Jared's Quilt

This is a big quilt. It just kept getting bigger. Originally, it was going to be a low-volume quilt, all in mid-tone grays. But I had to add a bit of the butterscotch browns and a few darker black/grays too. And so the quilt kept growing!

I made this for one of my sons for Christmas. I did want his quilt to be big enough to share with his wife and four kids. And I think it is!

The inspiration for this came from Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts. Thanks Amanda!!

Terry did the great long arm quilting for me. I love the texture it creates.

I didn't get a photo of the medium gray flannel I used for the backing. It's a heavy quilt!

I was afraid it was too big and too heavy. But Jared says he likes the "sharing size" of it, and he also loves the weight too.

Good thing, or I'd have to take the quilt back.

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Board Book Gift Wrap

 I attended a baby shower recently, and this is my gift- a stack of some of my favorite board books.

I wrapped each book in a different shade of tissue paper. The stack was gathered in clear cellophane, and tied with a felted wire (kind of like a long fluffy pipe cleaner). I attached a small stuffed bear and a tag made from paper scraps to mimic the tissue colors. I added a pop up flower made from my favorite daisy punch.

I love giving books for gifts. This stack included some art-themed abc, number, and shape books-so Anna will start her art education early!


Make it a Wonderful Day!

Hoar Frost

Have a Wonderful Day!

Collaged Glass Plates

 

Here's a recent Art Club project that I just love!

 

We used Mod Podge and assorted tissue papers and a few handmade paper on the back of clear glass plates. I encouraged the kids to limit their choices so the papers would have unity, a design principle. (The younger the artist, the less they wanted to limit their palette-they loved all the prints and colors!)

 

I love this use of print tissue paper from House of Blues. I bought some hot sauce for my sister, but I kept the paper they wrapped it in. (Are all art teachers hoarders like me? Well, at least all my tissue paper scraps are in one box. Umm.... make that three boxes. In my garage. On the shelves. Every time my husband suggests we downsize, I realize I use at least 75% of all the space in the house and 99% of the garage. But we can still park two cars in there, so it's not THAT bad....) And all that hanging onto supplies is worth it when I see the results from my artists!

The kids and their familes loved how these turned out. A couple of things:

• Light colored tissue needs more than one layer to maintain color. White tissue almost goes transparent.
• In the past, I've allowed for choices of paint color to finish these. For ease this time, we only used gold acrylic. If I do it again, I'll offer silver or gold. Some of the plates would have looked better with cool silver instead of the warm gold poking through. 
• Handmade papers are pricey, but they add so much interest. 
• Remind kids to build backwards-applying small bits that they want to show first. (Younger kids had trouble remembering that they had to glue prints face down for them to show through the plate.)

Make it a Wonderful Day!