SaturdayVille

2011-10-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

I still do not have a new computer and now my high speed modem has died as well. I should have a new computer by next week. I'm going crazy without one, I feel like I haven't posted on my blog for a year. It's amazing how dependent you become to your computer. But boy o' boy, they sure are a pain in the bum sometimes aren't they? Looking forward to getting back to the blogging world and visiting all my favorite, inspirational blogs. I miss all of your blogs so much as well. See you soon!!

My computer has died.........

2011-09-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

well, in all actuality, it was my hard drive that died. My Dell computer is only four years old, you would think it would have lasted longer.

At any rate, I just wanted to mention it because I won't be able to scan and/or post to my blog until I get the new one. That will probably be sometime around October 3rd when I get my monthly paycheck.

I'm not the most "computer oriented" person there is, so if anyone has any helpful hints on buying a new computer or what to look for, etc, I would appreciate it very much. This will actually be the first computer I buy for myself on my own. The Dell computer was a very generous gift from my sister Stephanie a little over four years ago.

I'm kind of struggling between a desktop or a laptop. Basically I use the computer only for receiving and sending e-mails. Also, scanning, downloading &/or uploading pictures to save and edit for my blog. I would love to eventually try some digital art, however, for some reason I'm very intimidated by it.

This last computer has Microsoft Vista, which was a pain in the rear. There are lots of problems with Vista. I can't wait to get Microsoft 7. So, again, if anyone wants to point out anything I should look for, feel free. Also, I have no idea what brand is better than the next.

I look forward to doing a new art posting with my new computer the first week of October. I thank you in advance for any computer tips you might give me. Is it really the end of summer and the beginning of fall already? Wow!

2011-08-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is a cute little piece I made using almost all Alpha Stamps goodies. The cute, good sized clown and the font for the sentiment is Alpha Stamps. The one sheet of scrapbooking paper with the words "Carte Postale" on it was also purchased at Alpha Stamps. She's got some of the greatest stamps and a lot of them you can't find anywhere else, check it out if you haven't already.

Happy Wednesday!! August 3rd already, where does the time go??

White Pen For Journaling &/or Mixed Media Artwork

2011-07-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

I am calling out to all of you mixed media artist's to please help me find the "Ultimate White Pen", it would of course be for mixed media artwork.
I beg of you artist's out there in the mixed media world, please help me. One that doesn't run out with too much ink or paint so that you end up having a little puddle, one that doesn't skip as you're writing with it, one that works on any kind of paint or medium, basically one that just actually works well.
I am so frustrated, I swear I've bought every single one that is out there on the market (I think?), and they never seem to work right. In magazines like Stampington's "Art Journaling" I will read how those artist's suggest getting the Ranger Inkssentials white pen or the Sharpie Paint pens or whatever else that seems to work for them, but not me. HELP!!! Can anyone suggest a white pen to me that will actually work, I'm desperate?

2011-07-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe it but this is my very first participation in one of the OCTOPODE challenges that Lily has. I'm such a fan of her stamps that I really am surprised by myself and that I don't have a bunch of cards made using her stamps. I'm a very slow starter , and of course better late than never right? So here is my first attempt.

I'm not that thrilled with the outcome of the background (we were suppose to have dots and dashes incorporated somehow), it doesn't look like it meshes well to me, but I don't have time to do another one now so there you have it. I do however like what I did with Marie Antoinette's hair. She was known for always having what we girls used to call "Big Texas Hair", and she always seem to have embellishments in her hair as well.
I used white yarn to do her hair and then I had to add some Pearl Ex to it so it went with her dress.

I'm looking forward to doing another challenge using Lily's amazing stamps. If you haven't bought yourself any, you are probably in the minority because it seems everyone has her products now. But if you don't, I say rush over to OCTOPODE and buy yourself some. The prices are extremely reasonable for what you get, and who wouldn't have fun with these images?

Talk to you soon and thank you very much for stopping by and for taking time out to write any comments. I appreciate it so very much.

2011-07-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

This is a piece I made for the current Stampotique "Flower" Challenge. Lately I've been so in love with turquoise, silver and yellow together.
It's such a pretty combination I think. With these great Daniel T. characters, I love to add the larger heads to the bodies. I already had some of these flowers stamped out in turquoise from a previous project and I just didn't end up using them. So I got lucky because the flowers were mostly done already. Cutting the stamped images out sometimes can take forever. I have a box of stamped images that I've cut out for various projects over the years and I just didn't use them for whatever reason.
I dip into that box whenever I can, it comes in handy.

2011-07-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

These are a few tags I made recently just for fun. These little art doll stamps are from Catslife Press. They have some pretty cute stamps for very reasonable prices over there.

The black and white bottle cap circles and the bubble wrap impressions have a very "Kate Crane" looking style to them, at least that's what I think (hopefully I'm not insulting her by saying that). Of course I don't have anything close to the talent she has, if you haven't visited her blog lately I highly recommend it http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com
She also has recently come out with a couple of DVDs that I'm sure are wonderful. I have yet to get them but they are at the top of my list.
I admire her style and talent so, so much.

At any rate that's all for now. Just trying to get through an Arizona summer, it was 117 degrees here today. Thank God for the pool and the air conditioning.

2011-06-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

At the Stampotique Designer Challenge Blog right now, the challenge that Joanne came up with is "Clean & Simple." I usually have a tenancy to embellish and to keep adding stuff onto my cards and projects until I'm satisfied, so doing a "Clean & Simple" card was actually a big challenge for me. That being said, this is what I came up with. I used the TOBY and MINKYGIRL stamps and then I just hand drew a quick border and a heart in the middle.

2011-05-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

My gosh do I feel guilty about not blogging since April. I've had a lot on my plate however, I really do want to get back to creating and blogging at least a few times a month if not a lot more. I swear, I've said it a million times but I don't know how some of you girls do it? Some of you have full time jobs, families to take care of when you get home from your jobs and then you post to your blog every other day, you are miracle workers, no question. I admire all of you.

These little tags or whatever you want to call them are part of my STAMPINGTON AOC samples using the "Divinata" stamps. I recycled the main panel from Prima packaging materials, the absolutely adorable and so fun to use kraft Eco Embellishment Birds and Crowns are from ARTCHIX STUDIO. Recycled some leftover bags I had from a local shop that had kraft newsprint on their bags, a little stitching added, some color coordinated rub-ons, a MAYA ROAD kraft ticket and some words of wisdom and there you have it. I also stitched up this little bag to hold them, sprayed the bag with some Adirondack Color Washes from Ranger. I thought they turned out kind of cute, hope you like them.

I hope everyone is well and I apologize if I haven't visited your blogs lately and left comments, I plan to get caught up on my little inspirational blog hopping that I like to do very soon.

Happy Summer to all my wonderful blog friends. Be safe, relax and have fun.

2011-04-05T13:41:00.002-07:00

I don't know which is worse.......the US Mail or the Royal Mail. Mailers Beware!!! If you need to send something overseas that is of any importance at all, send it either by UPS,FED X or even DHL.

A friend of mine has sent me something twice from the UK and twice it's gotten lost. The more I hear from other people over there sending items to the US, the more I hear about packages getting lost and never showing up again. I lost a lot of faith in the US mail awhile ago, I think I have finally lost all faith in all of the US Mail and the Royal Post (or whatever it's called).

Just be cautious when sending items of any value. Make sure you take out insurance if you do use the regular mail.

2011-03-20T18:31:00.005-07:00

I completely forgot to post this on St.Pattys Day (March 17th). It was just something I made up really quick for fun, the stamps are from Stampin Up.

You know how Tim Holtz uses the size #8 tag for so much of his artwork? What I've been buying lately from the Office Supply store is the manila 8x5 index cards (forget what they are actually called). You get something like 100 of them for $5 and they are perfect for quick pieces of artwork. If you want to make an art journal with several of them you can do that too, you can do lots of stuff with them, they just come in handy so much and you get plenty for your money. And if you don't like the tab, you just cut it off.

I can't even believe we are almost to April already, can you? This happens to me every year now, all of sudden Christmas is over, then the New Year starts, and before you know it spring is practically over. It just goes by so quickly anymore, and I know I say that all the time too.

There are a couple sites I wanted to promote today if I could, I'd love it if you're not familiar with them that you take the time to check them out for me please.
#1) Crafty Individuals out of the UK is such an amazing stamp company. They make the most beautiful stamps, and then on top of that, they make stunning papers, amazing glossy images to use in your artwork, and now they are making these tags that are so, so gorgeous. I can't even explain to you how pretty these tags are, you have to check it out yourself. http://craftyindividuals.com On top of all of that, the two people who run the company (Malcolm and Jean), they have to honestly be some of the most sweetest, kindest people I've met over the Internet since I started on this art journey of mine.

