Cynthia Shaffer

Masking Tape & Art Journaling

As I continue my art journaling experiments, I have found that what's lacking in this whole process for me ... texture. I'm a texture and color kind of girl and as most of you know ... a minimalist I am not ... more is more!

After playing a bit with masking tape, painting, pleating and stitching it ... I think I found some really fun ways to manipulate it to add just that little bit of interest and focus to my journal pages. 

Just that little bit of texture ... so needed. 

So simple.

Feels so right to me.

 

As I continue to  cover the pages in my journal that I started a few months ago, I just pray that I will know when to stop. 

 

 I pray that I will  know when enough is enough. 

Ok, so ... it's not rocket science, but here's a glimps at what I did.

First I torn off strips of making tape in a couple of different widths, then I stuck them to the shiny side of freezer paper. Next I painted and dripped acrylic paints on the tape and set them aside to dry.

While the paint was drying on the tape, I started playing with a few of my new found favorite art supplies, Grumbracher Opaque watercolors and these fab wax oil pastels made by Caran d'Ache.

What's so fabulous about these wax pastels?  It's like coloring with butter, super saturated in color and they resist the watercolors! Oh the possibilities are endless!

Happy Art Journaling!

Yarn + Knitting + Bombing = Epic Knitting Project!

You may remember here, when I talked about an epic knitting project I was working on ... well, the word is out ... Last night, the Orange Public Library was bombed with knitting! 

We had enough knitted parts and pieces to cover several large parking posts, the arms of the benches that circle the historic fountain ...

The post of this historic bell ... 

And my  friend Theresa and I knitted a banner that we hung above the front sliding glass doors. Soooo cute! We were laughing cause it looked like the nautical alphabet ... hope we didn't spell out an obscene word!

Here's a glimpse of us all working fast as the last of daylight was slipping away.

Sweet friend Cate of Mixed Greens came to help and brought her friend Irene ...

These are Libby's amazing creations ... the texture and colors are wonderful.

And my friends Gilda and Maggie mapping out the next piece to cover another post.

And Libby and Anna ... yaking it up and trying to find the perfect spot for the Where's Waldo piece I knit.

And here's the children's librarian, Damitri, showing off her super fast whip stitch techniques.

Thanks to all my productive knitting friends, Anna, Libby, Theresa, Jennifer, Betty (my mom), Carolyn, Cate, Irene, Maggie, Rebecca, Judy, Gilda and Mary ...You're the best!

And a huge thanks to Jennifer for all the coordination and to the Orange librarians, Damitri, Rosanne, and Irma ... Enjoy! 

And an extra special thank you to my friend Laurie Crutchfield who passed away suddenly a few weeks ago and left behind bags of yarn that I distributed among all my knitting friends. About 75% of all the knitted pieces used in the yarn bombing were knitted from yarn in Laurie's collection.

   

While we were rummaging through all of Laurie's yarn, we came across this orange strip that she had started to knit. I finished it off and then tied it into a bow, around the bell post. So sweet don't you think? 

So ...

You'll have to go check out the main library next time you're in the Old Town Orange area. It looks sooooo festive!

An Art Filled Play Date!

This bag should say it all, really!

This is how my day started ...I met my friend Lorrie at Blick Art Materials; I was on a mission to purchase all the supplies I will need for an up-coming class I'm taking with Flora Bowley. Blicks proved to be everything I had imagined ... so so so much to look at and such a huge inventory of just about every art supply you can dream up!

After an hour at Blick's we headed over to Santa Monica and spent the rest of the day crafting here at the fabulous Urban Craft Center.

What a great little thing they have going on here. The front is this wonderful little store, just packed with everything you can imagine and the back is an open studio where you pay a small price to just hang out and craft, knit or just chat it up with friends.

They have drawers of colorful buttons ...

 Bolts and bolts of quilting fabrics and sewing supplies including lots of Amy Butler fabrics.

 And tons of roving for spinning, needle felting or wet felting ...

And yarn for knitting socks, banners or just making pom poms.

And of course every color of  bakers twine!

Check out these samples of cute little crocheted  guys! (They offer tons of classes in the studio)

While we were there a group of young kids were sewing away on what looked to be skirts with ruffles.

Lorrie and I didn't stay too long, but long enough to play with some of my new paints (photo's of our works in progress .. TK) and to meet a few of the nice gals that work here ... truly a sweet and comfy place to create, play and take classes. I'll be back for sure!

 

Mason Jar Desserts: : Tutorial

With Sunday Supper @ Six, comes fun desserts that I love to experiment and play with. Oh sure, sometimes it's just s'mores, the old fashion way, and then sometimes it's individual desserts in mason jars!

First I tried the S'mores in a jar that I read about here. Looks so yummy and so easy to make.

