Robin's Leaf!

I am modifying this post in that I'm taking the photo of Robin's leaf off. I want to apologize that I didn't even think about asking Robin before hand about posting her beautiful leaf, and I have found out, now, that she would rather not have her artwork on the Internet. I know that she will forgive me, and I hope you all will, too.
Thought I should post a photo of Robin's Leaf, so you could see how the 'professionals' do it! Isn't it beautiful? Robin gifted this gorgeous leaf to me, and it was my inspiration and motivation for our current Leaf Project. Thanks, Robin! I love it!

Leaf cutting!

This was such a fun project. I'm excited to see Mary's photos, which she took of all our leaves. I'm putting mine on here, so that my sis, Robin, can see that I actually made two leaves. So fun!(Thanks for giving me your leaf Robin!!! It encouraged me to give it a go myself!) The bottom leaf (the smaller one) was my first one, and I'm wondering if you can tell that I spelled LOVE on it. I have to admit that I was dreaming about this project for a week before we sat down to start. I drew up a little plan and was going to spell LOVE in the negative space, but in real life carving ...it was TO HARD, so hence the example here. :-) The larger leaf on the top was my second attempt. I like it! I tried a curlie que and that was a real challenge. I'm not sure if you can tell, but because the leaf was so large and curvy, when flattened, it wrinkled onto itself, smashing some of the carving. The stars up above, and the one on the bottom right are made with a paper punch. The 6 little squares on the bottom left were cut out with a punch, and then 'holes' were turned over and glued onto the front (that's the light green squares.) Cool, huh? This was such a fun project. I hope to encourage Robin to make many more of these and either sell them or gift them to people, 'cause I think they are fantastic! Wouldn't you LOVE to get one?

Red Tuesday At Mary's Place...

Here I (April) am again modifying this post. Please forgive me but I'm removing Robin's leaf photo because I did not get her permission to post it here. She would rather not have her artwork displayed on the 'net.' So sorry, Robin!

Today we did leaf cutting as inspired by April's sister, Robin. She is a wonderful artist and how she ever thought of cutting with leaves...who knows...

Looking below, you will see our efforts in leaf cutting. I know there must be a better description of this, but I am drawing a blank...

From left to right top row: Karen's, Jan's, April's, Mary's. From left to right second row: Mary's, Jan's, Pinky's, and Karen's. I think we all really enjoyed this project. April really did a super job! She was so precise and hers looked so delicate.

The four ATCs pictured are Pinky's. She wanted us all to chose one to send to a friend of Jan's that wanted to trade ATCs. I think we all picked a different one and finally she just shut her eyes, we moved them all around, and she picked the one with the feather that was oriental looking. She did a wonderful job on all of them.

The last pic is of our cigar boxes. Mary challenged the group to each pick a box and the idea is to transform the box in a month...in any way...fabric, paper, used newspaper, etc. You name it, you can use it. We all thought this sounded like fun!

We decided to each do calendars like we did last year. We used a sketch book and transformed it into a calendar by adding lines and dates. We passed them to each other each week and when we were done, each of us had a wonderful calendar that our friends had done their art work in. I just love the one I received last year...a real gift of love.

Half the group

Tuesday the 21st found us at my studio (Jan) and Karen, April and I had to try to enjoy ourselves even though Mary, Pinky and Joan were not able to make it.  We missed you girls!  April was inspired by my beaded hearts to try her hand at one.  Actually two but I only managed to take a picture of one, seen above.  It is gorgeous!  She really enjoyed going through her bead, button and charm stash for this lovely combination of her favorite colors.  Nice Picot edging, April!

I gave Karen a couple of Reptile magazines and she really went to work, cutting and arranging and creating these cards.   Nice work Karen!  She can make the coolest cards out of anything and she has a lot of fun doing it.

Here are April and Karen, busy at work in my cluttered up studio.  It is creative clutter!  In the background to the right you can see the quilt blocks I was arranging on my design wall for the queen size quilt I am working on.

I also worked on these paper clay tags. I will use them in cards and on my art works.  I used the tutorial from Marie's blog. You can find it here: Art from my Heart.  Marie uses Cernit polymer clay.  I'm sure hers are more durable than mine.   
We are planning a leaf cutting workshop next week at Mary's.What is a leaf cutting workshop you ask?  Stay tuned next week for the results.

