Holidays

 Ginko Leaf ornaments

 

This was a super busy holiday season in my world of art and craft. I rarely use those words together, as I like to think of what I do as more art than craft. But sometimes I combine the two, as you can in these photos.

 Snowman ornamnet made with white poplar leaves an other pressed flowers.

 Hand stamped silk scarf. The stamp was a real fern.

Zentangle inspired, pen and ink heart with a pressed flower necklace

 

Overall I think I created over one hundred ornaments, two dozen scarves, about sixty necklaces, and many,many other items. Afterall , who needs sleep when the is fun to be had creating?

 

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays. Happy 2013!

Micki





 





Handmade For The Holidays

While this isn't exactly related to my art, it is about art, so I thought I would share.

With the holiday season just around the corner, I am happy to say I am about half finished my gift shopping. I made a decision a few months back, while I was staying up late making jewelry and other pressed flower items. I decided I wanted to support other artists by having a  "handmade Christmas". After all, handmade items are truly from the heart. Artists put much time, energy and love into their products. Many handmade items are unique, and sometimes customized. In addition, I have read or heard more than once, people are venturing into craft or art shows and sales after being forced into unemployment by the bad economy. So as I continue down my list I will continue to seek great gifts online at places like Etsy.com, and at local art or craft shows. So far I have found soaps, custom hand painted wine glasses, lots of jewelry, blown glass ornaments, knitted scarves and gloves and so much more. I know I will not have 100% of my gifts handmade, but my goal is 75% and I am nearly there. So I encourage you, before visiting the mall and the big department stores,  go find some pretty, unique, customized, hand made and hand picked from the heart gifts. I have really enjoyed the shopping so far. No lines, no wait, no parking wars and good service...all while supporting other artists.

One of my many wonderful finds: A beautiful ceramic dish.

Creating With Autumn

Though autumn often reminds me that colder days are coming with winter just around the corner, I can't help loving the season for it's cooler sunny days air and explosion of colors.
The sunny days of early fall still host some warm temperatures, while the leaves just begin to change to orange, gold and nearly red.  It is those days, when nature is recreating it's art that have inspired my latest works.

" Fall Exploding"

                                                      Fall Leaves Collage

"Autumn's Art"

 

These are pressed botanical pictures on canvas, which were painted in several layers before the leaves were added.

Green Jewelry

Guess I've been in a "green" mood. New pressed flower necklaces featuring ferns, larkspur and skeleton leaves.

Summertime

     The summer months are continuing to keep me busy. When you are a flower presser ( or squisher  as per my peers) on the east coast, this is prime time for us to be harvesting and stocking our inventory. My flower presses are full, my garden still struggling from the heat. It has provided me plenty though, so no complaints.

     Earlier this month I returned from the 2012 conference for the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. We had a great time in the Finger Lakes region of New York. We even pressed grapes, which seemed so appropriate being in NY wine country. I learned many new things, that you will be seeing in the near future. I taught "Christmas in June", and enjoyed seeing all of the creations.

     Following my return, I jumped into teaching my online class "Totally Unframed Pressed Flowers" which was available to the Guild members. Here are some examples from that class.

    

Of course I have squeezed in time for my etsy shop and some jewelry making.

I also joined the world of facebook pages

https://www.facebook.com/PrettyPressedPetals?ref=hl#!/PrettyPressedPetals

Come check it out!

See You next time!     Micki



   

Lately

The summer is going by so fast. My garden is struggling in the summer heat but I've managed to press a good bit of flowers so far. I have spent hours watering and weeding, pressing and sorting. I've also managed a little time creating. The time behind the scenes of creating pressed flower art is endless.
Lately I've been making lots of jewelry. I'm always looking to make something a little different from the last.

 Hummingbirds design

Red Daisy

Recently I also attended the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild conference in Waterloo NY where I taught "Christmas in June".

I will share more about the conference and my current class in my upcoming blogs. Right now I've got some jewelry that needs to be made.

Awards From Korea

Recently Korea hosted two international pressed flower competitions. Since it was an overseas contest, entries were previewed online via pictures. Entries that were selected then had to be sent to Korea for final judging. For the first round of the competition I submitted three pieces. Two, both jewelry, were chosen for the final round. After several weeks I was excited to hear that both of my entries received awards. My busy life as well as my role in other competitions, frequently prevent me from competing. But it is something I like to do. It's not just about the win. It's the process of creating something new, unique and sometimes very challenging. While these pieces were more fun than challenging they led to my creation of my mini garden jewelry.

The backgrounds were done in pastel then cut to shape. I designed the "gardens" and the little butterflies all from pressed flowers.