I have left the building :)

Hello Friends!

Please visit my website: www.inmyvintageroom.com

I will no longer be posting to this Blog; all of my posts will now be on my website. It's officially open now :)

Thank you all for your support and friendships!

Love to all.....................Marilyn

What's a Split Shot? :)

This morning my husband took me fishing up at "Rock" City Falls. I thought it would be a fun and relaxing activity that we could do together (once in awhile). I was actually amazed at how much I enjoyed this outing. Ted is an avid fisherman and there is much to learn from him. He is also the type that could easily sit and watch grass grow :) I, on the other hand, am very impatient.
I have a feeling fishing could actually help me learn to be more patient. There's so much to it! I really had a ball! Ted taught me how to cast and even jig!! Yes - jig!! We used "faux" worms as I have an aversion to putting a real worm on a hook - eeeeeuuuuuuuuuuu! So; the "faux" worms were just right for me. I do need some practice with the casting of the rod but I'll get the hang of it. I also learned that a split shot is a little "bead"-like silver weight that you can add to your rod to allow one to have a longer cast. I watched Ted thread the fishing line through the split shot and I instantly thought of beading! He even used a tool that resembled the jewelry pliers!
I really did have fun with Ted and he's so patient and a marvelous teacher. There were a couple of times where I got the fishing line caught around my left ear and I could just sense I might have tried his patience just a bit :) But; he persevered and just kept encouraging me to keep at it. We didn't catch any fish; I saw a couple jump up now and then and I caught a twig and a piece of an acorn! We will definitely try this activity again.
One of the things I noticed is my surroundings. Nature is really beautiful and what a lovely day it is today. I took my camera and thought I'd capture just a touch of what I thought was beautiful to me (husband included). I didn't have Ted take a pic of me as I wasn't showered yet and didn't have any make-up on. I thought I'd jump up in the morning and wash up a bit and dress in my grubs and get out there early to fish! Ya know? One of the "guys". Right! Oh well; I tried. I will definitely do this again; perhaps this weekend!! Are you game Ted? Ted - where are you????? Ted! Helloooooooooooooooooooooo! Love to you all, Marilyn

Something's fishy..................

Well; my son has become a fisherman! This is a picture of my son, David, and his catch of the day. David has taken up fishing, recently, and last weekend went to a bass tournament, up north, and his team came in fourth. Congratulations!

This fish is a 2 1/2 lb. bass! What fun and David is quite proud of this catch (as he should be) and I was glad he shared the picture with me.

I felt I wanted to share with you as we do share our creations on our Blogs. Frankly, David is my BEST creation!

I love you David!

Wishing you all a good day! Love, Marilyn

Wedding Invitations....the beginning :)

I'm sure you've all heard or read that I have been working on wedding invitations. The groom (James) and bride (Nicole) are friends of my son who is going to be best man for James. James has also been such a huge help, to me, with setting up my new computer, scanner and printer and helping me become more "technical friendly" :) So; without James, none of what I hope to do, in future, would be possible for me to even think about. Thank you James!

I wanted to share what I'm doing with the invites as they wanted "my art" with these as well as being very hands-on and artistic.

The first picture, with the stamped "canopy" over it is the front of the card. James and Nicole were engaged in Central Park in NYC in January of this year. While they were getting engaged in the horse-drawn carriage, a photographer just happened to be by taking pictures of this whole event! He kindly gave James and Nicole the negatives. The photos you see on the front, are the actual pics of the succession of them getting engaged; ending with the surprise look on Nicole's face - love that! I decided to cut the photos and arrange on a computer-generated photo of C. Park in the Fall as James and Nicole are getting married in the Fall of this year. I added some torn operatic anthology sheets to bottom with appropriate wording.
The second photo is of the front as opened and the third photo is of the inside of the card. It has a pocket at the bottom which will be used for all the information about the wedding, etc. The top portion will be their announcement. The cardstock I am working with is in fall colors so not all the invites will be same which is what I really like about these.
I will share more pics as I progress but wanted to give you a peek at what and where I'm going with these invites. Nothing is glued down, yet, and I want to add some decorative fibers and am going to use pieces of Maruyama paper inside as well. I have 100 invitations to make so I'd better get moving :) I will enjoy reading any comments or suggestions you may have. Love to all....................Marilyn

Acrylic Painted Transparency Collage......

Not too long ago, I initiated an art exchange that asked for acrylic painting a transparency and then creating a collage with it on an old book cover.

This picture is of my collage. I really love painting the transparencies and it really is quite easy. Applying gel medium to the back and front, then letting it dry, allows the paint to adhere better. Once the gel medium dries, you can begin having fun painting; starting at the back and going in with some detail painting on the front. I love using white acrylic for the front details.

The collage itself was created by priming the old book cover with Gesso then adding decorative paper, collage elements, some stamping and beeswax for a final touch :).

Free-hand felting.........

I've taken a little time, this weekend, to work on some free-hand felting. I've always liked to paint and thought I'd try my hand at "felt painting". I purchased a new felting book, recently entitled "Indygo Junction's Needle Felting". It's a wonderful book and has patterns in it for different things like flowers, leaves, etc .
I decided to just do it! I love to pick out colors of wool roving; mix them together and just "paint" directly on the surface I've chosen. In this case, it is a green-felted purse. The green in the purse is a little hard to catch with this picture, but it's a fern green but on light side.
This is still a work in progress but thought I'd share what I have so far. I intend to add a small butterfly and then I will do the back in a more simpler way and add some leaves and stems to the purse strap.
Have a safe and happy Memorial Weekend everyone!
Love, Marilyn

This is a picture of a matboard collage I did for Somerset Studio for their tenth anniversary challenge. They asked for submissions with a number 10 theme and I came up with using Bo Derek as my focal point as she was in the movie "10" :)

I just found out this is going to be published in the June 2007 Gallery issue of Somerset!

I had fun with this one!

I wish everyone a really good day! Love, Marilyn