#2) I'm sure you all have heard of LILY CHILVERS by now, and if you haven't, you should have. Her blog is http://frillyunderwear.blogspot.com I mean, how cute is that title any way? The blog is called Octopode and she is this truly AMAZING artist. I'm not sure of her exact age, but I think she's either 17 or 18. When you look at her artwork you just know she is going places in the art world. I can see her ten years down the road having her artwork everywhere and doing just awesome things with it. I just received her newest line of stamps and they are so cool, I mean, they are so, so cool. You have to get them!! They are quirky, they are like nothing else you've seen before and I am so in love with them. She also does digital collage sheets and you can also order tangible collage sheets. Check her out just as soon as you can!!

#3) AlphaStamps.com is a web company here in the States run by the wonderful Leslie. She carries a little bit of this and a little bit of that. She has really great collage sheets, she has an extensive collection of metal charms and metal trinkets for your artwork (items that I have not seen anywhere else). She sells great products for jewelry making. She also has great swaps to partake in on the Yahoo Group they have and it's just a fun community of artists to play with. Go on over and browse around the site.

2011-03-17T15:11:00.002-07:00

These are a few quick, little stamped cards I made on the corrugated cardboard. I added some coordinated pearl embellishments, matching twine and cute little sayings and viola.......you have a few quick and easy cards to send to someone.

2011-03-17T15:07:00.002-07:00

These are some ATCs I made a bit ago for an ArtChix Studio swap. I always really liked how they turned out. I never did post them on my blog so I thought I would do that now. Aside from the torn pages from old books, the rest of the materials are from ArtChix Studios.

2011-03-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

2011-03-17T14:43:00.003-07:00

This is just a simple little ATC I made for AlphaStamps (using their collage images and Dresden blue birds) for Easter. I just thought it was sweet.

2011-02-18T14:33:00.002-07:00

This is a little arch I made with a spring theme using an AlphaStamps collage sheet.

2011-01-28T00:20:00.003-07:00

This is a 8x8 photo collage I recently finished. I got the photo image off one of my authentic french postcards that I bought at http://vintagecharmings.com.
The woman who runs that website, Kate, is really a nice woman and she travels between Paris and Connecticut every other week. She's always bringing back goodies from there.

I don't know what the weather is like everywhere else right now, but I know lately the east coast of the US has been socked pretty bad with snow. And here I sit in Arizona with the temperature in the 50's at night and the low to mid 70's during the day. It's like spring here right now, beautiful blue skies everyday, it literally couldn't be more beautiful. But believe me, our winter's are the reward we get for getting through the summer's here.

Am I the only one who can't believe we are almost done with January already?? It's going to be the 4th of July any minute now.

2011-01-18T00:09:00.001-07:00

2011-01-18T00:05:00.001-07:00

2011-01-17T23:13:00.005-07:00

After a really, really, really long absence (since right before Halloween), I am back and happily creating again. Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope the holidays were wonderful for each and every one of you and I hope your New Years was safe and as much fun as you wanted it to be.

With the hectic holidays and with my arthritis acting up yet again, I was MIA, out of commission, however you want to phrase it. But with the New Year started I am feeling a rush of brand new creativity and I'm hoping to get back to posting a lot more frequently.

Thank you BTW for not leaving me while I was gone. I even had a fellow artist who I consider just crazy talented recently ask me where I was, and when was I coming back? The fact that someone of her caliber asked me that, well it was more than flattering to say the least.

Here are a couple things I've made most recently. I'm really pleased with how the cardboard collages turned out. The Butterfly card is something I made for my sister. And the standing ATC, is one of three I'm working on, the other two aren't done yet.

2010-10-24T08:02:00.001-07:00

Check out the absolutely amazing giveaway on this blog: http://scrapwithstacy.blogspot.com

She's giving away all kinds of Tim Holtz products. Plus when you find her blog, you'll find some great inspiration there as well.

2010-10-21T03:45:00.003-07:00

These are a few other projects I did for the AlphaStamps Design Team. Let me just quickly say that you know how when you go into a scrapbooking store or a Michaels or just a store where they carry too much of what you love. I swear Leslie over at AlphaStamps has a unique knack for selecting and selling the very best of the best products that come out every new season or every new CHA show.
She always has the best goodies on her site. You should definitely check it out when you get the chance.

Okay, so back to my other DT AlphaStamp samples. Leslie is going to be selling these awesome little gold frames (I think they will be on her site by this Friday). You can make ornaments for your house or for your Christmas trees with these, there are endless projects you can make with these little frames. I used some more angel images from AlphaStamps collage sheets and then decorated the frames with some German Scrap/Dresden, a little glitter glue and some metal/brass embellishments. When I made these frames I was thinking of ornaments for the tree. They turned out pretty darn cute don't you think?

The last two (although they actually show on this post as being first)are just a couple of ATCs I made, again with some of the AlphaStamps angel collage sheets as well. The backgrounds on the ATCs are obviously my design using metallic paints. The text is embossed and is on pop dots and it is from the AlphaStamps stamp set called "Angels We Have Heard on High". I also used German Scrap/Dresden for around the border of each ATC and also the Dresden Halo for behind each of the angels heads.

These were fun little projects for the up and coming holidays, they would also make great gifts or even great additions to a wrapped package. The holidays will be here before we know it. If you are looking for the right supplies........you know where to go.......AlphaStamps!!

2010-10-21T02:24:00.002-07:00

This is a holiday slide mailer I made for the AlphaStamps Design Team. The Yahoo group is also doing an Angel Swap using some of these same materials.

Since I make slide mailers quite a bit I'm always looking for new ways to make their appearance look a bit different than the last one I made. This time I covered the whole front & back with modeling paste (the only part that wasn't covered was the double microscope slide indention on the inside). Once the modeling paste was dry on all sides I then took out some Rub-n-Buff in Antique Gold. (Sometimes I think that there are so many products out on the market these days, that you forget about certain ones that are really great to use.) I had not used the Rub-n-Buff for quite awhile and I was really happy with the outcome on this slide mailer. On the indention on the inside I cut the middle part out which separated it into two sections in order to make it one whole opening. I used the very beautiful stamp set by AlphaStamps called "Angels We Have Heard On High" for the background and then I cut out images from AlphaStamps collage sheets to put over that background. Added some German Scrap/Dresden, pearls and tinsel glitter by Martha Stewart to the inside. I then punched a couple holes in the slide mailer, added some eyelets and small binder rings, decorated the front panel and finally added some ribbon and brass embellishments and viola, I had a little slide mailer booklet.

2010-10-15T09:01:00.002-07:00

These are a few "Halloween Candy Holders" that I made for Stampotique. The Stampotique Design Team has been gracious enough to ask me to be their very first Guest Designer. What a wonderful honor from an incredible group of talented women. Thank you so much to each one of you.

I used a small sized "Chinese take-out" box for the first candy holder, and for the second I just altered a white small gift bag.

For the take-out box I added beads to the handle and then I have images on both sides of the box. Pretty simple.

For the gift bag, I first sprayed it with Glimmer Mist in green, orange and a dark purple. Then I stamped my images on a separate sheet of cardstock and added them to the bag. Mostly what I did for the gift bag was to decorate it with doodles. In the past I've been a small time doodler, but most recently I've been watching some amazing artist's videos on YouTube and it really is quite intriguing how much doodles can decorate a piece of artwork. I mean you can keep going and going and going with your doodles and before you know it, those doodles have made a big difference on your piece of artwork. So I've been dabbling in that recently to see if I have any talent for the doodle?

YouTube is so amazing. Even just simply for the art videos you can watch on there to learn new techniques and tricks. As many of you know, I haven't had high speed Internet for all that long, so in the past I wasn't able to access YouTube, but OMG, it is so amazing all the art tutorial's you can watch on there. And people are so very generous with showing other artists how to do the different techniques and what not for artwork pieces. My gosh you could watch art videos all day long and learn so much. It's really wonderful!!

If you're not typically a doodler, I really urge you to give it a try. It really can make a difference. And of course I would suggest black felt pen and white paint pen, those are the best in my opinion for doodling.

2010-09-24T03:20:00.002-07:00

This is for the current Stampotique "Vintage" challenge. Vintage is by far my most favorite look in mixed media, and I know I could have done a better job here in making it look a lot more vintage, but this is what I came up with. At least the TV is pretty vintage/retro.

I really like swapping the little heads of these girl stamps to the big heads, I like how that looks.

Stay Tuned..........

