The Great Acrylic Experiment…

Hello there – hope you are having a most wonderful day. I have something a whole lot different than my normal to share with you today…My Great Experiment.

If you watch YouTube, you have probably seen numerous artists doing something called Dipping, and some call it Dumping or Pouring. Of course, they are mostly using a larger canvas and their results are breath-taking. One lady used a drizzle technique with probable a dozen colors or more creating an excitingly breathtaking freeform design, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eseuXyNUfs from McE Art. The artist is Michelle Edhouse is based in Rotorua New Zealand).

Well, that video was so inspiring that I decided to give it a go. I did try this on paper first and was somewhat surprised and impressed with my results. So, I continued.  This time with just a few pieces of scrap White Foamiran. (Thus my small flower.)

For this experiment, I puddled Liquitex Fluid Medium onto a glass work surface. This medium has a long drying time. Then using watercolor mixing cups, I poured a small amount of the medium. To the first cup, I added a few drops of one color of an Acrylic Enamel craft paint, then spritzed a little water on top, stirred till well blended. Do the same for a second color. The color should be thin and runny.

From these mixtures, use a pallet knife to dip into your first color mixture and add a few droplets to the center of first Fluid Medium puddle on your work surface.  Do the same with the second color but do not overlap the first color.

Because this was an experiment, I used scrap pieces of foam. Lay the foam onto the puddle and gently pressed down. This spreads the color. When I lifted the foam, I was pleased to see that the color did not absorb all the way though. I lightly patted the excess color with a paper towel.

Then I took a second scrap piece and laid it on top of the painted piece to sandwich the color. At that point I selected a flower petal die and cut the foam. When I pulled the pieces apart, the color transferred to the second piece but, like the first piece, the color did not go through. Again, I patted the excess moisture and let the petals dry.

Next, I used my iron to heat the pieces and scrunched mostly the outer edges. Hot glued the petals per usual and assemble.

There is a different, somewhat like shaved velvet feeling to the Foamiran. Seems to be holding its shape. Maybe I will do this technique to a larger flower with more fullness.

Have you ever tried something like this? If so, want to share?

Thank you for stopping in.

Till next time…May God Bless You anf Yours

When Birthdays are Close…

Hello there. So pleased that you stopped by today. The tea pot is steaming so, please, pour a cup and stay awhile.

Jim and I have been blessed with two daughters. Their birthdays are just 6 days apart. Watching them grow into the exceptional ladies they are today was such a joy. We are proud of them both.

For the last few months, I have watched Facebook and personal blogs of talented Silk Foam flower artists. Their results have been so impressive. So naturally, I had to try for myself. Technique is slightly different yet still exciting. Pictured here are my first 2 Silk Foam Flowers.

I still have a lot to learn with both Foamiran and Silk Foam (guess we never really stop learning) however, I am eager to pursue this avenue.

During the next few months, I hope to show some of the different results of creating paper flowers and foam flowers cut from the same dies. Hope you will check back then.

Thank you for the visit today.

May God continue to watch over you.

A Golfer’s Birthday…

Oh, I’m so happy that you stopped by. The coffee pot is on, so please, stay awhile.

We have been blessed with a wonderful son-in-law. His warm-weather passion is Golf. From what we understand, he has a great “swing” and does well on his outings. For his birthday, this week, I have tried to create yet another card with a golf theme.

This year’s card was fun and a little of a challenge. I wanted to show a “green” but my husband suggested that I also show some sand. Talking with friends who often use glitter paper, I was worried about the sand dulling my cutting blades. So, I took a sheet of light brown card stock added a sheet of double-sided adhesive to it and cut it to my desired size. Then, the fun part, I poured silica sand over the glue.

For the “green,” since using scissors is difficult for me, Jim cut an abstract form out of adhesive-backed green felt and we applied that to the sand. Then I found the adorable Jolee’s Golf Embellishments to attach to the “green.”

Pictured here are two of the cards from the past few years.

Hope you are having a fantastic and creative week. Please stop by again.

May God Bless You and Yours…

A Rose is a Rose…or a Tulip?

Welcome to My Way. It is so wonderful that you dropped by. The coffee pot is on so I hope you can stay awhile.

For me, here in Michigan, it has been a snowy, icy and busy creative week. While preparing a few samples for next week’s Double Tulip Foam Flower class, a few special birthdays popped up. I decided to include two of the upcoming birthday cards as samples for the class. This is one.

The die used is one of my favorites. It is a retired Tulip die by Susan’s Garden. It was one of my first purchased dies a few years ago.  For this project I cut 4 layers of White Foamiran for each of the 3 petal shapes. Then I accented the outer tips with Barn Door Distress Ink and the inner tips with Scattered Straw Distress Ink.

