cmc challenge - it's BRIGHT!

happy fall!

oh how i am LOVING the weather these days!  and the leaves are starting to change - one of my most fave things ever!  never ceases to amaze me!  there are some trees in particular in our area that are absolutely brilliant!  once they start falling pez and i will take walks and collect them - i really try to bring her attention to things like the leaves changing.

hubby and i sat down to go over our calendar for october and WOW!  does EVERYTHING need to happen ALL in october???  and to top it all off he is working out of town for october so that always stinks.  we have our last camping trip of the year before putting the camper away for the winter this month too.  we are heading back down to kings dominion for their halloween set up.  i used to do a haunted house every year down in missouri and i have not done one yet since moving to va - i so miss them!  i have a groupon ticket to a haunted forest nearby but it expires so quickly we may not even get a chance to use it! boo!  AND pezza has decided she wants to go pick pumpkins at a farm instead of going to target.

My project today is for the new coloring challenge up over on the Color Me Creative site - the challenge is to use BRIGHT colors on your image

I made all three papers myself using Luminarte Primary Elements pigment powders and Luminarte Silks in a variety of ways.  Interested in learning how to do some mixed media too?  Check out my classes on the Color Me Creative site.

all the DTs used the cute little monster stamps from SCACD - isn't she fun?!  I colored her with colored pencils as always - I teach colored pencils classes at Color Me Creative as well!

now i am off to get my crazy weekend started!  first - pumpkin cake with homemade cream cheese buttercream frosting, then farmers market and hopefully - some major cleanout in preparation for my first foray into a children's consignment sale - because WOW do we need to clean out pezza's stuff.  she is a hoarder in the making so this is going to be a serious battle!

happy weekend y'all!

art journal joy

hello all!
happy fall!  i know it's here where i live anyway - love love love it!  we are having a great week here despite me being sick because we are finally getting a break from vet visits and everyone is looking pretty healthy.  at the end of this post i will have kitty pics for those interested!

we are gradually getting our schedule back into shape with school starting.  she seems to be doing well so far.  we are also doing girl scouts and gymnastics.  we'll see how that all plays out.

i have been keeping myself very busy with some online classes Suzanne asked me to teach at Color Me Creative as y'all know.  You can sign up HERE.  The basics class and card/scrapbookers class are both live and the art journaling class will go live on friday!  today's project is one of the pages from the art journaling class:

i love how this page turned out and i think it pairs up well with the saying from St. Francis of Assisi.  i love the freedom of playing in my art journals.

This page also incorporates acrylic paint which is the current challenge in the Mixed Media challenge group also on Color Me Creative.i would love to have more folks join in over there!  just click HERE to go to the group.  the challenge runs until September 30th.  a new challenge will start on the 1st and we will be giving away prizes!

now here's some kitty pics for ya:

i have a photo area set up in my studio.  ALL of the cats seem to think it is the cat sleeping area.  here is tiger - our big old maine coon and the one who gave us a scare by being suddenly unable to walk a couple weeks ago.  she is much better now but pretty arthritic which is common in these big cats.

and this is fluffy - tiger's sister.

don't let my art journal get in your way or anything there fluff....

baby kayla, a foster who came to us super sick and is now doing much better.  she will even be at the adoption event this weekend!  she sticks very close to me - in this case a little too close!

Next up - Peter and savannah

savannah came to us with 2 very very sick tiny kittens and she was very sick herself.  we were unable to save her kittens but we did save her.  she and peter, who came to us with kayla, have become great friends!  savannah has only a stub of a tail and hops around like a billy goat so i refer to her as the billy goat, hubby refers to her as Boxcar Sally - poor little thing!  peter is amazing.  the only one who wasn't sick and boy does he have charm and personality!  he also has a black moustache and goatee making him quite distinguished (or comical) looking.  They will both be able to go to the adoption event as well.

bubba, our own Maine coon baby we adopted last year, has not been too sure how he feels about all these foster kittens but he is finally deciding they might actually be quite fun to play with and he is always very curious about their antics

i'll take all the good thoughts y'all can give for us to find good homes for these and all the other foster kittens this weekend! 

coloring with cmc - join us!

hello folks!

i swear i don't know if i am coming or going anymore!  i am typing this one handed holding a super sick kitten on my shoulder.  i have been at my vet's ever day, sometimes twice for more than 2 weeks! my poor little furry babies!

in between vet trips and fighting with pezza over well, just about everything i have managed to spend some time in the studio.  i am WAY beyond late posting my card for the current CMC coloring challenge - it is mostly markers but of course i use my trusty (and cheap) colored pencils!  the challenge is to use fall colors and our sponsor for prizes is Bugaboo Stamps!  I used one on my project:

isn't it so cute!!!  that amazing shimmer across the bottom - none other than Luminarte of course!  check out the full line at Dreaming In Color!  She also just added 25 new colors to the Silks line and there are 4 new Twinkling H2Os.  I also used papers made in my next Mixed Media class on CMC - it is designed specifically for card makers and scrapbookers. it is part one of a three part series - you can take 1, 2 or all 3!  it will be available for sign up next week!

ACK!!!

completely forgot!
i did not give the new Mix It Up Challenge Design Team members a proper introduction!  I am joined by several super talented ladies and great friends - Nadja, Melanie and Tina!  do go visit their delightful blogs and say hello!!!

care to be challenged?

