Sunday, November 1, 2009

It is Beginning To Look a Bit Like Christmas.....


on my work tables anyway!!! I am in full Christmas production mode. I took several boxes of wares down to the Gallery at Liberty Town in Fredericksburg, yesterday. Displays are being arrainged today. Now I am in theprocess of restocking my Etsy shop. I will let you know what is there and when as soon as the Elves are finished!!!
I have been working on Trees like the ones that you see above. I am using my hand printed gelatin monoprint fabrics for the trees and I am quite pleased with how they are turning out. They are definately one of a kind , Artsy and Unusual!!
My dear friend Trina Lucida, proprietess of the Paper Flea Market and artist extroirdinaire, was recently published in the current issue of Somerset Life. The concept and design of these trees is her brilliance and I give her full credit and asked for her permission before I started creating trees very similar to hers!! Her fabulous trees are made with rich tapesty fabrics and have a decidedly vintage feel. In reality, mine are polar opposites, but if you get a chance please check out her wonderful article on page 79 of the current issue of Somerset Life!! You must also go and visit her wonderful on-line shop, The Paper Flea Market, for wonderful ephemera at fabulous prices! (see the link above).


In this shot , the trees lined up along the back are awaiting their tree stands.



These three trees wil lbe staying in our family Christmas collection. I created these using vintage family relics from my grandmothers house. These trees began life as a wonderful Swedish Linen Dish Towel. When my Mom asked me if I had a desire for the dish towels that were used everyday for many many years and were now sporting good sized holes from wear and use, I jumped at the offer and implored her not to discard a single one!! I have quite a bit of dish towel remaining and I plan to make more to share with my brothers familyand my Mom, of course!!
THe most forward tree is decorated with vintage red buttons, the next with vintage mother of pearl buttons and the back tree has vintage white beads. For the tree stands I used small vintage wooden thread spools with the thread still wound and then added bits of sheet music and glitter. (This style is much more in line with Trina's design).
This year I designed a different style of bird ornament using my favorite Fabric Paper. My goal was to make a simpler design that who be quicker to produce in quantity and therefore have a lower price. This is what I came up with.


These little birds are decorated on both sides. The front is the fabric paper with a sheet music wing and a sequin and bead eye. The back is upholstry fabric in colors of the season with a stitched eye. The legs are wire wound around a real twig with a added bead embelishment. these birds will be available in my Etsy Shop very soon!



I also created these fabric collage house ornaments. The house itself is my Fabric Paper with a white Upholestry Roof and vintage lace for icicle drippings. the shrubs in the front are also vintage pillow case edging. I placed stiffener inside th fabric sandwich and backed the piece with more upholstry scraps. Again each ornament is unique depending ont he Fabric paper used and the trims added!


I am also making small Art Quilts using the dried Baby Wipes that we used for cleaning paint off of our hands during my Gelatin Monoprinting class. (NEVER throw anything AWAY!!!) I added a stamping of my own creation and wrote the quote using a fine tipped sharpie marker. The quote reads: "Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower".
Then, using scraps that had piled up around my sewing machine, I added borders and a backing. Then I embelished the piece with s afew beads and added a hanging cord. The border scraps and backing are form my gelatin monoprinted fabric stash.


In the past, I have created scrap fabric pieces that I have then proceeded to use for purses and other fabric creations. Recently I created a piece that is predominantly red, with Christmas ornaments in mind. I have been collecting mens silk ties when I see them in thrift stores and they have appealing patterns. I used many of the deconstructed ties in this fabric reconstruction. I then cut heart shapes out of the scrap and stitch embellished fabric and embellished the hearts further with embroidery and beads! (Of course!!)




I added vintage silk for the backing and stiffened the whole piece with interfacing.

Finally here is a picture of the collection of items that I delivered to Liberty Town, to kick off the Holiday Shopping Season. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!


Happy Creating everyone, I am off to make a batch of bread for this week's bag lunches!

17 comments:

Judith said...

These little ornaments look very sweet.i love making Christmas things too.I'm having a little give away gift on my Blog this month if you have time to visit.Cheers Judy

Liz in Kansas said...

Ooh, those little trees are so cute. I especially like the ones you made from dish towels. Such a pretty keepsake.

verobirdie said...

So sweet, the trees and the hearts.
Thanks for sending us in Xmas mood.

Patti G. said...

Elizabeth, you are a creative talent! Those trees are DARLING!!!!!!!
Just wonderful and all your creations and super fun! You are amazing my friend!
xoxoxoo
Hugs,Patti

Vintage Blue Studio said...

Those little fabric trees are just too sweet!

Jacky said...

Busy, busy, busy.....your pieces look great in the display (love that red stand too!).

Good luck with it all!

Jacky xox

Chris said...

Oh Elizabeth those trees on sticks are wonderful, i love them and the little bird is a dream. Wonderful ideas.Love Chris

Beena said...

Love your Christmas work shop! You are getting so much done, you must have elves helping!
Those trees are so wonderful and yummy!

Jeanne Turner McBrayer said...

What a wonderful collection of hand-made ornaments and pretties. I am sure you will do well. Questions: what did you use for the tree stands that have a black base? And how did you make the darling white angel in the shop collection?

Leslie Brier said...

I love them all! I'm going to stop by LibertyTown on Friday to see them in their new home. I just love the bright colors that you use!

Anna M. Branner said...

One of your trees came home with me today. :) See you Saturday at the meeting?

Phyllis said...

Oh, your little trees are so CUTE!

I just drove through Fredericksburg on my way home from D.C. Monday. Wish I had known about that place you took your things to.

martha brown said...

I LOVE your trees -- you've been so busy! I'm going to work a bit on Christmas today. Unfortunately I can't find the quilt scraps that I need (actually, I haven't seen them since I moved) so I'm thinking that either a cleaning of the studio is in order, or a search and rescue in the garage. Or maybe I'll just procrastinate and spend more time on google reader......

Jackie said...

So looking at all this wonderful production, I can see that you know exactly how I feel. You've been busy too. the christmas trees are my favourites.
Thank you for all the lovely comments you send me.

Judy said...

Well, it just isn't fair to leave a comment on my blog, asking my opinion of your trees........because now I'm drooling all over my keyboard! LOL What HAVEN'T you been doing lately? Looks like you covered just about every corner of mixed media and done a fantastic job in the process. Today I am tasked with cleaning my desk, washing windows, and maybe, if I'm really lucky, I'll get a few minutes out in the studio! Tomorrow we are heading out of town, so there's no creative time for me for a few days....and then we're having company for dinner, so I'll be in the 'preparty crazies', which is no fun at all! ARGH!!!

Seriously though, I love everything you've done, and you've inspired me to the nth degree!

xo

Jo Wholohan said...

oh my goodness elizabeth, its so great to find you again too, its been way too long hasnt it!!! thanks so much for your kind words, had an absolute ball at the craft fair, so worth taking the jump!!!! LOVE your little fabric goodies, just beautiful..... xx

Trina Lucido said...

cute, cute, cute!

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