Hi everyone!!!
Sorry I have been MIA for a while. I have been hard at work creating beautiful mosaic projects that are just making me sooo happy! If you have read my previous posts, you know that I love pretty things, shiny things, and I love to create them.
The reason I haven't posted pictures lately about my works is that my computer wasn't working. Specifically the part of my computer that allows me to upload pictures. And describing the things I have been creating without a picture was too depressing a situation to even contemplate, so I just buried myself into the studio and just kept right on creating. (also, I found I needed to get a job that allowed me to pay taxes, and believe me, substitute teaching does not leave you with a whole lot of free time or energy)
But enough with the excuses. I am almost ready to share my creations, which include a garden stone created for my pastor and his family, and a series of stained glass recreations of local Chesapeake Bay lighthouses.
But before I get to that, let's go back to my reason for making this post: Glue!!! Do you use glue for your creations??? Are you running out of glue constantly the way I am??? Have you ever thought, "I wish someone would just give me a whole lot of glue?" Well, you are in luck. Tiffany Windsor, master crafter and daughter of Aleene Jackson of Aleene's Tacky Glue fame, is giving away a HUGE assortment of famous Aleene's Tacky Glue in celebration of launching her new Cool2Craft newsletter at FaveCrafts.com. Just click on the following link for details:
http://www.favecrafts.com/sweeps/Mega-Assortment-of-Aleenes-Tacky-Glue
Contest ends February 27, and it is right now the 23rd, so hurry up and get your entry in!!!!
And I'll be back with those mosaics soon, I promise ; )
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, December 2, 2010
OMG, I have been so bad!
Really, I haven't posted anything since May??? I have been soo bad. I guess I could blame it on spending all summer at the pool, but who are we kidding: sometimes it rained. And I guess I could blame this fall's absense on my spending all my time making gifts for Christmas gifts (and therefore not wanting to post pictures and ruin lots of people's surprises) but honestly, I think I just had a 5 month brain freeze.
My other blog: www.chickenneckmom.blogspot.com today is having a discussion on crafty handmade Christmas gifts, so feel free to visit and leave your thoughts. Until then, I am busy being one of Santa's elves and relentlessly making mosiaced trivets, garden stones, and jewelry for my nearest and dearest while taking time out to eat and sleep and occasionally pay attention to my children.
I promise I will be back in January 2011. I will post pics and articles of the fabulous (I hope) projects I made for people, as well and updating you on my latest project: attempting to create mosaic recreations of area lighthouses. So check back then. Until then, have a fabulous Christmas, Hanukkah, and a amazing Festivus for the Rest of Us. Peace.
My other blog: www.chickenneckmom.blogspot.com today is having a discussion on crafty handmade Christmas gifts, so feel free to visit and leave your thoughts. Until then, I am busy being one of Santa's elves and relentlessly making mosiaced trivets, garden stones, and jewelry for my nearest and dearest while taking time out to eat and sleep and occasionally pay attention to my children.
I promise I will be back in January 2011. I will post pics and articles of the fabulous (I hope) projects I made for people, as well and updating you on my latest project: attempting to create mosaic recreations of area lighthouses. So check back then. Until then, have a fabulous Christmas, Hanukkah, and a amazing Festivus for the Rest of Us. Peace.
Monday, May 24, 2010
If you haven't checked out Xomba yet. . . .
you really should. Check out Xomba.com, I mean.
For the past year, I have been the featured Family and Home writer for Xomba.com,a profit sharing online writing community. Since of late, my interests have changed from matters of home and hearth to my main hobby, crafting.
So, last month, I wrote a sample article about a picture frame I made for my mother-in-law for mother's day. I submitted it to my editor with the request that he switch me from Family and Home to Hobbies and Crafts.
And then I waited. My article got many rave reviews from people on and off the website. Figuring I was on a roll, I wrote a second craft article. This one was on using natural ingredients to make your own hand sanitizer. This article did even better than the first one.
Today, I checked the website, and Yay!, my editor switched me to the featured writer for the Hobbies and Crafts section. I am so happy, and I can't wait until my next article is published. I am learning lots of techniques from my beloved mentor, Candace at Wye River Designs, and plan of writing all about the things I am learning, both here and on Xomba.
So if you haven't discovered Xomba yet, check it out. And don't just read my articles, but investigate further. There are a lot of talented writers just waiting for you to discover them.
And by the way, my pen name under Hobbies and Crafts is Tiffayres. Check it out, and support Art in this world!
For the past year, I have been the featured Family and Home writer for Xomba.com,a profit sharing online writing community. Since of late, my interests have changed from matters of home and hearth to my main hobby, crafting.
