Queen of Hearts Tags & Bubble Wrap Printed Heart Boxes

Where have I been for two months? Unable to post, but I HAVE been doing some small art pieces. Here's what I've been working on.

Queen of Hearts Tags: I hadn’t joined the Roses on My Table tag trade in ages, so when I saw the January theme, Queen of Hearts, it sounded like fun. I researched various queens, and decided on some romantic looking images from The Graphics Fairy. I played with them in Photoshop: one was flipped and arranged like a playing card; another was arranged inside the frame of an old valentine.

I mixed the Graphics Fairy http://thegraphicsfairy.com/ images with some painted watercolor paper that I had stamped over the Christmas and New Year holidays, added lace and some accents with faux gold royal coins and gold certificate stickers as well as fancy ribbons at the top.

 



 

Heart Boxes: A few arty friends are trading small pieces in 2014. There aren’t too many rules other than a monthly theme that we can interpret any way we want, and the rule that the artwork needs to be less than 6 inches. January’s trade theme was hearts.

I make and collect little art boxes, so that was my starting point. I wanted to paint some pre-made heart shaped boxes, but only had one on hand, so I did some Internet research and found a template for making my own boxes.

I enlarged the template and printed it on cardstock, then glued it to some painted watercolor that I had printed with white paint using bubble wrap. When folded up, the underside of the heart closure is visible, so I used printed teabags for accent. As an extra, I used some of my own hand-felted fabric, cut freehand heart shapes, edged them with a blanket stitch, and added a small bead made from rolled fabric, then tucked the felted heart inside the painted box.

Hand Needlefelted Native American Inspired Cuff Bracelet

A month or two ago, Cloth Paper Scissors magazine had a reader challenge for needlefelting. I had an unfinished piece of needlefelting that I had started two years ago, then tucked in a drawer. I didn't quite know what to do with it--I liked the colors and texture, but couldn't find the right embellishment. I pulled it out and reexamined it. The turquoise beading on the edge was already done, but it needed more. Then I remembered some silverish adornments that I purchased at the annual Pow Wow on the Shinnecock Reservation (in Southampton, NY) and tucked in my bead & button bin. I think they were designed to be studs in a leather belt...but they worked pretty well in the needlefelting. I used three, which distributed the weight better than just one. The buffalo head design worked visually with the turquoise and earth tones of the fiber. I added a few silver floral shaped findings from my jewelry-making stash, some turquoise seed beads and a velcro closure. The needlefelting was done with a little knob, like a drawer knob, that has felting needles sticking out of it. (purchased from Joggles.com) I added machine stitching in a variety of colors and designs to strengthen the needlefelting and adde visual interest. The bracelet didn't make the pages of Cloth Paper Scissors, but I still really like the bracelet...which will be just the thing to wear to the upcoming Pow Wow, coming up labor day weekend. I can model it for Mary Big Horse, who is a noted medicine woman and the person who sold me the buffalo embellishment.