sassacraft #6

an afternoon of inspiration and some digging through my craft supplies has proven very productive! i am quite excited about the not one, but two pieces i finished this afternoon. crafting is so much fun!

first, i broke out my Christmas presents and made my first attempt at a watercolor painting. you may recognize the inspiration from here. i free-handed the globe, which is why it is not a circle, but seems to be wobbling a bit on its axis. this has taught me to at least use templates if i want perfect shape. the yellow and orange were spur of the moment choices, and the yellow was supposed to be a thicker band, but the orange kind of engulfed it. the verse is one of my favorites, and continues on to read

"Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe, even if you were told,"

which is one of my favorite verses. for a first attempt, i think it turned out pretty well!

then, i hadn't had enough of crafting, so i broke out the felt. using my limited options, i made this blue owl. he's so cute. then, i painted the canvas blue. i took pages from a Gideon New Testament i had and used watercolors to make them brown. then i mod-podged them to the canvas, wrinkling them so they looked like bark. the pages are from Proverbs, so i kept a few verses about Wisdom from being wrinkled so they could still be read, but other than that, i didn't highlight or otherwise pick out any specific verses. the cloud is made from an excess of cream-colored acrylic that cracked when i turned the fan on it to dry. unintended, but i like the effect. lastly, i used tacky glue to adhere Mr. Owl to the canvas, and he's upstairs drying as i type!

today was very productive, and i had a lot of fun doing it. i wish this was my job!

sassacraft #5

another something i made to not be so lonely anymore. pictures of my family, magazine scraps, fake flowers, buttons, letters, phrases. three canvases nailed together and painted different colors. the pictures, phrases, and scraps are mod-podged on. the letters and flowers are tacky glued on. the buttons are sewn on. i really love my family.

sassacraft #4

family has always been extremely important to me. a couple years ago, i lived with a roommate in an apartment while my family lived two hours north in a house. this was the first time that i really lived away from my family, and the transition was difficult for me. i eased the loneliness by devising three art projects centered around my family that took me a few months to assemble, and which i presented to them for Christmas. i happen to be quite proud of these three pieces, and will not attempt to hide my joy in them.

the above is the piece i made for my parents, who have been to Africa a total of 4 times, twice together. it would be accurate to say that they left their hearts there. while in South Africa, a friend taught us a sweet song that has stayed in our hearts ever since. the collage is sepia-toned photographs from the four trips that are mod-podged to the canvas with a matte finish. the hearts are cut from felt and tacky glued to the canvas, the largest heart being two red felt layers with a layer of quilting batting stitched between to add more depth. the stitches are embroidery floss stitched in a basting fasion. the sepia tones were achieved via walmart's photo editor, and the prints are on photo paper, so they are not wrapped around the edges like on the two below projects. a black ribbon was glued to the edges for a more finished look.

this is the piece i made for my brother and sister-in-law. the collage is of their first child's first year. the black and white pictures encompass her birth through first ten months, while the color pictures on the flowers are her baby dedication, birth, and the one not shown here was from her first birthday, which occurred after the canvas was "completed." the flowers and watering can are made of felt, the watering can being stitched in the same method as the heart in the first piece. the words "watch her grow" are being poured from the watering can onto the flowers with light blue stickers that were mod-podged over to add extra stickiness. the black and white pictures are printed on copy paper to make them more flexible, and the colors were achieved by grayscaling the photos in Photoshop. while the pictures are wrapped around the side of this canvas, a black ribbon was affixed with tacky glue for a more finished look.

last, but certainly not least, is the piece i made for my baby brother, who loves all things music. the background is sheet music from three of his favorite bands--CCR's "Bad Moon Rising," The Who's "My Generation," and Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'." the quote says "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." the guitar and music notes are made of felt, the piano keys are tongue depressors and popsicle sticks painted ivory and black.

these pieces were extremely fun to make, because they were made for people i love dearly and because i got to mix media. i love doing that. in fact, i might go start something new now, because looking at these has made me want to do more of these, an i have an idea!

sassacraft #3

these are gifts made for my dear friend jj. she loves purple. and Africa. and i love birds. and i think she does too, because she said she really likes the painting.