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Color Me Creative is looking for a Design Team for the Mixed Media Challenge group! DTs will be required to participate in two challenges per month. Projects can be anything from cards and scrapbook pages to art journal pages to altered art - it is up to you! We are looking for all skill levels. You must have a blog. If interested in joining the team send me a short bio and blog link - marti(at)pezadoodle(dot)com! Our first challenge is up - see post below!!!
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happy weekend all!!!

i am so excited to get the Mixed Media Challenge going again on Color Me Creative!  i would love to have y'all join in!  it doesn't matter what type of project you do or what level you are just join in and have fun!  i have been working on my mixed media card/layout class for Color Me Creative so I have a card as my project today and it comes directly from the lessons in the class:

 the paint I used - the fab Luminarte Silks of course!!!

in addition the main image - an adorable stamp from the M's Place set at SCACD - is mounted on another piece of paper from the class with even more shimmer!

Now it's YOUR turn!  Head over to Color Me Creative and join in!  The challenge is open until Sept. 30th.  Not sure how to get started in the whole Mixed Media craze?  Sign up for my class!

is that fall i feel coming???

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Color Me Creative is looking for a Design Team for the Mixed Media Challenge group!  DTs will be required to participate in two challenges per month.  Projects can be anything from cards and scrapbook pages to art journal pages to altered art - it is up to you!  We are looking for all skill levels.  You must have a blog.  If interested in joining the team send me a short bio and blog link - marti(at)pezadoodle(dot)com!  Our first challenge after the summer break goes up in 3 days on the 15th!

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GOOD GRIEF!!!!

i think september might very well kill me!!!  pezza is settling into being in big kid school but our schedule is a wreck!  i am having trouble getting it all sorted out but then I vaguely remember it being that way with the boys too.  The bus arrives at 11:20 and drops her off at 2:45 so in order to get lunch done i have to start making it at 10:45 and that is just not what's on my mind at that time of the morning!  not to mention it IS pez i am dealing with.  For example, bath time monday morning went like this

me: hollyn time to get in the bath
pez: no
me: i didn't ask if you wanted to, you just have to
pez: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
me: pez it's just a bath
pez: you can't make me
(oh. do i sense a challenge?)
so begins the death march upstairs to the tub.  she cries and wails about dieing the ENTIRE time i bathe her. 
me: ok all done - get out
pez: no
me: really?  OUT
(she dramatically pulls herself out wailing and crying about how mean i am so i can dry her)
me: i would like to point out you did not die
(eyes roll back, close and she performs a perfect slow motion collapse into a motionless heap on my lap)
me: really?  let's brush your hair
pez: NOOOOOO! i hate that
(more wailing and crying and drama fest as i comb her hair while she watches in the mirror.  suddenly she goes silent and begins looking at herself from diffferent angles.)
pez: do you see how really big my tears are?
and then right back to wailing like she has been run over by a car.

an isolated incident?  not even close.  we do this for every step of our day, all day, every day....by dinner time i am exhausted.  i swear i have never seen anything like this child!  darn good thing she is so stinkin cute!

so what all have i been up to?  besides pezza?  loads.  getting to know the ropes of elementary school again - i mentioned some time ago in a post that i had such a horrid time in school and would hyperventilate and feel nauseous when i had to do anything school related with the boys.  i am trying to overcome that and be "that" parent that is involved and knows what is going on and helps out.  so i will be volunteering in the library once a week along with a variety of other events.  i will also be taking on an after school art class activity.  monday we cooked a big dish of enchiladas for the volunteers at our city fire and rescue dept. which they loved!  i got hints for some cookies too lol!

i am also working on another mixed media class for color me creative - i am doing a project series and class 1 is mixed media techniques for cards and scrapbook pages.  here is a sample of what the class will teach:

has there been a bit of a fall crispness at your house in the morning like ours?  oh how i love love love fall!  time to get to decorating the house i do believe!

class 2 will be Art Journals and class 3 will be projects off the page.  i hope you will join in the fun over on Color Me Creative - both the classes and the challenge groups!!!

new cmc coloring challenge is up!

oh the joy of 3 day weekends right???  does anyone have fun plans?  we are hanging around the house and maybe getting some stuff done.  crazy how it adds up isn't it?  seems we can never keep up. today hubby and pezza are going to a porsche show and then running an errand so i will have the whole day to myself!  what to do what to do....i will probably spend most of it taping for my next cmc class :)  today's project is from the same class and was lots of fun!

it is also for the new coloring challenge over on cmc:

color ANY image ANY way you like

but it must have YELLOW in the image somewhere!!

We want to see you use YOUR COPICS, ProMarkers, other alcohol markers or Colored Pencils!!

OUR SPONSOR FOR THIS CHALLENGE IS:

Pattie's Creations

One Lucky Winner will win 3 Digis from Pattie's Creations!!

 i used a bit of yellow on the cute little birdhouse trio from Pattie's Creations but i didn't stop there!  i have lots of yellow on the rest of my card too along with some browns.

even busted out some yellow flowers and pezabling!  you can get a glimpse of the amount of shimmer on this card in this pick - that is thanks to luminarte silks - love that stuff!

In addition the the cmc challenge i am entering this card in several others:

• Crafty Creations - A Summer Scene
•  Paperplay - Appreciation
• Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

 and now i am off to feed the babies!