Sock-a-versary!

My Sock-a-versary is March - so I started a new pair! Pomatomus by CookieA. Photos are kind of hard today - it's very dark outside. No rain yet but it's supposed to. Anyway, had to use the flash so you could see the patterning.
Toe up
Magic loop on #0 Addi Turbo circular
Shibui Knits Sock - colorway 323




Fun pattern! Oh - the lifeline is the white string across the toe. It just makes frogging easier (should I need to - who me? LOL!) The little dangle is my marker when I was doing toe increases. I'll be doing a PGR short-row heel (my fav).

Handspun!

This is a small skein of yarn. Yes, but an important small skein of yarn.
This is my first supported spindle handspun, fine, Navajo plied yarn in years! And if it's partner spindle-full is at least this ok, I might knit socks out of it! Short socks, but socks!

CCC #35

I decided to make an ATC for the last challenge! It just sort of happened. I started getting out "stuff" and - voila! I was in the zone.

Mostly Tim Holtz supplies - spinner and sticker, grunge board rectangles, Adirondack spray inks (eggplant and cranberry), phrase stamp, background paper (layer in the back). First layer of background is some paper I made and photocopied (it's kind of lumpy). The metal pieces with words I've had for a while.
 

This was fun! I hadn't made an ATC in a while and now I think I'm on a roll....

Art Journals Ready to Travel!

Just finished painting/spraying the backgrounds on these 2 art journals. I made both - the one on the right is ala Teesha Moore - from 1 sheet of watercolor paper. The link is to her video tutorials.

The journal on the left I made a bunch of a while back (after a class) and haven't used them all yet. This one has a polymer clay medallion on the cover and a leather sewn binding. Also with watercolor paper pages.

I used Adirondack Color Wash (Ranger) sprays. I finally got the nozzles to work - these are the old bottles. I have six colors. I plan to get more after this! The sprays and stencil technique is great! I didn't want to stop once I got started but - had to let pages dry every once in a while!

This page is from the alaTeesha journal. Oh, that's a Tim Holtz clock mask. I also used some stencils (templates) from Crafter's Workshop.

These three pics above are also from the alaTeesha journal. If you watch her videos, you'll see her design has flaps. Not sure I will do this one again. Not crazy about the flaps. But it was quick and in an emergency (yes, artists' have emergencies!) it would be great knowledge to have. So, it goes in my art box of ideas.

This page is from the leather journal. I've already started some stamping.

Two of the above pages have a little problem I'll have to work out - blobbing in the center. It's from too much ink/paint and not waiting for things to dry....uhm..hmmm. Patience is virtue.... And the center one's pages stuck together (again - patience is...). I'll fix it when I'm journaling.

Well, I can't show you ALL the pages but you get the idea. I'm being influenced by Teesha Moore's style, Dyan Reaveley's style of working and also by Dina Wakley.
Feels great to be ready to stamp and keep going. They can travel with me now! Can't wait to pack them into my Tim Holtz messenger bag (see a previous post!) and take a road trip!

CCC #34 and The Martins Return

We've had a Martin House for several years now and this morning, I heard a familiar song as I went out to check the mail. In the backyard, there was Mr. B (for Beardsley) sitting in front of his usual opening - that wasn't open. You see, in the winter we close the house to keep out the sparrows.

He asked (singing sweetly) for me to open up! After saying hello, I said "I can fix that if you..." and he flew off. 3 martins circled overhead while I took down the house, opened all the holes and put the house back up. Then they flew low over my head - singing what I hope was "thank you" and proceeded to fly away toward the creek where I hope they had a nice lunch.

So, in honor of the Martin clan returning from Brazil for the year, I made this tag.

This covers the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #34 - the Dimensional Collage Fragment technique from page 63 of the book. I used Tim Holtz paper and cut a tag using TH tag die and my Vagabond (love this thing!) Used TH stickers, flying bird (Ideology) and some older pieces from TH - "distressables and doo-dads" that was put out by Design Originals. Yes, I've been hoarding TH stuff!

The paper in back of the fragment was from an old dictionary, rubber stamped with a small bird in silhouette. I was stuck on this challenge until this morning when I heard my Martin friends! Now, I hope the rest of the clan arrives here safely, too.