Inspirations from Mother Earth

pink lame flower close up of beaded center

I have finished most of the cuffs I started last week for the Aveda Eco Fashion Show and Art Walk 

that I will be vending at this Sunday (tomorrow) from 3:00 to 5:00pm. 

 For locals the school is on Tropicana and Eastern in the strip mall on the NE corner.  

Close up of the Button

The Art Institute Students will be displaying art and 

the fashion design students will have created the items in the Fashion Show.  

I am very excited to see what all these young artists have come up with.  

So here are some more pictures of my finished Cuffs.

The entire cuff.

Closure  and beading details

Inspirations from Mother Nature, machine free-motion stitched, 

handmade organza 

and lame flowers

  singed with a tea candle, beaded and embellished with ribbons, pearls, frayed silk......

I also made three little flower pins.

Snake Woman Cuff

My polymer clay face beads were put to good use on a few of them.

This one is my favorite- The Apple Blossom Goddess

Back to work- I have to gather and organize all my inventory for tomorrow. 

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Spring, Glorious Spring!!

I had a fabulously productive week inspite of two meetings I had to attend 

and some home service repairs going on, 

a sample beaded flower and two crochet patterns I needed to write up  chart and deliver, 

a belated birthday lunch with Barb and Teresa and 

I can't remember what else. 

Monday night was the Las Vegas Polymer Clay Guild meeting 

 I shared my knowledge and information about selling on Etsy with the group. 

 We meet at a private school in the art teacher's classroom. 

She had a Mac (oh happy me!!) with the big screen in the room 

so everyone could see what I pulled up on the desktop.  

I quit teaching in the public schools 7 years ago

so I missed the boat on this fabulous technology that is available today for teachers. 

 Anyhow I think it went well, 

 perhaps more people in the guild will start up shops and sell their wonderful items online.

We also have a demo each month.

Here is one of the little boxes we learned how to make.

I only had a dollar and still won one in the raffle.  

My lucky streak is still going. 

Wednesday was our first "Art Quilt ect.."meeting at one of our local libraries 

that just happens to be only 10 mins from my house.  

With the escalating price of gas this is going to be wonderful for me and my mustang. 

We have a monthly challenge.

 I am behind one month but working furiously to complete them all.

 Be sure to check my new post on the Fiber Art page. (click on that word at the top of this post) Spring is here and the birds are singing. 

I have one little birdy who has a new home. 

Thursday while waiting for the air conditioning company to come 

and prep our unit for the summer 

I pulled out my silk paints, my metallic guttas, seta fabric paints, 

the wonderful adjustable stretching frame I bought from Dharma 2 years ago 

 and some great items to practice on. Here's what happened- 

First I set up outside in the back yard with the seta colors and some macrame purses 

my friend Margaret from " Art quilts ect" gave me 

because in her words "I knew you would do something fabulous with them."

They were part of the stash of former member who passed away.

She had donated her things to people in our group.  

I hope she is up there smiling down at me because I made them so colorful. 

When it got too windy and cold to be outside I moved in to the dining room table and set up the silk supplies.  

Here is my first scarf in awhile.  

First I created the flowers and leaves with antique gold gutta.

After it is all dry

this is my favorite part!!! 

 you fill in with the silk paints and play with water spots ect which adds texture. 

Oh the unusual colors you can create.  

I used only 4 colors of silk paint: magenta, yellow, citrus and  turquoise

to create all these different colors.  

So Fun!!!

Next - the tricky part- heat setting and steam setting the paints. 

Happy Weekend!!

PS for all the Bead Soup People - I am still hopping- I WILL GET TO YOU! 

Spring Fever Cuff Series

The scent of plum trees blooming,
pink petal rain on the bright green grass,
birds singing joyfully as the temperature rises,
warm sunshine on my face.
Spring is here!! 

Yesterday I spent quality time with My Muse. 

She takes me to really special places. 

 I have been sewing, inspired by our local quilt show.

 I am still determined to combine all my passions and make wearable art.  

So here goes.  

My new quilted cuff series in progress. 

There are four more!! 

I started with my husband's old jeans - I save them all in a plastic tub.  

I clipped, tore and frayed one leg into 3" X 8" pieces. 

Thinking I would make a comfortable quilted lining,

I practiced my free-motion skills on batiks and fun colorful fabrics lined with cotton batting.

 I liked the quilted fabric so much the lining became the new front side. 

Quilted Fabric "New" front side painted

After quilting and sewing these together they went downstairs 

to my dining room table for some paint applications.  

Using a brush, a brayer and my favorite Lumiere paints this is what happened.   

Denim back painted with brayer highlights the quilting stitches-
maybe they should be reversable?

Somewhere last week I stumbled upon a tutorial on making fabric flower petals.
I couldn't wait any longer to try that out.  

