class time y'all! who's in?

hi all!

so so so many fun things in the works i am bursting!  but i can only tackle one at a time and today i wanted to tell you about something fun happening in may in baltimore MD - The Outlawz Rodeo retreat!  so what the heck is that????  The Outlawz is a fantastic crafty group that has lots of challenges every week, a super talented bunch of folks on the design teams and fabby prizes.  i had the honor of spending some time on their prisma pencil design team and the ladies are just so friendly! well they are putting together a great opportunity for all of us to get together and meet!  open to ALL - not just folks on the outlawz site but if you have not been over there i urge you to check it out!

so what's this rodeo all about - well NOT horses and bull riding!  it is not a crop or a scrapping retreat but more of an opportunity to meet up with people you may know only online.  i have to tell you this sort of chance is AWESOME.  the party starts on friday may 18th.  i will be hosting a pinterest party friday night at the hotel (bwi marriott) and then i have TWO classes on saturday!

a mixed media class focusing on Luminarte shimmering amazing goodness

we will make a piece you can use as a background piece on your cards...

 

And boy do these products pack some shimmer

look at the pink shimmer on the brown!

we will make a second piece you can use as the focal point for a card

cuteness!  and SHIMMER!

and finally we will make a third piece suitable for hanging:

i am also teaching a second class - prisma colored pencils

you can register for class on my class page and get additional details

and the VERY BEST PART OF CLASS.....MY best most awesome crafty online friend Catherine is coming from canada to be my helper - we can be quite the show when we get together.  it's like we are twins - she will be staying here at my house first.  kevin is scared.    when we met for the first time at cha several years ago suzanne didn't even want to be seen with us - FLASHBACK

this what we look like after hanging out a few days together!

get ready baltimore!

happy birthday trevor

hi all!

how is everyone?  having a great weekend i hope!  we are still getting teased with barely there snowfalls - BOO!  a friend told me the farmer's almanac says we will get a big one in march so i am keeping my fingers crossed!  of course by big one i mean less than a foot but enough to actually PLAY in!

despite the fact that i am still not feeling very well i just HAD to get my boy's birthday celebration done - i mean that's what moms do right???  trevor just turned 19 and he is one awesome kid!  so he needed an awesome birthday meal.  we have never really done the go out to an expensive restaurant thing for birthdays - probably because i could barely afford McDonalds for most of their childhoods!  i always make them their favorite meal and make them a cake.  so that's what i did this time too.  however i get much more involved with the cake making than i used to!  he wanted a cake with "that yummy filling you make and the whole thing covered in that stuff i like and then with the decorations..."  um ok....so i had to guess a little bit on the filling but i knew he meant covered in fondant and decorated with modeling chocolate.  of course since i don't know the first thing about moderation (despite my ever so patient dad trying to explain it to me a million times when i was growing up) i went all out.  i mean if i am going to do something i might as well DO IT right????

(is that one good lookin' kid or what???)  so i will say that despite my best efforts i am no cake diva like my buddy catherine at Sugar 'n Sweets BUT trevor's exclamation of joy at seeing it is really all i needed!  the first layer is chocolate fudge cake with chocolate pudding and andes mint chips for filling.  the top layer is chocolate fudge cake with french vanilla pudding and bananas for filling.  the layers are covered in homemade buttercream and then blue fondant.  i used the duff fondant from michaels this time and i can say it actually tastes pretty good.  i wish i knew how to put the fondant on without all the wrinkles and without getting the powdered sugar/cornstarch all over it from trying to keep it from sticking to everything but no luck.  next i made modeling chocolate with white candy melts and chocolate candy melts by mixing in a little corn syrup after i melted them.  this is really yummy AND so easy to work with.  here is another pic of trev after hubby got involved:

of course pezza helped with the whole process - not kidding i spent the better part of TWO DAYS on this cake ACK!  she decided she wanted to make a bow for the top.  i was really wishing i had paid more attention and had her use the BLUE for the strings hanging down but on the other hand it seemed appropriate for trev - he was the typical fascinated with gross things kinda boy growing up so i left it as she made it:

so what else was on the menu?

