The journal cover, DJ's part of the workshop

DJ Pettitt and Traci Bautista Workshop

The first day we painted papers and fabric, covered the book covers with our painted papers and fabrics, added various papers along with our decorated papers into a book. I bound the book with waxed linen, then added the torn fabric strips, buttons, pompoms, etc to the binding to make a very fun binding! Traci is a fabulous instructor and really inspires you to try virtually anything to make art on paper on fabric, few, if any, traditional techniques. It is so amazing to see how they all turn out after everyone is finished. I used folded file folders as the "covers" for the signatures. I still need to sew up the sides to make them into pockets to add more ephemera to my book/journal.

Butterfly Pavillion

We took a trip to the Butterfly Pavillion during Hannah's visit. The butterflies were beautiful and fortunately a bit sluggish as I was able to catch some nice photos of some of them. Of course the brightest and most striking were camera shy. It was a very hot day and the pavillion is very humid, so all of us were sluggish! Hannah was brave enough to hold Rosie the tarantula. Her mother and I declined the invitation. Art in Nature, one might say.

CUPCAKE PARTY!!!

I gave my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter, Hannah, a Cupcake Party in honor of her recent visit to Denver! As you can see, she loved decorating the cupcakes. I can also tell you, she loved eating them just as well, even maybe more than the fairy wings a dear friend brought for her. We all enjoyed the party, even the little boys!

Joining the Convent

Every time I watch "The Nun's Story" or "The Sound of Music", I want to go join a convent, but only one that still wears the stiffly starched habits. That way I can wear red underwear under them. Go figure, I was raised a Methodist! However, this started as two full page advertisements from a magazine, woven together. I covered the whole page with Golden Matt Medium so the washes wouldn't stain the paper, but would be very transparent. I used lots more washes than I thought it would take to get some color down. The nun is a transparency I printed from some where. I love religious iconography.

A sample of a page done in a calendar RR using the calligraphy on fabric I learned from Lisa Engelbrecht's class at The Artists' Nook in Fort Collins! First we painted on the canvas scrap, then used ink to put "Mother" on the painted canvas. An excellent class, I think the name of it was Writing on Fabric! She is a great teacher and makes calligraphy seem easy and doesn't even make your neck stiff!

Dinner at American Girl Restaurant

Can't help but add photos of my darling granddaughter, Hannah! She's three and a half, going on 25! We had dinner at the American Girl Restaurant with our dollies Hannah let me take Kit for my dolly. She is giving Bitty Baby a sip of tea! We had a wonderful time