Pincushion Doll to #84, Ria Nirwana! Congratulations, Ria!

Arty doll to #111, Alice Stropel. Congratulations, Alice!

Ladies, please send me an email with your address so I can get these off to you!

Thanks to everyone for visiting. I hope you’ll visit again soon!

Once again, I am participating in the annual One World One Heart event. This is an international blog event that started back in 2007. It’s HUGE!

For some background on the event, I’m posting exactly what Lisa, the fabulous organizer of the event has to say:

WHAT IS ONE WORLD ONE HEART?

I created this event in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. 2007 had roughly 85-90 participants and many connections were made because of it……friendships that are still going strong.
We had a strong showing the first year for sure, and then in 2008 we had just about tripled that number. In 2009 there were 911 participants, to say I was amazed is an understatement. 28 countries were represented in the 2009 event as well.
This is more than wanting to win something…….that is only the means…….in the end it’s about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them….Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the blogging community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together. This is an INTERNATIONAL event that has and had participants from the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England,Wales, Slovenia and more. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs……it’s a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging. What more could I ask for, my little idea has surpassed my wildest dreams of what it could become.

WHAT IS FRAN GIVING AWAY THIS YEAR?

Now on to the good stuff: What am I going to give away this year? This year, there will be two gifts available. Both are art dolls I made.

Doll pin-cushion

The first: For an artists’ holiday exchange in 2008, I made these funky doll-pin cushions. They were well-received by the recipients and we all use ours all the time. So, when I was talking with my friend Angie about what I should give away, I remembered that I had one of the doll-pin-cushions that I hadn’t gifted to anyone! Well, that made my decision easy!

I’m giving away this lovely doll pin cushion. She is hand-made by me. The face is a face I painted myself and then scanned and printed onto fabric. I added the hair, beads, embroidery, and buttons by hand. She was truly a labor of love. I’ve enjoyed having her here in the studio, but she’s ready for a new home. Perhaps it will be your home!

Funky Doll

The second is another doll I made. Like the other, she is hand-made by me. I made a few of these and intended to sell them, but they remain here in the studio. So, this one is up for you to win! Like the funky doll pincushion, she is hand-made by me. The face is another face I painted and printed onto fabric. I also drew the main image in the center and printed it on fabric. Some people have told me it looks like a rubber stamped image, but it’s not! I drew this when Dave and I went on our first trip overseas. It’s the ironwork from our first hotel in Paris, France. After printing the image on fabric, I added color to the fabric. The additional fabric on this doll’s front is from Vintage Kimono Fabric. She is sewn my machine with some quilting, but the beading is all added by hand.  She, too, is ready for a new home!

THE FINE PRINT:

To enter the drawing, please post a comment on THIS POST on my blog (Facebook comments will not be accepted for entry). Your email is required, but will NOT be published! It will only come to me – I need a way to reach you if you win! I will accept comments until noon Eastern time on February 15, 2010. At that point, I will add up the comments and use a Random Number Generator to choose the winner. The winner will be posted by 5 pm Mountain Time on February 15, 2010.

For the past two years that I’ve participated, I’ve made several new friends online. We correspond regularly. I look forward to “meeting” you and to becoming a part of your world! I’ll be stopping by all the websites of those who stop by mine so we can all get to know each other! Take some time to look at the main OWOH site to participate and to meet some other bloggers who are participating.

heART swap doodle. others can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/artsyinaz/

Thank you to those of you who have sent me emails of hope that there was not a break in the wrist. Luckily, there was no break of bones, but two ligaments were torn. I’m using a wrist splint and will be for the next 3 weeks, when I get to have x-rays and follow-up again. I can use my fingers, which is a relief, especially for typing! However, writing and drawing are difficult when you can’t move your wrist. Who knew?

Before I hurt my hand, I did some doodle drawings for a swap I’m in. I rarely do swaps, but this was one that intrigued me. Mother Henna is hosting it, and her work is so unique that I couldn’t resist. I’m so glad I finished the pieces early, or I would be in a world of hurt right now! Each piece is hand-doodled and numbered. All in pen and ink. I didn’t want to add color for this one, because I liked the graphic nature of it.

Today I am going to try to find something arty to do that doesn’t require the wrist. Perhaps some work on the sewing machine?

Since I’ve been back, I’ve been working hard on some gifts I’m making this year. The first, which is finished, I completed yesterday. It’s a cellphone pouch and a bookmark. Both are quilted and collaged with vintage kimono fabric. My aunt is an avid reader and I hope she enjoys these gifts. Check out the flickr set for closer looks at the individual pieces.

