mixed media: gratitude is enough

hi all!
ugh monday.  i am feeling like a monday day today.  not motivated to get my work done AT ALL! so monday's chores went by the wayside 8-)  but i had plenty to do anyway because we were camping all weekend again so i had laundry from that and unpacking and such.  this afternoon we are going to a nearby restaurant for emerick elementary open house to meet her teacher and the new principal.  i have huge hang ups about school from my own childhood so i try to be as involved as i can manage even though it freaks me out.  we moved alot and i felt like the only kid there with a single mom (early 70s it was not nearly as common as now), plus a mom who never got involved in any part of it other than back to school night and school supply shopping which she hated every minute of and made it very clear she did :P  (my mom is great now don't get me wrong but growing up was rough).  on top of that i was just a weird kid and probably not nearly the outcast i felt i was.  the pezza apple did not fall far from the tree.  SO i am back to square one AGAIN.  had a one year break from school shenanigans after the two boys and we are starting all over.  but this time i think it might be better because i am better.  for one i am not a very poor single mom and we have not moved at all - with my boys i repeated some of my mom's patterns and so i was still always the "new kid" with no friends at parent stuff.  unfortunately i will be doing this with bright turquoise hands (front AND back) after an unfortunate tie dye incident earlier..........but hey they may as well see the real me from the get go since i usually have SOMEthing on my hands most people don't!

we headed to gettysburg this weekend with the camper.  man i love that thing!  gettysburg was wonderful - wish we had more than one day.  i might have to go up there for the day and get some pictures of the old houses.  i am obssessed with old architecture, especially houses.  my dream career was to become a restoration specialist for old houses BUT that did not happen.  instead i have toured loads of them and even worked as a tour guide in the plantation where they filmed all of the outside scenes for interview with a vampire (and yes tom cruise was a D bag even back then).  now i dream of making dollhouses like the old homes i love.  having grown up in the south though, i am used to the flambouyant houses and architectural styles down there and find northern stuff to be very austere.  however we toured one house in gettysburg, the shriver house, and while it was still somewhat austere it was the first tour and tour guide i have liked up here.  the ones in williamsburg are horrible and the one plantation i have been to here was not all that good either.  not terrible but.....anyway - i thoroughly enjoyed that.  we also hit pezza's first hands on children's museum and she was in heaven so next week i am going to take her to the one in baltimore and let her play all day.

now on to why you are really here - something crafty!

this is an art journal page we do in my mixed media class on Color Me Creative.  if you have not signed up but are interested in getting into the whole mixed media craze then what are you waiting for??? 

this first class is a technique class.  so i teach you all about the many many supplies and mediums used in mixed media and how to use them effectively.  then in september my project classes will debut - three different ones - mixed media for cardmakers and scrapbookers, mixed media and art journaling, and mixed media off the page.  do you have a lot of patterned paper scraps you need to use up or old pads that still have pages left?  this is a great way to do it!

watercolor pencil fun today!

FRIDAY PEOPLE!!!

AND TWO more weeks until school starts!  pezza will be heading to kindergarten.  unfortunately it is only half day kindergarten.  somehow the wealthiest county in america is one of the only ones that can't afford full day kindergarten.  not sure how that's possible but that's how it is!  we had her IEP meeting this week and i feel really good about her start.  now let's all cross our fingers she has grown up enough to behave at school and begin to learn to control herself :)  of course during the meeting she was the absolute most well behaved, adorable, polite child EVER put on this earth.  she really can be quite the charmer when she wants to.

i also had the joy of getting an endoscopy done this week in the endless battle to try and figure out what is wrong with me.  the good news was they put me to sleep to do it unlike the last 2 i had when i was 14 and was wide awake and fighting.  found an ulcer and hiatal hernia so on meds for that.  did some biopsies and i will hear the results next week along with the tests they ran on the NINE vials of blood they took 8-O egads!!!!  want to know the worst part?  i was laying in the recovery room and i thought man, it would be so nice to be admitted to the hospital for a few days......momma needs a break!

i did get a bit artsy this week too.  alot of what i have been working on has been for my online class at CMC which is technique based so i did not have a whole lot of finished stuff to show BUT i did manage to finish some recently so i can share!

today's page was inspired by someone else's class though - my friend Dion Dior is an absolute artistic master.

i am so drawn to her style and admire her so much!  she has a watercolor pencil class starting up on joggles in the fall.  when i saw her pictures i wanted to grab mine too!

so i did some little drawings

in some little boxes

and painted them in with my (limited) set of Inktense pencils

talk about fun!  i may have to do some more of these!
now i am off to enjoy the weekend!

a peaceful tree today

yay monday!