For the Olive Green Foamiran leaves, I used Lady E’s Leaves 001. Then accented with Forest Moss and Vintage Photo Distress Inks.

Now the fun part – for the petals and leaves, use a very low heat setting iron to slightly warm each piece. Remove from the heat and immediately scrunch each petal and leaf. I try to do an accordion like fold then scrunch between my fingers.

After that, it is time to open and re-shape each piece. I prefer working on a very thick but soft sponge, like a thick grout sponge. I use my ball stylus to slightly smooth out the main body (ball) of the petals and try to leave the outer tips a little more wrinkled. Same with the leaves.

I did cut a sepal out of a firmer green cardstock. Using hot glue, start setting the 1^st and 2^nd petals across from each other. Now the 2^nd and 3^rd in-between. Offset the rest in the same manner. Once the flower has been completed, add a little hot glue to the center, then drop a pinch of Woodland Scenics' Pollen Yellow to cover the glue.

Did you notice the lovely background paper? It’s called House of Roses #3 by Lemon Craft. Thought the flowers worked well with this Double Tulip.

Well, that is all I have for today. 

We hope you will drop by again. 

Till next time,

May God Watch Over You and Yours.

Delicate Lily…

Thinking about the people for whom we make our cards really does help to determine what we want to do. The young lady this birthday card is for is always quiet, polite, more than helpful without being asked, and has the most beautiful long, naturally red hair. We don’t get to visit with her as much as we would like yet we hope this card will convey our caring thoughts.

The flower is die cut with Whimsy’s Lily Flower die using 0.6mm (0.02”) White Foamiran. (This die offers the petals for each layer as one piece.) Before shaping, I accented the outer tips with Candied Apple Distress Oxide and the centers with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide. Each petal is then heated with a low heat setting iron. (Do not press – keep iron upright and quickly place foam on it. It will pop off in just a very few seconds.)  Immediately after heating, I scrunched each petal (rolling between my fingers) followed by using a ball stylus to open it. To achieve the ball of the petal, I use a larger ball stylus and work from side to side, stretching the foam. If you have two hands, you can gently pull the sides to open the petal but go easy so you do not rip it.

For the assembly start by placing each opened petal (or petal layers) on a thick, soft sponge and again using a ball stylus, press the center rather deeply into the sponge. This will give it an up-lift.  Next, setting the petal onto my working surface, I then lay a dot or two of hot glue to the center only. Set the next layer and repeat for the third layer. As you are gluing, remember to offset the layers as shown in the pictures.

For the center stamen, I again put a little hot glue in the center, then took a generous pinch of Brown Woodland Scenics Pollen to sprinkle over the glue. Let it set for a few minutes and shake the excess off.

Finish your card and add your flower.

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Over the last few years, I have been learning a great deal about creating both paper and Foamiran flowers. Of late, I have been gravitating more towards the softness of the foam. Since we do not have many foam artists in my area of Michigan, I have watched videos from other many counties and gained a great admiration for their creativity. I have also studied the photo tutorials presented by ladies like Liz Marsden of Australia, Patrician Manhire of New Zealand, and Rachael Manu of  India who creates breathtaking Foamiran and Silk Foam hair pieces. Other ladies whose workmanship is outstanding are the extremely talented ladies of 14 Craft Bar out of Europe.

I wish we had a network of Foam-Flower Makers in the United States. A network to discuss our techniques, the products we prefer, and maybe even meeting up with others in our own areas.  

Well, till next time …

May God Bless You All Always

Retired but Not Forgotten…

I’ve heard it said that when you retire, you “sometimes” lose all track of time. Guess that is my only excuse for not posting anything so far this year. I did get my shop cleaned and sort-of reorganized. It actually stayed that way for a few days.

Later this month, I will be introducing Foamiran flower-making to a great group of ladies in the Ypsilanti, Michigan area. After some thought, I decided to use a retired die from my Susan’s Garden collection. I have used her original Tulip die many times and have found it extremely versatile. For this project, I cut 4 layers of foam per each petal.

Well, time to work on a few more samples.

Wishing you a very Blessed Day.

Till next time…

Our Christmas Project…

As many of you know, Jim and I love to decorate the tables for our church’s monthly pot luck dinners. We try to make our centerpieces interesting and attractive for our congregation.  Over the years, we have used beautiful store-bought silk flowers for all sorts of arrangements and in a variety of containers. We’ve had back-to-school themes, special holiday arrangement, a Farm Tractor display (collectibles and hand-made), and recently used a “fishing” theme. Last June, Jim did Fantasy Birdhouses out of logs with the bark still on them (see the June 8^th article).

