pinterest love: DIY for home

I have been periodically sharing some of my favorite images and links from my pinterest boards.  Previously I've shared Art: Stripes, Art: Circles, Art: Floral, Art: Dimensional, and Art: Figures.  I'm going to shake it up this time and NOT share an art board.......how about some DIY ideas for around the home?

From my DIY for the Home board:


A clever idea to store wrapping paper in the dead space of a closet.  The post has 10 more excellent holiday storage ideas.


No credit on this one - it's from Tumbler.  You can spray paint coffee beans any color to use a vase or candle holder filler and match your decor (and smell good).



Life Without Expectations:  Use a 12x12 piece of tile from the home improvement store, back with felt and enjoy an unusual placemat.

I love simple, graphic pillow designs; use felt to make the design and hand or machine stitch to a cover.....go whimsical (Corinne, your new home surely needs one of these funky pillows) or classic.

   Felt & stitching (no link)

  Quilted pillow cover, but would be super easy in felt.  SewKateyDid pillow


Bird on a Wire pillow by Sweet C's Designs - simple felt bird shape (or whatever shape you like - how about a leaf or pod shape?)

  Stamped, stitched, painted?  On linen, burlap?  And, unfortunately, no link.



Just look at this fun chair!  A makeover with spray paint and a stencil or lace.  RoadKillRescue

  A fun, bring-the-outside-in art project.  No link.

  Make a jewelry holder with door hardware.  The Berry



A great way to add pizzazz to a stool top - who doesn't love a good collage?!  Tumbler



Frame an enlarged photo of an old envelope (maybe your mom or grandma's handwriting?)  no link

I have 140 more projects pinned.  I noticed that a lot more of these DIY pins don't have live links or lead to blocked links.  Hmmmm.  Visit me on Pinterest to see what else I've found around the web.

an invitation

Seth Apter is extending an invitation:

From The Altered Page

"Join me (Seth) on Thursday, September 18, as we celebrate the studio table: uncensored, unedited, and most likely unkempt.

So many times when we are presented with images of artist studios, they are pristine - almost as if nothing goes on in the space..... Let's go behind the curtain, throw any feelings of shame (or embarrassment) out the window, and show the world the underside of art and craft.  I'll show you mine if you show me yours!

To participate you simply must take a picture of your work table in its full glory - that is to say, its most messy state and share it on Sept 18."

Click through here and leave a comment on his blog letting him know you're going to participate, then post on the 18th.  He's going to list all of us so we can vicariously visit all these fabulous working creative spaces.

Can't wait to see your space on the 18th!

wordless wednesday

As a one-time only explanation, I have been enjoying Carlene's (Taylor Maide) Wordless Wednesdays for months and intending to participate, but keep forgetting..... Inspired by Right Brain Planner, it's an opportunity to share photos of whatever floats your boat......

650

A little celebration is in order - just a tiny one - and a bit of reflection. This is my 650th post!  I had no idea..... I looked it up and my first post was 4/20/11.  My oh my how time flies....

I really want to take just a minute to be grateful.  Grateful for all the great friends I've made, the encouragement and support this fabulous group of artistic people share day after day, week after week.  Grateful for advice and tips shared, jokes and smiles shared, projects and inspiration shared.  Notice anything in common there?  SHARE.  What a terrific group you are.

I know plenty of people read this and never leave a comment.  I know because I do that with many blogs myself.  I absorb their techniques, their color combos, their fabulousness, but often don't let them know.  It's time consuming to comment on every blog you read, right?  We can barely make the time to read them all, let alone comment.  We all get it.  But.  Every once in a while, when particularly moved by a comment or image, a brief comment is much appreciated (by all of us!) and I really try to let someone know when they've reached me.

Though I've been creative my whole life, I really never tried my hand at anything "artsy" or with paints or drawing.  Ever.  I had convinced myself I wasn't an artist.  However, thanks to my friend Bobi who encouraged me to join my first-ever art challenge in January 2011, I've discovered I can be an artist.  Who knew??

