Karen's Muse and Musings

Another Monday, Another Inchie!

Mirthful!

I cannot recall seeing a more mirthful face than that of my grandson, Bobby, when he was in a swing at the playground for the first time. Just love those 2 tiny teeth!

Valentine Matchboxes

Whew! I just finished 4 projects that are due on February 1st. I don't know what I was thinking last fall when I signed up for all of these that were due at the same time. Probably I thought "oh, it's after Christmas, and I never have much to do in January." Hah!

The photo is of an altered matchbox for a swap with 6 friends. I covered the matchbox with handmade paper. I love this paper — it has leaves in it that give it wonderful texture. Then I tied it up with wired ribbon, a heart cut from organic batting, a rose embellishment and the cutest, tiniest tag I've ever seen. And can I just say that I love wired ribbon? I think they should change that expression "the best thing since sliced bread" to "the best thing since wired ribbon."

Inside the box, I tucked one of those little batting and lace hearts that I wrote about in an earlier post. Here are all 6 of my boxes together. This photo is kind of blurry. I'm so much better with a scanner than a camera, and although I scan lots of dimensional stuff, some objects just have to be photographed.

I'll post photos of the other February 1st projects soon.

RAK

I was delighted to receive this beautiful collage from my friend Trinka Seals. Trinka is unfortunately blogless — unfortunate for you, that is, because her artwork is fabulous. Thank you, Trinka. I love this whimsical piece.

Every Inchie Monday — Maudlin

MAUDLIN |ˈmôdlin|
adjective
self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness : the drink made her maudlin | a maudlin ballad. 

I must admit I thought I knew the meaning of this word, but I did not. I was thinking it meant something more like macabre, dark or sinister, so it's good to learn the correct meaning. It wasn't an easy word to illustrate, but I decided to go digitally this week and recycle a digital artwork I did a while back.

I love this stone angel, maudlin as she is. She is located at the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.

Every Inchie Monday — Powerful

Powerful is the theme this Monday, and what is more powerful than the range of human emotion? We  love, but we just as easily hate. We feel ecstatic joy, but we also feel wretched sorrow. We feel intense trust in our loved ones, but at times we also feel bitter jealousy.

Hopefully you are not hating anyone or feeling sorrowful today and will join us at Every Inchie Monday. It's a challenge to see what you can create and depict in 1 square inch, but it's a lot of fun too.

Feeling the Love

Look at these tiny, lacy hearts. They are approximately 1.5" tall, not counting the lace edging. I cut out each heart freehand from 2 layers of organic cotton batting, then covered the top with flat, crochet-type lace. Then I sewed on the gathered lace edge, added a ribbon hanger and a button. I had fun making these (9 of them in all), but it wasn't  easy sewing something that small on the sewing machine. These are going inside altered matchboxes for a Valentine's Day swap. I want to make some that are a little larger and stuff them for puffy hearts. I tried to stuff one of these itty-bitties, and no way was that batting going into that tiny space.

Every Inchie Monday — Eclectic

There's a new challenge this year — Every Inchie Monday. You can find out all about it by clicking this link. I think it will be fun and challenging. You have no idea how small 1 square inch is until you cut it out and hold it in your hand. Each week will have a theme, and the first theme is eclectic. I admit that theme threw me. So for inspiration I went to my trusty dictionary and thesaurus. (Yes, I knew the definition, but I was hoping there was something there to inspire me.) It was the second definition that intrigued me.

Philosophy of, denoting, or belonging to a class of ancient philosophers who did not belong to or found any recognized school of thought but selected such doctrines as they wished from various schools.

So, the eclectic school could pick and choose what they believe, and that explains the significance behind the big question mark (big is relative here) on my collaged, painted and stitched background.

(Interestingly, my friend and fellow bloggist Joanne Thieme Huffman recently posted about picking and choosing what we believe. You can read what she wrote here.)

In Memory of Misu

Misu, April 15, 1995 - December 30, 2010

Last Thursday my little Misu passed away. Half shih tsu and half toy poodle, she was precious to me and everyone that knew her. I was fortunate to have this personable, often mischievous dog for 15 years. When she was just a puppy, probably a couple of months after the above photo was taken, I took her for a walk. I lived in an intown Atlanta neighborhood, not far from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. So Misu and I walked there, and we stopped to rest beside the reflecting pool in front of the library. I was just standing there when all of a sudden, I heard a splash. I looked down, and my tiny puppy had jumped into the pool! A guard came over as I fished her out. Apparently they frowned on dogs swimming in the pool.

This photo was taken when she was 7 weeks old. That's a man's cap on the ground beside her, so you can see how tiny she was.

And this photo was taken years later when she was 9 years old. Didn't she have a sweet face?

I can't write any more right now. The pain of losing her is too new, too fresh. I know I will feel better eventually, but now I just miss my baby and best friend.