A guaranteed pick-me-up

I've discovered a new guaranteed pick-me-up: seeing small children make music. I went today to hear one of my students preform at a school function. There were 20 kids in all and I have to say my favorite (other than my student) was a young girl who sang "Free to be you and me" and was about 3 tones off of the pitch the entire time. It was glorious. There is something magical about children, before they know that maybe they are making a fool of themselves. If a young girl in pigtails singing way off key doesn't make you smile then I don't know what will.

Here are a couple of ATCs that I made. The first one I did using a collage image from my friend Kris. The background is Twinkling H2Os.

These next two I did as part of a swap. They are a sort of modified serendipity square. You color a blank piece of card stock with three different colors of stamp ink. Then you stamp using one of the colors with a text stamp and a swirl or background stamp as well. Then trim down, and stamp with a larger stamp. Trim down and then mount onto a coordinating piece of card stock.

A little Book

I haven't done much the last couple of days--yesterday my big accomplishment was sitting on the porch after work and drinking a beer. I think I have heat-laziness. It's been close to 90 here and everything has the sticky humid feeling. Makes me just want to lay in the hammock feeling the breeze and doing nothing else.
I did manage to cover this little blank book. EK has produced this great line of blank unlined books that you can decorate yourself. The cover is just right for attaching all kinds of goodies. I needed something to put on my bedside table since I'm always thinking of things as I doze off.
I think my favorite part is the little pink heart. It's just too adorable.

Journal Page and some photos

Here is a spread from my art journal. It took me forever to get this page right. I must have painted over and wiped paint off six different times. But I am pleased with the results. The evidence stamp is by Cat's Life Press. Here are some pics from our ATC meeting. Here are the ladies swapping.

And here we all are.

More ATCS and our meet-up

Here is the last of my chocolate ATCs for the meeting we had last Saturday. We had lots of fun. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the time to post the cards that I got.
I was also participating in a ATC swap using a peeled paint technique. The way it works is you layer acrylic, stamp when it's dry and then coat the image with Vaseline. You add another layer of paint, let it dry and then rub to remove the paint and Vaseline. I liked the technique, although I'm not certain I would use it with stamps again. I think it might make a nice background though.

I promise I will be better about posting this week!!! No more laying on the sofa watching lifetime and thinking about all the things I should be doing....

More Choclate ATCs

Here are a few more of my ATCs for the chocolate swap. I've really enjoyed making the cards for this swap--mostly because it's given me an excuse to eat lots of good chocolate for the wrappers.




This last little picture is a gift tag I made for my friend Kasia using my new notch cutter.

Chocolate

So I've had a busy couple of days--we had a dinner party this weekend and it was a lot of work. But now that things have calmed down I'm trying to get caught up on my art.
Our monthly ATC meeting is coming up and I've been working on my cards. Our theme this month is chocolate. So naturally, I've been sampling as much chocolate as I can in preparation!
Here are two of my cards:



I also did one of my journal prompts from the very brilliant Randi which was repetition of images. I'm not much for taking photographs (gasp!) but I used images from a magazine. I like eyes so that's what I used. This spread was made using acrylics and stamps as well as markers. I am just in love with the PITT markers, they will draw on anything!

Tag-You're it

I got tagged reading Nance's blog, and I am supposed to list 7 unusual things about me so here they are:
1. I cannot sleep if my feet are touching the blankets. I have to have a sheet and it has to be tucked in.
2. I am a huge fan of the Golden Girls. Don't ask me why, because I don't really know.
3. I have a really rare form of synesthesia (the mixing of the senses) where everything has a gender and a personality. Things like months, days of the week, numbers & letters. I'll give you an example: that No.4 is a really catty bitch. She talks about all the other numbers behind their backs.
4. I suffer from terrible insomnia and spend several nights a month not sleeping normally right around the full moon.
5. I can play 4 different musical instruments-piano, violin, viola, flute.
6. I find myself watching the home shopping network without realising it. My remote just seems to stop on the channel. It's oddly hypnotic. But I've never ordered anything.
7. I refuse to watch the final episode of Star Trek Enterprise, because they kill off Tripp, and as long as I don't actually see it, he's not really dead to me.
So if you've read this, then you've been tagged. Go make your list.
Now for some art. Here is a page from my journal--as promised. I've had a lot on my mind as you can probably tell...

And here is some mail art that came today from my friend Diana. She is so clever using a cd like this. It came just like a regular postcard!

More Cards and some Mail Art

So here are the other two cards that I made this weekend. This first one uses a stamp by Tim Holtz. I used a tiny little stippler to make the dots I love how it looks.

