I've been flitting...

about from town to town this past month, and have found little time to play in the studio.  Isn't life just like that sometimes>

When all else fails, though, I revert to a Gelli plate session just to keep the juices flowing and retain my creative sanity.  I knew that time would be short to do any leaf printing (how the heck did it get so close to winter so quickly?!!!), so I tore into it with great enthusiasm.  John was about to compost the flower boxes, so I stole some dusty miller before it disappeared, added some fern, Japanese maple and other goodies, and had a blast.

There was a huge range as I worked back and forth from first to ghost prints (and even a few haunts).

And while I know it's fall, I couldn't help but put some sunny spring and summer prints through their paces as well.

 Each print was so delicious, it was hard to stop.

Were it not for the fact that the family likes to be fed occasionally, I'd likely still be there.

Of course, being Canadian means that we were in the midst of Thanksgiving colour this past weekend, so that certainly added fuel to the colour schemes.

I can't get enough of green and orange lately, and there were quite a few of them in the pile!

I used all the brayer-cleaning sheets up before I finished, and the geometric lines through some of them pique my interest.

These will all make marvellous backgrounds or additions to journals,

and I suspect they'll grace a few cards and tags as well.

I'd LOVE it know what you do creatively when your time is short and your need is tall.  Please tell me in the comments below so I can add your expertise to my arsenal; post a link if you like!  

Yesterday...

...was round one of three at TAPS as we explored the possibilities of what I'm going to call Quilted Collage.  I'd prepared some examples of the kind of work we'd do, with four options for them to try.

Collaged pears from UFO net photo

Collaged Creston Valley Landscape from a Jean Henderson photo

Collaged apple from UFO net photo

Collaged landscape mostly invented

With a large stack of cardstock backgrounds in mostly solid colours, Gelli-printed papers and magazines for further collage fodder, we were well supplied.  I also provided a numbered template from which they could cut their papers. 

And didn't they tear into it?  

With scissors, glue, tenacity and a LOT of laughter, most of them managed to get about a third of the way through their collage.

That's pretty awesome because coincidently we have two sessions left in which to finish!  

I know I mentioned the need for a red cow in one of those collages I test drove and I will show you the result in a future post - keep your eyes peeled for that one.  In the meantime, I expect to show you some outstanding Quilted Collage work from this stellar group sometime soon.  Until then, I hope you keep playing and let me know what you're up to in the comments!

I'm supposed to be...

...working, right?  But I get into the studio, and can't help following all those questions I have about whether this technique would work with that material.

As addicted to Gelli printing as I am, I was watching a video about faux marbling by Birgit Koopsen who achieved a fabulous effect using frayed hemp.  Now John may have hemp rope in the garage, but in the current state of flooding, that building was temporarily off limits, so I pulled out some cobweb to try instead.

While the first two prints look a little gloppy,

I finally remembered to pull the cobweb material much finer, and this first print, with four layers of paint, looks pretty delicious.

The ghost print from the same series, is yummy too,

and the haunt print has picked up some lovely undertones of blue from the first couple of prints.  I LOVE it when that happens!

Naturally, I'll save the painted cobweb for something interesting too - maybe a journal page, or added to the crazy bathroom curtains I have on the go, or what if I saved it for the original intention, and created a really unique Halloween display?

Stay tuned - you know it's going to go SOMEWHERE!  Where are you going with your artwork? What's got your creative juices flowing?  Do post a link in your comments so we can check it out!

As we await...

...the arrival of 2017 it's a time of quiet reflection, and what better colour to accompany that than the peaceful ease of the colour blue.

From journal pages

 to Gelli prints,

blue peeks out everywhere in the studio.

 I've turned hand-painted papers into blue flowers,

 and created Wingdings with it.

 It shows up in heavily textured pieces

 and in those that are quietly behaving themselves.

 Blue philosophizes

 and plays well with green and a host of other colours.

What a perfect colour with which to end a chaotic year, don't you think?

Here's hoping that all your wishes for 2017 come true, in a big way.  xo

Making your Mark...

