SweetPea's Got Art-i-tude

Family Vacation 2009

2009-08-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

We have been renting a cabin in northern Wisconsin for a few years and really enjoy it. It is on Lower Gresham Lake and the fishing has always been FANTASTIC! Here are just a few pictures from our stay:

Absence makes the ART grow fonder ? ? ? ?

2009-08-15T04:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah, well, whatever . . . . LOL! Sorry I have been gone so long. Guess the batteries just needed some old fashioned recharging. I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. Had a nice family vacation in July that really helped. So I think I am back in the land of blogging!

Adrienne is September's "IT" Girl

2008-08-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

and her theme is Medieval . . . . . hhmmm, THAT really got me thinking. I had purchased some tins for use in my 12 Days of Christmas swap and made sure to purchase some extras. I covered the bottom with what I hope is appropriate medieval paper and then found an image I thought would work. I raised the image with pop dots and added a raven at the bottom and two swords on the cover . . . . and VIOLA!! A medieval tin . . . . I can't wait to see what others create as I didn't have ANY stamps that would work.

Bird, Bird, Bird, Birds the Word Swap

2008-08-14T05:05:00.001-07:00

I am hosting a bird swap on CCSwaps and decided to try my hand at some more painting. I started out by applying gesso to my canvas board. Next I added some blue, green, pink and blue acrylic paints to the background, using a glossy scrunched magazine page to blot it around until I was happy. I had a nest that I knew I wanted to use, so my idea was to paint a bird that was flying, but sort of coming in for a landing in the nest. Believe me, the image in my head was PERFECT . . . . LOL! I used a pencil to draw a bird outline and then used my Shiva Paintstiks to color it in. I only have the primary set of colors, so I was a bit limited in what I could do (sounds like an excuse, doesn't it . . . . . ) I used a small flourish on two corners with pearl metallic acrylic paint and found the words to Mary Poppins "Feed the Birds" and cut out some select lines - adhered to canvas with gel medium, added the nest. Next I sponged some blue ink on the edges. I showed it to my youngest son, who said "It's okay Mom, birds are really hard to draw". I guess that said it all:

I scanned and showed it to my fellow moderators and one of my VERY good friends, Chrissy, said (and I JUST love this . . . . . . )

"I am impressed!!! That is a pretty good bird. I think the wings and tail are good, but there is something about its neck (do birds have necks??). My first impression is it is too fat. I'm trying to picture it with a skinnier neck, but can't tell if that will make it better. Cool bird's nest!!! What are you planning to use this for??"

So diplomatic . . . . obviously not wanting to hurt my feelings, points out the good parts first, is VERY curious about it's neck, tries to give some sound advice (without saying BIN IT!), focuses in on the birds nest (the only thing I DIDN'T make) and might be just a bit worried that I am going to send it to her!!! ROFL!!!

Chrissy - I LOVE YOU GIRLFRIEND!!

So . . . . last night I got out my GESSO (my new best friend!) and lathered it over the entire canvas - taking care around the nest as it was already FIRMLY attached!!! Can't live without my E6000!!

I started again, using the same process, revised my drawing, used a different flourish stamp, lost one line from "Feed the Birds" (didn't fit properly) and below is the new scan. While I like the bird much better, I don't care for the background as much as the first time. I "think" it is done . . . . Suggestions and comments are welcome, I have thick skin :)

August "It" Girl - Theme "Quotes"

2008-08-11T02:53:00.001-07:00

Carol was our August Art-Venture "It" girl and she picked quotes as her theme. I printed a number of different quotes on colored background papers and placed inside a tin. I placed a alcohol ink background paper stamped with a large "Friendship" quote on the inside bottom of the tin. On the outside I used some clear sticker quotes.

Board Book Project

2008-08-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

Trish has started us all on a board book project. She is giving us step by step instructions to follow - and it is very interesting to see how they are all turning out. Step one including finding a childs board book and prepping it for paints, by sanding and applying gesso to all of the pages. Then we had to paint the background of the first two page spread blue. Next we were to go through a magazine and tear out a piece that would cover 25% of one side of the pages and adhere in our book. I used gel medium to attach the piece. We then took some watered down gesso and lightly brushed over and around that piece. Using a credit card and black paint, we were then told to create criss cross lines over the pages, but not over the piece from the magazine. Again using some watered down gesso, using a sponge, we we told to blot it on, covering some of the black lines, but not all. The final instruction of step one was to paint a bold, thin, white strip somewhere across one page, vertically or horizontally. Below is a scan of my first step:

Instructions for Step two were to water down the same blue paint used to create the background until it was a glaze like consistency and brush completely over both pages. Using this same blue glaze, we were also told to rip some pages out of a book and apply over them, saving to use later on in the board book project. After the glaze had dried in our books - we were to stamp in light metallic green a bold image three times on our pages. I used a large diamond pattern and green lumiere paint. We were then told to find a letter stencil and use black paint to sponge through it somewhere on one of the pages. I used the letter "K". Af ter this was all dry, the next instruction was to water down some black acrylic paint and brush completely over both pages, after which we rubbed most back off with a dry paper towel, creating a light stain. Next we sponged a grungy border around the entire outside of the two pages. After this we were told to tear a page from a book, rip it to the desired width and attach it vertically to one side of our spread. I again used gel medium to adhere it. The final instruction for Step two was to outline our stencil letter with white - I used my Signo Uniball pen!! Below is my scan of Step Two:

We have received our final set of instructions for this spread in our board book. Step 3 involved finding a quote we liked that began with the letter we stenciled on our page. Well, I decided to be "K"reative with this . . . LOL . . . . just can't quite help myself! We were told to print this out in a font we like and cut out each individual word and adhere to our page. Next we were to find a main image that would compliment our choosen quote. I love Teesha Moore and have some of her collage sheets. I choose my image from one of those sheets. We were then to layer this image on black card stock and adhere to our pages. The final instruction is this final step was to find 3 complimentary silver charms and adhere in a row on our pages. Below is my scan of my finished two page spread.

Ready for our next two page spread!

Step one instructions had us draw a wavy line across both pages - closer to the bottom than the top. We were then told to paint the top BRIGHT orange and the bottom lime green.

Step Two instructions

Paint a wavy red line where the orange meets the green and let dry. Meanwhile tear a page from a paperback and cover it with a light coat of gesso. Let dry. Cut into thin strips and attach to the green, leaving approximately the same amount of thickness of your strips in between. Using a pencil eraser we were then told to make dots using gesso in the orange area and let dry.

The final set of instructions had us use a very light brown stain over our entire two page spread and allow to dry. We then drew flowers on scrap paper and cut out flowers from three different background papers. Alternating which color was on top for each one and affix a brad in the center and glue on pages.

We then found a quote, printed and glued to the pages. The final instruction was to finish it off how we choose.

Because my quote was by Lady Bird Johnson, I decided to add a pair of birds and then outlined the words. I wanted to keep them bright white to jump out!

I forgot to take step by step pictures of our 3rd page spread. Below is the finished page. The first step was to take multiple scraps and adhere them to both sides, filling all spaces. I followed that with a light wash of gesso to blend all the scraps together. Next we were to use gold embossing powder and sprinkle over both sides and heat it. I then stamped on a piece of masking tape and adhered it to the left side. I then created a heart using UTEE and burgundy embossing powder - I poured the heated UTEE onto the same stamp I used on the masking tape and used some gold rub n buff to highlight. I attached the heart over a piece of blue mesh to match some of the blue of my scraps. I next found a quote, printed, cut out, adhered to the left side and outlined in black. Ta da . . . . FINISHED!!

Raevn's Nest Art Retreat, Cedarburg, Wisconsin October, 2008

2008-08-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy preparing for a brand new Art Retreat being held in Cedarburg, Wisconsin this coming October. I am hosting a chunky book swap and participating in a charm swap, as well as making personal trades for the retreat. As the host of the chunky book swap, I thought it would be fun for every book to contain a page from each instructor. Two of the instructors created their own pages and emailed them to me to copy and finish. The other instructors gave me permission to use their photos, personal information and scans of projects from the retreat website to create their pages. Behind the instructor pages I am including a blank page for retreat members to record any info from their classes, emails of new friends made, perhaps a photo of their completed project, etc. I thought these would made great memory pages of the retreat!

Below are some of the things I have been working on for the last month or so:

These are the charms I created for the charm swap. I used various color ink pads for the backgrounds and then stamped a raven image in black India Ink and sealed them. Punched a hole and added a feather charm. I stamped the entire image that included the raven on card stock and used glue dots to adhere the charm in the proper spot. To date we have 23 signed up for the charm swap.

Below are some of the Art Journals I decorated for the swap. I found the blank journals at a dollar store in my area. I stamped the bird image using black India Ink on white glossy card stock and then colored in each individual feather. Added a rhinestone eye, the name of the retreat and placed on a black glossy background and adhered to cover.

Close up of one of the journals, front and back.

On the inside of the back cover I added another stamp and my information:

Because I can never seem to turn off my brain . . . . I thought it would be fun to put the chunky books in a neat black funky bag for everyone. I searched EVERYWHERE and couldn't find anything I liked. I ended up purchasing these kraft bags and decorating them. If I never cut out another bird or made another white dot, it might just be too soon :) (In case you can't tell, the raven in the party hat has a paintbrush in it's beak!) The back of the bag has my signature "SweetPea" stamp and another raven with "Cedarburg, Wisconsin 2008" written on it. Not sure if I am completely done or if I will add more . . . . because for some reason I never seem to think anything is finished!! I thought that attendees could also use these bags to hold their trades, charms, etc.

