Paperclay Flowers

moms flowers3
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

I love paperclay. I have played with it on and off for a couple of years now and sometimes I just have to work with paperclay. Seems like lately, I have been loving it a lot. I have made lots of hearts for my little frames and some for gifts. I made these flowers and have several more on the burner. I am also working on some little pendants made from paperclay. Paperclay is so smooth and silky in your hands. If it gets dry, all you got to do is dip your hands in a bit of water and rub it on. It is so obedient (is that the word). Here is a link to their site.
http://www.paperclay.com/product.htm

If Friends Were Flowers

I would pick you!

I lost a "follower" today and I don't even know who it was. At first, I wanted to get my feelings hurt. Then, I thought about a converstation I had with my dearest friend today. We talked about how sometimes we comment and comment on some peoples' blogs and they never reply back and how this can hurt our feelings. We talked about "blogging without obligation" and how we are not all going to dig each other so much.

The cool thing about blogging is that we can filter through all the mess and find those people that we are compatible with. Then, we can develop these wonderful relationships with people who would have never met otherwise.

We will find ourselves digging some bloggers more than others and that is just the way it is. We are not all compatible. So, it is not about the number of "followers" you have, it is about the relationships we build because of this unique ability to connect with like-minded people. Just think, back before the internet, I might have been fortunate enough to find one person (just one person) who got me. That would suck. I love everyone but I don't always get everyone.

Etsy Treasury

I got an ETSY Treasury today! Look what I made! Go and check out the real thing here, it took me an hour to figure out how to just get a snapshot for the above photo. Rediculous. YOu should be able to just have some html and share the dang thing! Anyway, here it is, I would appreciate any views and/or comments. Hugs

Hope you Smile

MaMa Was a Sassy Girl

mama and girlfriends
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

My Mom sent me this photo today. She knows I wanted more pictures of her when she was younger. Look how she is posing for the camera (she is the one with hand on hip on the right) does it remind you of anyone? Heehee
OMG-to have those purses right now!
No matter how young or what time period......girls always love to play dress up. Thanks Mom. You were and are beautiful. I can see Rhea Rhea in this photo of you....so much.

Heart to Mom

Here is another one.....I love these things. Hubby and daughter picked the perfect heart to go on this. I had planned on using a yellow one but they liked the red one better. I love the contrast of the red and yellow here! Anyhooooo, it is available on Etsy now.
I had a pretty good weekend and I suppose I will go back to work and leave all my art here! Sniff sniff. Like my mother used to say, "it's a shame that I couldn't be rich instead of some damn good looking". Heehee

On another note, my friend Lisa and I were talking about the magazine/book "Where Women Create". It is this scrumptious book filled with photos of fabulously organized and beautiful "studios". I just think it would be funny to do a "spoof" on that and have women like me show our "studios". But, not when it is clean and organized. It should be a photo of when you are in a fit of art making and have several projects scattered around. Maybe a shot of you with your jammys still on in the middle of the afternoon with paint and glitter on your hands. It think we should call the spoof "Where Real Women Create" or "Where Women Really Create". Oh well, just a thought. Happy Monday!

Hugs and Kisses

I sold the Art with a Heart Piece today! Yay! Yes, I'm tooting my horn. I have not had an Etsy sale in a while. So, that made my day. I am working on some other similiar pieces. Here is one that I just listed. I used a Florescent pink with this one and it is so bright and fun. XOXO! That is something that my friend "M"signs all of her lettersl, cards, and notes with and I love it.
She inspires me. I'm also working on a piece much like these that is more on the side of Mother's Day. I am using hues of yellow and I will probably have it ready tomorrow. I know, I should be soldering my heart out. It makes me think of nursing school. My house was never cleaner than when I was in nursing school. I am a horrible procrastinator. If I had tons of homework, I found more excuses to not do it such as cleaning the oven or doing laundry. I hate deadlines and rigid instructions....I'm a rebel without a cause huh? Heehee

Sweet You (Available in my shop)

I finished this piece of art tonight. I really enjoyed the process on this one because I discovered a new technique that I love for distressing. I remembered when I was in school a teacher taught us to make little faux leather boxes using masking tape and shoe polish. Did any of you ever do that? You cover the entire piece with little pieces of masking tape and then you "paint" the piece with brown or black shoe polish. So, (I'm just taking you on the creative process that goes on in my brain) I thought I would like a frame for my little paperclay hearts that looked like red leather. That was the initial thought anyway.

