The weekend...

It's arrived again! Wish me sunny skies today, I hope to go over to the cemetery this morning to take some photos... in the mean time, here are the ArtsyBlogger links for today!

Beading Arts
Don't miss your chance to win giveaway package #2 from Cherry Tree Beads!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter

Celebrate spring by making a pressed flower card.

Laura - Taz's Corner
Laura shares some Free Mother's Day Designs and more.

Moore (Gourd)Whimsies
Creative Paperclay Design Team!!!

Made By Nicole
Add a little edge to your wardrobe with these easy to craft punk pins.

Kim- Flowers and Art

Kim makes butterfly wings for a toddler out of fun foam!!

Photo: Lynsey O'Donnell

Create a Memory Journal for Friends
Cherie talks about creating a one-of-a-kind gift for a friend.

Chicken Rotini With Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce
An easy healthier meal to throw together on hectic week nights.

Remember this guy...

He was hanging out in my backyard early last fall. Snuggled himself into the tree where he could get those rays of sunshine falling on him to warm him?









Tuesday afternoon I was wondering whatever had happened to him, and whether or not he'd be back. Then, that same afternoon I had the dog out and I happened to look down and guess what? He's back.... (or, at least it looks like the same one, right?)



You know, I really am not a fan of snakes. Actually, I sort of despise them... I know we need them or we'd be overrun with rodents... they have their place in the eco system, I get that... but I still don't have to like them. Usually, when I see one my heart speeds up and starts really pounding in my chest and all I want to do is get away from them. Doesn't matter how small they are, I just really don't care for them.

So you know what is shocking to me? This guy is making his home in my backyard, and I am more curious about him than anything. When I ran into him Tuesday evening I actually said, "Well, hello little guy, I was wondering if you'd be back." Then I asked him to wait while I went and got the camera to do another portrait of him.

And while I was walking into my building this morning, appreciating the calm after all of the storms this morning I was thinking, "Gee, I wonder if the snake is ok. What do they do when there is so much rain?"

Do you think this means I really am losing my mind?

If you haven't seen this...

Please check it out... this is an amazing underwater museum created in Cancun, Mexico by British artist Jason deCaires Taylor. I've been following the progress for a bit, and this is somewhere beyond fascinating... (amazing, intriguing, magical... )



Be sure to check out his other videos on his YouTube page... truly fascinating!

And, of course... now that the frame is finished...

You know what I'm gonna do... right?

See the frame on the right? It's got an opening for a 4" x 6" photo. Woven from one of the old books that I've gutted, and white washed, then sealed with a matte Mod Podge.

So... who wants it?

You know how this sort of thing goes here... the rules:

1. You must be a follower of the blog.

2. You must leave a comment on this post (I am only counting the comments on this post) for one entry. You have until midnight, May 17th to leave them.

3. For a second entry, blog, tweet, share the info and let me know where you did. Two entries are the limit for everyone.

I will use Random.org to choose a winner on May 18th. That winner will be announced in a blog post, and will need to get in touch with me no later than midnight May 21, 2011. I reserve the right to choose a different winner if that does not happen.

Good luck everyone!

And finishing it up...

Now, since all of the bones of the frame are done, it's just a matter of putting the woven strips of paper on the frame. It seems like it takes about a kabillion of them, but in all reality it takes (depending on size of photo and the tightness of how the strips of paper are woven) 175 to 200 pieces. Weave a bit, then measure. The only tricky part is the corners...






When you have woven as far as you need to, you have to change direction. You do that by weaving the pattern back on itself to make a square.










When you have a box, you continue with the weaving pattern to create the next side, then do the box all over again to make the turn.





I made the inner frame first, and glued it down, then did the larger, outer frame. An important thing to remember here when you are weaving the second frame that you need to weave them to fit into the existing one. If you don't you sorta get a look as though you miss-buttoned your shirt by one button... you know that thing where it is just a smidge off, but takes you a minute to figure out why. We won't talk about how I know that...




Tuck the second strip of the frame into the first so that it's all snug and then glue it in place.










Glue the front to the back and let it dry well. I inserted a sheet of clear acetate to protect photos, and voila... there you have it!

I fully intended...

To get back to the frame a day after I last posted about it... but you know the line about the best laid plans... Anyway, when last we parted, I'd shown you the weaving technique, and how I construct the basics of a frame. Now I want to show you a trick or two about how to make the stand for the frame.






In all books are the pages at the front and back that you see with nothing on them. In this instance I am using one of those to create the stand. If you are creating one, you need a page to cover the stand, and a thinner, folded and glued piece together. (That piece will become an "anchor" that only allows your stand to move back so far rather than completely collapse.)



First, lay the stand that you cut in the center of the page. You can glue it now, or you can fold first and glue it later. Once it is placed, fold the sheet around it so that you have your guide lines. When you know where the edges are and how the paper will glue to the stand, cut away the excess so that there won't be too much paper when you wrap and glue.

Now, you glue the paper to the stand making sure that it is secure. When that is in place, use an X-acto knife to cut a slit into the paper the width of your thin strap because you are going to feed it through. (I cut mine from the front.) Notice that on mine I have added a folded piece of paper that I glued down to create a bit more support.








When you have made your cut with the X-acto, slide the strip through.












Add glue on the back and secure.











So here you have your stand. At the top, I have folded the extra paper, this is what will attach it to the frame. And, at the bottom, I have the strap that will anchor the stand and frame. I've folded it so that it will tuck itself between the frame and the stand when the frame is not in use.




Add some glue to the folded flap at the top of the stand and attach it. Then glue the strap to the inside of the back just like over there in the picture.