Here are two of the front covers of the chunky book. I used all different types of backgrounds but the images are all the same. I couldn't decide if I wanted to use "Got Art?" or "Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures", so I did half and half :) Problem solved!! As some of you will recall, I had a very difficult time finding a white pen that would show up WHITE on these covers (the dots!). I finally broke down and got out my white acrylic paint and some toothpicks. Each cover has anywhere between 75 and 90 dots . . . . . . . . and I made 45 covers . . . . you do the math! ROFL! You will be glad to know that about 1 week after finishing these covers I did find a PERFECT white pen . . . better late than never! It is a Signo Uniball #UM-153 and it is WONDERFUL! I used that pen to create the dots on the fronts of the bags above!! No more toothpicks for me!

Here are the backs of the front covers. You will note that there are NO white dots!!

Now that I have finished these projects . . . . until I start binding the books . . . . I can go on to some other projects that have been waiting in the wings!

More decos

2008-07-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

I have worked in some more decos for a couple of groups I belong to.
Below is the final page in Shelly's "Asian" themed deco, now I will be sending it home to her!

Front and back of pages in Annie's deco:

Front and back of pages created for Adrienne:

June's "IT" Girl . . .

2008-06-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

is Autumn. She picked mermaids for her theme. I created another journal with mermaids on the front and back. I LOVE the koimaid on the front!!

Yet another deco page

2008-06-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest page I have created - this one is in Margaret's book. The background I made using the Acrylic Paint Marbling Technique . . . . .VERY FUN!

Domino or Game Piece Swap

2008-06-09T04:18:00.001-07:00

I am hosting a game piece swap in one of my groups. Below is the double sided game piece I made for the swap. I copied the red pages I made for my color chunky book swap.

Another deco page

2008-06-09T04:09:00.001-07:00

We are hard at work in a couple of groups I belong to working on deco book pages. Here are my latest for Karen W. In this particular group, the word "ART" must be on your page somewhere

Some more Row Houses

2008-06-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

I made some more Row Houses yesterday during our storms!! I will be sending my set of 25 to Trish for the swap today! Can't wait to get this swap back and to see what everyone does with them!

View from our backyard as the storm came our way:

Row Houses

2008-06-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

I joined a swap where we are to make some row houses . . . . . . 25 to be exact!! Why are we making row houses you ask . . . . . because Trish told us to :) There are several requirements . . . . the backgrounds must be handmade. The width must be between 1 1/5" and 2 1/5" - the height must be 2 1/2" - 6" tall! And stamping must be used somewhere :)

Well - let me just warn you that these little suckers are CONTAGIOUS!

Here are the ones I made this morning . . . . and I plan on making more!

Another NGS Deco book

2008-05-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

I received Darlene's book this weekend, below are the pages I created in her book:

Adrienne's Surprise

2008-05-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Adrienne was surprised with a 5 x 5 book for her birthday! Now that she has received it, I can share the covers and the page I created for the book.

Front cover: the beads say Artist, Adrienne of Wales, Kind Friend, Ms. Bossy Boots

Inside of front cover:

Outside of back cover:

inside back cover:

This page has my dog Deuce, Maggi's cat Jacki, Trish's dog Harry and Chrissy's dog Molly - all friends of Adrienne's!

This is a photo when Adrienne was visiting us last year:

(Left to right: Chrissy, Debra, Maggi, Adrienne and me)

May "IT" Item

2008-05-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

On one of my groups - we are honoring a member each month! That person gets to pick the theme and everyone involved creates a piece of art of some sort or other and sends it to her. Carol C is the May "IT" girl and her theme is Travel/Vacation. I admit to struggling with these (don't ask me why!) and then came up with the following:

A Travel Log!

More decos

2008-05-09T04:46:00.001-07:00

I received another deco yesterday and created these pages last night:

Color Chunky Book

2008-04-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

I am in a Color Chunky Book swap (one that I am NOT hosting . . . . LOL) and it is VERY much fun!
There are six of us in the group and each month we will create 6 pages for 2 colors. In 5 months time we will have a big, fat, chunky color book!

Here are my blue pages:

and my purple pages:

and my brown pages (this is actually an inchie collage and 4 of the images are pop dotted up (you just can't tell from the scan) :

(sorry, Mona is a bit blurry!)
Here are the orange:

and here are my yellow pages:

My pretty in Pink pages:

Black and white:

My green pages:

and last but not least, my RED pages:

More Little Beauties

2008-04-24T05:09:00.002-07:00

The lastest theme for Little Beauties was "underwater". Below are the little beauties I created for this swap.

Metal Swap

2008-04-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

I signed up for a metal swap on CCSwaps. We could use metal tape, metal embellishments, anything metal. I have these cool nichos - and had actually painted one of them awhile back and never went further. I decided this would be the perfect time to finish it. I used a lot of pop dots to raise it all higher!

Another Tip- In . . . . . Diamonds!

2008-04-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

I used some new Teesha Moore and Lost Coast stamps for my pages below.

More work in Deco Books

2008-04-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

I worked in two more deco books recently. I was at a stamp convention in Milwaukee and decided to use some of my purchases :)

Another Background Noise #12

2008-03-27T05:16:00.001-07:00

Here is the lastest background in my Background Noise Sketchbook. This was was using shaving cream and alcohol inks. Click on picture so that you can read the directions.

Tall and Skinny Book Swap

2008-03-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

I am hosting a Tall and Skinny book swap on CCSwaps. Below are the front and back covers:

The background on the front side (fish) was created with Stamp Zia's watercolor washes on regular cardstock - I love the muted effect!

I couldn't find a picture of a child sitting the way I needed for the tortoise, so I turned my youngest son Luke into a model for the day!

More Tip-In Pages

2008-03-27T04:58:00.003-07:00

I am working ahead on this swap because I really enjoy it! Below are the most recent; Leaves (April) and Men (May).

Deco #9

2008-03-27T04:54:00.001-07:00

Here are the pages I created in the most recent deco I received. I recently purchased some new stamps from Teesha Moore and couldn't wait to use them!!

The background of the page below was created using the glue resist technique:

Some more Deco's

2008-03-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

I have received and worked in 3 more Decos on Next Generation Stampers. Posted below :

Textured Gesso - Background Noise Sketchbook

2008-03-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

The next challenge in our Background Noise sketchbooks was Textured Gesso. I realized that I happen to have very "thin" gesso, and plan on trying a different brand in the future. I did have fun with this challenge anyhow and really liked the results.

Another Art Quest Challenge

2008-02-22T17:53:00.001-08:00

For this challenge, we need to use an actual label or packaging from food or drink. Hhhmmmm, I knew just where to look! We got a case of mix matched cool beers one year for Christmas - and I saved all the labels.

Here is the label I choose to use for this challenge:

Here is the background I created :

And here is the final result :

Deco's

2008-02-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

A group of us have decided to pass around some deco's. Tiny books that each person who receives, decorates a page and then sends it along to someone else. The person who works on the final page returns the book to it's owner. I received two on Tuesday and below are the pages I created in each.

Another Background Noise #10 Acrylic Paint Marbling

2008-02-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

I created these backgrounds last weekend, but only now got around to scanning them and creating another page in my sketchbook. Very fast and very easy, my kind of background!! The paper I used was from the sampler book from Marco's . . . .LOL! Had I known how much I would like them - I would have used larger pieces. One word of caution . . . . I would try this out on scrap pieces of card stock once you have choosen your colors. I used a beautiful purple acrylic paint - and it turned out gray on all of the pages!! YUK!

Here are my pages in my Background Noise sketchbook:

And here is an updated scan of my cover. I am scanning it every time I have another row of inchies added. As you can see, this is my 10th background in this journal :)

Background Noise #9 - Distressed Scraps

2008-02-16T05:32:00.001-08:00

In our on going challenges by Trish we come to another Background Noise challenge . . . . Distressed Scraps. I have shown my background in progress and then my sketchbook page using them. Clicking on the pictures will give you a larger image and you should be able to read the instructions.

This is what my pages looked liked after applying various scraps to the white card stock:

After applying some watered down gesso with a sponge brush:

The 2 pieces of card stock were then both cut in half and colored. The piece below was colored with Iris water color spray by Stamp Zia:

The next one was colored with Cherry color wash spray by Stamp Zia:

This one was colored with Denim Adirondack Ink applied with a sponge brush:

And the final one was colored with Caramel Adirondack ink and a sponge brush. After applying color to all four, I then took a damp paper towel and rubbed off color in areas for a more distressed look:

Here is the page I created in my Background Noise sketchbook. I used stickers for the title, stamped on the others with black stazon ink and even created a small paper weaving with some of the pieces:

Paper Weaving

2008-02-14T18:07:00.000-08:00

We have been creating a lot of backgrounds on Next Generation Stampers - so I decided to host a paper weaving swap with the hope of putting some of those to good use. This swap could use paper, fabric, etc.

Here are a couple I have been working on . . . some are not yet finished, but since I had the time to scan, I took advantage of it :)

Tip-ins . . . .February and March

2008-02-09T03:30:00.000-08:00

I completed two more sets of tip-ins for a monthly swap I host.

February's theme is "birds"

March's theme is "Travel"

Background Noise #8 - added H2O-holic

2008-02-07T03:38:00.000-08:00

Here are the sketchbook pages I created with my H20holic backgrounds:

NEW Background!! H2Oholic

2008-02-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

We are in the middle of a snowstorm here in Wisconsin, so Pea was lucky enough to have a SNOW DAY!!

