vintage works of he{art}

Tag Tuesday

Hello and wlcome to another edition of Tag Tuesday. I have missed the last couple of weeks, but intend to catch up and share those with you soon. I didn't expect my cold to go so long...feeling a lot better now.

This week's theme is Gardening. I love to garden, but hate to weed! I have mostly perennials and I am glad they manage quite well without me. My goal for the summer is to have my garden beds looking more well kept than they have been in recent years. Weather and Work will  play a huge part in that, but I figure if I can do about an hour a day or every other day, I should be able to stay on top of the weeds! Here is my tag(notice the lack of weeds!)

The image is by Jessie Wilcox Smith from Memories of a Lifetime Florals & Nature book, wings, hat and "faith" from Artchix Studio and ribbon from Martha Stewart. Vintage lace trim is from my collection and I added a bit of glamour dust for sparkle.

Spend some time in a garden, it will do your soul good,

Hugs,

Ivy

"In every gardener there is a child who believes in the Seed Fairy."  Robert Brault

Tag Tuesday - Purple

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Tag Tuesday. It seems to be all I have had time to blog about. Hopefully that will change soon. Anyway the them this week is "PURPLE - the colour purple, anything purple, mauve, violet, lilac, lavender"

I just got back from a weekend of antiquing out of town and got such a bad cold while away. I left with a scratchy throat and now I am quite unwell. I had a good time nonetheless!  I had wanted to make my tag before I left, but time was not on my side. Today, I looked around my studio, and a book cover (purple) caught my eye. Well it was easy after that. This is not a complicated tag, the hardest part was cutting out the flower! I hope you enjoy my humble offering:

This is a copy of a vintage French book I got awhile back (it is very purple, but looks blue) that I used as a tag base. I added images from K and Co. Brenda Walton paper, vintage music and Daisy D sticker. I sewed vintage lace on the bottom and added a sheer green ribbon to pick up the flower stem.

When I am feeling better, I will share more on my trip and hopefully it will be before Tuesday!!

Hugs,

Ivy

Tag Tuesday

Well it is another Tag Tuesday and this week is all about Spring flowers. We had snow yesterday and bitter cold, so it was hard to imagine anything springy. I do love all the little flowers that come out in the spring. They are so brave! My favourite spring flower is the snowdrop. I love how it looks and although I do not have any, I think I will add them to my garden this year.

This was an easy peasy tag using an image from "Memories of a Lifetime Florals & Nature" on a tag made from Prima and My Mind's Eye paper layered onto a black base. I used Stardust Stickles on the snow flakes and snowdrops and finished it off with a snowdrop label I typed and an ice blue ribbon.

Since I didnt get around to posting my previous week's tags, I thought I would do that here and now!

I did post them on the Tag Tuesday blog but didnt have a chance to do that here. Make sure you wander over to Tag Tuesday and see all the beautiful tags posted there each week.

Last week's challenge was Spring CLeaning and here is what I made:

This was a fairly simple one to do as I used a ready made tag by Making Memories, added some ribbon and a hand coloured image of clothes on a line(Create with TLC free image) under blue skies, held on by mini clothespins painted blue with a touch of glitter. The purple jacket has the word joy (Making Memories) on it as seeing clothes on a line is pure joy to me! I like the Dream a little dream saying, as it always nice to do some dreaming while doing your chores.

Two weeks ago the theme was Easter, and here is my tag:

I made this tag with Prima paper as a base, and layered vintage music paper, lace, and a piece of a vintage quilt. I ran a piece of Making Memories fabric tape down the side and inked the edges of elements for a distressed look. The lovely girl is from Vintage Workshop blog (one of Amy's picks).

I added some stickles to the pussy willow, and distressed and rearranged the Easter Greetings. I used a Recollections flower and Basic Grey fibers to finish it off.

So I am all caught up on posting my tags....

Hugs,

Ivy

Tag Tuesday....Easter Eggs

Hello and welcome to another tag tuesday where the theme is Easter eggs, Here is what I came up with:

 I used this lovely angel and easter egg image from "Free vintge digital stamps" and the Joyeuses Paques from an Easter bunny girl image from The Graphics Fairy. The background is from Cosmo Cricket Clementine mini deck and My Mind's Eye Follow your Heart paper pad. I added Prima flowers stapled to vintage sheet music. I added lace trim to bottom, distressed the edges and images, and used vintage seam binding on flowers and to tie it up! Of course I used glamour dust to give it a bit of sparkle!!

