Artful Thursdays - Embellishment Inspiration

Thursdays are about to become one of my favorite days of the week; because Artful Thursdays, from the imagination of Julie Collings, are all about just playing....something I haven't done for quite a while.Each Thursday, those who are participating will gather supplies, make something artful...anything...maybe something that has been percolating on the back burner for a while...maybe some fun technique that has been passed by...then, on Fridays post about.

Artful Embellishment No Pressure Collage

Sometimes when I'm rusty and the creative wheels are turning hard - I pick out a bunch of different little objects from the studio stash - book pages, playing cards, ric rac, lace, ribbon, buttons, jewelry, ephemera etc. and move the items around, folding them, scrunching them - kind of like brainstorming. I audition a lot of various little bits until I'm completely happy and love what I've ended up with. For me, this takes the pressure out of commiting pieces to a collage by permanently tacking them down, and somehow, I'm more free to experiment and find those combinations of lovelies that just feel right together.

Sometimes, like in this piece, I have a theme or color scheme or specific subject that I want to play with. No rules and no specific "end" in mind help me so much to forget making "something" and I'm able to "just make" something.

A New Year...And New Adventures!

I've been waiting to tell you about a wonderful and very satisfying on-line class I participated in at the end of 2009...it was called Artist Class. Well, artist class is back for February, with with a full menu of beautiful and easy tutorials, some of which you can see in the charming mosaic above.
If you have heard of, or taken the Artist Class, then you know how much fun it is, how many exclusive downloads are available and how accessible the projects are for every skill level.

Let me say, if you've never taken on on-line workshop, let Artist Class be your first! Artist Class, by Mary Green of Green Paper, is, in her own words:

"...an online project tutorial collection, with a variety of projects and a variety of artists. The tutorials are easy to understand and the projects are easy to accomplish.

Tutorials include materials list, instructions and photographs. The tutorials are easy to download and save. Past projects have included: Paper arts, Fabric arts, Jewelry making, Gift ideas, Downloadable Images and lots of techniques and tips.

The February 2010 Artist Class takes place on a members-only blog from February 1st through 28th. Daily blog posts will include instructions for one dozen individual projects plus bonus down loads, tips and techniques. The blog itself will continue to be accessible through April.

The price for the program is $59 but since I have been invited to be a participating artist, Mary is offering all of my readers a $10 discount on the cost of the program. You would just use the promo code thisgoodday when you sign up.

To Learn More About Artist Class Click HERE!!

To Register for Artist Class Click HERE!!

REMEMBER: To get your $10 discount be sure to use the discount code: thisgoodday

I hope that you will join me and the other artists, many whose names are so well-known, and who will be sharing their truly lovely and inspiring tutorials with us. I look forward to seeing you there!

Here is a preview of the "Best Wishes Cake Box" tutorial I will be sharing, which will include a downloadable template and some extra graphic goodies for decorating your own box...

Christmas Cheer

mosaic, originally uploaded by this good day.

new digital gift tags

The Little Dear Is Finally Here

Carson Michael Francis

Born November 5th
A true joy!

We Are Off...

...to the hospital to get us one of these! Second generation "artwork"...courtesy of the daughter!

I've been inspired to cook again! Over the last several months, my passion for cooking cooled to a barely lukewarm ember. Lots of life situations all mixed together to dampen that love, but I feel like I'm on the upswing now.

The promise of a gourmet store opening just blocks from my house began to fan that little ember...so I began stalking the storefront, waiting for the "opening soon" sign to become the long-awaited "open now" sign, crossing my fingers that it would live up to it's promises. Well, it is here! And it was worth waiting for.

Walking in, I wasn't sure what would greet me. Several stores have opened in our area in the last year, all with the claims of being "gourmet" or "European bakery" or "high end." I would excitedly run to each one, only to be disappointed with their barely-more-than-the-corner-bakery offerings. But my new-found love was not any of that! It was all I had hoped for and more.

Beautiful lighting contributes to its decadent atmosphere. I found bins containing all manner of sea salt; beautiful, large chunks of Pink Himalayan sea salt glistened like rose quartz, black lava salt, salt from France, salt from New Zealand, Celtic sea salt...and several bins of lovely, delicious-smelling smoked salt. I grabbed some applewood smoked sea salt...it adds a really yummy depth to all the foods I've used it in. I thought it would be too smoky, but it is just right!

There are bins filled with at least 10 different kinds of orzo, hand-crafted artisan pasta, exotic (for the Midwest, anyway) grains like Bamboo rice - basmati rice soaked in bamboo juice - red/black quinoa, french green lentils...organic herbs, olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and the cheese...oh, I'm in heaven!

And to make the experience even more surprising, Savore has a beautiful kitchen with an eat-on bar/countertop where they will be conducting cooking classes. And...they serve food, dreamed up and cooked by actual "chefs!" with a menu that changes weekly. LOVE!

I went home with some amazing finds: burrata, a fresh mozzarella cheese with a cream center; truffle butter (cuz I'll have to make a lot more tips at the coffeeshop to get the real truffle oil at $42/bottle); bamboo rice, black and red quinoa mixture; tuscan herb blend; a really nice culinary rasp (since my son used mine for a tool and snapped it in half); and finally, a jar of beautiful clotted cream, the first time I've found it here, which will force me to make these cream scones just to have something to spread it on.

Now I'm really hungry! I hope cooking is like riding a bicycle...cuz I don't have all day to relearn how to cook! :) I'm off...

November Design Team Reveal

It's been so much fun to receive a package in the mail with lots of goodies to make things with. With some vintage Christmas items from Chocolate Letters and Sadie of Lollishops, I decided to plunge into Christmas. Here are the two items I've made...

I've really been trying to upcycle, recycle and re-use old and sometimes forgotten stuff. So I found this little plastic wreath floating around the house and grabbed it, embellished it with a reproduction diecut and various vintage ornaments. I thought it might be too green, so a bit of white spray paint took care of that!

And I can't forget ornaments...they are fun to make and don't take too much time if you try to be quick and don't think to hard about what goes where.

Pop on over to the Lollishops blog...I'm sure Sadie has something up her sleeve for anyone who stops by the blog. And don't forget, there are other design team reveals as well.

Our next reveal will be on December 1. It's been lots of fun making "stuff."
I'll be anxiously awaiting the next package!

And in the holiday spirit...leave a message here, before midnight on Friday (7th) on any subject that pops in to your mind, let me know which creation is more "you" and Saturday stop back to see if you have won either the wreath or the ornament!