WOOHOO!! I have wanted to come up with a new background, using supplies that I already had in my home!

(one would think that would be easy . . . . right??) Well, in this case, it actually WAS!

SUPPLIES:

Disposable pan . . . . I cut my card stock into 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" - so my pan didn't need to be any larger than that. If you are using full sheets, you would need a larger pan. This could be any container that you wouldn't need to use for food again, as long as it is at least 1 1/2" deep.

white or beige card stock - cut to size you want your background to be

water

Alcohol Inks - colors of choice plus one metallic

paper towel and newspaper

paint brush (you will be using the wood end - not the brush)

(told you this was going to be EASY!)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Lay out your newspaper on a surface suitable for drying your backgrounds. Place a layer of paper towel on top, so the newsprint doesn't stick to your card stock

I placed my tray right in my kitchen sink - turned on the tap until the water was deep enough for the paper to be submerged.

I used three colors of alcohol inks at a time - PLUS one metallic (I used gold, just because I like it!)

Drip 5 or 6 drips of your lightest color into the pan filled with water. This will become the color that your paper will "mostly" be tinted. You will see that it pretty much disolves evenly throughout the water. Next

drop in 3 - 4 drops of your METALLIC alcohol ink. You will see that this spreads out a bit, but stays on the surface in "blobs". Take your remaining two colors and drop small drips of each color "into" each of the metallic ink blobs.

Take the end of your paintbrush and use it to swirl and break up the blobs . . . . you will see that it still remains on the surface.

Take your first cut piece of card stock and lay it directly on top of the water. Let it rest there for 10 seconds or so . . . then gently place your fingers on top and lower your paper underneath the water. Let sit for 5 - 10 seconds. Lift up, let some water drain off and place on your paper towel.

THAT'S IT!!!

I did try second sheets without adding any more alcohol inks - and they are VERY muted. BUT, you can add more colors right into this water. I only changed the water when I was drastically changing the colors.

Just to let you know - you may want to have multiple pieces of cut card stock on hand as this was rather addicting!!! I could have done it all day - except that I actually had to help shovel ? ! ? ! ? !

Hope you have fun - and would love to hear some comments after you have made yours!

(Click on images to get a bit better idea of true color - they are actually brighter in person!)

Trish's 4th Challenge in our Art Quest Sketchbook - Stencils!

2008-02-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well - this was a twist for me . . . . . . I have only made stencils once before - and that was years ago when I couldn't find exactly what I wanted for our kitchen walls! But that stencil was much larger and easier to cut out :) I went with a southwest theme for the challenge of making my own stencil. I made a clay pot, a lizard, and a border. What you can't see is that the background of this page has stamped southwestern images all over it. I wanted it subtle . . . . but I guess my camera can't pick it up!!

Here are the stencils I made - with a transparency sheet. I left the paint on so you could see it . . . LOL.

Here is my sketchbook page:

New addition to Art Quest Sketchbook

2008-02-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

I have added a personal addition to my Art Quest sketchbook. This is an old favorite of mine.

I learned this at a convention at the Stamper's Anonymous booth. Images are stamped with Black Stazon

or Black India Ink on white glossy. After it has dried, many colors of stazon inks are stamped on top. I took this a step farther to make a mosaic page :)

First, I painted two pages in my Art Quest book, then added texture with a stencil and molding paste. Set aside to dry.

Next I gathered together some stamps I thought would work well for this technique, keeping in mind that the larger ones will be cut up into smaller pieces. I stamped these images in Black India Ink on three pieces of White Glossy card stock.

I then got out my sponges and my stazon inks and started sponging on color over the entire sheet.

The next step is a bit time consuming, but I do it at night while watching TV (last night was "House"). I cut up all three sheets into little pieces.

Then I used 4 pieces of black card stock and adhered EVERY small piece to the black card stock - leaving margines on all sides.

If you guessed some more cutting coming up, you are correct!!! Cut out EVERY shape leaving a very narrow edge of black on all 4 sides.

Next I layed these out on the pages . . . . and kept changing it until I liked the pattern. When I was finished - it still didn't look quite right (look at right hand page). So I got out my white poster paint marker and started making dots around the "mosaic" squares. This just seemed to pop it a bit - and make it look "together" if that makes any sense.

The white molding paste was just a bit "in your face" so I sponged some of the blue and gray paint on top - and I like it much better. Below are my finished pages . . . . . and I have lots of pieces left over to make some cards :)

Little Beauties Swap

2008-01-28T05:17:00.000-08:00

I signed up for a "Little Beauties" Swap on one of my groups - we had to create "instant art" pieces that were larger than inchies and smaller than ATC's. Below is a sample of the little beauties I created.

Two new additions to Background Noise Sketchbook

2008-01-25T05:11:00.000-08:00

I have added two new backgrounds to my sketchbook . . .

The first is Torn and Painted Papers - and I found this in the Somerset Studios Nov/Dec 2007 edition. On the left side of the page - you can see that I divided the page. The left side is the papers after being adhered, prior to painting. The right side of the page is after I have painted with 2 colors of Golden's Glazes.

The second background is one of my favorites . . . Embossed Paper Scraps.
Lots of fun, supplies that most everyone has on hand, relatively quick and easy!!
What more could we ask for:

Clicking on either picture will enlarge it so that you can read the directions.

Mosaic Play Day

2008-01-21T16:37:00.001-08:00

Chrissy, Maggi and I had our Polymer Clay Play Day today - making Mosaics ala Laurie Mika! We had a BLAST!

Below is the progress of our day :)

Here is the table set for our first project . . . . making mosaic tiles out of original Sculpey. Now I just had to wait for the gals to arrive!

Phew . . . they finally made it. Here are Chrissy and Maggi hard at work!

Here are our clay pieces after baking:

Here are Maggi's pieces after painting:

Here are Chrissy's after painting:

Here are mine - after they were partially painted:

Next up was the colored clay . . . . here are my pieces, after Pearl Ex, before baking:

Here are Maggi's after the Pearl Ex:

Here are our pieces after baking:

We learned a lot from this one play day . . . what works, what doesn't, what we liked

and what we didn't like so much . . . LOL!

All in all . . . . A FANTASTIC PLAY DAY!! Even with the snow storm that decided to hit us!!

Mixed Media Mosaics by Laurie Mika

2008-01-20T03:53:00.001-08:00

Mixed Media Mosaics: Techniques & Projects
Using Polymer Clay Tiles, Beads & Other Embellishments
(Paperback)by Laurie Mika (Author)
$15.63 at http://www.amazon.com/

I will be attending a retreat at Raevn's Nest Art Retreat in October
in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and am keeping my fingers crossed that
I am able to get into the class that Laurie Mika is teaching. I
received this book from Amazon last week and it is truly
INCREDIBLE! 127 pages of full color, easy to read,
easy to follow instructions for GREAT projects using polymer clay!
This is by far, one of the BEST art books I own. My only affiliation to
Laurie is being a fan :) I went out yesterday and purchased the supplies
needed and tomorrow Maggi and Chrissy will be coming over for a
PLAY DAY!
Stay tuned . . . . . . . photos to follow . . . . .

If you are interested in Mosaics, in Polymer Clay - PLEASE give this
book a try . . . . I can't believe that ANYONE would be disappointed!!

Background Noise #5 - and Updated Sketchbook Cover

2008-01-19T13:04:00.001-08:00

I added another personal favorite to my background book today - Mulberry Paper Color Wash Resist. Fun, easy and can be as colorful as you want!!

Click on image if you would like to read the instructions! A side note, that Fiona reminded me of. When you are ironing your mulberry paper between two sheets of paper - it WILL STICK. Don't panic!! Keep ironing and it will eventually let go. It is sticking because you are ironing away the embossing powder.

Here is a current picture of the cover of my sketchbook. I am adding a square everytime I create another background . . . . . . still have a ways to go :)

Background Noise #4 - Glue Resist

2008-01-18T16:09:00.001-08:00

Our next Challenge for the Background Noise Sketchbook is a Glue Resist technique. Another fairly easy, effective background.

Here are my sketchbook pages:

and here are some of the large samples of my backgrounds:

sponged on dye inks:

brayered on dye ink:

color wash spray:

January Tip-in "Paris"

2008-01-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

In my ongoing Tip-in Swap . . . . this month's theme is PARIS!! Here are the front and back of my pages!!

Background Noise #3 - Melted Crayon

2008-01-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

I added another pesonal favorite to my Background Noise Sketchbook . . . . melted crayon! VERY easy, VERY effective . . . . and if you have kids . . . . you have the necessary supplies right in your house :)

Mishap with Art Quest Sketchbook Cover

2008-01-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

I had mentioned in one of my groups that I had a slight mishap with my Art Quest Sketchbook. While working on a page - I managed to drag the bottom left corner of the front cover through RED ACRYLIC PAINT! OH NO!

I blotted it with paper towel - and then again with a damp paper towel - and it still left a lovely shade of red BLOB! That will definitely teach me to be more careful - AND to protect the finished pages and cover in the future!! I looked at it for a few days . . . . perhaps hoping that it would go away overnight ? ? ? Well, of course that didn't happen, but then an idea struck! I used a piece of punchinella and sponged a dark pink through it - now it looks like it was supposed to be there - because of the punchinella I also used on the tag. Just thought I would share a way to fix a mess :)

Before:

After:

Newest addition to the family!!!

