Welcome - Artist Tribe Blog Hop

Welcome to my post for the Gwen Lafleur's Artist Tribe Blog Hop.

Today and tomorrow each of the members of the Artist Tribe will be posting a project to their blogs. You will see a wide variety of styles and projects all using materials carried by Gwen's shop. See the links at the bottom of the page for each member's post links and the giveaway from Gwen.

I have been a maker from a young age. I grew up surrounded by women who knit, crocheted, quilted,  embroidered, baked pies and got creative in the way they met challenges. One thing about mixed media I love is the ability to incorporate just about anything. Incorporating scraps of this and that into pieces is a passion of mine.

My artistic style tends to be stream of consciousness. While some projects I plan, most happen as I follow my instincts. And so it was with this project. 

Last week I visited the Peace Pagoda in Leverett, Massachusetts. It was a beautiful day. 

Below you can see one of the tiles that circle the pagoda. 

There was a lovely breeze and the prayer flags were beautifully flapping. This is just a small portion of the flags. 

I sat on a rock under the flags and felt them cooling me. This page emerged from the sights around me. The floral pattern of the pavings, the purple that was being used to prepare for an event, the colors of the prayer flags and a sign I saw there "No matter where you are from, we're glad you are our neighbor."

The water lilies were stunning. 

Which leads me to my project. I still had the flapping of the prayer flags on my mind and these elephants that are found all the way around the base of the pagoda. 

One night when I couldn't sleep I looked through my basket of goodies from Gwen and found the digital downloads. There were elephants! I gathered my materials and was ready to go. 

The next day I had the chance to go to a member's weekend event at New England Bonsai Gardens in Bellingham, Massachusetts. There I found this raffia dyed exactly the color I was using. Score. 

Welcome Here emerged. 

I was taken with the hand stamped paper from Gwen that you can see in the middle. The paper is lovely to touch. Paired with a piece of craft paper, it looked great against a piece of burlap. The elephant looked perfect with this combination, but I yearned for more dimension. Looking through my printing box I found this hoop that had been some packing for kitchenware. Knew it would come in handy. 

Taking some of that beautiful raffia from the bonsai garden sale, I wrapped it around the hoop. 

Next I took some of the  Handmade Newspaper Yarn and auditioned it on the inside and outside of the hoop. Once I decided, I stitched it to the outside of the circle with a single floss of thread. 

After securing the hoop to the burlap by inserting the ends and tying them in the back, the paper was secured with jewelry making jump rings. The elephants were secured to the ring by jump rings. This makes it possible to see the paper underneath and for it to flap gently in the breeze.

Next I wanted to add the Turkmen Jewelry pieces to add some movement and sound. They sound lovely in the breeze or in front of the fan I am living next to as we are having a heat wave. 

Using the mustard colored raffia for the dangling pieces the jewelry pieces were placed on and secured by wrapping embroidery floss around the raffia. The floss was waxed to make it more solid. I also added some red beads I had to up the jingle factor. 

More of those beads were added to the ends of the dowel by use of wire. 

Sari ribbon was added on the sides. Isn't uncanny how well these colors went together?

 I had wanted to add the welcome sentiment, but decided to leave it without. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project and that you will go visit the blogs of the other members. I very much look forward to seeing what they have come up with. 

Thursday posts:

Gwen:http://gwenyth.typepad.com/gwen/2017/09/artist-tribe-blog-hop-making-atcs.html 

Jackie: http://www.creatingwithoutcrayons-jackiepneal.com/2017/09/hop-along-with-artist-tribe-and-be.html

Friday posts:

Sandee:https://inthehillsofnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2017/09/artist-tribe-introductions.html

Linda W.: 
http://lindaedkinswyatt.blogspot.com/2017/09/earth-angel-warrior-modern-paper-doll.html

Jill: http://itsjustjillmcd.typepad.com/blog/2017/09/she-had-me-with-the-peacock-gwen-lafleur-studio-blog-hop.html

Read on to see how leaving a comment could enter you in the contest to win a gift card. 

One lucky winner will receive $20 Gift Card to the Shop at Gwen Lafleur Studios! All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on any or all of the blog posts during the hop - the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win! (One comment per person per blog please.)

You have until Sunday, October 1st at 11:59pm mountain time to leave your comments. The winner will be announced on the Gwen Lafleur Studios Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/GwenLafleurStudios) on Monday, October 2nd.*-