A MURDER OF CROWS!

Since January I have been involved in a "scrap crow" round robin with some Internet friends. The rules are that each person make and stuff a crow and add one embellishment to it and send it on to the next person on the list once per month. Each person adds one more embellishment and eventually the crow comes back to the original artist all gussied up from his/her travels. Well, my original crow, Odeana Raven, was a casualty and the person I forwarded her to never sent her on and was subsequently removed from the game...and I was out one crow. Well, I had a little problem with my motivation and I got bogged down in the decorating and making myself a new crow. I had finished my own crow and the one I was supposed to be decorating and the one for the next month arrived before I got them in the mail so.... I recently forwarded a murder (defined as a flock of crows) to Terry to work on. I didn't get a pic of the three before they flew off, but Terry was kind enough to send me the wonderful pics when they arrived at their destination. The one above is my replacement crow, Homer and you can read about him here and about his true love, Odeana Raven, here.

Cheri's crow was already superbly embellished when she arrived and I had to work harder to find something new. I added the yellow and orange rick rack to her tail feathers and hat.
I also dyed a piece of vintage trim with bright orange dynaflow and added it to the end of her tail feathers.

I had the most fun working on Felicia's bright crow! I made her orange hat by dying and shaping a little piece of straw from the hobby lobby doll section and adding the yellow rick rack and vintage flowers to the hat with glue. I sewed it to her head with green embroidery thread and gave it more stability with the green thread chin strap.

I think the real fun of this exercise is to see just how creative all the folks involved can be with a simple scrap crow! It's also a great way to use up your own left overs - a little bit of this or that. Don't you just love the different interpretations on the same theme?

A PURSE FROM CUT VELVET

I was so inspired with all the purse making that I decided to try and glue a scrap piece of cut velvet (polyester) onto a purse. The purse I choose was a vintage '40's tan lizard bag that had some discoloration on the leather. It was otherwise sturdy and in good shape - no dry rot. If you are going to try this yourself, make sure the leather connected to the metal around the handles is in good shape. I like the handles to be in good shape and the insides to be like new before I send money on a vintage bag.

To give this bag new life, I applied an even coat of Golden acrylic gel medium to the side of the purse and fitted a piece of the cut velvet material to it. I cut the fabric long enough to extend into the sides a bit and then finished each side (after it is thoroughly dry - 24 hours at least) with double-sided tape (Terrifically Tacky Tape) and aubergine velvet ribbon that is tightly fitted across top of the bag, down that side and across the bottom and up that side. I also used the velvet ribbon to cover the little metal design feature at the top of the bag. The result is a brand new pocketbook! Knowing that this type of fabric works so well opens up a lot of possibilities for more purses.

I was carrying this bag this week and someone remarked that I had a new purse and "I wasn't carrying one of own bags". They were surprised to learn how I "remodeled" this one.

LAVENDER LIMEADE: A FAVORITE REFRESHING DRINK FOR SUMMER!

I have always loved the color green and the flavor of lime. I don't know which love came first, but as a child I was always vying for the green lollipop or the green snowcone. I used to have an herb bed and grew my own lavender, but am sadly without ground for the herbs right now. This year I have revived an old favorite from my herb garden days: Lavender Limeade. I can't think why I ever stopped making it. It is so-o-o-o good! Much better than lemonade. Recently I found a bottle of organic reconstituted lime juice at a local health food store and it was all I needed to spark my memory.



I found they also had organic hibiscus and organic lavender and I was off! Here's how to make it:

Brew a strong tea of lavender and a small amount of hibiscus. It will be rosy in color. I do this by boiling water in a glass mixing cup in the microwave and when it comes to a boil then add about 1 part hibiscus to 3 parts lavender. Let it cool and then filter out the bits of lavender and hibiscus. While you are waiting for it to cool, heat a bit of water and make a strong mixture of limeade, water and sweetener. Mix the two together, serve over ice and, wallah! a very refreshing summer drink!



Sorry I don't have an exact recipe for you, but if you are still reading at this point, you will be able to mix to taste!



If anyone else out there loves lavender (or any herbs for that matter) for cooking, I would appreciate your sharing your favorite recipes. I used to have a good one for lavender shortbread, but I've lost it.

