Tea Tuesday Creativity

Happy Tea Tuesday!

 I love to fill my own tea bags

with purchased bulk tea,

or my own tea blends.

Tea balls and tea strainers are all good,

but sometimes tea bags are just quick and easy,

and good to take on the road with you.

I buy my empty 'press and brew' tea bags

from Mountain Rose Herbs.

I filled some bags yesterday with Yerba Mate.

Then I needed a container to put my newly filled tea bags in....

one I can travel with easily, if I choose to.

 I love to recycle, so

for my tea bags

I recycled a small tea container I already had,

( just about anything will do ).

Decorate the container with whatever you happen to have on hand...

 (I had some bits of decorative paper from a previous project )...

and finally, put a label on the container.

 (I used a scrap of yarn to tie the label on,

so it's easy to change out ).

 You may want to add a date on the label too.

 The green sticker at the bottom says,

"Enjoy the simple things in life".

While preparing and drinking my tea,

I will think of this quote for the day.

This quote was in my paper scraps,

but you could print out any quote you choose

 and add it to your new container.

Get creative!  Have fun!

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

H D I -- Lampshade

 This last week I have been changing up

things in the house,

getting things in 'order'....

which btw is my word for 2012.

Long story short....

I got this drum shaped lampshade

for free a few years back,

recovered it,

decopaged it.

I no longer liked it on the lamp it was on,

so now it had no home.

Should I get rid of it, donate it, or what?

Well, I went with the or what.

I began looking around at what I already had,

and found a metal ring, a light kit,

 and some silverware pieces.

So, I had this great idea to put them all together.

I believed it would make a great lamp 

to hang above my breakfast table

in the kitchen

It would also give me more light.

Total cost ....zero.

So, I threw out the idea to my husband,

and since it's raining outside,

he got to work on my idea,

and it's already done!

He is just the greatest!

The metal ring is suspending the silverware.

I didn't even bother polishing the silverware.

 I like it the way it is.

 It is hanging over my old dutch extension table,

which I have yet to paint and mark off my 'to do' list.

The chairs were free too btw.

All I did was paint them white.

Here it is turned off.

I may recover it one day,

when I redo my kitchen.

Years ago when I first got this shade,

I tore the old fabric off,

leaving the wire frame,

put muslin on,

and then decopaged some old

skeleton leaves onto the fabric.

It actually makes a pretty glow in the room,

when the light is turned on.

So, there it is!

Another DIY,

except mine is a

HDI,

(husband did it).

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Fragment Fabric Collage

What do you do with lots of pieces of assorted fabrics

that are given to you?

Make fabric collages.

I have been having more fun making these.

Copyright free photos are the focal point.

and I always add a quote.

Vintage buttons and embellishments are used also.

I make them anywhere from 8" by 10" to 16" by 20".

Here are some with a beach theme.

"Don't wait for your ship to come in.

Swim out to it."

"You can comb the sands or lie in the sun,

the choice is yours, as long as it's fun!"

"A real friend is someone who takes a winter vacation

on a sun drenched beach, and does not send a card."

"Live in the sunshine,

Swim the sea,

Drink the wild air."

---Emerson

Each one has raw edges on each fabric layer.

Denim or some similar heavy fabric is used on the back

to stiffen the piece, so it hangs nicely.

It is added last, to cover up all the stitching that was done.

Then I stitch a hanger on the back,

and it's ready.

You can stiffen it further by adding

spray starch to the back.

Makes great gifts.

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

New Watercolor and a Lampshade Tute

I've been practicing my watercolors.

Trying to get LOOSE, as they say.

If you know me, you know I love color.

I have seen all the doves puff up their feathers

trying to stay warm these days,

so I thought I would paint this one.

He's kind of abstract too.

___________________________

Lampshade Tutorial

Last year, almost to the day,

I found a tutorial on making

a very cool lampshade.

My Desert Cottage blog

has lots of great things going on.

To link to her lampshade tutorial click here.

I had a lamp given to me recently. 

My DH just did a bit of

rewiring to make it work.

But of course the lampshade was terrible...

plastic and dirty.

So I tore that off of the metal frame

and remembered the tutorial I had found.

Here is what I did.

You can't go wrong making this.

I just used all the things I already had,

old lace, ribbon, twine, yarn,

feathers (you know I love feathers)

keys, cabinet cards, vintage tags, silk flowers,

fabric lace doilies, a vintage wooden clothespin etc.

Here is a close up showing the strips of rusted muslin I used to tie on a key,

and an old wooden clothespin to pin on a cab card.

This key is tied on with twine.

The lace and doilies were bits and pieces from a garage sale.

I just used a hole punch to make holes in the cabinet cards.

You can find old cabinet cards everywhere for about 1 dollar.

This cabinet card is just hanging with a strip of rusted muslin tied to the top of the shade frame.

The vintage 'birthday hat' tag is tied on the top of the shade frame also.

I got some vintage tags from my friend Teresa at Cedar Junction Studio.

