sbartist : painting in the dark: Tina Walker

Monday, February 19, 2018

#Cre8time Love for Crochet and Ultra VIOLET... 2018 Pantone Color Collaborative

Hello Friends! Thanks for popping in today for a special celebration of color as I am participating in a collaborative project hosted by Tina Walker with artists from around the world. PLEASE CLICK HERE to jump over to Tina Walker's blog who is our hostess and organizer of this Cre8time adventure and see her gorgeous violet creation. Please take a moment to leave her a comment and give her some love for dreaming up these fun events to inspire and challenge our muses!

PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet

Inventive and imaginative...

Ultra Violet lights the way for what is yet to come!

OH YES!!!

How could I possibly say no to a challenge using the 2018 Pantone color of the year - ULTRA VIOLET??! This is MY color. My living/dining room wall is painted THIS color. I drive my hairstylist crazy trying to get my hair this color.

I am all about ALL THINGS PURPLE, it just makes me smile! In my creations it's usually the first color I reach for {CLICK HERE to see what these glorious purple gears became}.

To be honest, this is not the purple project I planned or imagined... I have been out of town for a few weeks caring for my 94 year old grandmother since my uncle who cares for her had a stroke and is in hospital indefinitely. Life has been upside-down. I reflect and write this as I sit in the airport waiting to head back home to take care of my own health issues and my next Entyvio infusion. My heart is heavy with what may happen with my uncle {and godfather} in the coming days and weeks.

Last month while attending Creativation, I was in awe at all of the crochet and knit inspiration and was introduced to LOVE knitting and LOVE crochet and returned home with some beautiful yarns to create with for the 2018 Favecrafts Best Blogger Contest.

Growing up, my mom was always involving me in all things crafty and handmade, including cooking, baking and sewing... but I never learned to knit or crochet. 15 years ago I tried to pick up crochet and my mom helped me get started with a simple chain stitched crochet baby blanket. I finished the project, but being ambidextrous, I had a real hard time holding and working with the yarn. I hope my friend cherishes the wonky baby blanket I made for her.

Even though I had assembled a pile of purple goodness for this project, I threw a bunch of winter clothes and gear into two suitcases and jumped on a one-way flight to the winter tundra up north. I had no time to pack or even think, but I grabbed my beginner crochet/knit kits and threw them in the suitcase. This turn of events would be the perfect opportunity to learn this right of passage from my mother and grandmother.

LOVE crochet {and LOVE knitting} is a global community for makers everywhere. Visit any site in the LoveCrafts family and you’ll see a world designed for makers -- a dedicated place where makers’ projects are celebrated, advice is shared and it’s easy to buy supplies for selected crafts. You can even learn something new! So from my phone I perused LOVE crochet, watched some tutorials, and selected some designs I wanted to try.

I selected this simple heart pattern to try first.

I had hooks, but needed some yarn so my Mom and I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby while having an hour to run errands around getting Grandma to her appointments. I found one skein of this gorgeous purple yarn called "VELVET".

This seemingly simple pattern was a bit of a challenge to a complete NOOB, but my mom stayed the course. We had to refer to more tutorials and my grandmother beamed with smiles, though declined to offer her help LOL. After many frustrating hours of my mom patiently showing me various ways to knit and crochet... and trying umpteen ways to sort out how my ambidextrous self could work the hooks... I settled on crochet. I have to wrap the yarn around my neck to manage the tension. This one heart project uses a variety of crochet stitches, so as we worked together, I learned by best by doing.

This is my mom's heart, about 2 1/2" across

{as her yarn was a thinner gauge}. Isn't this so CUTE?!

After completing a wonky test square that I immediately unfurled as to not waste my limited PURPLE goodness -- I crocheted it into this finished piece... a glorious purple wonky heart 💜

I'm totally in LOVE with this chunky wonky heart! Once we got going, it didn't take long. I have more stitches in one side, than the other, but I'm OK with that. It's more important that during this trying time in our family, three generations put our hearts and minds together and enjoyed the blessings of being snowed in and our love of creating.

For the love of family and Cre8time heART!

I can't wait to make another and practice my new hobby. My heart is about 6" across since using a chunkier yarn. What do you think should I make with this?! Comment below with your ideas... I'm toying with turning this into a garland, a dreamcatcher, or continuing around it to enlarge into a larger heart to make a pillow.

Thanks for dropping by! I hope you are inspired to go grab something ULTRA VIOLET and CREATE! Please feel free to add your NEW creation to the linkup.

Have a creative day! :) Sb

Click on the squares below
for more VIOLET inspiration
from the

"2018 Pantone Color Collaborative"

An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

A Sight for #Cre8time Eyes... Altered Eyeglass Collaborative

Hello friends! I'm so excited to welcome you to a very special bloghop today... a MUST SEE!!! Several creative pals and I gathered to take another challenge posed by the super imaginative Tina Walker. This time she posed the question, "could we alter old eyeglasses"?? Tina wears glasses and she said she had plenty to donate to the Cre8time cause to have our crafty playtime with.

These are the eight pairs that she had and she graciously donated for us to use if we didn't have our own in our craft stash. I was squealing with delight!! I selected pair No. 8 as it was the perfect size and shape for a bunch of metal and electronic junque I have been hoarding for years... just waiting for a magical project to use them in.

These are my blank canvas upon which to create! CLICK HERE to jump over to Tina Walker's blog who is our hostess and VISIONary of this Cre8time adventure.

These glasses have nice sturdy frames, though the arms posed a challenge as they were thin - I had to be creative in attaching bulky items to them as there isn't much surface area to glue things.

I knew exactly what I was going use before my pair of glasses arrived. My whole project is centered around this recycled component that I have been hoarding for years {I'm not ashamed to say it}... saved perhaps for an altered book project with a bunch of other electronic disassembled junque. My hubs goes crazy taking apart stuff that no longer works. I think this came from a pre-historic digital camera or an old cel phone.

I created an eyelid and eyelash with a small computer board and some fringed metal pieces that I can only imagine serves a cooling purpose. The COOLEST stuff is inside electronic stuff.

Combined with some found rusty pieces and old broken jewelry pieces, I layered to create a contrasting eye for the other lens.

I added some color with paint pens and alcohol inks, then I layered and glued items together with some E6000®.

After a couple of assembling fails... creative and strategic wire wrapping was the best method to mount the bulky items.

I scuffed up the edges of my lenses with some sand paper {since I scratched one of them attempting to drill tiny holes on the frame} which added some interesting dimension. Frames were painted with a combination of plum and metallic alcohol inks - easy peasy!