ok so maybe not!  but hey i tried!  we headed to the petsmart in reston - further away - with the kitties yesterday but it was very slow so no luck on adoptions.  :(  it is really starting to worry me and stress me out!  poor little sweet babies! w e had a temporary visitor too - johnny stayed behind at the reston petsmart until they can find him a foster home - we have enough here!

on to some crafting!  i have another card for ya - yep another card.  i decided to play with some of the splitcoast dare to get dirty challenges from last week and this is what i came up with:

i dug around in my massive collection of 6x6 paper pads and came across an old basic grey one - cappello - gorgeous!  the colors and the patterns! 

i stamped the tree from the M's Place stamp set at SCACD onto a book page and several different papers and cut it all out so i could piece them back together.  turned out super i think!  i used more papers from the same paper pad for the card layers and then in keeping my buddy suzanne's dirty girl challenge

i added a pop of salmon with paper and skittles. w hat do y'all think???

cmc challenge and free digi!

happy saturday!

anyone olymipic-ed out yet?  i only watch the gymnastics so i don't get olympic overload but i sure do wish it was an option to watch sometime other than the middle of the night!  i have a couple nights on the dvr i have yet to watch.  i LOVE it and wanted to be a gymnast so badly when i was young!  how freakin' amazing was gabby?  and so well spoken i thought - it must take alot to be so focused as a teenager.

yesterday hubby was off because he had to work all night last night so we loaded up and headed to the mall for a little school clothes shopping.  i love gymboree but will only shop with a sale and coupon because they are so expensive.  pezza is all set and stylin' now!  on monday i will be at her school meeting with teachers and the principle about her IEP.  she was trying to tell me she is worried about school because she is a bit shy...BAH!  not a day in her life EVER!  i sure hope her teacher is ready for her!

as i mentioned i have joined the Color Me Creative DT for awhile and there is a new challenge up!  the challenge is to create a background for your image...

i am not sure this is what suzanne had in mind but of course my mind went immediately to mixed media!

i drew this little lady myself and colored her with Lyra colored pencils - you can download her and use her yourself if you want to at the end of this post.

the background has layers of lots of different goodies and this project will be included in my mixed media special projects:cards class.  in the meantime you can sign up for the mixed media basics class on cmc!  the orange flower was made with viva decor crystal gel and a silicone mold - both are available at SCACD.

and here she is - let me know if you have trouble downloading her!

color me creative challenge time!

woohoo you're seeing me three times in a row this week!

we did our usual trip to petsmart to take care of the kitties there - just two today - little flame point siamese-tabby mixes.  so cute and so lovey!  then tomorrow we are meeting the lady in charge of the kitties at the nearby vet to meet a transport truck carrying newly rescued kitties in from west virginia.  we are going to help get them where they need to be.  poor babies will have been in the truck for four hours :(

tonight i am having a Close To My Heart party - their new cricut cartridge is available!!!  if anyone wants to place an order you can do it online through my party by going to Danielle's website and looking for my name and clicking the join button.  orders can be placed through friday and i would appreciate you joining in!

i have another fun new thing going on!  i am going to join in on my buddy Suzanne Dean's color me creative challenge.  to celebrate i joined in the current challenge - anything goes with a girly twist.

now of course - the main component of the cmc challenges - it's all about coloring!  most of them do the coloring with copics or other alcohol markers but of course i will be the colored pencil girl!  i started by making a background on some pink paper using Silver primary elements and Pink Azalea Silks.

I added some stamped pink flowers and doodled with a black sharpie.  i cut my border from an old book page.

i stamped the house from the M's Place set at SCACD onto a page from the same book and then added some shadow and color with colored pencils.  i am excited to play with the super talented girls over on CMC and really hope all of you will join in too!

book review: Collage Couture by Julie Nutting

helloooooooo!!!!

how is everyone?  i am recently back from computer hell.  i have been telling hubby for months my virus software was turned off and he kept telling me i was wrong.  my computer was doing more and more weird stuff and i finally sent him a few screenshots.  so he looked again and did a scan and i had evil computer things all over the place.  turns out somewhere i picked up an initial one that disabled my virus software but put in a dummy icon so when  hubby looked at it it looked fine.  but it was not fine.  no it was very very not fine :(  so most of yesterday was spent cleaning it up but we were finally victorious with no wiping and re-building - HOORAY!!!!  so i am back in business!

today pezza went to see a movie in a theater for the first time ever.  as a rule i don't do movies in theaters - such a huge rip off in my opinion.  BUT we met up with hayden - they have been insisting they are going to be married one day.  this has been going on for a year :)  they are so super cute and hayden is the sweetest boy ever!  we saw ice age continental divide - pretty hilarious.  after that we wandered around old town leesburg and rummaged through the antique stores and such but left empty handed :(

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don't forget - my new class - Mixed Media Basics - is launching this week over on Color Me Creative!  There is a slight delay in the start due to my computer fun yesterday :P  but you can get registered and we will be up and running in the next day or so!

