KAT'S KURIOSITIES

My handmade Jewelry

2010-11-07T17:00:00.002-06:00

Glass elephant with two strings of beads Coral & turquoise with matching earrings & bracelet.

Sterling butterfly with lavender crystals on left of bracelet and svorski crystal, a cross & a teardrop hang on the right. Bracelet in picture to the right with a bracelet for another set.

Crystals and pearls Black & white chains

with black & white

cameo & black stones.

Victorian lace & Cameos plus beading decorate this vintage set with cameo earring on right.

asymetrical antigue gold wreath with amber flowers and leaves.

Mariet Antoinette

victorian necklace, earrings are 2 more pictures of Marie & the bracelet below is filled with victorian charms.

Burgandy red & pink large glass beads. Necklace is two strands & there are two matching bracelets and earrings.

Three pairs of earrings made with svorski crystals.

Glass swan on amathyst & white bead strand with bracelet and earrings to match.

Deep red beads with multi colored deep red and white & a pendant in deep red and white. Picture of pendant didn't show it near as pretty as it is.

This necklace is a short one with very large beads which are really in right now. The clasp is magnetic and is one of the glitzy looking beads. The beads are all hot pink.

This necklace has vintage flowers of lucite and they are hand wired to a mesh base.

This necklace is a stone gem set it silver with matching earrings.

Matching necklace, bracelet & earrings of very pretty blue green beads.

A variety of bracelets and a watch.

Picture didn't take well but its a glass turtle with a flower in his shell on a topaz ribbon.

Hot pink chains with flower beads & matching earrings

bracelet with very large beads kind of country matt colors. On right is a ceramic bead & silver necklace with matching earrings and bracelet.

Pink & clear svorski crystals make up this neclace with matching earrings.

Misc. earrings.

Copper earrings. Left are long, center are turned so you can't see one of the butterflies butterflies and the one on right has birds.

A silver bow with a framed cameo & a 1930's style lady with olds cars and her dog on a chain. It is vintage.

A mauve colored beads bracelet with earrings and an adjustable ring.

Clear rinestones with a red center one in the flowers.

A vintage white and pink flower on a crystal strand.

Jasper beads with a large one on an antique gold base with tiny antique gold hearts and chain dangling.

This necklace has several different size strands of black or pewter chain & has a black crown with red crystals & a black heart with crystals and a key hanging from it. Also has matching earrings. The heart and crown didn't take well on the picture.

An antique gold butterly with a big pearl. Has matching earrings.

This didn't take well either. It has a silver filigree heart that hangs in the middle and the bottom oval has a cut clear stone with a light black mesh over it and it really sparkles when it picks up the light.

Chain earrings for above necklace

Antique gold owl on green and brown bead necklace with matching earrings.

This has beads that are a red brown or copper look with a copper concho. Matching earrings are also smaller copper conchos. (See below)

This necklace has a matching bracelet & earrings all done with almond color pearls. The pendant has sparkly gold or copper inside of it.

This crystal necklace is gray and has a matching bracelet & earrings.

This necklace is made up of antique gold pieces, a half moon, two birds & a victorian lady in the center of the crescant & is accented with off white pearls. Its has matching earrings top left that are pearls dangling from an antique gold piece.

This necklace is made of all tiger eye beads and has a matching pair of earrings.

These are the earring that match 3 of the necklaces .

This necklace is made of wooden beads and some copper sparkley chip beads inter woven through it on several strands.

This bracelet matches the wooden necklace and their are wooden earrings also.

Earrings match necklace below.

Necklace pendant is a different blue framed in copper. A little bird is on the blue oval and the rectangle above also has an etched picture on it. The earrings picture looks a different blue but it really is the color of the necklace.

This is a copper necklace with pretty bluegreen pendant with copper on it and two turquoise colored crosses and several different colored beads on it and has matching cross earrings. It is a short necklace.

This bracelet is made up of large flat shell beads and matches the necklace below.

These beads really are pretty large.

The two earrings on the left go with the necklace above. The next pair go with the wooden necklace and the last is just a misc. pair of earrings.

This is a different view of the big stone necklace up above somewhere and has a silver bracelet with one blue stone and matching earrings.

This is a very pretty cameo with matching earrings and bracelet.

This pendant and earrings have a multitude of colors shining in them & the beads are crystals that shine with several colors in them also. Very glitzy and pretty.

This pendant is a matte looking silver or pewter with a crystal center and the three chains are made of pewter pearls and crystals with matching bracelet & earrings. It is a short choker style & very elegant.

This necklace is made of different shades of green beads & is wire wrapped. Has matching earrings

This did not take a good picture. The pendant is an ivory carved cat's head on a copper flower. The chain is copper and the beads are copper colored also. Has matching earrings.

This necklace is a black & white cameo of a couple in love and is on lace. Has matching earrings.

This necklace is made of antigue gold or brass pieces. The pendant is an old bike. Very vintage.

This is the bottom of a rosary with a very pretty crucifix and center divider of Mary. All done in matte olive green beads and some dark crystal green beads for the our fathers.

This is the rest of the rosary above the silver divider.

This is the bracelet & earrings that go with the necklace below.

The big rings are glass with many colors. The earrings and two of the glass rings have silver with dark gold or amber crystal centers. One silver ring has a bumble bee with an amber body hanging in it and it has both silver and copper chain. Very pretty for fall.

My jewelry hanging in my back bedroom

Somemore on the bed.

The cedar chest if loaded

Other side of window.

