December, 2011

I have been busy finishing up the decorations in the house and getting presents ready to wrap. Having accomplished sending gifts to grandchildren in Ohio I feel like I am on the back stretch. I do have some crafting I want to finish. I thought I had enough cards made but that might not be the case. I bought a box of cards just in case for the people who do not seem to get all giddy over one I have slaved over. Time now to wrap up some last minute knitting. I am very glad I got all the Inchies done ahead. There is little time for that intense creative work. Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy and blessed New Year.

Final inchie for 2011...Yellow

An explosion of yellow bands. There are twelve in all with joyful swirls at the ends. Happy finish to Every Inchie Monday.

Eclectic Inchie!

At the beginning of this challenge was the word Eclectic. That almost stopped me from participating because I could not find a way to define eclectic in a one inch square. After spending a year following the inchie challenge and finding I could make inchies from so many different mediums I realized at the end that my inchies are eclectic in nature. They are combinations of all the crafts that I love. I hope you have enjoyed seeing my work. I have very much enjoyed making them. Now, I am going to give my eyes a rest and work on something just a bit bigger.

whoops! missed one

This is one of my favorites. The word is Pretend.

The rest of the story

I have noticeably fallen behind in my blogging. Here are the rest of the inchies I have completed. I have Yellow to do and then one of my own to sum things up. I hope you enjoy seeing them here. They are easy to access on my flickr account if you want to see them all lined up. Thank you for your kind and most generous comments and for refraining from commenting when the muse was not upon me for some of the weeks. Happy Holidays to all. I will be posting a new idea I had at Mass tonight. If I could have heard the homily I would not have been making sketches in my mind. Sorry Lord.

Poppy's Pockets

Poppy ( Grandfather Jerry Mack) is know for having treats in his pockets for his grandchildren. These are fun to make and hopefully fun for the children.

October in Illinois

The leaves are falling and frosty nights are just a breath away. We have just returned from a lovely visit to our children and grandchildren in Cleveland, Ohio. It was so hard to leave. We came home through heavy fog. The road was mostly clear or what I could see from my knitting was. But the fields on either side of the road were blanketed in fog. I can only imagine how isolated that northern route must be in the darkest part of winter.
I have some inchies to show and hope you will enjoy them. I am also working on something I am calling Poppy's Pockets. My husband goes through a lot jeans knees. It seemed like there was lot of material there going to waste so I started collecting the jeans in a bucket. I thought the pockets were especially interesting. First I put two pockets back to back and made a little purse but it was too bulky. Now I am using just one pocket and decorating the outside and adding a little handle. I think the grandchildren will enjoy them with some treats filling the inside. I will post of picture of that later today.
Here is my inchie for this week. The word was Encouragement and it is dedicated to Sister Beata Knoedler who was inspirational in keep old JC (Junior College) open and flourishing.

wise old owl inchie

This week the word for the inchie was Wisdom and I thought Owl. So here is a little owl perched on his one inch block representing wisdom.

Sparkle inchie September 17,2011

Molly Katholi inspired this inchie. Her original idea was to use a Barbie shoe that was glittered. I did find a shoe and it did fit the format but it appeared too big on the square so I used a sticker that I then glittered and added some bling to make it sparkle. Thank you Molly for another great idea!

Falling behind again

Here are two inchies for you to view. Last week and this week. I had a very pleasant time doing the Kiss inchie because the bag of Hershey's chocolate kisses spilled. OH MY! So I had to pick them up. Some of them gotten damaged in the fall and had to be eaten. What a delicious way to start the day.

This inchie for August is called Imagine. I wanted to use the cover from John Lennon's album titled Imagine but could not see the artists name and did not want to use it without giving credit. These fabulous beads are made by my husband Jerry. He does beautiful lampwork and makes wonderful jewelry for me to wear.

Inchie for August

I have fallen just a little behind in showing my inchies on my blog. Painting the front porch has been taking a lot more time than I had expected it to do. Here are my last two inchies for August. I can honestly say I am finally warm and am welcoming some cooler weather.

Strength Inchie for August 2011

We drove around and photographed some tanks, a cannon, two airplanes and two war memorials but it was the picture of the flag on the front porch that said Strength to me. I am not happy with the faded colors and am sure I can figure out another way to get the picture from Photoshop to inchie to Flickr omitting the photographing of the inchie along the way. This seems to be where I lose my colors.

