Life @ RuffHaven: February 2011

I'm Big !

Been spending quality time with my dogs while the Lifeguard is away on vacation. I've also been going through some old photos....pre digital. I found these photos of Zeke, a Yorkie who lives with my dear friend Betsy. I was dog sitting while Betsy and her hubby were at a rubber stamp convention....or vacation....I really don't remember. Anyway Zeke was here for a few days and Shadie had so much fun playing with him.
This photo was taken back in 2006.... Thought you might like it

the space between us

The Diva's zentangle Challenge #10 "The Space Between" in which we were asked to create a tile while being aware of the space between the tangles, we were asked to leave some white space. I love how our Diva comes up with these challenge themes....
This challenge was very thought provoking

I see the space between us as a place where our combined energy mingles ...

the space where magic happens.

And isn't it funny how we all have our "space" the space that becomes uncomfy

when someone we are not particularly fond of gets too close.

I have had my aura read and was told I have a very big aura.

So it makes sense to me that my personal space is large and I really feel

uncomfortable when someone new enters my space.

aura

retracts

and

I feel

confined.

Some people have very strong auras that do not allow my aura to spread out.

I am only comfortable when my aura is free to mingle.

I find it very hard to feel close to people with strong aggressive auras.

Being agoraphobic has it's own set of challenges and I truly wish I could see auras.

It would make my life a lot more easy to navigate.

so thank you Laura,

you really made me think this week,

well enough about that....

you came for the show.....

This was a bit of a challenge for me and I stumbled through 4 attempts before this one

I decided the only way I could do this was to tangle the string and then walk away...

Here is one of my first tiles where clearly I was on auto-pilot and filled up the whole thing.
I like it and wanted to show you...
hope that's ok..I know it doesn't qualify for the challenge.

Thank you Laura, I love how you put

alot of thought into the challenge themes.

And for my new readers who are not tangling,

please take a minute to click on the link above to go see what this is all about.

Thanks for stopping by

Marianne

a long sad sigh

I apologize for falling off the face of the Earth after posting so regularly.
I also apologize for the wimpy post announcing the winner of my OWOH giveaway.
I always want this blog to be a cheery place for you to visit.
but
Life is not so cheery here at RuffHaven.
Our Ginger
is gone.
she lived a long life
but
We had to let her go on Wednesday, Feb 16th. I thought I would be "ok" ....but honestly

I'm not

sorry ..no pictures

no story

maybe some day soon I will be able to write a memorial post.
...but not now

So if you don't see me here for a few days
...this is why

I'll be back

And the winner is :

Que Bella

Azura will be dancing your way.

One World One Heart has come to the end. It was fun visiting everyones blogs.

three random tidbits

I don't have much to offer today. Time for this snowbird to ~~fly~~ drive to her home up north. I do have one more post I am working on...and I thought I'd like to give you a quick sneak peek.

I have been gathering photos so I could take you on a tour of my beach house. Here I have photos of maps that I used to wallpaper the inside of one of our closets ....DH did not like the idea to do one wall in the living room....so we compromised by doing it a closet.....

I'll be back to show you more....

I have also been making beads ...using scraps of batik fabric I am going to make a wall hanging based on one that I saw at the quilt show a few weeks ago.
You can see it in my SewRuffHaven Blog( ..link in sidebar)

And last but not least I am working on another collage using up scraps from the Sweet Tweet collage

That's it for now....I hope you come back for the tour.

Now I need to get my butt moving because this house is NOT going to clean itself !

I am linking to StudioJRU and her Friday Sneak Peek . Go see what my friends are doing in their studios this week

jingle belles 7 - No Red...She Said

This week the jingle belles extended a warm welcome to Lisa of Papergrace Designs to challenge us in a very unique way. Instead of offering a color challenge where we use the color of her choice.
We were to NOT use the color of her choice...

she said:

NO RED !

Here's my card this week

I wish I knew how to capture the sparkle on these leaves

Get on your sled and slide on over to jingle belles to see what everyone else has made.

And while you're at it....make a card and join in.

This is the jolliest group of card makers I have ever met.

just remember.....no red !

Thanks for stopping by
Marianne

woyww - #88 ...four projects and some zen

I wasn't going to play today....But I am addicted to woyww....so sad ...so ... pathetic.
If you need info on woyww go to Julia's Blog to get all the juicy details

Anyway here it is, in all its glory

... on my table you'll see various scraps and supplies used in the making of

the box with the butterfly....

the blue ribbon is from a heart I made for a swap

...I didn't join until the last minute then I didn't have enough time to mail it...so it's still here

This past week I also finished a small notebook

a tag

a zentangle for the diva's challenge

....yes.... I love a challenge....
see my side bar

I'll be adding more I'm sure.

My small dinette table has served me well during this vacation
I can't wait to go home...but I sure have been having fun.