2008-01-12T18:33:00.001-08:00

Please meet the newest addition to our family, my nephew Logan! Craig's sister Teri and her husband Rick are the proud parents - and I am the proud Auntie!! He was born last week Tuesday, was 7 lbs and 10 oz and was 20" long!! He is just the sweetest baby!

New addition to Art Quest - Faux Chipboard

2008-01-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

I am finally caught up in my Art Quest Sketchbook! The latest challenge was Faux Chipboard - using Fun Foam. I didn't have any of the fun foam stickers, but I did have one sheet of black fun foam. I decided it would be best to keep it simple - and cut out the easiest shapes possible, hearts and diamonds!! Although I did challenge myself by cutting out the word "L O V E". The fun foam shapes were adhered to the page using E-6000. The background and the fun foam shapes were all painted with gesso and then acrylic paint. I then stamped over the fun foam shapes with a diamond stamp, a lace stamp, and a Love background stamp. I then adhered an image on top of the large heart and added some background stencils and a "Friend" stamp. With Valentine's right around the corner, I thought this was most appropriate :)

Another background for Background Noise

2008-01-12T18:19:00.001-08:00

I added one of my own favorites to this sketchbook . . . . Paint Dragging! Fun and easy and very effective!!

Shining Stones Swap

2008-01-09T05:08:00.001-08:00

After creating my shining stones backgrounds, I signed up for the swap that Chrissy is hosting. Here is the card I created from my backgrounds:

Art Quest Sketchbook and Challenge #2 "Dictionary Page"

2008-01-09T05:03:00.000-08:00

I have finally created the cover for my Art Quest sketchbook which we started last year on Art Ventures. I had completed the first challenge - and am working hard to get caught up :)

Here is the cover:

And here is Challenge #2. We had to randomly select a dictionary page - and then a word, which I did by running my finger down the page and counting to five. And here is my take on "fish-monger!"

Instant Art Swap

2008-01-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

The premise behind this swap is to create pieces of "instant art" that you can use to finish a project. Adrienne suggested that every get a zippered binder with plastic sleeves to hold the pieces. Then when you need that certain something to finish a project, you can look through the binder. For this swap we had to make 5 photo slides, 5 ATC backgrounds, 5 itty bitties, 5 images (in two sizes) and 5 tags. Below is one set of what I created.

Pea's Ponderings

2008-01-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

I was in a journal page swap in a group called Paper Dolls a couple years back. We each made X amount of journal pages ready to journal on and received one back from everyone in the group. I just now created a cover and bound these. I look forward to journaling in it :)

I love the song "Big Girls Don't Cry" and used that behind a transparency of my face! My son thought it was for a swap and asked "who wants a picture of you on their journal?" ROFL! I choose this because it sets the tone for my some of my personal goals for 2008! Clarity, Peace, Serenity! I couldn't ask for more!!

Here was an actual page I received - and I thought WOW !! How is that for spooky!! I made this the very first page in the journal!!

Background Noise

2008-01-06T10:04:00.001-08:00

I have started another journal, titled Background noise, at the direction of Trish Bee of Next Generation Stampers. We will be showcasing our background creations, complete with instructions.

I have come up with a "Pea Rating Guide" for each of the backgrounds that I create. My personal rating scale will be comprised of how easily the background can be made, on whether or not I have all of the necessary materials already in my house, on the "noise" factor . . . . can I create said background while my family is still in bed, and last, but certainly not least, do I LOVE what I have created :)

To start off our book, Trish choose Shining Stones . . . . and I can tell you that the Pea Rate is a PERFECT 10!!
I LOVE IT . . . . AND, I didn't burn down the house while creating it!!

Here is the cover of my sketchbook . . . I will be cutting a one inch square from each background that I create and adding it to the cover as I go.

Here are the journal pages for the first background we all created . . . . Shining Stones

Here is the backside of the last page and inside of the back cover.

Here are some larger examples of the backgrounds. I will be using one of them to create a swap on CCSwaps, where we have to use this background

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T04:01:00.000-08:00

I would like to take a moment to wish all of my family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy and Creative New Year!

Cherish the moments, for once they are gone, they leave us with WONDERFUL memories!!

12 Days of Christmas Swap - UPDATED 12/26/07

2007-12-15T03:50:00.000-08:00

I hosted a 12 Days of Christmas Swap and had a fantastic turn-out. I had enough sign-ups to have 4 groups of 13 members each. Everyone received 12 different gifts back per group. So that means that during the month of November, I received MANY boxes containing a total of 624 gifts at my house!!!

Below are some photos of Santa Pea (me!), and my faithful Elves . . . . Chrissy and Maggi, swapping out these gifts! I will scan photos of the gifts I made at a later date!

Photo of the many boxes that I was stashing in my basement:

Organization Station: mailing labels, packing tape, Christmas cards, gift for outside of mailing box, as well as my master list of who was in each group:

Elf Maggi is pushing up her sleeves, getting ready to tackle the project. Elf Chrissy is looking at the master list, saying "You've GOT to be kidding" . . . . . ROFL!

The Elves are working on a plan of attack!

WooHoo - we have started organizing the first group!!!

And now Group 1 is done, except for the packing into mailing boxes!

Santa Pea is hard at work taping boxes, adding labels, and the special gift to each box!

Here are just SOME of the boxes ready to hit the Post Office:

Here is the gift I made for an embellishment on the outside of the mailing boxes. It can be seen in the photo above. I encased it in clear plastic and attached with packing tape :

Here are all the finished boxes!! Santa Pea insisted on creating a tree with them - even added a Santa tree topper! This picture would not be complete without our faithful side-kick, Deuce, the brown-nosed Retriever!

And here are the workers - Santa Pea, Elf Chrissy (sitting), and Elf Maggi:

And here is a GREAT after shot! We enjoyed some lunch, a birthday celebration for Maggi's November birthday, and Chrissy's St. Nick birthday - and then some chocolate and WINE (Beringer, of course!!!)

1st of the 4 different sets of gifts I made:

2nd set of gifts I made (closed):

(open):

3rd set of gifts I made:

Altered two drawer box (perfect size for ATC's)

Advent Images - UPDATED 12/26/07

2007-12-09T05:34:00.000-08:00

On one of my groups, Trish is posting an image per day for the Advent season. I decided to make an accordian book using each of the images. I will be attaching all 4 panels together once complete.

Day 1 - Cover

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Accordian Panel 1

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Accordian Panel 2

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Accordian Panel 3

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23:

Day 24:

Merry Christmas:

Final Accordian Panel:

Complete Book:

Fiona's Tin

2007-12-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

Fiona sent out some tins she had multiples of, with the hopes of getting some ideas on how to alter them. I was one of the lucky recipients and below is what I created. I will be returning this tin to her as a gift :)

I had this wonder copper embellishment that was crying out to be used . . . . but in order to do so, I needed a hole in the cover of the tin. I gave it my best effort with an exacto knife, but soon realized I would still be working on it NEXT December. I asked Craig to do what he could - and he was able to create the perfect hole for me. I then covered the top, bottom, and sides with alcohol inks and my copper Krylon pen. Next I added the copper embellishment:

Below is the "port hole" opened:

I cut two pieces of card stock to fit the inside, stamped on them and glued them down. Added a couple of embellishments on the left side. The right side has a stamped acrylic piece mounted on some great background paper I received in the backgroun swap! Added a swirl and the copper piece on the bottom reads "expect miracles"

I hope you like it Fiona! It was lots of fun to create!

Latest Tip-in's

2007-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

I was having problems with my computer "communicating" with my camera - and now all is fixed!
This is my catch-up of my monthly tip-in swap.

October was Children:

back:

November - Polka Dots

and December is Women:

Adrienne and Debra

2007-10-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Just finished spending a wonderful 3 day weekend with "internet" friends I met in person for the very first time! Adrienne is a co-moderator with us on CCSwaps and a few other groups and was able to come and play with us for two weeks - and Debra is also a member of these groups. Debra and her husband Danny drove from Ohio to spend the weekend with all of us (Chrissy, Bob, Maggi, Adrienne and I) and it was just GREAT - although not long enough!! Unfortunately, the rest of my family couldn't enjoy the company because Luke was in a soccer tournament all weekend :(

Maggi, Chrissy, Adrienne, Pea - after a shopping trip to Stamping Jazzy Style in Madison, WI - and then lunch.

The gang at Chrissy's house: Chrissy, Debra, Maggi, Adrienne, and me, Pea (as well as our four-legged girlfriend, Molly!)

Another shot, new view :)

Out on our boat trip on Phantom lake: Chrissy, Pea, Debra and Adrienne - it was a bit cool, but

that didn't stop us from having a great time!

Chrissy's husband, Bob at the wheel and Debra's husband, Danny!

Chatting in Chrissy's kitchen, Adrienne and Debra!

Maggi is keeping everyone entertained!

Getting brunch ready!!! (Notice the WINE and Pea's BLUE VODKA!!)

Enjoying a WONDERFUL brunch created by Chrissy!!

Maggi, Pea being silly and Adrienne - at my office where the gals came to go out to lunch!

You gotta LOVE the expression on Maggi's face :0)

Okay, Pea playing nice!

Maggi, Chrissy and Adrienne

Debra spearheaded the lovely "Queen Pea" surprise and Adrienne was her right hand for the project. Below are some pictures of us from the weekend! ENJOY :)

Bowing before the Queen - even Molly bowed (HONEST!)

