summer skinny for Linda K!

It gives me great joy to create a skinny page for Linda Kunsman as part of the Oh My Gothic yahoo group exchange ; ^  ). I have known Linda K for at least 5 years through yahoo groups, email & art swaps. Linda has always been so kind to me and has also created the best art! My favorite is a canvas collage piece Linda made for a swap I hosted in 2005 on a theme of "moon & stars". This matched our wedding theme and the swap participant's extra collages helped to decorate the room where Steven and I got married! Linda's piece was so personalized for me and Steven, it really touched my heart -still does. See it at the 'canvas' link above.

For the skinny page exchange we create 4" x 8" pages for a different participant each month based on that person's theme, while someone else creates a page for us. When the swap ends this spring, we'll have about 15 skinny pages we can bind into a collaborative book! Linda's theme is "summer" - her favorite time of year. She said, think beach, vintage, nature, birds, lace . . . .  Here's is what I came up with for Linda! It is an all fabric page fused and glued with a piece of heavyweight Fast2Fuse in the middle for support.

I used real shells and a sand dollar I had gathered.

Some of the fabric I painted myself (in the summer!)  

-the two strips tied together above 

and the turquoise strip in the middle below.

The two photos in the middle of each page 

were ones I took myself & printed on fabric -

those are my little black Crocs!

And there is real Florida sand sprinkled on here & there.

This page is especially for you, Linda K. I am so lucky to have your favorite season here in Florida most of the time now. I wanted to send you something to remind you of summer whenever you looked at it!
big hugs from lenna!

sweet bead studio give-away and news!

I don't often advertise give-aways, but the one that is being offered by Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio comes with a most amazing story and photos of an Around the World Necklace Round Robin. My very good friend Sharon Borsavage was part of this necklace and journal RR . . . . and I also saw the link about Cindy's give-away and the story on another friend and participant's blog, Renate of - Put a little magic in your life!
Cindy of Sweet Bead Studio has unraveled the wonderful story about this amazing collaborative project involving five women living all over the world. You can enter her 'sentimental journey' give-away (see photo below) and read the story here, on Sweet Bead Jewelry. Look at this gorgeous giveaway! Thank you, Cindy. Their story has also been published in the winter issue 2011 of Somerset's Belle Armoire Jewelry. Congratulations to all, on many levels!

Sweet Bead Studio 'Sentimental Journey' giveaway
drawing is - December 2, 2010

altered books with sharon

This is one spread of pages I did recently in Sharon Borsavage's Altered Book that I am collaborating on with her. Sharon's theme is birds and I have been enjoying her theme very much. It has been months since I worked in either one of our books with moving and all -we've kept a very loose schedule for sending. Once I started working in her book the other day I wondered why I had not made myself jump in sooner! I so enjoyed myself. Sharon recently sent my own book back with some gorgeous work in it, that she did . . . if you would like to pick and chose some of our AB pages to view, please take a look at our collaborative set of Altered Book pages. If you'd rather view an easy to watch slide show with large photos -try that link. I have 3 new spreads to share you can see there on flickr and I have uploaded Sharon's recent work as well. Now! dear sharon, I hope your cold is better! I'm also hoping this book arrives on your doorstep soon. Thank you for the opportunity to work collaboratively with you!!!!! xo lenna 

time out

time out to relax!

Steven and I just had a patio laid down in our backyard. : ))

This photo was taken tonight . . . our friends Garth and Nora were supposed to be visiting from New York, but their trip had to be postponed. So we had this fire in their honor, as Garth really loves campfires and Garth is how Steven and I met in the first place, back in 1972!!! We have been friends a  l-o-n-g  time. Steven & I know we will see our friends another time soon . . . . Garth and Nora promised to come at another time this winter!

Our new patio is just the coolest thing (we love it!) and I'm sure it will help us to enjoy our backyard even more than we already do. Steven & I are very lucky to have 3 huge live oak trees that are so outstanding, especially for Florida. I fell in love with the backyard the first time I saw it. The new patio was built in only 2 days, Wednesday & Friday. To see all the photos of the build, here's a link to a slideshow in my new home set on flickr. I hope you enjoy. 

Asia & Chloe checking it out!

love this pattern!!

we are quite pleased!

lots of mail art!

2010-11-13 mail Art Env stack, originally uploaded by creativelenna.

The stack of envelopes above, are handmade envelopes for my Mail ART swap hosted on my creative swaps blog. I started making these a couple of weeks ago because of my intention to send home all swapped mail art  in an envelope I had created or decorated myself. Did I mention we have 56 participants registered for this swap? : ^ ) It is a good thing I love mail art! So far, 137 pieces of beautiful decorated mail have landed in my mailbox from near & far - and we still have one week left to go!! Participants from half of all 50 US states, plus Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, France, Germany and Canada are sending the most varied mail art to me everyday! See it all here on the creative swaps blog. It is really amazing! To make sure I am ready, I created more envelopes last night . . . mostly rubber stamped.

I still have another 15 or so to make . . . . 

perhaps some magazine envelopes?

or maybe some fabric ones?

This is keeping me busy! What have you been up to?

i am thankful

"People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have."
 -- Richard Carlson

i am very thankful for . . .

sharing Steven's passion for boats (as best i can!)

walks in the park with steven and the pups

the beauty of my surroundings

my dogs . . . chloe & asia xo

All the friends that I have known for quite some time . . . 

and some for not so very long! Our sharing, especially . . . 

the fun and laughter I still have with my mom & dad . . .

and my sister . . . even if we are not smiling here!

my dad . . . who is quite the jokester, making us laugh!

