Monday, July 22, 2013

Night at the Opera

I am loving these little 4x4 tunnel books from Alpha Stamps.   
 For this one I really wanted to embrace the "tunnel"  effect. 
 So I cut a ton of paper to create thickness and then cut openings into them.  Each opening is slightly smaller than the one that precedes it. 
 I hand stamped all the pages and bound the book by hand.
 The images are printed out on transparency film and attached with glossy accents.
This piece I created for a swap on Circle of Friends. 
I hope she likes what I have created.


Saturday, July 20, 2013

When in doubt, Wear Red ~ Paper Dress Shop Part 3

Remember this? 
Yes, I know it has been a long time, summer just crept up on me.
If you don't remember and want to see more the outside of the house is HERE and the inside is HERE 
This item is now on sale in my Etsy Shop HERE
Today I am sharing the dresses that I made to go along with the shop. 
All the collage images used are from Alpha Stamps.
 I made 3 free standing paper dresses.  Each one hangs on a dress form stand.
 This skirt and shirt combination has yellow fiber and a Japanese themed embellishment.
 Every woman needs a fun sun dress.
 Blue fibers, sequin leaves and liquid pearls dress this dress up.
 The last free standing dress is this fun red dress.  Enhanced with gold liquid pearls.
 There are also 2 hanging dresses.  The pink and purple dress has glitter accents and the blue dress has purple liquid pearl accents. 
 I made price tags for each dress.
Well, that is all for the "When in doubt, wear red" dress shop.
This was a very fun project and I hope it finds a great home.
 
Since I have shared this creation with Paper Saturdays every step of the way I am linking up again.
Come join us!

manonpopjes

Friday, July 19, 2013

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by luck or chance. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude?

As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past.

Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past.
 
Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.
Wow, just wow. 
I picked this book up for an online book club I am a member of and read it in 2 days. 
Until this book I had no inkling about this part of our American History and I find it horrifying and fascinating all at the same time.
Baker Kline weaves the historical journey of Vivian (named Niamh by her birth parents and Dorothy by one of the families that takes her in) and Molly's present day foster care story beautifully.  Her characters are well rounded and easy to identify with which I found amazing since I have no experience with the foster care system. 
The one element that did bother me is that Baker Kline makes all of the women who foster/adopt (with the exception of one who you don't get a good picture of) horrible.  I'm not talking just mean to Vivian and Molly but just down right rotten people.  I found this element of the book a bit disturbing, being confronted with these women every page just left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. 
There was one other thing that happened in this book that I found absolutely unbelievable and stunning.  I don't want to give anything away but I am still thinking about Vivian's decision today and would love to ask the author 'why'.
It is rare for me to pick up a book and learn something new about our history (since I'm a bit of a history nut).  But this one did teach me something and was written beautifully. 

The Orphan Train Movement was a welfare program that transported children from crowded cities of the United States, such as New York City and Boston, to willing foster homes across the country. The orphan trains ran between 1853 and 1929, relocating an estimated 250,000 orphaned, abandoned, or homeless children. At the time the orphan train movement began, reformers estimated that 30,000 vagrant children were living on the streets of New York City.

Two charity institutions, The Children's Aid Society (established by Charles Loring Brace) and later, the Catholic New York Foundling Hospital, determined to help these children. The two institutions developed a program that placed homeless city children into homes throughout the country. The children were transported to their new homes on trains which were eventually labeled “orphan trains” or "baby trains." This period of mass relocation of children ended by the 1920s; it was the beginning of organized foster care in America. (from Wikipedia)

I'm linking up
 
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Monday, July 15, 2013

In her Secret Garden

 The Circle of Friends have started another journal rotation and this is the first journal I received. 
Monica of Art Rocks sent out empty boxes and some images and asked us to create an "inner world."
We could do as much or as little on the outside. 

 Everything I used, except the paint and rocks, can be found at Alpha Stamps.
I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. 
I imagine a quite dawn in this garden.
 
 
 
I hope you enjoy. 
Today I received the next journal so I am off to play with it!
Have a great day!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Art Share ~ Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap

 Over the past few days I've been sharing my creations for the Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap.
Well today I get to share what I got and boy do I love what I received!
What I find really fun is that Becky and I used totally different images.
You can view my pieces HERE, HERE and HERE
The swap required that we use the above free images, click on the image to take you to the source.
I love how Becky's are more like a set than mine.   
And the colors she used are fantastic!
I love what I received and I hope she likes what I created.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap ~ Best Chef's Menu

This is the last of my Bon Appetite Retro ATC's. 
You can view my others HERE and HERE
 
The images for these ATC's all came from the above free file. 
Click the image to be taken to the source.
 I wanted a lot of texture on this ATC so I used flocking on the mustache.
 
I also tried to create an authentic chef's hat, using fabric and batting.  I don't love how it turned out but it's not horrible either.
This was a fun swap and I can't wait to share with you the lovely pieces I got in return!
See you tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap ~ Three Scoops

 Here is my second ATC for the Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap using images from the below freebie.
You can view my first ATC HERE
click the image to go to the source
 I created the ice cream scoops by dying spider webbing with alcohol inks.
And this one is very 3D. 
I finished it off with a gold ice cream cone charm that is just perfect!

Monday, July 8, 2013

Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap ~ Join me for Tea



Recently I hosted the swap, Bon Appetite Retro ATC Swap. 
Each participant was to use the images below (click on the image to go to the source).
It ended up being a private swap which I love so I made 3 totally different ATC's. 

 This is the first.  Of course I picked the tea image it's one of my favorite themes.
I kept it simple but still tried to make it unique. 
Tomorrow I will share my second ATC with you.