Friday, July 29, 2011

Dryer Sheet Roses

I remember being in junior high, riding my bike from one small town to the next via country roads. On my typical path lived a elderly woman who had the most magnificant rose bushes. Each day, I'd see her out, "pruning" the bushes, so I thought. Then I was told, I'm not sure by who, or maybe I figured it out myself, that the roses weren't really roses at all. She had made each and every one of them and "hung" them out on the bushes every summer. Now, I'm not one for plastic flowers, but this amazed me. They were HAND MADE flowers.
Last week, I tried my hand at coloring/painting dryer sheets to make my own roses. I soaked the used sheets in small tubs of acrylic/water and then hung them to dry. Yesterday, I took the sheets I had, cut them in half (lengthwise) and gathered them with thread and needle.



You can see the various color combinations I created on my first try. I would like to colorize a few more deeper shades of rose or bluish-red to finish the frame I am making.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Scratching the Itch (w/paintbrushes of course!)

What a find! Now...a theme...
Today I was thrilled to pick up these two at my local thrift store. Honest, my first thoughts were "photos". (I've spent the past two days away from the heat, in the comfort of air conditioning, cutting away at scrapbooking idea magazines!) But alas, I'm a gal who really likes to repaint, modge-podge, and collage away, so I'm focusing my creative energy on themes now. Vintage...definitely. Victorian...without a doubt. Story...either borrowed or my own. Photos? Epherma? Clipart? Glitter? Holidays?
I'm feeling a bit like Michelanglo on this one. Tonight I'll clean and prep the shadow boxes and then I'll work through it slowly and wait for the art inside to reveal itself to me. Along the way, I'll keep you posted on my progress.