This stamp is from Creative Chaos. I love her stamps!

And last but not least, this mail art came today from Lorrie. I love these whimsical little birds. I have to find out where she got that stamp!

I know I said I'd have journal pages up today...but life got in the way. But I promise, stick my finger in my eye, that I will have some tomorrow.

card-a-palooza

This weekend I decided it was high time I replaced my card "stash." I like to have several different blank cards on hand because I am always forgetting some one's birthday or anniversary.
This first one I made was a graduation card. The car stamp is by Stampington and Company.

The next two I made using a butterfly stamp from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. This first one I embossed using UTEE to give it the shinny look.

This one I spritzed with water before stamping, to give it a water color look.

I have a couple more that I will post tomorrow, hopefully along with a journal page. If I can just tear myself away from Enterprise to get some work done.

Gallery show and some mail art.

So my hubby and I went to my friend Kris's gallery show tonight. It was a fun time with a good turn-out. Here is a photo of the people milling around enjoying awesome art.

After we were there about 20 minutes, my husband pointed out a painting by another woman we know named Barbara--we didn't even know she was showing tonight. She's in the photo below, with the bright pink shawl.

This blue number is one of her gorgeous paintings. I am so very jealous of her talent with oils. I can't do a thing with them.

Here is a photo of myself and Kris. Her art is right next to her on the wall. She is so talented.
The show is going on next weekend as well; so if you live in Indianapolis, you should go and check out some gorgeous art.



Lastly, here is a little mail art that came my way today. From the lovely Beverly.

Mail Art+Gallery Shows+Journal+Elvis=fun

So I have a new rule:
Always keep my camera in my purse.
Here's why: I saw Elvis this afternoon and I didn't have my camera to take a picture. He was working at Chipotle on 86th and Westfield. Of course, he's had some work done, because now he's Hispanic and about 20 years old. But it was Elvis. Go in and see if you don't believe me. hehehe.
Okay, so silliness aside, here is a picture from my journal. I meant to post it earlier in the week, but time just got away from me.



Now, if you live in the Indianapolis area there are a couple of cool art things happening this weekend. My friend Kris is participating in a gallery show. You can read about it on her blog.
Also, the very talented Beth Wheeler is having a showing on Sunday in Fort Wayne. You can preview some of the art and get info about it here.
And speaking of Beth, check out this really cool mail art she sent me. I am so jealous of her excellent stitching abilities.

How to Cure a bad day.

So yesterday was one of those days. You know those days when even the smallest thing feels completely overwhelming. Where you want to change the channel on the tv, but the remote is on the other side of the room and getting up to get it seems like too much work so you wind up watching strange women selling hair on the home shopping network.
Well, after feeling that way for the majority of the day I roused myself and instituted my 8 step plan to feeling better. I promise you, this works like nothing else.
So here it is:
1. Cry
2. Clean something. (Now let me say, I hate to clean. I really do. But there is something therapeutic about scrubbing away.)
3. Cry again. (let's be honest here, the cleaning thing can only take you so far.)
4. Have a glass of wine.
5. Watch a really bad movie on lifetime and reflect how much better your life is because you are not: suffering from amnesia or being haunted or married to a man who likes to push people down the stairs or trying to make it to the olympics or being stalked by some menacing looking man with a limp and a lisp.
6. Put on some good music and paint.
7. Write in your journal.
8. Have another glass of wine and call it a day.

Here is the page that I created as part of step 6 and 7.

My Version of a Red-Hand

My journal prompt from Randi Feuerhelm-Walts this week was about the red hand caves. The idea was to use your own hands in your artwork. I used this background that was kindly supplied by Nance. I dabbed a little yellow paint on top of it. Then I stamped onto it, and added my hands. You can't really tell from the photo but I have writing on my hands--the first reads "Art is a commitment, a daily promise I make to myself." The other reads, "This is my measure of success." I think my favorite part of this page is the beads on the side, which I made.

Wednesday Stamper

Here is my creation for this week's Wednesday Stamper, the theme of which is frames.
The frame stamp is by Orange Bus Studios and the lady in the window is by Oxford Impressions. The swirls are by Autumn Leaves.

Monoprinting

You are going to be so jealous of me, you're not even going to be able to see straight for all the green envy! I learned a couple of new monoprinting techniques today. And it was the most fun I've had at an art class in a long while!
So here is the lovely and incredibly talented Ariane, showing off all the different types of monoprinting that she knows how to do.