I had a lot of fun doing this and it was a quick project! I am busy with my cutter quilts, cutting and packaging them for Etsy. Stay tuned! It is time consuming, but I think it will be well worth it, when it all comes together!

Have a wonderful rest of your week,

Hugs,

Ivy

Tag Tuesday

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's Tag Tuesday. The theme: GOOSEY - a gaggle of geese, ducks or the colour "duck egg blue", goosey goosey gander, etc. The Tag:

For this tag I was inspired by and used the images and text from "The Real Mother Goose" by Blanche FIsher Wright. I cut out the image and put it on the text with some antique music paper and vintage buttons. I sewed vintage trim on the bottom and used vintage red seam binding to bring out the red in the girls hat and dress!

I was a little late on the last two challenges but posted them last night on Tag Tuesday, so technically only my bird theme one was late. I am including them here. Again, I had a lot of fun with these. There are a lot of similiarities between them, as I did them so close together.

MARCH 13 Challenge:
MAD MARCH - March hares and rabbits

For this tag, I used the March Hare from the tea party scene in Alice in Wonderland and tucked him into a teacup from The Graphics Fairy. I used text from the Mad Tea Party chapter and labelled the tea cup with the chapter title. Prima paper,Pink Paislee tape and Tim Holtz reinforcement along with a sheer blue ribbon finish it off!

MARCH 6 Challenge:
BIRDS - birdies, eggs, nests, nesting boxes, bird house, feeding the birds, bird food recipes, bird bath, trees, twigs, bare branches, photograph your tag hanging in a tree etc.

I loved making this tag! Originally, because I love the subject so much, I was getting overwhelmed. (which of my many bird ephemera, stickers, stamps, if any do I use???) Will I do justice to one of my favourite subjects. The pressure was on, but then I just started and got into the groove.

I used Prima paper as the base of my tag,7gypsies, paper(tag and red patterned paper at top), antique sheet music, vintage dictionary definition, vintage lace, my most revered Cavallini and Co sticker, and a vintage bird image from the book "Bird Portraits in Color" by Thomas S. Roberts, M.D. I shaded the bird with a bit of charcoal to give him some depth.

Hugs,

Ivy

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unwakened."  Anotole France

A Year in the Life of an Art Journal

I have been trying to catch up on this challenge and am ready to post these last two prompts for a year in the life of an art journal. I still have a couple of days to catch up on Feb 29th prompt.

Whatever and Whatnot Jan 30th

THE PROMPT: Imagine
ie: what's in your imagination or where do you imagine yourself
THE STUFF: Pictures or words from magazines/newspapers etc
ie: Words, letters or images that develop your idea
THE TEChNIQUE: mask/stencils
ie: can be anything from flowers, letters, rubberbands or professional mask or stencils



I imagine a simpler place and time, although I realize that there are hardships and problems in any era, I think the old days had a much slower pace. I miss that and this prompt means to me to imagine the simplicity in our own time and embrace it. Letting go of complicated and busy are good things once in awhile! I used Hampton Arts Spritz Screens and Tattered Angels glimmer mist for the technique.

Whatever and Whatnot Feb 15th

THE PROMPT: My Favorite Things
ie: a few of the things you LOVE about someone you love. Can be alive or dead.
THE STUFF: Lists and ephemera
ie: have a few tokens from that someone? Maybe the cover of the CD with "your song" or a napkin from the restaurant you both love to eat at...
THE TECHNIQUE: Pockets
ie: Use pockets to store those "things" on your page.

I struggled with this one for awhile. I wasn't sure I wanted to put my loved ones out there, They know I love them unconditionally and so instead, I thought that I would journal about my love of books. I used Claudine Hellmuth's peeling paper technique, printed book image on vintage book page, vintage wallpaper and stickers, and used a library card and pocket for the technique. I listed all my favourite type of books. I added the word journey, as books tend to take me on journeys of my imagination!

I will be back soon with the next challenge!

Hugs,

Ivy

Bruce Reith Dec 21,1956 - March 8, 2007 (In Memorium)

For my beloved Bruce whose last heartbeat I felt five years ago today and whose presence I feel everyday....

