A little Collage Postcard for Renee – 4″ x 6″

“Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction.”
–Unknown

That unknown guy is pretty smart!



A little Collage Postcard for Renee – 4″ x 6″

Once again, I put fabric and little painting pieces on the postcard with Mod Podge, then just kept adding to it, finishing it off with little dabs of acrylic paint.

One day next week, I’m going to give one of these away on Facebook. 

Can you believe it’s already February?  I need to do some kind of cool Valentine for my hubby and one to give away.  I’m having so much fun doing these little random giveaways.  It’s a shame I have to work.  I’d never run out of things to do…. but then who’s going to buy all my art supplies?

Collage Postcard for Cricket – 4″ x 6″ Postcard

“Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”
– Louisa May Alcott

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Collage Postcard for Cricket – 4″ x 6″ Postcard

This is another of my postcard collages.  My very first time doing something like this.  My friend, Cricket, is a big part of our local farmer’s market.  I imagine she has grown a tomato or two.  I really hope she likes it. 

About Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott, the beloved American author, is best known for her semiautobiographical novel, Little Women, which was made into a movie five different times. Born on November 29, 1832 near Philadelphia, she grew up in Massachusetts. Her family lived in the genteel poverty depicted in her fiction. She wrote lurid stories anonymously to bring in money but gained fame under her own name with young adult novels, which held readers with their warm characterizations and simple, engaging style. She died on March 6, 1888.

Oh My! A 4″ x 6″ Collage Postcard (by a first timer)

“This is the beginning of a new day. 

You have been given this day to use as you will.

You can waste it or use it for good.

What you do today is important because you are

exchanging a day in your life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone

forever; in its place is something that you have

left behind… let it be something good.”

–Unknown

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Oh My!  A 4″ x 6″ Collage Postcard (by a first timer)

I mod podged some fabric pieces onto a postcard, then cut out the boat from one of my old paintings and mod podged it and a bit of a doily on top of the fabric.  The little sun is a brass piece and the rest is dimensional acrylic craft paint.   Okay… I was playing and learning and having some fun.

This little postcard will be winging it’s way to Canada for Sharron Marshall.

Today’s quote came from my little Simple Truths book, Finding Joy – Simple Secrets to a Happy Life by Mac Anderson  Click here to see a little inspirational video with quotes from this book.  (3 minutes and 32 seconds long.)

I love Simple Truths books!  I think I have 30 of them in my inspirational book collection!

About Simple Truths

There is one thing in life that took me a long time to learn, and that’s… less is almost always more. This “simple truth” is the foundation on which our company was built. I wanted to create beautiful gift books that anyone can read in less than thirty minutes.To make each book special, we focused on three things: Great content Great graphics Great packaging to create a “wow effect” We also chose not to offer our books in any bookstores or any retail outlets, to make it even more special as a gift. Satisfied customers are our #1 priority, so I encourage you to give us feedback on how we’re doing. If we ever disappoint you, I hope you’ll let us know, and we will do everything we can to make it right. We are honored to serve you! Mac Anderson Founder Click Here for our FAQ Page

A Special Plaid Wine Box Tutorial

“The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative, the second is disastrous.”
– Margot Fonteyn

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

A Special Plaid Wine Box

I made this wine box for my friend, Ann.  It’s made from a paper mache wine box (from Hobby Lobby) and a favorite old shirt of mine.  I loved that shirt, so when I wore it out, I washed it and put it in my fabric stash.  I used Mod Podge (by Plaid Enterprises) to put squares of fabric all over the box.  The shirt had tabs, so that when you rolled up your sleeves, you’d button them up with the tabs.  That is what I used for the front.  I removed the buttons from my shirt and hot glued them to the tab.  If you make one of these, be sure to start it below the lid edge or the lid won’t go on.   As it is, you have to use thin layers around the top and bend the box slightly to get the lid on.  I think on the next one, I may just paint around the top of the box.

I attached the collar to the lid with hot glue and added a couple buttons.  I used several coats of Outdoor Mod Podge to give it a hard surface.  (Do the collar, too)  I even hot glued the tag inside the box for an extra bit of fun.  Ann takes wine to barbeques and such, so I thought it would be the perfect gift for her.  It was hard not to keep it.  I could put a water bottle or small coffee thermos in there, in stead of wine. 

