In memorium

We lost a great friend and wonderful artist this past week.  My friend Cyndi was a very intuitive artist, self taught, prolific.  She loved altering books, making artist trading cards, inchies, and making 3 dimensional pieces with vintage papers, inks, paper punches and such.  Cyndi very bravely fought her cancer for 3 years.  She will be remembered always.

Serviettes

Fancy name for fancy napkins. I recently was involved in a trade of napkins from people in swap group around the world. I sent a number of my own nappies from my collection and received these back. They are so beautiful. I use them in my art by ironing them onto cardstock with some plastic food wrap which melts with the iron and adheres the napkin to the card. The colors and textures are wonderful.

Linda Lee

One of the most talented, lovely, personable individuals I've enjoyed lately is Linda Lee of the Sewing Workshop. Went to her lecture/trunk show tonight. So inspiring to see all the garments she showed to show off her patterns. Loved the Ikina Jacket and the bags in laminated linen! I'll put a link to her website. Patterns are so unique and it is great to see them made up in just the right fabrics!

Shutter card

I'm back! Don't know where the time goes. Been TRYING to study for work related course, ...blech! Why do I do this to myself? No reason to take this course; no degree; no work advancement (probably not anyway). Glutton for punishment? Maybe...

I did some things for fun. I made this shutter card. It is an acordian style card but sliced in the center panels and folded alternate ways. The photos show this is kind of orange but the paper was more a dark beige. I think it was lack of flash in the room which has alot of brown and yellow in it. Anyway, the paper is the fun Graphic 45 double sided scrapbook paper with coordinating tags and pieces. I made this as a card for my "secret stamper" in LATS. That is Ladies and the Stamps club! Who is the "lucky" recipient? I'm not saying!!

ATCs ready to trade!

Spent Sunday working on my ATCs. Some are for club swaps locally and some are going to be swapped with internet swap groups. There's no rhyme or reason for these. I just let myself freely play with pencils, crayons and dye ink pads. Interested in swapping? Just add a comment, your email and I will contact you.

Made a card

Made this fun card for a friend. I used some distressing techniques such as roughing up the edges with a distress razor tool. The ticket and other little snippets are just found items I saved for collaging.

SWAPS!

I'm eager to get some more "followers" on my blog. When I get 5 more followers who are stampers or artists I will issue a challenge for an ATC swap. What is an ATC- Artist Trading Cards! It is a small piece of art, usually rubber stamped or using some form of pictorial artwork, that is 2.5" x 3.5" inches. It usually but not always has some sort of dimensional embellishment. The artist signs and dates it on the back and if the piece is one of a sequence, it is numbered. I've uploaded photos of some recent trades-- Asian theme. When I do the swap it will require that I be mailed at least 5 ATCs. I will then send 5 back to you from the other participants. More to follow...

Rhubarb Tags

Rhubarb tag? My experiment resulted in some pretty cool looking tags. While I was cutting rhubarb for a rhubarb/strawberry/raspberry crisp I noticed the juice beading up on my plastic cutting mat. I ran to my studio and got some manila tags and soaked up the juice. It was interesting that two different shades of rhubarb pink/purple came out on these tags. I guess the difference was that they were from two different manufacturers and the manila cards reacted uniquely. Yes, the crisp was delicious!

Booty

Went to rubber stamp convention and bought all these goodies. Mostly unmounted rubber; 1/2 the price so u can buy twice as much! Flower soft, little flakes of color to make it look like flowers growing on your art. Paper that you can sand and reveal another color under. Alcohol ink pens. White stabilo pen. Glue pen. Embossing powders and more. I've been so busy with my goodies this week I haven't posted for a while. My stamping friends... let me hear about your purchases and what you are doing with them!!

ARTFUL

COLOR DRENCHED art class this evening. We only made one piece to get the technique down so I think I can only get better with practice! The class was taught by Zana from Stamp Zia and uses her vibrant water color sprays and other products and stamps. Basically you drench this special paper with color, splash water on the dried sheet and watch the colors spot and seperate. Stamp designs on it and shade and highlight with soft color pencils or crayons. The pictures show this transition.

Here's my friend Mickie's piece.


And, our companion in the studio.

Love my new watering globe. In the pot-- sweet potato vines in purple and chartreuse, Martha Washington geraniums (not blooming), wave petunia and draecena spike. Gave the pot a healthy dose of bloom booster hoping to get those geraniums going.