(and quite the fisherman!)

i am thankful for being able to spend time with my family

- my sons, Decklin Tisdale

1981

now with Tina-both coming to visit us soon! 

Dallas Chandler . . .

in 1990

now with Liz - to be married, October 2011!

and both coming to visit us in January : ^ ) 

i am so ever thankful for my art

without it, where would i be?!

and very thankful for my home and studio .  . . 

and most of all, for all the fun and love I share with my husband!!

wishing you and yours

a blessed thanksgiving 

i am thankful for you too - but you know that!!

xo lenna 

vintage fashion

My very good friend Frieda in the UK is hosting a Vintage Fashion ATC swap -how could I resist? Even though I knew I would be very busy hosting my own Mail Art Swap I had to sign up for this one! The rules were: pre-war fashions (1939), 3 trading cards for 3 -due Dec 15. All techniques were welcome, but most importantly, the cards have to look VINTAGE!! Frieda runs her swaps through ATCs for ALL and I must say I always enjoy these swaps thoroughly. Here is what I came up with . . . I have many images of vintage fashions to choose from, but finally decided on these old French postcards.

I scanned the postcards and then printed them out "wallet" size onto matte brochure paper and cut them out. I like this paper because it is a little heavier and seems to make the colors sing. 

I attached my images to watercolor paper ATCs, then used a different color watercolor crayon around the edge to frame each ATC, using my water brush to activate the color I laid down. 

I added a rubber stamp saying or quote to each ATC. I love my rubber stamps still, after all these years!

I finished each ATC with a white Sakura Glaze pen, doing various faux stitches around the edge of each ATC. This is a funny pen because it looks clear when wet, then later it dries white. I do like it! These ATCs were popped in the post on Monday 11/22 so Frieda should have them before long, with plenty of time for the deadline. Thank you so much, Frieda!!! This was another great vintage ATC swap, I loved it!

apple green and white

Here are my Color Groupies ATCs for November; the color combo is Apple & White -which I translated as "apple green" and white ; ^  ). Click on any photo or scan for more detail, as I take you through my process creating these ATCs.

My first step is always to gather things related to my theme to spark ideas.

I photographed the apple and printed it on both white paper and translucent vellum.

I chose the translucent velum print and stitched it to white fabric. 

What the back looks like . . . before I cut them apart!

The front of the finished Apple green and White ATCs.

The back

what fun! i love these challenges, they keep me sharp creatively!
thank you, frieda, debby, caryl and Tristan! 

grey and terracotta

Grey and Terracotta -what a lovely color combination. I truly loved creating these ATCs for my Colour Groupies partners in crime/art.

One for each of us

These ATCs were done on watercolor paper and collaged with an old, grey vintage letter (a real letter, mary!!), ripped pieces of terracotta colored paper, tiny paint chips from the hardware store, and images from Vintage Image Madness -thank you Casie! Then I used my water color crayons to add more terracotta color to the white watercolor paper. Click on any image for lots more details.

for Caryl Hoobler

for Debby Harriettha

for Frieda Oxenham

One for my collection

This is my 3rd year doing this exchange and since I keep all of the ATCs in notebooks dedicated to this exchange, I always make one for myself so there is a complete set. Colour Groupies is a small, closed group of 4 -soon to be 5, when Tristan rejoins us next year. Yay!! I feel very blessed to be involved. We brainstorm a bunch of colour combinations and plan them out for the year, then monthly create the ATCs on that month's theme. this was October's combo. I will have November's ATCs for you soon, now that everyone has received their cards. We want it to be a surprise and don't share them until they are received!

now go be creative!

 ; ^  ) lenna

boats, boats & more boats!

Steven's new boat, Windy

This makes 11 boats that could be in our backyard at one time! But doesn't he look happy? This one did not cost much but it does need some work. My husband is just the man for the job. He says this boat, a Spindrift, will be roomier and more comfortable for passengers, so I should love going out in it (hint hint). It will certainly not be as much work to fix up as Starfish, the free . . . free?! they spent a whole bunch! But they did get it for free, sailboat Steven and my Dad rebuilt earlier this year. I've enjoyed going out in Starfish. That's a modified Windmill, which is a racing class sailboat -not much legroom! Steven is thinking that when his new boat is fixed up, he may rent it out, hmmm . . .  a way to finance his love of boats? He practically has a fleet of them that he could rent now! I haven't mentioned yet that he recently picked up 2 mostly finished wee lassie strip built canoes and is finishing them, adding bamboo masts (bamboo from my parent's yard) sails, a centerboard, rudder and tiller to one of the canoes, to make it a sailing canoe! If I am passionate about my art, Steven is passionate about his boats.

His friends down at the boat building shop tease him, saying he is "putting a schooner rig on a 14 pound Wee Lassie"  ; ^  )) These canoes are really are quite light. I have a photo of my dad in 2006, holding the one he built for Steven! See below.

The Wee Lassie weighs about 11 lbs here -not finished
Dad built this boat for Steven in 2006

The whole story of my dad building this wee lassie is here if you're interested! Thanks for following my journey, xo lenna