It all started with Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine

 I have had a subscription to Cloth, Paper, Scissors for several years. Each issue, I look at it, read it and think that would be fun to try. The newest issue is the Bucket List Issue with 18 art techniques to cross off your list. The Valentines immediately caught my attention.

I read the article enjoying Joanne Sharpe's directions. I did not have the materials she had, but I had a few things. I had muslin I had dyed in the snow last year. I had some batting. I had some watercolors, but not the acrylic glaze. At first, I was timid about painting on the cloth. I just outlined a heart. I found the more watercolors I used, the more the colors merged together on the cloth. I used them without much water at all.

I made eight of these little Valentines, just enough to fill the cloth.

I put batting in between the muslin layers and sewed away. I sewed around the heart and around the edges.  I sewed some seed beads to one of them. The hardest part was finding a needle. The back of the heart looks  like an little quilted heart pillow.

Thank you to Joanne Sharpe for a Valentine craft to make on a day snow lays on the ground and it is very cold.

Art and Life

Each day, I create something. It could be a poem, a drawing while I journal, glass, or jewelry. Lately I have been drawn to cool colors of blues, greens, and purples. While at a craft show, I began to find green, blue, and purple beads to entwine upon the memory wire. After coming home, I went through my bead boxes to find green glass leaves and some dyed tiger's eye beads to finish the bracelet.

Last week, I was one of many people to listen to a webinar by Cloth, Paper ,Scissors on how to get published. I learned it is best to take photos on an overcast day outside. I took a white piece of poster board outside. I laid the jewelry upon the poster board and took these two photos. I had been trying for awhile to photograph the limited edition Holiday ornaments. The shadow in the glass is my hand holding the camera. The green glass is embedded with aventurine streaks. The tree is made from copper foil with a copper bail. There will be a red velvet ribbon hanger for each of the twelve ornaments.

                Overcast day here in the mountains. The sun peeps out every so often between the clouds.

 A few trees still hold onto their fall leaves. The red orange tree in the valley almost glows.

The young forsythia has been blooming for weeks. Yesterday while I was outside planting daffodil bulbs, a yellow butterfly flew past me. There were two painted ladies on the butterfly bush as well as a bee. The lavender has a few flowers still holding their heads high. Marigolds peep out from under layers of leaves. A moment in the mountains is always filled with wonder.