/* */ Beulah Bee

September 21, 2020

Heritage

 

It is said that as a figure is sculpted by the hand of the Artist, so is a man molded by those who preceded him on Earth. We have a heritage of which to be proud and much to learn and impart to those who follow us.
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Hello after one very-long absence from the crafty-blogger world! Historically, I've been pretty good about posting on a regular basis and participating in challenges but it's been almost two months since you've heard from me.

The reason for my absence is I somewhat accidentally stumbled upon a new hobby and got so thoroughly involved with it that everything else took a back seat. And I mean everything!

What, pray tell, could have been so compelling? It was genealogy research and putting together my family tree. An opportunity presented itself and once I started I couldn't stop. Mind you, it's probably not for everyone but for me, it was a fantastic escape into a past rich with history and heartfelt stories that kept me wanting more.

It took longer than expected because I didn't realize both my parents had descendents that traced back to the earliest colonial settlers. The process involves matching up husbands, wives and children (and my oh my, they had lots of children!) using places and dates to connect them. But the real treasure was inadvertently learning about things like Civil War pensions, government land grants, typhoid outbreaks, the Married Women's Property Acts, etc., etc..

To gather up names like Ithiel "Telly" Tellofare, Bushrod Ashburn, Rufus Benedict, Miles Omega, and Euphony Ann, some of the eleven children born to John and Mary from North Carolina who married in 1803, just made my heart sing!

I'm certain this experience will influence my art in the future. My love for vintage has taken on new meaning as a result of this experience. I plan to dust off the paints soon, I'm ready to begin again filled with the new found knowledge of many lifetimes lived. So proud, so brave, our Americans!

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Update 10/19/2020: My plans of crafting and blogging again have been put on hold due to an unplanned relocation of my studio. Finding a new space has forced a major decluttering event which only seems to grow the more I pursue it! Other responsibilities are also taxing my time--there just doesn't seem to be enough of it no matter how hard I work. There will surely be a silver-lining in all of this and I'll definitely be grateful when time permits me to craft again, I miss it so much!

July 26, 2020

Live Out Loud



Altering vintage photos seems to be my thing these days and each one I work on is a lesson in techniques--some that work and some that don't.

I used Photoshop to print this photo on manila cardstock after cropping it to a 6.25" x 3.125" format (the size of a #8 tag).


Then I used watered-down gesso to cover almost everything in the photo. This provides a surface that water-based inks or paints (I used watercolors) can adhere to. So, unless the tint is staining, it's easy to remove/change colors with water and tissue to erase it.

To stamp the background, I used masks cut from deli paper which is see-thru and easy to trace and cut.


I've mentioned before that I use the tip of an Xacto knife to scratch away shadows or other dark areas to make some areas read better. You can see an example of this where the woman's hair blends into the dark areas of the umbrella.


I used a Remnant Rub for the text and embellished the black line borders with dots from an orange SoufflÄ› gel pen. I'm linking up with Simon's Monday challenge for A Day at the Beach.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

July 19, 2020

Grace Notes



"Early Bird" was Simon's Monday challenge this week but I'm no early bird as I only managed to get this done just before the deadline!

I used a bird stamp (Penny Black Just Looking) that I've had for quite a while but always had trouble using. A search turned up a technique (thanks, Mimi) that helped me figure this one out and then I assembled it with various papers to make a card.

Ingredients include Collage Paper, Clipping Stickers, vintage sheet music, paper scraps and a ribbon. I machine-stitched the borders and used Distress ink to age the papers.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.