I’ve also been making more totes. I want to thank the fabulous nurses and staff at the infusion center where I have my treatments each month. They have been so fabulous to me and to all of their patients. Last year I brought them a plate of special bakery treats. But this year, I wanted to do something more personal. So I’m working on totes for each of them. Last night, while talking with my husband about them, he asked me to do one for another member of his team who we’d initially wanted to give a cell phone pouch to. However, he saw these and wants me to do a tote. So, I’m in sewing land! Not a bad place to be! I’ll share as I finish them.

Now, back to my sewing machine!

This journal is for my friend, Tracey. It’s the “Bad Girls Calendar”, so I really focused on images of women. But before I did that, I collaged text-focused scrapbook paper and added some ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cats Eyes to intensify the color. I then added at least one photo of a woman.From there, I doodled, journaled, and highlighted with Sakura Gelly Roll, Glaze and Souffle pens. I really had fun and just went a bit wild with some of the doodling.

This is the type of journaling I enjoy when I need to just feel creative but am not really ready to do some drawing or painting. For the past week especially, it was a good way for me to deal with both physical and emotional stuff that was going on.In particular, I focused on fun images and strong images of women.Those were the images I was most attracted to. And I’m sure it’s no coincidence that these are the images, traits, and feelings I needed to be reminded of.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and that they inspire you to do some of this sort of freeform collage and intuitive collage work in your own journal. It can be very healing! ]]> http://www.fransaperstein.com/2007/09/20/art-journaling-update/feed/ 8 http://www.fransaperstein.com/2007/08/04/art-as-promised/ http://www.fransaperstein.com/2007/08/04/art-as-promised/#comments Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:10:53 +0000 Fran http://www.artsyfran.com/2007/08/04/art-as-promised/ This week, while I was recovering, I regrouped much faster than I anticipated. This was good news, because this weekend Art Unraveled starts. And Tracey and Andrea are all coming into town to play! We are all having dinner tonight and Angie will join us.

In other news, I think I mentioned that I’m going to be putting some of my art in a friend’s new store/gallery. I’m pleased to announce that I will be the Featured Artist at the Grand Opening of Sun Spirit Studio in Bisbee, AZ! Andrea’s store is going to have her usual stock, but in addition, she is adding artists’ work. She asked me to provide her with some of my different mixed media work. The first group of cell phone/iPod pouches you saw were for her gallery. I’ve been busy working on other things, too.

I spent some time in the studio and I made some fabric collages and sewed them to cards and portfolio covers. Here is one example of what is going on.

		Each of these packets contains four cards. All the cards have different original collages on them. The portfolio cover also has a collage on it. All the collages in each stationery pack use the same fibers and fabrics to keep them a cohesive set.

I also had some gift albums from the days when I used to do scrapbooking. I took those albums and made small fabric collages on those, too. They’ll make great arty gift albums. To the right is an example of that. The one to the right is an 8×8 album, but I also have done some that are 6×6. Each features an original signed fabric collage in the front. I think they will make great vacation albums for the people who visit Bisbee.
So, I haven’t mentioned the CJ round robin I’m in in a while. I thought it was high time I share with you some photos of what I did in July’s claendar. Here you go!

	This journal was just a date book that had blank pabes and pages with images of Tuscany. It was a long month for me, so I was a bit stuck for most of the month. I also had been out of town for part of it, so I had to make up for the lost time. Deadlines are sometimes the greatest motivators!There were only four layouts to do. I took a photo from a magazine and then doodled all over it with my Sakura pens. I love my Gold Shadow Pens. That’s what I used here, along with some other Gelly Rolls.
	I followed the same basic idea here, but I also added some Permapaque Metallic pens and I did some journaling on her face. I had some fun with these.
	I loved this photo. It reminded me of photos of the Greek Isles. So I wanted to use an image of a woman as if she’s floating over the city. The image is from Anahata Katin and I altered it some by pairing it with other images and then adding some doodling and a sticker.
	This is another page that has Anahata’s images as its base. I had fun pulling together different pieces and then doodling over it.

So, there you go. That’s it for now. I’ve been busy creating lots of art, printing business cards, putting together my trades for Art Unraveled, etc. Everything seems to be ready for Monday’s class with Bev Brazelton. There will be many photos taken this week, and I’ll update when I can, but I do have a lot of artsy, girlie fun scheduled and balanced with rest time to conserve my spoons as much as possible!

But first two things I had mentioned yesterday, but for which I did not provide photos or final resolution!

1. Embellishment Organization:

I have used baby food jars to organize my dimensional embellishments so that they are fun to look at. I love looking at the colors and being able to see what is inside each jar without any need for labels. This means I can easily change out the jars based on what is in “stock” and what is “needed”. The best part of this is the acrylic shelf organizer it’s on. It has steps so I can see each of the different levels of the jars and stack the jars on top of each other. I really like this method. It’s pretty to look at and easy to see what I have.

