Angelina's Trinkets

Art and Soul - Wednesday was Shabby Chic Birds

2011-10-21T03:08:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday of Art and Soul I attended the workshop, Shabby Chic Birds, with Susan Bates-Bezek. Susan really makes her birds delightful and charming with all the sparkle of glitter and jewels. Below are just a few of the birds she brought to share. Susan is extremely talented, with a love for creating in fabric beautiful pieces of art. She has been teaching at Art and Soul for many years.

It was great fun to see our own birds developing too. The two ladies below are creating crows.

Pene

Wendy

My bird began with a coat of acrylic paint - later I'll apply some glitter to match this color of blue. Here he is before getting his wings applied and as you can see, his legs are drying at the edge of the table.

Not having finished much past this stage since the legs and body of the bird had to dry, I later applied glitter to him up in my room at the Embassy Suites Hotel where he sat unattended for the remainder of the week...without his legs and eyes. After I got home, I took a picture of my roughed up little blue bird. He apparently had a long ride home in my suit case. But I installed his legs so that he could begin standing on his 'own two feet.'

Knowing that I went to Art and Soul with the full intent of finishing each of my projects, I began working on King Blue Bird by first naming him and then applying another two layers of glitter all the way around the top and the bottom. As he dried, I pulled out trinkets and jewels that I thought would be fitting, repainted his legs and beak and finally giving him some little beaded eyes. Below is the completed bird.

Here my grand cat, Sen, takes a good look at King Blue Bird. A little lick of the glitter and she decided he wasn't going to be so tasty after all.

I hope you've enjoyed this segment of my trip to Art and Soul. I am pleased with my results, but will continue to consider where I will place him in the house. Perhaps he will end up on his own stand in a place quite secure from curious cats.

Best Wishes,

Angela

Through the Rabbit Hole ~ Tuesday's Workshop at Art and Soul

2011-10-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday of Art and Soul I attended a workshop called, 'Through the Rabbit Hole,' with Ingrid Dijkers. Wow, what a wonderful surprise of journal books she had on display. Oh you must visit her site and see all the beautiful and fun artwork Ingrid has done with these fascinating books.

Now I have to say; Ingrid was absolutely awesome and her class was a thrill to be a part of. She gave us tons of tips for painting the pages with bright eye-inspiring colors - adding great highlights and shadowing in all the right places. It was hard not to feel as if I were Alice as I went from one page to the next; thinking, dreaming and wondering just how all my pages would eventually turn out. How would I paint them, what images would I use, what fun ideas would I get to journal about once I completed the book.

Angela with Ingrid Dijkers

Working on the Pages of My Rabbit Hole Book

I did get a number of my pages painted, as you can see here, this page is left blank in the middle and you can see where I will eventually cut out the center (after I apply the image). Others were busy working on their pages as well.

It was great to get out the acrylics and just start playing with lots of colors and knowing I had at least 10 8X8" pages left me plenty of room to paint freely and not worry about how each page looked at the very beginning. I knew later we would apply the images and then I would get down to shading and highlighting so my book would feel like they were actually falling down the rabbit hole.

Here you can see all the fun art supplies at this table. But their's wasn't the only one like this -
We all had our supplies spread out and filling the tables from one end to the other.

At home now, with my studio cleaned and organized once again - I am still working on my Rabbit Hole book. I will finish it as it's a project like the Embroidered Birds, one that keeps my brain buzzing with creative activity. Here's what I have finished so far....

I really recommend that you take a look at Ingrid Dijkers website and check out the Journals she has created as well as the rest of her site. You will be amazed at the awe-inspiring art and your creative juices will begin filling your brain with all kinds of wonderful ideas. For me, I will keep working and as I finish a page or two, I'll post to the blog so you can see how the journal is going.

Thank you for stopping by
Hugs,
Angela

Thread Painted Love Birds - Finished Project from Art and Soul

2011-10-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

My first class at Art and Soul was with Janne Robberstad. As I stated a few days ago in my blog post, I took her class to learn more about free-style machine embroidery and I so want to make the colorful bird motif she had listed at Art and Soul. I have to brag on her just a bit as she is such an awesome teacher with a delightful personality. I really enjoyed her class and would definitely take another one in the future. Janne taught us a lot about free-style machine embroidery and her work is just amazing. Take a look at her website and you will see what I mean.

So my birds were not finished at Art and Soul as I had hoped they would be, but that's because I had a lot to learn about seeing all the colors in an image so that I could create the picture onto fabric. On Friday I worked most of the afternoon on finishing the embroidered birds. This kind of free-style embroidery is certainly a lot of fun, but trying to go from an image to thread painting was difficult for me. I really have to stop and look at all the different colors involved. Remember a few days ago I said I had wanted to turn the bird motif into a card for my husband. well here's the results and the process I used to apply the birds to a card.

Finished Sewing the Love Birds

Now that the birds were finished; it was time to find the right items to make the card. I had an idea in my head, but first I had to pull all the materials together and see what idea might work the best. Finding the little fir branch was easy, we had a wind the other day that dropped fall leaves to the ground and a perfect branch for me to use in my "Thank You."

All the Parts for the Card

I used card stock as my main paper and applied a textured handmade-like paper to the front of the card with soft gel. I figured out where I wanted the birds to sit on the card and then put in 4 rivets. After the card dried, I used a small guage wire to wire the branch onto the front of the card using the rivets. I secured the wire to the inside of the card with a nice cotton tape (used for medical purposes). This tape helps seal the wire down and it doesn't seem to poke through the cardstock.

Their Little Feet on a Small Fir Branch

The feet of the bird are wires wrapped with floral tape (learned this in another class) and then painted. After they dried I sealed them with a soft gel to glue the floral tape securely. I added them to the branch and then used more cotton tape to hold the legs in place and covered the area with soft gel. I applied the soft gel to the back of the birds as well. I put the birds down on the cardstock and used a piece of wax paper to push the birds firmly in place. Because of the weight of the birds, I had to hold the base section in place for a while to get the embroidery to fit snuggly around the legs.

Card is Made

On the inside of the card, I use a heavy printed cardstock to cover the wire and to provide a nice space for words and a perfect place to write my little thank you note. Here I used a preprinted 'thank you' and a flower embellishment.

Inside Thank You

After I wrote a nice thank you note; I presented the card to my husband (before it was even dry) and I have to say, he was very pleased with the results. His smile and heartfelt expressions made me feel like a million bucks.

I am so glad to have finished up the embroidered birds. If I had left them as a UFO (unfinished object) it would have really bugged me...not that I don't have several dozen ufo's on the shelves, but this one was important as I had an idea in my brain that just wouldn't sit quietly.

Be on the look out in a few days for some information on the next class I went to while at Art and Soul...It's a UFO right now, but that's okay as it will take some time to finish it up. I can't wait to give you the link to the teacher. You will be amazed with her work. In the meantime, visit Janne's web page and enjoy all the art and interesting tabs to visit.

Best Wishes,
Angela

In the Garden with Art and Soul Fun

2011-10-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

For the last 10 years I've been telling my husband that I wanted to go to Art and Soul; well, 2011 and I finally made it and I had the most wonderful experience with many other first timers and hearing about other's experiences of years gone by. For me, the adventure was even better as my Sister, Jo Beth, was able to attend this year too and it was our first big adventure together. She came from Washington State and I from Oregon - my drive was about 2 hours and her drive was more like 5 hours (sorry Sis).

There are so many wonderful things I would love to tell you about my experiences at Art and Soul. But I realize I should probably keep the blog post to a minimum so you don't get bored with all the words...In this post I will share with you the first class I signed-up for on Monday September 26th which was Machine Embroidered Birds with Janne Robberstad. Janne is an artist, a costume designer and an arts and crafts teacher from Norway. She worked for 14 years in a folk high school. For the past 3 years, Janne has been working as a fulltime artist. Please see her site at Spindlemaker for more information about Janne and her beautiful artwork.

My sister and I attended this class together; we brought with us pictures of birds that we might like to 'free-style' embroider using the sewing machine. Janne introduced us to the art of a machine embroidery that is more like painting with thread. I picked a set of love birds thinking that I would apply them to a card and give it to my husband as a 'Thank you' for letting me spend the money and take the time to attend Art and Soul (more about that later).

I learned a lot about thread painting. Although I had done some in the past creating postcards in my own style, this is the first time I've taken a picture and tried to recreate it on fabric. What I really learned most was that a person has to look deeper; find color that doesn't seem to even be in the image. I didn't consider looking deeper as it just seemed to me that it would be simple to put the colors together and get tremendous results. Well, I was wrong. I discovered that deep purple is often shading itself in the folds and crevices of a picture. So when I first began looking at the birds, I saw lights, brights and darks; reds, greens, yellows, and dark which my brain said, "Oh yeah, that must be dark brown or black." Once I began to look completely at the image; thread painting from a picture took on a whole new meaning. I was excited with the results I began seeing in my own work.

Janne explained to me how to put more highlights on the birds to bring out the feathers and to give shape to the little creatures. She helped me see the colors that were really in the picture and gave me a lot tips on shading and highlighting certain areas.

I have not finished my little 'Love Birds' yet, but I do want to share them with you as they will give you a good example of what I mean: when you see the bird on the left I have added better highlights to bring out the feathers and gave her a little more depth by shading other areas - and the bird on the right...well, he still needs some work before he looks any thing other than flat.

So now I am off to finish the embroidered love birds. Stay tuned for another day as I will be posting the completed love birds project and sharing with you the next workshop I attended...

...Let's say I give myself a few days to get the project completed and I will be be back with my next post on Saturday the 15th of October.

Enjoy the pictures I do have posted and if you have questions or suggestions, please send me an email. I'd love to converse with you.

Best wishes,
Angela

Life Overload and Aging Spirits

2011-03-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

How can it be March 2nd already? I keep looking at the calendar to be sure and then I double check the computer calendar for a second opinion. Yep, it's still the 2nd day of March and this day only has 4 hours left in it to put to use. I want to rush to the studio and play to my hearts content, but I know the most important thing I can do for myself right now is lie my head on my comfortable pillow and just sleep until the cats wake me up 'before' the bright, but still in the early morning hours. I can't wait for the days when the sun rises up and sheds light across the valley early in the morning. It will be such a delight to the soul...my spirit will dance in the pleasure of longer days and perhaps it will make the aging spirits rise and rejoice as well.