living on his own trev doesn't eat nearly as well as when he was at home so i thought a good steak was in order!  as well as some vegies so we had broccoli AND spinach!  also made baked potatoes and crescent rolls with pepper jack cheese rolled up inside.  YUMMM-EEE!

i am hoping to take it easy today after all the standing and work i did.  i will be getting the info and registration page up for the workshops i have been asked to teach at a retreat in baltimore in May so keep your eyes open for that!  we would LOVE to see everyone!  there's nothing better than getting together with crafty peeps, especially ones you "know" online - i hope a bunch of you can come!

more art "the pezza way"

hi all!

as unreal as it sounds i STILL feel horrible.  how long can allergy reactions possibly last????  the last two days have been intense sinus headache no matter what i take.  thank goodness hubby is back in town so i can have some back up with pezza the wonder kid!

pezza is the focus of my post today too.  her artwork that is.  she has been in my craftroom while i work since birth so how could she not end up crafty and artsy right?  she made a piece alongside of me from a julie fei-fan balzer video and then jazzed it up like i did:

she started by adding a mix of things from around the house to her base with some gesso to get some fab texture going.  next she chose some luminarte primary elements and mixed up some gorgeous shimmery paints.  she was amazed at the way all of the different textures looked as she brushed paint over them - it was fun to watch her!  next she wanted to add some hearts.  now initially i thought - we'll just cut some hearts on my black cat.  but then i decided it would be much more HER if she drew them herself.  so she chose some perfect pearl shimmer mixes, mixed them up and sprayed them on a piece of brushed silver lustre cardstock from paper temptress.  then she drew hearts with a bic mark it.  i cut them out because she was getting stressed about it and i did not want it to become a not fun project.  she glued them on and chose some sparkly pink tulle to wrap around it.  this is for her best friend next door.  i think she did great don't you?!

i have been working on a little project myself.  the current Cloth Paper Scissors readers challenge is to make a USEABLE luggage tag.  at first i thought well there is no way i can do that.....but then my brain started going in spite of myself and an idea came to me so here is the beginning of my project.

i have a ways to go but it is coming along nicely!  anyone else read cloth paper scissors???  i love it!

a crappy day....

hi all

yesterday was a craptastical day.  today is shaping up to be the same :P  i am really struggling with some things right now and being sick AND on my own for the week with hubby out of town is definitely not helping!  and if i have to hear hollyn tell me one more time that she hates me and wishes i was not her mom i just might run away from home. so needless to say i was not in the mood for making happy fun sunshiney art.  i thought about heading to the studio but i thought the only thing i would make is a black piece of paper with black glitter, black ink and black paint - which i suppose could become interesting but not really.....then i remembered an art journal page i had come across.  the title was "a crappy day" - i don't remember anything else about the page and i tried to re-find it to post a link but i am not having any luck (if someone knows the one i am talking about please post the link for us!!!) Oh wait finally found it on pinterest of course!  but cannot seem to get back to the origination or who it is actually done by.....  anyway i decided i would do a crappy day page too.  because life is not always happy sunshiney days.  and for someone who has done the battles i have to make it this far and with some of the issues i have to deal with health-wise on a daily basis this can be a real struggle at times.  so here is my page - my no happiness and sunshine page...

it was quite an easy page to do and i do like how it turned out.  the background was one i had made with pezza a few weeks ago and had not used yet.  i swiped some plain white glue across the white paper in vertical and horizontal streaks and let it dry.  then i rubbed on some stormy blue and peeled paint distress inks.

i picked it up to use and then i had some gear shapes  laying on my desk that i had cut with a tim holtz die and had not used.  they were cut from the back of a paper pad so they were nice and sturdy and i thought they would make great masks.  i laid them on the paper and sprayed them with a shimmer mist made with concord distress ink, perfect pearls and water.  then before they dried i picked them up, turned them over and also used them as stamps.  once dry they were so pretty i added them to the page too along with another die cut from my perfect pearl/UTEE video for favecrafts.

i mixed up some more of the brown perfect pearls with a tiny bit of water on my craft mat to make a thick paint a painted on my title.  then i grabbed a brown colored pencil laying there and used that to do my journaling.

here's hoping for a easier day - we may even get some snow which i would really love!

lovely luminartes!

hi all!

