A trip to Remember!

I hope that everyone reading this post had a very Merry Christmas and that you are very blessed in this coming New Year. If you've read my posts lately you know that my husband and I got to go to Japan and spend some time with our oldest son who was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and his family that is with him in Tokyo. We had a great time while we were there but had a lot to do when we returned home. I had some pieces to finish up for people before Christmas and also a very special piece to make and send to our family that we left in Japan. I plan on blogging about several of the things that we did while in Japan very soon, but today I would like you to go to Tiny Tool Time and see the project that my husband and I made to send to the family in Japan. Please let me know what you think about it. I really appreciate your comments.

Barbara

I've got a new blog post up today over on Tiny Tool Time Blog , why don't you go on over to check it out? I think you'll find it very interesting.

Thanks,
Barbara

I am currently in Tokyo, Japan and this is an exhibition that I went to see today at the Museum of Natural History.

However, prior to leaving I made and sold quite a few gourds. If you would like to see a project that I did head on over to the Tiny Tool Time Blog  and see one of them: www.tinytooltime.blogspot.com

Barbara

My first PROXXON Design Team Post!

As everyone knows by now, I've been chosen for the new PROXXON Design Team. I feel very fortunate to have been chosen, but most of all I'm having a blast playing with the tools that I've received to date. My first tools are the PROXXON Delta Sander OZI/E and the Jigsaw STS/12E, along with a Foot Switch FS. These tools are fantastic and if you would like to see how I made this little cutie for the Christmas tree head on over to the PROXXON blog and see all of the details!
                                                   A Tiny Tool Time Christmas Moose 

Thanks for checking out this new post!
Barbara      

Wonderful News of Upcoming Events!!!!!!

Yes! You guessed it, I'm on the Proxxon Design team for the next nine months!! I'm so excited about it and can't wait to show you some of the wonderful things that you can do with the tools that Proxxon has which are on a small scale and are just made for hobbyists, crafters and artists. You are really going to be amazed at the things that you can create. I will start posting projects made while using the Proxxon tools starting in November. I hope that you will all follow the posts for the blog hop we'll be having during the next nine months at some point. You will get the opportunity to win some tools for yourself!

Please stay tuned for the wonderful things to come!

Barbara

Modes4you fat quarter giveaway

This is a fantastic Christmas Fat Quarter giveaway.
Here's the link: http://craftgossip.com/win-9-fat-quarters-of-christmas-fabric-from-modes4u/?utm_source=CraftGossip+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9f25fbea6b-CraftGossip_Daily_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_db55426a84-9f25fbea6b-196077597

I hope everyone joins in!

Barbara

Should I come back to the blogging world?

It has been soooo long since I've posted anything on my blog, that I honestly don't know if I should ever come back to blogging. I would dearly love your opinion on this. Would you like to see me keep blogging? I have to say it will be mostly on gourd art and all the things related to it. I do still dip into other things but gourd art has become so important to me. I teach classes and create my own works. I go to shows and have my work in shops. I have been selected to participate in an artist studio hop and have loved every minute of my experiences. Would you like to hear about them? Please leave me a comment and let me know.       More to follow,,,,,,,,,,,I hope.

Barbara

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