2010-09-19T20:30:00.002-07:00

This is yet another submission for the Bi-Weekly Stampotique challenges. The theme this go around was "Birthday", which is coincidental especially since my birthday is tomorrow (Monday 9/20).

But I'm not thrilled with this submission either. I didn't like my last one and now I don't like this one, I'm having a bad art making few weeks.

2010-09-17T01:39:00.002-07:00

Do you ever see magazine photos or advertisements and the first thing you do is associate it with art and how you could incorporate that image or a similar image or color into your art? That's what I did when I saw this cover on this catalog. The color of the eggplant is so vibrant and it just jumped out at me, don't you think the color is amazing?

2010-09-14T18:24:00.001-07:00

Here are the Twinkling H2O's I was talking about and how I keep them. I just wanted you to see so you could understand what I was talking about in the last post.

2010-09-14T17:30:00.003-07:00

These are some more background sheets I've been preparing for future projects. These are all cut down to 6x6, however, when I made them they were 12x12. I call these my "finger painting with Twinkling H20's." I'll explain that in case anyone else wants to give it a try. You know the large trays you can buy for working with glitter and other tiny substances and once you're done using those substances you use the funnel that is built into the tray to put the glitter back into it's jar? Well that is where I keep my small jars of Twinkling H20's. The whole tray is filled with them and the tops have long been thrown away (however when I'm not using them I do cover them with a cardboard piece so no dust can get into them.) Whenever I want to use my Twinkling H20's I take that tray to the sink and I top each color off with water. I then let them sit for about a half an hour so that they can mix with the water and get nice and juicy. The last time I did this, I was wearing a pair of gloves and I decided instead of using a paintbrush, I would dip my finger in each container and then swip my finger on some blank acrylic paper. So after dipping in several different colors and wiping it on the paper, I then used a mister bottle to mist the colors so they would expand and brighten. What you see here is the end result of me doing that and just moving the colors around the paper with my gloved hand. I was pretty happy with the end result.

2010-09-14T00:53:00.001-07:00

These are two of the 12x12 sheets I recently made to use as background paper for future projects. I really want to make a journal, but I have yet to jump into that arena head first yet. It's a little intimidating and I want mine to be different than other journals, even in the smallest of ways. I don't want mine to look like anyone else's.

2010-08-30T22:46:00.002-07:00

This was something I whipped up real quick for the latest Stampotique Design Challenge. It didn't really turn out like I had envisioned, but at least I got it done within the 2 week time frame this challenge. The last two challenges I've been too late for.

I painted the girl completely with Twinkling H2Os. When I started this I used some pink paper with foil highlights, but there was something about the paper that wasn't working for me. I then did several dry brush strokes with white gesso across the paper and now I like how it turned out. But I don't like the banner with the "Dangerously Sweet" sign, I think I should have chosen one or the other. Oh well......what's done is done.

2010-08-24T19:47:00.002-07:00

This is for the latest Stampotique Design Challenge. The theme is "WINGS". Tonight is actually the last night I can get it in. I've missed the last two challenges as it is, so I really wanted to do this one. Better late than never.

Welcome and thank you to my three new Blog followers. F.Y.I. I will try to respond to as many comments as I can, but honestly I sometimes fall short. I do hope you find some inspiration when looking at my work or at the very least, some pleasure.

Happy Tuesday to everyone!!

2010-08-19T20:25:00.002-07:00

I'm sad, today I lost one of my followers. I don't know about the rest of you, but I actually feel a certain obligation to my followers. I want to give them something worthwhile to look at and also I'm very honored in having them follow my blog. I guess whoever it was, they no longer found me interesting. I'm sorry to whoever you were, I haven't been posting as much as I should. You will be missed.

2010-08-18T01:43:00.004-07:00

These are some ATCs I made for a swap at ArtChix Studio. However I missed the mail off deadline and now I think I just get to post them on my blog.

2010-08-11T21:16:00.001-07:00

This is just a quick little card I made for the most recent Stampotique Design Challenge.

2010-07-26T21:11:00.002-07:00

I finally got them all uploaded, yeah!! In case anyone is wondering.............. the images are all stamps by Basic Grey and the stamped words are all from Invoke Arts.

2010-07-26T21:06:00.001-07:00

2010-07-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

2010-07-26T17:55:00.001-07:00

2010-07-25T18:53:00.003-07:00

These are two of the extra large tags I made recently. For whatever reason I'm having some problems uploading the rest of the images, probably too big or something? But for right now this is what I've gotten uploaded. I think they turned out pretty cool? Sometimes I think I almost put too much thought into my other art pieces &/or projects. When I use some of the basic techniques we all know and love, along with the right embellishments, I can get some nice pieces that don't take too long to make and that I haven't turned them into more complicated pieces than they need to be.

I can't even believe how long it's been since my last posting. I've been really bad this summer about posting more often. I need to make a commitment to myself and to my followers to post at least every five days or so. You would think I could get that done at least?

If anyone has picked up or received their new copy of The Stampers Sampler, check out all my submissions in there. I was completely shocked at how many of my pieces they put into this one issue. Several of those Stampotique challenge pieces I made are in there. However, I'm very upset they didn't give credit for the stamps on those. So I'm going to write a quick note to the editor and hopefully they will publish it in the next issue. At any rate, check it out if you can, I actually think most of what they published has already been shown on this blog of mine.

2010-07-05T14:15:00.002-07:00

This card was made for the Stampotique Designers Challenge #10. The topic was appropriately titled "FREEDOM", or rather "What does Freedom mean to you"? All these Stampotique girl stamps (and the boy stamps too for that matter) made by Daniel Torrente & Jill Penney have a gothic/alternative type style of dressing. So, I assumed what FREEDOM means to Linda here is that she can wear what she wants and look however she wants.

I hope everyone who celebrates Independence Day had a safe and wonderful 4th of July. I had a very relaxing, easy day with family & friends by the pool all day eating great BBQ & finger food. And luckily for us it wasn't the usual 115 degree weather like it normally is here on the 4th in Arizona, we ended up having a big cool down, it was about 104 degrees. We almost had to get out our coats
(ha-ha).

2010-06-30T13:38:00.002-07:00

This is a 5x12 street scene piece I made using some of Crafty Individuals new mini houses & trees (CI-273). They were so much fun to play with I have to say. And that's not all, Crafty Individuals also has two other stamps that have some more of these adorable mini houses & trees on them. They are CI-274 and CI-275. Don't you just love the little mini's? I know I do.

2010-06-28T16:22:00.002-07:00

This is a tag I made using ArtChix Studio's new "Cool Butterflies" collage sheet. The words at the bottom of the tag are from the stamp I mentioned in the previous post that I got from a Club Scrap kit.

2010-06-28T16:01:00.002-07:00

Over on Helga's blog (http://www.myartisticlife.typepad.com) right now she's been focusing on RECYCLE, REFRESH & RENEW. It made me think that when I used to belong to Club Scrap there was a kit I received that focused on those same words. So I went looking for what I had left from that particular kit and I still had papers and stamps that said pretty much exactly what Helga's been talking about. This is an ATC I made using some of that paper. The images are of course from ArtChix Studio.

2010-06-19T14:41:00.003-07:00

Life is good again, my computer is finally up and running again and on top of it I now have DSL and I no longer have to use dial up. It's so nice to be able to actually watch a video or tutorial and have no problems. My computer is just running so much better now. I think I still need to update my security system but that's it I think.

This stamped piece I made is 12 inches by 5.5 inches. I used all of the incredibly beautiful CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS stamps. The main image with the poppy field is a new stamp of theirs (CI-276) in case you want to run over and buy it. I wouldn't blame you if you did , it's really beautiful. If you go over to Jo Capper Sandon's site, http://jocappersandon.blogspot.com, she made a really beautiful card using that same image. Of course all of her cards are stunning. At any rate, I wanted to make more of a scenic looking piece so I added some of their tree stamps to this along with the butterflies. The sentiment in the bottom right corner is theirs as well. CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS has some really great tree stamps that give the best impressions. If anyone is curious the other CRAFTY INDIVIDUAL stamps I used on this piece are : CI-231, CI-256 and CI-209. They also recently came out with some small house stamps and small trees. It seems like everyone is going through a phase right now where we all love things really small. You can create little villages and towns with them. Also, just in time for summer they have a great new seaside inspired stamp. I just love their stamps so much, you can't go wrong with them. Also if you visit their site, I happen to think they have one of the best Galleries there is.

http://craftyindividuals.com/

2010-06-14T23:46:00.002-07:00

I've fallen and I can't get back up. No wait, what I mean to say is my computer is down and it can't get back up................... This is the first time I've been on-line in about a week. I also just checked my e-mails for the first time in a week as well and boy do I have a lot to catch up on. It's amazing how much you can get behind in e-mails and those sort of things if you're not on-line for even just a week.

