*S*P*R*I*N*G* - An Altered Pages Kit

It's SpRiNg time!
The grass is getting greener. The tress have little green buds on them. The flowers are pushing through. I love spring time because everything is new & fresh! It makes me want to clean things out or start something new!

In the spirit of Spring, I made a banner kit for the Altered Pages site & it's already selling!!!

The kit is chock-full of amazing goodies to create a banner as close to mine as possible!!

Here's what the FABULOUS Jean has pulled together for the kit:

"You receive chipboard, tart tins, German Glass Glitter, collages, text pages, muslin and other fabric pieces.  You also get a foam paint brush, ink pad, paper flowers, lace, ribbon, beads and gems with additional embellishments.  The best part is the photos and complete instructions.  It's a HUGE kit with so many supplies!  (embellishments may vary)" 

And it's only $34.99!!! What a deal to create such a fun decor piece, right?!!

Here's a close up of a few of the "flags"...

I worked super hard on this kit & included with all the goodies are step-by-step instructions (with photos!) on what I did & where for the flags!

I hope you'll hop on over to Altered Pages & check it out, as well as all the other great products & collage sheets for your mixed media needs!!

Cheers!

The Art of Wild Abadonment - Week 1 pix

I just wanted to pop in here & share the photos from my first week of art journalling with Junelle Jacobson & Christy Tomlinson's "Art of Wild Abadonment" online workshop...I am a week behind due to a life-crazy week last week! 

But I am quickly catching up!!

I am just LOVING this class & know that I will be signing up for more as the budget allows!!

 we started by sketching radishes...

 then imagining the radishes in different forms...

then Junelle introduced us to Neocolor II Wax Pastels...LOVE THOSE THINGS!!!

 sketching the cupcakes in our heads

 circles that we turned into owls...i wasn't crazy about the above try, so i did it again...

 my painted cupcakes...

 after our cupcakes, she had us imagine a Spring gift arriving at our door. this pea pod was her inspiration & i just went with it. {the quote is mine though}

 then we did a laundry line of our "Spring Line-up"

lastly, Christy posts videos on Wednesdays of her own work during the workshop {she's following right along with us!}. She inspired me to sketch a picture from a magazine & i did the one one below while dad was in the hospital getting a stint put in his "widow maker" artery!

I just have to figure out how i am going to color it in!

On top of this wonderful class, I am taking a collage class at the Art Students League of Denver. We haven't produced anything tangible yet, but I think we get to play with transfers this Saturday!!

I'll post some more later this week from the workshop! It's so much fun that I don't want to leave my studio!!

Visualize it!

I had such a nice morning that I wanted to share it with you!

I spent a couple of hours chatting with my friend Nancy Glass over coffee. I met Nancy through mom & Kim when they met her last fall at Hobby Lobby - just a random meeting of like minds! We all got together a couple of times last year to talk about our respective businesses & selling on Etsy. I instantly loved this woman & didn't even notice the 20 year difference in our ages!!!

(She sells beautiful cards like this one on Etsy, as well as doing floral arrangements, scarves & more!!) 

But when the holiday season hit - from October to January, it was hard to find the time to get together!

So we finally found some time today!

We chatted non-stop for those 2 hours about everything from exes to Etsy to jobs & our latest passions! It's always nice to visit with like-minded souls! She commented on how nice it is too & that there's just a great energy that hovers around creative people! She's SO right! If I wake up in a funk, my mood can totally turn around after being with my creative friends & family! (Which it kinda did today because I awoke with a terrible sinus headache that didn't feel like it was going anywhere! But after a couple hours with Nancy, it was GONE!!)

Today, Nancy made me feel so good about myself & my art & all the crazy things I have going on in my head that I want to do with my art!! (I hope I made her feel that special too!!) We were talking about where we'd like our art to take us & I told her that one of my hopes is to be published some day. So, besides asking me what was stopping me, she said,

 "Write it down. 

Write it down & put it on your computer screen where you will see it everyday. 

Visualize it & it will happen!" 

