goldilocks...?

happy saturday!

i think we finally have a weekend of limited running around.  hubby is going to fix the gaping hole in the dining room ceiling so we can host turkey day dinner without it - a plus we are thinking...i have just my usual cat duties - i go to petsmart saturday morning and take care of the cats in the cat center and then i will bring my three foster babies in sunday afternoon for adoption.

this past thursday night pezza and i went to a girl scout fundraiser - they put on a showing of the movie Brave in her school cafeteria.  i was SO excited because i have really been wanting to see it since i am obssessed with all things ancient ireland/celtic/scotland/etc. and this looked right up my alley!  pezza, however is completely anti princess and had no desire whatsoever to see the movie AT ALL.  she did want to go see her friends though so off we went.  and once again, i felt the benefits of both living in a small town AND living somewhere for eight years IN A ROW.  we knew quite alot of the folks there and i even got to see and hang out with my buddy amy sheffer (pickled paper) whom i love and do not get to see nearly enough.  it's a running joke that we live off the same road but we don't see each other until CHA in anaheim!  her youngest, gabe, is the same age as pez and they get along great.  he is also in my kids mixed media class at pez's school. as for the movie - hilarious, somewhat violent (ok quite violent) and i liked it sort of.  i was expecting a bit more from the storyline but oh well.

and did you hear about hostess?  holy cupcakes!  no more dolly madison cinnamon rolls SAY IT ISN'T SO!  my buddy Suzanne went out on a search last night for some goodies for us both - sure hope she found some cinnamon rolls!  though i have heard the stores have been out for awhile now due to nothing being made OR shipped.  and all those poor people out of a job - horrible!

ok onto why you are really here right?!  some sort of artsy craftsy something or other.  i have a mixed media board for you again - i am supposed to be filming my next class which is mixed media canvases/boards and i keep making things but not filming them EGADS!  this one sort of came together with very little of a plan - it was actually too different ones that i decided worked better as one.

I started on the background using a free tutorial  from Christy Tomlinson - the tutorial is wonderful and i encourage you all to check it out!  i did not have her kit of stuff she was working with and i didn't want to do something christmas-y so....can you tell i don't follow direction well?  i wonder where pezza gets it.....anyway i started with a book page, music page and polka dot page as my base.  then i misted some Luminarte radiant rain shimmering mist through a stencil.  now this is water-soluable which means anything i did over the stenciling would re-wet the mist and i would lose my design so i sprayed it with a light layer of workable fixative to set it.  next i added the green ground - in the tutorial she does it with a brayer but i didn't like the look i was getting so i did it with a sponge and a couple different shades of green.  next i made my tree - i just drew it it freehand - it's pretty basic but i like how it turned out.  i used some bo bunny papers i have had forever.  i thought i needed a little something more and i had my twinkling H2Os out from a previous project so i added some shimmery green goodness to the treetop. at this point i was stuck and had NO idea what i would do next.  in Christy's piece the tree is a christmas tree and it IS the focal point.  in my piece it was looking more like a background element with NO focal point...and so it sat for a couple days...lonely on my work table...then i grabbed my girl i had been working on from a Suzi Blu online class called Petite Dolls.  she was going to be marie antionette but i had changed my mind....so she needed a new "environment" and then it hit me - she could be hanging out under my tree!   i thought i should add a little pink to the background to tie in my girl's dress color.

and then i added her on.  i drew her and colored her with colored pencils.  i did her in a couple of layers - which seemed like a good idea at the time but between her and the layers on my tree things are kinda thick on this one :P  i gave her pink outer layer a coat of Apple Blossom Twinks for shimmer and then stenciled on it using yummy Viva Decor modeling cream in champagne - my FAVE! and added gel pen dots.  i also dabbed it on the book page layer of her dress and then sprinkled glitter on top while it was wet.  the viva decor modeling cream shimmers too.  finally i took more modeling cream and mixed some Primary Elements into it so i got a golden shimmering yellow which i dabbed on for her hair - LOVE!!!!  it just SHINES!  i sprinkled in a bit of micro beads too...because i love micro beads....  the bird has been on my desk for AGES and was a perfect addition.  some doodling around the edges and the tree finished it off!  so what do y'all think? a keeper?