Here we are starting out, putting our stuff onto the transparency sheets. I love how bright and cheerful all the drops of color look.

And here we have a finished product. What you can't tell from the photo, is that it looks EXACTLY the same on the front as it does on the back. It really is such a fun technique.

Here is a picture of all of our creations laying out to dry.


See, aren't you jealous? You know you are.
You want to learn how to do the technique? Go over to the Indiana Altered Books Group website, I'm putting it up there. So go on over and cure your jealousy.

A Card & Pancakes

If I have one weakness, it's breakfast food. And since I'm NEVER hungry first thing in the morning, I like my breakfast for dinner. Take a look at these yummy blueberry pancakes that I had for dinner. This photo really does not do them justice--they were filled to the brim with tart blueberries. I slathered them in blueberry syrup and went to town.
Now, I don't normally post pictures of plants--and for a very good reason. I grew-up in a house full of people obsessed with plants. We're talking Latin naming, pruning-sheer wielding, plant obsessives. While they spent hours outside tending soil, I spent hours inside practicing my music. The problem was, I didn't have anyone who shared my obsession, and was forced to listen to endless dinner conversations about root-rot and other such things. I actually used to interject musical bits into the conversation sometimes. It would go like this:
Mom: The hydrangeas are really coming along nicely. I'm glad we got the ph balance sorted out.
Andy: Yeah, and did you catch a load of that Atropa belladonna, it's really blooming!
Me: I find the dissonance in Shostakovitch to be more soothing than disruptive.
And so on.
Which is why, I hardly ever post any pictures of my own garden. But I had to post this, because the color was so lovely. I will not bore you with the Latin name, or tell you stories about what kind of plant food I used.


Lastly, I have this card that I made for my grandmother as a little get well present. I saw something similar in one of the stamping magazines and really liked it, so I modified it slightly, and made this. I think it's cute if I do say so myself!

The crazy rules.

Here is a page from my altered art journal. I did the background using acrylic paint as well as some lumiere and metallic calligraphy ink sponged on top. Don't you just love my new letter stamps on the lower left hand corner? I bought them recently and want to use them on everything! The little swirl stamps are Zettiology stamps and the ballet dancer is from a collage stamp by stampington & co.
You can't really see it on this scan, but I wrote out my rules for dealing with people when they suddenly and inexplicably begin acting crazy. Here they are, my crazy rules:
1. Say to them, "You know you are acting crazy? Stop that!"
2. When they attempt to excuse the behavior (i.e. it's been a stresful day, week, month, year, lifetime...) tell them that you "Don't care!" And repeat No. 1
3. Recommend that they go in for a therapy "Tune-up" And repeat No. 1
4. If 1-3 fail, suddenly remember that you have "A pie in the oven" and hang-up the phone, or walk away ending the conversation. Do not be afraid to use the pie excuse even when you are out in public and obviously not near an oven. They are crazy anyway, what do they know??
Now, I have to sign off, I have a pie in the oven.

creative fun

I am posting this really late--today was a long day for me. I was out of town for most of the morning and afternoon and then it was to teaching. But now, the house is quiet except for the sound of rain and my Philip Glass string quartet. I love this time of year. The early spring rains, which always inspire me to stay in and create.
I found this wonderful book the last time I was at Borders and if you haven't seen it--well you should! It's full of really fun ideas on making your own embellishments.
I tried a couple of her techniques, but I only have photos of the one. Here is a sheet protector collage. Basically, you put a bunch of bits into a sheet protector and then melt it using an iron to fuse it together. I am thinking about turning this into a postcard for a swap I'm participating in.


I am off to work on a friend's birthday present...Have a wonderful evening everyone and sleep tight.

A little art and some cookies....

Take a look at these adorable cookies that my brother bought for me at Dean&Deluca. They are just too cute to eat. Of course as I am typing this two of the cookies have magically disappeared. Oops, make that three.

So my journal prompt for this week was about blobs of paint. The idea was to squirt paint onto the page and then close it. And then you were to write on the page with your paint. Now, I really hate writing in paint, so I punked out a little bit--I'll admit it--and only wrote in paint for part of it. The rest was done with Sharpies and gel-pens. I titled this, my spring manifesto, even though it's less of a manifesto and more of a "things to do" list.

Wednesday Stamper

The theme for this weeks Wednesday Stamper is grunge, I haven't really tried this technique before, so I thought I'd try it out on an ATC. I started with a base of Lumiere paint, and then layered a bunch of different stamp inks on top of it, using a brayer. The bird stamp is by Rhonna Ferrar and the stitching and lettering are rub-ons.