Group shot! Adrienne, Maggi, Queen Pea, Debra and Chrissy

Art Quest Challenge

2007-09-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Trish is challenging us again! I needed to make another sketchbook - and to do this I cut 140 lb watercolor paper into 7" X 9" pages and punched them in my rubicoil binder.
That done, I was ready to begin with the first challenge -
the 3 Step Challenge!!
We had to use something to create "texture" - then a "binder" to adhere it to our pages, and lastly "color". Below is what I create to this point. I used cheese cloth (1 thickness) to create my texture. My binder was Elmer's Glue. I used water color sprays by Stamp Zia for my color.

I went through my vast supply of images to see what I wanted to do on these pages - and here is the start. I cut out the woman image and a bunch of koi, along with the saying and adhered to the pages. I then sprayed them with Gold Webbing Spray - and I must say that made a huge difference. It took the pages from having very sharp and definite contrast - to something that is much more "together". When I finish these completely, I will upload the final scan.

Queen Pea ? ? ? ?

2007-09-13T04:53:00.000-07:00

I was given the surprise of my life by my friends from my chunky book swaps! I was surprised during a summer get-together at Chrissy's house by two very sneaky, sneaky friends, representing the whole group, Chrissy and Maggi!! As a thank you for my time during the past couple of years hosting chunky books, Debra C asked the moderators of CCSwaps what they thought about creating a chunky book for ME! They formed a group called PeaPoddies and the Moderators of CCSwaps; Trish, Adrienne, Pauline, Bren, Helen, Chrissy and Maggi, along with fearless leader, Debra invited all those who have been in past swaps of mine to the group to join the group and create a page for the surprise chunky books. After some trials and tribulations - the fearless leaders created another group titled, PeaPoddies Moddies to discuss any "issues" that arose . . . . . . OMG - it still makes me laugh! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! They worked on this for months - and I was none the wiser!!! Some friends!! During the afternoon, while relaxing and drinking some wine, Chrissy and Maggi brought out a big wicker basked filled with gifts wrapped in tissue ? ? ? They had already given me my birthday gifts - so I had NO idea what they were up to. And so it began, my Royal Coronation . . . . . I am quite fortunate to have such great friends! Chrissy's husband, Bob, videotaped the entire thing, which is good because I was so blown away, I didn't remember it all . . . . LOL . . . . . take a peek at my day . . .

Prior to the festivities - on Chrissy's paddle boat with my eldest son, Jacob

After they walked out with the basket, crown, sceptre, sash, etc. . . . Do I look just a tad bit confused . . .

Working on adjusting the crown:

Almost got it:

Ta Da!!! (At this point, I still think Maggi and Chrissy are having fun with my birthday, little did I know . . )

Have crown, sash, sceptre (all created by Chrissy and Maggi) and wine, ready for the fun . . . .

OMG - it is starting to sink in . . . . . Chrissy is ready the royal proclamation:

Basket containing not one, not two, but THREE chunky books!

Bag of additional goodies, along with the crown, treasure box and scroll:

Treasure box! The note inside reads: Gold for Queen Pea . . . . . Please accept this small token from your loyal subjects. We truly appreciate the time, effort and love that you've put into the many chunky books. This gold should be spent on something for yourself!

All the goodies together:

After just a bit of wine and fun - Queen Pea was having some trouble with the crown - and don't you love how I am wearing the sash . . . LOL

Absolutely NO alcohol involved, yeah right!!

Here are the marvelous chunky books. Each page is in the shape of a crown - I can only imagine how much time and thought went into each and every page in these books!! Covers shown are all by the infamous TRISH BEE! Not only are all of my friends featured in these books - but there are two surprises!! One is a gorgeous page by none other than NANCY CURRY and the other is a tag by TIM HOLTZ - autographed to ME and everything!!!! Thanks to Debra Cochran!!

Top view:

This was a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. Never in my wildest imagination could I have thought that anyone would do something like this for ME! I am truly humbled by it all!!

Doodle ATC

2007-09-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

I joined Bren's Doodle ATC swap! I couldn't wait to get started. When I joined we needed to use a stamp somewhere on the card - so I started by stamping the word "ART". I had no idea where I was going from there - and this is what evolved.

Surf and Turf Day

2007-08-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

We celebrated three birthdays at our house today - and in honor of my pregnant sister-in-law who has been craving lobster all summer - we decided to surprise her with a surf and turf meal :) She is truly one-of-a-kind and we love her to pieces!! I picked up the lobsters (LIVE) late Saturday afternoon - and then had to take out every shelf but the top two in our refrigerator to get them in!! After the family arrived today - we brought her out a gift wrapped box containing "her" lobster . . . . . boy was she surprised!!

Please meet Teri and Scooter!

Some of Craig's family:

Master Chef, Craig!

Introducing FRED! Isn't he a HOOT!!

Deuce had to find out exactly what these things were!

Here are some more of the gang! We were going to race them, but they really weren't going anywhere!!

The birthday kids holding their lobsters! SweetPea, Teri and my youngest, Luke!

Taking the plunge!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Couldn't leave out the turf . . . . . .

the pots were full!!

Preparing for eating

The gorgeous cake my MIL brought

Birthday kids again . . . .

We had a wonderful, relaxing day - it was PERFECT!!!

Teesha Journal entries

2007-08-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

I have been hard at work looking for quotes, sayings, poems, etc. regarding each page of my Teesha journal - some, of course, are easier than others. I just love quotes and decided this is the route I wanted to go with this journal . . . . . . .

Some of these will be doodled on at a later date, just trying to get all the quotes in first :)

Here is my finished cover, this page was created by Kacy:

Here is another Kacy page - it had the word PLAY on it, and I took it from there:

Next up is a page by Tamara, my next-door neighbor, featuring her youngest daughter, Jacque Jo!
I thought the quote worked with the magnifying glass!

Here is another fun page by Tamara. The three swirls at the top were already there,
I just darkened them a bit. I added the large swirl in the middle, with the quote
"Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of Joy!" I then added
the words Live, Love and Laugh at the top. I will be doodling some more on this
page in the future.

This page was made by Kacy as well! The mermaid, two fish and the words Under the Sea
were part of her page. I added the rest of the words.

I am still going to decorate this page some more - but had to get the quote on before I
forgot I wanted to use it . . . . talk about PERFECT! This page was created by Becci -
and has the most beautiful shimmery colors on it!!

This is one of my favorites - in terms of the quote matching what was on the page!
This page was created by Maggi - and had the sun, astronaut, map and the word "imagine"
already on the page. I googled for quotes on "imagination" and found this one.
It is indeed . . . . PERFECT!

I didn't want to ever forget who all participated in the swap - so used this personalized
back cover, created by Adrienne, to record everyone's names!!

Lot's more to do, but I will get the job done - and have FUN while doing it!

A couple more Sketchbook pages

2007-08-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

Prompt #10

Favorite Places . . . . . we are not big travelers, as we are too busy with the boys and sports :(, so I have done this a bit differently than others may . . . . . but they are truly MY favorite places!!

Prompt #12 (yes I can count, but I needed to skip 11 until I got some more information :)

School Subjects

(can you BELIEVE the hairdo . . . . . I can only hope my mother's eyes were closed at the time!!)

More Sketchbook pages

2007-08-18T03:51:00.001-07:00

I have finished three more sketchbook pages!

Prompt #7 - My Life in Numbers

Prompt #8 - Family Traits Tree

Prompt #9 - Significant Others

More Tip-ins

2007-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Continuing on in the monthly Tip-in Swaps . . . . . next up is DaVinci for August and Circus for September. I have had a chance to work ahead and here they are :)

* * * * *

* * * * *

* * * * *

Pea's Sketchbook

2007-08-10T06:08:00.000-07:00

Trish has started us on a wonderful journey! We have all purchased or made sketchbooks and following her prompts, have started creating in them.

Prompt #2 "8 Things I Love . . . . "
This prompt is rather self-explanatory, we needed to list 8 things we love, either serious or funny.

Prompt #3 "What I want to be when I grow up"
Again, rather obvious . . . . . what do we want to be when we grow up :)

Prompt #4 The Year I was born
We were asked to research the year we were born and select one event to highlight.
We had to place the year somewhere on the page, and then information about the event we chose. I was born on August 27, 1963. On August 28th, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a Dream" speech. I thought that most appropriate.

Prompt #5 "My _____ _____"
We had to filling in the missing blanks with two words. The second word had to be a proper name. I choose my husband :)

I am eagerly awaiting the next prompts

Tip-In Swap "Disjointed Figures"

2007-07-14T06:38:00.001-07:00

I am hosting a monthly Tip-In Swap on CCSwaps. With the constant increase in the price of postage, Altered Round Robin's are getting to be a bit pricey when mailing the entire book. I decided to host a tip-in swap for those who might be interested. I have come up with all sorts of monthly themes, running through the end of 2008. I quickly created the pages below for anyone in the group who was unsure of what to do.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

I've been tagged . . . . .

2007-07-10T03:36:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by Fiona http://www.fionascreations.blogspot.com/

and now I must tell you 7 things about myself . . . .

1) I love to dance!
2) I have a tatoo on my butt (too much info.? ? ? )
3) I don't like spiders or snakes or any thing that crawls on it's belly!
4) I can't sit still!
5) I love to read - anything and everything!
6) I tend to write and talk . . . . a LOT!
7) I really don't like to be alone.

Now it is my turn to tag two others . . . . . . .