My art has progressed over the last few years - I think.  I try more, I play more, I try to ignore my inner critic more.  365 challenges have kept me moving forward and on track.  Challenges by Karen at Mail Me Some Art, Tammy at Daisy Yellow, Hanna at ihanna and so many more keep me interested and trying to improve and expand my art.  Isn't this fun?!

I'm so glad to know you all!

week 36 for 365/2

Sept 1-7

#244 - As I'm sitting here watching a baseball game, I feel compelled to try my hand at my rusty digital skills.  And I made a simple haiku (my first!)

Here's the original image before textures and adjustments....

#245 - trying my hand at some sketching - the weather was too pretty to spend time in my messy art room so I headed out to the deck.  Inktense pencils for color.....

#246 - still sketching - this time out front, looking at a neighbor's house.  (Dan said it looks like the house but with crooked walls!  I said, it's a sketch not an architectural rendering - good answer, right?? :))

#247 - still layering and working on a couple of mixed media pieces....I added some modeling paste to this (the circles in the lower left and across the top).  I'm keeping progress photos so when it's done, I'll post them all in some sort of order - this is where I am now.

#248 - another mix media piece - this one is kinda a hot mess right now, but I see corners of potential.  The scribble lines are made using fluid acrylic paint in a squirt bottle (learned about it in a Jane Davies video and it's fun to use) (sorry couldn't find the exact video)

The scribble lines were made with this fineline squirt bottle.

Filled this marker with shiny copper - another new tool as recommended by Jane.

#249 - I finally broke down and bought ONE fashion magazine so I could come up with some funky silhouettes so I'm tracing & cutting & you'll see them in my art journal (ala Dina Wakley again....still finding inspiration in her book).

Hope you find time to be creative this week!

spotted color: red

Hanna is hosting her second month of "spotted photos" and encourages us to wander back through our bazillion photos and find something in common.  This month it's color.....do you seem drawn to one particular color or another?  Or can you at least find a few with a color in common?  For me, red.

Gear sculpture at a Seattle park

Bell tower by my local botanical garden

Church door Shelbourne, VT

And how could I share the joys of red without a few flower pics?

poinsettia

dahlia from our garden

Balboa garden, San Diego

from our garden - yum!

Prayer cards at the Great Wall of China

red vase, a gift from my sister

classic car show in Kingman, AZ

some valve thing on the side of a building

wall & bench, Cozumel, Mexico

Are you tired of red yet?  Okay, just one more......

red & dressed for a party!

What repeating color is lurking in your photo stash?  Join in & link to Hanna.

Still catching up on posting my efforts the last couple weeks......

#238 - Jane Davies sent out notification of a new online class and one of the phrases caught my eye so I made a sign to hang in my art room to remind me.  (I like how this turned out) She wrote, "There's no pressure to make Finished Art" - I love that!  I need to produce more, practice more, play more, just make more art without listening to my inner critic.  14x17"

#239 - a collage in my art journal.....

#240 - 243 - I had some random pieces of novelty paper on my desk so I added one more patterned piece and decided to make a series using only these 4 papers - a yellow nubby paper, a dull brown (where did I ever get this ugly piece?), a shiny copper (looks red in the scan), a white floral in relief and the patterned piece I pulled out of a "save it" drawer.  9x7"

Unfortunately the shimmery copper doesn't show up well in the scan but it adds a delicious element to each of these collages. I used cut strips in each, I worked to contrast rigid, cut shapes with torn, organic shapes, texture with flat, etc.  The first collage uses all cut pieces and the one below uses only torn pieces.

Whew - if you stuck with me the last few days, thanks!  That catches me up - Aug 31 is day #243 of the year! Only 109 days left.  My, that's an eye-opener......  Must be time to start thinking about Christmas gifts - what can I make?????