Monday, July 30, 2012

Creative Work I've Done

Today's question for the Summer Blog Challenge asks: "Are you an artist? Show some artwork or doodling you've done."

I enjoy being able to do a variety of crafts and things that allow me to express myself. The images below show a variety of things that I like to do and have made over the past several years: embroidery, quilting, snow sculpture, baking, nature journaling, needlefelting, origami, paper folding, quilting, coloring, doodling, photography, paper cutting, quilling, cake decorating, homeschooling/teaching, and playing the piano. 

ATC Traded - Embroidered Henny Penny Taking a Stroll
Hand-embroidered and appliqued artist trading card.
July 26, 2008

My Snowman
Snowman I made on Leap Day.
February 29, 2012

My Nature Journal
A couple of pages from my nature journal.
February 15, 2011

Take a Stitch Tuesday Journal
A two-page spread from my 
Take a Stitch Tuesday embroidery journal. 
Each week I put a personal reflection, 
list of five items for which I'm grateful, 
a collage of images that represents the week, and 
embroidery samples that show the new stitch I learned that week.
February 26, 2012

Rainbow Penguins - Learn the Color Wheel and Natural Play Toys
Hand-embroidered penguins that I made
to help my daughters learn their colors.
December 14, 2008

Mosaic of Needlefelted Alphabet ATCs and ACEOs - Tactile Art and Learning for Children
Needle-felted letters (each one 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") 
that I made when my daughters were learning the alphabet.
June 12, 2008

Summer Solstice Star Collection
Origami window stars.
June 7, 2009

Valentine's Day Meal - Felt Pita Sandwich Crackers, Cookies, and Tea
Hand-embroidered felt food.
Some of the items are from patterns, and
others are ones that I made up based on 
food I had in the kitchen.
February 1, 2009

Origami and Felt Valentine's Day Boats
Origami boats with felt sails 
filled with candy hearts.
February 12, 2008

Close Up of Journal Quilt
One of the monthly journal quilts I made.
Each month I created one based on what happened that month.
Every component in the mini quilt represents something.
They are each about 9" x 12".
April 9, 2010

August Journal Quilt without Border
This is another example of a journal quilt I made.
It is also about 9"x12".
August 24, 2010

Inspire the Artist Within You - Cut Up Secret Journal Entry
"Secret journal page."
I wrote a page in my journal, cut it up, and 
glued it onto another page.
March 9, 2009

Rainbow Mandala
I have a book with blank mandalas that I color
using Prismacolor Colored Pencils.
May 23, 2008

Floating Milkweed
Photo I took of Sophia when she was 6 years old.
She's pulling milkweed seeds from her pockets and releasing them.
The seeds are floating away in the wind.
September 29, 2007

"My Favorite Things"/Sound of Music Swap - Raindrops on Roses
Paper cutting with roses at the end of each point.
January 1, 2009

Sashiko Pillow
Sashiko pillow I embroidered and sewed.
July 17, 2010

Counting by 5s and 10s
Homeschooling/teaching requires some creative thinking when
new concepts are taught. 
In the picture above, Sophia was learning 
jump counting (counting by 5s and 10s).
September 25, 2007

Inspire the Artist Within You - Small Circles
Page of  circles I did with
Prismacolor Colored Pencils.
March 7, 2009

Finished Sensory and Memory Quilt (for my Dad's Christmas Gift)
Sensory and memory quilt that I made for my dad.
Each plain square of fabric is a different texture.
The white squares have pictures that my dad and 
I picked out shortly after he was diagnosed with 
\mid-stage Alzheimer's Disease.
They each had special meaning to him.
He slept with the quilt each night from Christmas time 2009 
until his death on January 5, 2012.
December 21, 2009

Quilling on Olivia's Hand
Olivia's photocopied hand with
quilling I did glued on top of the image.
February 16, 2008

Olivia's 8th Birthday Cake
Candyland cake I made for Olivia's 8th birthday.
She saw the image in Taste of Home magazine, and 
asked if I would make it for her.
This is the cake I decorated.
January 18, 2011

Couching Stitch on Felt
I learned how to do the couching stitch, and
used some wool yarn, cotton floss, and wool felt.
This was part of the Take a Stitch challenge that 
started on January 1, 2012, and goes until December 31, 2012.
March 5, 2012

Chevron Stitch in Spring Colors
This is another stitch I learned (the green and purple parts).
The other elements I added to make it 
more reflective of my style.
February 8, 2012

Me Playing the Piano
Sophia took this picture of me playing the piano.
The shadow in the lower right part is 
Olivia standing next to me.
I took lessons for ten years when I was growing up.
Although I don't play as much as I would like to now,
I still can sit down and play some songs which is nice.
January 31, 2008

Wool Felt Bears & Bunting
Two hand-embroidered bears made from 
a wool blanket that I machine felted.
They are holding a paper flag bunting.
They're small bears - they fit in the palm of a person's hand.
January 30, 2011

That's a sampling of the things I like to do. Am an artist? I don't term myself one. I just enjoy doing the things I have shown, and look forward to the times when I can do them. 

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Can we say ......You're talented. I really want to try the Quilling sometime. That looks like a lot of fun. Also thanks for sharing your journal. I have a few pages in my journal that are filled with creativity and thoughts. For some reason, like yours, they are beautifully laid out.

What Remains Now said...

So many wonderful creations and I know this is just a small sampling.

Nicole GF said...

Not an artist? You have created some wonderful pieces!

Sara said...

You are so talented! I love the felt food you made - what a fun kind of fake food to play with!

I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I could make a snowman as cute as yours :) Love it!

Unknown said...

Wow! Nice stuff. I wish I could do crafts like that. Awesome.

Anonymous said...

Great stuff! I wish I lived close to you because I think I want to hang out and learn all these awesome things!!

www.pinkbears.ca said...

What a wonderful collection of skills! I love your different ways of journaling especially - my blog is one of my only methods of keeping track of my life right now, but I would love to someday have tons of things for my daughters to look back at and say 'This was Mom' - you've created such a wonderful treasure trove of memories in all of these things!

Unknown said...

Love your creativity, especially the nature journal.

Unknown said...

You're so talented. I'm amazed at all the work you've done! I love the felt food, the quilting, the journal! It's all very unique.