At any rate, it's been a long time coming but I finally have to get DSL. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I am actually one of the last known human beings who had dial up. I know, it's pretty comical. I had the "Geek-Squad" come out in one of their cute, little beetle bug Geek Squad cars and as it turns out, luckily I do not have another virus or worm like I did about a month ago. But what he did tell me is that because people are canceling AOL by the droves, and because of that AOL is cutting back on the phone numbers used to log on to the Internet, which is part of the problem I was having. He also said if you call to cancel with AOL, they are really giving people a hard time in letting them cancel their commitments/contracts with AOL. He said pretty much that AOL is not great at all anymore.

I think I postponed dealing with getting DSL because I assumed it would be expensive, I assumed there would be issues because I'm on the outskirts of town and not in the major metropolitan area and that it would just be a great big hassle to get it going.

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. Per his advise, I called up Qwest and talked to them. They are going to send me a modem and you can either rent it or just buy it. Once you get the modem, you hook it up and that's it,you're on high speed. And it's only going to cost me $30 a month, yeah. So, for now until Thursday evening
(6/17), I won't be able to access the Internet, my blog or my e-mail most likely. I'm using my sisters computer right now. So please just keep that in mind if you send me an e-mail or a comment on my blog. I will respond as soon as I can.

Just thought I'd let my wonderful followers know. I was so detailed about what happened just in case anyone else is in a similar situation. It just sounds like AOL is on it's way out. I was always also worried about losing my e-mail address that I've had for probably 15 years now. But according to "The Geek" all you have to do is tell AOL you want to keep your e-mail address and that's it. There's no charge for that. What I was paying AOL for was the access phone numbers and NOT my
e-mail.

Now when I get attachments I will actually be able to open them. I will be able to go to YouTube and see art videos. It's going to be a whole new world for me. I can't wait.

Talk to you all on Thursday. Have a wonderful week.

2010-06-01T15:30:00.002-07:00

This is my latest submission for the eighth Stampotique Designer Challenge Blog. This time the theme was purple. I added a couple of the over sized heads to the smaller bodies of "Olivia" and "Perl". I love the look of that, a big head on a small body. These two are "Beauty School Dropout's" as you can see. Something tells me that they won't let that stop them.

2010-06-01T15:11:00.002-07:00

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These are a set of six tags I did for yet another ArtChix swap. I love the mushroom one and the Pink Dutchess one. I thought those two turned out pretty cute.

2010-06-01T00:44:00.001-07:00

These are some more Twinchies I made for an ArtChix swap.

2010-05-27T14:59:00.002-07:00

My Mama's birthday was yesterday 5/26, this is the card I made for her. I just love those Prima flourishes in the flat backed pearls, so pretty. The flowers are cut from Prima paper also.

2010-05-27T14:47:00.001-07:00

These are some "Twinchies" I did for an ArtChix swap. I love adding rub-ons to the smaller collages like inchies, twinchies, moo cards, etc. It seems to bring the whole thing together, at least I think it does.

2010-05-17T15:06:00.004-07:00

This tag and tag holder is for the STAMPOTIQUE'S 7th blog challenge. The one requirement was to use a template of some kind. I'm not sure why I took so many pictures of this tag & tag holder, but I guess I just wanted you all to get a good look at all the different angles. Above this paragraph is the actual template I used. It is from Club Scrap from when I was a member. If you've never checked Club Scrap out, you should. They have amazing, and I do mean amazing kits that they send out. Not only do you get the custom made papers, custom made matching stamps that go with the monthly theme, but they also include templates like this one in some of the months and they have embellishment packs & greeting card packs if you want them.
I absolutely loved being a member. However, financially things got pretty tight for me and I had to cancel my membership. I'm hoping one day I can go back. They truly are an awesome company. The good thing about their stamps too is that you can't get them anywhere else, they are one of a kind to Club Scrap. I got so many great stamps when I was a member there.

At any rate, back to the template and photos. I used "Perl" & "Gibi" on the actual tag. Even though this is a slim tag, those Stampotique stamps are thin enough for them to fit. As you can see from the template, you have the option of being able to include little holes & squares on your tag holder. I did initially put them on the tag holder, but I decided I didn't like that so I covered one side up with another panel of paper & I covered up the other side with buttons. I sure hope everyone likes the tag and tag holder.

I just have really enjoyed doing these challenges with Stampotique and their Design Team. These stamps right now are hotter than heck. I think everyone I talk to is either ordering them, wants to order them or is waiting on an order. Then of course Jo Capper-Sandon has her new stamps out through Stampotique. Those are awesome as well. I hope to get my hands on her bumble bees & the mushrooms sometime in the near future. If you haven't seen her stamps yet, that is also worth your while to check out. As I said, those are at Stampotique as well. Jo certainly deserves all of her new success, she's an amazing artist and I'm so happy for her.

Okay, well I've blabbed on for long enough now. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

2010-05-17T14:14:00.004-07:00

2010-05-17T13:08:00.003-07:00

2010-05-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

This is the Mother's Day card I made for my Mama. For some reason I wasn't really thrilled with it, it seemed like something was off or it was missing something. I made it on bookboard and gave her an easel to put it on. I've gotten to where I like doing that instead of the traditional card sometimes. Because then it becomes a decorative piece as oppose to a card that gets put away after the celebrated day is over.

2010-05-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

This is the card I made for the latest STAMPOTIQUE challenge. The theme was "Thinking Out of the Box". As soon as I heard what the theme was my first thought was of one of the images standing next to an actually box and thinking. Kind of the literal version of the theme.

I want to apologize once again to whoever is interested for not posting much at all thus far this year. I've just been in slow mode lately and for some reason I can't seem to kick it into gear. Bare with me though, I'm hoping that I will be creatively productive very soon and go back to posting at least once week. I actually had one viewer of my blog tell me that she loved my work but she really wished I posted more often. On one hand that made me feel so great that she was that interested in me and on the other hand I felt horrible that I wasn't posting enough for her. I guess what it boils down to is that this is my blog and I have to go at whatever pace I need to go at, and I can only hope that people want to continue to follow me at whatever pace I go at. Blah, blah, blah......... I'm shutting up for now.

Springtime in the DESERT

2010-04-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

Recently I took some photos of the springtime blooms around my house and neighborhood,

I thought I'd share a few with you. Okay it's more than a few, but I got carried away by the beauty of it all. A lot of people think that in the desert there really isn't much of a springtime or many blooms at all. I wanted to show you all that aren't very familiar with the desert that there is quite a bit of blooming going on in the spring. What never ceases to amazes me is that some of the most magnificent and incredibly beautiful flowers bloom on cactus's. It's such a contrast because you see the thorns that are long, sharp and just waiting to poke you, and in between those thorns are the prettiest flowers. They are big and bright and oh so beautiful.

You'll find that most people either love the desert or hate it, me, I adore the desert. You can find such beauty here everywhere you look. You should see this mountain behind my house, it's truly breathtaking. It's called the Superstition Mountains and there is also all kinds of tales about the mountain from centuries ago. About the miners looking for gold and people finding treasure up at the top of the mountain. Supposedly a lot of people still think there is gold in the mountains. Maybe I'll try and take a picture of the mountain to show you all next. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my pictures of the desert in bloom.

2010-04-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for the "Girly Girl" Challenge over at the Stampotique site. I cut out a bunch of brand names from a magazine, copied them and then colored them in with different colors. If shopping isn't what being a "Girly Girl" is all about, then I don't know what is?

I can tell now that I have picked up different influences in my artwork from some of the blogs I frequent. TumbleFish being one and maybe even a small about of Zetti (Teesha Moore) in there too. The last thing I want to do is copy someone else's work, but if I can learn from them and make it my own, then that's completely different. I can only hope that the people I've learned from take it as a compliment.

2010-04-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well as it turns out I'm not so cut off from the Internet world as I thought I was. My step-dad is letting me use his very old, and very antiquated laptop until I get my beautiful DELL system back. Yeah!! Beggars can't be choosers. Now I can post on my blog as well, however lately I've been really bad about posting artwork, I need to give myself a swift kick in the butt and start posting more artwork. I just feel like I went into slow motion this last winter and I have yet to speed it up a bit. I tell ya what, I wouldn't wish this type of arthritis on my worst enemy. But I don't talk about that, too depressing. Moving on...........

