CMC is turning Three!

Hey y'all!

Well this week has flown by!  I have been very busy!  Tops on my list - Trevor got a job!  Altogether now - *HUGE sigh of relief*  In addition I am having a little girls night at my place and introducing friends to my Origami Owl business.  Then tomorrow- we're off for our first camping trip of the season!

BUT I did take some time in my insane schedule to do something special for my buddy Suzanne {Scrapbitz) to celebrate another birthday for her Color Me Creative classroom site.  We are all doing a blog hop to kick off the Birthday Bash festivities over on the site!  You should have arrived here from Julie's blog but if NOT then hop on over to Suzanne's blog and start from the beginning!

I used this cutie from Saturated Canary on an art journal page in my fve color combo of the moment - Teal and Terra Cotta:

I started by laying out some scrapbook papers and then layering on the paints!  I used both acrylic and Luminarte Silks shimmering acrylics - that's the part that GLOWS!

I finished off the background using some Gel Medium and Lumiarte Primary Elements with a stencil - positively dazzles!

My image is colored with colored pencils!

When you are done with the hop be sure to head to the classroom site and join in the fun birthday festivities Suzanne has planned for everyone!  Games, prizes, you don't want to miss it!

CMC is Three!

Now head over to see what Kim has made for today!

If you leave a comment on each DT member's blog you will be entered to win (1) of TWO crafty online store gift certificates!!!

Dance First

Hey y'all!

We are in pollen hell here in northern VA.  Despite waking up to wet and soggy mornings, by afternoon it is difficult to breathe!  Hubby and I both used to have blue cars but right now we have yellow cars.  :P  It's ridic.  And poor Pezza is an allergic stuffy sniffly disaster!  I am guessing it is all coming from the massive amounts of gorgeous flowering trees we have all over the place so I don't think I would trade it but wow.

I HAVE been getting on the treadmill.  I KNOW.  Shocks me too!  So yesterday I stepped it up a bit.  I like the rolling hills cycle so I put it to go as fast as 4 and as steep as 9.  Thought I was going to die!  OR fly off the back and get sucked underneath.  I don't think that would go as well as it does when it happens to George Jetson.....I set it for 40 minutes because that is how long it takes to watch my DVR'ed soap opera (Y&R junkie yo!)  After 5 minutes I had to slow down to 3 :(  Then it would switch inclines and go back up to 4 and try to kill me again.  In the end I could only do the speed 4 for about 2 minutes at a time before kicking it back down to 3.  Hubby suggested I not overdo it but I figure I don't have a lot of time to get a bit more weight loss in because I have a short attention span :P  I am also a HUGE fan of instant gratification.

I think I would like running outside with better scenery but first I need some sort of gadget to track it because I really NEED to see those numbers.  Calories burned and such.  How else will I know what I accomplished?????  I am also adding more water to my diet:

I wanted to drink the whole pitcher but I think to do that I would have to do NOTHING else in my day but drink water!  I managed half of it.  Plus my 2 cups of green tea - ICED.

Then last night we went out for ice cream.  DOH!!!!!  But I had decided last week I needed a waffle cone and you know what happens when I get something in my head.  I don't even LIKE waffle cones!!!!!  But I think hubby finally got tired of listening to me whine about it so off we went.  That should do me on the waffle cone front for at least another 2 years :P

Hubby is also wanting to get into the habit of a better lifestyle - he was an exercise FREAK when I met him.  I don't know HOW he ended up with my lazy butt!  haha!  Anyway, he suggested we start a blog together about it so we may do that and then I won't bore y'all with it all!  Cuz you're here for the art right???

And luckily I do have some!  Another 2 page journal piece in a circle journal I am participating in.

I swear I can't get enough of this color combo!  It's so in your face too!  I took about 37 zillion photos trying to grab the full effect of the shimmer but no dice.  Basically, anywhere that looks like it is GLOWING - that's shimmer peeps!  I began the page with gel medium and a clock pieces stencil.  Then I sprayed liberally with Luminarte Radiant Rain Shimmering Mists - LOVE that stuff!  I used Ocean Wave, Teal Zircon and Sunburst - YUMMINESS!

It settles nicely around the stenciled images and pools up and looks really cool too - see the number 2?   And the edges of the clock?  I used more bubble wrap and acrylic paint to tone down the brightness just a bit - I have some pale blue and a medium grayed out green.

My last layer was gel medium mixed with Sunburst Primary Elements Powder applied through sequin waste.  Because of the semi-transparency of the medium the layers underneath change the look of the surface.  You can see the pooling shimmery goodness on the left too!  I sure hope the journal owner likes it....