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as promised i have a book review for you today!  i got a copy of Collage Couture from Julie Nutting at CHA in january and I have been playing with it lately.

 

talk about fun!  let me start by saying that i can NOT draw.  i have been working really hard on that this year though and this book is a huge step in the right direction! 

But julie didn't stop there!  Not only does she teach you how to draw the adorable girly girls she is known for - she also teaches how to make great backgrounds to go with them!

These are my first two girls done using Julie's book.  yep - i drew them myself!!!!!  Now i must say my initial attempts were really bad!  so it does take a bit of practicing.  however with julie's technique i got useable figures fairly quickly - in a matter fo days!

you saw the first one yesterday.  this paris girly-girl uses a number of techniques/ideas in the book on the background as well as the girl herself.

Unlike the one i showed yesterday i decided to put a little face on this one.  i am not sure which way i like it better - what do YOU think????

of course the dresses are the most fun!  i am already itching to create a few more!  and i think they would make great digi images too!

now i am not going to give you any details on the how-tos - that's what the book is for!  i WILL give you more details on the book itself though!

the book is a good sized paperback - 8 1/2" x 11" - with 128 pages of glorious color photos and perfect instructions.  what i really like about this book is that the wording/instructions are so very well done.  not too much but not too little.  the directions are straight-forward without being overwhelming.  i appreciate that!  i don't want to wade through a lot of wording i want to get down to business and play!

another thing i like - this is such a great way to use up lots of scraps!  in fact this book does not require going out and buying loads of supplies.  in fact you will likely have many of the items already on hand.  The last portion of the book has other fun project ideas and instructions for your girly girls.

were there any drawbacks?  i would have liked more info on hairstyles and hats that equaled the instruction on eyes, lips and clothes.  but with so many examples throughout the book it is only a minor drawback.

overall, i would consider this to be a STAPLE book to have on your shelf - and i have ALOT of books.  if you want to dabble in mixed media and figure drawing and can only buy one book - this is the one to start with.

Julie announced on her blog at the beginning of the month that she has gotten approval for book number two and i can't wait to get my hands on it!  go check out more of julie's work on her blog!  tell her i sent ya!

mixed media couture!

hi all!

did anyone miss me???  sheesh summer is busy!  so what the heck have i been up to?  alot i can tell ya that!  last weekend we headed out to virginia beach to spend some time with my buddy catherine and her family - ALWAYS a good time when cat and i are hanging out!  and our hubbies finally got to meet each other!!!  the drive down was miserable for ALL involved - lots of rain and heavy traffic.  our site was nothing but a mud puddle but luckily our set up with the camper is relatively easy.  cat's family was all in tents and setting up tents in the rain SUCKS!  but sunday was gorgeous - not quite as hot and perfectly sunny.  cat told me they were going down there to go crabbing.  i didn't believe her.  but sure enough we got to the beach and there were the guys, in the water, pulling out crabs right and left!  FREE CRABS!!!!  i couldn't believe it!  so we had yummy crabs for lunch and then spent the afternoon in the pool.  pezza loved cat's neice tiana and the other kids there and it was so nice to have some little friends for her to play with.  all in all a great time!

in addition to the trip pezza also hosted her first tea party last week.  a GREAT success!  although we had way too much food - the kids were more worried about playing than eating and all had a great time.  i enjoyed spending time with the moms!  we hope to host many more tea times!  the only bad part - I FORGOT TO TAKE ANY PICTURES!!!!!!  what kind of scrapbooker am i anyway?!?!?!?

this week i am hosting a Close To My Heart party - their new cricut cartridge will be available!!!!!!!  don't live by me but want to place an order?  NO problem - you can order online through my party on aug 1-3.  just go to my demo's website and look for the button that goes to my party! CLICK HERE!

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what else have i been up to???  besides keeping pezza entertained (no camps for us this summer) i have been working on my next online class for Color Me Creative!  this one is a mixed media basics class and is technique based.  this means the focus is on learning the techniques and how to USE all sorts of mediums/products effectively.  then next week the project classes will launch to go with the main class.  these are techniques and ideas that can be easily incorporated into card making, scrapbooking, art journaling, mixed media canvases - so no matter what you love to do it is a great group of classes to take!  want to take the classes?  CLICK HERE to register!

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i have also been having lots of fun with a book i was given at CHA called Collage Couture by julie nutting - look for a full book review tomorrow!  here is one of the projects I made from the book:

SO MUCH FUN!  i am not going to give away any how tos on this one but it is straight from the book!  I used some great stuff from SCACD on this one - the city skyline stamp, the "strong" stamp and those gorgeous die cut corners.

The polymer clay flower was made using one of the fab silicone molds also at available at SCACD!  and now back to work getting my class up and running today!!!