I covered the frame with masking tape pieces. Then I painted it with red acrylic paint. After that dried, I thought it needed pearl or white in all the crevices to create an antiqued look. When I started rubbing the white in, the red rubbed off in places. I loved the distressed look this caused so I went with it and continued with several layers of paint and rubbing off in areas. I coated the piece with two coats of varnish. I added the checked paper for the inside background and added my little paperclay heart inspired by KadyHope. I purchased three beautiful little clay heart magnets from her and I just had to make my own larger versions for my assemblage pieces. Go and check out Kadys work, scroll down to see her little clay houses! They are so precious!

I'm looking forward to a lovely art filled weekend and I hope that you have a lovely weekend as well......be creative and loving in all you do. HUGS

Love,

F.A.Q.

Art Event in Fort Worth

I'm so excited because Lisa over at Wild Over Wine pointed me to this event that is taking place in Fort Worth on April 25th this year. They are calling it the Spring Fling. We (Wild...,Pocket....and Me) decided we were going to participate in this show. So, we have all applied and been accepted...paid our money and committed to a weekend in Fort Worth. Yay! So, we are all making stuff as fast as we can to have plenty of product at the show. If nothing else, it will be a girlfriends weekend! That is something to get excited about. Truly, I need something like that!
I'm making tons of soldered charms for this event. This evening I finished up several with dried flowers or leaves inside....kind of floating with no background. No pics yet....but soon.
It is so warm here in West Texas. Almost kind of strange how warm and mild our winter has been. Even though this is how I wish it always was in the winter, it seems strange that we have hardly had any cold weather.....or moisture of any kind. The ground is cracking and dust is flying. We need rain, snow, or any type of moisture. Please send some rain prayers our way. You know it's bad when our local newspaper's headlines are "Pray for Rain". Appreciate any prayers sent our way.

More Hearty Stuff

I worked on his little paper mache heart assemblage piece over the last couple of days. I'm going to put it on Etsy later. I'm still waiting on any takers for the Unique Hearts Photo Challenge. Can you tell I have been a little obsessed with Valentines Day lately? I suppose I am. Could it be that I love all the red?! Could it be that all the making of stuff for your friends and loves could be a HUGE reason I love this holiday? Well, I don't understand how you could not love this day!

I went a little crazy today and decorated my dining room in a Valentines Style.

There could be a lot more but the GR is a bit of a table surfer and I'm afraid he will get something and eat it.

I'm working on some more Fru Fru people and I can't wait to show them to you. But, right now I am preparing some steaks on the grill. I also just pulled an Upside Down Pineapple Cake out of the oven for our dessert....so,I must go. More later. Hugs to all.

Unique Hearts Photo Challenge

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This is it! This is my 350th post! (Cue Party Streamers and Balloons .... Richard Gear walks in....our eyes meet.....I'm wearing that slinky, sexy red dress......suddenly I want nothing more than to fall into.........) oh, sorry...I got carried away....back to the FAQ-350 celebration.

In all seriousness, I want to say that blogging has been a wonderfully therapeutic,inspiring and heart warming experience for me. I remember that I started blogging way back in 2006 because it seemed interesting to me. I remember seeing the word "blog" and thinking I wonder what that stands for. I still don't know and I don't care. Blogging narrowed my world so that I could connect with other like minded people. Suddenly, I was not the only one in the world that picked things up off the ground to make stuff.

I have learned so much from my girlfriends from all over the world. I have learned that we are all so similiar and yet so unique. Which brings me to this: When I was in nursing school, one of my instructors made my entire class learn this affirmation... ."I am a unique and precious human being always growing in wisdom and love." That was over 15 years ago and that affirmation has stuck in my head. It comes in times of stress...either in an outloud attempt at being funny to decrease stress or as a silent affirmation in my head. Today this affirmation comes to me as a great insight. All of my blog friends are unique and precious and they need to hear that from me. I love reading about your life, your families, and your adventures! I cry with you about your sorrows and heartaches. So, we may not see each other in person......but when I don't see an updated blog for some time......I begin to be concerned about you. So get to bloggin' sistah!

SKIP DOWN TO THE CHALLENGE!

For those of you who want to get to the challenge part of this post: Since you are a unique a precious human being.....I challenge you to take a photo of a UNIQUE heart. Nothing typical please. Take a photo of something that is shaped like a heart or several things grouped together to make a heart shape. Show me your uniqueness here. Since all of us are unique and precious, the winner will be chosen randomly from all participants. Here is one I created tonight

I created this heart by using several white stones and I added the blue one as a reminder of our uniqueness. The winner will be announced on Feb 1st. You will receive a special crafty valentine from me.

1. Create a unique heart and blog the photo with a link to my blog
2. let me know you are participating

that is it!

