Most years we have celebrated Thanksgiving with our close friends and their children who grew up with my three sons. While we will miss our combined families' get together, this holiday we will share with our family who are traveling from the north and south to be with us. All of my sons will be here so I am so excited to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving feast and spend the holiday with some of my most favorite people.
This week over at the Frilly and Funkie blog, Linda Coughlin and her design team have challenged us to create something that "reflects the abundance of the harvest season and the gratitude we express during this beautiful holiday. What a inspiration to pause and truly think about how blessed we have been in so many ways this past year!
Ideas started to come to mind as I pulled out my pastel paper and my Pan Pastels-newly acquired from a recent workshop taught by Donna Downey. Using an autumn palette of colors, the idea of creating a patchwork quilt similar to our early ancestors' handcrafted heirlooms would serve as the base of my mixed media piece. Choosing different shades of pastel paper` beige brown and grey tones-I cut out (9) 2" squares to form my background quilt. Then, using my new Pan Pastels acquired from a recent workshop taught by Donna Downey, I fully colored 5 squares with pastel (orange, green and brown)than applied brown pastel through the Heidi Swapp beehive stencil randomly on each square. Next I stamped each square with a different autumn image including a pumpkin, thistle, old tree, and a sunflower- all reminding me of nature's bounty and beauty this season. To add more interest to these squares, another stamped image was mounted with pop-up foam overlapping the square's edge. Extra highlighting and hand drawn stitches were done in gel pens and markers. Dictionary pages with the words-family, faith and nation were torn and glued on fringed burlap scraps focusing on the meaning of this holiday. Three hearts are the center of this art made with some art journaling extra pages I had on my art table. I stitched them on my sewing machine which I really need to leave out so I use it more-Love the look! Framed the entire 8x8" square by stitching all around the edges. Added some extra felt leaves cut with Sissix Tattered Leaves diecut by Tim Holtz and one paper leaf painted with acrylic paints. Copper embossed grungeboard letters form the sentiment of this piece-Grateful Hearts. All layers of the quilt are mounted on gold specialty paper glued on a stretch canvas. I plan to frame my autumn canvas.
So that is what I made to submit for the challenge over at Frilly and Funkie. It was so much fun to create something to celebrate my favorite season and use the colors which are all around us now in nature. What do you cherish about this season and the Thanksgiving holiday?
Such a beautiful card. Love the patchwork background and the fantastic leaves. Thank you so much for joining us at Frilly and Funkie. Jenny x
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your fabby project with the DT from Frilly and Funkie, love the colours and the fabulous leaves. Hugs Terry xxxx
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