Lemon Tree Tales

Happy New Year 2013

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year celebration! We're keeping it quiet, watching TV while I'm working on the last 7 color rows of Steve's crochet afghan. Not sure if it'll be done in 2012 but here's to a good try.

Art Journal: Daisy page in progress

Slowly but surely I'm working my way on Daisy's art journal page. Her chosen theme was our childhood dolls. Off I went to the drawing board, after a brief detour to the photo album. At first I thought that I'd use three photos of me as a child with different dolls.

 

But in the end I liked one photo the best because I had a hot pink haired rag doll. That definitely seems like a type of doll that I would have liked. Here I am as a little toddler/baby with a doll that's about as big as I am.

 

Before tackling the details of the page I added just another element to the background, a stenciled design in hot pink paint.

 

Next came the rag doll sketch to tracing paper to a silhouette cut from fusible timtex. I wanted the doll to be a fabric version of a paper doll.

 

After auditioning quite a few fabrics I settled on this beautiful batik fabric that I used earlier this year for my mermaid doll. I thought that it would give some more texture to the page. Of course how can you have a rag doll without a triangle patch nose or buttons for eyes?

 

The only drawback to using the timtex was that it left a white edge. That kept bothering me so I tried to cover it with a metallic gold ink but that bled to the edges of the fabric. A sharpie also did the same. That's when I remembered this fantastic set of fine art glitters in bright colors. A hot pink would be the perfect accent plus it'd look great with the two hot pink yarns that I planned to use as hair.

 

Next I worked on the fantastic quote by Johnny Gruelle, the author/artist of the original Raggedy Ann Stories. That meant some time in Photoshop working out all the kinks before I liked it enough to print out on inkjet cotton fabric. Rather than collage on another layer for the photograph, I just added it in the graphics program. Right now it's just fused to the background page but I'll most likely add some beads and ribbons to it before I'm done.

 

I found a great rubber stamp about friends that I want to add to everyone's page. Fortunately it stamped rather well on this cotton fabric. The purple plaid ribbon is from a present that someone gave my mother-in-law. She thought that I'd have a use for it someday and she was right. These elements need to be fused to the page and then I'll add some crystals for a bit of sparkle.

 

So far this is what the entire page looks like. I'll know more of what I want to add to it once the main elements are attached. I still need to add my signature somewhere subtle. It also needs some beads for sparkle and more texture but I'm liking it. What do you think?

Groomed

It's been a bit crazy around here and no, I haven't been able to accomplish any of my creative to-do lists. Sigh. But I did manage to drive the two doggies to their groomer the other day since they were getting a bit scruffy. They have hair not fur but they can't get haircuts, instead they need to be hand stripped where the groomer pulls all the dead top hairs out. Here's a few snapshots of them once we got home. Oh yeah, those cute little red bows? They didn't last more than an hour or so before they became chewed, ratty and needed to be removed.

Now let's see if I can attack some of those items on my to-do list. How's your week going?