My attempts at drawing & painting big eyed girls for Suzi Blu class.

2010-07-22T00:36:00.001-05:00

Kathryn Parr (6th wife) & King Henry VIII (Photo)

Kathryn & King Henry scanned First girl photo

A wizard calling in a fairy. Sketch & colored

pencil.

First girl scanned.

Pictures from our family get togethers while new twins were here.

2010-07-01T22:42:00.001-05:00

3 generations of Turnquist men, our son Rod, his sons, Dustin Cody & Casey and Grandpa Don.

Grandpa Don

Max decided to try out a new look with his bottom lip stuck out. LOL Rod & two of his miniature horses.

Great Grandpa Don & Sam & Great Grandma Kathy & Max

Victoria wanted out. She wasn't too sure about those little horses when they got to romping.

Max standing up by an old mill wheel that Rod converted into a coffee table when Dustin was about the same age. So both learning to walk holding on to the table. Both twins just learned to crawl the week before they all got to Kansas from San Diego.

They got to try out swimming at the Augusta pool with Uncle Casey. Don't seem too concerned. Uncle Cody is a guard at the pool.

Uncle Cody and Max. He'd make anyone laugh with his crazy faces.

Grandpa Rod and Max Uncle Cody & Sam.

Great Grandma Kathy & Max & Great Grandpa Don with Sam.4 generations of Turnquist men. Rod, his sons Dustin, Cody and Casey and Grandpa Don.

Brent Finch, one of the twins friends trying out feeding a twin. He's stayed at our house when in Hutchinson for basketball tournaments.Grandpa Don & Max. It takes them a while to let people hold them. They are definitely Mom & Dad's boys.

Sam & Max find my rocking chair. The chair went through 4 of us Woodburn kids, then my son Rod, and then Dustin & the twins, Cody and Casey and now my great grandsons get to check it out. It had so much paint on it, White, Blue, Red, Brown and so I tried to strip it but it just wouldn't all come off so decided to just varnish it and let a little of all the colors of the generations show. It was my chair as a little girl but I think my brother Phyl clocked in more hours watching tv in it.

I sat Sam in it earlier & then both boys got a turn later. First Max and then Sam. Their birthday isn't until the 25th of August but we decided to have a birthday party while they were here. Sam with cake.

Crawling in tandem & Max by the cake. It was also my oldest Great Grandson, Bryton's birthday so they shared a cake. My 4th grandson Kyle came over too with his son Korbin.

4 Generations, Grandpa Rod with Sam, Dustin, Great Grandpa Don & a mad Max.

When they crash they are out like a light. Korbin Ray playing. Sam was so out of it you could raise his arm and it would just plunk right down. Max was out of it too.

Sam with Uncle Casey.I love these two pictures. My Grandson's Casey & Cody feeding my Great Grandson's Sam & Max. My older twins aren't identical but the younger ones are. Aren't they all precious? They are to Grandma.

My twin great grandsons and parents came to visit.

2010-07-01T21:49:00.001-05:00

Sam & Max (10months)Four generations of Turnquist Men & Boys.

Great Grandpa Don, Grandpa Rod, Sons Dustin, Cody & Casey (twins) & Dustin's boys Sam & Max (also twins).

I picked out all the pics I wanted on here twice and both times just one came into this post. Grrr.

Amber's Wedding Album

2010-02-09T23:36:00.000-06:00

I spent 11 straight days printing pictures, getting them collated in the order I wanted them and then scrapbooking them into the album. I gave Amber the choice of a white album or hot pink, which was the main color in her wedding. I knew she'd pick the hot pick. lol. Here is Becky, mother of the bride, looking over the album while we waited for Amber to get there.

Amber is here and I put it in her lap. First thing she sees is something I just stuck in there for Reannah, her daughter.

I don't know what I'm tellilng her here. I told her I thought I just might keep it myself. I said, Are you worth it and she let me know real quick that she thought she was.

Rod took a picture of us together.

This one is better of her so I cropped me out .

This is the front of the album. I put some lace with pearls around the picture opening and then added the flowers. It still needed something and I found the wedding appliques that I put on the right and left corners at the top.

I had a small wedding kit and this church was in it and I put pictures behind all the doors and windows. Then I cut slits in the plastic protector sheets so the doors could come through so you could open them to see the pictures.

A great picture of the beautiful bride.

I made her pink jewelry for the wedding.

This picture was taken in the brides room and we had her stand so you could see her in this big mirror. Well all the bridesmaids suitcases were stacked in front of it so when I got the picture into my computer I made the carpet go all the way and took out the suitcases. I had this sheer lace with pearls and its almost the same material as her dress so went well.

I took this picture of the back of her hair.

This is Becky, the mother of the bride and Rod, my son and Amber's stepdad, who gave her away.

This is a collage of pictures of the bride with Grandpa Don. When we decided to take it over at the last minute, I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the album so I picked out these few pages and had Rod take pictures of them. It ended up being a one hundred and four page book with over 350 pictures in it. Man was I glad when it was finished. I was up late every night working on it and I was exhausted by the time I got it done. Its my own fault because when I start something I just keep pushing myself till its done and off my to do list.

My new twin Great grandsons - Sam & Max

2009-09-21T15:59:00.001-05:00

This is Victoria in Uniform. She is a Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps. She is the mother of my new

great grandsons.

