New Doggy

I got a new dog the a couple of days ago. We went to the pound to
look for my granddaughter's lost cat. I knew it was a dangerous place for me to go and it proved to be so. I now have my fourth dog! I changed her name from Chiquita to Brandy. Chiquita wasn't bad except everyone seemed to think or add "banana" so after many names to consider I settled on Brandy.

She was supposed to be a scared and mean dog but one look into her eyes and I didn't care! This mean little dog is now happy and playing with my grandchildren! She is also getting along pretty

well with my other dogs already. My Sambo, the black dog, is actually the most moody (mean?) dog of the bunch.

My Crafting Space

I like color and more color. I painted my craft room to reflect
some of this. Then I covered everything with projects, ideas and bits of projects. I am still trying to find space to leave my sewing machine set up. Except for wanting more room, and who doesn't wish for that, I feel very happy working away in here.

Spirit Doll

Hi everyone! I have been busy with everything but my BJP page.
I am out in California right now visiting with my children and
grandchildren. I went to a memorial service for my brother-in-law and am making this doll for my sister.

I chose some fabric I liked and a pattern from Kivett Studio's site. I liked the idea of a butterfly being the emergence of new life. I painted the face directly on the doll with orange and pearlescent white acrylic craft paints mixed together. I drew the face with a marker pen and dabbed varnish over it to make it
permanent.

Then I started beading. First I went around the face. I used a magenta metallic bead at first but the finish rubbed off right away (disgusting how it did that) so I changed those beads out with a bright pink. Then I went Robin's route and just started adding beads. I sewed on the sequins but later removed them since beading around them didn't work too well and I thought they would look better on top of the beading instead of surrounded by it. I am getting close to being done with the doll and will add a beaded hanging cord of some sort to the head and fringe to the bottom of the doll.


I outlined the wings with a colorful silverlined bright mix of beads. I tend to want to fill in the wings with the mix but everyone who has seen the doll so far says they like it with the edge finished but the fabric showing. Should I go with what I feel or am I adding too much beading? What do other beaders think? Most of the people who have seen it tend to like less beads than more so I am not sure. Any suggestions here are quite welcome.

My cat has enjoyed the process as you can see. She loves sitting in small containers and playing with my beads. She doesn't know a diet of beads isn't good for her!

Another Birthday Card

My sister's birthday was in July. I decided to give her a birthday
card and of course, it had to be homemade. She has recently lost
her husband and is going through a tumultuous time. Thinking of
her while I was making some of those ATC's I made one just for
her and decided to give it to her as part of her birthday card.

I didn't want to attach the ATC permanently to her card so I made some photo corners by cutting small strips of colored paper
which I folded into corners (see picture) and glued onto a background rectangle. I glued the rectangle to a piece of cardstock I cut and folded for the card.

Next I glued two pieces of leftover strips of decorated cardboard leftover from my journal project on both sides after first wrapping them with thin (28 gauge) copper wire on which beads had been strung.

On the back I stamped the card with a stamp I had made for me with a design I came up with about 7 or 8 years ago. I have used this a lot on the backs of cards and boxes I have made or decorated over the years. I didn't get such a good picture of the stamping so I took a picture stamped on plain paper so you can see it better.

I haven't given the card to her yet as I will be seeing her shortly.
I sure hope she likes it. She isn't quite into abstract or mixed media as I am but she does a fair amount of quilting, folk painting and other paintings (just how would I label an ocean painting, a wolf in the woods painting and a rustic cabin painting when

putting them in context with the quilting and folk painting??, anyone??) but she appreciates what I do usually.

Birthday Card

My son's birthday was August 2. I always make him a birthday card. I like to make something special. He loves his fruits (in fact, that's his main diet) and had told me recently how he climbed to the top of the plum tree in the yard of the house he lives in to pick the last of the years plums.

I recounted to him the story of when he was just over a year old he ate a large bowlful of plums. I had set the bowl of plums I had just picked from my father's tree near my son who was munching on a teething biscuit while sitting in his highchair. I went away for a few minutes and when I returned the bowl was empty. I didn't even find many of the pits! Well,
everything turned out okay and he's never lost his love for fruit.

So, I decided to make him a picture of plums. I bought three plums in varying shades of purple and took pictures of them in different containers and configurations. Then I sat down and drew them with NuPastels. I think the picture came out pretty well! The only trouble was that I remembered he now takes pictures of the cards I make and then throws them away; heaven forbid he should keep dust catchers around! So, skip the picture, I'd do something else.

I decided to make an enlargement of one of the pictures I took,
the plums stuck in an old mayonaise jar. I printed it out, folded

it in half and cut out the jar shape. That made the card! I took

the grocery store fruit and veggie advertisement page to make

the envelope. This way, he had a handmade card he'd enjoy and I didn't mind him destroying. I'll frame the picture I drew for him; he doesn't count "art" (on the wall, I take it) as dust collectors.

He liked the card when he saw it and is happy I will give him the framed picture of the plums.