2. iPod Update:

This morning my new iPod arrived. I am a now a very happy camper! I can carry all of my music, videos, podcasts, and audiobooks. And yes, it’s safely in the new hard shell case! Right now, the case is black, but it will be decorated in the very near future. I will share that, of course, on this blog! For now, all I know about the decoration is that there will be both doodling and rhinestones.

Now that this is all out of the way, on to the artistic stuff!

I mentioned yesterday that I had painted a silk cap with Dye-Na-Flow paints to use with Paverpol. It turns out, nto incredibly surprisingly, that I’m allergic to Paverpol and had to close the container it before I even started working on the project. Well, I needed something to do with this luscious fabric, so I created a padfolio using Sue Bleiweiss’ padfolio tutorial. The tie is done with a vintage button I have. The cording was made by using a zig-zag stitch over several twisted fibers. It’s one of the methods Sue taught us in class. I really love how easy this method of creating a multi-colored, multi-textured cording is. The padfolio sews up in a snap!

This week’s assignment was to create with kitchen products. The first assignment was to dye some paper towels. Now I LOVE to dye paper towels. That’s one of my favorite things to use. Two-ply paper towels are quite sturdy and they do hold up well with the wetting, dyeing and drying process. I used Color Mists to dye mine. I took the assignment and changed it up a bit. We were to tear up the paper towel and fuse the pieces. I wanted to do more of a patchwork view, so I just sewed the pieces on and then added stitching to keep them sturdy. I like the texture that was created by the continuous movement of the sewing machine and the paper towels.

We were to create a triangular/three-sided vase out of this. Choosing where to cut the fabric was half the fun. I wanted diverse colors. it’s why I chose so many different colors of Color Mists when I dyed them. I wanted a Free People/Hippie sort of look. The sewing on it made the design really stand out. It reminded me of one of those shirred fabric peasant blouses that are out there. But the best part was what happened when I put the project together. The vase came out looking even brighter and more “artsy” than I expected! I’m really happy with it. It will hold a spot in my studio to brighten it up. Perhaps I’ll try to make some of the fabric flowers that was highlighted in one of the earlier issues of Cloth Paper Scissors magazines.

Now, however, it is time to turn to yet another project. No. I’m not sure which one!

On Monday, my husband had hernia surgery. He’s fine. He’s recovered quickly, and is a fairly easy patient. I’m lucky, as I know many men turn into babies when they are ill. Dave is a trooper, and, though I’ve been helping him frequently, I have had some time to do some things I wanted to do.

So Monday through Wednesday were spent taking care of Dave. Monday was spent taking him to the outpatient surgery center, waiting for him, drawing in the waiting room while I watched the door to the operating area open and jerked my head up at each bit of movement. It was far from relaxing, but once the doctor came out, I knew we were home free. Dave was fairly awake by the time I was taking him home. He doesn’t have the terrible reactions to anesthesia I do, so he rested somewhat uncomfortably the rest of the afternoon. I sat and read some email and blogs, but I could not relax enough to do art. I just sat here and stared into space, completely exhausted. LOL Tuesday, the basket to the left arrived. (Yes, that’s hubby in the background… and no, he has not yet seen this picture!)

While he was convalescing, I did some art for the calendar journal round robin I have been involved in. This month’s book was challenging in a different way. It was just an office store date book with lined pages with the dates. When I opened it last month to see what was in store, I sat in amazement. I had no idea this was coming. I had nothing to start from – no photos or paintings, no theme. Just blank white pages. And, on top of that, the paper was very thin. It was the weight of regular notebook paper. Some of the pages were already coming out. I knew I had to create art with very little weight. So I pulled out collage pages, scissors, Sakura pens and my Tombow Monoadhesive. Here are the results:

	You may recognize this page! It’s a scan of a journal page I did earlier this month. I printed it out on my handy laser printer and then I added some highlights with my Pigma Microns. Since it was how I started this month needing “me time”, I thought it was appropriate to put this into the journal I was working on.
	And yes, this guy is fairly familiar, too! He’s the picture I made with my friends’ children when I taught them painting and collage. I had printed this onto fabric but the black ink cartridge on my inkjet was empty. This meant that the colors were a bit off. I couldn’t see that sheet of printed fabric going to waste, so I included it here. I added some zig-zag stitching to outline the features and then I added some doodles with my black Pigma Micron.
	This page and the ones following were done while I was sitting on the couch next to my husband Tuesday evening. I didn’t want to leave him alone for too long and we were watching the news on TV. This was the day that the Palestinians were at war with each other. All I could think about was the need for peace. That’s what this page is about. The images used in it are from Anahata Katin’s Spare Parts.
	This is another page using Anahata’s Spare Parts. I just played with the pieces and create the collage, adding some doodles and creating a composition from different pages of different books.
	In Spare Parts, there are many images of people that elicited emotion from me, but were not strong enough for me to use alone. I felt I needed to group these images that spoke to me. So I did. I circled and used squares with my Permapaque Fine Point pens.
	This image of the woman (also from Spare Parts) with the cool hat just needed to be a central part of the page. She reminds me of a pixie! I added in some doodles and lines with my blue Permapaque Fine Point.
	This page just came out rather intuitively. The images, again are from Anahata’s Spare Parts. I love the image of the woman’s face that is partially covered up. But I really liked the child, too. It seems to me that the child is dreaming of far-away places and so this was one of those pages that just came together.
	And, well, I ran out of steam on this last page. I even considered leaving it blank, but I couldn’t do that. Also using Anahata’s Spare Parts, I created this collage. The tree almost acts as the body for this woman whose head and face onl partially show.