Rachel http://creativeflight.blogspot.com/
and
Maggi http://fromtheartgrotto.blogspot.com/

TAG - YOU'RE IT!

My First Commissioned Art

2007-07-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

I received a phone call two weeks ago, asking me if I would create an altered canvas for the mother of our son's principal. She has a girlfriend who was turning 60 on the 4th of July. They are having a party for her in two weeks and she wanted a canvas created like the one I created for her daughter. She even wanted it to be a modified exemplar - all of her friends figured out words for each letter of the alphabet that reminded them of the birthday girl. She also asked that I place the names of all of their friends on the side of the canvas :)

I was sent a photo of the birthday girl - as well as a close-up of her dog's face, and told that her favorite past-time is golf. With that ammunition in hand, below is what I created. I googled for Bernese Mountain Dogs - so I would know what the rest of the body looked like. This is the first dog I have EVER painted - and other than
the eyes, I am pleased with how he came out :)

Helen's Altered Board Book

2007-07-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

I received Helen's Board Book from Chrissy last week. Helen's theme is "Garden". Because of my "name", the one side was a no-brainer :) I received this gorgeous stamp from TeaPot a few years ago. I created an alcohol ink background and embossed the stamp with some GORGEOUS "stuff" I was given awhile back. It is called Pipe Dream Ink "Rosevears" It is very crystal-like (not fine at all) and sparkly! To be honest, I didn't even know if it would melt or not . . . . LOL! But there is only one way to find out! I added green embossing powder to the leaves and black on the words - and then this "stuff". BOY IS IT COOL! It is raised higher than the other embossing - and WAY SHINY AND SPARKLY! I love it! Might have to find some more.

On the other half of the page, I created a seed packet and made a shrink plastic garden doll. I was happy that it shrunk relatively uniform!

As I was the last one to work in Helen's book - I have now sent it on it's journey home to Helen. She will be the first one in our group to receive her finished book back.

"The Lost Van Gogh" Book Shrine

2007-07-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

I had some time on my hands and decided to start another book shrine. I had no idea where I was going with this, but just finished reading the book "The Lost Van Gogh". hhhmmm, that could work . . . . . I found some muslin stuffed bodies that I received from my BS Patsy Cline! PERFECT! I DTP'd to some of the book pages with different colors of ink - then cut them out in one line strips. I put glue on the body of the doll and began adding the paper strips. While the doll is actually rather small, this process took lots longer than I anticipated! I colored the pages - added some corner and border stickers and VIOLA!

Cover:

Inside:

Teesha Moore Journal Page Swap

2007-06-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

I am hosting a swap where we are all creating 15 pages in "Teesha" style. Everyone will send me their pages and I will swap them out and send back 15 different pages so that the members can create their own journals.

I have received some fabulous pages to date. Below are mine.

I couldn't resist these cats, they were part of an advertisement for kitty litter. Because I am a DOG owner myself (Golden Retriever) - I couldn't resist the "pun".

All of my backgrounds are different colors - as I was having so much fun with this :)

Abstract ATC

2007-06-28T03:56:00.000-07:00

Bren is hosting an Abstract ATC on CCSwaps. I decided to give it a try. I pulled out my alcohol inks, some glossy black card stock and some stamps.

Here is my creation:

Fabric Book

2007-06-25T04:02:00.000-07:00

I hosted a fabric page swap on CCSwaps and I just finished creating and binding the book.

I used latch hook material to create the binding with assorted fabric scraps and fibers. While it was

a bit more labor intensive than I originally thought it would be, I am very happy with the results.

12 members participated in this swap by creating 5 x 5 fabric pages. All pages were sent to me for

sorting and I returned the sets to each member for us to bind ourselves. I can't wait to see how others

bind their books! I created my own front cover for this book - as the page I created for the group is a

back cover - with the thought that everyone could use their own page for the front cover.

My front cover:

view from open edge:

top view:

view of binding:

my back cover:

Adrienne's Altered Board Book

2007-06-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

Here is the next (and the final one in my possession for the time being!) Adrienne's theme was for each of us to pick our favorite color! I picked Steel Blue - which I happen to think is a GORGEOUS color!

I used gray and blue paints to create the exact shade I was going for. I then DTP's the pages from a book to create my background.

The square piece of the right is actually a chunky book page I had left over from a previous swap. I loved the addition of the other colors with the blue and decided to add it to this book.

my sign-in tag

Bren's Altered Board Book

2007-06-24T15:16:00.001-07:00

Here is another Altered Board Book for the Round Robin swap I am in. The theme of Bren's is "all about YOU" - meaning ME! ECK!

My background was gessoed and then painted with Golden's Acrylic paints.

This page represents a bit about me! I work with numbers in my day job, I love to read, I tease my friends that my days have 72 hours (just to make them jealous) - and I believe in smiles make the world a better place!

Altered Book Shrine

2007-06-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

I am hosting a book shrine swap and figured I should try my hand at another one . . . . . one I am actually going to give away . . . . LOL!

For this one I used a children's board book. It wasn't as difficult to cut through the pages as I thought it might be. I actually think it was easier than going through a whole bunch of pages in a regular book. I then glued the extra pages together and to the back cover.

Back Cover:

Spine:

Trish's Altered Board Book

2007-06-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

I was able to finish Trish's board book this morning and send it on it's way to Maggi.

I first painted with Gesso and then used distress inks on top. They left it rather tacky - which I didn't realize they would (learned something new!), so I brushed various colors of Pearl Ex on top.

Trish's theme is Women in Collage . . . . . so I gathered my "stuff" and got to work.

Below is the "interactive" page. Trish asked that we all select one word that women need . . . . my addition was "Hope".

Altered Board Books - Chrissy's & Maggi's

2007-06-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

A group of us are in an Altered Board Book Round Robin. We all started with the same board book - and are sending it around, based on the owner's theme.

I have worked on two so far, shown below . . . and currently have three in my possession, but I am not late yet, they were just early :)

Above is the background I created for Chrissy's book. This started out as white mulberry paper, I resist stamped some images and then sprayed on Stamp Zia color wash sprays. I was very happy with how it turned out . . . . so happy that I hated to cover it up . . . LOL! Chrissy's theme is Friendship . . .

These are pictures from when we were in California - and I just had to include them . . . .
I love the footprint picture - and I included the following saying:
"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart".
Could it possibly be more appropriate?

For Maggi's background - I used color wash sprays on 2-ply paper towel, separated and attached to her book. Maggi's theme is Journey - and I choose to interpret that as a spiritual journey through art.

I will update more of the board books as I work in them.

Modified Exemplar

2007-06-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

My eldest son graduated from 8th grade last night! WOW, does time go by quickly or what! His principal is leaving our school after this year and we are ALL very sad to see her go. I decided to paint a modified exemplar for her (where on earth do I get these ideas!!!). I called Jake's teacher and asked her if the next day in school she could get the kids to think of one word for each letter of the alphabet that made them think of her. They did an outstanding job. (Just for the record, she is CRAZY about hippo's - hence the letter "H" - just don't want anyone to think they were being mean . . . LOL!)

Jacob brought the list home from school and we got to work. My youngest son, Luke, gessoed the background and gave it one coat of paint . . . . then I attacked it Misty Mawn style to bring in just a couple more colors and texture. Because I had to write all the words on it - it couldn't be too dark or have too much texture.

Then I said . . . "''hhhmmmmm, this could look pretty darn boring, I should paint a portrait of Mrs. Hartmann".

See what I mean . . . . . where did that idea come from ? ? ? ? ? I CAN'T PAINT!!! Oh well, why let something as little as that stop me ? ! ? ! I printed off a picture of her so that I had something to look at, got out the oil sticks and went to town. After agonizing over her teeth!!, I decided that I would just shut her mouth . . . . LOL! Yes, that worked . . . . Cool!

I needed a dress for her - so I cut one out of patterned paper as I didn't want to press my luck painting, attempting the arms and hands was about as far as I was willing to go, but there was still something missing . . . a big hole in the bottom left corner. She looked like she was just hanging out there on the right . . . . it needed something . . . . well, for goodness sake - since the letter "H" was Hippopotamus - why not paint one! Why not indeed! I have just one question . . . . . where on earth was Maggi when I needed her to STOP ME. I googled for a stuffed hippo - found one I liked, printed it so I could look at it and started in with the purple and white oil sticks. Okay - that was relatively easy . . . . good thing! Using a gold metallic marker, I made a leash from the hippo to Mrs. Hartmann's hand! Phew, looking good.

Now I have to add the words! Am I a calligrapher? ? ? Nope, not at all . . . so I found a font in Word that I liked and printed out all the words. With a piece of scratch paper next to me to practice on, I got to work. About an hour later, all the words were on, I added "St. Agnes Graduating Class of 2007 on the top edge, and the names of all the kids in the 8th grade graduating class around the two sides and the bottom and I was done!

NOT! It was missing a POW factor! Since they used "Queen" for Q, I decided to give her a crown! There, that looks nice. Then I remembered that she has some gorgeous diamond jewelry! So I gave her a diamond necklace, diamond earrings, and diamonds on the top of her crown! There, PERFECT!

Okay - still not quite POW! I was losing the hippo and some words into the background! I know, DOTS! I need some DOTS! So I got out a white paint marker and put dots around the hippo, looking GOOD! Then I also added some around the capital letters of each word! TADA! This time I really am done!

BTW - she loved it! LOL!

