To Dye For...

The latest gathering of the Arty Tea Party gals, was held in the lovely gardens at Two Crow Cottage hosted by Sweet Nina of Happy Herbs Soap.   Under the direction of Rosebud Sandy, we hand dyed, (and I do mean HAND DYED, I could've joined the Blue Man Group after this one), fabric items.
Some tee shirts, scarves, and I even had some vintage linen napkins that I threw in there.

Sandy's lovely scarf!

I'm gonna turn this into a prayer flag.

Wouldn't be a garden party without Plum and friend, Judie!

I can't wait until the next Arty Tea Party so everyone can wear their dyed tees. We individually dyed each item in ziploc baggies, after we soaked them in a bath of water with soda ash.  Then using bottles of 3 different colors, we just squirted the dye right into the baggie onto the fabric and smoosh, smoosh, smoosh it all around.  Let it set for 24 hours, rinse and dry.  I'm sure the photo of all of us in our tees will be a hippie dippie moment for sure!  Talk about throw back...

Thanks to Nina for hosting a terrific tea party...though, I don't recall anyone actually drinking any tea.
hee hee...lots of wonderful food and AB FAB company.  Walking the gardens at Two Crow Cottage with Nina's specially dipped incense sticks to keep the flying buggies at bay, is one of my favorite pasttimes. 

Once again, to our Dear Rosebud Sand'ar', you rock, Sista!!!

Next gathering is at Kitty's, where we will have a stamped tissue paper exchange.  Can't wait!

Aloha from Vicki, who is totally outofhand trying my best to learn watercolor painting.  YIKES!
Lots of trials...to be used in other paper projects.  But I'm determined! 

Scarf Day

Scarf decorating in progress

The lovely "Rosebud" Sandy opened up her home to the talented chics of the Arty Tea Party to show us how to paint and/or stamp onto a pre-dyed silk scarf.  Sandy prepared all the scarves in advance with all natural dyes, using plant materials, tea, etc.  The process produced some wonderful shades of purple, tans, pinks that were just waiting for us to embellish with rubber stamps and even watercolors.

Dyed scarves in lovely colors.

Sandy's sample of stamped & painted scarf.  WONDERFUL!

As always, we had a grand time learning a new art form to express the creative beast within each of us.  Thank you Sand"ar" for such a lovely time.  It's so great to see everyone at these events.  And now that SPRING HAS FINALLY SPRUNG, we hope to hold some Arty Tea Parties outdoors. 

November Tea Time

 

It's been a crazy summer, and October flew by in a flash, just as the birds prepare for the winter along with the squirrels and chipmunks.  But the Talented Chics of the Arty Tea Party Guild are gearing up for a few more events for the holiday season.  The neverending Art Journal Swap/Hop will definitely come to an end with the end of 2014.  Whoever is not finished by Dec. 31, is just not getting their book back!!!  JUST KIDDING!

Now here are some island teas that I will be sharing at our next gathering this week.  Perfect since I just returned from Waikiki to enjoy the gorgeous colors of Autumn with all the beauty and bounty that comes with it.   And the island smells come alive with these teas...only one missing here is
Passionfruit Na Pali...I enjoyed those first.  Yummy!  But you can find them here Hawaiian Tea.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for the final look at the Neverending Art Journal Swap/Hop by the Talented Chics of the Arty Tea Party Guild. 

Sailing on the Connecticut River

Watercolor Batik

Come into the garden...

The lovely gardens of Happy Herbs Soap at Two Crow Cottage provided the perfect back drop

for the gals of the Arty Tea Party to have a Watercolor Batik class on Unryu paper.

 Sweet Rosebud Sandy provided the instruction with the papers all prepped with a flower image.

First layer of watercolor and now the wax.

After your first layer of watercolor, you take the melted soy wax and brush it around on the places where you want your next watercolor layer to resist. 

Add more layers of watercolor...dry...more wax flicks if you want...more watercolor...dry...and the ending step in the process is to iron off the wax between newsprint or other (non-colored) paper. 

The end result is quite lovely.  And each is so unique.

Drying time is the time for brunch and garden walks.

Nina is known for her love of lavender.

Here is a purple trinity garden with 3 different types of lavender.

I like to lay my pillowcases here to dry.

There is so much to see here and we haven't even made it back to the pond yet.

Looks like a great grape year...I'm thinking fall wine making...

Thanks to Nina for hosting such a wonderful event at her garden estate.  And many thanks to Rosebud Sand'ar' for providing all the supplies and instruction.  It was a happy day all around!

Hope you'll pop over to see my Watercolor Batik Project and the Pay It Forward Art Making Project I have just signed on to!  Aloha

Neverending Book Swap

Kay's Art Journal cover...amazing!

It opens...

Yes, this is just the cover...

So much interaction in this book treasure.

And everyone is to  choose a talisman to
identify themselves in the hop!

Kay's book, an old calligraphy book found at the library book sale, is being transformed into an amazing tale of self identification!  You can view my 2 page spread here... Aloha

ENJOY!!!

Kite Festival

The Annual Kite Festival was a huge success and the wind surely accommodated all the kite enthusiasts.  The sun could have shined down a little more, because it was a little nippy still up on the hill with the winds.

There were so many different types of kites, young and old flyers alike and it was just a great happy time for all the families.  As usual, the Talented Chics of the Arty Tea Party along with Nina of Happy Herbs Soap of Two Crow Cottage put out all the best of that we have to offer from each of our unique crafty endeavors.  Stained glass, crochet, mixed media, jewelry, victorian paintings...and best of all Nina's Handmade Soaps and Incense that kept both tents smelling awesome and attracting customers.

Yes, let's go fly a kite...up to the highest height!!!

You can find Nina up at the Mother's Day Tulip Festival at Honor's Haven on Sunday, May 11...stop by and say hello!

Arty Tea Party Takes Flight

Photo by Rona Proudfoot

 

Spring has finally sprung and the awesomely talented chics of the Arty Tea Party under the tents of HAPPY HERBS SOAP are taking flight!  The whole gang will be there;  Nina, of course with all of her fabulous smelling handmade soaps and magickal botanickal incense blends, including some really cute clay kite pins made special for this event.  She will have lots there that is not available online, (including my fave soap blend of hers Lavender/Patchouli).

Also joining us will be Kitty Mitchell from the pages of Art Doll Quarterly with her latest Mixed Media creations; Victoria with her beautifully painted gifts; Sandy "Rosebud" Scarano with her Victorian treasures; Alicia with some jewelry; Judie with her latest sun catching stained glass art;  Andrea has been getting back in the beading groove and has some of her paper beads to share, too.

And I, Vicki, hula~la, will be putting out some of my Altered Book Journals.  Please stop by and take a look. 

KITE FESTIVAL

Saturday May 3, 2014

10:00 am - 5:00 pm

On the campus of SUNY SULLIVAN

First 200 children receive FREE KITES!

See you there!