Hmmm! I am thinking this would be good with some Walker's shortbread. I must try that out soon.

ANOTHER NEW PURSE WITH TAN NETTING

Over the 4th of July holiday my muse came to visit and I made 3 purses in three days - which may just be a new record for me. I enjoyed the long blocks of time to create and one day I looked up and it was already 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I had been working since early morning. I love when that happens! Here's the second of the ones I made. I made a pattern from newspaper to cover the sides of the purse and then used that pattern to cut precise pieces from a scrapbook paper. I then decoupage the scrapbook paper to the front and collage some torn bits of sheet music, old letters and patterned pieces to the base. I used some sepia ink to shadow those editions and cut a couple of applicable phrases from an old novel.
I covered the whole side with a fairly thick layer of Golden acrylic gel medium and then covered the entire side with a piece of polyester tan netting - making sure to press the piece firmly into the gel medium without leaving any wrinkles. Then I cut around the vintage photo of the mother and daughters and affixed it into the gel medium and covered it over the top. When the side is dry, the netting behind the picture lends a nice texture and tint. I was very happy with the technique, but you have to move quickly so that your gel does not begin to dry while you are still working - it makes for nasty little lumps in your glue which are not easy to remove with the netting in place. Here's a close-up of the old photograph. I love this pic which I bought a few years ago in an antique mall. I got my friend at the local copier to experiment with the color of the original photograph. I have used this pic before, but it is the first time I have ever used them on a purse. A couple of years ago I made this trio into a Witches Shrine called the Power of Three.

For the back I used the original scrapbook paper base (which is best described as a paper on which someone cleaned their brush with gray and a little red) and sealed it with the netting in gel medium. Sometimes I add photos to both sides, but this purse did not call to me to do so. (Yes, sometimes the purses actually speak to me.)

I finished with a trim of aubergine velvet ribbon around the edges and in the little decorative groove at the top of the purse which I applied with double-sided tape. I couldn't get a good pic so you could really see the velvet ribbon, but it was just the right size to fit in that groove and I think gives the purse a more finished look.

I trimmed the netting after the purse was completely dry and applied extra glue to any edges of paper that seem loose. The more fused the paper is to the purse, the less the wear and tear on the papers. When they are properly fused, then they really wear as though the purse is fabric. The Gel Medium so changes the texture of the paper that most people are surprised when I tell them that I have used papers to cover the purse.

I am anxious to try this technque again to see if I can improve on my time.

SEEKING YOUR HONEST OPINION! ABOUT MY LATEST PURSE PROJECT !

Last week I found this material at the Hancock's Super 4th of July sale. It is a dark pink polyester netting with the different ribbons connecting the netting. I thought it would be fun to experiment with gluing this fabric to a purse! So I bought 1/2 yard for $1.00 and took it home. By the time I figured out that it would work, and went back to the store to buy a bit more, it was all gone. (sob!)
But I did find it in this pretty lavender and the yummy salmon pink.

Here's a closeup of what I did with the hot pink. I decoupaged some scrapbook papers with roses and some text from an old novel onto the side of the purse. When that was dry I covered the whole side with a a thick coating of Golden Gel Medium and pushed the netting into the gel medium and let it thoroughly dry. I have used this technique before with success with pieces of old lace. After it is dry, it is very strong, except that you may want to go around the edges of the bag and make sure that it is well glued in those areas.

Here's the purse that resulted in that technique. I used a vintage pink purse and I liked the combo of the paper and the textures of the netting and ribbons.

Then I think I may have gone too far when I added this vintage photo to the front of the purse. I affixed the photo first to some sturdy chipboard and glued it on with pop dots to the front of the purse. I was unhappy with that look, so I covered the pic in plain tan netting and then used Jacquard Gold Lumiere paint to put the bright gold border on the pic. (I originally had made a border by embossing the original photo print with bright gold embossing powder (Ranger Queen's Gold), but that did not show up well through the netting.)

Here's a closeup of the vintage photo. I have one charm I think I am going to add to the outside of the photo.

Here's where I would love to have your opinion. Do you like the purse better with or without the photo?

BUT, DOCTOR, IT HURTS WHEN I DO THAT!

