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debby's dare
 this post is for my new pals over at dare to dream - we had fun chatting online tonight and we all brought in the new year together...well, for the east coast anyway.

above is a board book i did this past summer, using my favorite quote by picasso, "art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." this quote really sums up my whole 2009!

so i offered up this dare to everyone who was on the new year's eve chat: use your favorite quote or excerpt from a poem in a scrapbook layout, a card, an atc, or any other type of art or craft. post a pic of your piece on your own page at dare to dream by midnight 1/3/10, then leave a comment here to let me know it's posted.

i will draw a winner at random from all entries posted. the prize is a blank canvas book and a jar of liquitex acrylic paint!

i hope whatever quote you choose inspires you for the new year!

thanks so much to my friend debby lewis, who has quite a fun crafty network going on over there - check it out! 
mulberry & lutradur
 this is a blank board shadow box that i collaged and painted, then stashed xmas goodies inside for my mother.

first i spritzed it inside and out with a combination of burgundy and gold spraywash paints. once it was dry, i collaged the lid with 3 colors of torn mulberry tissue and painted strips of lutradur, sealed with matte gel medium. i love how the mulberry tissue colors just melt and blend together with the medium. i added a domino i painted with alcohol inks to the lid as an embellishment, and lined the sides with a black paint marker. inside i added bits of mandala transfers. 
don't fence me in
 i started this little 13"x20" quilt on a tuesday night while hanging out with my "twisted thimble" quilting group. i pulled some fabric scraps from our community swap pile and just started snipping out flowers and shapes as we chatted. i eventually saw a fenceline with flowers and shrubs emerge from the fabric pieces.

i pinned it all down the way i liked on some polka dot fabric, brought it home, and there it sat for a few months. then a few weeks ago i machine-stitched all the pieces in place, like raw-edge appliqué. finally today i finished it - yay!

i used a piece of upholstery fabric on the back, and flipped the nicely fringed selvage edge over to bind the top edge. i trimmed the other edge of the backer fabric with my wavy-edged rotary cutter and flipped it to the front to bind the bottom edge. i stayed loose with the machine quilting...the streaks and squares on the top remind me of farmhouses and grasses in the distance. the freeform wavy lines at the bottom look like the ground beneath my little fence. i opted not to bind the sides...i like how leaving it "frameless" makes the fenceline seem like it might keep on going. i just did a zigzag stitch along the sides. plus i'm all about making shortcuts look like intentional design! 
time for a new look
 just freshening up the blog a bit for the new year.

here is my very shy sock bunny that i made in craft camp at work. he is shy because from the front, he looks like a penguin. somehow i managed to morph two different species together with this argyle sock!

this project comes from a super cute new book coming out from c&t in the spring - socks appeal.
 
one world, one heart
 it's that time again....the 4th annual "one world, one heart" blog tour starts on january 25!

i participated with over 900 other bloggers last year...this tour is a terrific way to meet other bloggers from around the world, find new inspiration for just about any creative endeavor you can think of, and maybe even win a prize!

click here to find out how you can participate as a blogger and/or enjoy the tour as a blog reader. now to think about what my give-away will be... 
running amuck with canvas books
 An attempt at graffiti art...includes spray wash, acrylic, paint marker, and black sand texture gel medium. Spray wash and stamping. Spray wash, stenciling and stamping, with a veined gold leaf accent. Acrylic inks and paints, and stamping. Spray wash and acrylic paint, then accented with a gold leafing pen. 
a few more canvas books
 i think what i like best about painting on blank canvas books is the joy of experimenting. it's a great surface to try lots of different techniques and mediums. sometimes i gesso it first, but usually i paint on the raw canvas.

for this cover above, i used spray washes in browns and golds, then traced a mask of the hinges and keyhole with a micron pen. after it was dry, i slathered on some gloss gel medium and pressed a texture into it with a large rubber stamp. this one is colored with permapaque markers. i combined a circle template set with a square template set and was happy with how they overlapped. I drew the apple and the letters with permapaque markers, and the banana with copic markers. then i painted pouring medium on top to give the fruit a nice hard gloss. canvas books are great for making soft children's books! i used a copper spray wash for this background, with paper flowers masked out. my green chalk ink stamp pad was the perfect shape to easily press leaves, then i colored the flower centers with oil pastels. i just finished these covers for a set of painted 6" square blank board books to give to C&T sales reps to show art supply stores. i mixed acrylic paint with glazing medium for a glossy textured base coat, then layered on more paint, metallic spray ink and texture mediums.

it was a great testament to the stability of the board book surface, and it was really fun to experiment with varying levels of opacity versus transparency, shine versus texture. i also loved the effects i got by applying paint with my fingers, and by thinning the paint with water to create drips. 
more art journal ideas
 for both these canvas book covers, i gesso'ed them first, then used inktense watercolor pencils to draw my circles and shade them with a wet brush. on "rolling along," i added lines with a glue pen and silver embossing powder. on "awareness," i added white and tan embossing powder, plus a little accent of crackle medium on each circle. i wrote my words with paint markers.

these will go to c&t's sales rep group that calls on art supply stores around the country, to use as models to help sell the canvas books.

(but you can also buy canvas books from me directly for 25% off retail!)