so, the Africa is made from clay and is what's left of a completely failed Christmas gift project involving clay. this is the cut-out from the main piece that broke because it was too heavy, which is when I discovered the wonders of felt, but that's another post. the Africa is painted a burnt sienna and affixed to the canvas by the jute twine stitched around it. the two knots at the top are the hanger, but the rest of it is folded under the back.

the birds are freehand cut-outs from some really pretty paper i picked up at one of my favorite overpriced stores, Scout. i loved the vine pattern and the shade of green and the little birds flying throughout, so i bought it. then i cut it up and modge-podged it to the painting. i think it's darling. and so does jj. so, win.

the most fun ever had getting a splinter, or, why i should buy some dancing shoes

snow ball: 1. (n) a compact, round article of frozen precipitation formed into a ball, generally used as wintry weapons against friends and foes alike. 2. (n) A winter party at which attendees wear fine clothes and dance in lines, circles, squares, and randomized order. see also: hoedown.

last friday night, i attended my first ever Snow Ball, and it was a blast. everyone dressed up in their best outfits and we all showed up to dance the night away. there was contra-dancing, which can only be described to outsiders as "pride and prejudice meets a hoedown," and there that contemporary line dancing--think the electric slide, the cha-cha- slide, and the cupid shuffle, and there was plenty of embarrassing free style dancing, conceived for the sole purpose of showing everyone present exactly how bad one is at dancing. with the exception of a few Fred Astaires and Paula Abduls (yeah, I went there) most of us were pretty bad at dancing. but that's where the real fun began!

however, i have made a mental not to purchase shoes that actually fit, since the ones I wore kept falling off my feet while dancing. which led to my kicking the shoes into a corner, which led to a splinter in the middle of the electric slide, which put my shoes back on my feet just in time to belt out Don't Stop Believin' and make a further fool of myself. all in good fun, my friends. all in good fun.

i can't wait till next year!

sassacraft #2

i love to paint. i'm not sure i'm very good at it, but i do really like to do it. these are somethings i've painted. for the two vertical canvases, the heart for Africa and the feet, i used a template and my own feet, respectively. for the world, i free-handed the continents while studying a map, and guesstimated the allowance for the curvature of the earth. The birds i penciled in and filled in, but the branches were all free hand, which is probably why they are so numerous. I paint with acrylics, typically washing the background and painting over it with undiluted paints, but i have begun experimenting with dilutants and other mediums.

sassacraft #1

i believe that a name is the first gift you should give your child. rewind. life is the first gift you should give your child. then, an appropriate, strong name should follow. you will never find me thoughtlessly naming my son Moonraker or Astronaut, even if my dream for him is to walk among the stars. names should be spellable, readable, and above all, identifiable.

which is why, when my dear friends decided to name their first son Josiah, i stood behind their decision. Josiah is a strong name, meaning "God Will Save." It is the name of the young king in the Bible who led an Old Testament revival of God's people when he read the scrolls before them and tore down the altars and asherah polls and high places. He was merely a child, but God used him to save His people.

To show my approval of the name (not to say my approval is what mattered) and to show my love for these friends, I made them this--

boyish and attractive at once, i think that a name banner is the perfect way to customize a nursery for your little one!

since the parents chose airplanes to decorate their son's room, i painted a light blue sky and used cotton swabs and ivory paint to make big, puffy clouds in the sky. then, i applied the stamp that the baby's mama picked out herself. to hang the letters from a painted dowel, i hot glued ribbon to the backs and affixed a red button to add an extra spot of color. I attached finials to the ends of the dowels and voila! a personal name banner for a beloved baby boy!

hope you enjoy!

my cat is bulimic

sad story, i know. but i have decided that this is an appropriate diagnosis for my beloved, yet troubled cat.

she's pretty, ain't she? well, all that luxuriously soft fur hides a menacing problem. see, my cat routinely gorges herself on what i can only believe is tasteless, undesirable dry cat food. following this, she finds an extremely inconvenient place where she promptly gags, wretches, and expels her just-consumed meal. places such as here,

or here, or here...
and, since she's my cat, i always have the responsibility of cleaning it up. if i could just get her to understand that she's not fat--she's furry...