Have you tried any of the Luminarte products???

Nature is partying!

hey y'all!

FIRST - no kittens.  {cries}  No itty fuzzy faces to kiss on.  They all have kitty colds and we did not want to add to the stress by taking them on a long journey so we wait.  I NEED KITTENS! hahhaha!

So my super awesome three muskateer buddies Catherine (Silly Skittles for those who have been reading my blog from day 1) and Ann Shuman are coming to visit in a few weeks! I am beyond excited to see them and so is Pezza! They are both bringing their significant others too! That way Kev doesn't have to wrangle the three of us on his own because we can be a bit much :P Cat has been on a super healthy lose weight get in shape mission since fall and is doing an incredible job. However, she is threatening to take me running with her when she gets here. (hide me) I don't run. In fact if I had to run for my life I would not run I would hide instead because I am pretty sure my heart would explode :P So I am a bit scared of her now. Though she did push Kevin for an allowance to buy me fun tekgear workout clothes - which perked my interest briefly....

In anticipation {and partly because I am ever so slightly competitive} I decided I better get back on the treadmill starting today.  I even ran a on a bit of it.  Well jogged sort of - it was not a speed that would have gotten me away from a knife wielding madman that's for sure.  But it was faster than a walk.  And my heart did not explode.  I MAY have pulled a muscle in my arm holding my boobs still though....yes I was wearing a sports bra.  Or something that resembles one - the opposite of a push bra anyway that's for sure.  We'll see if I can make myself get on that treadmill any more times this week...

So today I will be fitting in another attempt at running while also cleaning my disaster of a house and reading to Pezza's class (I am PETRIFIED that I am going to forget to go so I have been repeating it in my head for two days now...)

I DID make some time to play in the studio too!  One of the reasons my house is such a mess :P

I love how this two page spread turned out!  It started with black gesso'ed edges and a little gel medium and stenciling for a bit of texture.  Then I sponged on some bright (dark) green and orange acrylic paint and next some Mallard Green Luminarte Silks for a touch of sparkle.  it was a little too bright/dark so I toned it down with some swipes of cream colored paint.

I added more layers of paint - pale pink acrylic using bubble wrap, then smaller bubble wrap with Sunflower Luminarte Silks.  I wanted to bring out the stenciled designs a bit more so I went over them lightly with some Green Viva Inka Gold using my fingertip.  Before adhering my computer generated quote I misted it with Luminarte Radiant Rain - Sour Lemon and Sweet Whisper.  After adhering it I decided I needed one more textural element to the pages and mixed up a little Luminarte Primary Elements Powder in Sunburst into some plain gel medium and spread it on through some sequin waste.  I sprinkled on a bit of microbeads before lifting the stencil.

This page was done in the same way at the same time and then I wanted to add some flowers.  Remember the Paint Skins I made?  I decided they would be perfect along with a page from a french book to make the flower layers.  Then I added that same gel medium and Primary Elements mixture to the flower centers and embedded more microbeads along with larger seed beads into the gel centers.

I must say I had SO much fun with this.  As y'all know I have had a bit of trouble getting into my studio and feeling creative.  I decided to just get in there and have fun the way I used to and to STOP over thinking it and second guessing myself and comparing my work to other people's.  Instead of dragging me down it lifted my spirits!  I hope I am back on track!  Now if I can just get this house cleaned up...

a thoughtful kitty...

hello!

ok art work today as promised!

My last little kitty.  On this background I threw in some patterned tissue paper and glitter!

 

He has a different little face too.  I started "drawing" them with India Ink and a calligraphy type paint brush and I really like the looser feel of it.

I began my background with sheet music and patterned scrapbook paper (I love mixed media - I can use up all my old, outdated, non-trendy papers!)  Then I began layering on paint and tissue papers with my fingers.  Next I used bubble wrap to add the lighter pink paint dots and then very small holed sequin waste with Luminarte Silks in Ginger Flower - a darker pink - over the lighter pink.

Now off to get our basement in order and set it up for the new litter of kittens arriving this afternoon!  We just can't wait to have some tiny fuzzy kitten faces to kiss on!

Sunday rambles...

Hellooooo!

Aaahhhh weekends - where the insanity can be worse than the week days...!

We started off with the Talent Show at Pezza's school Friday night - LOOOOONG but pretty awesome.  She was in a dance number with a bunch of friends...