So, last month, I wrote a sample article about a picture frame I made for my mother-in-law for mother's day. I submitted it to my editor with the request that he switch me from Family and Home to Hobbies and Crafts.
And then I waited. My article got many rave reviews from people on and off the website. Figuring I was on a roll, I wrote a second craft article. This one was on using natural ingredients to make your own hand sanitizer. This article did even better than the first one.
Today, I checked the website, and Yay!, my editor switched me to the featured writer for the Hobbies and Crafts section. I am so happy, and I can't wait until my next article is published. I am learning lots of techniques from my beloved mentor, Candace at Wye River Designs, and plan of writing all about the things I am learning, both here and on Xomba.
So if you haven't discovered Xomba yet, check it out. And don't just read my articles, but investigate further. There are a lot of talented writers just waiting for you to discover them.
And by the way, my pen name under Hobbies and Crafts is Tiffayres. Check it out, and support Art in this world!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Save the Indoor Playground
I am taking a break in talking about my projects to let you in on a project of a good friend of mine. Her name is Kim.
Kim was the manager of a little place called the Island Secret Garden on Kent Island, MD. The ISG was a wholly wonderful place. It was the nicest indoor playground anyone could ever ask for. It had climbing equipment, slides, ball pits, and bikes. Everything kids need to stay active on rainy and snowy days. It provided plenty of opportunities for dramatic play also, with many play houses, cushions, beautiful murals on the walls, and puppets. There was a cozy area for parents to relax with magazines, books, or each other's company, with a view of the entire play area. For many of us with small children, it was our home away from home.
But if this place was so wonderful, you might ask, why isn't it around anymore? Why indeed?
It turns out the building the ISG was housed in wasn't built to withstand three major snowstorms within weeks of each other. By the last blizzard, the roof had caved in, and the ISG had lost the rights to their space.
There is something everyone can do to help, though. Kim has found another space for the ISG, which she has now renamed the Kent Island Discovery Zone, or KIDZ! The only thing she is lacking for reopening is the capital necessary.
And no, I am not asking for money. I wouldn't do that. But if you would like to help us get our beloved indoor playground back, click on the link below and vote for KIDZ to receive financial help from the very nice people at Pepsi! It's doesn't cost you anything, but the couple of seconds it takes to click the link, and you would be making lots of Delmarva children (and their parents) very very happy.
http://www.refresheverything.com/kentislanddiscoveryzone
Kim was the manager of a little place called the Island Secret Garden on Kent Island, MD. The ISG was a wholly wonderful place. It was the nicest indoor playground anyone could ever ask for. It had climbing equipment, slides, ball pits, and bikes. Everything kids need to stay active on rainy and snowy days. It provided plenty of opportunities for dramatic play also, with many play houses, cushions, beautiful murals on the walls, and puppets. There was a cozy area for parents to relax with magazines, books, or each other's company, with a view of the entire play area. For many of us with small children, it was our home away from home.
But if this place was so wonderful, you might ask, why isn't it around anymore? Why indeed?
It turns out the building the ISG was housed in wasn't built to withstand three major snowstorms within weeks of each other. By the last blizzard, the roof had caved in, and the ISG had lost the rights to their space.
There is something everyone can do to help, though. Kim has found another space for the ISG, which she has now renamed the Kent Island Discovery Zone, or KIDZ! The only thing she is lacking for reopening is the capital necessary.
And no, I am not asking for money. I wouldn't do that. But if you would like to help us get our beloved indoor playground back, click on the link below and vote for KIDZ to receive financial help from the very nice people at Pepsi! It's doesn't cost you anything, but the couple of seconds it takes to click the link, and you would be making lots of Delmarva children (and their parents) very very happy.
http://www.refresheverything.com/kentislanddiscoveryzone
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Onwards and Upwards
I have not written in a while,and for some really good reasons. First, I am trying to get my editor at Xomba.com to switch me from the Family and Home writer to a Hobbies and Crafts writer, so I have been busy writing articles to prove that this would be a much better fit for me. The second reason is that the craft fair season is starting, and I have a table reserved on Saturday at a flea market in Chester, Maryland. The Safeway is having a flea market to benefit People with Disabilities, an organization that does exactly what you think it does, help people with all types of disabilities. If you happen to find yourself on Kent Island on Saturday between 9am and 4pm, stop by the shopping center with the Safeway. We will be in the empty space next to the grocery store.
I am going to have a small table set up selling necklaces, bracelets, and mosaic'd picture frames and jewelry boxes. On Sunday, I will be back here online to tell all about how it went.
Hope to see you on Saturday!
