mixing it up - challenge 11!

seriously? i didn't write a single blog post last week????  EGADS!

last week was busy busy!  i started my after school mixed media class with some kids at pezza's school - CRAZINESS and MESS!  i am having them work on three boards over the course of 6 weeks.  we have 2 kindergartners, 2 first graders, 2 third graders and 1 fifth grader - 3 are boys and the rest girls plus pezza.  thank goodness we are having class in the art room BUT the art teacher was LESS than thrilled about us being in her space so i try very hard to make sure we leave no sign of ourselves after class!  if the class goes well i may do more.

we also had pezza's birthday party this weekend and i took her to the melting pot for dessert as her birthday treat.  melting pot did not impress me as much as i felt like it would - too much sweet i think!  i am not a huge chocolate person so that was my first problem BUT pez loved it and had lots of fun and it was a good mommy daughter outing.  then we had family and a few friends over for cake this weekend - of course i made her cake:

 our sunroom is a horrible setting for taking pictures - the cake was much brighter in person - just the thing for pezza!

daddy was in charge of balloons as usual and came back with a fabby bunch as usual!

now onto my projects for today - yep i have TWO!

we kick off a new challenge today on the mix it up group on Color Me Creative - we are using circles!  in addition i am entering this one in the Diva Zentangle challenge to do something mickey mouse/disney related.

i chose to use minnie mouse's bow to hold my doodles.  when i was done i used my twinkling H2Os to add some color and my charcoal pencil to add some shading.  i like doing the zentangles while i wait for pezza in gymnastics class - easily portable!  don't the twinks sparkle divinely?!?!?

this challenge pezza joined in too:

isn't it adorable!  she came up with this completely on her own!  we are going to use this for the front of her thank you cards :)

she began with some glass bead gel and green tea luminarte primary elements.  then she used some of her new fluorescent acrylic paints to paint the flowers on.  this is so HER!  in fact i may have to get some things made with this one over on Original Works!


we have THREE wonderful prizes up for grabs this month to one lucky winner!

 

$20 for Paper Temptress

 

gift certificate to Floppy Latte Digital Designs

 

FIVE jars of gorgeous shimmering Silks acrylic glaze paints from Dreaming In Color

ok now it's your turn!  what can YOU create using circles and more than one type of media?!?!!?  come join in the fun with us!

a tribute to fall

hello everyone!!!

hooray for falling back and gaining an hour!  it's my favorite!  i have been hard at work on a sewing project this morning - seems i haven't done any sewing in AGES! my mom is hinting hard for a new purse for christmas so i figured i better oblige and get to work.  i found some GORGEOUS fabrics - very art deco-ish with greens and blues and metallic gold on a black back ground - SO striking!  The entire Legacy collection is breath taking but i had to narrow it down to 4:

it is not quite the color scheme she mentioned but close so cross your fingers she likes it!

in other crafty shenanigans - i have FINALLY gotten the next Mixed Media Challenge up in the Mix It Up group on Color Me Creative.  The challenge is to alter a die cut and use it in your project:

 

this is a page in my art journal - the leaves have been so amazing again this year i felt i needed to leave a little tribute to them as thanks!  the background is done with neocolor II water soluable crayons.

 

my leaves are my altered die cuts.  i cut them from a cereal box so they would be nice and sturdy.  then i covered them in gesso being sure to leave some texture in it and let it dry.

next i painted on some watery Twinkling H2Os in fall colors.  the paint pooled in the recessed areas so it shows up darker there and accentuates the texture.  i finished it the whole thing off by speckling it with Harvest Sol Luminarte Silks Acrylic Glaze - this stuff is AWESOME!  and the best part...you can WIN 5 JARS as part of our prize package for participating in the Mix It Up challenge!  In addition we also have a digi image from Floppy Latte and a $20 Gift Certificate for Paper Temptress.  So what are you waiting for???  join in, have fun and you might even win some awesome goodies!  you can learn more about this and other mixed media techniques in one of my Mixed Media classes on Color Me Creative too!

mixing it up at CMC!

hi all!

today is school picture day.  always a total toss up with my kids and pez is not likely to be any different.  she has a gorgeous smile UNTIL you say "smile" - then she makes this crazy face...pretty sure that's what we will be seeing when the pics come home!  she also left here with her hair up in a cute ponytail on top of her head which she refers to as a palm tree but who knows what state it will be in by the time the camera snaps! 

today kicks off a new mixed media challenge on color me creative - this one is to use BLING - any kind any way just bling it up!  i did a steampunk-ish journal page ala tim holtz and make it crafty:

it started with a little tutorial i saw on tim's blog for the faux metal panels - so super easy!  check it out on his blog HERE!  i used some metal foil tape i got from home depot - plumbing dept i think.  I started with a glimmering background of Luminarte Twinkling H20S.  Then added the metal panels.

