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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Lessons From The Nest......

"The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship."
~William Blake~(click any photo to enlarge for better viewing)

I do apologize for the unexpected break I took. I have been having more technical difficulties. It seems my computer went on vacation without me. Can you believe it? It even sent out emails to dozens of people notifying them that I was gone and added on a little business advertisement that I never sent out. While she was on vacation down in what must have been sunny Mexico, (how do I know her destination you might wonder, well, she came back speaking fluent Spanish), she ate some very bad cookies. The cookies corrupted her delicate system and she had to be treated for a virus infection. Poor dear had to toss her cookies. I thought she was on the mend and then I went over to my blog and found out she had been off gallivanting again! This time she came back speaking Portuguese, I kid you not!

(Free artwork image, Vintage Sheet Music page, click, save, and enjoy!)
Seriously, my email was attacked by a repeated vacation notice, my search engine page as well as some other setting were all converted to Spanish, which would be great if I could speak it or read it, and then my blog was converted to Portuguese, which I can't read or speak either! I think everything has been restored to rights and I can get back to posting. So much for having a virus protection program. I think my poor computer was not vaccinated for the proper strain. Anyway, on to my original post...

(Free artwork images, French lesson book page and McGuffey's Sixth Reader page, click, save, and enjoy!)
I just love and admire Dawn (The Feathered Nest) and her work so much. She has such a giving spirit and genuine sweetness that comes through in every post. Dawn was very instrumental in helping me work out the kinks when I first began blogging and her support has grown into a friendship that I truly treasure. I feel I owe her a huge thanks for the lessons I have learned from her nest. Her positive personality and generous spirit are something we can all strive for. It has blessed my heart beyond belief to watch her take tentative steps to share her talents and to see her creative efforts rewarded in print through many of the Sommerset publications.

(Free artwork images, Gregg Shorthand book page and Latin-English dictionary page, click, save, and enjoy!)
Not only I have I learned lessons of the heart and of friendship but I have been privileged to learn lessons of creating art. I feel I owe Dawn an apology and hope that I in no way misrepresented her wonderful tutorials. In a recent post I shared with you a nature assemblage that I did based on Dawn's tutorial instructions. I did use her instructions but made substitutes and changes to make the design my own. I am not really good at making an exact copy, I tend to make it my own by adding my own style.

(Free art work images, vintage spelling tablet papers, click, save, and enjoy!)
I wanted to show you the results of following her step-by-step instructions so that you can see how easily her wonderful style can be recreated and to honor her efforts at creating such wonderful easy to follow guides.

(Free art work image, Blue Jay burying an acorn, click, save, and enjoy!)

I used an idea Dawn shared in a post quite some time ago in finding shadow box frames at flea markets and removing and replacing the backs to make new shadow boxes for your art. Here are a couple I found recently...I used the larger one for the Nest Assemblage. Sorry for the quality of the photo, taking photos of something encased in glass is very tricky! Any tips on how to cut the glare?The only changes I made to this design are the placement and content of the natural elements and I did decorate the back of the box.For the nature journal I followed her instructions, using images provided in her tutorial, a few of my own, as well as the tiny calendar prints I purchased from Mary at Green Paper. I also used some bird, egg, and nest images from Vintage Printable.My journal does not have as many pages as Dawn's did. I found that my background paper was a little weak so I glued the two page spreads back to back and added some handmade paper to the fold area of each page to strengthen it. Dawn did warn that choosing your background paper is very important. Also, my spine seemed a little loose so I did add a ribbon tie to the sewn spine. Other than that, I stuck to the plan.Although my sweet teacher, Dawn, gave me an A on my last project, I hope these will make the grade in honoring her tips and techniques. She told me I really did not need her tutorials but I beg to differ. I believe in supporting other artists whether it be buying their work, supplies or kits available through them, or even through supportive comments on their work.