Well
I've kept you long enough
off you go to see other work spaces

Thanks for stopping by.

Marianne

a little word about a bird on burlap

If you've been with me for the last month you know I am not in my home ~~studio~~ basement. I am enjoying some sunshine and uninterrupted playtime. Being away from home has been challenging because I brought minimal supplies with me and I refuse to go shop for more.

As you may have read.... I have this bottle of water soluble varnish that I want to use up.
So far I've shown you how to use it to add elements to a collage and to reverse an image and how to use it to.
You might want to go read those posts first so you know what I am talking about.

Now I'd like to show you how to add an image to a ruff surface... such as burlap.
.yes that's how "I" spell ruff...so no comments about misspelled words please.

This technique is not my idea....or maybe it is.... it might be the result of playing with various other ideas...
who knows ... but I really don't remember where I read it... if I read it... or if it was in a dream....
I have been artsy and crafty for over fifty years.... probably even more than that if you count all my past lives..... there's a lot of stuff in the old noggin. I read ALL the magazines.... and a lot of blogs... If I ever come across it, I will let you know....If you have seen it please let me know so I can post it. It's alot like paper fabric or fabric paper.....and I think I may have seen it used to make a votive holder... or was that a dream too?

Well on with the show....

I want the image of the bird on a piece of burlap....

using lace paper or a very thin handmade paper and varnish

cover the burlap ...don't use a lot of varnish...just enough to moisten the paper.

use a gentle pouncing motion to work the paper into the burlap

you can see the varnish is still wet.

Stamp image on thin tissue paper...

in this photo the lace paper is larger that my burlap....it gets torn off later

pounce the image onto the burlap...the tissue paper will become very transparent.

without the lace paper, the image world be very hard to see.
(If you use a lighter color fabric instead of the brown burlap you really don't need the white middle layer.)

gently tear away the paper and tissue

this is going to take a while to dry

Go shoe shopping.... or go to a movie
or if it's late...go to bed

I tried to dry one in the microwave once....don't do that.

I love the texture here....

Now go forth and use this technique on all types of heavily textured fabrics

linen, aida , canvas, burlap...lace

Instead of lace paper you can use very very thin muslin. As you would in fabric paper techniques

You multi media artists out there .... are your wheels turning?

This is cool....go experiment with this.

This varnish is cheepo and you get quite alot in the bottle, tissue paper is ....well I'll bet you have some left over from the holidays....try colored tissue....try napkins... so it's almost like free entertainment for a couple hours

Use the varnish to make fabric paper....there are tons of tutorials out there for fabric paper...

You card makers out there...
go make your own embellishments...
use your cute images too
use pretty inks and papers

go play

don't be afraid to "ruin" paper or ink....there's plenty of that out there.

Sit yourself down with some supplies and don't have a finished piece in mind...

just play

All you art quilters...this goes for you too...just remember it is NOT waterproof...so no washy washy.

like I said before....

This is not my idea....but I really don't remember where I read it....

I read ALL the magazines.... and a lot of blogs... When I come across it I will let you know....If you have seen it please let me know so I can post it.

If you do decide to play with varnish, please come tell me.
I'd like to see what you do with it.

In the mean time I will be playing with my varnish...

.....I have a little more than half a bottle left.......

Tag Tuesday

I found another challenge I think might be fun.
Louise over at Kard Krazy hosts Tag Tuesday. You can read all about it on her blog. I have a link over in my sidebar.

Here is my addition to Tag on a Tag

a few steps along the way :

Have a beautiful day.

Marianne

a musical painting

Found a great Musical Painting on You Tube

xo

Zentangle Challenge #8

This zentangled inspired art is my first contribution to the Diva's Challenge #8 where we are challenged to create a heart using 2 previous challenges. I used Simplicity #1 and Breathe #7
Sending my heart and healing thoughts to Artoo....

more fun with varnish

I know....I said I would tell you about another use for water based varnish...the cheepo stuff you can buy at M's and I do think the other big craft stores carry it too... I didn't forget ....
I needed to make something so I could show you this cool technique.

You know how sometimes you have a rubber stamp image that goes one way....but you wanted it to go the other way? .....And yes, I know all about mirror image stamps and many other ways to flip the image. But I don't have one of those with me .....and besides....this technique is so cool...

For demonstration purposes I am working on a small notebook from 7Gypsies. I guess I should mention that I am not affiliated with any company or product I show you here on this blog or any of my other blogs...I am just a consumer...a very active consumer...I use a lot of stuff.....I should probably add some type of disclaimer in the sidebar... I am a consumer and an enabler...

...Sorry I got off track didn't I?

ahem...anyway...........here is this cute little notebook after I covered it up with some decorative paper* and some of that lacy paper that I showed you last week.