Sister help

 With the help from a few "sisters",

I made a little progress on a new project.

They are so cute, I just had to share them.

I kept having to start over.

Otherwise, I would be much further along with the plan.

Just so you know,

I might not be around much this week while I continue on this fun project.

♥ Sharon

Mirror Mirror on the wall

You might have missed this so very very clever use of  one of my collage sheets.  Who would think of using the whole sheet without cutting it apart?  Not me.

Kecia Deveney is the clever artist who did this.  And she posted a great tutorial on the Objects and Elements Blog about how she uses extra Ice Resin® when she has mixed more than she needs for a project.  

This beautiful mirror was the result of her left over resin.  With Kecia's permission, I share the photo here. Kecia said she made several as Christmas gifts but admits that she, "... kept one for myself!"

Thanks Kecia for sharing your inspiration with a great blog post.

Have a great weekend.
♥ Sharon       

Art at the Speed of Life

 I'm running so slow telling about some new things going on for me right now.  But here is a new book, Art at the Speed of Life, by Pam Carriker. 

It was my privilege to have a very wee little part in her book along with some other artist.

The book is full of motivation and inspiration for making mixed-media art.

Next time you are at your favorite book store you might want to take a look.

Playing in my attic now,

Sharon

Puzzle Mystery Solved

I decided the share the mystery. It is all about playing together. 

It is pretty simple.  I wanted to alter (paint on it) this puzzle after starting out the year playing with my son and grandson putting it together. 

And you know how one thing leads to another when my brain is talking to me.

I thought what fun it would be to mail the puzzle to someone who said something like, "Now I want a new puzzle. I want to PLAY too!"

And then, I thought wouldn't it be fun if she put the puzzle together and left her alteration marks on it and then boxed it back up and mailed it to someone else.
.....who would put put the puzzle together and leave her alteration marks on it and then box it back up and mail to to someone else.
.....who would put put the puzzle together and leave her alteration marks on it and then box it back up and mail to to someone else.
.....who would put put the puzzle together and leave her alteration marks on it and then box it back up and mail to to someone else.


OK, you get the idea, A Puzzle Collaboration just to PLAY together.
Won't if be fun to get it back and see what the new puzzle will look like.

If you think you might like to PLAY with me this year,  then let me know and maybe I can arrange for this puzzle to come your way.

Let's PLAY,
♥ Sharon 

Chair Zone

 So much for the to-do list.  While I was planning the four sides of the forest that will surround the center game board on Tim's quilt, I was thinking how nice it would be to have all these components pinned and ready to stitch in the evenings this week while in the chair zone.   I am good for nothing but the chair zone after five.

In fact, I found my self in the chair zone all day Sunday and Monday and did nothing but stitch. Very enjoyable.   

I convinced myself that it was OK because that was what I wanted to-do.  After all it was a to-do list.

The rest of my stitching progress is posted on The Cloth Side of Me page.

♥ Sharon

Here's my to-do, what's yours

I use to have a great habit of sharing on the weekend and so that is what I'm doing here.   Maybe if I accomplish some of the things on this list, I will show and share that too.

I have made more progress on The Cloth Side of Me and I will post to that page before getting up from this chair.  Number 3 on my list is the first thing I will start with today in the studio.  I want to get more of my forest components ready to stitch just in case I find myself in the chair zone.  

I won't tell you about #1, the "Puzzle Mystery".....just tease a little here and there.

I'm going to bounce over to the other page now.
Have a wonderful weekend.
♥

Weekend Play

I pretty much played all day Saturday at the puzzle table and did finish putting it together.  This morning I carefully moved it to the studio table where I will play with it some more.

Then on Sunday, which was a wonderful rainy day, I played with Tim's cloth.  But first I had to throw a whole bunch of scraps into a dye pot of avocado green.  I am very pleased with the results.  

If you are interested in Tim's cloth, it is posted at The Cloth Side of Me  page. 

Play,

♥ Sharon

PLAYing

I didn't mean to leave you hanging with my focus on Play this year.

I guess really there may not be too much to elaborate on the word, Play.

My buddy, Timothy, who is a whisper away from 6' now got hooked onto PLAYing puzzle with me Sunday after his cousins went home.  He enjoyed this old fashioned thing to do so much that he wanted me to pick him up the next day to Play some more.

This is but one example of how I will Play this year.  I plan to find ways to Play with my family.  We and they are at the age when life uses up family Play time and I have felt melancholy about that fact off and on for a good while now.  I'm going to be creative and more available to Playing.

I think of Play as the opposite of work.  Play is fun. Play is rewarding. Play is amusing.  Play is action.  Play is frolic.  Play is inspirational.  

Like I said, there is not too much to elaborate on the word Play.  But I'm sure through this year with my focus on Play, I will discover many things about myself and my creative path. 

♥ Sharon

PS....we haven't finished the 1000 pieces of Play yet.  But we have made a good bit of progress since these pictures were taken.

My focus for 2011

The Year of PLAY....2011



         ♥ Sharon

Hey y'all wait for me

I know, I know, it is the New Year already.  And I did in fact have a big pot of black-eyed peas and cabbage yesterday on, 1-1-11, with a little cornbread on the side.

But today, I will take a step back into 2010 to celebrate Christmas with my little family. It is the way they wanted it. In just a few minutes, as soon as I finish this post, I will go to the kitchen to start the turkey, dressing and gravy.  We will also have a broccoli and rice dish and probably mashed potatoes and of course for those brats in the family who only eat mac and cheese, there will be that too.  A delicious cherry congealed salad and pecan pie was prepared yesterday.

So here I am starting the year with a little show and tell of my money gift envelopes.

I learned about this really cool scoring board from my friend Zorana.  She used one in her new online class (for a totally different project) and I swear, I never knew such a thing existed.

So of course, I had to have one.  And of course, I had to play with it. I made the cutest little gift envelopes with this gadget.  The big bucks envelopes are in the top photo and though you can't tell the second picture is a larger envelope and they hold the iTunes gift cards.  Which is another cool thing I discovered.

This is the Martha Stewart Scoring board and it comes with this handy corner template that makes scoring the sheet on a diagonal for envelopes so simple.

Basically, you can make any size envelope with a square or rectangle of paper or cardstock.  I used scrapbooking paper for the smaller envelopes and card stock for the larger ones.

So here is how:
On opposite corners of the square, you score the same distance from the point in.  Then on the other two opposite corners, you score the sames distance but a little further from the point. 

In other words:  Start with and 8" square of paper.  Let's say the points are Point A, B, C, D.   On point A and C, you score 2" in from the point.  And on points B and D, you score 2.5" in from the point. 

This will leave a little triangle at the edge where the to score lines intersect.  With scissors, you clip that little triangle off.  The photo to the left shows the little triangles laying to the right of the score board. 

You can leave them plain or you can play like I did and decorate them.  I spent way too much time doing this but I sure did enjoy it.

Now I'm off to cook.
Happy New Year!!!
♥Sharon