Bees In August-A Peek-a-Boo Project

For the bees, August marks the start of their New Year! I wonder what bees wear to a party? I am sure the queen would have a proper crown. The drones will not even be asked to the festivities as they have served their purpose and worker bees are likely kicking the poor drones to the curb. Fewer eggs are being laid and some of the party goers won’t be attending this year, the number of bees in the hive is declining. 

Bees become more feisty and rambunctious this time of year, as days are growing shorter and nectar supply is lessening. They are right to be defensive as this is the time of year that hunger hornets and yellow jackets could become party crashers. They want what’s on the menu inside.  There are bigger concerns, as the local field mice will be looking for a cozy place to spend the winter. After all the bee boxes are honey bee heated and filled with yummy honey.

This is the time of the season when colonies start the cycle for next year's season by producing healthy and vigorous worker bees that will raise the final cycle of bees before Winter. These are the inspirations for this artwork.

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Plan Out Your Composition.
   
3. Find a Magazine Image you Want to Use or Base of GSLC Reliquary Frame.
   
4. Trace Pattern and Cut Out with Scissors.
5. Use a UHU GlueStick to Attach Image to Frame.
   
6. Paint Edges of Image with Purple Acrylic Paints.
   
7. Paint Upper Portion of GSLC Reliquary Frame with Green Acrylic Paints.
   
8. Use UHU GlueStick to Connect Parts of Frame.
9. Hold Securely to Fully Dry with Metal Clamps.
   
10. Use Various Acrylic Paints to Paint remainder of GSLC Items.
    
11.  I Used Metallic Pain in Gold and Cooper Hues to Paint The Honeycomb.
    
12. I Used Golden Interference Blue Paint to Make Bee Wings Shimmer.
    
13.  I used Liquid Pearls to Add Interest to the GSLC Hypericum Berries.
    
14. Spread a Layer of Ranger Glossy Accents on Prepared Frame.
15. Lay Prepared Items In Making Sure All are covered with a fresh layer of Glossy Accents.
    
16. Allow to Dry Fully, Likely Overnight or a Full 24 Hours.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Final Thoughts

Not Only is August the Honey Bee’s New Year but the this Saturday in August is World Honey Bee Day. It is a day to celebrate all things honey bee, Their delicious honey, their ability of being super pollinators, their beekeepers dedication to the honey bees longevity, providing them with a supportive environment-all things blooming.

Suggestions for Celebrating World Honey Bee Day

~Collect and spread local wildflower seeds to promote honey bee pollination.

~Replace your usual sweetener with honey for the day. Taste the difference!

~Give the gift of honey to a friend, neighbor, co-worker or family member.

~Give a bottle of Mead-we like Linganore Medieval Mead-it is the mead served at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.

~Enjoy a Hot Toddy

~ Search for Sweets laden with honey, a favorite of mine is baklava.

~ I like to think that I invented honey mustard, when I worked all those years ago at Friendly’s I would mix regular yellow mustard and honey and eat it on my salad, then it seemed like years later honey mustard was the flavor of the choice. 

~Many Skincare and Cosmetics also contain honey as an ingredient-it serves asa moisturizer, clarifying, antibacterial and/or flavoring agent. Bert’s Bees is a popular brand.

~Honeycomb Beeswax Candles can brighten your late summer picnic table.

~Manuka honey has helped me heal many a wounds, soothed my itchy throat, and curbed a cold.

Supplies:  GSLC Reliquary-Arch Top, GSLC Honeycomb & Queen Bees ATC Sized, GSLC Hypericum  Berries, Pencil, Magazine Image, Scissors, UHU GlueStick, Purple Acrylic Paints, Green Acrylic Paints, Metal Clamps,Various Acrylic Paints, Liquid Pearl in Colors of Your Choosing, Metallic Paints Gold and Copper, Yellow Paint, Golden Interference Blue, Ranger Glossy Accents,

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

In the Eye of the Beholder-A Peek-a-Boo Project

It is an old axiom, and well said, That “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.  Small paintings of eyes first became popular during the late eighteenth century. They reminded wearers of a loved one, whose identity remained a secret. The single eye also symbolized the watchful gaze of a jealous partner, who feared that his or her lover might stray. These are the inspirations for this artwork.

