Fabric Gift Tag - Textile Art - Recycled Scraps

I have taken little scraps of fabric and made textile art gift tags. They are decorated them with little bits of ribbons, fibers, buttons, charms, beads and vintage pins. What an elegant finish to a wrapped gift for that special person, and what a great way to recycle those little scraps of fabric and embellishments. After taken off the present it can be hung on a dresser knob or on the wall as textile art. I have list these in my shop at Etsy.

Recycle an ordinary ceiling light - Faux Stained Glass

The ceiling light shade in my bathroom was just your standard frosted glass shade. To give it an old world look I used gold colored glass to transform it. I had picked up some colored glass at a stained glass store where they sold scraps by the pound. Call around to see if any stained class store sells it that way. Otherwise buy a small sheet. Using a glass cutter I cut the glass into small squares.
I glued the glass squares using a strong glue that dries clear. Make sure you leave a small space between the squares about an 1/8th". After the glue dried I used a charcoal color grout to fill in the gaps. Using a dark colored grout gave the whole project a stained glass look. I finished it off by adding a brass finial.

Mosaics with the Glass Guys

She had many faces - The reclaiming of self!

"She had many faces" - a project I did for a computer art class final. I repurposed a frame for the face along with a little drawer, a wooden spool, a box and a lid, a spindle and a stick for the body. To complete the multimedia body, Photoshop was used to create the inside, the sole of the piece.
I used my scanner to scan items that I wanted to use and working in Photoshop I used several layers to create a collage look. Holes were drilled in the frame and wire was wrapped across the face.

Wild about wilderness - Build Green!

I love the mountains! I use to live west of Denver at 9,000 ft and loved it. This little 4" x 4" shadow box collage expresses what the mountains mean to me. Simple and green!
My future plan is to build a cob house up in the mountains. Cob is a method of building with clay, sand and straw. Houses have been built with cob in parts of Britain from the 15th century until industrialization and cheap transportation made brick the preferred building method, and was considered the norm. There is now a revival in North America that started in Oregon. The cob revival is still in the beginning stages as more cob homes are being built in diverse locations. There are cob-building schools where you can get hands on instruction and learn all the methods. No electric tools are used, so building with cob is like an old-fashioned barn raising, where friends and family of all ages can join in. I have put together some information on cob building here for easy reference.