I recently purchased a divine roll of seam binding from Dawn, you can see it featured on the spine of my nature journal...
When the order came in I was in for a real treat! She included a fantastic package of ephemera for using in my art!!! Thank you so much sweet lady, I love it all! Just look at all this paper goodness...Don't you love this little watch face?Just look how cleverly she packaged these punch outs!I thank my "whatsoever" friend for her wonderful lessons from the nest!"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are right, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are admirable...think on these things."
(This is how I think of my friend, Dawn.)
~Philippians 4:8~

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

P.S. It seems I have some homeless art pieces on my hands...looks like it getting close to time for a give away! More details next week!

16 comments:

SharDon Exclusives said...

Oh, my goodness, your frame artwork is gorgeous! Dawn would and I am sure IS proud of you. Isn't she a sweetheart...I have to go back and study your work again.
Sharon

Anonymous said...

Such a joy to enjoy both your and Dawn's creative artwork.

Mary Green said...

What a wonderful post! The assemblage and nature journal are both beautiful, every piece is incorporated so well.

May I use show some of your nature journal pics on my blog? I'd love to display your brillant use of the calendar images.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

Wonderful post! Your art is amazing! It inspires me to try! Happy Sunday to you and thanks for the beautiful photos and free pages!

Beth Leintz said...

What a great way to wake up on a rainy Sunday morning. You've made me want to go start some projects of my own. I just LOVE that nature journal. You've been busy, and produced some wonderful art- and I can see Dawn's influence on it.

Thanks for all the clip art, too.

kathy said...

Love your art piece -- Yes dawn is amazing and so sweet and caring -- as are you -- How grateful for sweet blog friends
kathy - ga

bluemuf said...

Miss Sandy, what a beautiful creative post. I love your art pieces. I also admire Dawn's wonderful talent. Thank you for the lovely images to use.

What an adventure you have had with your computer going on vacation without you. I'm so glad you got it fixed.

Hugs karen

Helen Read said...

delightful, as always! Glad your computer is back "on duty"! :)

LiLi M. said...

I think Dawn would give you an A again and an A+++++ for being such a sweet blogfriend. Thanks for inspiration and clip art!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the pages and all the great ideas. I have found such inspiration through blogging, I have gotten discouraged while my daughter was so sick. I need to get back to work.
QMM

KathyB. said...

I am always impressed with the generosity of sharing and support from so many bloggers. Dawn helps you, and you in turn give her praise and thanks for her encouragement. Beautiful work, inspiring and even more, a beautiful spirit of sharing between 2 women who share a similar vision in crafting from their hearts.

The Feathered Nest said...

Oh Sandy. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to visit you!!!! Thank you so much my sweet friend!!!! I love your artwork so much, you need not follow my instructions to the letter ~ when you put your spin on things, it's "you"....I love each and every piece you've created ~ the nature journal turned out beautiful!!!! You've been an angel to me, always encouraging my creativity, sending me precious gifts...thank you for that dear Sandy ~ I'm so glad that you are pleased with the seam binding and the papers were just a true thank you for your friendship!!! hugs and love, Dawn

Debra@CommonGround said...

I just found your blog thru Ragamuffin Gal on her latest post. I've really enjoyed going back thru your posts. Beautiful and inspiring art work. I'm a bird lover, so everything is just a feast for the eyes.
Come by for a visit when you can.
Debra

Natasha Burns said...

oh wow I love your beautiful nature journal. I bet Dawn is proud :)
I hda to chuckle about your computer vacation story though, you tell a story so well!!! Sorry the computer was so sick, maybe it had swine flu?

Vee said...

Beautiful! Dawn certainly knows her stuff and is such a generous gal.

I do know that when taking pics out windows or of glass that if you place your camera setting on Landscape...the one with the mountain...it will help with glare. Not sure why. It just does.

Catharina Maria said...

I have also seen the art journal by LiLi , it is so lovely and great .
I love it !!!
Love from the Netherlands RINI

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