Sweet Repeats: Soul Food and Something for YOUR Soul....

Sweet Repeats: Soul Food and Something for YOUR Soul....  Check out this amazing giveaway! This could be your opportunity of a lifetime!

Wonderful Class Giveaway by Effy Wild!

I don't know if any of you know Effy Wild but she's having a giveaway on her blog for one of her classes! She's a wonderful artist and shares her talent willing and with all. Go here: http://effythewild.com/blog/2013/6/27/its-giveaway-time-plus and follow the instructions. I know that I'm sure wishing I win one of these classes.

Barbara

Google Reader is going away!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin  

As most everyone who has Google Reader knows as of July1, 2013, Google Reader is going to disappear :(  and I am trying to get all of the blogs that I follow to transfer over to Bloglovin. If you would like to follow my blog you will now be able to find me at the above URL. (And of course I would love for you to follow my blog lol)

Hope to see you on the flip side!

Barbara

What’s been going on with my Gourd Art

 

Hello everyone! I know it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted here on the blog but my life has been quite full with back surgery, (my L4 and L5 vertebrae are now fused together) with getting my studio finished and with “The Art Odyssey”. The Art Odyssey was a three day self guided tour of Artists studios. There were 27 Artists on the Odyssey of which I was one. It was so exciting! We’ll start with a picture of my studio:

 and a couple of pictures of the inside:

   

     Isn’t this sink great? You can wash your hands and also your gourds!

And here are some gourds that I’ve done in the past and that I’m working on now:

The previous picture has been on display at the Donald W. Reynolds Library for a month and will be returning home on Friday and will be put up for sale. This is a picture of a gourd that I’m currently working on:

This is a picture of a gourd clock that I currently have for sale:

Some of these gourds will be listed for sale on my website which is: http://moorewhimsiestorebybarbara.com/ in the very near future. I hope you will stop by my store sometime and see what I have for sale.

Stay tuned for more Gourd Art in the Future!

( I do appreciate hearing from you! Please leave me a comment or two)

Barbara

A Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer Gourd Bowl

 

I’m going to show you a very simple but beautiful bowl that I created out of a gourd, Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and Sakura Yuzen Paper. To begin with you must clean the outside of your gourd, cut it open and clean the inside and you are ready to start. These are the supplies that I used:

                    

One thing I failed to get in the picture is the gold trim that I used for around the top. It was so simple to do, I brushed the Crystal Lacquer onto the gourd and applied strips of paper on top of it. Once I covered the gourd, I went over it with Crystal Lacquer to seal it and then glued the gold trim around the top. Here’s the final result:

         

Isn’t this a beautiful bowl? I love the designs on the Yuzen paper. It is actually paper that is handmade and printed in China for Sakura. There are several designs in one package and it can be purchased from Sakura. The Crystal Lacquer puts a wonderful finish on it also. Now I used a gourd because I had one handy that was round, but you could cover glass, plastic, etc. to make your bowl. You should give this project a try because you get almost immediate gratification. Do you like it? Let me know, I would love to hear from you.

Barbara

AGourd Brooch with a Creative Paperclay® Embellishment

 I like things that have a little bling or kick to them so I decided that I'd like to have a gourd brooch that was embellished with Paperclay. I used a book just out by Maria Dellos on ink and gourds for a little inspiration.

I started out with just a piece of gourd that I had carved out of a scrap of gourd and with a face that I had already formed in a mold and which was already dry. (It helped to get things moving along a bit faster. I then attached the face to the gourd with just a little E6000.)

Before attaching the face I woodburned some squiggles on the gourd piece. I then painted the face with some metallic acrylic paint in gold, blue, & copper touches. 

 Once the face was attached I used some more Paperclay to make a scarf to go around the face. I then painted the scarf with metallics. (Topaz, Sapphire, Copper, Gold, Green, & Purple) It really turned into a beautiful scarf. I added a little glue and some glitter on the bottom side to enhance the scarf.

But was that enough? Oh no my friends! I then took some multi-colored yarn, wire, and some beads and added a little bling to it. I then added a pin back to the piece so that I can wear it as a brooch. As you can see that end result wasn't bad, hmmmmm, no not bad at all!