However, it is to much to ask that the aging spirits rise up and rejoice in the early morning light. My parents are aging and I have to say, this is a really tough process. Age does not rejoice at this stage, but it pounds like a wild drum in the hearts of all family members who try to help with the process. Aging steals little bits of life over and over again on a daily basis. Aging doesn't know any boundaries; it just jumps in one day and takes over the lives you once knew.

I have to say, life has been difficult these last few weeks, watching and learning how I can best help with my parents as age takes over. They are in their 87th and 89th years and up until a month ago, they still seemed so young and so able to live without the added help of others. It feels to me as if the world begins to collapse in some way and I know what the end asks for...but for me, the youngest of 7 living siblings, seems like age is asking to much of me. I want this creature called 'age' to stop and let me have my parents back, especially my Mom as she has aged considerably in the last month.

To tell you the truth, I'm terrified! I cannot imagine a life without my mother, my best friend, my true confidant. She has been there for me through thick and thin. Through all the troubles of life she has given me sound advice and given me the strength to carry on. I pray ever day that I can do the same for her and that I can be the boulder of strength for her that she has always been for me.

I think so often of the books I read to my children, but right now I cannot remember the name of them about a young man that a mother cares for and as the mother ages, the son cares for her. I am in the caring stages now. I love her so much and I want only the best for her. I want to show her joy, strength, courage...I want her to know that all is okay in the world and that it is okay to depend on me. I so want to be strong...tonight, I just don't feel that way so much. It was a long day of worry, of care, of just trying to let Mom know how very much I love her.

Oh I remember, the story; it was "I'll Love you Forever," by Robert Munsch. What a beautiful story it is. Please follow the link and read the story he wrote. There is so much to learn about 'age,' how it jumps in and steals so quickly the lives you once knew. But somehow it all helps me to find the peace and strength that I need each day. I will love my mother forever and I will help her to live as peacefully as possible through this process of aging.

Age, please allow me the time to let my Mom know how very much I love her. She is my world and I love her more than anyone can ever know or unerstand. Give me these days to help her so that when life comes to an end, it is easy on her. Please let her know that I am there for her always and that she can fully depend on me. Give her the strength she needs through this difficult time.

It is a prayer more than anything else. Say a prayer for her strength and for her courage, for mine as well. It is what we need right now.

With many blessings,
Angelina

The Best Decision

2010-12-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make; I play Farmville and Cityville. These are games that I play when I go check my Facebook page. The problem is, I play three or four times a day for at least hour each occasion, sometimes longer depending on what I stand to gain by gathering more items from friends and family. It’s become an addiction and I no longer relish the fun of just playing when I have a bit of down time.

So decision time has come; a New Year will arrive in 4 days and it is time to let the games go. This year I want to have more time creating, making collage art and putting a larger emphasis into my Trinkets site. During down time, I want to converse with my husband and go to visit family. I never dreamed it would be this difficult to drop the games, but on the other hand, I never dreamed I would donate this much of my time to a game of building a farm or a city.

I’m glad I made this pronouncement. I’m happy to be moving beyond the games and moving more toward my life goals to take pleasure in arts, crafts, and workshops. Maybe this year I will get back to doing vendor shows where I can enjoy the social atmosphere of being around other crafters/artists and the sharing of ideas.

Here’s to a New Year, New Fun, and New Ideas without being stuck in gameville.

Saying Good-Bye to 2010

2010-12-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

It’s always hard to say good-bye, but even more so when it seems as though we’ve hardly said hello…for me, this whole year has slid by quietly. Don’t get me wrong, we have definitely had our ups and downs throughout the year; but I think it is me that’s made changes that I welcomed with open arms. I am content, I am thankful and I am full of gratitude for so many things.

I can’t really give you specifics on how and when this contented state began in my life; I can tell you that during this last year with our sons’ all deployed at the same time to different war zones. I realized that all the deployments they have been through have forever changed their lives in ways that I cannot imagine. They have seen, heard and felt fears that I will never know; they have seen, heard and felt things that in earlier years I was able to protect them from. But even in war, my son’s have touched the lives of others in such a way that gave hope for a future living without fear, death and anguish.

I have prayed deeply and learned to give it all over to God and Trust that He will take care of things. I don’t have to let my breath bunch up in my throat and my heart does not have to pound in my ears. The panic has left and calm now sits in its place.

I am thankful every day for so many little things; flowers, buds, the cool air of winter, the warmth of spring, the rain on a hot summer day. I am thankful for my little birds that sing in the bird feeders and high up in the trees. My list would go on forever so maybe the thing to tell you is that for every negative in my life, I have two positives to negate it. Thinking of positives isn’t always easy, but it can change ones life from a whine to a smile. In those moments where my brain tries to return to the negative thought, I counter act the occurrence by repeating my positives and changing the situation I am directly doing at the time.

I have learned more about acceptance and how to let go of the grief I carried over my husband’s illness. Our own life landscaped was changed many years ago when he was overcome with a life long illness. I don’t want to go into any details because it is now a part of our life. We live with what happens and we accept the days that are not so good; we accepted that the dreams we once had of traveling and motorcycling all over the U.S wasn’t going to happen. Life changed, we changed, and I changed and with acceptance came a contentedness which I cannot truly explain.

In the days when things are the most difficult, gratitude touches my lips in conversations and in my private prayers. I have learned to share gratitude with others, to thank them, to compliment them, to give them hope when it all seems hopeless. As the year 2011 quickly approaches, I realize just how happy I am with the changes I have made over the last year and how much I look forward to the challenges that the New Year will bring.

Many blessings,
Angela

When a Nightmare Makes Life Easier

2010-12-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

I spent our 25th Wedding Anniversary with the flu. It wasn't what we had planned for at all...it was supposed to be one of those days where we go out and just have a great day together, have a nice dinner and come home. Unfortunately, the flu sent me to bed where I ended up sleeping for 22 hours out of 24. In those nightmarish states of sleeping with the flu I kept dreaming over and over again how impossible it was to keep up with all the different sites I have for my Trinkets Business. I'd find myself landing on one site only to discover that everything was all messed up. I'd spend time, over and over again cleaning it up, refigure all the shipping costs and figure out where all my items went. Then I'd hop off to the next site and discover all the same things went wrong at that site too. Sleeping with the flu is like trying to sleep with rattle snakes. It just can't be done comfortably and it feels like a nightmare.

As I got to feeling better; I thought a lot about those strange dreams and decided that in many ways, they were a movie reel of my life. I knew being sick would make it impossible to get back in the swing of keeping up with the different sites, the billing statements, the bids, checking in, doing a bit of advertising - you know, all the things one tries to do to produce a bit of income from their little shops on the web. Really the nightmares were not so far off in how I felt about having too many irons in the fire.

A few days later when wellness finally came...I began the journey of eliminating all but one web shop and I decided I would maintain an eBay page and use it when it is free to post items. I removed products from the closing shops all over to the original Angelina's Trinkets at Etsy where I reorganized, cleaned things up, refigured all the shipping and fished around in my computer for the pictures I needed to post to the new page.

Well, it was no small task; it took several days to do this and several more to close the sites down completely. Now two weeks past those fretful nightmares, my life is actually grown much easier and far more productive with my Trinkets business. I feel like a huge weight was lifted, making the business much easier to work with and a whole lot more fun again. I have more time to play in the creative process, more time to take photographs of the products and my Etsy page is set up to work more efficiently which in turn, makes posting new items a breeze.

I wondered why I should write about this and more; why should I post it? I suppose it's because I learned something about myself while I was sick; that I need to take better care of me, and I need to stop and listen to the wee small voice that has something it wants me to hear. That small voice is usually right on target with what I need to do each day. It knew I needed to make more time for myself, more time for creativity, more time to enjoy each day. Having my own business is my big dream....I love it when dreams come true, but who would ever dream that nightmares could make a person's life so much easier.

Sew Inspired

2010-09-27T20:46:00.001-07:00

This morning I finally had the opportunity to open up my new Quilting Arts magazine. Instead of flipping through the pages and setting it aside to read in the evening; I sat down at my computer and read the article by Susan Brubaker Knapp, Focus on Pattern. What an inspiration it was and so refreshing to think about all the patterns surrounding us each day.

I glanced around the room; the squares and stripes on the throw rugs, the random shapes and squiggles on the wood floors, the tapestry surrounding an Angel print of a little girl that so reminds me of my brown-haired daughter. Patterns are everywhere and if you are like me and love all the eye candy in fabrics, you probably have quite a few fat quarters stacking up around your fabric stash.

For me, the article filled me with a deep inspiration to take a walk to discover patterns in nature. I knew this wouldn’t be a difficult thing to do since I am such a visual person anyway…I can find patterns, textures and a sense of well-being in just about anything I sit and observe for a few minutes. What is it that we see in the sunrise sending white rays across the blue morning sky, in the crisscross of grass blades with dots of dew balancing on their tiny tips, or in the little birds chatting and flitting through the firs?

My husband will tell you that I talk too much and that he wonders where and how I can discover any more information to share with him. But I still chatter about the pattern of a bird’s wing, how the sun creates stripes across the sky, and my never ending question-like observations, “How does a round drop of dew stand of the tip of a blade of grass without rolling off?”

So as you can see, I chattered us all off topic. What I wanted to tell you was the inspiration that stuck with my muse today was how I need to take my love of patterns and intricate designs in nature and transfer them onto fabric. I have been thread painting lately; making 5x7” postcards and birthday greetings for people. I haven’t accomplished anything great, but I have found a new love in this idea of dropping the feed dogs and letting my hands float along on fabric. The color of threads is awesome when it all begins blending into little abstracts or pictures.

What will you make this week? What pattern will inspire you to create a 5x7” postcard?

Please feel free to post a picture your thread painted artwork in the photos here at Angelina’s Trinkets and Creatives on Facebook. Remember to put your name with the caption. If you are not a Facebook member and would like to share with us, please post a comment at Angelina’s Trinkets blog with a link back to your thread painting.

Enjoy the week!
Blessings,
Angelina

I'm a Guest Artist....

2010-07-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

How delighted I am to share with you that Cindy Adkins asked me to be a guest artist at her blog, I Owe it All to Him.

It's funny how things happen; when Cindy stopped by to invite me over for a look at her blog and asked if I would like to be a guest artist...I had earlier in the day ran into an old friend who began asking me about where my kids are now and how they're all doing.

I related to her that three of our sons were all recently in Iraq together, one has since come home, and soon our daughter will deploy to another country. I also noted to my friend that we had a daughter-in-law in Iraq years ago and another daughter-in-law is now in the army.