 

Before the show I asked her if she was nervous about going up on a stage - she just looked at me like I was stupid.  Forgot who I was talking to for a minute!  Hahaha!  I was very impressed with how many kids got up there and performed.  The best ones - a group who not only did the harlem shake - they wore HUGE masks of the principal, asst. principal and several other administrators.  We nearly fell out our chairs.  At one point Hubby says OMG it's Mr. Joseph in a tutu! Another - 3 girls had pillow cases over their heads - the pillow cases had elaborate faces on them and then they had fake arms attached to their hips - essentially it looked like the necks were at their waists.  Then when dancing it made for some hialrious looking moves.  Finally, a group of boys got up, all dressed in black, with glowsticks taped onto their clothes outlining their body shapes, LED glasses and LED-fingered gloves and then performed a dance mix routine - awesome!  Of course a lot of dancing and singing to various pop hits - hubby says "It sounds like Hollyn's radio station up in here."  He is not a fan.

I just finished reading my friend Catherine's new blog and she was talking about having a Saturday with nothing scheduled.... WHAAAA?  And what's funny is more days than not I think ok tomorrow - staying home and taking it easy...NEVER HAPPENS!

So what have I been up to instead?  Well for one thing I am on a hunt.  I was scrolling through the stores on Joss & Main and saw a piece of artwork to hang on a wall.  I would show you a picture of it but DESPITE being SURE I saved it to pinterest for future reference I cannot find it anywhere and Joss & Main changes their store offerings every few days so it is GONE.  Except for in my head.  Where it has been festering and simmering and growing larger than life until it hit full blown obsession.  Ok I say that like it took me a couple weeks to get to that point but to be honest I got to that point by the time I finished scrolling to the bottom of that particular page...The piece was actually of a baseball - which is lame and not what I want at all.  It was HOW it was done which is what I want to imitate.  I have been pondering what to do over my mantle for quite some time.  It was put on hold by the holidays because holiday decor takes over but now...

This is as far as I have gotten.  Could it get sadder???  I do want to point out the new paint color.  If you follow me on Facebook you will know I had to shut down painting in the middle because it was looking TERRIBLY My Little Pony Mint Green.  BUT it was just the old paint color reflecting on the new and making it look weird.  It is actually quite nice!

Anywho, the art piece I saw was done on a section of old weathered wood.  SOOOO I decided I need a section of old fence.  Or door.  Or flat-ish shutter...surprisingly difficult to come by let me tell you.  But now i am OBSSESED and I HAVE TO HAVE IT.  NOTHING else will do.  I know exactly what sort of mixed media shenanigans I will do on it but FIRST  I need the right surface.

So I started hunting.  I had heard good things about a little town nearby called Lucketts so I headed that way.  Let me start by telling you what antiquing/yard saling/junk finding is NOT.  It is not huge pile of identical old looking items with tags that say Made In China.  So I headed to the next place across the street.  Now these places are always set up in old renovated houses and such.  So after going through my fourth place I had not found what I was looking for but my obsession was coming dangerously close to being Let's buy an entire old house instead of just a fence section - which my hubby has already had to nix about a thousand times.  I found a few cool things - an excellent super old sewing table, a marble topped vanity like I want that was incredibly overpriced, old castle doors and several old bathtubs that would make perfect grottos for the Virgin Mary ala South Louisiana where I am from BUT nothing that I could work with.  Bummer.  I DID really like one place I went to - On A Whim - but there wasn't anything I could quite use.....I am now in the habit, as we drive, of checking out people's houses (we live in a pretty rural area with lots of very old farm houses) and trying to determine if the house or outbuildings are still in use or if per chance they would let me rip of a portion of the side of the building.  Hubby is NOT on board with that plan.

Yesterday we met up with some good friends (hubby's best friends from high school and the best man and maid of honor at our wedding in fact) and headed to another nearby town for their town-wide yard sale.  no luck but it was nice to see them.  We took their daughter home with us for the day and then we met back up for dinner over here last night.  It was JUST the motivation I needed to clean up my house a bit which has become a hell hole while we worked on the yard and got the camper ready for camping this summer.  In return for taking up his entire Saturday with stuff (he also revamped Pezza's playset with new equipment) I agreed to let hubby hide in his garage all day today.  I will be finishing edging the newly painted Guest room in the basement and then cleaning up down there so we can prep for the litter of foster kittens arriving tomorrow (Oh. EM. GEE. me and Pez can't wait) AND THEN get it set up for actual GUESTS in time for the other two members of the 3 muskateers - Ann and Catherine - to arrive in May.  OH do you have a kitten obssessed kid like me?  Get this toy Nursing Kitty

It's awesome.  The kittens "attach" to nurse with little magnets in their noses!  Comes in a doggy version too!






