Happy Holidays

Inspired by the Christmas trees we saw at Ironstone Vineyards. I bought a little scraggly Charlie Brown  tree.  I wish I could hum Christmas carols for you.

Pre-Thanksgiving outing

Ironstone Vineyard outside of Murphys was the destination for a little outing to see the decorated Christmas trees. Here are a few pics. We also did some shopping at Enchanted Cottage in town. Cat, Gin, and Joan and I made up the group. Lots of fun, and weather was spendid, plus we had the best turkey, dressing, cranberry and onion sandwiches at the winery.

Wild child

Candis and I were goofing around with camera, this is our fav shot with a little help fro Photoshop.

Favorite shopping and browsing

Here are pictures of a favorite place to wander around and browse on Soquel Avenue, South of Santa Cruz. The name of the place is Wisteria, and it is very hard to find. Someone in Stockton told me it was in Capitola near Gail's Bakery. So, the very first chance I had, I headed for Capitola and directly to Gail's. No one knew about Wisteria, so I went to the gallery there and then to several other places, and kept asking. No success! I was heartbroken. So, I headed over to Soquel Avenue on the way back to La Selva, and stumbled across the little sign and turned into the driveway. Well, it was worth the wait. And to my surprise, an old friend is the manager there. (Hi Carolyn!) This was a few years ago, and it is a regular stopping spot when I'm on the coast. I usually buy a few little plants or other things, as it is also a nursery. Lots of nice paths to wander through and you just never know what will be around the next corner. These photos are of my favorite spots. It is not decorated for Christmas yet, so I may have to go back again.

Fabric Covered Board Books

I've had some questions about how the board books were done. So, here is a very brief explanation.
What you need:
Board book, any size.
Fabrics of your choice.
Glue (I prefer Aileen's Tacky Glue)
Scissors
Sponge Brush
Deli wrap sheets, or wax paper

Here's what you do:
(Unlike most ways of covering the pages, you do not need to sand or prime them with gesso.)

1. Select your fabrics and determine your layout.
2. Tear or cut your fabrics to be about 1/2 inch larger than the pages to be covered.
3. Run a bead of glue around the page and all over it.
4. With sponge brush spread out the Tacky glue so the board page is covered thinly and completely. Make extra sure to get plenty along the edges. (Don't waste time here, as it sets up quickly. If you don't want to work fast, then go to a slower drying glue, like Elmer's or similar that will dry clear.)
5. Lay on your fabric starting at one side and rolling it on the rest of the page. Smooth it out with your free hand as you do this. Then go back and rub all over the page to set the fabric into the glue. As a precaution, place a sheet of wax paper or deli wrap between pages after they are glued. That way you can keep working and be assured they will not stick together.
6. As you add fabrics you will note the binding may need loosening. If so, just take your scissors or a craft knife and cut right up the back of the spine. Cut away the flaps that remain.
7. To cover the covers, you can either (a) use a piece of fabric large enough to cover both the front and the back, plus the spine, or (b) you can cover each piece with a separate piece of fabric.
7.a. For method (a) - use the same technique for covering the covers with glue as you did with the other pages. Start with either the front or back. When fabric is attached, next put glue on the spine and roll the fabric over it carefully working it into the glue. Then turn it over and continue on the other cover.
7.b. Use the basic method of adhering fabric to the page, one at a time. A strip of fabric can be attached to the spine either overlapping the front and back fabrics, or under them. It's a design choice. Sometimes I cut the back fabric long enough to wrap the spine and overlap the front cover. There is no right or wrong way.
8. Now you can go in and add artwork. Images, rubber stamps, words, and embellishments can be added, just as with other forms of altered books. This will personalize it and make it your own piece of art. Gel mediums, Zots (adhesive dots), or more of the tacky glue can be used to adhere things.

Any questions, you can email me at momzart101@yahoo.com

Matt and Chris at RadioZone Halloween Event

http://www.radiozone.com/pages/1154151.php?imageGalleryXRefId=326645

That's the url. Here's the pic.

Where did October go?

It just zoomed by. Now we have had our second day of valley fog. Yesterday it cleared by 11:00, today looks thicker and I don't know if we will see sunshine at all. This is when I light candles during the day and turn on the lights - because I hate grey and gloom! I want light! And shades of yellow! I've been getting ready for the La Selva Show. Have started having lunch with friends routinely on Wed. and then a little shopping at the quilt fabric store (you should see what I got) and lots of laughter and fun. The big zine project for MMANC (mixed media group in Sac) is done. That took some time and thought also. Here are my pages.

Halloween project

My son competes at the big Halloween event at Cal Expo. This year, in addition to his wonderful Wizard costume, he added a new twist to the staff he carries. He mounted a dragon on it, illuminated the eyes in the skull, and carried battery packs to illuminate the globe. Here is what it looked like. The grey version is before I painted it and before he added the eyes. It was a lot of fun collaborating with him. Nathan painted the staff to look like wood. It was actually foam over PVC pipe with masking tape wrapping it and in layers to look like bark. He used two shades of brown paint and black. This is the first time Nathan has been in on the painting. Next year, if Matt chooses something else to have painted, I think Nathan is ready to take over my part, with just a little advice and selecting materials.