This month, we did a little “borrowing” from the older way of life on the farms and ranches. When it was late fall and continuing well into winter, long, wooden horse-drawn sleds would be filled with gain or straw and taken out to the fields for their various herds. Sometimes they used these long sleds to transport fire wood and even their perfect Christmas Trees.

Jim’s version is a little smaller (a little more than 2 foot long). He used an assortment of various woods. He designed slightly different animal head runners for each of the 4 “sleighs.” Figuring the angles for the sides was a little more of a challenge, and then to fit the ends! Wow! I am always amazed what he comes up with, without a set of blueprints. We decided to add candles for each sleigh and again, he put his magical lathe to good work.

When he finished, I started searching through my holiday décor stash and also a visit to Joann’s. I stuffed each one with a vast variety of evergreen and berry picks, frosted and glazed fruits and many different sizes of pine combs. It was so much fun.

As I look at these sleighs, I am envisioning them sitting on fireplace mantels or long dining room tables.

Well, 2018 is rapidly coming to a close. It has been an interesting year that had many ventures. It was filled with joy and a little sorrow. But mostly, it was filled with love, excitement and wonder. 

Thank you for joining us through this blog and Facebook. Hope you pop in next year – never know what you will fine here.

At this time, Jim and I would like to wish you and yours, a most wonderful and beautiful Christmas.

May God Bless You Always

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Glitter, Glitter, Everywhere!!!

“Oh, the weather outside is…” actually it is delightful. We’ve had a picturesque but light snow today and a sparkly, multicolored, glittery blizzard “all through the house!”

Actually, that might describe a majority of our crafter-friends’ homes for the next few weeks. Christmas card-making projects, gift wrapping paper, ribbons and more, scattered all around your home. Oh yes… “it’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

One of my projects has been creating poinsettia place cards for our December Pot-Luck with our church family. I doubt if there was a glitter-free room anywhere in our home. We sparkle almost everywhere!

Meanwhile, this week, doing his part for the December gathering, my husband, Jim, is starting his woodworking projects for the centerpieces. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

Today’s project was inspired by a technique from Elizabeth Craft Designs. Els showed her die cut poinsettias using her double-sided adhesive tape sheets, sandwiched between velum and a layer of micro fine glitter. For my project, I did some using velum as a base but also used some of my pearled paper scraps as the base. The glitters come in a beautiful variety of colors so I had fun “playing” with different color idea combinations. The technique is simple yet the results are exciting!  

Well, Thanksgiving is not that far off and I really need to de-glitter my home before next Thursday. Wonder where I left the vacuum?

Till next time…

We wish you and yours, a beautiful and safe Thanksgiving.                                                                                              May God Bless You All.

PS - when I finished this project, I had made about 80 poinsettias! Not bad for only having 1 arm. 

A Birthday Flower…

Isn’t autumn beautiful? Our yard looks like a lovely carpet of golden yellows, bright rusty shades and soft yellow-browns with just a touch of fading green. The air smells fresh and is just starting to get that little nip to it. Autumn, the second spring!

This week, I would like to share with you my latest Flowering Birthday card. It is for a beautiful young woman celebrating her 30^th birthday.

The Flower: I die cut 6 layers of the two larger petals from Lady E's Flower #2 set. Using daubers, I accented the edges and centers with Gelato's Red Cherry. When I scrunched the petals, the Red Cherry coloring softened to a lovely soft pink – exactly what I had wanted.

The Sepal: I cut two of the larger sepals from a dark green Foamiran and accented with Chocolate and Lemon Gelato's. (When assembled, the completed flower measures a little under 3” in height.)

If you look hard, you can see an unbranded mandala die cut, cut out from a pearled green paper. By luck, in my paper stock I had some pale pink pearled cardstock which I mounted on the white card base.

Well, that is it for today. Hope you are having a wonderful day. Christmas is not far off and it is time to get those cards ready.

Till next time,

May God watch

 over you and yours.

Autumn Anniversaries…

Well, I just realized that I have not posted lately. As a friend of mine has said, “Life just got in the way!”

As you may realize, I’m rather hooked on Foamiran flower making. Just seeing the reactions from those who receive one of these creations is extremely heartwarming. Like most who enjoy creating, no matter what we create, we do these items out of love and respect for others.

This month, two couples are celebrating 60 years of married life. What an inspiration they are to all of us who know them.

Thank you for stopping in today. May the rest of your Autumn be filled with sunshine, happiness and lots of love.

Till next time,


May God Bless You Always…