I will start by apologizing if this post gets loopy at any point :P  i still don't feel very well and will be calling my doc's office promptly at 9 when they open to see if i can get in today.  i go back and forth between "i think i am feeling better" to "kill me Billy" - so fun.  to top it off i am on my own with pezza this week while hubby works out of town so i really need to get better!  Pezza is being her usual cooperative self - NOT!  i never understood the stories parents told about kids who refused to eat vegetables and kids who only wanted to eat one food item for every meal every day...then along came my little daughter.  my boys ate pretty much anything and never really wavered on likes or dislikes.  pezza refuses to eat nearly everything, insists on eating only one food item for weeks, and then will suddenly refuse to eat something that up until that moment she ate just fine ARGH!

of course the talk of the day today will be the super bowl.  i know the "cool" and "popular" thing is to be all about the super bowl but i, personally, could not be less interested!  i DO however, like to check out the commercials afterwards so i will probably do that later.  saw the M&M gettin nekkid commercial - pretty good.  the grad who thinks he is getting a car seemed popular too but MEH - it was ok.  i'll have to see what else they did.  did YOU have a favorite?  let me know what it was so i can go check it out!

i have another mixed media experimentation i did to show you today. 

I did this in stages with no real goal in mind other than i had a few different things i wanted to try and this is the end result.  pezza did a textured foundation just like it right along with me but we have not finished hers yet.  i got the idea from the Collage Fast & Furious class by Julie Fei-Fen Balzer.  This is another one I will likely move onto an actual canvas.  the background is done with luminarte primary elements in 2 shades of blue and the houses are hand drawn on old book pages, painted with Luminarte Twinkling H2Os and then I used a black marker for details.

My favorite part is the sun - also painted with Luminarte Primary Elements

I couldn't seem to capture all of the shimmer on camera but i sure love it in real life!  This is the technique i might be teaching in baltimore - still waiting on details!

i have been in love with luminarte products for some time and own quite a bit of their stuff BUT susana did an evil thing to me over the weekend and introduced me to the products at Lindy's Stamp Gang - i somehow missed them at CHA.  they have shimmeringly delicious products much like Luminarte stuff BUT it is all two toned...i promptly spent some studio time trying to replicate it and failed totally.  have any of you used them???  i would LOVE to hear what you think about them!

artful messes!

hi all!

i am still feeling pretty rough BUT i can say i feel better today than yesterday.  however i am still super worn out and having trouble breathing.  hubby is insisting i go to urgent care.  he doesn't trust my self-diagnosing on webMD - can't imagine why.  i love webMD - helps me figure out what's wrong AND alerts me to lots of other things i probably have but didn't even consider!  hahhahahhahhahhah!

i get a bit of energy but it wears off quickly.  which i discovered is perfect for some mixed media stuff i have been wanting to do - i am usually so impatient waiting for layers to dry but being sick i have no choice!  so pezza and i have been playing around and making HUGE messes in the studio.  messes that have even shocked her!

so today I have Flower Garden:

i really like how this one turned out but i have to admit i HATED it initially.  ever have those times when something seems so GOOD in your head but on paper well......not so much.....so i set it aside and was thinking i would trash it and then i thought hmmmmm...maybe i can save it....

SOOOOOOO i grabbed my gesso and my craft mat scraper and swiped around, rubbed off, swiped some more to tone things down.  and i liked it!  so next i pulled out my Luminarte polished pigments and mixed up a bit on my craft mat.  i LOVE pimary elements because i can custom mix it for what i am doing.  i used the medium they have for paper - it is translucent and does not dilute the color at all but the shimmer OH MY WORD!

i used some of Claudine Hellmuth's Creative Layers foam stamps for the dots in the background and the scallops along the edge.  then i painted on the stems and stamped the leaves with one of claudine's leaf stamps.  i saw claudine at cha and got a big hug and giant smile that she always has - she is SUCH a sweet person!  and her product line with ranger is amazing!  The flowers are from a recent video for FaveCrafts:

This will go into my art journal - just fun experimentation with products in a quest to find the way i want to do several canvases for my walls.