And here is our graduate:

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY SEVEN, Tuesday, May 8

2007-06-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you just know it! After getting to bed at 12:30 - I woke up at 2:30!!! ARGH! I pulled out my whimsy pages and went to town on them for a couple of hours - so that was at least very productive!!

I then finished writing my notes for my journal and started getting ready to go home.

We packed up and then called down for the bellman to pick up our shipping boxes and also asked him to call us a taxi. We then went down for our last FABULOUS breakfast!!

The taxi picked us up just a bit late, but we got to the airport in plenty of time. We even had time to hit the shops for some gifts for our men!

The only incident we had on the trip home was almost missing our connecting flight in Atlanta. They switched planes at the last minute and we were completely unaware of it! A quick jog through the airport and we made it! Arrived in Milwaukee right on schedule, retrieved our luggage, and Craig and Dick were waiting for us!

We had a wonderful time and I can't wait for our next retreat!!!

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY SIX, Monday, May 7

2007-06-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Our last day of classes has arrived, and it definitely brings a bitter-sweet feeling! On one hand, I am VERY excited for my Misty Mawn class today, but I am also missing my family - and am also excited to head home tomorrw and see them!

We were pretty organized today and headed out for our classes! I have "Layers on Canvas" with Misty Mawn and Maggi has a diary/journal class today.

Today's class ROCKED! Misty is a delightful, sweet and very talented lady! She had us feeling relaxed and welcome in no time! I was sitting with gal pal, Toni and Doris Arndt and we had a blast helping each other, laughing and sharing supplies! Kathy W. and Leighanna Light were also in this class and that was totally cool! Taking a class with instructors . . . . how fun!

The first thing Misty had us do was to cover our canvas boards with gesso. Then we were practically throwing paint on them :) I have never done much with my fingers and hands with paint - but I really got into this . . . . She next showed us how to add texture, and add and remove color. We all pretty much stopped when we liked the result. I didn't finish my projects there - but found some time when I got home to finish them up . . . . I may still add some more, but for now I am calling them done! (Mostly because I wanted to get my blog up to date . . . . LOL!)

Maggi's class went very well and she came back with a completed diary/journal! We decided to organize and pack up as much as we could, and then went downstairs to print out our boarding passes to get home. We spent a couple of hours with Margaret and Melissa at happy hour and then back to our room, ordered in some dinner, watched TV and went lights out about 12:30 am.

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY FIVE, Sunday, May 6

2007-05-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

Maggi and I both took a day off from classes today. We took a walk after breakfast to Target and Walmart. Unfortunately the day was less than pleasant . . . . gale force winds, highs in the 50's, and rain threatening. We decided that the walk around town was a bust. Headed back to the hotel, gathered supplies for Monday's classes, packed what we could of our supplies into the shipping boxes and started to work on finishing up some projects. We both just about finished up the recipe boxes, I worked a bit on Whimsy, Maggi worked on her Passion Book. We went downstairs for cocktails with Jill Berry, Kim Nugent, Margaret, Nancy & Jim, then went to Cypress for dinner. Had a FANTASTIC meal! The Lump Crab Cakes were delicious! Headed back to the room and worked on some more "stuff" :)

Notice anything not "normally" found on a bathroom countertop?

that's right - our paint brush holder . . . . LOL!

Maggi hard at work on her recipe box

Pea spread out on the floor - where she does her best work . . . LOL.

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY FOUR, Saturday, May 5

2007-05-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

I got up about 4:00 am this morning and finished the binding on my Fusion Collage Journal and added some beads and charms on the threads. We headed down to breakfast and then off to our class, the Passion Journal which we were both taking. We arrived early and went to find Zana from Stamp Zia. Had a nice chat with her and made some tentative plans to get together over the summer and hopefully again in October.

Back to class where we saved a seat for Margaret "Empty Spot" Rogers . . . . LOL! We had a fun time in this class and actually got pretty far in it . . . PHEW! Less for me to catch up on when I got home. This book is all about pockets and hidden images, got lots of ideas! We finished up about 4:00 and dropped off our supplies in our room, ordered in some dinner and played with our books. We went down for the cocktail reception and then headed off for Vendor Night. There was a wonderful array of goodies from most of the instructors. Lost Aussie stamps was there - and I managed to get a bunch of "have to have" stamps!! Bought just a few things, but had a fun time with everyone. We went back to the room and ordered in some pizza and went through all of our stuff and trades again :)

Front cover

Pages 1 and 2

tag exposed

Pages 3 and 4. Page 4 is split in half.

tags exposed

split page

Pages 5 and 6 - house stamp on page 6 is from Lost Aussie!

tags exposed

Pages 7 and 8

picture exposed

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY THREE, Friday, May 4

2007-05-15T03:25:00.000-07:00

Slept in until 4:30 am today - yippee! We got our supplies gathered together, went down for breakfast and headed over to the Convention Center where we both were taking Traci Bautista's Fusion Macrame Journal.
This was a great, fast-paced class! I was glad that I had taken the class last night as that gave me a head start. We used the same techniques as last night - creating on paper towels, newsprint, some heavier paper and also file folders. We could make the journals any size we wanted, each containing 5 signatures. The only part that was new to me at this point was each signature had a "cover", the file folders. I used my large collage from the day before for my front and back signatures - as that made the front and back cover for the entire journal. We then made a template for the binding with an awl - and started sewing them together. We used waxed linen thread making a button hole stitch, and added some beads. First time I have used this method, and being used to coptic bindings, this was much quicker and I really like how it looks!

Cover of Fusion Macrame Journal

some of the pages and a signature cover made out of a file folder.

More inside pages.

some more

Back cover.

Maggi, Traci and Pea, taken at Vendor Night (because I forgot in class!)

Class ended about 4:30, we dumped our stuff in the room, and headed down to happy hour! We had a great time with Margaret, Melissa, Toni from NC and others. I decided the room needed a wee bit of cleaning up . . . . .

Pea cleaning

Still at it . . . .

Margaret, Melissa, Pea and Maggi

Eventually headed back to our room, watched some TV and hit the hay!

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY TWO, Thursday, May 3

2007-05-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I am already following in the path of A&S, California . . . . . I got up at 2:50 am this morning! What the heck is that all about anyhow ? ? ? I read a book for a bit, and then started organizing my supplies for my class today, Clearly Visible Journal with Kathy Wasilewski, and for my class this evening, Fusion Dyed Collage with Traci Bautista. I am SO ready for this!! Maggi woke up at 5:20 (a much more respectible time!). We got ready and went down for breakfast . . . . WOW . . . . I was certainly not expecting all of this for a complimentary breakfast. Made to order omelets, any type of eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, hash browns, fresh fruit, bagels, muffins, hot cereal, cold cereal, you name it! After we ate I called the boys and gathered my supplies. Maggi doesn't have a class until this evening so she planned on scouting around to see what we might need to know about :)

I headed over to the convention center and my FIRST class! WOOHOO . . . . Kathy is truly a delight! A very informed teacher, with clear instructions! I sat with Margaret and we had a BLAST! We made our resin boxes this morning so that they would be mostly dry by the time class was over - and then started in on our Acrylic covers! We collaged transparencies between two acrylic sheets for both the front and back covers, then put copper tape around the edges to hold them together. At this time we broke for lunch, met Maggi back in our room and ate. Maggi went to Target today and worked on her recipe box from opening night.

Back to class where we drilled holes in our covers . . . . I split the cover at one of the holes, Kathy indicated that I was the first person to do that . . . . LOL . . . . what an honor! She gave me the necessary supplies to make a new front cover at home - which I have since completed! We all worked on our pages during the afternoon, painting the water color pages with acrylic paints and adding embellishments, I didn't finish my book, but that is no surprise for me :) Class ended at 4:00 pm. Back to the room where Maggi and I ordered sandwiches for dinner and then off to our evening class.

Here is my finished cover! I have a piece of white paper behind it so you could see what it was! We made a tripe slide glass embellishment. Put a piece of collage paper behind one piece of glass, layered on a crow's head on top of that piece of glass, added another slide, added the egg, added another slide and put the words on top. This is all held together with copper tape.

Page two has another transparency layered between some thicknesses of mica. Punched some start through and added some yellow vellum in between. A coin ribbon was added between the two pages.

The blue side is painted and collaged. We melted the edges of the fortune transparency and attached to page.

We added a velum envelope with a crow transparency on both sides. I added the left-over coins on the bottom - and placed tarot cards inside.

This is the resin plastic case. We placed objects on choice in here, then covered with resin and left to set up.

Back side of same page - and the next one has a large window with the figures incased between layers of mica.

Large piece of mica with lady and crow images along with some cheese cloth.

This page also used a crow transparency in between more mica. There will be a tiny bottle wired on to the two punched holes on the right. The bottle is filled with beads and has a hand charm hanging from it. I just haven't located my wire yet . . . LOL!

Back cover is created in the same fashion as the front cover.

Pea and Kathy Wasilewski

Maggi's class was Tin Souls with Kathy W. - and she had just as much fun with Kathy as I did!

My class with Traci was FANTASTIC! I was a bit apprehensive about this one, but found out that was groundless! Traci is just a WAY COOL person! We tossed around paints, made mono-prints, using paper towels and newsprint paper - and also made two large collages for using in journals. Learned a lot and had tons of fun!

Painted paper towel. We used liquid water colors first - and dipped areas of the paper towels in different colors.

another one

and another one with mono-printing on top.

This is one of the collages we made that I will use in my journal tomorrow.

