With Summer coming to a close, this is the perfect time for me to share a beach finds project with you. If you’re like me, you have a collection of carefully selected beach beauties on hand.  Here’s a look at what you can create with them.

Here’s a close look at one that’s focused around a heart.

And this one has a heart in it also.

This next one looks like a heart to me too.  Although it’s missing part of the top curve, my eye and mind sees it as complete.

Very often I like to include details that look like visual hugs…I think this adds a cozy feel.  Below are some examples of what I mean.

Wire wrapped rock.

Circle around a shell.

Wire wrapped around “cherish” stick and string wrapped around a reed with a feather sticking out.

And here’s a closer look at my favorite example of a visual hug (sunshine yellow thread wrapped around a feather seen on the right hand side of the canvas), which I did while thinking of my Bill and Brook.

I feel grateful that no matter where I am or what season it happens to be, I’m always surrounded by sunshine, as long as I’m around (or even when I’m just thinking of) my Bill and Brook. They are my light, my joy…my sunshine.  As we move into the direction of shorter days, may the brilliant, beautiful light of your loved ones fill you with peace and joy as well.

If you’d like to know more about the artwork shown above, please refer to my article in the current issue of Somerset Studio.  And of course, please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions about the making process…I’m always happy to help.

As a side note, it seems that my blog had been hacked and I think it hasn’t been functioning properly since the beginning of Summer.  However, it’s all been fixed (thanks to Bill) so if you’re a subscriber, or you like to just drop by occasionally, you’ll be able to do so more easily again.

This week both my sister (Lisa) and her daughter (Stephanie, who turned 21) celebrated their birthdays.  Back in February, while I was in Hong Kong, I scoured the Jade Market looking for pearl earrings for each of them.

I found these pretty, pale pink ones for my sister (pink’s her favorite color).

And I found these tiny creamy-colored ones for my niece.  As you can see, I created a special mini canvas for each of them.  I think these canvases make a lovely presentation.  And I like how you can express your thoughts to the recipient on the canvas…like how I see Stephanie as a bright star (“Star light star bright”).

Here are the two canvases together.  Two pearls for two girls, with warmest happy birthday wishes to both.

Creating a gift to present a gift…I like layering the love.

I’ve been having some fun using up my cloth strips (from my previous post), and I recently created this 3″ x 3″ canvas.

And I also made this.

And then I mixed things up by making this cozy little heart.

There’s been a lot on my mind lately and making simple little things has been great therapy.  There’s something comforting about letting the mind wander as I work with my hands, and sometimes in spontaneous brief spurts…and without any expectations for the outcome.  Busy hands have always been a good remedy for me, keeping me calm whenever I feel anxious.

[Random thought coming…]

I’m pretty sure that I have some slight form of OCD (this is most apparent to me when I have to rearrange my tv remotes just so, in order to feel fully relaxed).  I’ve grown to accept this little quirk and I don’t see it as a big flaw anymore.  And actually, I find it sort of amusing…and very much like me in general, which is a bit of this and a bit of that…just like my artwork.  The combination of our best and quirkiest qualities is what makes us each unique.

Maybe there’s a connection between the two…making things creatively and putting things in order at home.  I haven’t thought much about this in detail, but there’s something there…

In the current issue of Somerset Studio you’ll see two seasonal looking star projects of mine in the “With One Stamp” department (the instructions are included).

One in red.

And one in black.

And this pointy tree on a 3″ x 3″ canvas isn’t in the magazine, but I felt like it belonged here in this post since the tree shape is like the single point of a star.  To make it more tree-like, I applied a light wash of green watercolor paint onto a text printed page.

The soft bed of snow was made from a piece of torn paper towel.

The number “2” has been on my mind a lot lately…

…and bright, shiny stars have been too…how about you?

Let your inner light shine…let it light up the world.

Last month I received some wonderful wooden pieces from Helga at Artchix Studio.  She likes to use green materials in her artwork…just like me.  And she was so generous to send over this pile of birds and branches made from sustainable wood.  They’re great as is, but I thought I’d jazz them up a bit for the holidays.

Here’s a look at a couple of things that I made using 2″ x 2″ canvases as a base.

The birdie below is dressed up in a coating of blue glass glitter (left to dry completely), and then topped with a sprinkling of mica (I used craft glue to adhere both shimmers to the wood).

And this birdie received just one coat of silver glass glitter.  I think this bright flash of silver will look lovely on our Christmas tree.

If jewelry happens to be your thing, here’s a necklace that I made using the wooden branch shape as is.