She went on to ask me, "How do you deal with all the deployments and having your children in a war zone? How do you stay sane?" I said, "You know, this is our 7th deployment through Iraq. We've had children in Iraq since shortly after 9/11 and have had very little breaks in between the deployments." I went on to say, "But you know, "I Owe it All to Him," I say hundreds of tiny prayers every single day." My friend thought I was kidding and I told her again that I actually had to teach myself to fully Trust in God and allow Him to lead me through each and every deployment...and in doing this I learned to pray constantly.

The truth is, I would not have made it through that very first deployment if I hadn't learned that I could actually fully Trust in the Lord to see me through and Trust that He would keep a watchful eye over them. The first 6 months, I cried every night and rarely slept without feeling terrified for our son that was there. My retired military husband tried to give me some comfort, but I was too unwilling to let go of my fear and worry. I kept the news on 24/7 and when fear kept me awake, I watched the news and kept vigil over every single word and news flash. Finally, I had a breaking point and in a heart wrenching moment of sobbing; I heard the words, "You have to Trust in Me!"

It was that point that I prayed and turned it all over to God and I have done this since that time. There are hundreds of little prayers that cross my lips throughout each and every day. In this I have found hundreds of wonderful little blessings each day; in a simple yet complex flower growing through a crack in the side walk, the little bird that sings in the tall firs, the rain drop on the window that catches a sun ray and sparkles like a rainbow againt the wall...and of course family blessings that I am thankful for many times over.

So the funny thing was that I had early told my friend, "I Owe it All to Him," and then to hear from Cindy...it just seemed to come full circle and for this I am dearly greatful.

Thank you Cindy for including me in your beautifully written words and for using one of my baskets as part of the writing. This was all such a delight and all a wonderful blessing.

Angelina (Angela)

I Have Some Great Scrapbook and Ephemra....

2010-07-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

I have some great scrapbook and ephemra items for sale at eBay, with today being the last day, I wanted to share the links with you as the 4 "LOTS" I have to sale are full of all kinds of goodies to use in your daily art and craft projects. Especially great for the challenges and ATC's creations. Clicking on the LOT should take you to view the eBay listing where I have more pictures posted and more information on these items. It was time for me to go through all my creative supplies and reorganize my drawers and shelves. I will be posting about 6 more "Lots" in the near future; more paper, stamps, some ink pads, albums, etc.

Blessings, Angelina

Lot A

Lot B
Lot C

Lot D

Mixed Media Monday - Something New

2010-06-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've followed Mixed Media Monday for quite a while and always enjoy seeing what all the artists have created for the new challenge. This week I'm finally jumping in with both feet and adding my thoughts on "Something New." Since last week was something old my shadow box idea actually fits into both weeks. The pearls, perfume bottle and an earring are vintage items, the paper is by graphic45, to which I added new beads, and other embellishments.

Getting Cozy with Pie Cozies

2010-06-11T21:10:00.001-07:00

Here's some of the pie cozies I've been designing, sewing, and selling like crazy.

I have to say, the Pie Keepers (as I originally named them), really do keep a pie rather cozy. The one thing I really like about them is if you have the glass shelves in your refridgerator like I do, you can set the baked pie, still warm, into the cozy and then into the refridgerator. This has been great; before I was using the pot holders and then low and behold, I couldn't find the pot holder when I need it as I would leave it right on the shelve where the pie was sitting - why I tend to leave the pot holders in the fridge is truly a mystery to me.

I also like that I can set the pie(s) to cool right in the cozy while it sits on the counter. The pie cozy keeps the counter cool. I've even set my hot tea pot into the cozy when I couldn't find my trivet. And the most delightful thing I love about the cozies; they transport a pie fantastically! Just setting the covered pie into the cozy is good enough, but I like to put a thin kitchen towel or flour towel under the pie plate and flip the other half of the cloth up over the pie which helps to keep any dust particles from landing on the plastic wrap or foil I have put over the pie.

As I create more and more of them, I am coming up with better designs and ideas along the way. Most recently I discovered a new way to form and sew the handles so that they fold over onto the handles of the pie plate and keep the pie securely in the keeper.

It does make me feel good to know that others are delighting in my pie cozies and also passing them along as gifts. I can tell you from my own experience, a delicious pie in a pretty pie cozy gets a lot of attention; both for the pie (yum) and for the cozy surrounding it.

So with summer coming (probably not in Oregon as we are still getting rain in the valley and the snow level is low in the moutains), don't forget to dress your pies up for that special event, picnic, birthday or gathering.

Wishing you a delightful summer and happy gardening too!
Blessings,
Angelina

Aqua Sea Basket

2010-03-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

I love how this one turned out. I would also like to say that I created all the bead work, but actually the beads were once two necklaces that I discovered at huge discount.

The second I saw the necklaces, the basket was being created in my mind. A few days later I went in search of the perfect material and quickly discovered this fantastic ocean like batik fabric and immediately fell in love.

I brought the fabric home, set it beside the necklaces and it wasn't long before I was wrapping the cotton cord and sewing the basket together.

Today, after many months of thinking and coming up with nothing, I finally gave this basket a name, 'Aqua Sea.' It reminds me of the ocean and the colorful fish that swim and dart in and out of the sea anenomes.

I think this basket would be perfect for displaying all on its own, but it would also be quite a pretty display with small glass floats.

This new basket will be posted to my new Etsy shop, "Angelina's Creative Spirit." Stop by and see what I've been creating.

Long Threads - Where Art Starts

2010-02-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

A very long thread of ideas saturates my brain,
Winding up, over, around and through every pathway -
Filling my cells and coursing wildly through my veins,
Searching, gathering, discovering,
Wanting the dreams to become tactile...

Then the ideas burst forth from my mind,
Pouring words onto papers,
Sending my hands scouring through fabrics and textures,
Or pulling a canvas from the shelf
Filling my senses with the rich scent of
Torn papers, acrylics and semi-gloss mediums...

Finally all the self-collaboration comes together
and as if by magic a new piece of art is born.

-Angela Thoma
2-26-2010

Congratulations Go Out To....

2010-02-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

Dear One World One Heart friends,

No pushing and shoving my dear friends; it is now 9:00pm pacific time which means it is the hour for me to draw the winner of my Pie Plate Keeper and pie plate. I will be counting my first comment as ONE and will number downward to the 209th comment; I'll put these numbers into the random generator and let you know the winning name in just a few minutes.

Drum roll please.........the random generator picked number 67 which is Halle's Hobbies, an artist from Minnesota. YEAH! Balloons and confetti are swirling all around. Congratulations dear friend; I'll be sending you an email in just a few minutes.

Thank you all for stopping by my blog for the One World One Heart this year. It has been such a pleasure to meet all of you and how wonderful it will be to go back through and visit your blogs from time to time. I hope you'll be stopping by for a visit in the near future.

Blessings to all,
Angelina

One World One Heart ~ The Magic Carpet Ride of the Year

2010-01-25T07:08:00.001-08:00

Welcome aboard the One World One Heart Magic Carpet Ride. This is the blog experience of the year. Our hostess and the creator of OWOH, Lisa, is a northern California artist. Lisa began this event to connect bloggers from all over the world. Since 2007 she not only accomplished this dream, but the bloggers have connected and created life long friendships along the way.

Hop on the Magic Carpet and join a world of bloggers as they connect between Monday January 25th through Monday February 15th, 2010. I will be giving away one of my colorful fall Pie Plate Keepers which is an original Angelina's Trinkets designs. This pie plate keeper will hold an 8" pie plate and is the perfect place to set down a hot pie or to take a pie to a special holiday event. Please note: although the ceramic pumpkin plate is included, it was a purchased product to set into the pie plate keeper.

To be elegible to win the beatuiful Pie Plate Keeper and matching pie plate. Leave a comment below with a way to link back to your blog and an email address so that I can contact you. The winner will be chosen with the random number generator.

Please leave only ONE comment post. Remember, I have to have a link back to you. If I can't connect, I can't add you comment number to the number generator.

To sign up for the OWOH, please click on Lisa's link above or at the side bar, follow Lisa's information and start your own magic carpet ride around the world and connect with hundreds of bloggers.

Enjoy the Ride with many Blessings,

Angelina

One of a Kind - Baskets, Bags, Bowls, Totes and Purses

2009-09-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Since I last wrote in April I've found myself continuing to work on textile pots, baskets and bowls; and now I've added hand and tote bags. It's become quite a passion of mine to see what I can come up with next and my little carry around 5x7 moleskine is filling up with all kinds of sketches, designs and future projects.

In May I finally gave in to my nieces wishes and became a monthly vendor at Spirt Mountain Casino. The elders of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde began the monthly Native American Market Place in January of 2009 and it's become quite popular with visitors and guests of the casino.

The first weekend in May was really slow, but since that time I have started selling my mixed media collages, baskets, jewelry, Native American polymer clay sculptures, interesting aprons and some craft items.

I've found I'm having a great time being a vendor and the money isn't too bad either. A few of the greatest rewards have been the selling of my 12x12 collages and designing and selling the textile baskets, pots, bowls and bags.

I have a long way to go in becoming my own business. Some how I have to develop more time and energy to adding items to my Etsy and ArtFire shops and I definitely have to find more time to do the one work I truly love, creating collage art.

It's a slow process, but business is picking up and people are seeking me out at the Native American Market to ask about my collage art and see what new designs I have in the way of textile work.

I hope you'll enjoy the photos I've posted below. These are the most recent items I've created with fabrics.

Enjoy,
Angelina

Batik tote bag with suede staps and binding - this bag is created to carry a heavy load of books. $55.00, measures 11.5" tall, 9.5" x 14" at top opening. Strap length at top is 14".
When this design happened I was thinking about Winnie the Poo and his honey pot and I wanted it to take on the shape of a clay pot in the process. Price: $60.00 stands 12" tall base to top of lid handle, opening 7.5", base 3". Sold

This hand bag came about at the end of an early (4:00 a.m.) walk. I simply had the idea in my head and couldn't let it go until I finally sat down at the machine and stitched the fabric together. The base is a wood oval which I glued the upper hand bag section to. It's an open top, and quite adorable. $50.00 Base 5" x7", top 3.5" x 5.5", 7.5" tall. 5" Handles, signed on bottom. Bottom is stained with golden oak.

The brown bowl which has a dark suede trim and suede handles is called a "gathering" basket; it's the one pictured at the top of this post; Price $50.00, measures 11.25 at top and stands 5" tall.

The pink and blue is shaped like the old laundry style baskets, hence it's name, the "Burden" basket; Price $50.00, measures 12.5" x 18.75" and is 7.5" tall.