On Wednesday I started to play with some patterns for cell phone purses and little travel badges for boarding passes and such. I bought a pattern, but it just wasn’t working for me. As I followed the directions, I noticed some things about the construction that were just not going to work for me and that could be accomplished much more easily. So I completed the original one (Nope. You don’t get a photo of that catastrophe!) and then I moved on to try to create my own pattern. And, while the first try was a bit larger than I wanted, it does work well for a small camera, such as the Canon Power Shot. It still needs to have some hardware and a strap attached. I’ll photograph the result tomorrow.

Friday I went out early and ran several errands. Among those, picking up my medications, stopping and picking up some rolls of upholstery fabric from a fellow freecycler, dropping into JoAnn’s for some elastic cording, and stopping into Michaels to use my 40% off coupon for a Crop-a-dile.

I cannot say enough about the Crop-a-dile! It is a fabulous invention. We R Memory Keepers really did their homework. I have had several different kinds of eyelet setters, punches, etc. but nothing, I mean NOTHING has ever cut through bookboard and metal this effortlessly and quietly. Nothing has made me anxious to use eyelets again. And I have hundreds of them – until I purchased the Crop-a-dile, they were so nicely separated by color in the back of my closet. Now they are sitting front and center with the brads! I rarely endorse products on this blog, but I have to say: If you don’t have one, GO BUY ONE!

In October, I had talked with Kiran about my artwork. She asked is I might be willing to show the girls how to paint or do something arty. I agreed. Hey, I’m always willing to support creative pursuits! And I adore these kids. They’re both so talented. Friday morning I cleared off the projects I was working on, covered the art table with paper, pulled out some canvas boards for the kids and one for myself, pulled some magazines, craft paints, and paintbrushes from my stash, and was ready for them to come and paint. They were so excited!

So the morning started with them swimming in the pool. And then lunch. After lunch, Miranda, Julie, Kiran and Cody were ready for art “class”. Since Cody is 4, he focused on cutting small pieces of construction paper, which worked for him. And then he glued them down, was bored and left to watch Happy Feet with is dad and Dave. Meanwhile the girls and I started to cut into the magazines. I showed them step by step how to pull textures and shapes from the magazines and how to think of them as pieces to make up a new composition. I encouraged them as we went through the process and showed them how to “see” things differently.

I was absolutely amazed watching these girls in process. They glued down their pieces and then we started to paint. They were much freer than some of my adult students had been in the past. And this really wasn’t much of a surprise. I mean, the inner critic does get more pronounced as we get older. But encouraging kids to do art from an early age and keeping that up with them can keep the critic at bay.

So, here are the results of the day of “Art with Fran” (note: the “logo” to the left was a drawing Miranda gave me to thank me for the art day!):

	This is Cody’s piece. Cody is 4. He wanted to cut and paint. He told us it’s a dog.
	This is Miranda’s painting. She is 8! had fun cutting out the shapes and putting them together to make the “bones” of the face. And then she painted. I love that she just went and added more and more to the background. And I also like that she left the nose without any paint – it’s just the piece of paper she pulled from the magazine.
	This is Julie’s portrait. She had fun cutting out the pieces, too. She loved to mix the colors to get just the right color for her face. I like that she was able to give the woman eyelids. And that she was able to make the proportions so good. Sorry that the picture is so blurry!
	This is the portrait I did while teaching them. I like that I started off with no idea of what I was going to do and he just sort of popped out of the collage.
	Kiran, the mother of Julie, Miranda and Cody, was inspired to just keep cuting and t create a composition out of collage elements.

After this day of painting, Julie finally decided what she was going to use her Birthday money on – canvas boards, some brushes, glue, and some paints. She and Miranda were so excited to start doing art on a regular basis! All of hte kids will put their artwork in their rooms. And Kiran says hers is going into her office. I’m so pleased to know they enjoyed the day. And, personally, I had forgotten how much I enjoy teaching. Even if it does exhaust me, I do love it. I love watching that “aha!” look on the students’ faces and I love to watch the entire discovery process, just acting as a catalyst for them. Overall, it was a long but fun day.

More on my weekend later! LOL I need to do some art now!