Pezza did several pieces right along with me which is one of my favorite parts of this free-er art form - she gets into it and loves it.  she picks her papers, stencils, colors, etc.  i just guide her on the techniques - like here use the gloss medium to stick your paper down...

Now while in Michaels awhile back Pezza insisted on getting some Iridescent medium by Golden so that is what she used as her topcoat.  this gives the overall piece a nice subtle shimmer.  then she laid a crafter's workshop stencil down and swiped paint on.  i urged her to do more but she says she is done.  she loves making backgrounds and foundations with me but she has alot of trouble covering them up in anyway so they are stand alone pieces for her.  i also re-did my previous idea a little different and this is what i have now - just not sure where i will be going with it next...

i have a few possibilities floating around in my head though...so we shall see.  our technique was heavily influenced by the workshop i helped in at CHA taught by Julie Fei-Fen Balzer!  she rocks!

do any of you have any of the Luminarte products?  mine are from BEFORE they closed down and then moved over to Creative Imaginations.  CI just announced at CHA that they are re-releasing the primary elements products and i also used the new luminarte Silks which i am looking forward to adding to my collection too!  i will have a really fun Luminarte project up next week using primary elements and twinkling H2Os which i will be TEACHING at a retreat in Baltimore in May!  so stay tuned for that!

CHA 2012 wrap up

hi all!

OH. EM. GEE.  i am one sick girl :(  i am not sure what i have but wow do i feel awful!  CHA always does me in due to pure exhaustion but this is actual illness.  and poor lil' pezza - as soon as i got in the car i could tell she was sick too - felt hot like fever and then when she started talking i could hear it in her voice.  grab a cuppa coffee folks cuz this is a long one :P

so the big question - what was my fave new thing?  it's hard to narrow it down but i think i have to say it is the new sprocket stamps from inkadinkado - not only because they are so so cool but they are so different.

think spirograph for stamps but way better!


the flight home was mostly uneventful except for a bag of flowers.  the long beach airport we always fly in and out of is small. like really really small.  you know those trailers they set up when the high schools are too full?  well that's what the airport is.  several trailers and an outside baggage claim.  seriously. 

we had to be there super early and i had had NO coffee.  Suzanne just laughed at me every time she looked at me because i looked so bad (what are friends for right?)  so we get through the security trailer and into the gate trailer and there is a little cart selling water, coffee and muffins.  really.  so i go up and get a water, coffee and muffin and hand her my debit card.  she can't take cards there, i have to go outside and over to the convenience store trailer.  i go over there and realize i still have the water in hand.  there is a check out at the front corner and one at the opposite back corner so i walk up to the back one and tell her i accidently took the water from the cart inside and need to pay for it.  she says she can't check it out, i have to use the front register for that water. oooookaaaaayyy.  i walk to the shelf behind her and pick out some chips and then head to the front register to get my coffee and pay for everything and she starts yelling after me because apparently i have to pay for the CHIPS at the BACK register and the water at the front one. really.....the registers were about 12 feet apart....don't these people realize i haven't even had my coffee yet?????

i finally get back to my seat and we are waiting for our plane and i look up and realize that there is a bag sitting in the chair directly across from me with flowers sticking out of the top of it.  there is NO ONE around it at ALL.  it is an abandoned bag.....so i keep looking at it and it starts to mess with my sick and sleep deprived brain and i nudge suzanne and start freaking out about it being a bomb and i am directly in front of it.  so i get up and move down the row to the other side of suzanne but i keep looking at it and getting more freaked out so i go tell one of the gate guys.  he goes and grabs it and this lady across the way comes running over to claim it.  so as we are getting on the plane suzanne turns around to tell me something and realizes the flower bag bomb woman is RIGHT BEHIND ME in the aisle on the plane.  so i am like run, go faster, and suzanne is dieing laughing.  lkuckily the rest of the trip home was fairly uneventful!