This is my Grandson Dustin who is a Corporal in the Marine Corps. He is the father of my new great grandsons and has been in Iraq. So Victoria went through her whole pregnancy by herself. The twins decided to come on August 25, 2009. They weren't due till Oct. 14, 2009. So they were premies and very tiny. Samuel Scott weighed in at 4 lbs 1.6 oz. and 16 " long and Max Michael weighed in at 3 lbs. 5 oz. and 16" long. They were born in San Diego Marine Hospital by C section. They were then moved to San Diego Children's hospital as they were better equiped to take care of them. They've been home about a week now and are doing great. Dustin got to take the next plane home and arrived just a few days after the birth.

Above are the crosses that my church, 1st United Methodist, in Hutchinson, KS. gave to the boys. I brought the two red roses home and stuck them in the microwave and dried them and put them in a box to send to the kids in California. The crosses are to hang in their room so they start life recognizing the image. The next picture is of the inside of the certificates that came with the crosses.

Dustin's little family.

We now have 4 sets of twins in our family and 2 of them are my grandsons. The 3rd set belong to my brother's oldest daughter and the 4th to my Sister's son. The last 3 sets came into our life in less than a year. One set in Omaha, Ne., one in Kearney, Ne. and the other in San Diego, CA. so I guess the water isn't safe anywhere. I thought it was a miracle when we got twin grandsons 19 years ago and now their big brother has given us another set. We are all so blessed with these little wonders & our other grandkids also. Donny has 6, Andrea's Ben, William and new twins Gavin and Dawson, & Katie's Hannah and Noah. Gay has 3, Mike's Olivia & twin girls Josslyn and Leah & her new step grandson, Ben. I have Dustin, (new wife Victoria), Casey & Cody & new greats Sam & Max and from Rod's second wife Becky, I have stepgrandkids, Dawn & son Bryton, Amber & husband Joey & her daughter Reannah and his sons, Christopher & Tyler, and Kyle. So from one son I have quite a crew. Love them all.

Alice in Wonderland, an altered Piano Roll

2009-09-21T14:02:00.008-05:00

After seeing a piano roll that someone had altered in one of the Somerset magazines, I decided I wanted to try one. First I covered the piano roll with sheet music. Then I added pictures of many of the illustrations that were used in Alice in Wonderland over the years. Many different artists have illustrated the book. The first & probably most remembered are done by Sir John Tenniel. I followed the story from beginning to end and labeled all the illustrations with the artist who did them. Then I went back and journaled excerpts from the story. I used a crackle stamp and distress inks to distress the entire roll so it looks like a long banner rather than individual pages. This is the beginning of the roll and tells that the story of Alice in Wonderland was written by Louis Carroll (the pen name for Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He told this story while taking 3 daughters of one of his church family on a canoe ride. He made it up as they went up the river. One of the girls, Alice Liddell asked him to write it down for her and so began the long life of the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I spent hours looking on the internet for as many examples of illustraters that I could find and downloaded them and printed them out and cut or tore them out to use on the pages.

You will also note that I purchased an unmounted rubber stamp set of Alice and used them throughout the banner also.

Here you can see the story came to its end and you can see the perforations in the roll of paper that the upright player piano would read to play a song.

The story all rolled up and in its box.
I covered the lid with some scrapbook paper with cards since the King and Queen of hearts were two of the main characters in the book. I bought a page that had Alice in Wonderland and the White rabbit as paperdolls and put them on the top of the lid. Below is the side of the lid with a pin of the Cheshire cat that I found in used jewelry at the Et Cetera shop.

This is my copy of one of the many books illustrated for Alice in Wonderland. I didn't use the illustrations in this book except for maybe one because I will lay the box with the roll by this book to display it and allow anyone who would like, to read the whole story.

My latest drawing

2009-04-03T17:13:00.004-05:00

I sat down and tried to draw our dog Sammy. We had to put her to sleep last July and I wanted to try drawing her from a photo. I pinned it up on the wall in front of me when I work on the computer and I swear if you move back and forth her eyes follow you. Above is the photo and the drawing.

Collage of my Grandson arriving in Al Asad, Iraq

2009-04-03T16:43:00.003-05:00

Picture of my grandson, Dustin's group arriving in Iraq after being deployed from San Diego, CA. He is now at Al Asad airbase. A fellow marine, Donald, who came home with him is in the picture also.

ATC - The lady likes cats.

2009-03-11T13:21:00.004-05:00

ATC's laying on a blue background. These fold to the 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 size.

ATC's folded front side.

ATC's folded back side.

Lady up close in her Lion Brand Veiling.

Tiger up close.

My Jewelry Show & guests

2008-12-15T12:18:00.012-06:00

Well, last minute I decided to have an open house for my jewelry I've made the last few months. I invited all my P.E.O. sisters, all the people in our UMW, my Monday night altered group & two altered book friends from Wichita and any friends on my e-mail address book from Hutchinson. I made jewelry till all hours this last week and I fixed two kinds of hot drinks and several types of dips. Also had my house all decorated for Christmas. A few did RSVP they had other plans but from all these people I only had 7 people come. One P.E.O. sister, one UMW friend, one neighbor, one Hutchinson friend, one Monday night altered group, and two friends who came from Wichita. So not a very good showing. I had this from 9 to 3 and nobody showed up till afternoon. I began to think it was really going to be a one woman show with no guests. LOL. Five of us did have a fun time eating and visiting. Don & I received a magnet each from E.

I really like the way she spelled out Don with the clock for the O.

Dana also brought me a piece of art and you can see it below. Pretty neat huh?

