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.*-

Average No More

Life changing events are not always large. They can be small, seemingly insignificant things that would have no effect on others. They can be something another would forget within the hour. 

In High School I found out that my GPA was in the middle of my class. I don't mean approximately. 

Smack dab in the middle

As in I was the average student. With an odd number of students in my class I could not even cry that it was the other middle who was actually the average one. Add to that blow hearing that the guidance counselors had used my standardized test (was it the Idaho or Iowa back then?) to show all the guidance counselors how to interpret the data. 

The shame. 

I had always been a kid who followed the beat of my own heart. I wasn't following a drummer, after all. A dear friend at the time sighed when she heard this factoid of information. She intimated that my life would be plagued by the need to prove myself NOT AVERAGE. At the time I didn't necessarily agree with her assertion, but reflection does indicate that she was prophetic. 

Haunted by the fear of being average, I have challenged myself, pushed through and done things that looking back, I can't believe were possible for me. Still, the fear remained, always taunting me with the fact that accolades have not been forthcoming and comparing myself to my contemporaries. What in the world do I have to show for myself?

Yesterday in a flash of inspiration I found my answer. I have to change my thinking. No longer will I repeat those words in my head 

"You are average." 

From Yesterday those words have been replace by something so much better. 

"You are archetypal."

"You are the prototype."

"You are universal consciousness."

My daughter's kind voice added:

"You are a classic."

I am not average. Those who know me best would tend to agree, I think. I am wonderfully unique. The word that has plagued me all these years has lost its power. I am archetypal. I will have the last word. 

The Mad to Glad Tea Party

Welcome to the 

Mad to Glad Tea Party 2016

These days there is so much to be mad about, sad about, absolutely devastated about.

Wherever I look I see people questioning why...

wondering how we got to this place....

wondering if the things they do matter...

if they matter....

and they do.

They do matter. 

You matter. 

So as I pondered these things, along came the time for

Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist to post the invitation 

to her annual

Mad Tea Party. 

Each year I look forward to this wonderful party. The loveliness, the creativity, the joy of it all. 

As I pondered these things I decided to hold a 

Mad to Glad Tea Party this year. 

First we must entice a rabbit with a bouquet of basil and fresh dill. 

Everyone knows that rabbits are great for inspiration. 

Sir Fernly Fern and I thought a long time. I stroked his silky fur. He nuzzled me and nipped me when I stopped petting him. Sir Fernly Fern doesn't shy away from comfort as we humans sometimes do. 

The idea to turn Mad to Glad came to me as we snuggled. Tea, friendship and art journaling - the focus for this year. 

I used craft paper instead of a pretty cloth so we could spill as much as we wanted, or write, or paint. 

Guest tags were replaced by black sharpie free flowing names on the table. Naturally we set a place for the Unexpected Guest. 

Three kinds of tea. Why not? A taste testing adventure.

Silly labels made us laugh. 

And we can't forget to stop and smell the roses.

While I know that a cuppa tea can often change my mad to glad, I had more planned for my party friends.

I gave each friend a piece of cold pressed watercolor paper and told them to write what was making them mad or sad or anxious or worried. Like 18th century letter writers would conserved paper, we turned the paper and wrote crosswise. In days gone by the paper was expensive. We used it as a design element. 

After choosing some colors to paint over the words we picked up our cards and spread paint.

My spot at the table after painting a few layers. 

Collage ensued. Scrap paper. Paper bags. Paper from presents last Christmas. Magazine pages. If it could be pasted down it was fair game. 

More color. More layers. We stopped only when it became apparent that our pages needed to dry before adding any more. We hope to continue these now glad pieces. Pieces that inspire us to move forward when it seemed hard to move a muscle.

Here's hoping that you have some inspiration to turn something mad into something glad. Thanks for joining us.  

Please be sure to visit A Fanciful Twist for links to see all the Mad Tea Parties that are happening today. Just click on the invitation to zip over there.