Once Upon a Time...........

This was a clipboard that I made for my friend Leslie at Alpha Stamps. It has a Cinderella type theme to it. The roses on the left are kind of transparent and they are from Leslie's on-line shop. I actually cut the woman and man from a collage sheet that she sells on her site. Talk about intricate cutting. Used some German Scrap and some Basic Grey paper, a little fringe at the bottom and some fibers and tags. I really liked how this turned out.

Girlie ATCs

Do any of you remember those cute Nordstrom ads that had the hand drawn woman characters? Well, I always loved the look of those drawn women. I decided to cut them out and make a series of ATCs with them awhile back.

Recently I came across them again and I remembered how much I liked the outcome. I thought that they turned out pretty cute, so I decided to share them with you.

(Disclaimer: But I want to say unequivocally that I did not draw or have anything to do with the making of these women characters. They were cut from a magazine ad that another extremely talented artist had done. After reading about copyright infringements on Marsha Jorgensen's blog, I'm scared to death now to use anything at all that I didn't make myself.)

Feeling a little blue!!!

I have to admit I'm feeling a bit blue right now about my artwork. Do you ever go to someone's blog or see an article in Somerset Studio or something along those lines, and you see someone's beautiful, creative, amazing artwork and you feel like what you're doing isn't even close? It doesn't even compare? That's how I'm feeling right now. I love blog hopping and going from blog to blog getting inspired and seeing amazing works of art. But then recently when I was doing this every blog I came across was off the charts amazing. It made me feel like I have so much to learn and I'm not really an artist, I'm just someone who plays around creatively that's all. Have you all been over to Marsha Jorgensen's blog (http://TumbleFishStudio.blogspot.com)? She's simply amazing. Her work just blows me away. It is so colorful and the images just jump out at you. I am literally in awe of her work. But it has also made me feel like an unoriginal, untalented wannabe. Not to worry, it's just a phase, it will pass (hopefully). But really, if you've never been to her blog, go check it out right now. I simply adore her artwork. I wish she had a class I could buy on a dvd. But on the other side of that coin, I need to find my own look, my own style, something that sets me apart from everyone else. Until I find it, I will keep pretending that I'm an artist and maybe, just maybe something spectacular will happen?

Hot, Hot, Hot here in Arizona!!

Since it's so crazy hot outside (probably 114 degrees), I decided to just play around in my art room and see what happens. This was kind of just an experiment, I didn't have anything in mind when I started, I just started playing around. I cut this woman's head from a collage sheet, added it to this background square tag and then cut long, thin strips of paper for her hair. I added some grungeboard flowers and butterflies that have Distress Inks and Stickles Glitter Glue on them along with a title, ribbon and flower for her hair and this was the outcome. I'm personally not quite sure what I think of it, but again I was just messing around with different products and sometimes that is when you stumble upon good discoveries. What are your thought on it??

I have been so busy it seems like with everything except my blog, that I haven't gotten many new posts up lately. I apologize to those of you who actually look forward to updates from me. I think before the holidays I'm going to stop joining as many swaps and obligating myself to any other projects because you end up not having time for the things you really do love working on. I love submitting pieces and projects to the various Stampington magazines and I love working on my blog and posting new pieces I've made. I want those to be my priorities after I complete everything I am obligated to before the holidays. I say this of course and then a swap or something will come along that I just have to be a part of.

50's Style Tags

I made these tags a year or so ago and I just recently stumbled upon them again. I love how they have that whole 50's style look to them.

Helga's Pink & Blue Challenge on her Blog

This was suppose to be my entry for Helga's weekly challenge on her blog. However, I thought it was due today (Wednesday) but it was really due by Tuesday. I finished it at 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning but still too late. I thought I'd post it any way. The challenge was to use the colors pink and blue for any size piece and this is what I came up with.

Just having fun and playing with some tags!

I have always loved the portraits of these women on these two tags I made. They are so beautiful and very sexy. I think there is something so free about the women in these portraits. On Saturday night (4th of July), since I didn't have any big plans to do anything exciting I decided to just go into my art room and just play. You know how sometimes you don't want to have to make something for a swap, or a magazine or anything where certain rules apply? You just want to sit down at your art desk and play with whatever comes to mind. That's what I was doing when I made these. They may look a little busy, but again, no rules applied, I was just having fun.

Well, the 4th of July is behind us here in America and the next big summer holiday is Labor Day if you can believe that? Labor Day weekend always represents the end of the summer which I can't even believe we are getting close to that. I sure do talk a lot about how quickly time flies don't I? I apologize, for some reason I'm focused on that lately.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to go over to http://www.100proofpress.com/ and look at my Guest Artist work. I really appreciate those of you who did take the time to do that and who were also kind enough to let me know what they thought of my work. Thank you again for giving me feedback on those pieces.

One last thing for tonight, if there are any of you who have not yet been over to Laura Haviland's blog http://creativewhispers.blogspot.com/ , do yourself a favor and go check it out. She has a wonderful knack for making the greatest art dolls. And that's not all she does, but that is what I believe is her specialty right now. Her dolls have been published I believe more than once in the different Stampington magazines and rightfully so. They are really awesome and I always enjoy seeing what new ones she has come up with. Her art dolls are so creative and whimsical.

We always have these trends we go through in the Mixed Media world, awhile back it was Marie Antoinette (and still is for quite a few people), Birds have been a big theme in the past year or so, miniature houses, miniature anything for that matter, and now it seems like Art Dolls are back on their way up. I think they have been at the top before but it seems like to me, they are quite popular once again. At any rate, check out Laura's blog if you get the chance.

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful weekend!

Guest Artist at 100ProofPress.com, Yeah!!!

Hello everyone, happy Thursday to ya. I hope everyone is having a great week thus far with little to no stress at all.

I was honored recently by being asked to be the Guest Artist for the month's of July and August at http://www.100proofpress.com/. Ann Moneypenny who owns and runs the stamp site is an extremely nice woman and if you've never been to her site, she has a wonderful collection of stamps available.

If you get the chance, go check out my work at her site. It's under the Guest Artist area. I would love to hear what you think about the pieces I did for her, good or bad. I always like getting constructive criticism about my work and I value each one of your opinions.

There is actually one piece that I sent into her for this project that I just hate. I'm not happy with the outcome at all of this one piece, but I was short on time and ended up sending it in since I didn't have time to replace it with a new one. It's the third piece titled "Wild and Free". I did this whole button, ribbon, leaf arrangement in the top left corner that just looks hideous. Take a look, you'll see what I mean?

That's all for now. Take care and have a great rest of the week. It's Fourth of July weekend here in the States!! Go swimming, eat hot dogs, watch fireworks, sit on the beach with a loved one, eat Popsicles, just do all those wonderfully fun American traditions that go along with the 4th of July and summer. But most of all have tons of fun this weekend and be safe.