Next i colored this amazing steampunk treehouse from Make it Crafty using colored pencils (sign up for classes on Color Me Creative).

i finished it off with some blingy swirls and gears

I made the swirls using a stencil and some Viva Decor Modeling paste.  While it was still wet I sprinkled on some gorgeous Art Glitter Gala Glitz - ultra fine glass glitter, glass glitter shards and glittering microbeads.  A final sprinkling of additional ultrafine glitter filled in any blank spots.

so what can YOU do?  join in the challenge and show us - you could be picked to win prizes!  A $20 gift certificate to Paper Temptress and a $15 gift certificate to Guylou's Inimitability!

life is...shimmering!

happy rainy day everyone!

it is even CHILLY here - that's just crazy!  we have been having the most bizarre weather here in northern VA - shorts in february and then long pants in june?  what gives!  i do love the rain though - means i can skip watering my tomatoes!  we have three bushes with tomatoes and one has little baby tomatoes the size of blueberries!  and speaking of blueberries our bushed are loaded but we still have not taken steps to protect them from the birds.  today i thought some might be ripe but NOPE - talk about sour!  pezza spit hers right back out!

we had QUITE the crazy weekend here - we decided we were going to move my studio from the basement up 2 flights of stairs to Trev's old room.  I was planning on taking my time to get it all moved - clean and organize as i go...but hubby decided we were moving it ALL yesterday.  thank goodness trevor was in need of some cash so we put him to work.  and WOW talk about alot of work.  O. M. G.  but we got very nearly all of it up here and the old bedroom furniture down there to turn the studio space into a guest bedroom.  i will put the pics at the end of this post.  it is very close to the same size and is set up nearly the same BUT i have more wall space.  walls mean SHELVES!

despite the mess i managed to work on some stuff for my upcoming class "Adventures in Mixed Media"  that will be out on July 8th on Color Me Creative!  This will have LOADS of info and techniques that can be easily used by cardmakers and scrapbookers OR put on a display on a wall!   So keep your eyes open for that to launch!

today Color Me Creative kicks off the next challenge in the Mix It Up challenge group.  You must focus on the color black while creating - this does NOT mean you are making something about death!  or halloween!  although you could.  i made a journal page from a page i covered in black gesso:

 i "drew" my picture using masking fluid and a bamboo skewer and let it dry until clear.

Next I painted the whole page with Luminarte Silks - such gorgeous color!

When it was dry I peeled the masking fluid back off and then doodled with some Gelly Roll pens - metallic gold and white souffle.  i love how it turned out - what do you think???

Now come on over and join in the challenge!!!!!  if we get enough people to participate then I might give some of the BRAND NEW SILKS COLORS away!!!!   (Thank you Leslie at Dreaming In Color!)  Here is how it will work:

• 5 entries - 1 person wins 2 Silks colors

• 10 entries - 1 person wins 5 Silks colors

• 15 entries - a SECOND person will win 2 Silks colors

• 20 entries - that second winner gets 5 Silks colors.

SOOOOO that means y'all need to spread the word!!!!!  drum up some folks who love to play around and get messy!  here are the new Silks:

MMMMMMM you know you want some!!!! hee hee!

and now my craft room last night:

UGH!!!!!

and now:

it is set up nearly the same as it was downstairs - here is my work are and on the other side is a second work table with my cutters.  Shelves are in the closet

continuing around the spiral of craft insanity - tables and two windows so i get lots of light!  bubba loves it to - that is his spot.

file cabinet which holds all my 8.5 x 11 papers and the 5 boxes of stamps i need to put back in their drawers

black cat on top and the two cricuts on the bottom but still easily accesible.  my tall bookshelf is still downstairs which will go next to this table but i just couldn't start lugging all those books up the stairs.......

mix it up with shimmer!

hi all!

good GRIEF the days are just flying by! you know how they say (yea "they") that time goes faster the older you get? at this rate i will completely MISS the second half of it :P the weather has been SO gorgeous here i have spent a good part of my time outside lately.  JUST about killed myself getting my gardens in order.  but oh they are looking good.  still more to be done though.  then poor pezza got really sick.  monday morning she got up, laid on the couch and pretty much stayed there with out hardly talking.  as we got closer to lunch i was REALLY suspicious so i took her temp - yep 101!  went through a stomach bug apparently but is all good today!