... was a blast.  A fundraiser project for the local library, it was organized for a couple of reasons - I had a need to reduce my Gelli print stash (with all the demos I do in playshops I had a ton of them) and I really like to incorporate creative play with volunteer work.  We had two sessions, morning and afternoon, and some talented and enthusiastic participants.  I'm pretty sure we made a gazillion of them.  Well, it felt like it anyway, with all that energy vibrating in the Puffin studio.

 The morning group of Val, Eileen and Carrie were on a tearaway right from the time they walked in.

 Carrie was into black and white, and made sure to include a gent's bookmark in her pieces.

 Val was intent on including all the colours of the rainbow, and I think she succeeded beautifully.  You can see her post here about her bookmarking.

 Eileen did some fabulous bookmarks in spite of saying she had no idea what she was doing!

 The afternoon group included Laura Leeder who was on such a roll she finished 10 bookmarks!  Check out Laura's art apron - there will be a future post about that as well.

 Gay was just full of fun and ready to rock and roll at all times.

Eileen's first comment was the need to include some 'male-oriented' bookmarks, and she managed that beautifully, as well as inspiring me to do some too.

 Eileen did these, incorporating all sorts of the mixed media supplies.

 I think Gay, like Val, was also after every colour in the rainbow - aren't they lovely?

 Laura's are just as rich and colourful, and I'm still agog at her doing 10 in a couple of hours????!!

These groups really knows how to put the fun in fun-draiser!  In fact, we made about seventy bookmarks in total, and I'm sure we could do the same again.  Anyone want to join us?

Sometimes insomnia...

... can be a blessing.  I occasionally get bouts of inspiration in the middle of the night and have to get out of bed and do something about it.

This past week the muse decided I should be making small boxes out of my stash of Gelli prints, so at 2 am I was up and at it.

These prints were done on card-stock weight paper, and I've created complementary bottoms to go with the prints on top.  The majority of the bows are crafted from mop-up cheesecloth (you can find the tutorial here).  Ranging from 3" square to 4" x 5", they're the perfect size for miniature anything.  I love it that they're unique and hand-crafted - all I need to do now is fill them with gifts.

I even made a tree ornament for an ornament swap over on Google+.  This one was far harder to do because the dimensions were so small (I think about 1.5 x 2.5").  

The ornament swap was a something new, as it's usually tags we exchange.  The theme was bling, and because I'm not normally a bling-y person, it was a challenge.  I tarted up this miniature shoe for the recipient as well.

In one of my studio sessions this week, I finished another cigar box.  You can see my beloved Kroma Crackle is front and centre again.

With a dozen more projects on the go, and a day spent baking for Christmas yesterday, I'm feeling very virtuous.  I hardly had to use the Procrastination-Away Spray at all this week.

Feel free to post a link to your creations in the comment section - we'd love to see what your pre-Christmas frenzy looks like!

Art drool....

...is currently very deep in the studio, because I got a fabulous package this week, all the way from Zsuzsa Karoly-Smith in the UK.  We've been connected on Google+ for a while now, and I admire her wonderful style and colour sense so much.

 As you can see, both sides of the package were a feast for the eyes

 and the contents even more so.  Our 'tag exchange' for the month was themed Gelli prints  (yup, I LOVE 'em), and Zsuzsa sent me four full sheets of them!

I'm a great fan of paper napkins as well, and the ones that Zsuzsa included in her gift were a delight. I know that Alice Saltiel will love the bottom right one especially!

 The tags themselves were so rich and colourful (apt, too, I might add)!

I can't thank you enough, Zsuzsa - I could see that you'd had me in mind the whole time you were putting this together.  It had me even more excited to tear into the Gelli print playshop I'm doing at Puffin this week!

Speaking of learning, John and I both did some of that this week.  We took a 3 hour Illuminating workshop by Bart Bjorkman at Puffin  and I was stunned to actually complete a lamp in that time.  If I can do it, so can you, and Bart's running another one on November 25.  Do register (at Puffin) if you're free that evening.  John's lamp (below) is gorgeous, and mine, not shown, is pretty amazing too.  I'm thinking about making another for a Christmas gift.

Do tell me in your comments how you're gearing up for the holiday season.  Are you making your gifts this year?  Are you creating new things?  I'd love to hear about your forays - do feel free to add a link to your post about it!