At any rate, I wanted to tell you all if you haven't checked out Maya Road on their Facebook page yet, do it when you get a chance. It's worth it and as we all know their products are amazing. They are also having a wee giveaway on their Facebook page so if you leave a comment, you never know, you might win. But you have to be fast, I think they pick the winner tomorrow.

I also wanted to thank my new follower for joining my humble blog. I haven't had a chance to figure out who exactly it is yet, but I am very grateful and I welcome you and hope you find something positive or inspirational here.

Oh..and since I can't post any artwork for a few days or however long it takes for my computer to be fixed, I found these older photos on my step-dad's laptop I thought I'd share a couple with you. Hopefully I've never shown them before? This is when my sister and brother in law and I went to Key West. It wasn't all that long ago, but probably about 2 years. This is me and Steph in the bar after several cocktails and then on the beach at sunset. And the other photo is us leaving Key West on this big boat at sunset (going back to Fort Meyers). Isn't that the most beautiful photo of a sunset with water and everything? And to make things even more perfect, that sailboat just happen to be cruising on by when I was taking the photo. It really was a breathtaking sunset.

Talk to you soon. Hugs all around.

Computer Crashed &/or Virus

2010-04-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Just to give my viewers a heads up, this morning when I logged on I found out that I have a virus/worm, or I have a crashed computer. Not sure which? Dropped it off at Staples for repairs, will probably be four to five days.

Is it just me or are a lot of people having crashes right now? I know Marsha at TumbleFish had problems and then someone else on their blog but I can't think of their name right now. At any rate, boy does it suck. You really realize how much you do use the computer when you don't have it anymore.

Talk to you soon and take care.

2010-04-09T03:43:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe it's been since March 17th since I last posted. For anyone who likes to follow me and notices when I'm gone, I sincerely apologize for that. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am so honored to have 54 followers and I just want to make those followers happy or inspired in some way. I just hope that when I do post you get some sort of inspiration or something positive from my postings?

I haven't been posting much for a couple reasons. The first being my physical issues. I'm just finding that as I get older, I work a lot slower than I already did and I just have to get used to this new pace of mine. The second reason being is that I was working on something for Helga at ArtChix. And third, I just haven't found the time lately. I hope my wonderful followers understand?

These tags I made are a little different I know, but they are just something I was playing with the last few nights. I first did a random, free-style background using paints, gesso, bubble wrap, a few different stencils, plastic lids, old cardstock that has had larger holes punched out of it and so on. Once dry I used a black felt tip pen to add more to the background such as tiny dots around the larger circles and various borders. I then stitched all of the edges of each tag. I now wish I had used black thread, but I used white. I wanted to incorporate some acetate pieces made by Hambly which were journaling spots. They have lines for writing on them obviously and then flourishes and swirls. I just thought instead of using them for journaling I wanted to use them as an additional texture piece. And I pretty much made all of the tags a "Bird" theme. The stamped birds are either from Invoke Arts or from Character Constructions. I colored in the stamped birds with Stampin Up colored pens &/or Twinkling H2O's. The acetate journaling spots were actually put over each stamped bird. I attached most of the acetate pieces by sewing them on and one of them I attached with brads. I finished the tags off with a small little sticker quote. Like I said, they are a little different, but sometimes different is good. I'm actually really pleased with how they look (except for one of them).

I'm in the process of making a few cards using Crafty Individuals new stamps. I will post those as soon as I'm done. They have the most amazing stamps and they just get better and better. If you haven't been over to their website, do yourself a favor and check out their wonderful products. If you've never been over to their website, the first thing I would recommend doing if you do go to check it out, is to look at the finished pieces in their Gallery. It just seems to me like no matter what someone makes using their papers, stamps &/or images, it comes out so beautifully because you basically can't go wrong. Can you tell I just love their products?

Question Please?

2010-03-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

I have what is probably a stupid question, but I figure someone out there in blog land will be kind enough to explain it to me. Okay here it is............. what is all the "Blog Candy" that is on everyone sites?? Is it a collective giveaway or what? I'm just not familiar with what it is, but what I do see is a lot of really great giveaways on every one's blogs. Anyone care to explain it to me??

2010-03-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is for the Stampotique's 3rd challenge, the topic is "Spring". I'm having so much fun with these. I get it now, I get why everyone loves doing these blog challenges on the all the various blogs. I'm going to have to find a few more I like I think. Of course this one is close to my heart because I do love these images, these quirky characters are so much fun. I've had them for awhile and haven't used them a lot and now I'm using them all the time thanks to these challenges.

2010-03-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

Stampers Sampler had the cutest birdhouse template in their last issue, which I took and enlarged and reduced the size of it. These are just a few of the birdhouses that I made using that template. I covered and decorated both sides, I personally think they'd be cute hanging in a kitchen window or something along those lines.

2010-02-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

This card is for the second designers challenge for the new Stampotigue blog. I have never taken part in or done any challenges for the sites that have weekly, bi-weekly &/or monthly challenges. But because I love these Stampotique stamps so much I have participated in these first two challenges so far. And I have to say it's kind of fun, I really enjoy it. I will have to check out some of the other many sites who have these types of challenges.

You can find them at http://stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com They also just added some great new stamps to the Stampotique site as well, check it out if you get a chance.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! March is just around the corner, are you ready for spring?

2010-02-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

I've been so bad about posting lately and I apologize for that. I'm not sure if anyone really cares or not, but for some reason I feel guilty about it. I've been working on three big projects and it's taking up most of my creative time right now. I'm working on a project for Helga at ArtChix Studio. I'm going to be a guest artist on her website and she's given me several challenges to work on. Then I've been working on (forever) several samples for Crafty Individuals. They are amazing people who put out amazing stamps and images and my samples to them are long overdue. And finally, I've been working on a box of goodies to send to Stampington. I figured instead of just sending one piece here and there, I'd just send them a whole bunch of goodies to go through and that way my odds of getting published go up.

At any rate, here is an ATC I recently finished. I love the look of it. It seems almost "haunting". Then I made another card using those awesome character stamps from Stampotique. I just love, love, love those stamps. The characters are so fun to work with.

Can you believe we are approaching the end of February and March is just around the corner? It's just crazy to me how quickly it goes!

Take care and happy spring to you all.

Live life creatively and love life endlessly as we do in SaturdayVille.

2010-02-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

This is a Valentine themed card I made for the "Stampotique" Designers Challenge (SDC #1).

I never do challenges, I know they are really popular to do but for some reason I've never tried it or participated in it, this is actually my first. What prompted me to do this one is because it is "Stampotique". I just adore these stamps made by Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney.

"Happy Valentine's Day" to everyone!!

"Be Inspired"

2010-02-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

This is a 10x10 stamping project I made using the stamp sheet I won on Wendy Vecchi's awesome blog http://studio490art.blogspot.com

These are from a new stamp sheet of hers that just came out through Stampers Anonymous and on this project I only used the new stamp sheet I won. They were so much fun to play with. It was kind of a different project for me because I was working a bit out of my comfort zone. She is so incredibly talented and her blog and stamps are awesome. Check it out if you get the chance and/or if you haven't already been there.

Artchix Inchie Challenge

2010-01-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

These are the "Inchies" I made for Helga's current blog challenge over at ArtChix Studio. I used the Mini Paper Dolls, Brilliant Gothic Arches, Sepia Gothic Arches & Tell Me A Story collage sheets. I wanted to say some crazy, off the wall things so when I needed additional wording that "Tell Me A Story" didn't have, then I'd take random words from this old book I have. Now that they have that sheet of "Mini Paper Dolls", that is going to be perfect for all these small, little collage challenges.

If you haven't been over to ArtChix Studio in a while, please go check out their new website that they have been working so long and hard on. And on top of everything else, they have a bunch of new goodies over there, some of which are perfect for the up and coming Valentines Day. And if anything else, if you need a real healthy dose of inspiration, that is definitely the place. http://www.artchixstudio.com

Alpha Stamps Mask Swap

2010-01-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance, go over to www.alphastamps.com and see all the great products she has. Leslie is always so great about carrying products that you can't necessarily find everywhere else. Plus, the Alpha Stamps Yahoo Group is hosting a fun Venice/Carnival Mini Masquerade style mask swap. And one of the fun things is that the masks are ATC size. Even if you don't participate, check out the samples of masks the Design Team made. Really, really beautiful masks!!

2010-01-28T04:07:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on this darn love book or what I think I'm going to call "When a Man Loves a Woman". The above are some of the tags and little pieces I've made to put into the book. This project has turned into a much bigger project than I thought it would be initially. I've been neglecting my blog and everything else, but that's something I want to discuss with my wonderful followers.

