Sheep collage update

Hello everyone,
I'm posting a few pictures of my sheep in progress...... I'll be moving to the face area next. I'm not entirely happy with the progress thus far but hoping that with a little tweaking it will look a little better.
The penguin is a collage that my daughter and I made for her teacher. We used her homework papers in the collage.
Thanks for spending a little time with me today, Maria

A couple of Works in Progress and New Collage project

I wanted to share with you a few rugs I've been working on in between collages. Count Dracula is nearly done but I need to rework a few areas of him before I am happy.  Normally, I like to wait to share my rugs until they are done but tonight thought it would be a good opportunity to share them in progress.  There is something that is bugging me about this rug and I think it is the face.  Don't know exactly what it is but something just is not working for me.  Maybe I'll try outlining the face with a darker green.  

 

Sweet Bea is well on her way too...For the background, I just grabbed my blue worm basket and started hooking. I can see from this picture that I need to do a little reverse hooking with the blue.  The light blue wool around her head and under her arms is just not working well...Stay turned for those changes.

 

Here is my next collage project.  I've painted the paper and am ready to start tearing paper and pasting it. 

Thanks for stopping by... Maria

 



My Collage Class

What fun we had at our impromptu collaging class. I am a novice when it comes to collaging but a few of my pals were interested in learning so we scheduled a date and collaged our hearts away.

Shelly, fellow hockey play, collaging this sweet little bird. I was blown away by this bird as I really had no idea that Shelly was artistically inclined. Not only is her design wonderful but she collaged the background in a manner that I would have never imagined. She tore the paper into long strips and collaged them diagonally. Very clever. We'll be spending more time together off the ice collaging!

Here are the girls. The three on on the left are all fellow hockey players. Don't they look to sweet to be hockey players?

This flower is Holly's gem. Holly is incredibly talented artistically. This was very intricate and going to be hard to collage into between all those petals but if anyone can do it Holly will. I can't wait to see it this week. Several years ago when I taught a rug hooking class to my pals, Holly really took to the craft and hooked an amazing butterfly for her first rug.....

Here it is.....amazing for her first rug!

This is Melissa's collage and it is sweet as can be. She included sentiments for each of her three kids in it.

This is Amy's collage and it turned out great as well. She painted some of her kid's homework paper and included it in the collage. I love her "Amy -n- Doug" graffiti.

Dee made this collage and the "H" stands for her last name and Home. Isn't that cool? She too has sweet sentiments for three kids in this collage.

Last but not least is Tracey's collage. She made photocopies of some of her daughter's important paperwork like birth certificate, footprints and birth records. It is just as precious as it can be.

We are meeting again next week and I can't wait to see what this creative bunch of ladies does next. Thanks for stopping by, Maria

PS. Yes, I still am hooking and will have few finishes or works in progress to share in the next couple of posts.

Little Devil Girl

Last fall I designed a rug with 6 characters for a delightful lady in my Star of Texas class in Tyler. She loved my Halloween characters but wanted the rug to have the phrase "trick or treat smell my feet or give me something good to eat". So in order to get the phrase on the pattern (the pattern is long) I had to create some new characters. Count Dracula was one and this little Devil Girl is another. While I just can't seem to find the time to hook all the designs I have created, I can collage them fairly quickly.

Here is what the gal looked like after painting.....

But the real fun and magic starts during the collage phase. I just love how these characters take on such personality when the collaging begins...

Some of my painted paper ready for collaging.

More paper....

Whenever I paint, I put down wax paper to protect my counters and I just love what I looks like when I'm done. But I'm thinking if I put paper down instead, I could use the paper vs wax paper for collaging. Ah something to think about.

Here is what my paint palette looked like during the underpainting stage.

We just recently returned from Florida and I finished this gal while on the plane. I'll upload the finished piece for you to see as well as some new pieces tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by....Maria

Finished Tulip Heart Collage

I've had a few requests to see the finished Tulip Heart collage but I've had a dickens of a time capturing a good photo of it.  The photos are not the best but you'll at least get an idea of what it looks like. Here are three pictures of the collage.  It is now available as a pattern for $30. 

Today I'm finishing an order fora collage of my Count Dracula and prepping for a class that I'll be teaching on collaging. Some friends are enamored with this craft as much as I am and wanted to learn so add collaging onto the resume!   Hopefully, I'll finish the sample for the class today and share it with you tomorrow.  Oh, and the Count Dracula in the hooked version is almost complete and I can't wait to show you how cute he is hooked!   Stay tuned.  Maria

Here is my latest project, Tulip Heart.  I’m so hoping that the collaging will tone down the colors a tad as this one is even a little bright for me.   I already have the wools picked out for this pattern (new wool that has arrived in the last few days) and am anxious to start hooking it.

I'm crazy about color so I snapped some pictures of my work area while painting.  These colors just make me happy. 

Since the first of the year, I have been diligently trying to purge items that I no longer need.  A blog post (can’t remember the blog) suggested getting rid of 10 items a day and at the end of the month you will have purge 400 items.  I have been doing this faithfully for the last 18 days and have made many trips to Salvation Army.  My family has even joined in on the fun, yeah right….fun being the operative word.   While I have purged a lot of stuff, I think the point of the exercise is to also organize as you go which I haven’t done.  It is a challenge some days to find the time to ditch 10 items.

So you are probably wondering why I am writing about this 10 items a day purge….Well, I've gotten to the point where I have items I want to purge as they don’t fit my décor any longer but don’t really want to take them to a thrift store as I don’t believe they will be appreciated as much as they should.  Lori Rippey sold items recently on her blog at bottom bargain prices to clean out her stash but insure that the items were going to someone who really wanted them and would appreciate them.  Over the next week, I plan to do the same.  I’ll probably do 3 to 4 items at a time and see how it goes. 

My first two items are dolls made by Cheryl Kuhn and let me tell you her handwork is pretty awesome. She is a part of the Earth Angel crew and her blog is Small Stories.  I don’t believe she makes dolls anymore and I purchased these both in 2001.  The first doll is just as sweet as she can be.  She measures and has a weighted bottom for positioning in a seated position.  I’m asking $30 plus shipping for her.

The second doll is more primitive in nature. Her asking price is $20 plus shipping. (sorry about the blurry photo)

I also have three fabric covered books in varying sizes.  I’m asking $7 plus shipping for all three.

UPDATE ~ SOLD

If interested in any of the items just email me at davemariab@sbcglobal.net Thanks for stopping by, Maria 

As promised

Here is a sneak peak of Count Dracula during the collage process.

  I still  need to finish the pumpkin and his pants but the pictures give you an idea of where I am headed with this guy. Up next, maybe tomorrow, is the Curious Goat.

I really wanted to start hooking Sweet Bea tonight but my darn printer has been giving me fits and I wasted an hour half playing around with it.  Stay tuned for more collage and hooking projects.  Maria