My Favorite Summer Tote

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My Favorite Summer Tote

For the past several years the amazingly talented needle crafter Linda Nelson and her husband Ron make the long drive all the way from Michigan to Laguna Beach, California and have wintered in the guest house at Summerland Cottage.

The fist year as a thank you parting gift I gave them a little framed rendering I did of one of the paths in Heisler Park, our local park along the oceans edge that they they would walk their sweet dog Sammy through on their way into town.

The next year when they returned, Linda surprised me with a gift of a beautiful tea towel with a cross stitch flower border she had done in colors to coordinate with my kitchen curtains.

I was thrilled with it and when the towel began to wear I removed and saved the beautiful trim. Since then we have begun a friendly exchange of hand crafted gifts.

You can imagine how thrilled I was this year to receive the charming seahorse she had beautifully appliqued in my favorite ocean theme colors. Her husband Ron, the computer whiz, shrank the original pattern ( found @ cotton-picking.com) from a 24" x 36" wall hanging to the size you see here.

It was the perfect size for a pillow or small wall hanging but I chose to show it off around town by sewing it to the front of a simple canvas tote and adding vintage buttons to the bubbles as accents. Then scraps of ribbons were added down each side to accent the colors and sewn in place with a little latch added to the top to attach the house keys to. Not having a fabric store in town I was thrilled to find an over sized blouse for $5.49 at a thrift shop in the perfect color way and cut it up to use as border trim along the top of the tote, and to create a pocket on the inside to hold a cell phone and cover the handles with.

Garden Party

just though I would share a couple snaps I was able to capture during the party!

Thank you to all my friends for coming and making it SO much fun!

A lovely time was had by all!

It's that time of year again

Celebrated each spring .

come be inspired, share, create, mix and mingle

view snaps from last years party here

Romantic Homes Magazine

Thank you to the amazing team from Romantic Homes Magazine

Jacqueline deMontravel and

and Meryl Schoenbaum

for the feature on Summerland Cottage in their current issue.

I am honored to have a peek into my world included in this beautiful edition, along with so much other talent!

For a few more snaps about the cottage click here.

Hand Dyed Lace

This one is my favorite, probably because of all the texture.

Yarn Vase

...another ceramic creation,

actually mixed media.

It is a new design, and it is like nothing I have seen before,

I am making up the name "yarn vase" it seems to work.

Using a scrap of fabric dipped in clay to embellish the vase

and twisting it about to create the leaf and stem,

next a small cotton doily also dipped into clay for the flower,

then a vintage button mold pressed with clay for the center.

( Here is the photo before firing. )

The inside and bottom are glazed so that

it can be used for a fresh flower arrangement also.

For the exterior, I chose to use acrylic paint for the pale turquoise blue

background and added pink paint on the ceramic flower.

The design was done with a creative cut out

of the clay around the flower petals, before firing,

for the yarn to be pulled through,

and keep it from running amok,

as I am pulling at the yarn while teaching myself to crochet.

Happy Saturday!

Mermaid Collage

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I had the pleasure of hosting a workshop

with Julie Nutting

here at Summerland Cottage.

Since the studio is a bit messy we enjoyed the fun alfresco, in the courtyard.

Julie taught us how to create the mermaid decoupage you see above.

First we painted our backgrounds completely on blank canvases

and Julie provided patterns for our mermaids to cut out of any paper we liked.

After decoupaging them in place with modge podge

we ripped all sorts of different papers into interesting shapes

and glued them into place to add interest to the collage.

When the glue dried we painted the hair.

Glitter and tiny jewels were added here and there.

Always in art classes you will find each piece is as uniquely

different as the individual.

After a delightful lunch I had the opportunity to demonstrate

painting seashells with acrylic paints,

and encouraged adding values to give them depth and add interest.


Recently I added some of my own ceramic seashells and

a few more pearls using e6000 glue.

Every one had such a great time, the weather was

perfect, and all have creative seashore inspired tokens from

our day spent together.

Found Object Assemblage

After the contractor replaced the damaged doors

I had him salvage an undamaged corner from the original one.

I primed and painted the front and sides white.

Then I pilfered through a drawer with miscellaneous odds and ends.

Here is a look at some of the pieces that ended up being incorporated.

Vintage glasses, bits of tile, brass buttons, an old wooden handle,

a chandelier crystal, vintage wooden clothes pin, a bamboo reed,

small glass vial filled with sand, tiny brass clock, a leaf brooch,

a broken piece from a fan and a color copy of a sweet saying.

Making time for a little weekend creative collaging & blogging!

Thank you to Jana Holstein,

Managing Editor of Somerset Memories for asking to include it

in the Spring 2013 issue!

Happy Spring

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Happy Spring !

a little creative fun with new plants for the garden

visiting inside for a few days

Happy Easter !

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Washed Ashore

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I believe most artists are inspired by their surroundings.

Living in a vintage cottage a few steps from the seashore

where we are no longer allowed to remove or take the seashells

is what encouraged me to create my own collection of ceramic shells

using various clays and glazes.

I have amassed a pretty amazing collection

over the years that I embellish with.

I also use them in mosaics, gift them to friends, barter with them

and as you see here create jewelry with them.

For this piece I used a scrap of fabric in ocean colors that I cut 10 inches long by 4 inches wide and folded it in half lengthwise with right sides together.

Then sewed a half inch seam along the length of it then turning it right side out I tuck the unfinished ends back into each side.

Next I cut a piece of 1 inch wide elastic to fit my wrist and slid it in with a safety pin and sewed one side down before stretching through to the other side and attaching the elastic down before I slid one side into the other and sewed it closed completely.

This is when the fun begins...

pull out your collections of buttons, beads, and baubles

and beginning with the largest pieces either use fabric glue

to attach them into place or sew them down,

and then continue by filling in around them

with buttons, pearls and beads.

I am the kind of artist that will use anything handy

so I've used dental floss to attach the pearls,

colored embroidery thread

for beads and even clear fishing line.

There are bits of plastic, ceramic pieces, glass

and pearls from a broken necklace and combined altogether

they create a wrist embellishment a mermaid may have lost

that was discovered when it washed ashore.

Summer Satchel

I LoVe blank canvases, blank books with no lines

and thick stacks of plain white paper.

To me they represent new beginnings.

So when I was gifted with this simple canvas satchel

and asked to decorate it,

my imagination went on overdrive with the possibilities.

I considered covering it in tapestry with corduroy

and a patchwork of fall colors.

Then the idea of using Sherpa suede with a wide tapestry trim in coordinating colors and vintage button detailing ...

or sewing a pocket inside for storing my paint brushes

and paint a color chart with labels of the various colors

on the outside as reference,the perfect tote for plein air painting.

Any of these would be great,

but last week I was inspired by the fabric paints

left out on the studio table

along with a collection of amazing seashells that caught my eye

and so I chose to paint a summer satchel

for the sun filled days of summer.

Perfect for toting my water bottle,

sun screen, sketch book and towel.

I added the hand crafted ceramic seashell

key chain as a fun little accent and

for easy access to the cottage house key

and the wide turquoise braid

seemed to be the perfect border for the painting.