I was thinking about how I managed my time last year and how I was always having to fall out of a swap here or there because I didn't finish, or I wanted to submit to the magazine and it turned out I lost track of time. I was also involved in a wonderful project with Carol Murphy and I ended up dragging my feet (unintentionally of course) on that which caused her problems. I feel horrible about that.

But what I am realizing is that (and I'm quite sure you can relate) I sit down at the computer with the simple task of checking my e-mail and next thing I know I'm getting up to go to the kitchen or something and it's been three hours. You know how when you check your

e-mail there might be a link to look at something, so you go on over and then that leads you to another site and then another. The other thing I have a bad habit of doing is I get e-mails about an on-line company having a sale or they have new products and I'll go over to the site and spend hours looking around. And that's even when I know I have no money to spend. I get distracted looking at blogs, I mean come on......... there are endless amounts of these amazing blogs with amazing artwork. That one you can do for hours on end. And of course my own blog is very important to me and I'm extremely proud of the fact that I have 50 followers who think enough of me to follow me. They are a priority to me, that's for sure.

But what I'm trying to say is that I lose so much time, and so much of it is wasted time, dicking around (excuse me) on the Internet. That is time I could have spent working on my artwork, discovering a new technique or something, teaching a class, anything other than all of these wasted hours on-line.

It's just extremely important to me this year to prioritize and not get so caught up when I'm

on-line. If I'm checking e-mail I need to work out a system to look for the important e-mails, answer them and move on. Stay away from sites who want to sell me more of the products I already have an abundance of. (That's one of the problems, I love products.) And then work on my blog and at least post every five days if possible. Like I said that is definitely a priority to me, no question. But one thing I do want to say to the people who are kind enough to follow my blog and who are genuinely interested in my artwork. Please keep in mind that if I haven't been on my blog for a bit and I haven't posted, the only other reason would be because of my arthritis and I'm having a bad week or something.

So thanks for listening to me babble about my Internet addiction. Until next time. Hugs & Kisses!!

"100" Posts!!!

2010-01-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'm so excited, this is my 100th post, yeah!!! I tell ya what, about a year ago I didn't ever think I'd get this blog up and running. And honestly if it wasn't for all the help I got from Trudi over at http://www.twodressesstudio.blogspot.com , this blog would have never happened. She helped me so much, I am forever in her debt. She answered all my stupid questions and just went above and beyond, and what's even crazier is that she didn't even really know me back then. Luckily for me, she has since become a wonderful "on-line" friend.

Aside from celebrating my 100th post I also wanted to mention to everyone to go over to http://www.craftyindividuals.com/ when you get a chance. They have just added some new stamps and a new book of great ephemera. If you've never been to their site before it's well worth the trip, especially if you are a stamper. But honestly, even if you are not a stamper they have the best acetates, glossy sheets and booklets of ephemera and just overall great images. The two owners Jean and Malcolm are probably two of the nicest people I've ever come across. Check them out!

2010-01-21T02:08:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance, go over to croppinparadise.com and check out their blog. They are having some great giveaways this week with CHA going on. I know a lot of the sites are having giveaways because of CHA. I both love and hate it when the CHA shows are going on because I get so excited about new products and seeing them and trying to get my hands on them. But then I also hate it because I never have the money to get all the new products that I want and there is always so many great new products that it's overwhelming for me.

2010-01-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on a "Love Book" and these are a couple of the tags I made for it. I'm incorporating a lot of sewing for this particular project. It was suppose to be for the next "Sew Somerset" issue but I don't think I'm going to get it in there in time, we'll see. This is really the first project I've ever done with "Love" being the central theme. The reason I don't usually do artwork &/or projects around that particular topic is because I do not have a significant other in my life and therefore I do not have that kind of love in my life right now. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that you don't have to be in love to work on a "Love" project. Maybe just maybe (fingers crossed) it will bring me some good luck in that area. But the bottom line is love is a beautiful thing and fortunately I have plenty of family/friend love in my life. Love makes the world go around right?

2009-12-28T01:25:00.000-07:00

I'm back after taking a few weeks off from my blog so I could concentrate on Christmas. I hope that everyone had a safe, fun filled, happy holiday. Mine was interesting. Why is it that sometimes the holidays bring out the worst in people? You go into it thinking "Oh it's Christmas and I love this time of year ......." and so on, but then you end up fighting with your family. I've definitely had better holidays, but I guess the important thing is that everyone is healthy and doing okay. That's all I want for my family, is for everyone to be healthy, happy and able to sustain the way of life they have set up for themselves.

At any rate, this year I decided to do a different twist on the Christmas cards. Instead of doing the traditional colors of green and red, I chose some other colors to work with. These are two of the finished pieces I made for a couple of my friends. I stopped making the traditional cards a few years ago and now I make either little collages or hangings or something along those lines. That way they can hang on to them and hopefully set them out each year.

I hope that everyone out there in blogland has a safe and wonderfully exciting New Year. 2010 here we come.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-12-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

This was my recent article on ATCs in the newest Sew Somerset. I love how they started the photos off in these bright reds, it really catches the readers attention I think? I made all these little "throw rugs" or at least that's what I called them, and then I attached those to my ATCs. They turned out pretty good I think. The article talks about how being so busy you sometimes don't even have time to make an ATC, and then when someone asks to trade with you, you don't have any available. I altered one of those Maya Road lunch pails and then filled it with ATCs. So now I'm ready for an impromptu trade.

2009-12-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

I always thought that when you were published, that you were not suppose to show the whole article on your blog out of respect for the magazine and it's sales. I thought you could show little bits & pieces of the article as a teaser, but not the whole thing. But more and more I see artist's showing their published articles on their blog. So I decided why not? I did look on the publisher's site to see if it said anything about this, and it doesn't.

This is the article they did on me in Craft Stamper which is a UK stamping magazine. If you've never looked at this magazine do yourself a favor and check it out. They have some really amazing designers in this particular stamping magazine. Jo Capper Sandon who's work I admire so much is not only on their design team, but she's in the magazine quite a bit. There are also some other artist's who I'm sure you will recognize by name if you pick one of these magazines up. This magazine is a little more expensive than some others, but one of the reasons for that is because they give you a free clear stamp every month. Not to mention they have some pretty amazing giveaways. I was so honored to be in this publication not to mention it was my first overseas article.

2009-12-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

I was in need of two Thank You cards for two different men. I of course didn't want them to be too feminine, because most of the cards I make are. These two cards here are what I made. I have to show real constraint to not use ribbon or frill of any type on my cards, and as you can see here it was a losing battle in this instance. I used Basic Grey papers for both cards. I have to say Basic Grey is probably hands down my favorite or one of the top five favorite companies. Every once in a blue moon they will come out with a line I don't like, but it's very rarely. For instance, this new line they have coming out in December for next Valentines Day, I hate it. Which I can't even believe, but I tend to not like papers, embellishments and so on that have a child like drawing to them. I like very polished, beautifully detailed papers. But I do love their other new line that is coming out which has greens, yellows and blacks together. Those colors once you see them together are so complimentary. And they continue to expand on their embellishments which gets quite expensive.

At any rate, that's enough about Basic Grey. I am such a paper, embellishments and art supply fanatic that I could talk in great detail about every company there is. Isn't is amazing when you think about what types of supplies you liked when you first started and what you like now? It seems to change as often as you grow artistically. But I suppose that's normal.

Health Care Reform.......what a joke!

2009-12-02T16:20:00.001-07:00

In case anyone was wondering the woman in the center of my newest collage which I have titled as "Spilt Milk" is Scarlett Johannsen.

Can I bitch and complain about something really quick that has nothing what-so-ever to do with artwork? I don't think a lot of people read my blog so I don't think that it really matters any way. I am just furious about this total cluster f--k of a health care system we have here in the States. Let me just say that I'm used to dealing with Medicare and all it's BS because I've been disabled &/or on disability since 2000. So, every year when there are changes, or I have to start with another new company, or I have to constantly get prior authorizations from my Doctor I'm basically used to it. Plus, because my sole income is my Social Security Disability I'm considered low income, so the State picks up what I can't afford. Which is one good blessing in this whole, big mess.

But last year was the first year my Mom was on Medicare full throttle with this joke of a Part D Prescription coverage. What they are doing to our senior citizens in this country is horrific. How do they expect people on a fixed Social Security income to be able to afford $5000 out of pocket expenses EVERY YEAR on prescriptions? It's as if you are being penalized for being sick or having a chronic illness. Now I'm not sure how it works exactly in Canada, the UK or France, but I've heard good and bad stories about their health care. I realize the idiots up in Washington are currently working on a new system for us which means they will be messing it up even more than they already have. The Federal government should have never gotten involved in this in the first place, because inevitably when they get involved, whatever they are involved in gets completely messed up.

