Art in Bloom and Card

We love flowers.  The NC Museum of Art in Raleigh has a special exhibition in the spring of floral arrangements.  Each floral designer takes inspiration from a piece of art and interprets the piece through their floral design.  Some were small table top arrangements, others large floor to ceiling depictions.  Here are just a couple of photos.  More on my Instagram feet @lisaecherd

A depiction in white flowers of the marble statue in the background.

One of the more stunning displays evokes the theme of the painting 'Eruption of Mount Vesuvius' 

I used this concept in creating a card for my Mother's birthday.  We had attended the exhibition as part of an outing to celebrate her.  The print on my card is downloaded from the National Gallery of Art's open source collection.  It is called Young Girl Reading by Jean Honore Fragonard.  I took my colors and arrangement for the Silhouette cut flowers from the painting.  I die cut most of the flowers out of cardstock or 6x6 papers and added a little Distress Oxide ink for shading.  The sheer fabric on the bottom is to pick up the rouched collar the girl is wearing. The entire card is mounted on a dark green cardstock like the background of the painting.

This was fun to do.  My mother is an avid gardener and she can create beautiful floral arrangements and interesting combinations in the pots in her gardens.  She enjoyed the exhibit very much.  If Raleigh were closer we would go every year.

When I can narrow down my choices, I'll print some of the photos and do a layout. We have several good photos of mother from that day.

Thanks for visiting today!

Combining two different color schemes

My Mother and I are very different in many ways.  One is color. She likes neutrals and does amazing things with her neutral wardrobe.  For me it is all about color.

This photo exemplifies that.  I also talk about our similarities and differences in the hidden journaling.

To marry the two color schemes, I used some watercolors on the background and added a variety of embellishments.  The background starts with a layer of gel paste to get a relief effect.

Hope you enjoy the video:


Thanks for watching!

Winter Poncho - just in time for Spring

I've been joking with my knitting group that I would finish this poncho just in time for warm weather.  If I hadn't knitted about 4 hours on Saturday and 2 more hours on Sunday to get it blocked so I could wear it this week, I might have missed the cold weather.  I've worn it twice already and I really love the warmth and the design.

This is not only the first poncho I've ever made but the first one I've owned.  Never thought I would like one but I do and it won't be my last.

The pattern is Camybe which you can find here on Ravelry.com.  I almost always alter patterns sometimes a lot but this time the only change I made was to substitute a simpler cable for the two side ones in the main design.  I wanted something I didn't have to constantly look at the chart for and I got it.  Once I got one repeat, I hardly looked at the pattern again.  It is just one big rectangle, folded in half and sewn up the shoulder.  I like how she designed the cabling so that the shoulder looks like one cable when it is two come together.

Used Berroco Vintage yarn in color Aubergine.

So now that spring is right around the corner, I'm staring a 3/4 length sleeve sweater which will probably be done in late May.  You guessed it, when it is too hot here to wear it!

Close up of shoulder.  Two different cable edges sewn together in the middle.

Thanks for visiting!

Mixed Media Layout for larger photo

This page was inspired by an art journal page.  I had not done any art journaling for over 6 months.  One day I just took a notion to play and created a page using paint, deli paper and mists that I liked.  So I used those same techniques on this layout just in different colors.

Most of my pages tell a story. This one is meant to convey a feeling.

Also on the page is some stitching using the free motion quilting foot on my sewing machine. I've been working on a quilt so I gave it a try on paper.  I only changed out the needle to an older one I didn't care to dull.  Paper dulls needles just as it does scissors.

It was a fun page to do and I love the effects with pearl paint, mists and the crinkled paper.  Here's the video:



So looking forward to when I can walk on this beach again.  Thanks for visiting with me today!