My friend from Hutchinson, Barbara also brought me a Bagel holder. Works pretty neat. The lid comes on down as you take a bagel out of it. She also gave me a zip bag to hold small items in little pockets earlier. As Dana and E were leaving I looked up at a full moon showing through the bare branches of the neighbors tree. So I had to try and take some pictures. These are what I got.

And so ended a fun day as the full moon shown down to guide my last two guests home to Wichita.

My latest jewelry & a canvas molding paste piece

2008-09-10T00:35:00.006-05:00

Below are all the things I've made in the last month. Or at least things I took pics of.
The necklace below is made with pearls and some beads that have copper on one side and
glass on the other.

I went to a shop called Beadalia here in Hutchinson and bought the big pink beads. Then I bought some almost black chain and the filigreed beads at Hobby Lobby and put the next set together. It has 2 necklaces & earrings.

I bought a bracelet at the hospital jewlry store and then took it apart and bought the smaller turquoise beads and used black chain and made this set of 2 necklaces, 1 bracelet and earrings.

This pink set is made with swavorski crystals and tiny pearl like seed beads. It has a necklace, ladder bracelet and earrings. The crystals are cubes and bicones.

The next set is made from some lavender beads I got at Ebersole's in Wichita and a glass component that has a lavender flower imbedded in it.

This set is made with pottery beads.

I bought a new book and had to try using light molding paste on canvas and some new acrylic tube paint I bought. It started with spreading the modeling paste all over it and then I used a squeegee to make the circle swirls on the right and a rubber stamp for the pink flower which didn't stamp very well but left it anyway. The little girl in the swing is a print from Paper Whimsey and the bird and white flower is a rubber stamp that I stamped in black and then colored with sharpee markers. I colored it all and didn't like it because it was too bright and dark colors for me. So I just mixed some white and made them more pastel and went right over my first try. I wrote It's our nature to swing at the bottom. I'm not crazy about it but it was an interesting technique to try.

The scarf is knitted with nylon ribbon yarn. I've had it a long time and made myself sit down and knit it into a scarf.

The purse I made from parts and a book I bought on the clearance wall at Hobby Lobby. I bought 2 squares of the bottom leather look and 2 handles and the flower. I cut out and sewed the bottom pieces and then punched holes all the way around and knitted the upper bag. I made a lining and hand stitched it in and put a magnetic button in the center of the lining before I stitched it in. Then I sewed the handles on, covered a stiff cardboard with the lining and put it in the bottom. Then I decided to add the bead chain to it. I hate to think what this purse would have cost if I hadn't bought all the parts on sale.

My Marine Grandson

2008-06-02T18:05:00.006-05:00

Above is Dustin

Left is Cody and right is Casey--my twin

grandsons.

Just a quick note to say that my Grandson, Dustin Turnquist, was home this last week from his avionics training in the Marine Corp. He will now go to Camp Pendleton near San Diago, CA. where he starts his 4 years of active duty. He and one of my twin grandsons, Casey, came over & my son Rod and Becky and we took them all to Roy's Bar-B-Que for dinner. Really good. The lady who owns it told me to get rid of that crew I just brought in before they spent all my money. LOL. Had a nice visit. He's not one to write or call so always good to catch up on his latest adventures. He does talk to Cody or text every day so we can ask Cody for the latest.

My Victorian Necklace & earrings

2008-06-02T17:53:00.002-05:00

Above is my latest jewelry project. My sister gave me money for my birthday and I ordered all the stuff I needed to make this necklace. The pearls are all from a necklace that my dad gave me as a young girl. They are yellowed or maybe I should say off-white from age. It was a double strand of cultered pearls - choker length. This is my first try at bead weaving rather than stringing on wire. That pendant was a lot of work. When I finished I couldn't decide if I liked it but I'm sure not doing it over. LOL. I still have other parts that I ordered so I can make another victorian necklace too. It is unbelievable how much money you can get into one piece of jewelry. The picture I put on the pendant is a DaVinci.

Oxymoron Swap for Altered Book Club.

2008-05-11T17:02:00.004-05:00

Above are my six front pages for our Oxymoron Swap on ABC a mixed media art group. This swap was tip ins and the theme was Oxymoron's. I chose Authentic Reproduction for the front of the page and A Veiled Accusation for the back. You have to lift her veil to see the accusation which says---You wanted my groom didn't you? The first page are my drawings or reproductions of Leonard DaVinci's drawing or in other words Authentic reproductions.

My week of spoons

2008-05-09T19:59:00.004-05:00

I bought the new Cloth, Paper Scissors mag and so had to try the spoon books it showed in there. I went to Bears Blessings, an antique store downtown, and got lucky and found a bag of old spoons (13) for $5.00 and I bought a knife too. In the bag were two gravy ladles and so I turned them into mirrors. I didn't take a pic of the back but here is the front of one and a close up. I am going to add two tiny silver and enamel bees when they go half off at Hobby Lobby.

With the other gravy ladle I made the spoon mirror below. The little girl is my red headed sister with her finger curls. I bought a teddy bear charm and painted it to match for the front.

Below is all the spoons I did this week. I made 3 spoon books. I used dye inks and painted or dabbed all the spoons a different color. I figured out the words for them and printed them on my computer. I wrapped the three small baby spoons with colored wire and beads. I wrapped the 4 spoon book with a varigated ribbon and put a bow at the top. The spoon book with 3 spoons and the knife I wrapped in wire and beads and on the baby spoon put tiny safety pins and on the knife I put a jasper stone cross. I colored all the silver rings that hold the spoons onto the big rings with dye the color of the big rings and then put some fiber on the big rings. I doubt I'll make any more but it was fun to try it once.

