Fly by blogging

Well, still working lots and lots. I did go to a picnic last weekend that was for alumni of my high school. My brother, sister and I all went and it was interesting. Got to visit with some teachers I really liked. It's amazing how some of seemed so much older at the time but now there isn't that many years between us. Odd how that happens as you get older. We had our own after party at my brother's house for some sibling time. I do so love my brother and sister and am so grateful we all actually like each other and have so much fun.

A few weekends ago I did get in some creative time. This first one is just the beginning of the color layers but I love playing with textures. I had scored some European corrugated packing stuff at IKEA and have been itching to start using it along with some burlap and mesh.







This one was inspired by a video by Robin-Marie Smith. I love her art work with all the layering of colors. I used water color paper and freed it from it's bindings. ;-). I just went to town playing with stencils and Glimmer Mist







This is one that started it's life as the background for some ATC's I made for swap. I just had fun enhancing it and adding more layers with crackle paste and molding paste. I have to figure out how to give it a focal point but I think I'm liking it so far.












Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

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Shopping...

Well, it's been a lot of work, work, work for me but took some time out last weekend to go shopping at a local antique market. Mom and my friend Rebecca went with me. It was a little like old home week because we also met up with a couple of girls from our Inspired creative retreat last month. Brenda met us there and Andra was helping a friend with her booth. I've been one other time to the Lakewood 400 Antiques Market but this time there were more artists and met some very lovely ladies. I still would like to check out Scott's Antique Market sometime soon. I'm on the hunt for some old tin ceiling tiles don't cost a bunch and looking for a flea market that has hidden treasures that are cheap

I did find an awesome coffee bag, a piece of flocked wall paper from Andra's friend, some old hinges and some awesome vintage sewing patterns (25 cents each, score!). Oh, and these wooed block and metal things from an old textile factory for a buck a piece. I'm going to make some sort of background canvas and attach them. Haven't decided if I'm going to alter them or use as is. Love the look of them.

Oh, and one more score. At work one of the projectors died and one of the guys asked if I wanted it for the lenses. I said that was an awesome idea. Took it apart (lots and loys of screws) and found some very lovely pieces of glass I'm going to try my hand at soldering and will make some pendants. The larger pieces I will try to use in collaging.















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Catching up...

So after a week of being back to the daily grind of work I'm finally sitting down for a recap of my time at Inspired Artist Workshop. It was such a lovely time playing with paint and other mediums and meeting some fantastic new friends.

Playing with hot glue (which caused a little cursing), jute and felt with Lolly Chessie.








Encaustic with Patricia Baldwin Seggebrush.





Painting on canvas and muslin with Alisa Burke.











Making jewelry using glass bubbles or resin with Becky Nunn.








Upcycling by fusing shopping bags with an iron and decorating them with Tracie Lampe.






Of all the classes I want to play more with encaustic and bought a starter kit and maybe make some more fused bags. Gotta do something with the big stack that my friend Rebecca collected for us. Guess what every one will be getting for Christmas. ;-)

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Inspired...

Yesterday was the first not official day of Inspired Artist Workshop. This is my second and final year since Donna Downey has decided to go another route with her creativeness. I'm disappointed about it since this is the only thing like this that is within driving distance but I understand. This is a really big undertaking that she and her husband Bill do an excellent job with.

So yesterday my bestie, Rebecca and I took three workshops and enjoyed every one of them. Here are some pics.









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Some swaps

Well, I went and signed up for a couple swaps and have been madly working in those the last few weeks.

One is a charm swap that started with Friendly Plastic but the size needed to be small (max 1 1/2") and I didn't like the results. I moved on to using metal washers from the hardware store and am much happier. I hammered the washers with a ball hammer, used alcohol inks, glossy accents, a bead and some silver wire. I am definitely going to make some more for some gifts and to sell.

I also signed up for an ATC swap and had to get that done over the weekend. Had so much fun covering a sheet of water color with old catalog pages and a layer of tissue paper to soften and then doing a bit of a wash with paint. Cut a portion of the sheet up to ATC sizes. I then cut out 28 birds from some paper napkins but before adhering them I used a pink watercolor crayon and made it drippy. After putting it all together and including a stamp I used some punchenella (sp) to add a touch of white dots here and there and finally stamped the word beauty. Beauty may be my word for the year. First comes transformation and then inner beauty which has it's own outer beauty. I think I'm supposed to learn something about that but being a little slow witted.

So 28 charms and 19 atc's later I'm done. I did enjoy finally having some time to play. Pictures below are pretty bad but will give you an idea of what they all look like.

And I can't express how excited I am to be going on vacation in two weeks to Donna Downey's Inspired. A week of being creative is so heavenly right now. Well, way past my bedtime so sweet dreams.






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Checkout this contest and classes

There are some awesome online classes available at The Land of Lost Luggage and a great contest with the prize being lifetime classes. I have one class I've signed up for already and can't wait to try another. Chris Cozen and Julie Pritchard are very talented ladies with a passion for teaching.

http://julieprichard.squarespace.com/blog/2011/4/16/this-is-not-a-test-win-free-classes-for-life.html



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Just checking in again...

Well, working crazy hours and not getting much play time. In May I'm going to Donna Downey's Inspired Artist Workshop and as a part of that I thought I didn't already have enough to do so signed up for a charm swap and ATC swap. so Sunday I started working on making a charm using friendly plastic. I watched hours of YouTube for ideas and technical details on Friday and Saturday night and after all that all I came up with was this sad little round thing with a little embellishment that ended up looking like eyes and a mouth. I couldn't even stand to take a picture of it. So my next round is going to involve washers from the hardware store. Hopefully I can manage something I'll be happy with since my deadlines are closing in fast. Whew! Now I'm stressed out. Must need a nice serene beach scene.




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Checking in

Well, haven't had any creative time lately but I had a lovely mini vacation last weekend in sunny Florida. We went to celebrate Ellen's birthday, mother of Rebecca, one of my best friends. Our friend Lana offered her house for the weekend and we were prepared for crashing on air mattresses and then we were surprised when her boss offered their beach house. It was a very lovely and relaxing house with a small pier out on the bay side in Cape San Blas.

We had good food , good laughs, a lovely walk on the beach and an altogether lovely time.















Mom and the birthday girl Ellen


Our lovely hostess, Lana



A walk on the beach.














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Playing with paper and paint...

Had a lovely day with the girlies yesterday. They scrapbooked and I worked on some collages I had started. The set below is my first diptych attempt.  Technically I should hing them but I haven't decided if they would look better framed.  I'm also contemplating selling them on Etsy.  I started with layering some colors on the canvases and had fun with using some sequin waste and stencils for the background.  I layered on some scrapbook paper (including a fabulous piece of embossed felt), old papers, words torn out of magazines, a bird and nest cut out of paper napkins, some not so old pieces of lace, Maya Road chipboard trees, a couple international stamps and some little metal frames.  I got stuck at one point because I had a large area that was way too much pink.  Not sure why I am in such a pink mode lately.  I usually stay away from it but I am having fun with it.  Need to play with some orange next maybe.

 This is another collage I did a few months ago.  I even used a piece of baby wipes saved from previous painting wipe ups.  I need to flatten it but thinking about putting it on Etsy too.