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Go Through Magazines Adverts Looking for Expressive Eyes.
   
3. Use a Pencil to Trace Smaller Portion of GSLC Mini Frames.
4. Cut Out Traced Eyes Using Scissors.
   
5. Now Look Through Magazine for Texture Images.
   
6. Use a Pencil to Trace Larger Portion of GSLC Mini Frames.
7. Cut Out Traced Textures Using Scissors.
8. Paint Inner Smaller GSLC Mini frames with Metallic Paints-I Used Copper and Golden Tones.
   
9. Paint Outer Larger GSLC Mini Frames with Metallic Paints-I Used Blue  and Toned it Down with Golden Transparent Iron Oxide Paint.
   
10. Use a Pencil to Trace Larger Portion of GSLC Mini Frames on to Scraps of Thin Cardboard.
    
11. Cut Out Traced Templates Using Scissors.
12.  Glue Larger Portion of GSLC Mini Frames on to Scraps of Thin CardboardUsing a UHU GlueStick.
    
13. Glue Eyes to Back side of Inner Smaller GSLC Mini Frames.
14. Glue Inner Smaller GSLC Mini Frames Onto Inside Center Of Larger Outer GSLC Mini Frames.
15. Press and Dry Completely.
16. Add Micro Gems to Frames Randomly Securing with Ranger Gloss Accent.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Final Thoughts:

As a child when we would take the road trip to visit our cousins in New Jersey  we’d play a version of the “I spy with my little eye” game. Mostly it would turn into the alphabet  game where we would teach for letters on signs or license plates.  The end of this game proved to be more challenging than the first part.

Eye Quotes

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

~Marcel Proust

Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.

~Jim Carrey

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

~Albert Einstein

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

~Mark Twain

Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.

~Paramahansa Yogananda

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

~Benjamin Franklin

What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.

~Harry Houdini

Supplies:  GSLC Connie's Mini Frames , Magazine adverts, Pencil, Scissors, Metallic Paints, Scraps of Thin Cardboard, UHU GlueStick, Ranger Glossy Accent, Micro Gems

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

Eclectic Celtic Adornments-A Peek-a-Boo Project

Some Projects Manifest themselves such is the case with these. I was looking through my stash GSLC chippies and chose. few of my favorite ones to combine in these creations.

There is a word circling in some artist’s communities-farrago - It is defined in the dictionary as a pile of odds and ends or random assortment of stuff; a motley assortment of things; a hodgepodge; a mismatch. I simply called it eclectic. Other artistic communities have Frugal Friday Postings. Growing up poor and in the country; with parents who lived through the depression I am acutely aware of its meaning...no dictionary necessary. They are the inspiration for this artwork. 

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Cover GSLC Fern Fronds with Pale Green and Quinacridone Nickel AZO Gold, Green Gold, Radiant Yellow and Color Shift Green Acrylic Paints Randomly with a Paintbrush.
   
3. Apply Pearlescent Glitter while Wet so Paste acts Like an Adhesive.  Allow to Dry Fully.
   
4. Use Variety Of Acrylic Paints to Paint GSLC Peacock Feather Shapes.
   
5. Rub Randomly With UHU GlueStick and Apply Pearlescent Glitter.
   
6. Color Hearts with Red FolkArt Design Cream, Scarlet Embossing Powder and Rust Powder.
   
7. Cure With a Heating Tool.
8. Use Green Markers and White and Pale Tan Acrylic Paint to Paint GSLC Queen Anne’s Lace.
   
9. Use UHU GlueStick to Assemble Adornments.
   

   
10. Dry Fully Pressed and Weighted. 
11. I Wanted to Give the Adornments and Place of Their Own and Bought Some Cheap Wooden Frames-$1.00 at Michaels. 
    