while she was sick we watched 2 kitten episodes of too cute on animal planet and i just couldn't stand it.  i have wanted another preggie momma cat but hubby was not too excited about the idea.  well today i asked again and he said YES!  so i am going to let the cat coordinator know as cat season is fast approaching!

yesterday we kicked off the next challenge in the mix it up altered art group on color me creative - use SHIMMER!  any kind will do!  of course i have pulled out my luminarte twinkling h2os:

i drew the branches and birds after seeing a tutorial linked on pinterest.  i thought they were so cute and simple so i gave it a shot. 

they were especially perfect to do an art journal page with one of my life mottos.  some people call it flying by the seat of my pants.

i call it faith - huge copious amounts of faith in my higher power.  i have not had an easy walk to get to where i am now - in fact i have defied some pretty daunting odds :)

after i drew the picture i painted it with luminarte twinkling H2Os.  truly amazing shimmering watercolors in lots of colors and so easy to use!

i used some claudine hellmuth stamps and acrylic paint to stamp some leaves and then added some cut out leaves done on my cricut.  i finished it off with little prima flowers (remember these simple ones from back in "the old days?") and some white gel pen.  i will be taking Dion Dior's Mastering Twinks class in April and am very excited - i encourage y'all to check it out!  it's a great price AND Dion is incredibly talented!

mix it up challenge

hi all!

hubby headed back out of town this morning so i am on my own with she-who-never-stops-moving.  seems at this point that he will be out of town 3 days a week for awhile BLECH!!!  at least he doesn't have to do it for the full 5 days a week!

so i have been thinking about pinterest (i say that like this is something new!)  anyway, one of the things i am always finding on there is stuff i want hubby to make/build for me.  so i made a honey make this board.  now i can just refer him to it!  but then it occurred to me - pinterest can be a really fabulous wish list to consult when you need to buy someone a gift!  just check out their pinterest boards and you will see everything they have ever dreamed of!  gift giving made easy!

i kicked off the Mix It Up groupon Color Me Creative - a mixed media/altered art challenge group - on monday with a fun live chat, the next challenge and a scavenger hunt for a chance to win some goodies.  our current challenge is to use a page from a book - in any way, on any type of project:

i scored big time at a cool antique mall right here in my little town called It's Bizarre and found several old books - nice and aged to perfection!  so i tore one out and got to work!

First I mixed up a little Apple Blossom Primary Elements Artist Pigment mica powder with some liquid medium and stamped the page with a claudine hellmuth foam stamp.  then i accented them a bit with some quick circles using a black colored pencil.

Next i further accented them with some drops of buttermilk liquid pearls.  now i have a cool custom patterned paper!

I decided to use it on a card this time - i will be doing more with these in my art journal - but i wanted to show folks how easily mixed media can be incorporated into cardmaking.  they really overlap quite a bit - think tim holtz - pure mixed media.  but i like mine more on the cutesy side so i paired my book page with some cute papers and an adorable Make It Crafty image!

i painted her with Luminarte's Twinkling H2Os and then used regular colored pencils to add depth and shading - the shimmer will still shine through the pencil!

isn't she gorgeous!  i will have a video up on this image soon!

meanwhile on the kitty front - one of our big cats is a ferocious hunting machine.  it is her life's mission to rid our yard and the yards around us of every living thing.  she can cry at the door, go out, head straight to the next yard, grab a mouse and come back.  since bubba came along she can't go in and out freely through the cat door so she has had to resort to hunting indoors:

this is the upstairs hallway after 3 days.  i pick them back up and spread them around the house and she repeats...

and then there is my sweet sweet bubba kitten.  one of his fave hiding places was always under pezza's kitchen step stool.  however he used to be MUCH MUCH smaller so now we have this:

i freakin love that kitten!

mix it up kick off party!

ok.

last post today.

i swear.

hahhahahahh!

who knows if any of you know this or not (back to the disappearing subscribers fiasco) but i have been going back to my roots and delving even deeper into some mixed media fun.  Suzanne asked me to start a mixed media challenge group over on her classroom site - Color Me Creative.  tonight is the kick off party for Mix It Up!  we will also be kicking off a new challenge.  so head over from 7:30-8:15 pm eastern time - there will be an opportunity to win some goodies too!  we hope to see you!