RedBarn Studios

for the past few weeks i’ve been busy cutting and stitching new coptic bound journals for the shop.  these new designs, so bright and cheery, are a limited edition that i’m calling “The Lauren Collection“.

each journal is made using a section of one my favorite hand dyed fabrics, one i call the ‘melody fab’ after one of my fav quit artists Melody Johnson.  she uses the bright, pure colours that i especially love myself.

hand dyed before

and after

i know, you’re thinking how the heck can she cut that up and look at the mess she’s got left!

nah…i dyed this piece last year so i had a long time to admire it, caress it and fall in love with the gorgeous colour over and over again.  i came across it in my fabric closet recently (yes i have that much fabric…don’t hate!) as i was looking for some inspiration and, when i spied it, I immediately knew what it had to become.

if you check my etsy store with the cut out pic above you can see the exact sections each journal was cut from.  i love, love love that! (why??? i haven’t the foggiest but am going with the happy place it puts me in)  i’ve finished four of the 7 i can get from this piece of fabric (plus another {“be the light“} that pulled me into finishing it before I completed the others).

i’m also working on some vintage-like christmas journals/albums that i’ll be adding to my shop in a couple of weeks — waiting for the paper to arrive –  these will be december daily journals that i think are such a fantastic idea!

omg….the creative juices are flowing and can’t get ideas outta my head and made fast enough.

toodles all,

G

Tags: Art, artful creations, hand dyed, journals, paper art by grace
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dancing in the moonlight

i had a really fun morning teaching a group how to make one of my coptic stitch  jOurnals.

they  were eager to master this stitch which can be somewhat of a finicky one to learn but, once they got the hang of it, time whizzed along.  we used fabric for the front cover and paper for the back cover and throughout for the signatures. what a fun way to spend a saturday morn.  thanks girls for making my job of teaching so easy!

i’ll be teaching this one again so stay tuned.

toodles,

G

Tags: journals, paper art, teaching by grace
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she knew her DREAMS

were Untapped Possibilities

so…

she opened her eyes

and walked into her Life

(detail)

a recent painting

toodles,

G

Week 1 BMT

Tags: mixed media, paper art by grace
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i need to reveal something….for the last year or so i’ve been struggling to create with fabric.

from what i understand, after much coaxing on my part for her to come back out, my art quilt muse decided to take an indefinite break (of course she didn’t let me know this before she just up and left!).

so earlier this year, instead of looking at all my fabrics and feeling the guilts for not creating with them or fondling them so lovingly (yes you all know bout that….i’m not the only one who’s had a long time love affair with her fabs), i rearranged my studio and put all the fabrics AND my beloved bernina away.

SHOCK!   HORROR!

yes i really did.

and the relief was palatable.   immediate.   freeing.

my hands were still itching to create so i began playing with paper

and painting

and discovering

where she (this muse who definitely has a mind of her own!) needed to go next in her creativity.

for the last few months, altho i was keeping to myself, i still went into the studio to play.

i know it’s early days yet for this new work but i’m having fun.
the days of avoiding my studio and the constant search for my creative mojo seem to be over.

here’s a peek at where my inspiration has been taking me

don’t where this is all leading but ideas have been stirring
and this girl is excited!
wish me luck.

toodles all,

G

p.s. i usually upload videos to youtube but have decided to try out vimeo (check out my other vids here).

btw…am looking for some feedback. if you create videos and use one of these 2 video services over the other, drop me an email let me know why you prefer the one you use.
What frustrates you and what can’t you live without that it provides? Thanks for you help!

Tags: defining one's art, mixed media, my muse, paper art, video moments by grace
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i recently finished a new mini and have added it to my etsy shop but….i completely forgot to post pictures of it here. duh!

this beautiful ‘love you mom‘ gate-fold mini album is chock full of pocket and tags.

it measures a mere 4.5″ x 7″ but is made to hold a bunch.  the base is made from regular #10 size mailing envelopes and is decorated with the beautiful paper line from k & company…the flora and fauna collection…lots of birds, flowers and butterflies, perfect for spring time and perfect to give as a mother’s day gift.

i kinda went overboard with the pockets and tags but had oh so much fun.

there are 7 large solid cardstock tags and the remainder (over 30 in this mini) I designed to showcase this beautiful paper.

love these flowers on the front cover…..with a bit of bling as well

as a gate-fold mini it opens on both sides….love, love, love that ribbon!

those cherries look luscious enough to eat

my favorite tag…aren’t those eggs gorgeous!

a tri-fold tag ready for photos and journaling

a flower used as a different kind of pocket with 2 ribbon tags

a butterfly pocket filled with a matter tag…love the punched out edges

this one of a kind mini album is available for purchase in my etsy store. click on over & check out this and other items.

toodles all,

Tags: mixed media, paper art by grace
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my dear friend, DeLane’s first grandchild, a girl, was born 2 weeks ago.  needless to say she has been on a natural high these last few days and so enjoys holding the newest member of her family,
kiyah lain.

she was so excited when she called to tell me that i knew i had to create something so she can capture all those special moments to come because we all know how fast time flies by.  one minute they are just born and the next they’re entering kindergarden.

soooo, I made her a new kind of brag album.

there are seven 2-page spreads, one for each of the next 6 months so she can record each moment as she remembers them.  i’ve also added a 2nd tag for her husband. the proud grandfather so that he can record his own memories of this special little one.

embedded by Embedded Video

hope you enjoy it omi and papa steve……many, many happy  memories to you both.

toodles,

Tags: captured moments, pandoras, paper art, patterns by grace
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hello spring!