Leonardo sketch

2008-04-29T14:34:00.003-05:00

I spent the last two days doing 8 pages in Elizabeth's Altered book. They are all on Leonardo DaVinci. When I got to this last page I decided I wanted to try and draw the self-portrait that he drew of himself. So I drew it in pencil and this is the page. I scanned it which didn't work real well with the fat book but hopefully you can see it.

Another spoon

2008-04-27T14:14:00.002-05:00

This is a spoon that Gay wanted me to do for Stephanie who is Gay's husband's daughter. It belonged to Steve's mom and so for Stephanie it is Grandma's. It's not as big as most of them that I've done and the mirrors I could find were either too big or too small. When I finally found one on the internet I had to buy $50 worth of products to order on one place and another I had to buy 6 pkgs and that would have been 24 mirrors and the postage was twice what the mirrors cost and they didn't have anything else I wanted. So I called Gay and she said to just use the little ones. So I decided to put two on. I guess its not too bad. I'm lazy and didn't want to mess with taking and pic and unloading the camera so I just scanned these but you can see them pretty well I think. I used alcohol inks and a felt applicator to do the background and then used a brush and the inks to paint the flowers and the butterfly and flower charms. I did the whole thing once and hated it so wiped it all off and did it a second time. So this is it. I glued the two mirrors on with diamond glaze and the beads with The Ultimate, a water based super glue. I like the bigger spoons better because I can use a scalloped mirror. Takes a gravy spoon or large serving spoon. This one was a medium sized serving spoon.

Swaps for ABC Altered Book Clubs 5th anniversary.

2008-04-23T20:16:00.002-05:00

I just had to buy these V stones when I saw them. V is Roman Numeral for 5 which is our clubs anniversary this year.

This is my circle for the 5year wooden anniversary on our group.
Kat

Elizabeth & Kat's April birthdays.

2008-04-12T19:59:00.014-05:00

This is the story of my making Elizabeth's birthday presents and then her opening them. Then you will see pictures of my birthday and there are a couple of Bleubeard too. Below is a stuffed rocking horse that I made for E. The pieces were cut out and someone gave them to our bazaar at church last fall. Well knowing how E loved and saved rocking horses I bought him. I didn't get it done for Christmas so I decided I'd better do it now. It turned into more work than I thought. I had to get both pieces of the horse and same with the runners exactly together so the margin of white didn't show between the seams. Then stuffing him was a long process. Then I decided to sew gold metal bells over the ones printed on his harness & I sewed three red beads on the holly on his neck and on his saddle. I went over the buckle with my gold leaf pen and then I took a glue glitter pen & dabbed it on each berry on the holly on the runners. I don't particularly like to sew so E should feel good that I did for her.

Last minute on Thursday night, I got an e-mail from Digital scrapbook Place and they gave me a free digital set for my birthday. Well when I went to get it downloaded I saw a set called altered album and I loved it and just had to make E a card with it. That's what you see above. This was at quarter to 12 and I thought oh this won't take long. Well I printed the front and back and then I designed the inside and printed it on the other side. I got it upside down. So I did another page which wished her a topsy turvy page with an arrow pointed to the upside down page. LOL. Then I also designed one to put on the envelope. Well I had to then cut those out so I could glue the one inside the card and then the other on the envelope. So I didn't go to bed till after one.

Now her other handmade gift was a book that I decided to make her. I knew she didn't have a fabric book and I've been wanted to play with one. In the last cloth, paper, scissors I saw a wall hanging that a gal had made and the theme was Poisson d'Avril. This is french for April Fish. She used an old french postcard for the holiday. So I went to the internet and spent hours downloading every french April Fish day card or pic that I could find. I also picked up some stories on the day. It is on April 1st just like our April Fools day and they send cards with fish on them and sometimes try to stick a fish to peoples backs. The fish also brings love and kisses. Above you see the cover of the book. I cut some book board I had to 8 1/2 X 8 1/2 and I covered it with scrapbook paper. On the inside covers I then put a square of a contrasting paper. I punched three holes and put eyelets in them. I then digitally did the page that is the front cover and I reprinted the fish that are on it and I pop dotted them onto the cover and then covered them with crystal lacquer so they look like poem stones so to speak. I also made 4 extra and strung them on a piece of fiber to hang from the top of the book. I had a victorian alphabet that I used for her name and then I used crystal lacquer just on the letters not the whole square. I punched holes in the book covers and the pages and then strung fiber through the 3 holes and tied the orange one in a bow. I hung the string of fish from the top fiber.

Above is the inside front cover. It has a postcard of a girl riding a fish. I put flowers on her hat and a feather and flowers in her hand and under the fish & some ribbon bows.

This material and the next page which is the backside is a batik material. The netting is a piece of some stuff that E gave me. I explained the Poisson d'Avril on the journaling piece and distressed it. All the paper pieces I used in the book were glued on with gel medium and then sprayed with fixative & then a coat of gel medium. I cut all the square pages out with pinking shears so they would be less likely to unravel. Below is the back side of the batik. The postcard on it is one I put on fabric. I had one t-shirt transfer sheet left from who knows how long ago and so I printed 4 of the postcards on it and then ironed them on muslin and cut them out with the pinking shears. I stitched most of the pictures on the machine, to the squares and then put the squares back to back and stitched them together. This page is the only one that I didn't sew something on back of because I couldn't make myself cover up the gorgeous batik.