Thursday in the Park with Woodie

No picture today but my lunch in the park was entertaining. Today I saw a woodchuck, or was it a prairie dog? Whatever he was he looked like a very large rodent low to the ground and light brown. Love Park is a small but very lovely little alcove in the des Peres/Town'nCountry area. So many birds, squirrels, chipmunks, a wild turkey and my new rodent friend. A nice restful peaceful shady breezy pretty place to go in the middle of the workday!

Too pretty to use!

Have you ever put out some nice paper napkins and heard "Oh, they're just too pretty to use"? I love paper napkins. I love using them with a lovely cup of tea and a crumpet. I love to use them in decoupaging. Now, I'm re-visiting an old art, paper napkin greeting cards. Here's how-to: pull apart the printed tissue from the one or two other plies of paper. Use plastic wrap and a piece of cardstock or heavy weight paper. Sandwich the cardstock, then plastic wrap then napkin and cover all with larger paper like copier paper or plain newsprint paper and iron. The plastic melts and adheres all together. Trim and fold and voila! Add your sentiment to the inside and you have a beautiful thing! The floral napkin in the photo actually has four different images. I think they would look great on four canvases, clearcoated, on a wall. OOH!! I think I have my next project! (click on images to enlarge)

Space, the final frontier...

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five year mission: to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where where nobody* has gone before. Yes, I'm a trekkie from way back. And, I finally saw the movie. I loved how it kept true to alot of the details of the old show. Some of the lines are true vintage ST: "fascinating!". * they changed the opening tag from " where no man" to "where nobody has gone before". That's okay with me! Great special fx and monsters and some surprises. Loved it!

McSquirrel

I like to go to the park near my office for lunch.  This guy was rooting around in the trash barrel and up he comes with a french fry.    He ate 5 or 6 more by the time I left.  Tragically, he had no ketchup. 

Star Light, Star Bright

A pack of scrapbooking papers, ribbon, double sided tape, waxed thread, and some embellishments went into making this 5 1/2 inch star book.

The papers include glittered, metallic and flocked accents and

were

all a nature/garden theme.

A little trouble with the coptic sewing. I could not recall exactly how to connect each of the 7 signatures. And, once I knotted the thread I couldn't go back and re-do without damaging the paper. So, I covered them up with more ribbon 'n bows!

Apple Store They are Geniuses

I'm back from the Apple store with a brand new battery!  Whoo hoo!  Yesterday I noticed when I typed my mac was wobbly.  I looked underneath and the battery was bulging like it was just going to explode!  I quickly made my appointment online and fully expected to pay the $129 for a new batt.  Nope, it was covered under my extended warranty.  For once I actually got use out of a warranty.  It even covered the battery.  So, since I got over 3 years out of the original I've got quite a bit more life out of my machine.  Not that I don't want a new one.  Of course I do.  As soon as I buy one, a new model comes out with more goodies and I want that too.  I think you should pay a one time lifetime fee and just get the new model every year.  That's what I think.

Clipboard Art

Been experimenting with gel medium transfers.  I'm getting the hang of it now.  Except that his eye tore out.  Oh well, easy fix.  That is the great thing about collage.  If something does not work, cover it up.  The image is from a magazine, artist unknown.   The eggs are a color photocopy I had and the "stamp" is a vellum sticker.   This piece is rubber stamped with different patterns on the back.   The whole piece has been coated with the medium for protection and waterproofing.  There are a few dimensional elements; a little cattail in the right bottom corner and some mica glitter.  Don't we just love to glitter?

Erin the Graduate

Okay, my niece is now an ex-high school student and on her way to college.  And, doesn't she look happy!?!

The Saga of the Topsy Turvey Tomato continues

I'm nothing if not persistent.  Try try again is my motto.  I am bound and determined to make this thing work!  My topsy turvy upside down tomato planter has been my nemesis.  To start, I bought the thing because I thought the idea was great.  Hang your plant above the ground, no staking, no limbs dragging the ground or dirt splashing up on them.  But the box did not show how you how to hang them nor really give you the proper equipment.  I hung it on a shepherds hook but didn't have enough soil so back to the store.  Add some more miracle gro, water it and watch it bend the hook all the way to the ground!  Which did not help  the plants.  Some of the limbs broke off.  Back to the store to buy a stronger hook, plus a chain plus an s-hook.  Probably spent about $30 by now.  But my original plant died.  Back to Lowes, buy a new tomato plant, no more beefsteaks left so I got an Early Girl, whatever that it.  I tucked that in this evening, watered it real good, noticed some yellow buds on it already so I have high hopes of getting some tomatoes out of it.  Talk about the fruit of your labor!