And last but not least, the green is a batik fabric and is a sewing basket; Price $40.00, measures 4.5" at base, top opening 6.5", 6" tall without lid, 7.5" tall with lid.

If you are interested in making a purchase but would like to see more pictures, please contact me.

Blessings,

Angelina

Making Baskets and Bowls Equals Fun

2009-04-06T18:42:00.001-07:00

Not long ago I was at the Finally Together Quilt Shop and bought the book, "It's a Wrap," by Susan Breier. After just one basket, I was addicted to the process...these little bowls are fun to create.

Picking out the fabrics and learning how the different prints go together has been the most interesting part of this journey. Sometimes certain fabrics turn out to be really bright baskets. I had made one from material with brightly colored hot air balloons all over it and wow, what a rainbow of busy and beautiful colors.

Following Susan's directions, I cut my fabric at 3/4" strips and wrapped it solidly around cotton cording. (Susan suggests 1/2" to 3/4" strips). The first one I created was done according to the book and it was amazing to watch the material slowly turn into the bowl pictured below. I have to say, the first basket was quite an experience in sewing and this little number has a whole bunch of mistakes. I knew one thing for sure, I had the wrong needle as it kept breaking which meant it took time to replace. As well, with the wrong needle, you also get thread breakage. I went ahead and finished up my practice basket and was pleased with how well it was shaped. But I also knew I could get a whole lot better; besides, like I said in the beginning, I was addicted to the whole creative process. So I began creating my own baskets and bowls using my own designs and ideas. That's how the Easter Baskets came about.

But before all the Easter baskets, I had created the rainbow basket which has two large handles. Then I made a large blue bowl trimmed with fibers and embellishments which looks to me like I will fill it with nice hot biscuits fresh from the oven the next time we have company over for dinner.

For more information about the baskets, please hop on over to the link for Susan Breier's site, Susan's Stitches. You will find a wonderful gallery of her baskets and purses which she has created with the cotton laundry line and fabric. As well, you can order her book , "It's a Wrap," through her store.

Happy Birthday Etsy Cottage Style Ning

2009-02-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

Etsy Cottage Style social network is almost one year old and they're having a party starting today 8 February and it's going on until 12 February. On February 12th Etsy Cottage Style will be one year old.

During the Birthday Party there will be a lot of fun and games going on.

This is a great place to get together, share creative adventures, chat, and join in some fantastic swaps.

Stop by, or sign-up if you are not a member, and have a great time.

I Have Awards - I've Been Tagged - All In One Post. Find Out How To Receive An ATC - It's a Tagging and Award Party!

2009-02-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

I'm finally catching up on things. The first month of the New Year brought with it a ton of challenges. I pray this is not what the rest of the year is going to be like.

Here's one of the Awards I received which is the Butterfly Award. It is for the coolest blog.

I received this from Barbara at Basia-Spirit Space. \Barbara's blogspot is a delight to read and just a good relaxing place to stop and rest awhile, enjoy her soothing words and beautiful artwork.

Here are the rules for receiving this award:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

The next award I need to get posted: The Lemonade Award. This I received from Patti at The Treasure Barn.

With this award, you pick 10 blogs that show great Attitude and/or Gratitude.

And last but not least, I have also received a TAGGING by Patti at the Treasure Barn.

This Tag is named the MEME and the Rules are as follows:

Open a document or folder.
Choose the fifth folder and then the fifth photo in that folder
do a post describing the photo
tag five friends to the "meme"

So let's see what picture I end up with.

These are a set of my handcrafted friendship cards I created which are for sale at my Esty site.

I am always greatful for such nice awards and wonderful taggings. They are certainly a surprise!

So what do I do when I received these? I have a AWARD AND TAGGING PARTY right here at my site, and I give away several ATCs instead of posting awards and tags to others sites.

This time, I will search out a few sites and list them with their link, here at my blog with some information about the site and why I enjoyed my visit there.

All you have to do is visit one of these sites, or any other site you love, then come back here and and leave a post in this comment section what you enjoyed most about your visit to the site.

I will send an ATC to the first 10 people who leave a comment with their email address so that I can reach you easily. Please put spaces in your email address so that it cannot be picked up by any spammers out in cyber world.

1. Here's one site I love to go to. Altered Expressions . At Altered Expressions you enjoy a full array of artistic expressions, beautiful art work and an fun to read blog. This is a blog I recommend.

2. Another blog I love to visit is Patti over at 7 Rose Petal Path. Her blog is a fun treat, filled with beautiful eye-candy, where mixed media collage abounds and fills your spirit with creativity.

3. Another blogger I love and apprieciate is Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian and also the creator of One World One Heart which unfortunately, I missed getting my name on this year (I felt so sad). Oh well, there is always next year, right? Anyway, Lisa's sites are always great and her energry and devotion to One World One Heart is truly amazing and such a fun filled project.

Enjoy a few sites or find some new ones and tell me about them and I'll send you an ATC. I'd post a picture of the ATC, but I haven't created it just yet. I may get it posted, or you may just receive a surprise ATC in your mail.

Blessings and Have a Great Day,
Angelina

The Miracle of Life

2009-01-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

2008-12-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

Be sure to stop by my Great Christmas Giveaway

Grandbaby Number 4 - It's a Boy!

2008-12-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

Isn't it a miracle...this little babe is just 4 months in the womb and he is so well formed and look at that, he's sucking his thumb! Isn't it amazing that the ultra sound can give us such detailed pictures?

Well, I have to tell you, his Grandma and Grandpa are really excited. This will be our fourth grandchild and with all the joy we feel, it's surprising this is not our first Grandbaby. This same wonderful, heart-full-of-love feeling came with each and every grandchild.

For me, I can't seem to pass by a baby aisle in the store without my eyes catching sight of something soft and blue; so even though our little dear isn't due until April, he will have a couple of presents under the tree, and a few more presents might just appear each month until he is born. Our daughter does not seem to mind getting the little gifts now and then...in fact, she oooohhhhs and awes at all the goodies, just like you would hear us if we were standing over a box full of tiny puppies outside of the store.

The pictures of our little miracle grandson really reminds me of what a joyous season December is, and how beautiful it is to know that we will be celebrating Christmas with nearly all our (5) grown children and their families; although our one daughter will not make it this year, we will have our computer videos running so we can all be home for Christmas in one way or another. My oldest grandson and I will decorate the tree and hopefully all will gather together to create the Gingerbread houses this year.

Oh the joy of creating a Gingerbread House. My oldest Grandson not only loved the making of these creations, but each day he would take another bite out of the house, (shhh, don't tell his mom and dad, but somedays, we would have to sneak in more than one bite, what are grandma's for if we can't do a little bit of snack sneaking).

From my home to yours, I wish each and all of you a very blessed and heart-full-of-love Christmas season.

Blessings,

Angelina

Containing My Button Collection

2008-11-12T16:19:00.001-08:00

Do you ever tell someone you’re collecting something and then they start collecting that item for you too? You end up receiving heartfelt gifts of stuffed bears, salt and pepper shakers, a little of this and a little of that to go with your compilation. This works nicely for a while, but after a few years, your personal collection is no longer a collection, it’s a huge mess of items gathering dust and you can no longer enjoy it because now you have way too many of the once unique items and absolutely no where to store them all.

With buttons, it seems to be a different story. When I tell someone I collect buttons, I very rarely receive a button to add to my every growing assortment. As well, there all kinds of fantastic ways to keep this menagerie in some kind of beautiful order and it never seems to grow old or even unreasonable as the collection grows and grows.
Buttons are truly unique in so many ways. They are vibrant, pastel, and shiny; they come in a huge rainbow of colors, large and small sizes and every shape imaginable. Some are highly collectible and very valuable whereas others are just distinctive, hold little value and only mean something special to you. While I’d love to take the time to get into individual buttons and collectability; I’m actually writing to tell you how I “contain” my buttons and manage to keep on collecting them year after wonderful year, button after wonderful button.

For me, buttons are magical. I love the textures, the colors, the shapes, and I love the dreamy thoughts they invoke of years gone by. A vast majority of my buttons sit in vintage containers above my computer desk. It’s here where I dream, write poetry, and catch up with so many others through emails, blogs and specialty groups on the web. Having my buttons surrounding me creates a sense of uniqueness in this room. It is here where many of my collages gather on the walls and photos of long ago relatives congregate. The vintage containers which house some of my buttons come in many shapes and sizes as well.

As you can see by the photos, a large glass butter churn and a vintage gumball machine are filled with these dreamy little items, while old glass milk jugs, mayonnaise churns and canning jars create wistful images of another era. This is how I manage to keep collecting; a button comes along, and into a jar it goes.

Sometimes, I find a special button; perhaps it is made of glass or celluloid…these I put into the antique candy container because they may hold more value and they are certainly more fragile then many others. By keeping them in a separate container, I can enjoy them more and I can share these magnificent pieces with others when they are in awe over the exceptionality of my collection.

I do have one container, a large decorative box with a pull off lid which sits at the end of my hall. It’s this box that I pull from for creating ATCs, and other arts and crafts. This box is also the button box my grandson is allowed to look through. As you can see, the box is full of all shapes and sizes and it is here where I also keep the bags in which my grandson and I can separate the buttons into the same colors as well as same type of buttons. This turns out to be a lot of fun and is a great learning experience as well.
The one thing I’ve learned as a grandma is that “Every grandma needs a button box.” A button box is amazing and hours of time just pass by with games and imagination, math and matching. It’s also a bit difficult to get the legs working again when it’s time to get up off the floor so I would recommend a few stretching breaks now and then.

I’ve enjoyed sharing my collection with you. Please share your thoughts and ideas about buttons and collecting by leaving something in the comments section of this post. I’d love to hear all about them.

Gothic Arch Weekly Challenge

2008-11-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

On Sunday of each week, the Gothic Arch ning site adds a new challenge for us. This week our hostess, Dawn Bryson came up with a great idea, to use buttons.

Buttons are the one thing I have a lot of. Vintage jars and clear vintage containers hold only a small portion of my collection. This Wednesday, when I start my weekly blog post on "Organizational Ideas," I'll give you a glimpse of my wonderful collection and show you how I've managed to keep collecting these tiny wonders without them spilling all over into the whole house.