Rust inchie for August, 2011

This was an interesting word to work with. I thought first about putting a syringe on a blank square with the words Rust...Tetanus. This came to mind because I have just had to have a tetanus shot after a tangle with a rusty nail in the yard. Dismissing that idea I wrapped some muslin in an old hammer head and dropped it into a tub with water and vinegar and left it in the sun for a week. It smelled really nasty and was hard to get off my hands. Oh! What one must do for their art! The tiny particles of rust were especially hard to get off the fabric and my hands. Next time I will use ink or dye for the fabric and skip the rusty tools.

Missing inchie

Just one more Sunset inchie I thought you might like.

Sunset inchies for August 2011

I really thought I would be stumped for good on the word Sunset. I asked my artist friend Joanne Huffman for a hint and she came right back with some wonderful ideas. They were enough to get me going and here are three of the 24 sunset pieces I did. I have an idea for one more of an old lady sitting in a rocker. Maybe there will be time today inbetween punching soda cans in the shape of flowers and my summer scrapbook and my new sewing project to get that done.

Nest inchie for July 2011

I had lots of clever ideas for this one but it was too darn HOT to execute them. I wanted to make a large next of twigs and place dollhouse furniture in it with a lamp and my knitting. TOO HOT to play outside. I might have enjoyed fiddling with Photoshop to get my giant nest down to size but instead I just stood right in front of the AC with my stamps in hand and my thread, needle, clay and magnifying glass and made this little nest in comfort. Remember when I was complaining about never getting warm last winter? I am warm now!

Book inchie for July 2011

I really like working in this size format. If you go to Every Inchie Monday you will see some amazing art in this size. I look forward to your comments on my "Scrapbook". Wouldn't you like to know what is on the pages of this book!

Love is the inchie theme for this week

I really thought LOVE might be a lot to handle on a one inch format but it did not turn out out to be so. I enjoyed doing both of these. The dimensional flower is a stamp that was cut into tiny pieces and reassembled using some clear calk for height. The cushion the dove is sitting on was hand felted using some roving and then blanket stitched around the edges. I hope you enjoy the result.

catching up

We had the most delightful vacation in Ohio this past week. Fun with our children and grandchildren. Even the weather cooperated. The only glitch in an otherwise perfect trip was the horror that is Indianapolis! We will endeavor to never go there again even if it means taking a longer route. Just as we got through the never ending road construction our windshield was hit by a rock thrown from a passing truck. Horrifying! I waited for hours for the rest of the crack to appear. It held together all the way home. Do the people AND police in Indianapolis think they are all race car drivers? I would love to check out their drivers ed program.
I have caught up with my inchies. I am current to this week. Hope you enjoy them. I forgot to mention I had the pleasure of teaching my daughter Molly to crochet. This took all of ten minutes. Now she has another skill to add to her bulging resume.

woman inchie for June, 2011

I admit to being stumped for a good woman inchie. I thought about repeating one I had used in the past and decided that was not going to work. This stamp came to mind and seemed to fit the bill. I have a partner stamp that I use with this lovely old lady and it says: "Never underestimate the power of this woman". Might not be as pretty as we used to be but as we age we gain power. So here she is, my powerful woman!

Sisters June inchie

This was fun to do. The stamp made me think of my girls and the way they protect their sister Sarah.

Merriment inchie for June 5th, 2011

This is not the first thing that came to mind when I thought of merriment but it was close and doable on a compacted schedule. This cat has always made me smile. He is enhanced with colored pencils and some stitched on whiskers of black thread. He is perched on a 1" square of felt. I hope he makes you laugh.

inchies for May, 2011

There has been a lot going on that has gotten me behind on my inchies. Now that the visit from our darling grandchildren is past I have caught up on two of the weeks I was behind. I had fun doing these all the while realizing they were not particularly inspiring. Hope you enjoy them just the same.

Fancy Inchie for May 16th, 2011

Someday I am going to learn all there is to know about sizing photos. As it is now I spend a lot of time poking buttons and just about getting what I am looking for. This is darling Miss B. and she is FANCY! She has a wonderful sense of style and grace. Notice the purple box? It is full of her "Jewels".

Every Inchie Monday

This addition to my blog was requested by my daughter Molly. Look at all the inchies I have made!

annsart304's photostream

annsart304's photostream on Flickr.