New Rule!

New Rule: Instead of killing 99.9% of germs, Lysol has to just go ahead and kill them all. Why spare the remaining .1%? So they can return to their villages and tell the other germs, "Dude, do not mess with Lysol."

- Bill Maher in his “New Rules” segment

Gold Leaf Stamping

Experimenting today with glue pad and gold leaf sheets.  These two examples are a Penny Black Queen Anne's Lace stamp, stamped with glue pad twice and gold leafed.  On darker color and white cardstock.  Lovely.  This glue pad is great.  Just apply, no need to heat it.  I never had much luck with the others.

Our beautiful niece Erin is graduating Tuesday night.  Erin is an accomplished twirler of batons and waiver of flags in her marching band.  She plays guitar.  Her intended major for college is journalism. We wish her the best for a bright future.

Niece Erin is Graduating

Japanese Iris

Japanese irises are blooming.  They are so dramatic.  My photograph isn't the best but I was rushed.  Going to run a bunch of errands.  I just had to get a quick shot because I missed photographing my hot pink azalea.  The blooms fell off all in one night!  

Don't read if you're the sensitive type

A guy walks into a psychiatrist's office wearing only saran wrap for shorts. The doc says, "Well, I can clearly see you're nuts".

Great news for Stamp Zia friends in St. Louis.  Zana Clark is giving 3 classes at the Ink Spots in June, when she is here for convention.  I'm posting my photos from a class I took a couple years ago.  Lots of vibrant color.  I highly recommend the classes.  Even though you can do it yourself with the supplies, a structured class will take you through the piece layer by layer and help avoid some of the pitfalls with the expert guiding you along the way.  Major pitfall is muddy colors.  How do you keep them from becoming mud?  It's much easier when you see a 'master' do it.

Tim Holtz

Donchajusluvhim!?  I am so jealous i could spit.  I read a little about his background and it is truly amazing.  Yes, it is possible to be crafty/artsy and come up from nowhere to become a millionaire doing what I do.  The only difference is that I don't have the guts (I was going to say something else) to give up a 9 to 5 job, go out and meet the right people at the right time and take enormous risks that could lead, and probably will for me, to failure.  Guess I'm one of those who fears failure.  I'm not the only one right?  Anyway, the purpose of writing all this was to recommend his videos which can be seen on his own site and You Tube, and probably the Ranger Inks site as well.  Fabulous new product is the alcohol ink refillable pen.  Forget Copic!  This is for me.  I already have the inks and they are cheap enough when you run out to buy more.  Plus, that blender is awesome!  Go and check it out!

Baby is sick

The worst sound in the world is my doggie's yelp.  She had her vaccinations yesterday.  She was so good for the Vet.  They have great vets at Kirkwood Animal Hospital, they are so gentle and affectionate.

But today Smokie is hurting.  I don't know what happened, she did not have this reaction last year.  If you touch her back, where they pinch to inject the vaccine she yipes.  She gets up and down on furniture with a squeal.  She walks so slow with her head down.  For a while I thought she was going to die.  The vet said to give her a baby aspirin.  We gave her 1/2 of one and now, 4 hours later she seems to be resting well.  So to make sure she didn't get up and down I stayed on the bed with her all night surfing the net.  Looked at a bunch of Tim Holtz videos... more later.

Have you seen Star Trek yet?

Like Obama "I grew up on Star Trek".  Can't wait to see the new movie.  Bonus: one of my favorite actors, Bruce Greenwood, is in it.  

What am I doing here?!

So, what am I doing writing a blog?  I don't keep a diary.  I rarely read other people's blogs.  Now, I do like to look at photos.  I like some of the art blog sites with pictures of what people are making.  Perhaps that is what I'm aiming for.  I'd like to sell on Etsy.  I've started to make some clipboards and cover notebooks with lovely papers.  Plus, I have a few more things to sell on ebay.  Well, let's see how this goes.