When it rains it pours and opens doors
And floods the floors we thought would always keep us safe and dry
And in the midst of sailing ships we sink our lips into the ones we love
That have to say goodbye

And as I float along this ocean
I can feel you like a notion that won't seem to let me go

Cause when I look to the sky something tells me you're here with me
And you make everything alright
And when I feel like I'm lost something tells me you're here with me
And I can always find my way when you are here

And every word I didn't say that caught up in some busy day
And every dance on the kitchen floor we didn't dance before
And every sunset that we'll miss I'll wrap them all up in a kiss
And pick you up in all of this when I sail away

Whether I am up or down or in or out or just plane overhead
Instead it just feels like it is impossible to fly
But with you I can spread my wings
to see me over everything that life may send me
When I am hoping it won't pass me by

And when I feel like there is no one that will ever know me
there you are to show me

Cause when I look to the sky something tells me you're here with me
And you make everything alright
And when I feel like I'm lost something tells me you're here with me
And I can always find my way when you are here.    (Train)

Loving you always and forever,

Ivy

 

Tag Tuesday-Books

This weeks challenge at Tag Tuesday is Books. Favourite books as a child, novels,book cover, etc.

Because of my love for books, it is hard to pick any one favourite. Even as a child, I loved so many. Books have always been an escape to me. I have travelled to many places with a book. I love to collect antique books, and have been amassing quite a collection. I also try to find books of my youth, and have been successful with that as well. ( I look very hard!) I chose Little Women as a basis for my tag. I actually found the version I had read as a young girl. It is the 1955 hardcover edition by Whitman Publishing. I loved the story, and it has been a favourite for a long time.

I used a library pocket and card from a thrift shop book, and decorated it with vintage wallpaper and a copied page from Little Women. On the card, I changed the book title and author to read Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. There were a couple of signatures on it, and I added the March sisters names to it as well as fictitious class numbers. I added a single girl, coloured and glittered. To me she represents Beth, who was so sweet and delicate. The outside pocket has 3 girls from a costume book (not sure of title) to represent Amy, Meg and Jo and I coloured them in as well as added a hint of sparkle. I also used Tim Holtz distres ink in old paper, to give it a more vintage feel.  I added a ribbon from my stash to make a tag. I hope you enjoy it, as I had fun making it!

"The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived."   Howard Pyle

Reread a book from your childhood,

Hugs,

Ivy

Tag Tuesday - Poetry and Prose

Todays theme over at Tag Tuesday is Poetry and Prose.This was not the poem I originally was going to use, but once I read it, the idea was there.

TO THE DANDELION

Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way,

RInging the dusty road with harmless gold,

First pledge of blithesome May,

Which children pluck, and, full of pride, uphold,

High-hearted buccaneers, o'erjoyed that they

An Eldorado in the grass have found.  James Russell Lowell

I used a lili of the valley stamp on watercolour paper which I created the tag from, coloured it with watercolour pencils and blended with water, glamour dust and stickles for sparkle, gold handcrafted paper punched with ek success border punch, gold ribbon, yellow beaded flowers, leaf ribbon(stash), and copied words from poem.

This is actually just the first few lines of a very long poem, but it was what illustrated the image I wanted to use. I used gold accents in the ribbon and paper to bring out the feel of gold in the poem.  I love the joy on children's faces as they bring you the beautiful 'flowers'  they have picked, and how excited they are when there is a field of them! Children see the beauty in the simple things and that is very profound!

Happy Tuesday!

Hugs,

Ivy

Hope your day was filled with love!

Tag Tuesday fell on Valentine's Day, and I posted my tag there, but didn't have a chance to post here...I thought I would share it with you now.

This was a quick and easy tag using a tag from Daisy D, diecuts from K and Co. (just love those), vintage music paper and lace, prima heart , and ribbon and pom pom trim from my stash.

I love Valentine's Day, as I do most holidays. It is nice, making an ordinary Tuesday into something special. I had a wonderful day, and I hope you did too. I made a beautiful dinner and heart shaped brownie for dessert. We watched a movie and munched on chocolates. I made Valentine's cards for all and got some beautiful things in return. All in all a wonderful day!

I just got an email for the next A Year in the life of an Art Journal, and realized that the last one slipped my mind. I had started to gather the things I wanted to use and then the thought process was gone! Seems to happen a lot when I have a lot on my mind. It kind of short circuits!! I will have that page for you next time!

I just finished reading Hugo for a book club/art swap project I am part of and I am eager to get started on that, as it will consume a lot of my time. I really enjoyed the book, and it was a super easy read. I cleaned up my studio from Valentine's projects, and it really is amazing how messy one person can be!  So I am ready for my next art project(s).

See you with those soon!

Hugs,

Ivy

"Love is the beauty of the soul" St. Aurelius Augustine