So enough about my button collection and back to our wonderful Hostess at the "Gothic Arch" site. Dawn posted this information for us to follow along with the challenge:

"This week, I wanted to do something I thought everyone could play with.. Buttons! I love them on cards, and of course on arches. Create your arch this week using buttons, it can be holiday, vintage etc.. just as long as it has buttons on it. Yeah, more than one would be nice but one counts too!! (lol) Have fun creating! (-Dawn)"

If you'd like to take a look at Dawns creations and Gothic Arch, hop on over to her delightful site, The Chatty Stamper and take a look around.

Thanks for the challenge Dawn. I love creating the Gothic Arches and this one was especially fun.

For my arches I used three seperate papers. The bottom is a new glitter paper I found and the other two I've had in my paper stash for a while. I used "Stickles" icicle glitter glue around the edges of the top layers and the little girl is a purchase I made from Art Chix Studio. I applied Perfect Pearls (Ranger) in Pearl and Interference Blue...It was suppose to look a bit like snow (lol).

Blessings,

Angelina

Great Contest at "Angela's Heartwork"

2008-10-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

If you are loving the idea of joining in a contest or just love entering blogs for a prize, here's a new site I just came upon today. Yep, she and I share the same name...but she is much younger than I am (lol). All you need to do is check out her Etsy shop Angela's Heartwork and find one of her prints that you like best (very difficult to do as there are so many wonderful photos), add some of her contest information to your own blog then return to her blog and add the information to her comments.

Anyway, skip on over there and see what her contest is all about. She explains it far better than I have. It's always fun to find new bloggers and see what creative people are all about.

OMG! I'm the Featured Member at ECS

2008-10-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am so surprised to find out the I am the featured member at Etsy Cottage Style this week. What a great honor this is.

Thank you ECS for such a delightful surprise to start out my week. I truly am excited and just had to post to my blog so others would know to stop by ECS and discover what a great place this ning site is. Everyone at ECS are such fun, creative, and inspiring people.

Blessings,
Angelina

Stop By the Treasure Barn and Vote

2008-10-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Patti at the Treasure Barn has posted the ATCs for the Halloween Swap Challenge. Click on over to her site and vote for the most unusual card.

While yhou're there, also take a look at the spider webs she's photographed. They're amazing even to me and I am not a huge spider fan at all. They make me cringe just a bit, and jump on furniture if a rather large one is crossing the floor in front of me.

Read on through my blog about Cookie Sunshine's giveaway and also see that I am finally back in the swing of things and writing in my blog and listing my art as I go.

Thanks for stopping by,
Angelina

Cookie Sunshine and Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2008-10-25T17:40:00.001-07:00

Donna "Cookie" Gotlib, at The Cookie Sheet, is having a give away at her site for one of her delightfully artistic illustrations...she writes in her blog: I haven't had a giveaway in a while so I decided that this is a good time to have one. As most of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I've decided to give away a hand signed 8 x 10 matted and framed copy of my original illustration and rhyme "Princess Pink".

Breast cancer certainly touched our lives here at home; in 1989, my husband's mother lost her fight with breast cancer. In all these years, not a day goes by that we don't think of her. Her courage and daily "positive" outlook at life, even through her struggles, will always be my inspiration to find positives in each day.

Cancer.org says "For information about breast cancer, please visit www.cancer.org/breastcancer, or call us toll free at 1-800-ACS-2345, anytime, day or night."

Blessings,
Angelina

Halloween ATC Swap

2008-10-25T16:43:00.001-07:00

Well, it's that time of year when many of us gather together in costume form and enjoy each others company while little trick-or-treaters come knocking at the door. It is also the time of year when we exchange Artist Trading Cards, join holiday swaps and discover new friends along the way.

I came across a such swap hosted by Patti at the Treasure Barn. She is looking for the most unusual Halloween ATC...although mine are not very unusual; I did enjoy using the glittery witch and crow which I had purchased earlier thinking there should be something I could make with them. Patti decided she'd take votes on the ATCs, and the person with the most unusual would win a prize from her. It's hard to resist the thought of winning a prize, but really, I'm just glad to meet new people by stopping by to read their blogs, and be inspired by their art and photographs.

Others involved in the swap are: Whispers of Inspiration, Out of the Mouth Your Heart Speaks, Blackberry Creek Home Arts, A Vintage Heart, and The Treasure Barn. If you get a chance, stop by their sites and see their Halloween ATCs, and read their blogs as well. There are many interesting ideas, thoughts and inspirations being shared by so many creative and wonderful people.

Enjoy,
Angelina

Time Slips Away While Painting

2008-10-20T08:41:00.001-07:00

I've been taking some online classes by Paulette Insall. This one is called Organic Dimensions. It's been a lot of fun and I've so enjoyed the process. Paulette is a delight to follow in her lessons and she creates a fun and exciting place to learn.

These are created on 12x12 canvases. The Robin painting still needs words added to one side...thinking I'll add the latin words for "Robin," or something like that. The original image I picked up at the "Graphic Fairy" website. If you need an excellent copyright free image, she has so many there at her website to choose from; holidays, angels, fairies, cute children and delightful women...the list could go on and on. So this image I am using was a black and white image. I printed it out on a good quality paper, let it dry well, then applied it to the canvas with Goldens Gel Matte Medium. After it dried I painted it in with acrylics.

The Angel image came from a 1953 Ideals magazine. I applied Matte Medium to her in the same way as above. Once it was dry, I recolored the image with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II wax pastels (a purchase from Dick Blick). I can't tell you just how fabulous these wax sticks are; they blend like magic and are so much fun to work with. I was addicted with the first use of them and will continue to find ways to use them in more of my art in the future. I also used the wax sticks to add a layer of dimension to the background to give it the pinks and yellows that I was looking for. Her wing is from a string of butterflies I have hanging in my art space, poor little butter fly got one wing section clipped off and now he sits a bit sideways. The wings were stark, bright white so I inked over them with a bit of Tim Holtz vintage photo distressing ink.

Paulette's class has really helped me add new dimension to my backgrounds and I'm loving the whole process of painting in a new direction.

Little Fairies get Swapped

2008-08-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

I finally sent my Fairy to Pam and she received it earlier in the week. I thought I'd share the photograph of our little Fairies together and also the pics of the Fairy I created. She is sitting on top of an old perfume bottle (I have a vintage collection of them that I'll be putting on Etsy). She is created with Polymer clay...I couldn't get the clay to shape right for the head so I finally used a wooden bead in place of the polymer clay.

A Beautiful Fairy Wand....

2008-08-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

A most beautiful Fairy Wand came my direction on Monday. This is from Pam (Pammaro at Etsy Cottage Style). Isn't this just fabulous! I think she is truly a lovely little fairy with all her glitter on her wings and her dress. Just look at the wand itself, It is surrounded with so many pretty items, pearl like strands, shiny stones and a beautiful rainbow tinsel. What a wonderful swap it has been. I've so enjoyed getting my little Fairy ready to go to Pam and I have to say, it was sheer delight on Monday when her package arrived here. Thank you Pam, the wand is truly a gift to behold.

Angelina

Fairy Swap at Etsy Cottage Style

2008-07-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Kat Fuller at Etsy Cottage Style has offered us a great Swap to be involved in. This looks and sounds like it will be a fun-filled, adventerous swap with all the people that are signing up.

If this swap sounds like it will interest you, link to the site and join in. If you are not a member of Etsy Cottage Style, sign-up, look around the great site and come join the swap.

It sounds like the swap will begin around August 1st or so and we will have a month to complete our project. You can create your Fairy from any medium, and although there is a spending limit of $10.00 to $15.00, Kat indicates that this rule usually gets broken.

Blessings to all,
Angelina

Holocaust Star Project

2008-06-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

I received an email yesterday from Jillian, at Blog Me till Midnight. She wrote that she home schools her children and that they are working on a Holocaust Project and wondered if I would like to contribute a star to them...she writes in her blog about the project on 13 March 2008:

"We are doing a Holocaust Project and we are asking for your help. We are wanting to build a small Holocaust memorial in our front yard, so that my kids can remember all the Jews that lost their lives. We are asking people to send us "stars" which represents the yellow stars that the Jews had to wear. They could be stars of all sorts to symbolize the lights that went out due to the Holocaust." - Jillian

I loved the idea and immediately responded. As you can see, I've posted my Star which I'll be sending off in tomorrow's mail. I decided to make a folded star using 3"x3" pieces of scrapbook paper. I had a time with the center (gold) stars as the embellishments were too soft to punch through the thick card stock...I finally flattened them with a hammer and glued them down.

If you'd like to contribute a "Star" to their Holocaust Project, please contact Jillian through her blogspot (link above) and be sure to follow through the blog to see the beautiful art stars she and her sons have already collected. They are amazing!

Best wishes,

Angelina

"Isn't that a Little Loud?"

2008-06-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but when I get into my creative space I am most likely to turn on my music and crank it up so I'm in total rhythm with the songs that are playing.

On Saturday afternoon and into the late evening I was completely in my own space; my music began low and soft - I had to clear my head of the clutter which was taking up every inch of space in the room.

I never know what causes this clutter to appear? Where on earth does it come from? And why does it seem if the room is cluttered, my head is cluttered too?

Just yesterday all was fine in this room. Was there clutter in here yesterday, I had to stop and think about this...then this little voice with arms not totally connected to it threw her hands up in the air and shouted at me, "No! Don't you dare take the time to stop and think about this prospect, if you stop now you'll toss this whole idea into the procrastination pile." Although I was a bit offended by imaginary friend, I knew she was right. The room needed to be cleaned and I needed desperately to start another project.

Soon I was placing glues with glues, mediums with mediums, paints were put away with paints...Oh hey, there's that beading needle I've been searching for, good thing I didn't sit in that chair. I put the needle into it's holder and pushed all the beading items toward the other side of the table. “Procrastinator,” the little voice prodded. I ignored, giving the beading items an extra shove clear to the back of the table. I walked over to the stereo and put the music up a notch, maybe that will drown the little voice out that keeps prodding at me.

A canvas caught my eyes as I put the last of the paints away...Oh this is just what I’m going to need. I pulled the canvas out and set it aside on the floor for later. Did I see that little voice shake her head at me? I turned the music up a notch.

I began putting scrapbooking items away; embellishments go in there, I tell myself. Putting like with like; stickers into the correct sticker files, inks and stamps with inks and stamps, papers with like papers...Oh hey, this paper would go great in that collage I'm starting, and I put that paper on the floor. I picked up another batch and began again, another color catches my eye and I thumb through to take a closer look, Yep, this could go in the collage too. The little voice prodded at me, “Keep working,” and so I went back to the stereo and turned it up two notches this time.

