifts are bestowed I can reveal some of them on this blog.  The sock monkey and sock monster were created for my son-in-law.  He and I love sock creatures, ugly dolls, etc.  This is only the first venture into this creative venue.
They were so much fun I really will make more of them!