Maggi and I both got back to the room about 9:45, talked about our classes, watched some TV - and went to bed about 1:00am.

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY ONE, Wednesday, May 2

2007-05-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

WooHoo - Art and Soul is FINALLY here! Maggi and I sent some packages of supplies directly to the hotel. (See we did learn something from our trip to Art and Soul 2006, Asimolar, California!) This proved to be the smartest thing we did! 1 suitecase, 1 carry-on, and my purse and I am ready to roll. Craig and I left for the airport at 4:45 am, met Maggi and we were on our way! One stop in Atlanta with a 3 hour layover gave us plenty of time to get some breakfast. Next stop . . . . VIRGINIA! My luggage was the 2nd last off the conveyer belt, right as they shut it down . . . . PHEW . . . . !! We did have one small moment of panic when we realized there were no shuttle buses to the hotel, which we thought there were! No problem, we took a taxi :) It was only about a 12 minute drive and came to $22.00 . . . . not too bad divided by the two of us. It was very warm when we arrived, high 80's and gorgeous. We were staying at an Embassy Suites Hotel - and it was wonderful! We checked into the hotel, went to our rooms and unpacked quickly . . . it was after 3:00 pm and we wanted to get over to the convention center. The Bellman brought my two boxes up, and Maggi's came just a short time later. It was a huge relief to realize that they arrived safely, as ALL of our supplies were in them.

All of the rooms are suites, all have a refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker . . . . BONUS!

living area

bed room

another view of living room

another shot of bedroom

Next we walked over to the convention center where Glenny quickly and efficiently checked us in and gave us our wonderful Goodie Bag! These are SO much fun!

We also were given the classroom listings so we would know were to go. Next we hit the Art and Soul store, just to see what they carried in case we found that we forgot anything. The store was perfect with a very nice selection of everything you could need! Some of the Doo-Dad houses were already in place to be voted on. I had forgotten to bring mine to the center, but would do so tomorrow.

Next we walked over to Target to get some basic supplies, water, Diet Coke, a lighter, some granola bars, bagels and peanut butter :) (I had brought along a large bag of pretzels from home that lasted the entire week!) It was close to 5:30, so we headed down to the FREE cocktail hour, had a drink, some snacks, and met Nancy and her husband, Jim from Lubbock, Texas. Had a wonderful time with them all week. We all headed over to the Opening Night Party together.

Melissa, Margaret and Maggi

Margaret!

WOW - what a spread. The room was gorgeous, with old, beautiful tablecloths on all the tables, along with a great cookie jar centerpiece, complete with chocolate cookies inside!! The food was fantastic; beef sandwiches, artichoke & cheese appetizers, bacon wrapped scallops, fresh fruit, chocolates, and much more that I can't even remember any more. We all ate and got to know those at our tables. Lots of trading going on. One of the highlights was meeting Cindy Trobaugh, who was in our 5 book swap a few years ago. It is so much fun to meet people whom you have interacted with in all of our groups!

Very friendly chef!

Maggi sampling some wine

our table at the reception - lots of trading going on.

Here are the trades I have found so far that I received, just awesome!

On to the class. Ranger sponsored this evening with a Recipe box! We all made 60 recipes cards to share with each other - and left with a full recipe box! They gave us EVERY supply needed - it was fantastic. The instructors were GREAT - and they stayed the rest of the week and took classes themselves! Maggi and I sat with Margaret R and Nancy and had a blast, drinking wine, creating and talking. The evening ended about 10:00pm and Maggi and I headed back to our room to check out all the trades and get ready for classes tomorrow.

Maggi, Margaret and Nancy.

Nancy offering a helping hand to Margaret.

My box - still needs some finishing touches . . . . . . . .

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - trades

2007-05-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

Trading seems to get bigger and better at each Art and Soul. Most people create things to trade with others. These can be a multitude of items; bags of ephemera, pins, necklaces, ATC's, tags, etc. Below are the items I created; pins made out of photo slides, colored with alcohol inks and enhanced with words, and some metal tags that I had laying around the house. I collaged background papers, then cut out images and words. I have as much fun creating the trades as I do trading them!!

Above are my photo slide pins with an acrylic tag and card attached.

These are three special pins I made for Maggi, Teapot and myself - along with the small acrylic tags.

These are the fronts of some of my favorite metal tags. I believe I made about 3 dozen of these.

Back of the metal tags

packaging for the metal tags

ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - doo-dad house

2007-05-10T03:43:00.000-07:00

Art and Soul 2007 Virginia is over! What a FANTASTIC time we all had! Maggi and I went together and met many new and old friends! It may take a bit for me to get this all in, but I have to start somewhere! This year's theme is "At Home with Art and Soul". We were sent a papier mache house in our packets to alter as we choose. Below I have shown the steps that took mine from a plain doodad to a shrine doodad :) I had a lot of fun with this!

Above is the house I received in my packet.

Using an exacto knife, I sliced the entire house in half.

Next I put on a couple of coats of acrylic paints and painted the checkerboard pattern on the chimney.

Because it was too hard to try to paint the actual floor, I created the pattern on plain white copy paper with a sharpie and attached that paper to the floor.

Side views.

I added some rickrack on the roof line, used some waste paper to create the dots and decorated some dominoes for interest . . . . along with the man I put on the chimney, just because I like him :)

other side

closeup

other side closeup

Added some metal words to the sides.

I have the Art and Soul rubber stamp - so used that over alcohol inks on glossy card stock
along with a moon face charm up on top.

Used the same technique on this side with a feather carm on top to match the logo.

used more of the alcohol ink backgrounds with some other stamps and added a clasp for the front.

the back received more of the same, along with two hinges for stability.

The inside is a hodge podge of "stuff". I used alphabet letters along the top to spell out "Home is where I hang my ART". Various bits include charms, clay faces and torsos that I used alcohol ink on, a photo slide picture, word beads spelling out Live, Love, Laugh - along with a word charm "Sweet" on top of a scrabble letter "P", also dice, a shoe, a ceramic frog, domino, beads in a bottle, a small metal car with a mardi gra face on it, etc.

Inchies . . . . all the rage!

2007-05-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

I joined Altered Art Obsession when I heard about the "inchies" swap last year. I decided it was just calling my name! What fun I had . . . . creating 100 backgrounds and then finding images and words to fit (as that was one of the requirements. When the swap was finished I took them all and framed them in a 12 x 12 frame to display.

Above are all the ones I created for the swap. It went much faster than I thought it would.

Book Shrines

2007-05-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

These were actually made for a swap. The first time I had ever completely altered a book. Once I was finished with the first one, I couldn't give it away. So then I made a second one . . . . and couldn't give that one away either. Needless to say, I didn't even try a number 3 . . . . ROFL

I painted the outside of this book with Lumiere's paint, sponged on additional colors and added some stamping with black stazon ink. I also painted and stamped on a large puzzle piece and added some embellishments.

I cut out a niche and covered it with Basic Grey papers (gotta love those papers!!) Added more stamping and embellishments and declared it finished! Sometimes I know when to stop and sometimes I don't .

Book Number two . . . . . "Take Time . . . . . " I actually made this canvas first - and then decided it would be perfect on the cover of a book. Painted the book with acrylic paints to match the canvas and started adding elements.

Cut out another big niche in the center and filled it up with everything I would like to take time for . . . The three laughing ladies are myself, Teapot and Maggi from a few years back.

Then I surprised myself by deciding to try two more niches on the side. I made these just the right size for two small altoid tins. I added magnets inside and on the tins themself to hold them in.
All in all I was happy with how it turned out. The inside of this book was also covered in Basic Grey paper.

Wooden Box Shrines

2007-05-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite activities is making shrines. I enjoy making them out of wood boxes, tins, books, etc.

I made the shrine above in a swap for Maggi. The background is painted with acrylic paints and then stamped on top with Stazon Ink. I even made the checkerboard piece! The arms and legs are from beads I made out of paper a few years back.

The inside is a combination of anything I had around the house that I thought would work in there and lots of game pieces.

This one was made for Marian - whose house is full of antiques and I was hoping it would match her decor.
Marian's nickname is Teapot - hence the little teapot right on top :)

The inside has pearls, hand mirror, old perfume bottle, small cameos and some old doiles. The scrabble words down the side spell "Beauty".

I had tons of fun with this one made for Helen. My boys were trying to convince me to keep it . . . LOL!
Again - the entire box is hand painted with acrylic paints - and then I used as many game pieces as I could fine. Chess pieces, monopoly pieces, scrabble tiles, you name it.

The inside has even more game pieces - I loved all the bright colors.

Day Two of the Blog! Clear and Sunny :)

2007-04-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I hunted around and think I have most of it figured out - I just now figured out how to add an image directly from my photos, instead of needing a url! Phew! I may work on a computer all day long, but I sure don't know the technical stuff!

Since I figured it out, I thought I would share a card that was recently published in Stampers' Sampler 2007 Catch Up Issue. This was for a swap hosted by Chrissy where we had to use a label on the card. I used two and they were both from a pair of jeans.

Off to take some advantage of the beautiful weather we are having today. Also, I need to finish packing for Art and Soul in Virginia. Maggi and I leave early Wednesday morning. I hope to Journal here while we are gone - and then add the pictures when I get home.

Meanderings

2007-04-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

OMG - I think I did it! Wow, they weren't kidding when they said this could be created in under 5 minutes. The hardest part was thinking of a name . . . . LOL!
Now I am off to see what this looks like and what I can all do on here.
Check back later!