Please pardon the pictures which were taken with a black background, but trust me the whites just wouldn't photograph very well sitting on white. I love my new brooch don't you? I also love Creative Paperclay and have used it for a long time, even before gourd art. It's very easy to work with and cleans up easily with just water.  It has stood out and become my favorite clay to work with on gourds.

Barbara

A Valentine made with Sakura 3D Crystal Color Lacquer

 

I enjoy making cards of all types and I really had fun making this simple Valentine with Want2Scrap outlines and the fun to use Sakura 3D Crystal Color Lacquer. Here’s what I started with:

                 

Once you peel off the design and place it on the paper, it’s just so easy to fill in with the Sakura 3D Color Lacquer! The Lacquer comes in easy to use tubes and you just squeeze out what you need. The lines contain the Lacquer and it doesn’t overrun. Once I finished the flowers in the center, I attached more small flowers that I then filled in with the Lacquer and then punched out a couple of hearts out of some blingy paper and here you have it:

                                                      

   

This Valentine turned out very nice and I’ve got just the friend to send it to! I hope your Valentine’s Day is a sweet one! You might want to try the Sakura 3D Crystal Color Lacquer on your Valentine cards to make some quick and beautiful ones.

Barbara

The Cutest Bookmark with Creative Paperclay®

 

I saw this bookmark somewhere on the internet but there wasn’t a tutorial so…… I decided it was just too cute not to try and make. I started out with these items:

 I was afraid that just one piece of cardstock wouldn’t be thick enough for the job so I used Collage Pauge and layered the cardstock. I also used the following:

 I also used more cardstock, more Collage Pauge, paint, glitter, wire and of course, wonderful Creative Paperclay®. I layered more cardstock and Collage Pauge, and used markers to decorate one set of bookmarks.

I fashioned a set of legs and shoes from the wire and Creative Paperclay® and painted and glittered them after they had dried.              I used E6000 to attach the legs to the bottom pieces of cardstock and then attached the bottom piece to the top using Collage Pauge once again. Didn’t this bookmark turn out great?

                                       

  Isn’t this just the cutest thing? I think I’m going to make several but I do believe I will seal the legs and bookmark. Please leave a comment because I love to hear from you.

Barbara

Got Started Early On A Valentine and Sakura Hobby Craft

 

Sakura Hobby Craft has a lot of goodies besides just the Crystal Lacquer, Terri Sproul Mixers and jewelry findings. I was recently sent several wonderful metal boxes. I call them card boxes and we were told to decorate them in any way we wanted.

Here’s what I started with:

           

Does this look like some fun stuff to play with or what? I covered the outside of the box with some very sparkly paper (I love my bling). I used Sakura Crystal Lacquer as glue for everything in this project. Once I had the cover on I added Valentine pictures and then some flowers. I cut paper for the inside and used the Lacquer to adhere it to the inside and then I cut paper to use for a card. I added stickers, hearts that I had punched out from foil, sparkly paper and plain paper. I added a lovely flower and voila’ I had a card to insert into the box.

 

    

I spread Sakura Crystal Lacquer all over the front of the card and then sprinkled it with Terri Sproul Extra Fine glitter. I just love how my first Valentine turned out!!! I love to read your comments, please leave me some.

Barbara

A Creative Paperclay ®Snowman that won’t Melt!

 

Well it’s that time of year when the snow can really pile up. We actually had snow on Christmas Day this past year. Here we are in a New Year and January is typically the month of the year for snow if you get snow. I started out this project with a gourd and a large coffee creamer jar. I forgot to take a picture of the original gourd and creamer jar so I took a picture of a similar one:

                                         The jar that I used was clean!lol I took the lid off the clean and empty one that I used and glued the gourd to the top. Once the glue was dry I covered the piece with Creative Paperclay® and painted it first with white paint and then with glitter paint. I painted the nose orange. Kind of looks like a snowman already doesn’t it? I added some button eyes, and a mouth, buttons and arms with a paint pen. I wrapped his neck with a fleece scarf and wrote a sentiment that I really like unto his tummy. Here’s the finished product:

               

                                                   I think he’s just adorable don’t you? And you probably all know that I just love the bling that the glitter paint gives to it. You could use styrofoam balls in place of the gourd but isn’t that a great way to recycle that creamer jar!You could make a whole family of snowmen and women! I used approximately 1 lb. of the Creative Paperclay® on this project. Try it and I know you’ll like it!

Comments are very welcome!

Barbara