so how was the show?  fabulous, absolutely fabulous!  first and foremost is the connections - it is exciting seeing all of the new products up close and in personal of course.  but i LOVE all of the people i get to meet up with!  and i especially love all of the people i get to see again that i only get to see at the show.  first and foremost is my pal terri - this was the first year we did not stay together and i really missed that but we did spend LOTS of time together and i just love her to pieces.  she brought along a friend this year named nadja and she is just AWESOME!  plus she is a morning person like me! so on one of those morning i was stuck in the lobby so my roomie could sleep she and i got together and headed to starbucks.  she also took me out for my first ever indian food!  i loved it loved it!  we found out we have loads in common.  also got to meet sandie dunne - a long time friend from ireland and fabulous folks like suzi blu who's work i simply adore!  also got to FINALLY meet jen del muro in person - the first blog i ever read when i got into this crazy papercrafting world.

i also had a new roomie this year - Tina Gilliland.  suzanne did not stay in our room the whole time - she was staying in her own room somewhere else so tina and i were on our own and had fun.  i had quite a few meetings as well and have some really neat things in the works but i can't share yet until the details are ironed out - exciting stuff though that's for sure!

so what else did i love at the show - well lots of things!  i bet y'all are wondering about provocraft since i usually focus so much of my attention on them.  well there were no new machines, no gala, no craziness and a very small booth compared to previous shows.  Jinger is gone, there was no stage in the booth, all very low key.  they DID have new cuttlebug folders on display that will be coming out soon and i DO love me some embossing folders - i saw many designs i hope to acquire:

and there is one new cartridge coming out very soon - tags, bags, boxes & more 2 - i really like it.  i use the first one quite a bit.  for all of their new stuff be sure and contact Terri at Stampsalive as she always has the best prices and unbelievably fast shipping!  perhaps cricut is going to get a clue and refocus so they can be a stronger company...i guess we'll see....

another highlight of my trip - Julie Fei-Fen Balzer - can i just tell you she ROCKS!  not only is she just incredibly talented she is SO SO much fun and just super crazy.  i thoroughly enjoyed every minute with her and look forward to learning lots from her in the year ahead.

i was a helper in her class saturday night and can i just say she is not only talented, she is a talented instructor which does not always happen.  she has some incredible new stencils out through the crafters workshop and i encourage you all to go out and grab some to play with yourself.  in addition she has an insanely good ebook available through Cloth Paper Scissors called collage fast & furious - it is chock full of great info and easily a must have!  tell her i sent you over to say hi and check out her fabulous self!  dinner with the group after could not have been more fun!

next up Dyan Reaveley.  met her last year in class and she is lovely! 

she has breathed vibrancy into the Ranger product line which it was seriously missing.  Check therse out:

just so fun!  she has added to her product line with fantastic sprays in amazing colors.  and her stamps are fun and funky.

next up - i have to mention Luminarte through Creative Imaginations.  I have had their products since well before they were purchased and adore them.  new this show - the re-release of the shimmering powdered pigments in LOADS of new colors - Artist's Pigments - and the launch of Silks glazes.  i took a class with them and got to play around a bit with the shimmering incredible-ness of the product line.

the project is unfinished - we mostly covered techniques - i still have to put it all together but check out what the twinks did to some plain printed paper embellishments:

i love the subtle mix of colors i got which added to the aged look of the pieces.  the class was taught by Cheryl Mezzetti and she was lots of fun!  besides the uber shimmer want to know my fave thing about the luminarte Primary Elements powdered pigments?  you make your own paints with them and you can make ANY KIND of paint - it all depends on what type of medium you mix in.  So instead of buying a whole bunch of fabric paint, and a whole bunch of acrylic paint, and a whole bunch of other surfaces - talk about a money saver!

finally i have to mention La Blanche stamps - really love alot of their images and the samples in the booth were among my faves of the whole show:

you can check out my facebook page for even more pics but for now i am signing off because i really need to take some more meds and go lay down!  then perhaps i will have the energy to play with my new pencils that came right before i left!

For even more CHA wrap ups from lots of different perspectives head to FaveCrafts!!!