My Mixed Media Art Dolls From ART-S2-307 The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne At Artful Gathering 2014 2nd Session

For the last two weeks I have been having a blast taking my 5th class at Artful Gathering. The class is ART-S2-307 The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne and it is a delightful mixed media art doll class.

I'd been anxiously awaiting the start of this class as I have never created mixed media art dolls so it was going to be an adventure for me. And, adventure it was. I never realized how much fun this was, how much work was involved in creating mixed media art dolls and all the different supplies you would need.

I had decided to buy one of Mary Jane's art doll wood kits and to try and accumulate all the art supplies and printables I would need ahead of time. The wood kit contained the wood needed to make 3 different art dolls.

My Artful Gathering 2014 Session 1 Finished Project Piece - Let's Go For A Ride

I had been anxiously awaiting the start of Session 1 for Artful Gathering and was so happy when class finally started on June 6.

This is my 3rd year taking online classes at Artful Gathering and I have to say I have loved each and every class I've taken. The instructors are fantastic and I've had a blast in each class learning something new and, best of all, making wonderful new friends.

There were so many fabulous classes to choose from this year it was hard to decide. I really only had time for two and decided to take Julie Haymaker Thompson's Let's Go For A Ride class in Session 1 and  Mary Jane Chadbourne's The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll class in Session 2. Both classes dealt with mixed media, which I've been anxious to try.

So, for the last two weeks I have been taking my 4th online class and working on my project. The project called for making an adorable little mixed media shadow box scene with 3 pets sticking their heads out the window of a car that was driving over a hill. The class looked like it would be a lot of fun to take.

A kit was available for purchase from Julie's Etsy shop so I ordered one as it's a lot easier to do that than run around to get supplies. The kit came with everything you needed to create the project including thread and needle. It was fabulous.

For my online classes I like to view all the video's first and then go back to watching them as I follow along with the instructions. Here's where my Ipad comes in really, really handy. It's great for this as I can zoom in and out of the video pictures, advance and reverse them as needed, etc.

I tend to be a bit of a rebel when it comes to my classes. For the most part I follow the instructions, but sometimes I just have to be me and do it my way. Such was the case with my "Let's Go For A Ride" project.

Linda's Review - Winter Chill Cross-Stitch Shadow Box Picture - Mill Hill Buttons & Beads Cross-Stitch Kit - MHCB245

Of all the cross-stitch shadow boxes I have made I realized I didn't have anything specifically for the winter season so I decided to make a shadowbox to add to my collection. I don't know why I would want anything depicting the beauty of the winter as I hate the winter - especially this winter. TOO MUCH SNOW. I can hardly wait for the spring.

However, I wanted my collection of shadowbox cross-stitch pictures to be representative of all the seasons and holidays and realized I was lacking a winter scene. So, I decided to make one.

Like the other Mill Hill - Buttons & Beads Series patterns I had bought the Mill Hill Winter Chill Winter Buttons and Beads Counted Cross Stitch Kit which included the pattern, embroidery thread, brown perforated paper, beads, button, 2 needles and instructions.

The Winter Chill pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and straight stitching as well as beads and buttons for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background. In this case they were leaving sections of the brown perforated paper background untouched.

I, once again, decided to frame my finished cross-stitch picture in a 5" by 5" white shadow box frame that is 1 1/2" deep and can stand on it's own or with its back picture stand (like the picture above) as I've been really happy with the way all my other cross-stitch shadowbox pictures have come out.

Linda's Review of Joy To The World Mill Hill Buttons & Beads MH14-8301 Cross Stitch Kit

It's no secret I love to cross-stitch. I also tend to be a very sentimental and love crafts and handmade goods that have the word "JOY" in them because my Mom's name was Joy. So, it should be no surprise that I was drawn to the Joy To The World Beaded Cross Stitch Kit.

Like the other Mill Hill - Buttons & Beads Series patterns I had bought the Joy To The World kit included the pattern, embroidery thread, blue perforated paper, beads, house button, 2 needles and instructions.

The Joy To The World pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and straight stitching as well as beads and buttons for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the blue perforated paper to be left untouched as the background.

As this was a very dark design I decided to frame my finished cross-stitch picture in a picture frame with a white mat and chose an 8" x 8" tabletop picture frame that had a double mat in it. As this particular design had beads on the edges and was 5" by 5" finished I knew the mat opening had to be exactly 5" by 5". The inner mat only allowed for an 4 3/4" by 4 3/4" opening which wasn't going to work with the beads along the edge. The outer mat had a 5" by 5" opening so I removed the inner mat.

I thought that adding some colorful seasonal stencils to the bright white mat would be festive and colorful and wouldn't distract from the design. I had several EK Success Brand Jolees stickers to choose from and decided to go with the festive pine-cones.