The page above has a map somewhere in France and someone had traced the fish that is on it. The fish postcard is sewed on and then I distressed the edges and the stitch lines. I just used an off white thread on everything and then colored it with distress ink. I also used my finger nail and tore and folded back some places on the edges and distressed the back of them to make it all look old. I also tried to stamp some swirls on this page. Have any of you tried to stamp on material like this? What type of ink pad did you use? I tried several and none were doing a good job so I quit. Some of the pages have room to add other things and I told E she could play with that and add any extra she wanted.

The background on these two pages, above and below, are ones that E had done on Viva paper towels and gave to me. So now the book has paper, material and paper towels. I stamped some swirls on this one and they did better but they are on paper. I put a map of Paris under this postcard.

The background on these two pages are some muslin that E & I took out in the yard and laid on the grass and then we sprayed them with Adirondack washes and some of Aileen's sprays to, I think. We did these last year in April. The pic above is one of the ones I ironed on muslin and it has a paper map of Paris under it.

The page above has a fish someone drew and then did a caricature of a man for its head. Love the fish going boating. The picture below is also on muslin and over a sepia colored map of Paris.

The Koi on the page above is a square with the background and the fish on it. I then took crystal lacquer and coated just the fish. The fish below is actually a pic from the internet of a fish made of cloth.

The last page has a map of Paris, a blue fish picture that again was of a stitched fish, some April Fish day costumes & my caricature of my college picture & I shaded it to match the body of the fish & put guess who on it.

The back inside cover has a tag with a pocket and a little card for her birthday. Below she is taking the book from its bag and there was also some molding material to make molds of anything you want to press into it & then you bake them to use over and over again.

Above is an old player piano roll that E gave me. She knew I wanted to make a book type journal of Alice in Wonderland on one of these. The four little pics on the left are put on paper and she used fingernail polish to cover the paper and then rolled each end in opposite directions and you can put a chain or cord through the top roll and wear them as a necklace. The three cabinet cards are from Theresa and the pendant laying on the middle one is one E made for me from tumbled glass and wire that she put around it and designed and hung a stone heart from it.

Above is a postcard that I got from Theresa today. I love the stamped woman with her bejeweled buttons that T added. And also the buttons on top of the torn paper . The happy Birthday is little cut out squares that are like scrabble tiles. She also sent me a Basic Grey tag book which will be fun to play with. I love basicgrey papers.

Above and below is Bleubeard. I put some of my stuff in my bag and he decided to investigate. I kind of caught him as he backed out. He had his whole head in there. Then he turned around and just plopped kind of half on the bag. He gave us a good laugh.

We had a fun day. E took me to a chinese buffet for lunch and then we went to Ebersoles which is a gem, jewelry craft type place that has been going out of business for several years. LOL. I guess they will close their doors when they get the building sold. They have some 50% off stuff and a lot of 75% off and some 80 and 90 so its fun to look. E paid for part of my purchases and managed not to choke over what I spent altogether. I'd been there before but just looked at things that I could use in altered books but since I've started making jewelry I saw it in a different light. I bought lots of chains and findings and stones or gems and a few beads. I got like $150 dollars worth of stuff for a little over $40 so I felt good about it.

Happy Birthday E.

Kat

2008-03-27T18:58:00.002-05:00

I'm playing with bracelets for PEO today. The bottom two bracelets are made of

swarovski crystal bicones. They are an amber color and have tiny clear crystal bicones between each one. There are two silver daisies between the PEO. The dangle is a silver daisy and has a teeny tiny star dangling from it. The center is a swarovoski crystal. At the end by the clasp is a tiny star also. One the second one up I used alcohol ink to age the peo yellow. The next 3 bracelets are made with czech glass beads and have the tiny silver stars at the end and the silver daisies between the PEO. They haven't been strung yet. I'm putting these here for my niece to look at and decide which one she wants.

Kat

My latest set of jewelry.

2008-03-01T21:57:00.002-06:00

This is my latest set of jewelry. The pendent is a river shell & the beads are cherry quartz. I made the long necklace and then made a double row necklace that is a choker with another row longer. That way you can wear all three or just one or the other. Also made earrings and a bracelet.

2008-03-01T21:52:00.001-06:00

I need to make a scrapbook called “Where in Our World is Snowball?”

Don came into the craft room and said—“Do you have your camera? You need to come take
a picture if it won’t make you mad.” So I knew the cat was someplace she wasn’t supposed to
be. She has been caught on this bed many times and usually she curls up on this dolls skirt. I guess the other day she was up between the pillows but this day she was laying there just as you see her with a paw either side of the doll. She shuts her eyes like she’s asleep or just bats them as if she’s saying “I belong here” Makes me wonder if she knocked this doll on her face because if you do she cries so maybe she thinks she’s a mommy? LOL

A new hobby - Bead jewelry making.

2008-02-23T00:15:00.005-06:00

Well I now have a new hobby. I decided I wanted to try making jewelry. The above pic shows my first set done in pink Crystal squares, silver covered pink crystals, silver corrugated beads & pink tube beads and two teapots with black beads with pink flowers & a silver cross charm with a swarovski crystal all strung and then added to a silver chain. The clasp is also a teapot and a spoon.
This pic is the bracelet & the earrings. The bracelet has a teapot with a silver bead for the body & tea bag charm and a cup & saucer charm & then I added a cloisonne butterfly with swarovski crystals. The earrings are made with s black bead with pink flowers, and a square pink bead and two silver beads added to wires.
The whole set together. Close up of the bottom of the necklace on the set below.