The rhythm of the music was filling the air, I could get away with singing to it now, I know all the words, and so I sang along to song after song and as the late afternoon became dusk I felt this prodding sensation in my head...the little voice with the unconnected arms pointed at the floor with her long fingers. I looked down and wouldn't you know it, there was a pile of papers on the floor. Now where did that come from, it wasn't there a little while ago?

I shook my head and turned up the stereo, the music felt good. It filled every static inch of the room now. I moved back to the beads and began putting them all away, you guessed it, like with like. Then the polymer clays went back to the drawer, lining one clay up against the next in neat little rows. “Looking Good,” said the little voice inside of my head.

Pretty soon, the little voice was gone, or was she just singing along with me. I scanned every table around the room. Each was neat, tidy, organized. It does look good, I thought out loud. Then the sound of a prodding little voice, the detached arms from its body seemed frantic, Is she pulling my eyes toward the floor? And there, on the floor was this lovely pile of papers and trinkets; a little of this, a little of that, a canvas.

I caught myself walking over to the mediums, pulling them from the shelf and setting them on the art table, glue brushes beside them, papers being torn, cut, and snipped. Scissors were pulled, pens for notes and sketches being drawn.

Soon the collage began to take some kind of shape, the canvas now had a blue sky, my fingers were plastered with decoupage, the music was playing and I was in complete and total rhythm. I was relaxed, inundated with the scent and the sound of my creative space; clean and organized, with a little clutter across the art table, a little clutter across the floor. The space felt great, I felt great just being in it. I glanced at the clock, it's much later than I thought.

Then I felt it, a little prodding (no that’s poking) at my right shoulder and the voice came in loud and clear. I turned and glanced up from my chair and there he was, DH, with clear blue eyes saying, “Isn’t that a Little Loud?” I smiled, sheepishly got up and gave the music a little crank up with a wink in his direction, and then turned it down to a soft low sound. He shook his head at me, a small smile crossed his lips. As he left the room I heard him say, “Looks nice in here. Collage looks good too.” Thanks,” I say as I glance around the room. "It feels good to be creating."

Happy Creating,
Angelina

The Most Beautiful Piece of Paper

2008-05-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

In the mail yesterday, came one of the most beautiful papers a Mom could hope for, an eloquently written letter from one of my sons.

Kris lives in Kansas and although we talk to each other a couple times each week, this letter came as quite a surprise. Not only did he write in his beautifully poetic fashion, but on the front of the 5x8, textured art card was a painting he created of the ocean.

My heart nearly stopped as I took in the scene of my favortie place, the ocean, where it pulled me into the horizon with the waves cresting and the seagulls flying. I could image my bare feet buried into the cool sandy soil, the scent of the ocean wrapping around me like a fine leather glove around my hand, the breeze caressing my skin. My breathe caught in my throat - How awesome, I thought, that he took the time to create such a beautiful watercolor and then to write a lengthy letter on the back. Here is an exert of his writing, where he shares with me how awesome it will be when he brings his fiance out to Oregon this summer to show her the Pacific Coast...

"...the tranquility and beauty of white caps rushing in to take our sins away and carry our souls to our state of peace..."

He is my poetic son; he writes lyrics from deep within his heart and can quietly sing in perfect poetic motion as his fingers strum across the guitar - gently wrapping a sweet rythm in the air. From his very first word, he was gifted with the ability to form them into pictures, eloquently recreating the vision in another persons mind. Now I see that he also paints beautiful art which can draw one into his own vision of serenity.

My son knows me well, he recreated the place where my heart calls home, the ocean. The place I go to gather peace, to settle my inner core, to reclaim serenity.

Today I'll place this picture in a frame and hang it above my art table.

"Kris, you're so awesome. I love you, son. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for such a beautiful work of art."

Blessings,
Angelina

Long Journey Back

2008-05-22T11:22:00.001-07:00

My Dear Blogger Friends,

I have to tell you that I’ve been on a long journey lately; not the kind of journey you normally think about with airline tickets, suit cases and romantic vacations, but on a journey of self discovery through the loss of hopes and dreams, the loss of creative expression.

During this time, my “passions” slowly died; leaving me feeling rather hopeless, but worse, an ever deepening loneliness began to take hold and suddenly I was faced with this empty feeling of being truly unhappy.

I wonder where I should begin. I wonder how I can keep this short enough so as not to lose your attention and cause you boredom. I suppose to tell you that in my ever deepening loneliness, a small fracture of light flickered in my spirit and it was this flicker that never died, but needled at me to stop fooling myself. To look deeper, to keep seeking, to keep writing and journaling, to find a way out of the place I had put myself.

My life has changed seriously over the last year and although change is supposed to be good for the soul, if the soul stops feeling, the changes can lead you down a path that your heart does not belong.

I’m not going to go into all the whys and how’s of these changes, but more to tell you that my spouse became seriously ill several years ago, became disabled - in this came the loss of hopes and dreams we had for our future. It was in the acceptance of these losses that I am now realizing that a person cannot lose sight of their own visions while caring for a family member.

I simplified my life, quit my job and envisioned my lifelong dream of owning my own business and how it would come to be. I knew I had the creative vision, the passion to put into it, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to do this. What I did not know until just the past few weeks was that I had gone down the wrong path. I was not being true to myself or to my true creative vision. What I did wrong was I tried to change my artistic vision to those who phsycially touched my life, I tried to force myself to become something I am not.

In these realizations, I began researching who I used to be, where had I put myself, why had my passion died. I read and am still reading, The New Creative Artist by Nita Leland, Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam and Art Journals & Creative Healing by Sharon Soneff. I began a “Healing Journal” and quickly put to paper all that I had been reading about. I let the words flow, the art create itself, and the flicker in my spirit began to grow; however, the ever deepening loneliness did not leave.

It was this that seriously confused me so I was off to the web pages to find out more about loneliness and unhappiness in life. I paid a visit to our family physician. I wrote many emails to my sister and she kept me thinking about my creative side, my visions, my hopes and my dreams. I read many of your blogs and could feel your creativity stirring in my heart; I got hooked up with the Etsy Cottage Style website through 7 Rose Petal Path's blog, the entrapuneral spirit of my niece at All Nations Spirit Circle and in the mail I received a letter with an article attached from my cousin, Kathy, to take a look at the site, Make Mine Pink.

It all began to fall into place as I scanned my home environment; I looked at what was behind the closed cabinets, I glanced over my furniture, my pictures, and the angels over the doors. I took in the scents, the textures, the colors, especially in my creative space. I gathered up my magazines, my books, my saved articles and my idea files, the art I have from other artists. I began questioning myself on these things.

What is it about them that I love? Why do I love these things, why do I love these ideas? What passion does it spark in me? And it all began to pull itself around me like a soft worn blanket. I was a part of these vintage items, these soft worn textures, the mixed-media and cornucopia of buttons, fabrics, beaded handbags, and linens, crocheted and tatted doilies, antique glassware in soft pinks and greens, vintage perfume bottles, worn wire angels over the doorways…

…it struck me that I was not being true to myself; my artistic vision was on the wrong path. I had put so many of these wonderful vintage items away, behind the closed cabinets and tucked into drawers, I had taken many of these items off the walls, removed them from my furniture, repainted my walls the wrong colors – never realizing that I was putting a larger part of myself into storage as well. I had isolated myself, hence the loneliness grew deeper, the unhappiness enveloped me and I felt like an empty vessel.

I was lonely for my artistic vision. I was unhappy with myself for having closed the doors on my vintage collections. I was lonely for my creative spirit, the song in my soul, the passion I had always felt in my heart. The unhappiness was because I no longer reflected in my home, these very things that had created a balance in my life.

I love the feel of textures, the scent of paper, and the sight of vanilla candles flickering in a dark room. I love the romantic and vintage look of old beaded handbags, perfume bottles, glass butter churns filled with buttons, soft pinks and greens, depression era glassware, ribbons stringing from a vintage book, and old poetry written by long dead, but truly romantic poets.

When one is faced with serious changes, life altering experiences, a loss of some kind; it is important to stay true to our creative side, the artist that lives deep in our core. I can tell you from experience that it is a long journey back toward the creative life. The blocks of creativity come and go, and come again and then leave for long periods at a time and in this; the emptiness for one self becomes evident. It leaves a person with raw emotions, longings, and an ever deepening loneliness.

What happens next; well, my spirit is fully lit, my soul sings quietly, my heart feels passion growing. The loneliness is gone; the unhappiness is not an issue. Once I realized that I was on the wrong path, I began to function without a block in my creativity.

I can feel and see with a passionate vision. I am full of hopes and dreams. I am thankful for this wonderful community of artists that keep me in the loop and kept a light on their creativity so I would not lose my way. I am thankful for all the wonderful circumstances that kept my spirit flickering; the books, my sister, my cousin, my niece and the beauty of the web connecting us quickly to ideas and articles. For a prayer that filled my heart.

I am thankful for my spouse’s love, his gratitude in the face of his illness, his artistic vision that would not let mine die away. I am dedicated to my life with him; filled with new hopes and new dreams. I only hope he can get used to the romantic feel of vintage items filling the empty spaces in our home and once again hanging with gentle ribbons from our walls.

It is good to be home, to feel my creativity again. To know that a deepening loneliness can actually have a deep inner meaning not associated with severe depression but is simply due to allowing ones creative self to slip away.

Be True to Yourself, Angelina May 22, 2008

Six Word Memoir - Tagged

2008-04-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Dawn at "My Thoughts on My Life, My World, My Art" to write a six word Memoir...I keep thinking, can life be summed up in just six little words? Can there be something profound to say?

Famous people all over the world have summed life up in quotes for ages so inside of me, there must be a quote; a budding memoir just waiting to bloom into a beautiful eleoquent string of words...I can only think of spring right now and how life begins anew each year around this time; giving us new hopes, new dreams, a brighter outlook. My life has been about extreme change and new growth over the last year so with these all thoughts in mind I came up with:

"Life; dig deep, bud, grow, bloom"

Butterfly Angels Surrounding My Art Space

2008-03-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

I'd like you to meet Hope and Intensity, my new Butterfly Angels.
Hope has beautiful Monarch wings and Intensity has a simple set of butterfly wings.

These girls are fun to create. What surprises me, each and every one of them turns out so differently. I love the process of creating a doll and how she devolopes her own personality along the way. I have dozens of ideas and some that I want to put into action this weekend. The sketch book is out and filling up with notes, mini sketches, and swatches of materials that I may or may not use in the creative process. But at least I'm getting organized well enough that I can come back to an idea and not have to push one stack of papers and items onto another stack of papers and more items (ha); my space is slowly getting a creative edge all its own. Amongst disorganization grows organization...anyway, the ideas are there and not forgotten somewhere in my head or on my art table and this is a far better way to go.

