Knitting!

So my very first knitting project ever was in college. It started as a joke at our sorority's rock-a-thon, a fund raiser for one of our philanthropies. What did I decide to start with? An afghan. Yup. Hardest project ever - and I didn't do the greatest job with it...oh, I finished, that's not it. It somehow turned out to be around (I kid you not) 12 feet long. I tend to double it up on the bed; it is certainly cozy! After that project, I turned to scarves. I have them in almost every color now. Here is an image I created using Paint a few years ago - I believe I saw greeting cards that had a similar picture - probably invitations to a knitting night. I had actually taken this image, changed the background color and glass colors and printed out a set of four to place in the picture holders on the front of my knitting bag. It was very Warhol-like.

Playin' with Paint

The computer program, that is. Here are a couple more items I've created using Paint on my laptop. This could have been so much quicker if I'd actually used my mouse rather than the touch pad, but it was fun nonetheless.

Altered Book

This was one of the very first altered books I created; this particular one is based on all of the memories I have of my family's annual vacations to a fishing resort. I saw in a book that you could not only cut niches into the book, but also cut drawers into the side. The two drawers are crafted out of small jewelry boxes and stay in place with Velcro attached to the back.

Circles, Circles

These are two paintings that I made for a narrow wall in our dining room. I was flipping through a magazine when I spied a series of three of these paintings in the background of a room. The third one, which I did not paint, looked closer to a heart shape so I decided to skip it. What is interesting is that it took some work to make the lines look "wobbly" instead of smooth.

What is Bottled Up?

This was an idea for an art journal from the book, Art Journals and Creative Healing by Sharon Soneff. I loved how you could take a beverage carrier with the empty bottles and use the vessels as a container for journal entries. In this case, each of the bottles specify something that you keep "bottled up" inside, such as anxiety, unforgiveness, depression, and frustration. You can then journal on a note, roll it up, and place it inside the corresponding bottle. The book suggested using a four pack of coffee drinks; these bottles worked just as well - but the necks are slimmer...making it difficult to retrieve any notes that may be placed inside.

The Story of Us Booklet

I found this booklet idea in a scrapbooking magazine years ago...

You make little fold-out sections that detail your favorites - everything from random foods, to things you love about the other person, to three things you would take with you if you were stranded on a desert island. One of the greatest things about it is that the questions are answered in each other's own handwriting.

I not only had pictures from our wedding, but also school pictures of each of us from our years of teaching! It is funny how even after a few years of making this, the answers to some of the questions have changed.

Prayer Board

So I've been reading this book, Faith Books and Spiritual Journaling: Expressions of Faith through Art by Sharon Soneff. I have become totally inspired by some of the projects! One is a canvas prayer board, which I decided to try out. The idea is that you take a canvas and post your prayer requests onto it (in this case, I made tags and fastened them to a canvas with corsage pins). Sewing pattern tissue paper completes the background for the prayer tags.