I am going to have a small table set up selling necklaces, bracelets, and mosaic'd picture frames and jewelry boxes. On Sunday, I will be back here online to tell all about how it went.
Hope to see you on Saturday!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Upcycled Necklace
Well, here are pictures of the famous necklace that I did NOT get to show at the recycled/upcycled Earth Day Show at the Kent Island Federation of Arts. Everything you see in these photos that isn't beads was made from plastic grocery bags. I braided together strips of plastic bag to make the chain. The broach is more strips of bag that I threaded through the large wooden bead and then fringed. Each fringey was then threaded through a smaller bead. (And when I say "threaded" I mean it literally, I had to use thread to guide the plastic through the hole in the bead.) If you look closely, you will see that the clasp on the necklace is a pop top off of a can of soda.
I am looking on the bright side, since I wasn't able to show it this time, I now have time to create a matching bracelet and possibly earrings to create an entire collection. I also was convinced to finally become a member of KIFA so I can get actual notice about when these things happen so I can be better prepared. Yay me!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
One man's art is another man's crap
No picture this time.
Don't know if there will ever be a picture of this, whatever "this" is.
Lemme start at the beginning. KIFA (Kent Island Federation of Arts) is having an art show for Earth Day on Saturday. It was suggested to me by someone close to me that I enter something. After giving it alot of thought, I decided to make a necklace. The rules for this art show are that the entries have to consist of 80% recycled materials. I saw some of the entries that are already on display. There is a dress made entirely of Capri-Sun bags and a fish mosaic made of soda can pop tops.
I was stumped as to what to do. Then, I got inspired when I remembered that my friend Tammy, (whose crafting site is listed at a link above this blog) has made handbags and wallets by crocheting strips of plastic grocery bag. I remember loving this idea when I first saw pictures of her work. So I decided to modify that idea for myself. I took strips of grocery bag and braided them together into long braids intending to make a necklace and pendant. The necklace was going to be a long strip of bright blue plastic with brown wooden beads strung periodically. The pendant was going to be a flower created from intricate loops of white and red braided plastic. The blue portion of this project turned out fine. The pendant is where the wheels fell off the wagon. I just cannot make it turn out the way I want. I have tried many different methods of working with the materials and finally went to my old standby: crazy glue.
So, here I lay. It's 11pm and my fingers are covered with a fine layer of crazy glue. The pendant still looks like crap and the piece is due tomorrow morning. I am hoping a good night's sleep will provide me with the inspiration that I need, but I am afraid I have now totally psyched myself out. You see, once I had the fleeting thought of calling KIFA and telling my friend Carol that I wasn't going to be able to drop anything off after all, my mind just gave up. A total psych-out.
So, good night and sweet dreams. I really hope I can pull this out. I would like to be able to announce that I am entering the show after all. Maybe I will dream a solution to my problem. You never can tell.
Don't know if there will ever be a picture of this, whatever "this" is.
Lemme start at the beginning. KIFA (Kent Island Federation of Arts) is having an art show for Earth Day on Saturday. It was suggested to me by someone close to me that I enter something. After giving it alot of thought, I decided to make a necklace. The rules for this art show are that the entries have to consist of 80% recycled materials. I saw some of the entries that are already on display. There is a dress made entirely of Capri-Sun bags and a fish mosaic made of soda can pop tops.
I was stumped as to what to do. Then, I got inspired when I remembered that my friend Tammy, (whose crafting site is listed at a link above this blog) has made handbags and wallets by crocheting strips of plastic grocery bag. I remember loving this idea when I first saw pictures of her work. So I decided to modify that idea for myself. I took strips of grocery bag and braided them together into long braids intending to make a necklace and pendant. The necklace was going to be a long strip of bright blue plastic with brown wooden beads strung periodically. The pendant was going to be a flower created from intricate loops of white and red braided plastic. The blue portion of this project turned out fine. The pendant is where the wheels fell off the wagon. I just cannot make it turn out the way I want. I have tried many different methods of working with the materials and finally went to my old standby: crazy glue.
So, here I lay. It's 11pm and my fingers are covered with a fine layer of crazy glue. The pendant still looks like crap and the piece is due tomorrow morning. I am hoping a good night's sleep will provide me with the inspiration that I need, but I am afraid I have now totally psyched myself out. You see, once I had the fleeting thought of calling KIFA and telling my friend Carol that I wasn't going to be able to drop anything off after all, my mind just gave up. A total psych-out.
So, good night and sweet dreams. I really hope I can pull this out. I would like to be able to announce that I am entering the show after all. Maybe I will dream a solution to my problem. You never can tell.
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