A Wonderful Gift

I follow the Graphic 45 blog as I like their papers a lot and like seeing what they and  their design team creates.    Would you believe it on one of their giveaways, I won all of this wonderful paper.   I have not photographed it all.........only a sampling.    I tend to hoard these papers but probably not as much now as they sent me a couple sheets of some designs and they were very generous in the amount of paper they included in my package.   Way too cool and it really makes one's day a little brighter.  

Many thanks to the Graphic 45 Team.  

LET'S CELEBRATE OUR FREEDOM

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  AMERICA

I know a lot of you have seen this but I thought it was appropriate to post a picture here of the American Flag Purse I made out of bottlecaps.

I hope that as we celebrate today with picnics, barbeques and family gatherings, that we all remember the Service Men and Women who have fought for our Freedom and the ones who continue to do so.

Rusted Fabric

A really great gal, friend and artist, Jane, and I have been talking about rusting fabric so it inspired me to play a little with it.    I told her I would post some pictures of what I have done so here you go Jane and anyone else who might be interested.

I got an old piece of vintage fabric that was torn out of my big box of old linens.   Another reminder to never throw anything out as this was perfect for this project so I decided to rub it with rust randomly.   I then wet it completely and put it out in the Hot Arizona sun to dry..........boy that was a fast project.........dried in minutes.   I was going to heat set it with an iron but found that was really not necessary now.   I even sprayed a little color on it and the rust remained intact.    So here are some pictures of it.    I think on my next piece of fabric, I will rub more rust on it.

I haven't exactly decided what to do with it next but I probably will add some stamping to it and some color and use it for a cover of a fabric journal which I learned from Mary Ann's Remains of the Day class.  Now I need to rust some of my lace.   Oh dear the possibilities are endless here once I start thinking about it.    I have tons of pages already done so it will just be a matter of finishing the cover and assembling.     Here's a link to one of the ROD journals I have made.

I just put a couple paper towels with water and rust pieces and took it outside to see what it does.   You just never know.......maybe wonderful.........maybe a piece of cr*p ready for the landfill.....who knows until you try.

I have  been doing some more experimenting with rusting keys.   I put some keys, pieces of rust and water and took the container outside in the sun.   Oh my gosh, does it really rust out there in this heat but it looks different than the other keys that were rusted inside.    Also, I found out that if you  put just the brass keys out in the direct sunlight, it really tarnishes them and gives them a bluish/redish patina which will be great to have just as they are or to then rust them.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Holiday weekend.