Ms. February

After playing a little yesterday with the staining and baking of fabric.....I had to go further. I am so inspired by artists like Jennifer-Butt Uglee that I find myself wanting to do more art with fabric and prim techniques. So, today, I set out to make a doll. I wanted to do something Valentines. I made my own pattern for this doll. Meet Ms. February:

I'm not kidding, I worked on this little lady all day long. This would be my first "rag" doll and it took some thinking to construct her properly. Then, I had to create her clothes and her little heart banner.

But, I enjoyed making her very much. She is listed in my Etsy shop now!

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday! I found this fun little online generator and just had to make one. I can't help myself sometimes. I'm planning on making some more valentines today. Oh the possibilities are endless. I have to get my swap loot ready for Pocket Full of Pretty's Valentines swap and I have several special friends/family that I need to get Valentines ready for. So, there is plenty to do.....I think my creative funk has lifted.....oh Look Out Craft Room!

Prim Heart Ornies

prim hearts close
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

I started making these fabric heart ornaments yesterday and finished them today. I had a lot of fun with these. I am learning about distressing fabric through staining with tea/coffee and baking. One of them is actually felt and was not baked. Everyone should have a bowl of hearts don't you think? Well, everyone except for SEBASTIAN~!

He had one already (he snuck it off the table right before their photo shoot) and he seemed to like it. Oh the challenges we face! LOL

Daddy's Home

mr and mrs frufru 2
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

I finished Mr. Fru Fru tonight. Now Mr and Mrs can be together. How appropriate since Valentines is coming up! Oh, and Mrs. FruFru is so excited about the Valentines swap going on over at Pocket Full of Pretty's and so am I. Get over there and sign up. What fun!!!!

Also, be looking for my challenge that is coming soon! I will need your help on this one!!!! It will be fun! It will be a celebration of my 350th post! Wow, can you believe I have been blogging since Jan of 2006? Oh my, it is probably the longest I have ever done one thing. Anyway, to all you people who love to take pics.....get ready.....

Meet Mrs. Fru Fru

Meet Mrs. Fru Fru
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

I would like to introduce you to Mrs. FruFru. I created her today. Once again, I was inspired by Renea my dear friend. Her recent interest in all these fabric photo people..... I probably would not have stopped long enough to notice if Renea had not pointed them out to me.
So, I just had to try and make one. I created Mrs. FruFru in a relatively short amount of time today.

Now, I'm going to share a tutorial with you on how to create your own fabric family. Please go make some! The FruFru family would like some company in their town. They run the little General Store in FruFruVille. Papa FruFru will make his grand entrance soon as will the children!

• First, find a vintage photo that you really like that would make a good little Frufru person. Make sure that there is not too much detail in the outline or you will curse this piece of art while sewing and stuffing!


• Now follow my old tutorial on printing on fabric here. I used muslin but most cotton types work here. Think pillow slip or sheets in terms of type of fabric .


• After printing, cut your fabric photo out in a square or rectangle and cut another piece of muslin/or cotton that is equal in size to the photo fabric piece-for the back of the top .


• Now you need to decide on a fabric that you want to be the lower part of the doll's body.
  


• Use your photo fabric piece to decide the width of the "skirt" or bottom fabric. I am not precise at all so I just used the top photo fabric to determine the size of my skirt. I then cut two pieces of the contrasting "rose print fabric" as you see in the photo here.
  


• Right sides together-Sew the photo piece to the skirt piece and then the back of the photo (the muslin) to the back of the skirt (more of the rose material)



• After some thinking and pinning, unpinning and looking and thinking and deciding.....I finally decided to pin face to face of both of the pieces and to sew around the head and flowers as best as I could (with the sewing machine) and then down the side seams leaving the bottom open for stuffing.
After stuffing the little lady with the "cluster stuff" I then whipped up the bottom seams together with a blind stich. I tied a pretty pink satin ribbon around her waist. She is done. Now she just waits for her husband and beautiful children to arive on the train.

Mardi Gras

mardi gras
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

Husband said to name this "Mardi Gras" as he says she looks like she is wearing her Mardi Gras mask. I did not know where I was going with it. Just needed to create something......I'm in a creative funk.....I hate these times!!!! I just need some inspiration!

This is my 345th post....I'm rapidly moving towards 350! I do plan to celebrate that post in a fun way so be watching out for that.

I Am Enough

I Am Enough
Originally uploaded by Funky Art Queen

Happy New Year
I finished this shadow box today and I could not wait to post it. I love the contrast of the colors red and bright teal. I also love the message of this piece. I hope you all have a wonderful, prosperous and happy New Year. Just remember, you ARE ENOUGH! Hugs
Lesley