 Then she laughed & said that that was how she got her husband!!

HA! Really! 

She had made herself a list years ago of the things she wanted to accomplish & for some reason she left off anything about staying single for a while & a few weeks later, she met a wonderful man!

She is a beautiful, wonderful lady & I am so happy to have her in my life!!

So, that is what I am going to do! I am going to get out my sketchbook & play with some lettering - might as well make it pretty if I am going to look at it everyday, right?!! Damn straight!

Hopefully visualizing this little dream of mine will give me the push I need to submit some of my work to various magazines or shows or whatever my little heart desires!

I challenge you to do the same!

What is it that you have always wanted to do but haven't had the nerve?

Maybe it's simple like my dream of being published. 

Or maybe it's something you want to change about yourself.

Maybe it's a trip or something you need to save for.

Write it down.

Post a picture.

Visualize it!

I promise to check back in with you all & let you know if I accomplished my goal!

I hope that you will do the same!!

Cheers!

Crazy Art Fun!

This week is the start of some CRAZY ART FUN for me!!

Yesterday, I started an online workshop that I won from Christy Tomlinson of Scarlet Lime & SheART fame! The class is called The Art of Wild Abadonment taught by the very talented Junelle Jacobson.

Let me tell you! I had forgotten how much fun it is to sketch & to let go of perfection!!

We started off sketching RADISHES of all things!

But Junelle challenged us to see them from different angles & play with the light. 

{my sketches are NOT pretty, guys!}

See that one along the right side of the picture above? With the split up the middle?...Maggie immediately said it looked like someones bum & then I couldn't get that outta my head while I sketched it!! {leave it to a 6 yr old to see that right away!!} Kinda challenging when we got to the next step! {see 3rd pic}

Then she had us do thumbnail sketches picturing the radishes in different ways...using our imaginations this time!

The love radish & the birdie are the split-bum radish!

I have to say, this was kinda hard at first. Trying to think of clever ways a radish can be "used." You can see that I had a little Indian theme going on in a couple sketches & the "bum" radish turned out to be my favorite to play with. I may just have to sketch with that one a little more this week!

After that, the REAL fun began!

I have to say that "I am NOW HOOKED on Neocolor II Wax Pastels!"

 {think, "watercolor crayons!} 

We used these awesome crayons to fill our sketches with color! They're wonderful! You just fill in a little bit of color here & there & let the water do the rest!!!

{we were only supposed to do a few, but I couldn't stop! Now my sketch pad's a little warped! LOL!}

 

 

Here are a couple close-ups of my favorite thumbnails...

Radish Love

The Radish Can Can

Radish Birdie

My little Magpie has been home sick with me the last two days & she just couldn't resist getting in on the fun too...

Maggie's Dancing Radishes

You can't really see it, but the 3 tiny radishes dancing above the boom box say "La T Da" in them! I just LOVE that girl!!!

 This afternoon, we worked on a few more sketching exercises {like the above cupcakes}. Junelle gave us a word {place} & we did some thumbnails of what we saw as representative to that word. {home, travel, journey, family, etc.} Then she expanded on one of her sketches of circles {as relationships for her} into these awesome owls! This is only part 1!!

I'll pick up on the rest of this part later & do some more filling in, but both Maggie & I need a little artistic break! We've been at it since yesterday afternoon!

I told you it was CRAZY ART FUN!!

So, in addition to taking the online workshop this week & doing some more projects for Altered Pages, I am super excited to be taking a 6 week collage course at our local Students Art League this Saturday!!! I am so ready to learn some new techniques in collage & mixed media so that I can grow my art even more!!!

MORE CRAZY ART FUN!!!

YAY!!

That's it for today!

I'll check in with you if I have a minute this week to share!

Cheers!

A PEEK into Spring

It's time to SPRING forward!!!

Tonight is the night we change our clocks here in Colorado, so how appropriate that I share a little Sneak Peak at the latest project I am working on...hoping it will be my next kit for Altered Pages!

That's ALL you get today!!