Go visit Teresa here to see what all kinds of goodies she has in her Etsy shop.

She is a wonderful collage, assemblage and mixed media artist.

She is making unique and wonderful jewelry now too.

You just never know what you may find at her studio.

The last thing in the tutorial

was putting an old clock face

under the top finial. 

I just happened to have one.

I love the results of this lampshade. 

The new shade looks especially pretty when the lamp light is on.

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Background Paper Tutorial

From Turp Paper to Graffiti Paper

I'm adding this comment from Bea,

because it says it all. 

Thanks Bea!

Excellent! If people knew how much FUN it is to make these background sheets. There are so many uses for them besides graffiti walls, too.

I take all my finished background sheets to the printers and make color copies of them. I rip them up and use them in other project, journals, make envelopes, etc. out of them. SO MUCH FUN! :)Bea

Remember the turp (turpentine) paper I made awhile back?

Click here to see all my examples

and the process I used.

Also there is an article in the Jan/Feb issue

of Cloth, Paper, Scissors

about this kind of paper making,

except they use Citra Solv.

I could not find this product so

that is why I used the turpentine

to get the same results.

The turp paper does not have a smell any longer.

Some said it would have the turpentine smell forever,

but I have had these papers in a ziplock bag all this time

and when I opened it, the smell was gone.

NOTE:

One thing the article did not specify was,

you have to use the older National Geo mags

because their pages are clay based. 
I have read that others use newer mag pages

and it is not working the same.

I have made quite a few graffiti background papers for myself

and also for the Graffiti Project I'm in with

Bea at Dog in the Hole Studio.

 Today, I will be showing three of the papers I am keeping,

and telling you how I made them.

Later I will show you the papers I receive from Bea

and from Kris (erosion bundle project) Henderson.

I will also show you the papers I will send out to them.

PROCESS:

I started with 140 lb. weight cold press watercolor paper,

size 12 in by 18 in.

I took my turp paper

and glued them to the watercolor paper with

a glue stick and pressed it down well.

I didn't worry if there were bubbles or wrinkles,

as this just adds to the look.

Next, I added a thin coat of gesso

all the way out to the edges,

but not covering every square inch.

I wiped some of this off with a paper towel.

Next, I began to add watered down acrylic paints

covering mainly the edges. 

I let this dry and then picked up some of the paint

with a paper towel.

I also used some masking tape

 (which I may save and add to the final piece)

to pick up some areas,

to make it look like it had peeled off.

I kept wiping with a paper towel.

Stencils were added here and there,

but not much because these are

background papers,

not the finished piece where

most of the graffiti words etc. will be added.

On some of the sheets I dripped paint from the top,

 so it would run down the paper.

Then let it all dry.

For some of the papers I tore up old paper

 and put on the watercolor paper

 before adding the turp sheets in the beginning.

This way there are multiple layers of paper on the page.

I mainly wanted the look of a wall

that had been papered and painted on

for quite a few years.

Things look like they had faded in the sun,

been ripped off and

some old graffiti was still showing through.

That's it!

If you create some turp paper or

graffiti background papers

let me know and I will put your link up.

Go see graffiti background papers here:

Dog in the Hole Studio

 Brain Bubbles

How to Make Turp Paper

I made turp paper today. It was stinky but it turned out great! These photos are my favorite pieces.
You have to do this outside as this is very stinky and you don't want to breathe in a lot of these fumes, so take precautions please. Wear rubber gloves for this project.
First you have to find old National Geographic mags that are 2004 or older because the pages are clay coated and that's what you need for the technique to work. I found mine at a thrift store for 39 cents a piece. I found out that all the pages in the magazine will not turn. Most will, but not all.
You need turpentine and a sponge brush and a container to keep your magazine in while it is soaking. Also you will need freezer paper or something to put the pages on to dry.

Take the book and tear the covers off. Discard them. Take out any paper cardboard pages. Tear the book into several sections making it easier to handle. With the brush start covering each page of the book with turpentine.

I covered all the pages in the whole book and let them sit stacked up on each other in the container for 3 hours or so. Then after I knew the process had taken place, I separated the pages one by one. Do not let them dry out during that 3 hours before the turpentine has time to "melt"the ink on the pages, as this will stop the process. As the process is taking place you can smush the pages around to intermingle the colors.

When you separate the pages lay them on freezer paper to dry, which should not take long. The smell will last for awhile I have read. Then when you use them for your journals and cover the pages with sealer or paints or gesso or whatever then the smell will not be there anymore. I have read that you can also buy a product called Cytrasolv or an odorless turpentine, which I have not found either one.

I love the way the pages came out and I will be using them in journals. The paper is strong and does not get weak and tear when it is wet with the turpentine so be sure and soak it well when you are doing this. I hope you try this as it is very unique and you never know how your pages will turn out. When you peel the pages apart it makes unique marks on them. Depending on what is on the page originally will determine the outcome, so colorful pages make the best turp pages I think.