Set it aside, under something heavy, and let it dry.

Next post... we'll finish it up.

What a colorful weekend...

This is what our weather radar has looked like locally... pretty much since last afternoon... it's made for a colorful radar, and a very sleepless night.

It's Saturday, so time to share the ArtsyBlogger links for the weekend! Have you noticed how our little bunch has grown? As I was visiting everyone the last round I noticed that one of our newer members, Nichole, added photos from each of our sites to share with the links... what an utterly brilliant idea! So, Nichole... because it is such an awesome idea, I am totally stealing it from you... and since I am... she's at the top of the list... be sure to go visit everyone, and enjoy!

Made By Nicole Learn how to make graffiti backgrounds using materials you have on hand.

Mixed Media Artist Cyndi has been sharing a travelog of her most recent trip to Guatemala!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter Learn how to dye Easter eggs naturally. Not everything needs to come from a kit or a mix.

Flowers and Art

This week Kim experiments with monoprinting.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Easter Eggs It's fun to make, fun to give these delicious handmade Easter treats.

Taz's Corner Laura has an announcement and an exciting opportunity!


Moore (Gourd)Whimsies 100th Follower Giveaway Winner!!


Peep Flower Centerpiece
Cherie makes a table decoration using what else? Peeps!

So, after remembering how...

To weave the gum wrappers again, I needed a project to use them up. This is what I came up with. Quite pleased with myself. I mean.. cool idea huh? Who else would come up with a frame? Then my daughter came home. It seems she's seen these everywhere. Talk about an immediate deflate... anyway, I'm going to share with you the process of creating this frame regardless. Along with the things I won't be doing for the next ones.

The first thing I did was to decide what size photo I was going to make the frame for. A 4" x 6" snapshot seems a good choice since we all use those pretty consistently. So, to do that, I am going to need an overall (outer dimension) size of about 5" x 7". At this point, the smart thing for me to do would be to run over to Michaels and get one (or a dozen, cause you know once I start I can't stop) of the unfinished wooden frames they have for about a buck... but NOOOOOOooooo... Instead, I used the heavy cardboard back of one of the watercolor paper tablets I had cut up for the recent journals (silly idea number 1). I cut one back (with no opening), one front (with an opening) and one stand. Enlarge the photo to the right and you can see the pieces.

I also cut three strips that are about a quarter of an inch that I will be using as spacers later. Now, I have a mat cutter, so that made doing this very simple. If you want to use a heavy cardboard to make your frame and you don't have a mat cutter, be very careful. I've cut a finger or two in my time when using an X-acto Knife or box cutter... I'm just sayin'.


When you have your pieces cut out the next step is to cover them with printed pages. You could lay them over the piece of the frame and carefully glue them down, but where's the fun in that? I decided that, since I had all of these strips of paper left over where I had cut the "gum wrapper" shapes that I'd weave a back. (That was "silly idea" number two.) Finding the center back of the frame, I glued strips all across.

Then, I folded those strips over and began weaving. Yup, just like making a pie crust top... (what was I thinking???). If you do this, you have to glue all along the way so that when you attach the stand later it is going to be stable. The finished piece would have been a tad more impressive had I used a t-square to carefully draw parallel lines for the strips to carefully follow. But, I didn't, and the end product is a tad caddywompus... but you'll see that later.


Once all of that was woven and carefully glued down I sat it aside to dry and started on the front. When the frame is finished you will want a wee bit of space that you can slide the photo into, so the first thing to do is glue the three "spacer" strips into place. Glue them across one long side and both short sides.




Cover (what will be) the front with strips of pages and set it aside to dry as well.

In the next post I'll be sharing more about finishing up the frame.

So....

This current obsession I have with re-purposing old books into creative journals has left me with a whole lot of book guts. All those pages that fall out or I remove are hanging around in my creative space and I swear, they are taunting me. Maybe it's because they are really starting to pile up, or maybe it's because the pile is starting to topple over... either way, it seems time to turn some of my attention to all those pages.

So... do ya remember the gum wrapper chains from forever and a day ago? I think the last time I made one I was in... oh, maybe the fourth grade. We won't discuss exactly how many years ago that was, suffice it to say, it was a few. Which makes it all the more strange that creating one popped into my head a couple of weeks ago. But, once an idea comes to roost it must eventually come to fruition. It seemed a good thing to make those book pages stop taunting me, so this weekend I searched the depths of my memory and with a few mishaps... ok, maybe a whole bunch of mishaps (I tried to make it so much more difficult than it needed to be)... I think I finally got it. In case you haven't made one, or if you just need a refresher, I thought I'd share... Start with papers the size of gum wrappers. Mine were 1.5" x 3.25".






Fold them in half...











Then fold the halves in half.










Open it, and lay it flat with the edges meeting in the middle... looks much like a gum wrapper at this point, doesn't it?













Fold it in half again.












Now we are going to do almost the same steps all over again... fold the folded strip in half...











then fold the ends to the center... and you have your foundation link.








Now, in theory, it is just a process of weaving the folded pieces through each other to create the chevron like pattern.








The strips should weave snugly, but easily, through the loop created by the previously added strip, then you fold the edges in to form the loop for the next piece to be woven into.





Ahhhh.... theory. I'm not sure how it is in your world, but in mine, theory and practical application are sometimes miles apart. (Sometimes miles and miles... chasms... oceans... apart.) If the darned strip doesn't want to go through your loops, it sometimes helps to fold the edge you are threading to a point before inserting. Being a tad stubborn and very strong willed doesn't hurt either...

You can weave forever on this sort of thing, or... you can do what I did with it... more on that through the week...