De La Mer

My wonderful friend, Karen, hosted this fun ATC swap. When she asked me if I wanted to participate I jumped at the chance. The art work created for it was exceptional!
I created this sweet mermaiden!
I love the Mer People!


Many exciting things that happened during the summer.
I must share one of the best!
I found the sea in the mail box!
It was contained in this fabulous envelope covered with features from the sea.
It was only a preview of the amazing art which came flooding out when the envelope was opened.

Stop To Smell The Roses

Many years ago, while visiting my sister in Dallas, I attended a workshop to make paper flowers. Since then I have been addicted to these colorful blooms. Today I had the chance to attend another workshop,however, it was here in town. This beautiful bouquet is the end result.
It was an afternoon well spent. There are so many different techniques used to construct each different flower it makes the bouquet so amazing. I am so excited to infuse these techniques in other art projects.
It will be interesting to see what will happen with some brown grocery bags, stamps, inks and maybe collage sheets !
Today's project covered a lot of twisting paper and twisting wire.The most surprising event of the project was creating matching crinkle for the base by taking a plain sheet and sending it through the shredder and the pleating the shreds!

Saturday Artfest

I have several stamps that found their way into my stash that are text and numbers. I use them a lot in scrapbooks. I always love a challenge to use stamps in other projects, so when a numbers swap came up, I was thrill at the opportunity to use them to create an ATC. This is what I was inspired to create, "The Number Five"
The coin stamps are so fun to use, and they are great for using when the cards need to be mailed as they add very little weight. It was fun to create the nickel heads, I used colored pencil and finished them with a silver rub around the edges. It's so fun to see what other cards have been create for the swap!

A Month At The Zoo

As we approach the Penguin exhibit I feel a chill in the air.
It's a great place to hang out during the heat of the summer.
This little guy wanted his portrait setting to be Helga's masterboard,so I complied.
He is an inchie. He's embellished with a glitter snow flake and a flower. I find inchies, because of their small size, both fun and challenging .
The colors in the masterboard made a wonderful background for Mr.Penguin with both warm and cool colors making a visual statement.
What he is really trying to say is,
"Cold Feet, Warm Heart"

Fabulous Art Weekend

My Niece , Melissa , has hosted her

first of several ATC swaps. Her theme,

"Decades".

I found this image and was very taken with it.

It illustrates the first style of pants that women

wore.

I thought that it was noteworthy.

1914 the start of the first World War, and women in

pants. Notice she is still covered with a hat and gloves.

The background of this ATC is a very old,

vintage sears catalog page.

The cards that I have received in return are really great and I am looking forward to posting them at the end of the week, after the other participants receive their cards in the mail.

Highland Lass

Meet Highland Mary.....
She works in the city, but on the weekend
she attires herself in her tweeds and woolies
and roams through the heather.
She thinks of the Lords of old and their Ladies
waiting for them to return to their castles
inside of the town walls.
~ Card painted in alcohol ink,
Castle and text Image hand stamped
Collage clip colored with Prisma Colored pencils
and metallic gel pens.
(Notice the eyeliner to bring out her blue eyes!)
Scottie plaid ribbon attached with ultimate glue

Addicted

Isn't this fabulous?
This is alcohol ink.
Those ladies at Mystic Paper challenged us to use it in the ATC swap this month.
I had decided that I was going to pass on this one, but I am so glad that I played...
It is fabulous. I hadn't had this much fun since finger painting! I thought for my first try I would keep it simple....
I only had three colors to start with and I didn't know what I was going to do. So......................I called on my friend , Tim Holtz, and he showed me some techniques........(I actually went to his site, and watched his mini films)Then went back to the store to pick up a few missing things, like the blending solution and a few more colors......This is what was created!

And The Winners are:

I thank you all for the wonderful comments

that you took the time to post.

I was so excited to announce the winner, I had to create a tiny poster for the occasion ......

I am so thrilled to be sharing this wonderful punchinella, so I have made 3 packages!

Congratulations, To the Three lucky winners......................

now you need to post a comment with your emails so I can get your address to send out the winners boxes!

I cannot wait to see the creations that are made with the materials!

Saturday Drive

It was a perfect day on Saturday to take a drive.
The weather was clear and hot~not as hot as it had been
during the week, but a nice day to drive up into the mountains.
The destination....Jerome, Arizona. Now an artsy, museum, ghost town. We went via Prescott and took the Mingus Mountain Scenic Route. Talk about living on the edge. I took several picture of the drive along the edge... but they just don't give you that driving on edge feeling.
As you can see Jerome is an old mining town, which has turned into an artist community.
It was late when we arrived so we ate at the Haunted Hamburger on their cool patio, enjoying the sunset and
the view off the San Francisco Peaks.
Inspiring....The colors of the sunset were breathtaking.
The menu was fun,I ordered the "Ghost Burger" and it was
good, although it didn't come with any spirits on the side!

Blog Goodies

Who is your muse...... What inspires you? Is it a favorite collage image, a person, a favorite stamp, or a song...... the list can be infinite. Share what inspires you by leaving a comment and win a package full of inspiration....including yards of "Punchinella" the fun sequin scrap we love to use in art projects! I will place everyone who leaves a comment in a drawing and announce it on Monday night! I can't wait to read your comments !

Hot August Night

August is an activity packed month full of celebrations.
Weddings, anniversaries, and .......birthdays.
The best way to celebrate, of course, is through art!
I want to celebrate and share this memory of my mother, Rita, a very creative soul.
It was one hot August that the two of us collaborated and created a book which was to be a wedding gift for my husband , Don. The book recounts an adventure of his pet goat, Dennis. I wrote the story and my mother hand drew the illustrations. We hand bound it into a pop of book complete with sliding tabs and window flaps, and things that lift off the page. This book has given us a lot of pleasure over the years. It is such a fond remembrance of Dennis and his antics.
It is also a visual reminder of how talented my mother was and how much fun we had in the creative process!
Happy Anniversary, Don.......