Yesterday I took my Mom to this senior counseling woman who can tell you about all the different Medicare plans. Well quite frankly I left there more fed up and confused than I already was. My Mom is very involved in what is going on in Washington and she is constantly reading the paper and what not. I always tell her that if she was younger she definitely should have gone into politics. But she was telling me about several different articles that she has read on this topic that say the older generation in this country should just come to terms with the fact that they are going to die so that Health Care can focus on the younger people. Can you even believe that BS? (Excuse me my words, I'm pissed as you can tell.) I wonder how the politicians would feel if someone told them that about their Mother.

So all of this Medicare crap is so confusing my Mom kind of leaves it up to me to handle for her since I've been doing it for myself for several years now, and to be fair I pretty much volunteered myself. But it's so overwhelming and stressful, when we came home from talking to that lady yesterday I went into the bathroom and just cried for a half an hour. I of course didn't want her to see because I don't want her feeling worse than she already does, but I was so overwhelmed and stressed.

The whole thing scares the living daylights out of me. Then of course as we were leaving this woman just had to tell us "well if that bill goes through, prepare to have to pay for all your own medications in 2011." Are you kidding me, did you really have to drop that bomb on us as we were leaving?

You see my Mom and I both have arthritis, two different kinds but in the same arena. One of the medications that we both take is extremely expensive. Well I luckily, for right now any way, get mine for next to nothing because I am considered low income. But this past year for half of the year my Mom was charging on her credit card $600 to $700 for the one medication. She can't afford that, but yet according to Medicare her and my Step Father get too much from Social Security to be considered low income. It's better in this country if you are low income if you can believe that?

It's just such a mess and I am so stressed about the whole thing, but yet I have to keep my composure and not show the stress because I don't want my Mom getting upset and then her blood pressure goes through the roof. Is anyone out there having any problems like this at all? Maybe I need to become a Canadian citizen?

Another Collage with a new Mystery Woman

2009-12-01T01:55:00.000-07:00

If any of you have been following my blog then you know I've been in the process of making different color schemed collages with mystery women in the center of the collages. They are famous woman so it's fun to try and see if you can guess who they are.

This collage is my white/cream/ivory colored collage. My next one is going to be oranges, corals and tangerine colors. And I was then going to maybe do one in red, whites and blues. What I'm having so much fun doing with these is the whole Masterboard rule of thumb. So I take the collage down to Staples and make different sized copies of it and then I make cards, tags and other art projects from the copies I've made. I'm thinking that maybe once I have several of them all done I might submit them to Stampington to see if they might like them for an article. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I don't have a lot of luck getting into Somerset Studio, I've only been in it twice I believe. Their other publications I am lucky enough to get into, but just not Somerset Studio. I did send Stampers Sampler the collage I did with Penelope Cruz in the middle and the colors were pinks, lavenders and corals. That's the one they are doing a challenge on that I talked about in a few posts back.

At any rate, try and guess who it is in this collage. I'll tell you all tomorrow who it is. Of course since it's 2:00 am in the morning it is already tomorrow isn't it?

By the way, if you get a chance go over to Tim Holtz's blog. He is doing his annual 12 Days of Christmas tags and on top of that he is having some really amazing giveaways. He is such an inspiration I swear, what he can do just with a manila tag, it boggles the mind.

Stempelglede Card Contest

2009-11-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is the card I made for the "Stempelglede" blog card contest. I picked up the light blues, silver and ivory colors that were in the pictures that they gave us for color inspiration. I used the one and only stamp I have that Stempelglede makes. Her name is "Maribel" and I just love her. She stamps really well and she has such a striking face. I was going to put a title on the front of this card that said either "Snow Queen" or "Winter Dreams & Wishes Granted by Maribel" but then I decided against it. I used the same flowers on this card that I had used on that first card I started on and then forgot to leave room for the stamped image(see post a few back). However, this time I dyed the flowers so that they would match the whole blue color scheme I have going on. It's hard to see but I stitched around the inner area of the panel using silver thread, up close it looks really pretty. I used white and silver velvet leaves but I did also brush over them with some blue metallic ink and some Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. Up close the chipboard flourish at the top of the card has Crackle Picket Fence paint on it and then it has some blueish/green metallic ink brushed over the crackle paint. Then on top of that I tapped it with VersaMark ink and finished it off with some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. I used several different types of ribbon on this card. I used the velvet ribbon and the detailed trim ribbon on top of that for the bottom portion of the card. For the bows I used a white sheer ribbon with silver sides and I also used a silver metallic seam binding ribbon. I personally love seam binding to use for bows and such because it's just really easy to use and it lies flat when you need it to and so on. I also used a beaded silver ribbon to add to the middle of the bow. I realize that there's a lot going on with this card, but I wanted it to be that way. You can't really see them but I have these clear snowflakes on the card in and around the flowers and leaves. I added Maya Road pearl stick pins and also a crystal/bling flourish. There's a bit of silver Stickles glitter glue on the flourishes at the bottom of the stamped image.

I noticed when I was looking at all the different entries for this contest that all the woman in Holland, Finland, Germany and so on, they all have very intricately folded cards. So many of the cards I looked at opened up to be these very detailed folded cards. I would need a PHD just to learn how to fold them back up. They also focus on every detail of the card, they don't stop at just the front and back of the card. So many of the cards I looked at have these beautifully decorated insides as well. After looking at all of those I felt like I desperately was in need of a card lesson from these obviously very talented woman overseas.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that I had a really hard time getting a good picture of this card. I think because of all the iridescent pieces and embellishments, the glitter and bling, it gave off a glare when I was photographing it. So I compiled the pictures I thought turned out the best and I am going to try and do a slide show with those. I've never done a slide show before so who know if that will work, but I guess I will soon find out? I just want the people who are deciding on the winners of this contest to be able to see a good photo of the card and also to see the different angles of all the embellishments.

2009-11-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

These are the images we are suppose to use for color inspiration for the Card Contest at http://Stempelglede.typepad.com

As I told you in the previous post, I got so carried away making the front of the first card I started on, I totally forget to leave room for the one Stempelglede stamp image I have that I need to use on the card for the contest. So I had to start all over. I decided to use all the same colors I started with on that card. I really like those light blues and I think those colors I've chosen are a good take on the colors in the images they show. The contest ends on December 6th if you are interested in participating. If not, like I said in the earlier post, if you get a chance check this blog out. The Design Team makes such beautiful cards. They are all so whimsical and very detailed and just so breathtaking.

2009-11-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is a card I initially started making for a card contest on the "Stemelglede" blog. They are having a contest through Dec. 6th and the two requirements are you must use only their stamps, and the other is to use the images they have shown on the blog for color inspiration. I believe this company is out of Holland but I'm not completely certain on that.

At any rate, I stumbled upon their blog one day while I was blog hopping and I just fell in love with the work the Design Team does. It's all so pretty and whimsical and very shabby chic-ish. So, when I needed that type of inspiration I would go visit their blog. They have really cool stamps as well. I actually only own one of their stamps, but I love this particular stamp I bought, it's called "Maribel" and it's a really cool image of a woman. A lot of the other stamps they manufacture have a very "grunge" type look to them. So as I was saying, I started in on this card the other day and I got so into making the front of the card that I totally forgot about the stamped image I needed to put on the front. So this particular card turned out pretty I think, but it is NOT the card I will be entering into the contest.

If you get a chance go visit their blog. I think you will agree, they have some great inspiration over there. http://stempelglede.typepad.com

2009-11-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Quite awhile ago I stamped this Asian beauty on some transparency along with the fans and I then colored them in on the backside using Twinkling H2O's. The transparencies turned out really pretty that way. But then for some reason I set the three stamped images to the side and forgot about them. I didn't get back to making something with them until now. I have since attached the two fans to the main transparency and then attached that focal piece to some black cardstock.

Yesterday I finally finished making something with these transparency images. I attached some beautiful redish/pinkish cardstock to a cardboard piece that measures 7x9 and then I stamped some cherry blossoms on the red/pinkish cardstock. Then I stamped out a motivating sentence that I randomly came up with using the Asian style word stamps that I got from Club Scrap and then attached the focal transparency piece to it the larger cardboard piece. To finish it up I added some black German Dresden to the top and bottom of it, then on either side of the piece I ran some black Stickles glitter glue along the sides and then I added some paper flowers to the cherry blossom branches. Finally, I embellished the paper flowers with black Stickles glitter glue. By the way, I realize the main stamped image of the Asian woman is kind of hard to see. Try clicking on it if you want a better look.

