Father Christmas

Finally, I've finished my new life sized Father Christmas! He was a challenge because he didn't want to go on my vintage mannequin. I had to make lots of adjustments and drill out a lot inside his neck and head. I put lots of age spots on him.

Fall Arrangement

New fall arrangement that I completed this morning. I've had the antique iron planter for about 10 yrs. I built up in inside with newspaper and books so I would have somewhere to put the candle. Everything is artificial. I purchased most of it at Michael's on sale.

Scarf

Just finished making this scarf. It is all hand dyed. I used a vintage table cloth & trim. I attached hooks to both ends and thought it would be fun to change out keys, charms, etc.

1957 Camper/Trailer

Ok, my friends and some of my family think I have lost my mind this time! I bought this old camper on Ebay to fix up. I will park it out by our lake for an extension to my studio space. Think gypsy caravan meets the Beverly Hillbillies. Ha! I will be taking pictures as the work progresses. The first thing is to get it so it doesn't leak! Any color suggestions for the outside? I'm thinking maybe just a taupe color with some swirls & curling q's in a shade darker. What do you think?

Santa Head

This is my new Santa head. He is just in the beginning stages. I've finished sculpting. Next step, after curing, will be make up, hair, etc. Then comes the body. I still have to sculpt the hands. He's kind of freaky looking right now!

Emma's Train Case

My granddaughter, Emma, turns 10 on Aug.1. She has been begging me to do a train case for her for at least a year. I really put a lot of things on this one. You can't see the wooden balls that I put on the bottom for feet. They have french blue and white dots on them. Again I covered the handle with a leopard print silk velvet. I put ball fringe around the bottom and trimmed it with lots of different trims. She will be thrilled!

Vests & Train Case

These are some of the items I have been working on lately. I will be visiting my sister tomorrow and I will be taking her the train case and a vest that I did. I had some denim jackets that I cut the sleeves out of and then cut all the edges and washed them to fray the edges. I had some ancient music that I bought on my trip to Paris in March. I made copies of that as well as the other copy free images you see. The images on the train case are from old French postcards that I own. I used vintage jewelry on all the pieces.

Just finished this wall hanging for my sister. That's a picture of the two of us in front of the car. She is a fabulous musician and a wonderful person.

Girls' Day

Today was "Girls' Day Out with Grammie". We went to T.J. Maxx and the girls got t shirts with matching scarves. Then we went to IHOP (their choice) for lunch. I am planning on teaching them to sew. Our first project is going to be tote bags. They have already picked out their fabric.

Boy's Day Out

I took my grandsons out for the day. We called it Boy's Day with Grammie. I took them to All Star Sports. We had a great time. This picture was taken there. I had to hold Adam (age 5) up in front of the camera. Max (age 11) has a goofy look on his face. We played all indoor games that took tokens. I think we managed to go through $10 in about an hour. We went to Wendy's (their choice) for lunch and then to my house to play in the studio. They both love to play with clay and look through all my "treasures".

Mary Arvazene Hodo Lewis

This is a wall hanging I did in honor of my Grammie. She was a very special person. She wrote poetry and was my "angel". I always knew Grammie was praying for me.
Made of aged fabrics, silkscreened wings, and paper.

My Mothers' Hand

After celebrating Mother's Day, I am reminded of all the things a mother's hands do for us. They pick us up, clean us help, feed us and sometimes discipline us. My mother's hands are 93 years old. It's really bad when your own hands look older than your mothers! My are swollen with arthritis and her's are not. She no longer knows who I am, but I know who she is and that's all that matters now.

Studio Window

It's a beautiful morning and this is what I see from my studio window! I'm sure lucky to have this view. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. My mother has Alzheimer's and is in a nursing home. She doesn't know who I am anymore. I will visit her today. About all I can do is give her a kiss and hug and tell her I love her. She can't respond. What a terrible way to spend the last years of your life. Anyway, I have many projects going on in the studio and I will post pictures as they get done. Happy Monday!

Dinner Time

This is my newest sculpture. I named it "Dinner Time". I went to the DAV and bought odds and ends of silverware (95cents each). I will hang it on the wall either in my kitchen or studio. This was a fun, but frustrating piece to do. I soldered all the pieces together. I used an old watch face.

French Postcards

This is a vintage train case on which I applied copies from my French postcard collection. I have it sitting on my vanity and I store my makeup in it. I applied several "doo-dads" to it and covered the handle with a leopard print silk velvet. I even used wood tiles to spell out my name. Fun & practical!

April Showers??

Ok, so I should be used to tornado warnings. There were two tornadoes on the ground last night. One fairly close to us. I've lived in Kansas all my life and I've never seen a tornado. I've since the devastating results of them. We were all in the basement last night. We have pizza night on Sunday nights and all 9 grandchildren were here along with 5 adults. Just when we were getting ready to eat our pizza the tornado sirens went off. We packed up the pizza and all the kids and headed for the basement. Have you ever seen 9 kids "juiced" up by a storm? It's not a pretty sight! Anyway, we didn't have any damage done to our house or property. There was just lots of rain and wind. I'm ready for May flowers and yes, the grandkids went home. Thank you!!

Studio Front Door

I just repainted the front door of my studio. It looks mint green in the picture, but it's actually a sage green. With the weather warmer, it's time to do some clean up. I need a robot going behind me to put things away after I use them. I'm so bad about pulling things out and not putting them back. Before I know it, I can't find anything. It's like an archaeological dig in my studio.

Paris Fragment's Pillow

I just completed this pillow. The Eiffel Tower is from a vintage postcard collection that I have. I transferred it onto canvas, frayed the edges of the canvas, applied it to a piece of silk that I also frayed the edges on, and then applied all of that to a blue/green french toile fabric. I think it looks pretty good sitting on my french settee.

Linen Curtains

These curtains are hanging in my studio. They are made out of washed linen. I tied three different colors of Hug Snug through the buttonholes at the top. I scrunched up the ends and sprayed them with fabric finish. I then pinned vintage pins to them. Notice that the pins aren't in perfect condition. Some are missing stones. Jewelry fragments. I love the way they look.

Turkey Alert!

I saw this turkey walking down my driveway yesterday morning. IRS in disguise? A family member? Are all your turkeys accounted for? I think mine are.