12. Use Cardboard from Inside of Frame to  Cut Pieces of Natural Felt.
    
13. Attach Felt to Cardboard Using Double Sided Tape.
    
14. Use Another Cardboard Piece to cut out Transparency Film to Use Inside Frame. These Cheap Frames Came with None.
    
15. Attach Assemblage to Felted Cardboard Using a Needed and decorative Thread.
    
16. Make a Slurry of Lava Paste and Red Acrylic Paints.
    
17. Spread and Cover Wooden Frames, Sprinkling Randomly with Cinnamon  While Still Wet For a Rusted Organic Look.
    
18. Cure with a Heating Tool. 
19. Add Highlights With Other Acrylic Paints.
    
20. Trace Frame on Scrap Papers to Seal in Back of Frame. Looks Tidy and Professional.
    
21. I added Blue Stitching to the Corners of Prepared Adornments  for interest and to Highlight the Peacock Eyes the Feather.
    
22. Assemble Your Frames and Seal in Back Portion and Add Mechanics for Hanging if so Desired.
    

    
    

    Final Thoughts:

    Throughout the Victorian era pressed flowers were important. For the Victorian woman, it was an enjoyable pastime. Flowers were often combined with ribbons to create pretty pictures, whilst a flower was often slipped between the pages of a book, to preserve the memory of a special day.

    

    

Ferns are some of the oldest plant on our planet, dating bak 400 million years.  They can survive in a variety of climates. They do not reproduce from seed but rather from spores that grow from the bottom side of lives upon reaching  maturity. Ferns may symbolize spiritual protection, or used to bring about wealth, fortune, and luck. In Victorian England, the fern was a symbol of magic, fascination, confidence, and shelter. Ferns could be used to pass messages from a secret admirer. They are said to be symbols of longevity, rebirth and renewal. Fiddleheads, the coiled tips of young Ostrich Ferns, are a springtime delicacy enjoyed by some in the Northeastern U.S. Be sure to go with someone acquainted with harvesting these springtime treats as many fern species are toxic to humans.

Growing up in the country, my momma would always say Queen Anne’s Lace was also known and wild carrots. It turns out she is partially true as it is from the Daucus Genus that include all the carrots consumed for food today.It belongs more closely to the family that includes celery, dill, and many other edible herbs.Most Queen Anne’s Lace is pure white with a darker center to each flower. White: Cleanliness, freshness, new beginnings, healing, innocence, and purity. There is a pink variety too, that symbolizes-Joyfulness, playfulness, youth, fun, celebration, platonic love, and sweetness. My momma loved “coloring” the delicate white flowers that grew will along the country roads of my childhood. 

In ancient time, peacocks were to thought to have magical power e would put the newly cut stems in red and blue food coloring water and magically overnight they would become pastel pink and blue by morning time. A magical memory of my childhood.

In Ancient Times, the peacock was thought to have magical powers against evil spirits. Peacock feathers may symbolize, open-mindedness, protection, uniqueness, creative productivity, good luck, renewal and self-realization. In Victorian Times, There was an Art Nouveau’s Obsession with Peacocks and their feathers.

Celtic Hearts are meant to symbolize the everlasting love between two people. The Celtic heart is warm and wide, a place where love and peace abide goes one Irish Saying.

Supplies:  GSLC Celtic Hearts, GSLC Fern Fronds, GSLC Peacock Feathers Shape Set, GSLC Queen Anne's Lace, Pearlescent Glitter, Acrylic Paints, Fan Paintbrush, Red FolkArt Design Cream, Scarlet Embossing Powder, Rust Powder, Heating Tool, Variety Of Green Markers, White and Pale Tan, Acrylic Paint, UHU GlueStick

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!