Mosaic Challange

I did it...I completed my first mosaic challenge, on time! The day almost slipped away from me, but by mid-afternoon I was mising the grout, and by about 8 PM I was able to take these pics of my completed jewelry box :-)








I had so many more creative accomplishments today, but I'll save them to share during the week, in case my creativity wanes ;-)

On an ACEO Collage Roll

No, I didn't finish any of the ACEOs I showed last night, but I did finish one I didn't show. It was quietly developing in a corner of my desk while most of my brain power was focused on my philatelic Warhols. Well, the Warhols are still baking, but my latest Valentine collage ACEO has blossomed :



I call this "Star-Crossed Lovers". I hope I am not being disrespectful or inappropriate to the handsome people in the stamp portraits. They seem to be contemporaries from early 1900s Magyar (Hungary). Martos and Miklos - what lovely names, and I think they are lovely people, so let's pretend they are Valentines.

These are more stamps from the rue de Grenelle antiques market (thank you, Bubbie, for such a wonderful gift!!), papers from Arch, ribbon from Loisirs & Creation in Bercy Village, brads and stars from the growing ephemeral stash.

On the back is a lovely sentiment from my Paris card-making kit, mounted on paper from Megan's mega-paper stash.



And now to cap off the evening, I am adding another award to my ACEO Award collection, this one a 3rd place in the January Year's Best ACEO Awards Call to Art (YBAC) contest. Normally I might be a bit disappointed with a 3rd place, but since the theme for the month was collage, I am quite proud to have won an award. After all, I am a collage newbie (shhh, don't tell anyone, or they may not bid on my ACEOs).

Playing with Ideas

So many ideas, so litle time, and so I got nothing completed. But there are these ideas I am playing with...

As I cull through my bag of stamps, I keep seeing similar images over and over, but in all different colors. I think they are very Warhol, don't you?


And being philatelically taxonomical, I cannot resist the temptation to sort...here is the France and UK pile, again looking somewhat Wharholish.


Then there are the beads in Mardi Gras colors...can these make their way into my Mardi Gras Theme Week ACEO challenge?


And there is the pile of fabric that needs to get listed...



But I am off to bed.

Love Letters ACEO

The ATC & ACEO Enthusiasts Group has a weekly challenge. All it is is a theme, but a theme can be a real help, because there are so many things to write about, so many things to art about, it is nice to have someone kind of tell you what to do, like having homework.

So the theme for the week is Love Letter. That fits in nicely with my postage stamps and upcoming Valentine's Day.

I had an interesting experience with this card. It looked much different in my head. And when I first put it together, I thought, ew, not what I had in mind. But then I went off and did a few things and came back and looked at the card and thought, hey, that's pretty cute ;-)

So here is "Be Mine", a "Love Letter".
I used some of the red paper I bought at Arch, used to wrap Christmas presents, then saved for use in my collages. The butterfly is cut from fabric, the heart is cut from a postage stamp collage, and although not intentional, I love the way the stern faces appear on the heart. It's all attached with a metal brad, and supplemented with some gold inking and stamping.



On the back I placed this image from a reproduction sewing thread ad. I love this face, and I captioned it "Be Mine" :-)
The background paper for the back was pilfered from Megan's Extreme Paper Stack...ha ha ha, we'll see how much of that extreme stack is left when you get back!

Mosaic Discoveries & Revelations

Have you ever noticed that something might have been under your nose all along, yet you never noticed it, until you become interested in that something, then suddenly it is all around you, just waiting to be observed. Believe me that makes sense when you have experienced it.

That's me and mosaics.

While doing some errands in Paris recently, we happened across this cafe with mosaic tables. Oh how I wanted to stop and take pictures, only it was pouring down rain!

How touched was I to receive these photos today of the beautiful mosaic tables at the cafe across the street from St. Johns.

Thank you, Megan and Laura, for thinking of me :-)



With these inspiring influences, it is time to start revealing my current mosaic project, a challenge to create a mosaic jewelry box. Since it is due by the end of the month, it is good that the tiling is just about done. But I will reveal slowly ;-)

Bare box, purchased at Michaels for about $3...


Supplies in place...


Start with the stem and flower...

Filling in the front and top...


Stay tuned for the sides and back, which are done, but I have to stretch this out, because I am not supposed to reveal the box to my mosaic buddies (shhh..don't tell them!) until it is all done, which means...drat...grouted!

Finishing Up an Eiffel Tower ACEO

It just needed a little something extra...a charm, a tag, a few things on the tag, tied together with gold paint to match the gold thread stitching to match the lovely fleur-de-lis...


ACEO Missing Paris #1, Diane Weber, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

And on the back...a copper stamp of what else, the Eiffel Tower, which is working nicely with the coppery beige color of the Paris map fabric.



As I've mentioned, I never tire of seeing her, standing so majestic, visible from all over the city, and particularly striking in the cool light of winter.


Photo by Laura Schmits, Jan 2009

Eiffel Tower ACEO WIP

Seems like ages ago I started this ACEO. Had to be weeks ago when I created my other Eiffel Tower textile ACEOs. While the stamp was inky, I stamped with copper ink on tightly woven muslin, and it sat that way for a while.

Then before we left I added some background rubbings with my Shiva paintstiks in pink, green and copper metallic paint. That had to cure for a week.

This weekend I added metallic thread painting to blend some of the background colors, and backed and bound with Paris map fabric.

That was a lot of work so far, but alas, I am not happy with it.

Stay tuned as I attempt to make this into something more wonderful :-)

A Fashionable Collage ACEO

I got the idea for this ACEO while in Paris, but I didn't have any gel medium with me. I was tempted to buy some gel medium at the Loisirs & Creation store, but held off, knowing I had a large jar at home.

The idea was to create a gelled collage of postage stamps, then cut it out into a dress form to represent "world fashion". I limited the palette to red and orange-red stamps, then backed it with brown paper and secured it with black brads to the background.

The background is a pink metallic paper from my Luxury Stack, stamped in copper with fleurishes. The "Mode du Monde" was created in Word, then printed out and painted with a watered down red acrylic and overwashed with gold metallic paint.

Black polka dot and red and white dot ribbons brought home from Paris add a framework, and two pink and a black buttons, all tied with black floss, finish it off.

On the back is a reproduction vintage image.

I am really liking this collage stuff :-)


ACEO World Fashion (Mode du Monde), Diane Weber, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

An Honorable Mention ACEO

How lovely to be honored with a Year's Best ACEO Honorable Mention award, in the Iminaginative/Creative category, for my Sweets Factory ACEO.


Sweets Factory took a lot of effort and engineering, trying to figure out how to get working doors on a tiny little ACEO! I'm also pretty pleased with the inside, having added paint to get some of the detailing on the fabrics.

ACEO Sweets Factory, Diane Weber, 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" (closed)

Final "Made in Paris" ACEO #8

I am so pleased and proud to have accomplished some art on the road. It only took a few supplies packed up in a little kit (this is how I use all those free Clinique bags).


My gorgeous tin of Paris stamps...


Blank cards, base paper and ink...


My favorite pens in a little case (another Clinique bag, perfect as a pencil case)...


a small bag of miscellaneous papers and alphabets...


Supplemented with things found and purchased on the road..

Enabled me to make my Paris ACEOs, culminating, in this, #8


ACEO "Tour", Diane Weber, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"