Also, as a side note, Helga sent me a bunch of other shapes as well…which I plan to play with over the next month or so in between getting things ready for Christmas and the New Year.  For me, taking time out to create is essential during the holidays…it keeps me calm and centered, happy and peaceful.

How are you all doing out there?  I hope that those of you who’ve been affected by the terrible storm are okay.  I’m so sorry that it’s been such a rough few days for so many, and I hope that life will soon get back to being more normal for those of you who were affected by Sandy.

Assuming that you’re here because you’re doing fine, I thought I’d share a light-hearted project with you. Here are a couple of canvases (3″ x 3″) with embellished mini perfume bottles.

I filled one bottle with tiny typed messages of “love”.

And I filled the heart shaped bottle with regular table sugar.  Adding this little dose of sweetness gives it some simple charm.

Here are both canvases together side-by-side…with love as the focus.

With a light and loving heart, there is sweetness in the everyday.

Kerenza, who’s like a sister to me recently had her first baby…what happiness!  To honor brand new Mama and baby Owen I created a little 4″ x 4″ canvas for them.

The bond of mother and child…

…is strong and steady…

…yet soft and gentle.

And shimmers with love.

Tomorrow, Bill, Brook and I will be heading to the nearby Hudson Valley area to visit some of the people who are closest to me.  The subject of family has been on my mind a lot recently, and I have a feeling that this will be showing up in my artwork going forward.

For our short trip to New York I’m planning on bringing a big ball of cozy blue yarn so that I can knit myself a scarf.  I love sitting around with the people I love, simply talking and knitting, listening and sharing.  And you, what things will you be enjoying this weekend?

Wishing you a happy loving weekend with you and yours!

I’m pretty sure that most of you know by now how much I enjoy using words and messages in my artwork.  In the current issue of Somerset Studio (July/August) you’ll see two of my perfume bottle pieces…

…one with a personal message on it.

In case it’s hard to read, the message is: Truth and beauty fill the soul with peace and harmony.

A single, simple dangle compliments the bottle without complicating it.  I wanted the words to speak the loudest in this piece.

Here’s a look at the other piece, which ended up being somewhat more playful in personality.

I love playing around with bubbly bits, don’t you?

The instructions for how to make these paper perfume bottle canvases are included within the article.  If you come across any other questions please feel free to contact me…I’m always very happy to help.

Happy summer days to you, and wishing you much peace and harmony…

…and some playfulness as well!

Lately some deep thoughts have been surfacing, having to do with complicated issues…which led me to form these words:

Do you grow light,
or do you grow dark…
in the flicker of someone else’s happiness?
Choose to be a conduit of selfless love.

I recently created the piece below with the subject of love in mind.  I guess this subject has been on my mind a lot, whether good or bad.  Exploring this area so fully is new for me.

There is always hope…

…with love as an anchor.

I created the above piece using a fishing weight that I found during one of my beach outings many months ago.  And I think that you already know that feathers (like the one I used above) are a regular find for me.

It’s pretty amazing to me how these symbols of hope (feathers) and love (my interpretation of the fishing weight) are everywhere…if we choose to be in the moment and really look.

BTW, the typed text that you see on the canvas is from a portion of a poem that I wrote years ago.  Recently, after reading it over I decided that the words did not feel like a good fit anymore.  So I tore away the excess, and was surprised to find that the remaining words still spoke to me.  Isn’t it interesting how you can repurpose even a poem?  Maybe we can reinvent or repurpose ourselves, by stripping away the parts we would like to leave behind, revealing an evolved self, a truer self…a better self.

The new issue of Somerset Studio (May/June) is now available.  And inside you’ll see a couple of my projects in the “With One Stamp” department.

I used “The Nightingale” stamp (“Birds of a Feather” set from Tweety Jill, which contains 15 different stamps) to create this canvas…

…as well as this necklace (collage on bamboo tile).

With birds on the brain (which often happens, especially during this time of year), I used some wire (left over from a jewelry project that I recently goofed up) to create this cute, little nest.

Taking a tangled mess…

and turning it into a little nest feels satisfying.  And it’s an added bonus that this nest comes in handy for housing my beach finds of sand-tumbled stones.

The addition of a single feather (also from my collection of beach finds) seems to add a good measure of balance.

With the weather getting warmer I’ve been feeling especially energetic, with a strong urge to do some feathering of our nest.  So I’ll be stepping away for a couple of weeks while I gather the bits and pieces that I hope will make our home feel fresh and comfy…more modern yet still homey.  Our family has lived in our current home for about 8 years now, and I haven’t done much to it since we moved in…so it’s time.  And I’m excited!  How about you…have you been feeling an itch to do a home makeover also?