life is...shimmering!

happy rainy day everyone!

it is even CHILLY here - that's just crazy!  we have been having the most bizarre weather here in northern VA - shorts in february and then long pants in june?  what gives!  i do love the rain though - means i can skip watering my tomatoes!  we have three bushes with tomatoes and one has little baby tomatoes the size of blueberries!  and speaking of blueberries our bushed are loaded but we still have not taken steps to protect them from the birds.  today i thought some might be ripe but NOPE - talk about sour!  pezza spit hers right back out!

we had QUITE the crazy weekend here - we decided we were going to move my studio from the basement up 2 flights of stairs to Trev's old room.  I was planning on taking my time to get it all moved - clean and organize as i go...but hubby decided we were moving it ALL yesterday.  thank goodness trevor was in need of some cash so we put him to work.  and WOW talk about alot of work.  O. M. G.  but we got very nearly all of it up here and the old bedroom furniture down there to turn the studio space into a guest bedroom.  i will put the pics at the end of this post.  it is very close to the same size and is set up nearly the same BUT i have more wall space.  walls mean SHELVES!

despite the mess i managed to work on some stuff for my upcoming class "Adventures in Mixed Media"  that will be out on July 8th on Color Me Creative!  This will have LOADS of info and techniques that can be easily used by cardmakers and scrapbookers OR put on a display on a wall!   So keep your eyes open for that to launch!

today Color Me Creative kicks off the next challenge in the Mix It Up challenge group.  You must focus on the color black while creating - this does NOT mean you are making something about death!  or halloween!  although you could.  i made a journal page from a page i covered in black gesso:

 i "drew" my picture using masking fluid and a bamboo skewer and let it dry until clear.

Next I painted the whole page with Luminarte Silks - such gorgeous color!

When it was dry I peeled the masking fluid back off and then doodled with some Gelly Roll pens - metallic gold and white souffle.  i love how it turned out - what do you think???

Now come on over and join in the challenge!!!!!  if we get enough people to participate then I might give some of the BRAND NEW SILKS COLORS away!!!!   (Thank you Leslie at Dreaming In Color!)  Here is how it will work:

• 5 entries - 1 person wins 2 Silks colors

• 10 entries - 1 person wins 5 Silks colors

• 15 entries - a SECOND person will win 2 Silks colors

• 20 entries - that second winner gets 5 Silks colors.

SOOOOO that means y'all need to spread the word!!!!!  drum up some folks who love to play around and get messy!  here are the new Silks:

MMMMMMM you know you want some!!!! hee hee!

and now my craft room last night:

UGH!!!!!

and now:

it is set up nearly the same as it was downstairs - here is my work are and on the other side is a second work table with my cutters.  Shelves are in the closet

continuing around the spiral of craft insanity - tables and two windows so i get lots of light!  bubba loves it to - that is his spot.

file cabinet which holds all my 8.5 x 11 papers and the 5 boxes of stamps i need to put back in their drawers

black cat on top and the two cricuts on the bottom but still easily accesible.  my tall bookshelf is still downstairs which will go next to this table but i just couldn't start lugging all those books up the stairs.......