When suffering from Spring Spring fever 
(not really suffering just enjoying great weather- it was 80 degrees here yesterday!!)
One has oodles of colorful flowers on the brain. 

My husband actually remained calm last night 
while I played with the fire in the house using a tea candle.  
After melting, puckering and hand stitching with a sprinkle of beads 

this is what you get. 

Cheap Walmart red dazzly faux silk

Specialty Organza

I love them!! Aren't they gorgeous? 
Fortunately over the years I have collected tons 
of faux silk and organza fabrics I can make these with.  
I am so glad I did! 

The next step after they are all beaded and flowered up
is to make polymer clay buttons 
and braided elastic cord loops for closures.

The cuffs are almost ready for their journey.

They will first travel to 

The Aveda Institute Art Walk and Fashion Show 
on Sunday, March 27th from 3-5pm (for locals) where I will have a booth.

Then on to my Etsy shop in April if there are any left. 

Don't worry- I don't think I will get tired of making these for a long time.

Each one comes out so totally unique. 


While I have your attention I am also working on two challenges 
from my ArtQuilt Circle using the same technique.
Free motion quilting that is painted.

"Free motion Wood grain"

Here are the parts for the  "Shelter" Challenge. Can you guess what this will be?

additional parts

and
Here is the door for my "Favorite Place" Challenge in progress

Yes I have to hide all those threads between the fabrics, this is two sided; this side is painted with Shiva Oil Sticks using make up applicators and a stencil brush to blend the other side acrylic paints.

Did I make you want to sew, bead, burn fabric (carefully)? ... I hope so! 
I also hope your weekend is fabulous- 
I am off to go outside and enjoy the great spring weather here!! 

And the Winner of the Art Deco Set is..................

I apologize for being a few hours late posting my winner:

DEE from Runako Designs!!!
I got home too late last night from a celebration 
for the featured quilter in our local Quilt Show.  
Deb is a very good friend, 
the leader of our art quilt circle and 
a very talented art quilt artist. 
We were celebrating her celebrity this year!! 
(for more about that scroll down)

HERE IS THE GIVEAWAY PRIZE!! 

This was my second creation in the Recent Bead Soup Party 

made from my partner Angela's wonderful ingredients. 

The Bead Soup Parties 

The Bead Soup Parties are sponsored by Lori at Pretty Things. 

She will be hosting this next party in August so be sure to check back 

or 

perhaps you would like to join the fun!! 

To choose a winner 

I entered 1- 89 into a random number generator online. 

It spit out 45- so I counted down my comments list. 

Comment #45 was Dee from Runako Designs

89 comments are the most comments I have ever had on my blog 

so the old fashion strips of paper was a little too much to do. 

Unfortunately I did not have enough time yesterday either 

to find a widget that I could put on my blog.

So you will have to just trust me. 

ANYHOO- Dee please send me your shipping info and 

I will mail off your new Art Deco Set! 

About the Quilt Show....

Yes, I live in the desert in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I know you all think that means I live on the strip near Caesar's Palace

and gamble like a crazy woman, party all the time and smoke cigarettes.

None of that is true. There is a wonderful community of artistic people here. We live in neighborhoods all over town and somehow find each other and share our passions just like 

some little old town in East Timbuktoo.

This is a place I never dreamed I would end up though.  

I do enjoy the shows-(We saw the BeeGees Tribute for my birthday!)

Our local quilt show is one of our two  local guild's annual events:

The Desert Quilter's of Nevada Quilt Show. 

(Click the Purple above to see one of Deb's beautiful leaf print quilts on the site)

I entered only one quilt this year

"Dada Tatu Ya Ahadi"

swahili for 

"The Three Sisters Promise".

This is an art quilt that started with a little game 

where a group of us filled a little dish with 

suggestions, techniques... on little slips of paper.

We then passed the dish and chose one at a time.  

Each of us started our quilt designs based on these prompts.  

Mine started with a piece of cloth I had tie-dyed with coffee grounds.(left hand side) 

The first prompt suggested I free motion stitch on a fabric of my choice

so those fun white outines around the white star bursts evolved. 

At some point I ended up adding three polymer clay faces 

made by my friend Mary and 

the Three Sisters were born.  

(they are a little inspired by Vegas Show Girls*!)

I am still trying to find the African Folktale - there is one with that title. 

All I know is they are happy, dancing for joy and mean a lot to each other. 

(my muse tells me all this)

I started this over 2 years ago and finished it after 

one of my best customers traded some bark cloth from Africa 

(the bodies of the three sisters) 

for some jewelry. 

It always amazes me how things like that happen,

My muse was just waiting on that barkcloth I am sure 

because it is the perfect color and texture and fiber for the arms and torsos. 