St. Mary's Quilt show

April, Jan, Joan, Bonnie, (aka Peninsula Patti, Pinky) and Mary all made it to the 40th annual St. Mary's Catholic Church Quilt show and sale.  Unfortunately Karen wasn't able to make it. 

Here are Mary and Pinky perusing the quilts.  All of these are for sale and range in price from $50 to $3000. They are all beautiful.  If ever you are in the market for a quilt, this is a great place to purchase one.  Come early for best selection.  The batik quilt below was a lovely lap quilt for only $50.  I almost bought it myself.

This next one was a beautiful  example of using a bird print to great effect.

 

Here are two of the ladies who help put this show on.  Notice the old fashioned raffle coupon basket nearby.   Maybe I will win the quilt some day. 

This was a gorgeous hand stitched display quilt.   Of course I had to get a picture of it.
They also serve a delicious lunch so we all partook of that.  It was another fun outing for our group.  We did miss Karen though, hopefully she will be able to come next year.

A milestone has been reached in our group blog,  This is our 200th post!  Yippeee!!

A Birthday Present for Us????? Thanks Jan!

This remarkable birthday girl made us each a wonderful beaded brooch for HER birthday!!! I am enclosing pics. Double click to see the detail. These are fantastic! The Purple with dragon fly is, of course, for April. The Yellow with llama is for Joan. The Pink with shell is for Pinky. The Blue with various cowboy embellishment is for Karen. The red with sunshine is for Mary.

Each is a pin and will be treasured by all of us.

THANK YOU, JAN!!!! We love you.

Happy Birthday Jan! A Little Late...:>((

Here we are posting some pics from Jan's birthday party on Tues. at April's house. April made a wonderful blackberry cobbler for us to celebrate with...yum!

Tuesday At Jan's...Cozy

Mary said: Jan had her wood stove going and it was so cozy for S & B. Both April and Joan were missing, but looking forward to seeing them soon. April has returned from Twin Falls, Idaho to help her daughter, Amber get settled in to her new position as kindergarten teacher.

Jan, Pinky, Karen, and I worked on various projects and solved more of the problems of the world as we worked.

You know?...I just wouldn't trade this day for anything. It is just part of my life now. I only wish all other women had a group like this to attend. It is not only creating, but friendship at it's best. We all have had sorrows to share, happiness to share, losses to share, changes to share, etc. We receive so much encouragement from each other. Who could ask for more?

I just wanted to include this pic of the bench that Kit has just finished for our daughter in law, Sandy. He tore apart an old metal bed frame and revamped it into a bench with wooden slats for the seat. Both he and his brother Marc worked on it. Kit just finished putting the boards on yesterday. He coated them with a protective finish.

Karen's Work For The Day...

Karen doesn't fool around on Tuesdays! As you can see, she was busy making cards and ATCs. I love the sunshine one...although I admit I am partial to sunshines :>)) Karen can make card making look so easy and she uses everything she can find to produce beautiful cards. She recycles so many things to include in her work. I love to see what she will do next.

In this picture, she is picking out collars for her two buddies.

Pinky's New Project...

This is Pinky's newest beading project. She just started it today. It looks a little like Louie, doesn't it? She has just started the beading around the edges at this time and is not sure yet just how much beading she will be doing on it. You can tell she has a thing for cats :>)) It will be fun to see what she adds this next week. She was using seed beads for the edging around the cat. The neat thing about a beading project is that it is sooo portable and easy to bring.

Jan's Tuesday Projects....

Jan was showing us all the beautiful dog collars she makes. They are soooo cooooool! She sells them at the local Vet's office in Astoria. She takes wonderful fabric and makes dog collars that match a dog's personality. Of course, the owner chooses the collar, so that might have something to do with it :>)) Both Pinky and Karen ended up buying some. They couldn't resist...

Double click on the heart brooch that Jan made. Isn't it beautiful? She can take the tiniest object and start beading around it and it becomes a beautiful masterpiece. She is an inspiration to all of us.

Mary's Little Book and Cards...

Mary said: I finally finished my little book and will be sending it to my friend, Karen, in Mosier, Oregon. Each of the little pockets of the book contain a tag or inchie or? There are many surprises in the pages. I tied some colorful fibers to tiny shells and beads for the finishing touch.

When I finished with the book, I worked on two cards, so it was a pretty productive time.