Nest Feathers and Twine - Formally Artist's Block Studio

The things that make a house a home and the stuff that holds is all together.

Years ago I started this blog with a mindset and goals that I have found have changed direction over time. I am excited to say that this blog has a new name.....Nest Feathers and Twine. I hope you come by and visit often. Feel free to get comfortable and kick off your shoes and join me on this journey of metamorphosis.

Thursday, June 30, 2005


This is also part of the surprise....... Posted by Picasa

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Afternoon of play at Redleads ATC Sunday!!!!!!


What a fun afternoon! Thanks Chris, Sharon and everyone that showed up to play at Redlead! At first I was feelin' the pressure! Just to sit down in front of a bunch of stuff I was not familiar with and find stuff to put together as many ATC's as I could in the time we had. I don't worry about this within the walls that are my studio. After the first one was made, then they all just seemed to fall into place. My muse deserves a reward! Somehow all the pieces were just where I needed them and I found things I did not even know I was looking for! Posted by Hello

Tuesday, June 21, 2005


My Retro Mickey ATC for the July swap at Redlead. Posted by Hello

Sunday, June 19, 2005

A message to Heaven please..............


Happy Father's day, daddy. I miss you.
Love, Chrissie Posted by Hello

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Paper dolls


My finished paperdolls from last weekends ART WORKS weekend! Posted by Hello

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

No trashin' this beauty!


This is a sterling silver ring I got from the same estate sale that I bought all of the watch pieces from. I bought it for .50 cents because it was missing the stone in it. The lady running the sale looked at me like I was a loon in need of a padded room when I asked her how much she wanted for it! The ring is about an inch long. Needless to say because of the limited space there was not much I could do, and the picture lost a bit of clarity because it had to be reduced so much, but I like it, and I saved it from the dumpster! Posted by Hello

.....and he promised her the moon and stars


My ATC for Redlead exchange due June 15th! Posted by Hello Cutting it a little close for this exchange! The moon is made from polymer clay, and the stars are something new, at least to me, called foil melts. What an experience to work with this stuff! Once I figured out how it reacted to the heat gun it was not bad to work with and then the results were pretty predictable. ATC for next month is already started at least!

Proof that the soul lives on.........

Sunday, June 12th I made a Reliquary Pendant at the Art Works weekend at Redlead. The night before I was trying to think of what 'stuff' I wanted to put in my pendant. I was getting ready to look through the hundreds of vintage photos in my studio and figure out a theme when I thought how neat it would be to instead do something as a tribute to my dad. My dad passed away 7 months ago on the 13th. I miss my dad more than words could ever describe, and I hoped this would help me reconnect with him. So, now that I had decided to make this a tribute to my dad I picked out photos. The photo on the front is one he and I had just talked about less than a month before he died. He was in his mom and dads resturant/bar and Elvis was a big thing then and he thought maybe that is who he was trying to be like. Next I tried to figure out what object(s) I would like to include and I just could not think of a thing and was starting to feel discouraged. Next thing I knew my muse was gently singing the lyrics of ...IF I COULD SAVE TIME IN A BOTTLE... My vision became blurry, and at first I did not know why and then realized it was because my eyes were filling with tears and I felt the hair on my body stand on end. Within a matter of minutes I knew just what supplies I would need for the next day. I picked out a bottle ( the one hanging from the bottom of the pendant) and measured it and it was just a tad bit too thick for the pendant, but I packed it up just in case I could make it fit. I also picked out 2 more smaller bottles. I found my container that had WATCH parts in it and a few other supplies and headed off to bed hardly able to sleep because I could not wait to get to the workshop the next day. Sunday morning I woke up with one of my really bad headaches, something I inherited from my dad! I got ready and we headed off for Redlead. By the time we got their my head was not pounding as bad and we started working on our pendants. I ended up having to use one of the smaller bottles, and then found the opening of this bottle was quite a bit smaller, and I could only fit 3 or 4 WATCH pieces in it. It made me a little frustrated and upset which made my head start to pound again. Later after I had my pendant all put together I thought to my self how I could not believe how upset I had become that I could not get more WATCH pieces to fit in the bottle inside the pendant. With the workshop over my hubby and our oldest son came to pick me up. My hubby decided to take a way out of the way route home and we wandered through neighborhoods I had never seen before. Next thing we knew we saw a sign for an ESTATE SALE!!! My hubby whipped our truck around and we found the sale had ended 7 minutes earlier, but that did not stop him, he walked in and started looking around. Our son and I followed, I was worried we would be shooed away, but we weren't. As I began to look around the basement I found I was surrounded by hundreds and thousands of WATCH pieces!!!!!! I have always believed the soul lives on and that our loved ones are never really that far from us, and this just was one more experience I can add to my list of things that confirm that belief for me.

If I could save time in a bottle - back


This is the back of my Reliquary pendant. Posted by Hello

If I could save time in a bottle - front


June 10th, 11th, and 12th I attended the Art Works weekend at Redlead http//redleadstl.com/demos/htm Posted by Hello What a fun time it was! Friday night was a demo by Chris S. and a make and take. Chris did a demo on Mini Tin Memory boxes. I hope to make one real soon. I bought the tins, just gotta find the time! Chris also showed us how to use gel medium to transfer images. Saturday we had a blast painting paper and creating the most awesome paper dolls! Denise Lombardozzi was the instructor for this workshop and as always was full of wonderful ideas and techniques! Later that day my friend Denise Mitchell and I attended a Imagination Muse collaged torso workshop. Sunday Jeanne Elmer, www.jeanneelmer.com, taught us step by step how to construct a Reliquary Pendant! I love it when a fellow artist is willing to unveil the secrets of her art and teach! My pendant is a tribute to my dad who passed away 7 months ago. What perfect timing for this workshop since this coming weekend is Father's Day. I will be posting my paper dolls as soon as I get them finished up.

Friday, June 10, 2005

I find dancing very agreeable.....his secret


Collage on 8 x 8 canvas. Posted by Hello

Love not for sale........win my heart


Collage on 8 x 10 canvas. Posted by Hello

She wore her Easter dress to the party


My first addition to my DESTINATION UKNOWN Art and Soul book. Posted by Hello

Quote for the moment



"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

Harriet Beecher Stowe

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