AND

It's from Africa-- DUH!! 

She whispered in my ear:"Tear it and stitch it down with invisible thread." 

Well, yesterday as I walked around the show wide=00=eyed and totally inspired 

I found to my surprise I won a first place ribbon in my category!! 

@^%$#&*!! 

(translation computer for a squeal of joy!)

For Bead enthusiasts, part of the fun I had on this quilt 

was embossing some copper with the words in the title and adding a patina. 

I also had to add hair adornments; 

polymer clay pieces (white bone bead and earrings)

 and beading (tube beaded hair and the collar on sister #1) 

All the beading was done by me except the trim on the top and bottom. 

I love using burlap as a background too it has great texture. 

There is no backing fabric just black batting on the back so I painted it 

with Jacquard Lumieres so the stitching would be visible on the back side.  

Wish I had a picture of that but I don't- maybe later. 

Unfortunately I have to go catch up on all the house and yard work 

I haven't done this past few weeks due to so many deadlines.

But you can all:

Have a wonderful weekend!  

PS I have not finished the Bead Soup Party Hop yet. 

I will get to you all and I promised myself to take my time 

look at other posts on your blogs and really see what you all do!!

 I am having a blast, meeting wonderful fellow beadaholics 

and making new friends. 

 I will comment on each and every Soup Entry!  

Thanks again Lori for this fantastic opportunity- 

You are the Bestest of the Best!! 

The next post down has both of my bead soup entries. 

My February ABS Challenge Piece

I have been following the Art Bead Scene Blog for over a year now and decided that this year I would do my best to enter each monthly challenge.  So here is February: John Singer Sargent's beautiful painting "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" was not difficult to be inspired by.  I love all those colors and just let my mind take me on a little creative journey which ended up becoming this beautiful bib necklace. 

Thanks to Heather Powers of Humblebeads and all her great advice 

I was able to create this collage on Picnik. They have free aps and it is very easy and fun to use.  

As you can see my colors are a slightly brighter hue but none-the-less in the neighborhood.  

The bib background is quilted batik fabric 

with two layers of medium weight stabilizer and wool batting

necessary to support my handmade, delicate polymer clay White Stargazer Lily art bead.  

It was a left over from a polymer clay wedding purse custom order. 

I had fun free-motion stitching leaf shapes with metallic thread. 

I then beaded it with all those beautiful glass and lucite flower beads, 

faceted glass and ceramic leaf beads. 

I found some really wonderful teardrop shaped miyuki glass seed beads 

which look like drops of clear water (dew) and sprinkled them about. 

 The lavender fringe represents the little girls lovely dresses 

which seem to be white but have a lavender cast 

due to the artists amazing sense of color and lighting. 

In the necklace portion I used white shell chips and peach colored coral pieces 

to imitate the glowing lanterns in the painting, more flower and leaf beads for continuity 

I love everything about this painting and really enjoyed making this piece. 

Come back Saturday for the Bead Soup Party!!! 

The Ingredients for some really delicious soup have arrived!!

Good Morning to my fellow beaders!! 

Angela's bead soup ingredients are here!!

 I missed one little tissue wrapped item when I opened the package the other day. 

It was the best surprise ever when I began my photo shoot this morning. 

I unwrapped this amazing wooden bird!! 

Now my Muse is talking to me because she wants the bird to be the center of attention.  

I also love the brass leaf bead caps, that beautiful gold and red ribbon and the chandelier glass.  

I am thinking I have enough to make several items here.  

Hope to get started today because I have a busy week and it will fly by. (Pun Intended) 

I should have taken pictures of the package all wrapped up but I couldn't wait.

There was this little text covered flower and leaf on the outside I hope to incorporate in the design too.  

See what I mean about the bird- she wants all the attention too! LOL

She looks quite plump. 

I'm  thinking she is looking to gather up things to build a nest so she can lay her eggs.

After all spring is right around the corner. 

Almost forgot to show you the gold clasp and this cool little brass medalion piece.  

So many little inspirational pieces are tucked into this stash. 

Come back Saturday, Feb 26th to see the first of the Bead Soup Reveals 

and Blog Hop to your heart's content!! 

Tweet, tweet!! 

PS I have opened a second ETSY SHOP for my fiber art items.  

Thanks to Heather Powers at Humble Beads I was able to quickly create new banners with Picnik.

You can now shop Aquariart for fiber art, knit, crochet, art quilts...

and Heatherp22 for Polymer Clay items and Jewelry. 

Please bear with me while I move all the fiber items- this takes a long time. 

If you had a favorite fiber item please go to Aquariart and favortie it again 

as I lose all my stats in this transfer. 

I am determined to get organized (an extreme challenge for me) this year.

Thanks for stopping by!!  

Heather