Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity: 2011

Thank you!

by Kim

Vitamin C was started in January of this year, so... 1 year down! I want to thank all of you who have visited my blog, and even stuck around to read some things.

A great many more of you have been here than I ever dreamed of. In truth, it is pretty much due to pinterest. My bleach doodle shirt has had over 2,000 visitors (since July) and the Blackboard of Blossoms has had a bit over 1,000 visitors (since June).

I feel surprised and honored that so many of you were interested enough to follow the photo back to my blog.

Working on my 2012 Vitamin C!

Shake Your Own

by Kim

Tonight, we got the ingredients together and tried making ice cream in a plastic bag. You put the ingredients in a small zip lock, and put that inside a larger zip lock full of ice. If you want to try it, google it. It is all over the internet.

Then, you shake it for 5 minutes or so. Only thing is, it gets very cold.

Niece 1 put hers in a blanket and flipped it back and forth.

It actually works. We had peppermint, vanilla, and chocolate chip. Tasted good! Not sure we are doing it again...but we might. It would be a good activity for a bunch of kids with lots of energy.

Take your Vitamin C!

Gathering

by Kim

Last night was the women's Christmas Gathering at church. For me, it is a nice way to start the Christmas season. Women from the church bring their co-workers, family members, friends, and neighbors. Dinner is catered.

The hostess of each table sets a holiday extravaganza. They get quite creative. Every table is beautiful.

We get to know each other, eat, and sing Christmas carols. Last night our speaker was Cathy Tanana who is the women's ministries director at another local church. She leads a bible study with the Detroit Tiger wives. She told us about her life as a baseball wife.

When I am the boss of Christmas, we will do activities like this in celebration, we will hang pretty lights, eat Christmas cookies, and sing a lot. We will not shop till we drop and spend small fortunes buying gifts. I will let you know when I am in charge of that...

Till then, find some meaningful, fun, and relaxing ways to do Christmas, and..,

Take your Vitamin C!

Card Recycle

by Kim

I received a Christmas present this week from Lee Anne, and this card with it. I really like the card. See the stitching and the glitter?

Deciding to make a decorative, hanging tag with it, I gathered: watercolor paper for the base, metallic scrapbook papers, and the page in the bible that has Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,Prince of Peace.

I layered the papers, added some seed beads, drew some swirls with Sharpies, and added one vintage rhinestone screw back earring at the bottom of the tag. I glued the inside of the card on the back of my tag, so I will always have Lee Anne's message. I am hanging the tag with the ribbon from the present.

Now it is a piece of art with meaning! Wouldn't it be cool to have a whole tree of recycled card tags?

Use your Vitamin C!

2012 Color of the Year

by Kim

I turned on the computer this morning to a note from my friend VoteMom about the 2012 Pantone color of the year. Sure enough, I have been seeing the announcement all over the place today, and I just got the official email from Pantone telling me that Tangerine Tango will be king for 2012.

From the Pantone website:

The 2011 color of the year, PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle, encouraged us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.
“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

Now, that is a lesson in writing romance copy. Did you know someone could say so many beautiful things about orange? I would like these people to write my resume.

My own opinion: hardly anyone can wear orange and look good in it. It is nice in accents, but kind of overwhelming in big amounts. If you study the psychology of color, you know that orange is energetic and used to draw attention. Think hunting gear and traffic cones.

If we review the 2011 Color and the 2010 Color, and combine them with the 2012 Color, it looks like we are at the beach.

Vitamin C comes in orange, the 2012 Color of the Year!

Big is Beautiful

by Kim

I am working on a big bangle bracelet design.

Bangle bracelets have been trendy for awhile but as this year progressed, they got bigger and bolder.

Until they are almost more of a garment than an accessory.

So, I am getting in on that. I made these segments that are almost 3" tall. They are fabric covered watercolor paper. Big-ish, but very lightweight. See where I made the holes? They get hooked together there with beads and wire.

I made 36 bead dangles for this bracelet. I keep a jar of black spacer beads and a jar of silver spacer beads. There are many sizes, shapes and bead materials in the jars. I use black and silver spacer beads a lot, so I throw everything I like and everything leftover into those jars. It beats having to dig up enough beads for each project. Handy.

I wired the segments together, attaching the dangles on the wires. The bracelet wraps nicely around the wrist. And, it makes a statement, wouldn't you say?

Did you notice the one red bead? I had a choreography professor in college (I have an undergrad education degree in dance) who always said, "Give the audience a flower." By that, she meant to add something into the dance that was surprising, unusual, even eccentric...a moment to make the audience say "oooooh." Since choreography is pretty much design (movement design), I think that advice can be used in other designing. So, I put in one red bead, hoping to give the audience a flower.