Tomorrow - artwork post I promise!!!  I have another kitty and several things in the works in the studio!

A french kitty

Hi!

I am back!  I want to start by thanking everyone who sent me such sweet and thoughtful comments, messages and encouragement after my last post.  It makes it easier to fight through the "weeds" I am stuck in when I receive those!

So what I have been up to?  Lots.  My mom came out for a visit over spring break and we decided to head up to New Hampshire to see my oldest son, Drake.  For my long time readers - you may remember Drake dropped out of college his first semester, went to meet a girl he knew from a game on the internet and did not come back home!  They have been together for 3 1/2 years now and are perfect for each other.  But we have only seen them once and he is Pezza's favorite so it was past time we set out on a road trip!  Silly me doesn't bother to plan out my route until I am sitting in the truck to leave and I pull it up on the GPS.  I scroll through and realize it is taking me straight through New York City - including a cruise down Central Park Avenue!!!  Why the H*** would I want to drive through New York City???  Well we set off anyway and OH. EM. GEE.  WHAT a disaster!  First off we must have paid for every toll it is possible to pay from here to New Jersey.  Thanks GPS.  Sure enough we head into New York City - holy crap!  Had it gone completely smoothly through New York City it would have been harrowing.  But oh no.  In the unbelievable traffic we took a wrong turn.  Of course the GPS re-routed and it looked like we were going to be ok but then we came to yet another toll booth.  I no longer have a smart tag in my car (that will be changing) so we had been paying cash the whole way.  of course the route I needed to take was immediately on the other side of the toll booth...the OPPOSITE side of the booth we were on...sooooo we missed it.  But no worries - the GPS re-routes right?  So it tells us to get off and we begin heading on the route it shows.  Until we come up to what looks like a road blocked off and a burned up car...no wait...it's a movie set!  And a detour...By the time we got through the detour the GPS was so confused it looked like a double figure 8 onscreen and it tried to take me on to an off ramp.  We finally found a bridge authority building and flagged down a cop and got some general directions.  After driving through the Bronx and God knows where else we were finally back on our way!  The 10 hour drive took 14 hours and $62.75 in tolls!  While lost in New York I was SO sad because I was thinking how much I missed Drake and how I would probably NEVER manage that drive again!

Needless to say once we got there the horrible drive was forgotten and we had a fantastic time with Drake and Dianne.  Pezza was happy beyond words to finally see her brother again.  It was also wonderful to have my mom come up there with us - she and Drake had sort of lost touch since he moved out so it was a great start to getting them back together too!


Here are some pics of us with Drake AND of Easter egg dyeing when we got home.  We made some very cool tie-dye Easter Eggs!



I plotted out our drive home on google maps and avoided toll roads AND New York City at all costs - guess what - only took 10 hours and was much more peaceful, scenic and STRESS-FREE!  Why on earth would the GPS PREFER the hard, expensive, drive thru New York City route when there is a perfectly good and just as quick option to NOT do that?????? So we may be able to go see Drake again after all :P  Once home again my mom got to see just how insane my daily routine is!  We had a great visit though - best we have had in awhile.  And she cooked for me the whole time she was here which was AWESOME!

Before I left I DID do a bit more art work I want to share with y'all!  Another kitty ala Juliette Crane's backgrounds class.  While I love the way her work looks I am not sure I am enjoying the class or the process - just not my style maybe?  I don't know... What do y'all think?

My background began with layers of music and french papers followed by a good misting of Luminarte Radiant Rains in Fern and Teal Zircon - The gorgeous shimmer and color peaks through the additional layers of acrylic paints beautifully!

Now I WILL admit I love this little kitty's face - I don't know WHY I feel like he is French!  HAHHAHA!

Actually looking at it now I think maybe I DO like this piece!  Perhaps I just need to work on the process a bit more...

I really love the "ground" on this one.  It is done using this very cool stuff from Viva Colour called Stone Effects coupled with Luminarte Radiant Rain mist.  I used white Stone Effects paste and once it was dry I just sprayed it with Fern Radiant Rain - I quite like the way it colored the paste and settled into the crevices!

Perhaps I need to judge my work less from whether or not it looks like the class lesson and more from whether it just looks good all in itself :P

We are expecting our first batch of real kittens on Monday through the rescue I do fostering for.  We will be getting TWO litters actually and BOTH are Maine Coon mamas - how I love my Maine Coons!  Then on Wednesday one litter will be going to a different foster home.  Bubba will be SO happy to have some playmates to train and take care of again.  We are hoping one will come along this summer that we can keep for Bubba since Tiger is not terribly playful anymore.