The next Sunday I made an ice cream sundae with a chocolate chip cookie baked into the bottom of the mason jar. These were a HUGE hit with all the kids.

Here's what I did:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae:

First I cleaned out the mason jars that were recently used to hold votive candles for my mom's 80th party, then I sprayed them with Pam.

Mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough ...

Spooned the dough into the jars and then placed the jars into a 9 x 13 inch pan, then added about 1" of water to the bottom of the pan.

Popped them in the oven and watched them turn golden brown and oh the smell ... there is truly nothing better!

After the cookies had cooled a little, I scooped out some vanilla ice cream and then topped it off with chocolate syrup! I had whip cream and cherries on hand but as it ended up ... this was the perfect combo, just the way it is!

S'mores In a Jar:

I changed up the recipe I saw on the Lark site and decide to use a store bought cake mix instead.

First I gathered and cleaned up the mason jars.

Next I sprayed the jars with Pam to keep the cake from sticking too much.

Next I mixed crushed graham crackers and then mixed it with melted butter and a bit of salt and pressed it into the bottom of the jars.

Then I mixed up the cake mix according to the directions on the package and then spooned it into the mason jars.

Before I put them in the oven, I place about a cup of water in the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan, then placed the jars in the pan, then popped them into the oven. (Notice the huge pans of baked zitti on the stove top. There was only a few pieces left over that night!)

As soon as the jars of cake came out of the oven, I stuffed them with 3 large marshmallows, then put them under the broiler for less that 30 seconds, just to toast the tops of marshmallow! After the jars sat for a few minutes, the marshmallows started to melt and became  gooey, yummy jars of heaven! Ok so .. truth be told ... If I do the s'more ones again I will swap the chocolate cake mix out for brownies!

So ... as you can imagine, the sky is the limit!

Just think ...

• Individual rhubard and strawberry cobbler with ice cream
• Brownies-a-la-mode 
• Ranger cookie with vanilla ice cream, raspberry sauce then topped with whip cream and pecans. (I may have to save this one for my Bible study group!)

 

Sunday Supper @ Six ... Come One, Come All!

A little over a year ago I started Sunday Supper @ Six. You see, back in May of 2010, when I was working on my first book, I realized that I had not been cooking much. In fact I had not cooked a hot dinner for my family in weeks. That's when I got this great idea to start Sunday Supper @ Six.

You see ... if I know people/kids are coming over for supper, I'll set the table, or at least put linens on the big picnic table in the backyard, plan the menu and even pick up the house a bit. 

It's basicly a come one come all for my kids and their friends. All I ask is that I get a head count about 3 hours before we eat. On some Sunday's I have as many as 17 teenagers laughing, telling jokes and being a really fun and funny group to be with. And yes, my husband and I sit and eat at the same table and I love it! They all call me ... Momma Shaffer!

Sometimes it's BBQ rib eye steaks with baked potato, salad and bread and sometimes I make my famous baked zitti. 

On this particular Sunday I decide to do a make your own pizza so I had a ton of toppings and each person got to load up there pizza dough with whatever they wanted.

Then I popped them into the oven and baked them in shifts. I had the kids write their names on a small piece of  foil so we could tell them all apart after they had baked.  Ok truth be told ... we  put some on the BBQ and they burned ... sorry Dylan and Tim!

And then at some point teams are formed and they either play a game of wiffle ball, which is hysterical, soccer which is brutal on my garden or shuffle board!

And finally ... dessert is served. 

More on the desserts I've been playing with in a later post ... but here's a sneak peek! 

 

Chalkboard Paint Art Quilts Part 3

Still more chalkboard paint art quilts ...

This piece actually has a few fabric squares sewn to the top left corner. The heart was painted separately, then chalked up and free motion stitched over the patchwork panel. 

Just when I thought I was finished, I slathered a page of old sheet music with gesso then chalked up the outer boarder and added some pencil marks here and there.

 

This panel is the first one I worked on. I just quick like wrote out the words Sweet Dreams, not really knowing where I was headed with this whole process. I only got this far, then set it aside and moved on to another panel. Looking at it again here, I kind of like it just the way it is. Oh well ...

And here it is again, with a few leaves swiped off and a bit more color added, then stitched to a panel of batting with lots of free motion stitching, added a wire loop and there you have it, resting against husband's pillow.

 

Chalkboard Paint Art Quilts Part 2

This is one of my favorite ... Oh how I love the mix of all the blues and greens and the stitchy, scrappy fabric and loose thread everywhere.

If you look close you can see faint words on this black panel. I started this quilt by first writing an entire peom, that my son Cameron had written, all over the black chalkboard painted panel, then swiped it off with a wet cloth. 

Then I got busy doodling with the chalk and adding scraps of paper and knots of perle cotton, just becasue I can!

Happy Chalkboard Paint Art Quilts ... More to come!