As for ART, I need to find a better way to paint the eyes, and mouth...and I'm thinking that I need to use translucents in order to get the effect I'm looking for. On both of these dolls I've used watercolor pencils for the lips and have painted in the eyes. One thing about the watercolor paints, it's easy to tone the color down if needed. It could be that I don't have a fine enough brush to get into the eyes with and this is easily solved with a sharp pair of scissors to trim a fine brush down even finer.

In a few other dolls that are just hanging around my creative space, their little glass bead eyes work out great, so I may go back to inserting the tiny beads as I love the look and the shine of the glass. It's almost as if their eyes follow me around the room, which can be good or bad, depending on if you get the eerie feeling that someone is watching you.

Well, I'm off to work on the next Butterfly Angel....or...she could take on a new form as I go and she could be something totally different. We'll see where she takes me in the process.

Happy Weekend,
Angelina

Do You Ever Wonder What it Would Be Like

2008-03-13T19:38:00.001-07:00

Do you ever wonder what it would be like...
If the snow were to come softly
On a warm summer day?

Would it feel nearly as delicious
As the sun does on a crisp fall afternoon?

Would it caress your bare skin,
Like the wind wrapping around you
In the high desert evening?

Would it make you feel as alive
As the huge raindrops quietly
Falling against your face?

If the snow were to come softly
On a warm summer day....
Would you dance among the crystal flakes?

- Angelina T
12 May 2007
*********************

The rain is here, with huge, thick drops falling one after another in pouring fashion. It shouldn't come as a big surprise to me (it rains in Oregon), but today it brings an unwelcome coldness to my bones.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am looking forward to the warm spring days; aching to put my fingers in the warming soil, take in the fresh scent of Mother Earth, drop in some vegetable plants, gently pat some seeds into the fertile loam , and watch my garden grow.

I was thinking when I woke up this morning that winter really doesn't need to last this long, then I heard on the evening news that there is snow falling in the Cascades. From my place on the earth, even a small east wind tends to bring the cold off the mountain where it seems to settle down around us in this little section of the foothills.

In November, I yearned for the scent of the snowfall drifting off the Cascades and when it came, I gloried in the wonder, marveled at the glistening mountains, and ached to feel the snow against my face...but now, the spring is coming and my yearnings begin stretching, hoping, begging for the warmth again.

Soon, the spring will come; the real spring, not just the date where it announces itself on the calendar and as it wears into a mild summer and turns into hot late August days; I will once again be yearning for the cool of fall, the scent of snow, and the rebirth of a new spring.

Angelina

Angelina's Trinkets is Open for...

2008-03-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

I am excited to tell you that as of last night, my Angelina's Trinkets shop is open at Etsy. I still have items to post but I have unfortunately been fighting off the flu since yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. I'm not about to let it drag me down though...I'm going to do as my Dad always told me when times have gotten rough, "You gotta be tough to live in the west" and "Pull yourself up by your boot straps and move on."

Do you have some interesting quotes from your parents that have helped pull you through the tough times? These are the two I consistently remember and have passed them onto each of my five children, but I also I think they were passed onto my father by his mother as she came out to Oregon by train in April of 1909 from Ulysess, Pennsylvannia with her parents, brothers and sisters...while here, they had a terribly rough time getting settled and making enough money to support the family. They ended up returning to Pennsylvannia by wagon trains in May of 1911. I am sure that when my grandmother said these things to my father that it came from a deep memory of their difficult times in the Oregon Country in the early 1900's.

Through the tough times and yes, even the flu; I'll be pulling myself up by my boot straps and standing tough and strong out in the West as I journey through this wonderful thing called LIFE.

Please come on by my site at Esty and tell me what you think? I'm always encouraged by positive comments and have so much enjoyed hearing from so many wonderful bloggers.

Blessings, Angelina

Busy, Busy, Etsy, Etsy....

2008-03-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the last post was on the 25th of February - wow, I've fallen behind. So what have I been up to? I've been creating and getting ready to post items to my new Etsy site. I am surprised at how many steps it takes to get things ready to post.

First and foremost, you have to have a product to put on the site. I don't know about you, but when I begin a project, it usually leads to another project or a new idea. Once a new idea anchors itself in my brain, I have to work on that for a while, unless I am so busy that I force myself to do a quick sketch, adding information and arrows all around the idea. I've never calculated the quick sketch time against the creative time, but it feels to me like putting pen and pencil to paper, adding notes and arrows takes just as much time as the whole creation process. But actually, that's just my impatience with myself, I know once I start the actual process of creating and feeling all the textures, that I'll work on the project until it is completed - to include the frustration of a process that didn't work (darn brain, sometimes steers me wrong), but the idea will still be seated in my head to work on later. So in the event of a mistake or something that didn't quite work like I firmly imagined, I'll have to sketch it out anyway and save this for a later play date.

After the creative process is over you discover that it's not quite over yet - now I have to photograph every item, whether it goes on a website or out to a local shop, I also add a product code for each piece (it may come in handy during tax time), and then I'll download the photos into the computer. Now this takes a bunch of time...I take too many photos of each piece, but I once heard, It takes hundreds of photos to get one perfect picture. I am thankful I didn't take that many of each item, if I had, I'd still be clicking away. So my photos are in the computer now - waiting for me to clean them up, delete where necessary, crop, etc.

This is where I'm at today....waiting on myself to get to all the pictures edited, but I know as I get them ready to post to my Etsy site that I will have to also think up some creatively thought out words to add to each picture. I'll have to think about pricing and postage/handling...it's all a process and I've found that each little process takes a certain hour out of the day. In the end, I'll have my creativity on line or in a shop which has been my dream for the last 16 years...that's a long time to dream about something.

You Make My Day Award

2008-02-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

I was given the "You Make My Day" award from Susan who has the blogspot, "A Walk in the Park." What an honor to receive such a nice award from a new blogger friend.

I just have to share with you what she wrote: You truly “Make My Day” – with each and every entry you make. I am inspired by your blog. I look forward to visiting you on a regular basis and being a part of your talented and creative life. Thank you for sharing your world. What delightful words; to think I inspired her really makes my day. Thank you Susan for the tremendous award. I do love visiting your blog and reading about your fun adventures. You are an inspiration to me as well.

I am supposed to pass this award along to another 10 fellow bloggers, but honestly, I don't know 10 bloggers just yet. With that said, I will pass it along to a blogger that I appreciate very much, Patti at 7 Rose Petal Path. She has been outstanding and wonderful in so many brilliant ways. I can't thank her enough for all the pinches and prods she gives to the other artists along the way towards creativity. She's been a gem and I'm very glad to have met her through the Paper Whimsy group at Yahoo. Thank you Patti for your wonderful sense of humor and for being such a creative inspiration to me.

I've Been Tagged - Play Tag Here for an ATC

2008-02-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Sabii Wabii who by the way has quite a post of her tagging at her Running With Scissors blogspot. Well it's the first time I've been tagged on a blog so I've been debating the logistics of a tagging and how best to post all the delicious information about myself that would even slightly interest you in the process.

In this tagging, I am supposed to tell you seven things about myself, some random and some weird....What can I say, life is full of surprises and I haven't played tag since my brothers and I were a whole lot younger, it might be fun.

So do I create a list for you or do I just create a paragraph and add commas in between each of the seven random/wierd things I think you should learn about me...hmmm, "How do I count thee, let me list the ways."

1. I write poetry; poems of love, passion, joys, loneliness and longing; poems of nature, ocean, dreams...when it filters into my life, I write until it leaves and I am left sitting at the art table with new found peace and joy in my heart, ready to get back to work on another project.
2. I love collecting vintage purses, vintage buttons, vintage bears, and oddly enough, rolling pins.
3. I'm into genealogy; researching, writing, and reading about my family history as well as collecting old family photographs.

This is getting more difficult. What else is there?

4. I take hundreds of pictures; always looking for just the right one to turn into a digital scrapbook paper or to frame and put on my wall.

5. I get these creative urges that nag at my core until I satisfiy them by creating what my inner-self is pressing me to produce.
6. I can't go a day without calling my mom; after all, she's my best friend.
7. I love the ocean; I can't go long without seeing, feeling and hearing the waves and the wind.

Whew, I'm glad that's over. Now I'm supposed to tag seven others. But since I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea, I thought, "Does it matter who or how I tag them?"

Here's what I've decided to do for a tagging.

For the first seven people that comment on my "Tagging Post," I will send you an ATC of the 'Tag Holding Teddy Bears' pictured here. Sorry, little bear not included, but I'll include your tag number with your ATC.

I'm so glad you've all stopped by.
Now Get Ready, Get Set, GO!
Tag - Your It!

Who will be the first seven bloggers to "tag" in with a comment to receive an ATC?

Vintage Victorian Romance Charity Fan

2008-02-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

This Fan Project was truly a lot of fun; not only in the creation but in the meeting of new online friends. There were five people in each group; each of us sharing one fan blade to create one of our own fans and one completed fan will be put into a Charity Auction. The fan pictured here is the one sent to Gale Blair of PaperWhimsy for the auction.

Each of the blades has an image from the PaperWhimsy website which now has a new forum. The forum is filled with wonderfully creative people and is chalk full of fun, as well as artistic projects. The environment at the site is remarkable; with friendly conversations and artistic support.

The delightful artists for this fan are: Patti, Carol, Mary Ann and Linda. Thank you all for working on and creating these little beauties. I've hung mine on the wall above my art table and I just love looking at it.

Pink Hearts, Not in the Company of Men

2008-02-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

You can imagine the look across his face as I handed him this beaded heart window hanger, "It's all pink," he whispers. "I know," I replied in the same low voice, "I just made it." So although he has this silly look with a blush crossing his cheeks; I can still see the smile that is suppressed behind his tightly closed lips. It's all in the eyes; the sheer affection that illuminates behind the bluish-green hues which sparkle like a million stars in the sky. I realized immediately that it wasn't that he didn't like my little creation but it was all in my presentation.

For several hours I was happily anchored to my art table creating dragonflies (they're going out to a shop). After a while, I had this idea in my head (I talked about this in an earlier post) and I just needed to generate the design before it lapsed into the part of my brain that is full of creative disorganization and incomplete artistic images.