RBS update…on thursday i’ll be doing a class on my newest pattern…the ‘chelsea vintage mini‘…over at donna downey studios.

if you haven’t signed up yet….what you waiting for??? come hang out and have a night just for you, creating and having fun with some new peeps……see you then!

also, just made a new video of what i’m working on in my studio lately.  it includes an update on items i’m adding to my etsy shop this week….including some new items.

embedded by Embedded Video

toodles all,

Tags: In My Studio, monday posts, paper art, schedule by grace
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just a quick post to let you know that i’m set up to teach again at donna downey studios. It’s the chelsea vintage mini that’s just way too cool.

it starts off with 6 regular #10 letter-sized envelope and we are rocking and rolling from there, cutting ‘n fold ‘n gluing ‘n embellishing to our hearts content.

then you get to fill this puppy with loads of photos and journaling and do-dads.

the original i made for a friend as a christmas gift. I showed it to her and let her touch it and caress it then promptly put it back in my bag to take to the shop as a sample.

she loved it…btw.

so call the shop and book your spot for march 24th….i promise not to make you laugh too, too much while we play!

Toodles all,

Tags: mixed media, paper art, schedule, teaching by grace
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yesterday i told you about all the fun the pandoras had playing together.  as promised here’s some of the prints i made.

the night before we met i cut out some pics of birds, butterflies and circles (my creative symbols) to use as resists.

I must have printed about 15 sheets of paper from the gelatin plate, some with just 2 passes and others reprinting 3 and 4 times  (ahem…only 1 of those really came out usable).

the prints below are my favs.  can’t wait to use in projects.

this print in olives and blues used the stone shaped paper and chunky bird i cut out previously, as well as a cypress branch we snuck a branch from. the things that looks like eggs in the branches (oh so cool!) are my finger tips from pressing the cypress leaves into the painted gelatin plate.

S E R E N D I P I T Y ….gottta love her hanging around.

yummy….yummy, oh so delightfully delectable is bubbly wrap (thank you Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding for inventing it before i knew i would love it so).  alison had large and small sizes available to use so i just went to town all around.

this print got a bit lost and convoluted over time. i really liked the 1st print….the 2nd overprint was okay (no pic- duh!).  so what does one do when something is just okay…they try to improve it
….and sometimes they fail. oh well. it’ll be used for something somewhere down the line and will fit the bill perfectly! maybe a quote under the butterfly and call that george.

from the print before i was left with the ghost plate and decided to smoosh my hand in there and see what i get.  the girl likes this one which means in order to have this one i had to go thru the trials of the above pic.  not bad for a morning’s work.

here’s the chunky bird again and i loved it in this print.  looks like the bird is gathering the string to make her nest.  (best make copies of these prints real quick so i have them around for future projects cause i’m wanting to use this now….yum!)

how scrump-dee -lee o-tious is this one?  towards the end i was trying all sorts of resits in in printing but, don’t care what you say…this one’s is a keeper.

leftovers.  nuff said.

toodles all,

Tags: mixed media, pandoras, paper art by grace
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on sunday, because it was such a beautiful day, we all got in the car and headed west with no thought of a destination or a plan for the route.

we wound our way thru downtown lincolnton, nc with their beautiful old buildings, ending up on sr 27.  winding our way along this road we saw lots of farmland scattered along both sides.

when that road ended we took a left and then decided, on the spur of the moment (going with the flow here people), to turn around and go the other way, which is how we ended up at south mountain state park in burke county.

what a lovely place. we parked, piled out and walked toward a stream that was roaring with rushing water.

cman immediately scrambled down a small embankment to the large boulders below. i clicked and clicked pictures as he traveled from rock to rock.

the girls went off to do there own thing traveling along a path beside the water with cman ambling along finding ‘cool’ rocks.  It was so picturesque the 3 of us with cameras could not stop taking pics.

within 40 minutes, however, our hands were frozen (we only had light jackets with us and no gloves) so we headed back to the car and home so the boys could watch the game.  what a beautiful way to spend the afternoon, with family, and in and among nature’s beauty.

i have to show this pic tho.  driving along sr 27 we encountered this…..

on the corner of a road at the edge of someone’s property was a bricked-in tree.

we all came up with all sorts of scenarios of why this was (most plausible was that the tree grew after the building the tower) but we couldn’t figure out why it was built so close to the road and why was it needed in the first place.

has anyone seen this before or can explain what it is?

in studio news….

i’ve been working at getting more journals cut and stitched, both suede and coptic.  what i need to do now is take some proper pics of them that i’ll post on my etsy shop in a few days. so get em whole they’re hot!

there’s the “big, fat, red, juicy book” i mentioned in a previous post (it’s really thick and brimming with pages…can you say yumm-ee). it’s just waiting to be part of some lucky person’s journaling.

alas, it is bedtime for me so…

toodles,

p.s. don’t you just love that 1st pic of mine….gor-gee-ous!

Tags: family trip, paper art by grace
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