Amazing what can be done with paper.
Use your Vitamin C!

Finally!

by Kim

Dear Best Employer in the world, with the Best Job I Have Ever Had... I am ready!

Antique Jewelry

by Kim

This has been unearthed from Grandma's jewelry box. I don't know a thing about antiques. But, this is what I think about these particular pieces:

We think these were Great Grandmother's.
From the tiny bit of research I did, they might be lapel pins. I think they are too short for hat pins.
They could be from the early 1900's... or even earlier.
They could be from Germany.

Let this be a lesson to you. Write notes about all of your jewelry pieces for your Great Granddaughter, so she knows what they are and how old they are. I know. None of us are going to do that, but I sure wish GG did that for me.

I love those little boots. They even have tread on the bottom.

Anyone know something about antique jewelry and have an idea what they really are?

Avoid the Crazy Crowds!

by Kim

Visit Pretty Things to get info on the giveaways and how you can win them during the Virtual Craft Show.

Then come back on Saturday (the show lasts 7 days) to shop and win! There will be 70 artists displaying work. Doesn't that sound so much better than spending 20 minutes trying to find a place to park, hoofing it in, fighting the crowd, and standing in line forever to check out???

Auction News

by Kim

Remember when I was working on this necklace that I donated for the school auction?

The auction was last night and word on the street is that it went for $80. That makes me happy. I could never have donated $80 to the school, so I am glad my necklace could.

Think about how your Vitamin C might help someone else today...

At the Torch

by Kim

We interrupt your holiday prep thoughts for this announcement:

I am at the torch, getting ready for this virtual craft show. It starts a week from today when we are all fat and happy from turkey and mashed potatoes. A lot of beadmakers and crafters are participating. There will be giveaways! I will remind you.

Back to pumpkin pie thoughts....

Paper Jewelry

by Kim

Yesterday's project. I wanted something bright, artsy, almost cartooney. It started with paper.

In the 80's, I was the paper earring queen. If you knew me then, you remember. Huge earrings were the style of the decade. They were called doorknockers. For some reason, even I cannot explain, I saved my paper earrings from the 80's. I have a big box of them. I used the heaviest watercolor paper I could buy and I added all kinds of embelishments. I taught a class on making paper jewelry....many times. It was popular.

To begin yesterday's necklace, I started with a sheet of watercolor paper. Watercolor paper comes in weights. Don't use anything under 140 lb. My preference is 300 lb, but 140 lb will work just fine. I used Liquitex acrylics. I like them because they are saturated color and there is a bit of a shine to the finish.

In the middle of my sheet of paper, I put out blobs of aqua, turquoise and white. I almost always add white when painting a background. I like the tinting I get with white.

With a wide flat brush, smear it out to cover the paper. Add a little water to your brush to help it spread. Let it dry. Or use your craft dryer, aka, hairdryer.

Add a little more texture. You can print with just about anything. This is a piece of corrugated cardboard, with the top layer removed. Brush some paint onto the ridges and press to the paper. You can see I use this a lot, it has many colors on it. One of my most expensive tools...

Doesn't need to be perfect. When you cut the flowers out, you will just see little bits of it.

Freehand cut out some scrapbook paper circles with a pair of pinking shears. You can also use whatever scrapbooking scissors with fancy edges that you have on hand. Don't bother tracing a template, just cut a circle. Mod Podge it down to the painted surface.

Now use a smaller flat brush. Squeeze two colors on the palette. This is magenta and white. Dip one corner of the brush in magenta and the other in white. Make a stroke from the top to the bottom in a C shape, and another the mirror image. Leave a bit of the center showing. And, I like the way you can see the paper zig zag edges if you don't use too much paint on the brush. More texture. Let it dry.

With a Sharpie, or your marker of choice, finish the flower. Loosely cut the flowers out.

Punch holes and string to your necklace. Add bead dangles or charms or whatever you would like to add. Make this in colors to suit you. I think it would also be really cute to hang just one as a pendant with beads hanging off the bottom. It makes a really inexpensive piece of jewelry, that is one of a kind.

Thank you for reading the latest from the Queen (retired) of paper earrings.

Use your Vitamin C!

Tutu Lamp

by Kim

You know you need a lamp with a little tutu.

Well, I just made one, and here is how:

I got this roll of tulle at Michaels. You can get it at any craft or fabric store in the ribbon department or wedding aisle. Mine is brown.

Fold the width in half and stitch big running stitches next to the fold. Pull the thread to gather it. Gather as much or as little as you wish until you have a string that will go all the way around the lampshade.

Plug in the hot glue gun and glue the gathered tulle at the bottom edge of the shade. Apply a thin line of glue. You don't need much, tulle is mostly air and you will burn your fingers if you use a lot of glue.

Take your Vitamin C!