With all the colors of Valentine's Day still fresh in my memory I pulled out all the beads that spoke of love; pinks, reds, a touch of silver and a touch of rich copper. It all came together quickly in the spirit of love, but during this time I had completely shut everything else out. I was once again immersed into the deeply refreshing world of wonder, creativity, and imagination...and apparently while in this creative state, company came to visit. And me, not a care in the world, walked into the livingroom and handed him beads all shaped into a nice pink heart.

You can guess now that pink hearts probably shouldn't be presented in the company of men, even if the men are related.

Note: The vision for this beaded heart was generated from reading and admiring the book, Instant Expert - Beading by Lucinda Ganderton.

Vintage Shopping - Time Creating

2008-02-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

I have found myself strolling through several antique stores lately...but the most fun has been meandering through the Albany (Oregon) Antiques Mart. I spent some time there one day last week and wandered through again today, most likely trying to convince myself that I really need another jar of buttons mixed with tiny trinkets.

But really today I was shopping for more vintage items, (you know), time worn "trinkets;" I have this idea criss-crossing through my mind; an elegant necklace I want to create with antique findings using old brass, copper or gun metal colors with a smooth and worn finish. Do you ever get an idea in your head and it just keeps formulating and trying to express itself until you finally give in and go make a sketch of it, or if you fortunately have the right pieces (which I don't), you just start putting it all together.

Here's the usual scenario...

I dash off to my art table, it's a mess from the last project but I know exactly where everything is; I turn on my music, and I begin working...falling in tune with the spirit of the whole journey of creating. It becomes a rhythm with colors and textures melding together and piece by tiny piece it all begins looking like something wonderful. Time has been standing still and I am at peace. Life just feels good. I become so totally immersed in the textures, scents and quiet that I find....

Several hours later I'm emerging from my creative space with the piece finely tuned and I'm anxious to share it with someone, but I realize that all the lights are off in the house and everyone has actually gone to bed. "Hmmm, how can they sleep when I'm creating such a lovely work of art," I find myself thinking as I stand in the empty darkened hallway.

Then I hear it, the sound of an otter tail thundering against the walls of the hall; the sleeping people stir as if to wake and I begin thinking, should I let that thundering happy Chocolate Lab wake all these people up? Would they be all excited like the lab and rush out their doors to greet me with happy smiles on their faces or would I be doomed to the thundering sound of unhappy people rushing me in the dark hallway because I've truly disturbed their sleep.

I tell myself that it wouldn't be right to blame it all on Miss Cheyenne since she was the only one that waited to see my new creation. So we silently but quickly find our way toward the living room where I gracefully place the art in my hands and show it to my happy lab, my faithful art partner, my best friend. She gives me a giant lick across the face, wags her otter-like tail; then with a gentle loving pat on her head and a quick scratch behind the ears, she wanders over to her rug to fall asleep.

Art approved

Lab Stamp (lick) of Approval

And the Winners Are.....

2008-02-14T09:36:00.001-08:00

First I really want to thank Lisa Oceandreamer for creating and holding such an awesome event. I have had such a wonderful time going to all the blogs and seeing how creative everyone is. Every one has so many ideas and so many different things they are doing in their lives. Thank you Lisa for introducing me to so many bloggers and truly artistic people.

So after I hit 100 people, I really felt I needed to add a second prize to my drawing. The winners are:

altered melissa said...
great prize add me please and stop by mine if not alreadymelissa
08 February, 2008 10:31

Courtney said...
How Gorgeous! Please count me in!I would love for you to stop by my website and enter for a free pair of sterling silver, ornate Bali beads and Korean jade earrings i’ve made.http://courtneydesigns.ie/blog/index.phpinfo@courtneydesigns.iepeace, light & loveCourtney/ Dublin, Ireland
09 February, 2008 14:48

Congratulations to you both and thank you for stopping by Angelina's Trinkets and entering the One World One Heart drawing.

I'll be contacting you both by email for your mailing addresses.

Angelina

Pick a Number - One World One Heart

2008-02-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking how I'll draw the name for the One World One Heart event...So I googled in "Random Number Picker" and believe it or not, I came up with a site called - Random Number Picker, which is linked in the TITLE of this post.

Tomorrow when I wake up, which is usually pretty early in the morning, I'll put in all the remaining people that have left comments for the One World One Heart drawing. Then I'll let the number picker do the work.

Oh, did I tell you I'd let it pick TWO numbers? Yep, I've added a second prize to the OWOH since I received over 100 comments. The second winner will receive a dragonfly similar to the dragonflies posted below.

Good Luck to All,
Angelina

Congratulations to the "Pay it Forward" Winners

2008-02-12T21:31:00.001-08:00

The day presented itself with plenty of sunshine and warm air which was truly wonderful considering our weather has been a little on the cold side. It was nice to just sit in the sun for a while and watch the dogs sun themselves in the grass. Well, warmth breeds creativity so I came in the house thinking about spring and the Pay it Forward Winners...what could I offer as my little gift and in turn would let them each know how wonderful the day was here in the Pacific Northwest. Dragonflies came to mind and having recently seen a segment on the DIY Network's Jewelry Making (episode DJKM-611), with guest Vicky Star, I decided that I would give it try and see if I could create some of my own. When my son-in-law saw my little creations he asked if I'd make another one for him to give to his sister who collects dragonflies. So after creating the others, I made the Heart Dragonfly thinking he might like to give it to her for Valentine's Day.

Congratulations to

Ladybug,

Rowan Willow and

Sabii Wabii.

I'll be sending out a dragonfly to each of you later this week. Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting on the Pay it Forward.

Wishing you a creative day,

Angelina

One World - One Heart

2008-02-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

One World - One Heart is here just in time for Valentine's Day. If you'd like to learn more about the One World - One Heart art event for bloggers, click on the title above and it will link you directly to information about this awesome event.

So what is this all about you might ask? It's about art and meeting other bloggers from around the world. To participate, all you have to do is add your name to the comment box for this posting. On February 14th I'll draw one of the names within the comments section and this person will win my little Butterfly Angel pictured below.

So before I made a real decision on what to add I have to tell you I really debated all my different art projects...I bounced ideas back and forth, skipped over a dozen ideas and then decided, "Hey, I have a Butterfly Angel named Solitude sitting above my art table that would be a perfect art gift to give away.

Solitude is created with a wire body wrapped in beautiful burgundy chenille , her hands and face are made with polymer clay. She wears a delightful heart and bells at her toes which softly ring whenever she is moved. Her butterfly wings are shaped with wire and covered with white fiber paper. I wish you the best of luck and remember to check back to see who wins on February 14th.

Since I've gone over 100 comments I've decided to add a Dragonfly as a second give away.

Don't stop here, look at more places to win at my blog spot under Blogging Adventures or on my main page.

Pay It Forward

2008-02-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

The very artistic Melissa from http://alterediva.blogspot.com/ has invited everyone to take part in this Pay It Forward.

I think this is a great idea...What happens you ask? Well, the first three people to leave a comment on my blog will receive a handmade gift from me. Don't look for it too soon - it may be a few months, but I will get them out to you as soon as possible. My request is that once you sign up, copy and paste the above on your blog and "Pay it Forward" by making the same promise.

I took the invite to play from Marilyn at http://www.hrt2hrt4mike.blogspot.com/

Vintage Valentine Fan

2008-01-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

After creating the Vintage fan for the Paperwhimsy group at yahoo, I was on a roll and decided I needed to create five more to give as Valentine's Day cards for some very special people in my life.

The one pictured here is for my Mom. She and I both adore the beautiful simplicity of this kind of artwork and I know she will treasure this gift for a long time to come.

The fronts are cut from a heavy 12x12 scrapbooking paper, topped with an eyelet, edges were created with a Fiskars punch. I used stickers from Punch Studio and paper from the Love ATC Collection, Memories in the Making. I hole punched and riveted the ends of the blades and strung several fibers through them to hold it together.

Now that you have an idea of how to create this little gift, don't forget to add a little note to the back of one of the blades for your very special Valentine, With Love...

The creativity for making a Vintage fan of your own are truly endless.

Vintage Victorian Romance Fan

2008-01-30T11:47:00.000-08:00

This fan is part of a collaborative project posted at the Paper Whimsy yahoo group. Each person in the group creates six fan blades - so you may ask, "Why are there only five blades in your picture?" Each creative artist will send one blade to each person in the group, but will send two blades to the person who volunteered to be the Charity Lead (in this case it's me).

We will each put together our own fan using one of our own blades and one from each artist. I'll put the last six blades together and send the completed fan to Gale who heads up the charity auctions at Paper Whimsy.

There are several groups going at one time, this one happens to be Victorian Romance.

Want to Win the Book, Art From the Heart?

2008-01-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

If you are interested in putting your name in to win the book, "Art From the Heart," by Catherine Matthews-Scanlon check out her blog spot by clicking on the title above. The book on mixed media collage looks like it will be a real winner. I can't wait until it comes out as I'll be purchasing this one.

Stained Glass Iris Wall Hanging

2007-11-09T13:26:00.001-08:00

I created this wall hanging from a kit (Details By Diane). The kit came with all the fabrics, but I changed the batik background and a few smaller pieces to give the quilt a brighter appearance.

Details by Diane has a web site which I've added to the link bar to the right. She offers a whole line of Gallery Series wall hangings that are just beautiful. The patterns are easy to follow and rather quick to put together.

During the process of creating this wall hanging, I realized that I would like to start creating my own floral quilts. I take a lot of pictures of flowers and other nature landscapes that would truly be fun to create into an art quilt.

Mixed Media Lighthouse Collage

2007-11-09T12:15:00.001-08:00

This collage was created using several layers of scrapbook papers, along with the use of acrylic paints, ink, and stickers.

The first layer actually had a rocky shore line and I just couldn't get past the idea that the beach wasn't availble to walk on, so once it dried, I collaged over it and created the sandy beach, adding a seagull and some shells in the corner.

The original lighthouse was larger then the one you see here. I really had to focus on recreating my perspective as I hadn't picked up a paint brush in many years.

The ocean is created with 3 different papers, torn and cut to fit together to soften the edges.

Although the grassy area was created with many papers, I ended up painting over some of the areas to give the picture the look I was trying for.

Then came those trees; wow, I had a time with my perspective here, but kept at it until it finally ended up the way it is now. I know, these are not coastal trees, but I was trying to give the picture the two places where I find solitude in my life; the ocean with it's brilliant beaches and magnificent waves, and the mountains with a place to sit below the fir trees on a hot summer day.

As I begin my next collage (a mountain theme), my future with the collages will be interesting as I have hopes to put them up for sale and see where it takes me as I set off on my new life adventures.