This set is made with Leopardskin Jasper hearts & corrugated silver beads & the graduated set of leopardskin jasper with tiny jasper beads between them & the bracelet has a few black onyx nuggets. The bracelet is strung on a stretchy stringing thread. The set up a little closer. These heart beads are what started all this. I wanted something made out of them.
This set is made with black onxy nuggets & silver beads and faceted black beads hook the leopardskin jasper donut to the necklace and two little circles of sead beads are between the two.
This pic just shows how long the necklace really is. This set is made with three different brown & clear mix glass beads. One is heart shaped, one is kind of fluted or like a nugget and the third is a flat rhondelle spacer bead. I made the earrings with one of the nuggets and 4 spacer beads handing from a gold teardrop frame.
A closer look at the earrings
A closer look at the bracelet.

Another bracelet and matching earrings. They are a real light weight copper filligree and I glued copper colored sead beads in the center. and used two copper spacers on the bracelet and a copper lobster clasp.

This set is another one made with leopardskin jasper but it is a lighter more tan colored shade. There are also some peace jasper green beads on the necklace. The graduated set at the bottom of the necklace I have had a long time. I bought them at Ebersoles who are still going out of business. I bought the little round jasper beads from Rocky Mountain Gems. I used them in the earrings also. I've described the beads as best I could just from memory so may have some of the names wrong & its 1:30 in the A.M. so probably not so bright. I want to do some bead weaving too. Stay tuned.

A picture I took today of Sammy sitting on Don's lap. Kind of a boney place to sit. She has been moving awfully slow lately and she has this awful croupy sounding cough which the vet says is from liquid around her heart. She's taking pills to that are like water pills but it doesn't seem to help the cough any. She is old and we are probably getting near losing her. Don hopes she goes in her sleep as he doesn't want to have to decide to put her to sleep. She tries to play ball for a little bit but then has to stop and cough. Its such a deep awful sound and it shakes her whole body. She eats good and doesn't seem to hurt but she looks so sad just laying around. She has always been so active.

4 Vanity spoon mirrors

2008-01-29T14:34:00.001-06:00

The backs of my 4 vanity mirrors made out of spoons. After the spoons are painted I glue a mirror on the back and then beads or trim around the mirrors. The oval mirrors are called shaped and so have a pretty edge around them. The round I can't find that way.
Front of the vanity mirrors.
This picture didn't take very well. This spoon had cutouts in the bowl of the spoon and so I painted the back of the mirror with a gold leafing pen. All the spoons were colored with alcohol inks. Pictures were glued on and then sprayed with fixative. Glued on a charm and tied on a ribbon.
On this spoon I did the mixed colors as on the others but I used the ink and a tiny applicator to paint the iris and the leaves. I also used the iris colors on the hummingbird charm. I mixed some pearl on the background of this one.
This spoon was a gorgeous spoon but had a very deep bowl and so when Don flattened it it split in about 5 or six places on the edges where the fancy stuff was. So he went to the hardware store and found some stuff that he put on it and filled all the cracks. It dried really hard and he was wishing he hadn't used so much because it was a bugger to sand it down. It dried kind of a charcoal color. So I used the alcohol inks and then matched up a metalic russet lumiere paint and put it over all the places that were charcoal. I thought it ended up blending really well & I'm so glad it worked because the handle on this spoon is also my favorite. I also painted the silver rose charm gold for this one.

This one was a very tiny spoon in comparison to the others. The gal at the antique shop said that it would be cute as a baby spoon or toddler spoon mirror. So I bought it. Well the pattern on it was leaves and acorns so after painting them the spoon ended up kind of yellow gold and copper looking. Admitedly not very baby colors. The picture is one that I thinks looks so much like me at that age. Her cheek looked dirty and I brushed it lightly with my finger and now she has a crack on her cheek. Oh I was mad at myself. I painted a silver heart gold for this one. All of them have the best match in a ribbon I could find in my stash. I don't think I like the ribbon on this one either. I'm really tired of spoons and not in the mood to redo her right now anyway. I'm going to try doing some jewelry next.

Kat

My handpainted Nursery Rhyme Barn box

2008-01-28T11:53:00.000-06:00

I've had this box base coated and the patterns transfered on for years. I decided I needed to paint it and get it out of my craft room. It also helped me clean up my acrylic paint rack. I threw away more than I kept. I haven't painted on wood in years so felt like a beginner. Its not great but its done. 8>). Still needs to be sprayed with a sealer coat which usually brings out the colors also. I told Don he could do that. The box from a corner angle. When all the pictures were painted, I put a pueblo red stripe down each corner and the ends of the roof. Then I dry brushed some white over it so it blended in better. I've been painting on this for a week and am so glad to have it finished.

It has 7 nursery rhymes on it. Now what do I do with it?

Mother Goose on the lid.
Three little kittens and Miss Muffit.

Little boy blue on the back.

Little old woman who lived in a shoe & Ride a cock horse.

My pictures from an ABC get together at Elizabeth's.

2008-01-12T23:24:00.000-06:00

The ABCers three.
Theresa dyed her hair burgandy.

Dana is talking. She talks fast and asks several questions at once.
Theresa has her hands on her hips. Is she going to hit me?
"E", "T" & Dana
Same 3 nuts.

Now E is talking. She talks real slow & deliberate so you have to egg

her on a little to get a quick answer.

I took my pictures just before Dana and I headed for home. So this is how they look after hours of shopping. Just to make E smile, I have to say that I went to Hobby Lobby in Hutchinson after I got home. Guess I didn't get enough shopping in Wichita.