About Margot Fonteyn

Margot Fonteyn, the elegant British prima ballerina, is considered one of the truly great dancers of our time. She was born in 1919 in Surrey. She made her debut in 1934 as a snowflake in Nutcracker and was a leading ballerina within four years. She flirted with retirement in the late 1950′s until Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union; he became her dancing partner for the next decade, a brilliant creative match despite their 20-year age difference. She died in February 1991.

Christmas Ornaments by Beth for Ornament Exchange

“In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions.”
– Henry Ward Beecher

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Christmas Ornaments by Beth

I was in an ornament exchange for the second year, over at Blu Penny.  I think there are 60 of us, divided into groups of 4.  You mail handmade ornaments to the other 3 people in your group and they each send you one.   My group was “The Fruitcakes”.  Our $10 entry fee benefited the Make a Wish Foundation.

To make these, I took a plastic ornament and covered the whole thing with little fabric squares, using Mod Podge.   I added 2 more coats of Mod Podge.  Then the leaves on the top were created by cutting apart a little plastic poinsetta and painting the leaves with spray paint.  I attached a bunch of little charms and bells to the ends and then hot glued the leaves onto the ornament.  Whaaa-Laaa! 

About Henry Ward Beecher

The liberal American minister Henry Ward Beecher was a great orator, an advocate of women’s suffrage, and a staunch abolitionist. He raised funds before the Civil War to buy rifles to fight against slavery; these guns became known as “Beecher’s Bibles.” He was born in 1813 in Connecticut; among his eight siblings was Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. His immense popularity waned only slightly after he was accused of adultery; the trial ended in a hung jury, and he was ultimately acquitted. He died in 1887.

A Little Fabric and Mod Podge Boat for a Change of Pace

“Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed.”
– Baltasar Gracián y Morales

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Fabric and Mod Podge Boat

I bought this little wooden boat (with oars) at Hobby Lobby. I used Mod Podge to apply fabric squares all over it.  I used orange acrylic paint to do the edges and the oar handles.  It was fun!  It looks like it belongs in Bethville, doesn’t it? 

About Baltasar Gracián y Morales

Baltasar Gracián y Morales, the Jesuit scholar and moralist author, was the leading Spanish proponent of conceptism (conceptismo), a method of expressing ideas through puns, epigrams, and other verbal devices. He was born in 1601 in Aragon. The Jesuit leadership frowned on his oratorical style, which included reading a letter from Hell to his congregation. His best known books include The Art of Worldly Wisdom and The Hero, which repudiated Machiavelli. He died in 1658.

The Leaping Green Spirits of Trees - Paint Out

“Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed. — Herein lies the difference between them that create and them that enjoy.”
–Friedrich Nietzsche



Watercolor on Textured surface – 6.5″ x 11″

Linda Halcomb is hosting a paint out today on her blog.  The theme is “the leaping green spirits of trees”.  I figured this would be a wonderful time to try something new.

Leslie White has been making some wonderful paintings using a paper called masa.  I didn’t do what Leslie does,  but I was in fact very much inspired by Leslie when I did this.  Thursday, I grabbed some yellow tissue paper, like you put in gift bags, and I tore off some large pieces and wrinkled it up.  I taped off the edges of a piece of 240 lb cold press  watercolor paper with painter’s tape.  I brushed Mod Podge all over it and started applying the tissue  with more Mod Podge, ending with a final coat.
I let it dry over night, then placed it under books another 24 hrs to flatten it.  Saturday, I started to dab watercolor on it, and to my amazement…. it worked.  I actually thought the watercolor would bead up on the slick surface, but it didn’t.  YAY!

I know there are problems here, such as no real depth past the stairs.   (But I had so much fun.)    If you have any hint on how I can fix this, just let me know in your comment.  I’d appreciate that.  The reference photo is by impshlady at WetCanvas.

Be sure to go look around at the other artists that participate in Linda’s Paint Out.  The links can be found here.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

(October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism.