Acrylics

I've been reading Betty Edwards 'Color' to learn about mixing colors and changing hue, etc. It is very interesting and I really recommend her book. Well, I a few months ago I decided to start playing with acrylics and since I really like Kandinsky I made this 'orange and blue circles and squares' on a small 9x12" canvas. Then I put it in a cheap frame from Hobby Lobby that was 50% off - the whole project cost me about $4.00 and now I have some funky art in the hall bathroom.

Next Quilt, and Chicken Salad

I made this chicken salad sandwich this weekend, it is my mom's recipe, but it is slightly modified. The croissant is essential, and the sprouts, though it's also good enough on wheat tortillas (and thereby much healthier). Plus the strawberries make it pretty.

Here is the recipe (how I make it): chop the following and mix it in a dish: A cooked chicken breast, a green onion, some cilantro, some water chestnuts, and a little bit of mayonaisse, a sprinkle of curry powder, salt and pepper, and a little bit of crushed red pepper. Slice open a croissant and lay down a bed of alfalfa sprouts and then throw on a large amount of the mix, and enjoy.

And this is the next baby quilt I'm making, I took a bunch of 4 1/2" squares from my stash so it took awhile to cut. Then I just spent a few minutes laying out this design. I'll let it sit on my floor a few days, then come back later and see if I still like it like that.

Quilt Finished, and Board Books

When I went outside this morning, there was this huge cloud above my house, isn't it really cool?

And I finally finished this baby quilt.

I read an article in the latest 'Cloth Paper Scissors' issue, and it was talking about different adhesives. And another article in the same issue showed how to make a collage-type-thing. So I got a bunch of different adhesives, including spray adhesive, which I decided is good for big pieces of paper but can really make a mess. And I made this chart, with paper, fabric and photos, and crayon, colored pencil, charcoal, oil pastel, pencil, acrylic paint, etc, and treated with clear acrylic finish, or mod-podge, or nothing. It was a lovely experiment. Then I got the idea to make a board book for my sister's kids after talking to my sister on the phone about something. So I bought some kind of heavy paper and really went to town with the mod-podge. I don't scrapbook much but this project has been fun so far. I still don't know how I'm going to bind it, since the 'paper' does not have much bend. I looked online at various binding tutorials and I think I have something in my head from something I saw at Hobby Lobby. But I went all around the city looking for book binding tape and no one carries it. But I did find some cool aluminum HVAC tape that I'll HAVE to find some kind of use for...

I used glow-in-the-dark paint over this charcoal-erased sketch of a flower (I did the sketch about ten years ago and it's been sitting around in some folder waiting for a use like this). It will be fun for them to hold it up to the light, then look at it in the dark.

They love their piggy banks and their coins. I scanned some coins and copied the image several times to make these pages. I found a piggy bank/coin photo online. And then I hot-glued real coins to the second page. Hopefully they don't try to peel them off, but there is a lot of mod-podge over them so it should make it a little more difficult (ie they might have to use their teeth).

I really think mod-podge is my new favorite thing. I kept calling it 'hodgepodge' on the phone to my sister as we were discussing techniques. She is a scrapbooker so she's a total pro with paper.

Postcard, Baby Quilt

This is my first fabric postcard. It was inspired by Anne Lullie's artwork.

Above is a baby quilt I made recently. I love the colors and the simplicity of it.

Here is detail of a recent small art quilt.

Design inspiration is everywhere!

Amazing lightning outside my house