I'm not really thrilled with the paper flowers that were added and how they turned out. But what's done is done. I actually initially tried making some cherry blossoms that stood out with some of Ranger's liquid pearls. However, they ended up looking really sloppy, so I needed to make these paper flowers to cover that mess up so you couldn't see it. Overall though, I'm happy with how it turned out.

2009-11-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

I had sent Stampers Sampler my original "Penelope" collage (see prior posts on it) that I made and then all the different pieces I made from that collage after I made different sized copies of it. When I received my newest issue of Stampers Sampler, I found out that they will be doing a challenge/call for artwork based on one of the pieces I sent to them using that particular collage. I had initially thought they could use everything I sent in for a masterboard article, but I guess they decided to do this instead, which is fine by me. It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with based on the directions they have given for this challenge.

RAK from TumbleFish

2009-11-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the awesome original collage I won from the TumbleFish blog. I've been dying to own an original piece of Marsha's and now I do, yeah!! I actually won her RAK drawing. So in return for this one of a kind beautiful, beautiful artwork I received, I need to either do three random acts of kindness to three other individuals within a year, or I need to draw three names and send three different individuals some original artwork of mine as a RAK.

I'm just so excited to have this piece Marsha made. I've always had a hard time believing that she does cut and paste it all together because when you see it on-line it has such a polished, finished look, you kind of assume it's digital artwork. But now that I see it up close and personal I can verify that she does piece it all together herself and that in person it's even more amazing. If you've never been to Marsha's blog I highly recommend it. http://tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/

2009-11-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

One quick little correction. These last three photos were not different angles to one piece I made as I had said in the previous post. It is two different frames that I made using that same collage in the frame. One of the frames has a transparency butterfly and the other has a stamped, embossed bird.

2009-11-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

These three photos are the different angles to a piece I made using my "Penelope" collage. The best thing about making these collages I've been working on, is that you can copy them, reduce them and incorporate them into anything and everything you make. They go great in journals, you can cut them up into strips, I could even print them up as collage sheets and sell them. But I'm not up to that task yet. Marsha over at TumbleFish just finished making several collage sheets and it sounds like it takes a bit of time. But her work is so awesome, I think it will be well worth it because everyone is going to want to buy them.

At any rate, I've made about four of these colored collages now with an image of a woman in the middle and I'm currently working on three more. They are all different colors and the one I'm currently working on is the cream colors, ivory and whites. Then after that I will be doing one with kind of a red, white and blue color theme, and finally I will be doing one that has all different colors of orange.

But I liked how this frame turned out. This is a reduced version of the collage inside the frame. I believe my friend Laura Haviland over at creativewhispers7.com has one of these that I made for her?

2009-11-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

2009-11-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

This is a Marie Antoinette collage I put together for the AlphaStamps site. AlphaStamps is having their 5th Anniversary and along with that they are having a contest called "Let Them East Cake." Back in the Spring of this year when everyone was in "Marie Antoinette Mode"
I never did end up making anything using one of her images. Not because I didn't like her or anything, I just never got around to it. Plus I'm not big on trends so I was kind of waiting for it to all die down. But let's face it, how could you not love this young queen who was such a rock star before there were rock stars. Or maybe she was the Britney Spears of her generation? Or possibly the Paris Hilton of the Versailles? Who knows, but she was young, beautiful and full of spunk and who doesn't love a girl like that?

Well finally, here is my first Marie piece. I painted the chipboard birdcage with a metallic pink paint and then on portions of the birdcage I attached some glitter. I just love how the birdcage turned out. If your looking for a birdcage like this, you can find them on the AlphaStamps website. The french document that the collage was done on is an authentic document I got from VintageCharmings.com and I believe it is dated 1870. I think it's the prettiest document just by itself, so I knew it would be perfect to do the collage on. And I love the way the roses and flowers look against Marie, the document and also the birdcage. I'm debating on whether I should add some satin pink ribbon to the collage or not? It just seems like it needs a little something else. What do you think?

Biggest Cactus in Arizona

2009-11-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are not that familiar with the desert or how big cactus's can get here, this is a picture of my step-father Ray standing by the biggest Saguaro cactus that we know of in Arizona. Pretty big don't you think?

ArtChix Blue Moo Crads

2009-11-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

These are the first six Moo cards I made for the up and coming ArtChix swap. I'm not sure or not if I'll be making six more. I've hit a bit of a slump and I'm not sure what direction to go?

I am however very happy to announce that I won the ArtChix Art Doll contest/swap. It was very unexpected and I was very excited. The ART Dolls are here on my blog back in one of the October posts. There were so many amazing entries I was really humbled by the win. That particular Yahoo group has an incredible amount of talented artists.

2009-11-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

I want to clarify something I wrote about on my Halloween post from 10/31/09. A few people have commented on what I said and I think they got the wrong idea. I was apologizing for my backgrounds and telling you all how bad they were and that I wish I was better with them. I was not referring to the backgrounds on my art pieces, I'm referring to the background behind the pieces I have scanned.

I probably should put either a white or black piece of cardstock behind each piece I scan, but I forget to do that. Especially on the pieces that aren't square in shape, it's hard to get the backgrounds just right on those. The square ones are easiest because I just crop out everything except all four sides of the art piece I have just scanned. As I had mentioned, my friend Trudi does awesome backgrounds, and so do a lot of you as well. Trudi can give the scanned art piece a framed background or put ribbons around all sides or just get the background all completely blacked out. But like I said I'm not great at it and it's something I need to work on. I probably need to buy photoshop or a similar program like that. Right now I'm using the free IrfanView.

2009-10-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

I came across these older cards I made last year sometime I think? I had submitted them to Stampers Sampler but they were never published. Even though my work and techniques have changed quite a bit since I made these, I still thought these were kind of cute when I came across them. You know how when you come across older work that you've done and you either hate it, or you think "Well, that's not too bad."
I thought these weren't too bad. I called them the "Hat Ladies".

2009-10-31T05:05:00.000-07:00

These are a few Halloween pieces I did that I thought I'd appropriately show you today. Before I tell you a little about them, I want to apologize for my backgrounds. I wish I could do really even, great backgrounds but I don't know how. My friend Trudi over at Two Dresses Studio can do wonderful backgrounds. I wish I had her digital talents because she's amazing. So try and ignore my sloppy backgrounds if you don't mind?

This first one is a Halloween collage I did on 6x6 bookboard. Granted the witch isn't scary looking, in fact she's quite sweet looking, but there are those good witches too.

The second one is a little house I made initially for Leslie at Alpha Stamps. I thought the little girl coming out of the pumpkin was pretty cute, so I thought I'd show you that one.

And finally I made this little holder for some Halloween tags I made. The tags I actually made pretty quickly one day for my sister Shelly who was going to be having a Halloween party and I was giving her examples of what she could do to decorate her house a bit.

Happy Halloween to everyone out there in blogging land. Tomorrow is November, can you believe it?

2009-10-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

Well, Halloween is just around the corner now if you can believe that? Pretty soon it will be turkeys, giving thanks and then the whole holiday rush is officially on. Where this year went I have no idea? I'm at a loss. At any rate, I made this little Halloween piece just for fun. The two witches in training are my two big sisters. Pretty cute weren't they? It's amazing looking at them at this point and how cute they were, that they soon grew up to torture me. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating, they have both always been pretty exceptional to me, but what fun would that be if I said how wonderful they were on a Halloween art piece? That wouldn't really fall into the whole witch persona would it?

2009-10-14T01:36:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late with this particular post but a very, very happy 50th to my big sister Shelly. Look how darn cute she was? I of course had to rosy her cheeks up a bit with some chalk. This is the card I made for her to celebrate her birthday this year. I can't even believe she's 50. I remember when both my sisters (who are six and seven years older than me) were in their late twenties and me and my friends thought they were so old. Wow, time goes fast doesn't it? I should find a picture of her to show you all what she looks like now. She doesn't even look close to 50, more like 35 to 37, somewhere in there. She has this amazing figure and the big perfect boobs with blonde hair, you know.........she's the whole package. She's incredibly beautiful. It's truly annoying when people think I'm older than she is. But oh well, I've had some physical challenges that she hasn't had and I'm just proud to call her my big sis. At any rate, on October 9th she turned 50 and this is what she looked like back in the day when she was just a little babe in the woods, cute as a button then, cute as a button now.

2009-10-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

And of course this is the sixth ATC from set two.

2009-10-14T01:17:00.000-07:00

These are of course the first five of the second set I made. Why it wouldn't let me download all six is beyond me?

2009-10-14T01:04:00.000-07:00

And these are the next three from set one.