If you've been following along in this journal, you know that I have developed a recent passion for altering clothes (despite my woeful lack of sewing skills/abilities), or as I like to think of it - my personal contribution to recycling. I have been doing all the sewing by hand, sometimes to things I bought at a thrift store and sometimes to things I actually removed from my own give-away (or throw away) pile. I have also been having trouble with my left shoulder which feels like it is perpetually a little out of joint and makes the faintest of clicking sounds when I move. I have been lucky to have been spared this little inconvenience until now, but I couldn't decide what I was doing to cause it.

Then it hit me! Of course, it's the sewing! (How bad a shape do you have to be in when crafting makes you sore!) I have been self treating it with aspirin and staying away from the sewing and it got immediately better. But with my new found passion, I just had to finish the yellow sweater this weekend. Isn't that pathetic? I just couldn't stay away any longer!

Here's the story on the sweater: I bought it several years ago at the Banana Republic Outlet(which among my friends is better known as the damaged/defective store). You can get some great buys there if you are careful that you do not buy a sweater without arms or a pair of pants with three legs. All BR sweaters were about $6.99 and there is actually a line outside through the parking lot when the doors open at 9:00 a.m. and then a mad dash to try and find items that do not look like they were designed for the freak show at the Carnival. I was lucky enough to find this bright yellow long sleeved cardigan (silk/cotton/Lycra) blend and several other 3/4 length sweaters in various colors (and truth be told, various sizes, I am nothing if not flexible). My haul on that day really made the approximately 200 mile trip worthwhile. I have gotten lots of use out of the sweaters, but the yellow sweater always had sleeves which were too long for my arms and I just dealt with it by pushing them up or cuffing them.

Then earlier this year, I noticed a faint gray mark on the back of the sweater. I tried, but couldn't get it out. Of course, this would occur in a year where yellow is really, really "in." I thought the sweater was headed for the dumpster, when I decided to try "altering it."

I cut off those annoying sleeves to a generous elbow length and the Lycra just made the fabric crawl up and form its own embellishment. I then cut out various flowers from a bright polyester piece of fabric I bought a few weeks ago at Hancocks for $2.99 /yd. I put one little piece of the flowers on the back to cover the offending "spots". Then I sewed on two other pieces on the front and kind of quilted them. They are frayed around the edges, but that just makes them cuter in my opinion. I sewed some vintage buttons into the designs. I did not use anything under the little flowers because it was a very gauzy piece of fabric and you can see the yellow sweater underneath which is fine with me. I think "dyed" a piece of crochet with Magenta Dynaflow for the color. I sewed this very odd citron colored velvet rickrack (yes, Deanne, if you are reading this, I bought the rick rack at Archiver's) and sewed 2 magenta buttons on the outside of each sleeve on top of the rick rack.

I think it made a bright and cheery summer sweater - especially considering that I was going to get rid of it for 2 little spots I have now completely covered. I've included some close ups of the details thought forgive me for posting them in the wrong order.

And - I continued sewing all weekend, even though I am back on an aspirin regimen for the pain. I have a gray sweater dress I have cut off and hemmed (which was a lot of hemming because it was really full and originally went all the way to the floor) and I am working on embellishing it. Then I am going to knock off the sewing (or most of it) for the next t-shirts I am going to embellish with paint and stamps.

LOOK WHAT I DISCOVERED BY ACCIDENT TODAY!

I hope you will not think me foolish or boastful, but I must share this little story with you. Last weekend I bought this new issue of Somerset Memories. I don't always buy this magazine, but I really liked an article on memory boxes by Tammy Kushnir. I had looked at it a few times this week and really enjoyed the articles. While I was thumbing through it again at lunch today, I found this interesting advertisement for one of their other magazines. On page 99:

And here's the surprise! That is my article (the tiny little one next to the tiny little pink cover of the latest edition [published April 2008] of Haute Handbags) next to the page with the pic of my 2 vintage style collage bags. Both those bags are in my banner at the top of my blog and the article is primarily the instructions for how to make your own bags. It kind of freaked me out to see them in this unexpected place. I know it is a small thing, but it was really exciting to me. I wonder how many times I thumbed past them and didn't even notice.I loved so many of the articles and handbags in this edition and I was proud to be among them. And what an unexpected pleasure to see my bags and article used to sell more copies. Thanks, Stampington.