I will share the rest soon!!

If you're feeling kinda "Springy" lately, be sure to check out all the beautiful collages & NEW products over at Altered Pages today!!

Happy Spring!!

An Altered Box, a little late in posting!

Well, I have been meaning to post pictures of the altered box I did for a Chinese New Year swap we had over at Altered Pages, but I just haven't been spending much time online lately!

SO! Here it is...This is the Year of the Dragon, so that was our theme for the altered boxes.

I used a shadow box from an AP set & decorated the outside with scraps of Joss papers, a Chinese restaurant menu & other scrap. For the lid, I brushed on Tim Holtz's Distress Paint in Antique Brass pretty heavily to get some texture. Then I punched holes in the sides to slide the chopsticks in.

Inside, I made a mini-accordian book that's attached to the box...

I used images from 3 different Dragon collages to fill in the pages of the mini, as well as more Joss papers & scraps - including some fortunes I had saved! I think it turned out pretty cool & was a lot of fun to do! I sure hope my swap partner liked it!!

I received this AMAZING one from fellow DT member, Tristan Robin Blakeman in the swap!

It's super cool! He even included a Chinese jewelry pendant inside!! Lucky me!!

There's ALWAYS a swap going on over at Altered Pages! 

You should join in on the fun too! The rules are simple - 50% of your project(s) supplies need to be from Altered Pages (That's INCLUDING all the wonderful collage sheets!!) & follow the parameters of the swap!

Check it out on the blog & the Yahoo Group! 

It's nice to receive a beautifully handmade goodie or two in the mail every now & then!!

That's it for now...

I will be posting a SNEAK PEEK at my next kit later today.

So I hope you'll come back later!

Cheers!

Maggie's Big Day!

(Nothing artsy-fartsy to report - been busy with life! 

But stay tuned for some Altered Pages posts next week!!) 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!!!

It really DOES go by SO fast!!

It seems like just yesterday she was so tiny in my arms & now I struggle to pick her up!!!

 She had one heck of a weekend celebration in honor of her BIG 6 years!!

Saturday evening, we went up into the mountains to have dinner with Nick's brothers & families. So Maggie got an early celebration that night!

Then the REAL celebrating began Sunday morning as she opened her presents from us & our family here in Denver...

In the first photo Maggie was super excited to open the "big one," & said 

"Is this a REAL karaoke machine??" 

Auntie Kim gave her some apropos PJ's stating: 

"My Favorite Color is GLITTER!" 

Of course, some games & toys from Grandma & Grandpa too!

And, the morning wouldn't have been complete without a little performance on the new machine!! 

She's a ROCK STAR!!

Isn't she cute?! I certainly think so!!!

(Yes, that is lipstick she found to put on! Really! She's only 6!! Am I in trouble or WHAT?!?!)

And she simply adores her Auntie Kim!!

After lunch, we hopped in the car & headed east for a surprise "makeover" for Mags at Sweet & Sassy!! What an ADORABLE salon JUST for girls!! It was a great way to celebrate being a girl!! (Afterward, we walked over to Bliss Cupcakes for a yummy treat!)

First she made some sparkly body "lotion" & some cotton candy flavored lip gloss. Then, she had her nails painted; her hair done up in braids & curled; a light touch of makeup & to finish it all off, a little glitter & a feather boa! (Oh! I almost forgot about the "cupcake" scent she chose too!) What a hoot!!

Later that evening, we had Maggie's BF & family over for dinner & cake...

More FABULOUS art supplies...maybe now she'll stay out of my studio (for a while!)

I LOVE that Pauline is blowing in the background too!!

 Even though we had a little cake, I couldn't resist picking up these cool Sponge Bob Cupcakes for the kiddos...Those are Sponge Bob RINGS!!!

It warmed my heart to hear Maggie's tired voice at the end of the day telling me,

"This was the BEST birthday EVER, mom!!"

I LOVE that little girl! I wish I could keep her in my pocket forever!!!

XOXOX Maggie!!!

Love,

Mom