My Altered little girls ironing board

2008-01-06T19:22:00.001-06:00

Shown at an angle sitting on the floor. It can be adjusted to 2 diff. heights.
From the side. I stained all the legs and bottom of the board with Raisin color wash. Instead of spraying it I used a brush and dipped it in the bottle. Then I used my wooden dabber that I use for alcohol inks and put 3 different colors of lumiere on the legs and sides, metalic russet, copper and brass.
Top of board lying on the floor.

Top of board sitting straight up on my craft table. I used two shiny cutouts (the big pictures) of victorian children and then a bunch of smaller ones. I put scrapbook paper and napkins down first with modge podge. I tore the paper and darkened the edges. Then I put modge-podge over the whole thing. Then I stained it all and did the lumieres and then I modge podged the pictures on. I took it outside and sprayed the whole top with fixative and then added a glaze to the whole top. I will probably finish it with an acrylic finishing coat.

Kat

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-12-18T14:18:00.001-06:00

My antique lamp mirror

2007-12-03T18:57:00.000-06:00

I bought an old lamp with a mirror at Bears Blessing Antique mall. I'm mad at myself for not taking a picture before I started. It was totally covered in an off white enamel paint which Don zip stripped off and then sanded and steel wooled and probably cussed until he got it all off. I almost hated to do anything to it. It really wasn't bad all silver. You can see that in one of these pics. I used alcohol inks and my dabber and I put on raisin and green. Then I used a gold leafing pen and the dobber and some makeup sponges and added gold to it. I painted the two fancier side pieces with the gold leaf pen. I used gel medium on the mirror to glue down some music scrapbook paper on the right and then the girl in the middle. Then I used some brick distress ink on the music and the girl and even on the mirror . The pictures show the tray by itself and the back. Then I took pics with the light on and off and different angles. It wanted to glare so this is the best I could do. It took Don several days to clean it and then just one day for me to cover it back up. LOL.

Snowball

2007-12-02T00:47:00.000-06:00

I thought the new pic in the heading kind of went with my Title. You never know what she will be into next. I've spent two days decorating my house for Christmas. Sure glad that jobs done. Now need to get my Christmas letter written.

Kat

The pillow is finished. Yahoo!!

2007-11-27T13:33:00.000-06:00

The above two pics are of a spoon mirror I made to go with the pillow below for our PEO auction.
Here is the finished pillow with the spoon mirror.
A close up of the lady on the spoon and pillow.
A close up of her hat with resin flowers and feathers.

One more project done and now on to another.

2007-11-27T01:36:00.000-06:00

I deleted this from the post but then it disappeared from my profile so guess I have to leave it here? Anyone know?

My latest Art.

2007-11-25T19:51:00.000-06:00

This is our dog Sammy with her hair longer. Below she is sheared. LOL.

My son gave me these for Thanksgiving. He came in the house carrying 2 dozen and said to mix them and Becky and I each got a dozen. Below I took a pic today with them really opened up. They are gorgeous.

This is our cat, Snowball. She's as white as Sammy below is black.
This is a summer pic of our dog Samantha who we call Sam or Sammy. We have her curly hair all cut off in the summer because she gets so hot. She's getting old as you can see by the gray hair on her muzzle.

The above 2 pics are my victorian vanity mirror made with a spoon that Don flattened for me. I colored the spoon with alcohol inks. The grapes and leaves on already on the spoon, I colored using a brush and alcohol inks. I added some vintage music and a victorian lady lady & then two grape charms that I also painted to match. I tied a ribbon around the handle. The second pic shows the back with a mirror glued on and ball chain around it that is highlighted with the alcohol inks. The mirror was what they called a shaped mirror and so had a beveled look. I couldn't get a shaped one for the spoon below.

The two pictures above are my spoon turned into a vanity mirror. Don took a hammer and flattened the spoon and then I colored the handle with alcohol inks. The handle had the word Phoenix on it so I printed a Phoenix bird and then painted over it and altered his tail to be the scallops on the side of the spoon. His head is the only part not painted. I added a sun charm since by legend the Phoenix is involved with the sun god. I added a red and metalic gold ribbon around the handle. I clipped a ball chain apart and put the balls down the right side. I used lumiere paints to paint this spoon. The second picture is of the back with a mirror glued on and a ball chain glued around it and then highlighted with color.
This is a pillow that I am making to take to a PEO auction in Dec. Its not finished yet so I will upload it again when it is.

My Mexican nicho is colored with alcohol inks. I brought out the dots around the heart with some glitter glue & used a white pen for the wording. The flowers I believe are also from Mexico. Got it all from Art Chix. In the niche, I put some sheet music and then a victorian lady looking in a mirror and set a white cat on the ledge in front of her.

2007-11-25T19:46:00.000-06:00

Alright gals, here is Don in my hat.
Kat

My world, my ramblings, my art

2007-11-23T22:53:00.000-06:00

Everyone else in my art groups seems to have one of these so I'm going to start this & hope to find time to put something on it. I'm lazy today after having Thanksgiving here yesterday. Old age setting in I guess. My thoughts and prayers the last few days and weeks have been centered on an old friend who has cancer and two days ago my sister called to tell me she has a malignant malinoma. She see's an oncologist in Omaha, NE. on Monday. The friend is undergoing chemo. A very rigorous therapy and will start radiation in Jan. Why does this disease have to be?? Of coarse there are other diseases just as bad but this one puts the fear of God in all of us.

Kat