Another New Collage

Can you believe it? Another new collage completed. Although, I already fell off the once a week wagon, I am happy to report that I am back to my collage schedule. Last week I simply had an unplanned blip in my schedule.

This collage was inspired by a black and white image of a house from my collection of art postcards. I worked the other colors and visual textures into the collage as a contrast to the stark house image. I also found a "Do Not Enter" sign that I thought was funny because while the background makes the house look cozy, the flat black and white image looks almost ominous. You like?

New Year, New Collage

With the new year already underway, I decided to splurge a little and get a new sketchbook. The old one was great, but I wanted something with thicker paper and spiral bound, so my collages would be easier to photograph and share with you.

I'm committing to a collage a week, so wish me luck! Above is my first one. It's an ode to the snowy start to the year but is filled with cheery colors to remind me that spring is just around the corner. Enjoy!

We Have a Winner!

A big and hearty congratulations goes out to our giveaway winner....Shannon.

Thanks again to everyone who entered. I enjoyed reading all of your comments and learning how the holidays inspire your creativity.

The winner was chosen by random.org.

*Creative Holiday Giveaway*

I find the holidays to be an inspiring time of the year. There are so many opportunities to express your personal creativity. For me, this means trying new seasonal recipes - or creating new twists on traditional ones, finding unique gifts and wrapping them, and designing my own cards.

This year, I decided to take that inspiration and create a holiday-inspired collage pack for a giveaway. The collage pack, similar to the ones in my etsy shop, contains 30 + pieces of ephemera from plain to decorative paper scraps, ribbons, stickers and tags. Everything you need to inspire your own creativity. You can use this pack to make cards, gift tags, ACEOs, mini collages, the possibilites are endless...

So how do you win this pack of holiday goodness?

All you have to do is leave a comment about what inspires your creativity during the holidays.

I'll pick a winner from all entries received by midnight local time on Thursday, December 4 and announce the lucky person the following day on December 5.

GOOD LUCK!

Sea Glass Festival

I spent a lovely, albeit brief weekend up in Erie, PA attending the 4th Annual North American Sea Glass Festival. It was an inspiring weekend celebrating everything sea glass from lectures, vendors, collectors and a shard of the year contest.

Above is a brief selection of my own beach glass collection with pieces found mostly on the southern shores of Lake Erie and maybe a piece or 2 from Southern California beaches.

My latest beach glass pendant now for sale in my etsy shop. It is an authentic piece of brown glass found on the shores of Lake Erie then wrapped by me with silver wire.

Finally, because glass is not the only treasure you can find on the beach, here is my collection of pottery shards also found near Lake Erie.

Architecture Inspiration

I believe inspiration can be found everywhere as long as we look for. But sometimes, it finds you instead. Sorting through my images this week I started finding connections between my photography and jewelry, especially my paper bangle series.

Above is a recent image where I captured the window of a lighthouse keeper's house. I loved not only the charming tiny painted boats on the shutter, but also the colorfully painted framing and smooth texture of the wood.

Here is the bracelet I created using wood patterned paper. The appearance of the wood grain gives it a natural look even though it is coating a resin bangle.

The shot of the actual lighthouse shows the contrast of the smooth exterior surface and the rough texture of the brick framing the door and windows.

Similarly, this bangle, which I covered in brick patterned paper, gives the illusion of texture despite it's smooth texture.

Finally, here is an image I took of a winery that mimics a French stone exterior. The use of the stone to create a building that seems so many centuries older than it really is intriguing to me.

Collecting these images and reflecting on my own experience as a teacher in architecture museums, I can now see that long hind sighted road that led to my current creative inspirations.

What are your inspirations? Where did they come from?

New Beach Glass Pendants

After my initial experimentation with wire-wrapped beach glass pendants, I decided to try creating more. This time, I played with the wire a little more designing patterns on the pendant. Below, I used three simply colored pieces and then used the wire to create impact

I also worked on gluing smaller pieces of glass onto a larger beach glass stone. Then, I used very little of the wire to highlight the glass for these pendants.

Do you like? I am thinking of selling them in my etsy shop ranging in price from $20 - $30 each, including a silver chain. Would you buy one?

Chandelier Collage

Sometime last year, the friend, who commissioned these black and white collages, wanted me to do another piece that was similar but had a pop of color. She also wanted it to be a larger piece and to include an image of a chandelier.

Above is the background that I started with. I used paper from the previous 3 collages I had done for her but also added some book pages, toile patterned tissue paper and handmade papers.

Then I added the color contrast by using turquoise colored paper as a background for the chandelier image.

Finally, I used stick on jewels to decorate the chandelier and the border of the collage to give it a sparkly appearance.