cmc challenge - it's BRIGHT!

happy fall!

oh how i am LOVING the weather these days!  and the leaves are starting to change - one of my most fave things ever!  never ceases to amaze me!  there are some trees in particular in our area that are absolutely brilliant!  once they start falling pez and i will take walks and collect them - i really try to bring her attention to things like the leaves changing.

hubby and i sat down to go over our calendar for october and WOW!  does EVERYTHING need to happen ALL in october???  and to top it all off he is working out of town for october so that always stinks.  we have our last camping trip of the year before putting the camper away for the winter this month too.  we are heading back down to kings dominion for their halloween set up.  i used to do a haunted house every year down in missouri and i have not done one yet since moving to va - i so miss them!  i have a groupon ticket to a haunted forest nearby but it expires so quickly we may not even get a chance to use it! boo!  AND pezza has decided she wants to go pick pumpkins at a farm instead of going to target.

My project today is for the new coloring challenge up over on the Color Me Creative site - the challenge is to use BRIGHT colors on your image

I made all three papers myself using Luminarte Primary Elements pigment powders and Luminarte Silks in a variety of ways.  Interested in learning how to do some mixed media too?  Check out my classes on the Color Me Creative site.

all the DTs used the cute little monster stamps from SCACD - isn't she fun?!  I colored her with colored pencils as always - I teach colored pencils classes at Color Me Creative as well!

now i am off to get my crazy weekend started!  first - pumpkin cake with homemade cream cheese buttercream frosting, then farmers market and hopefully - some major cleanout in preparation for my first foray into a children's consignment sale - because WOW do we need to clean out pezza's stuff.  she is a hoarder in the making so this is going to be a serious battle!

happy weekend y'all!

care to be challenged?

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Color Me Creative is looking for a Design Team for the Mixed Media Challenge group! DTs will be required to participate in two challenges per month. Projects can be anything from cards and scrapbook pages to art journal pages to altered art - it is up to you! We are looking for all skill levels. You must have a blog. If interested in joining the team send me a short bio and blog link - marti(at)pezadoodle(dot)com! Our first challenge is up - see post below!!!
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happy weekend all!!!

i am so excited to get the Mixed Media Challenge going again on Color Me Creative!  i would love to have y'all join in!  it doesn't matter what type of project you do or what level you are just join in and have fun!  i have been working on my mixed media card/layout class for Color Me Creative so I have a card as my project today and it comes directly from the lessons in the class:

 the paint I used - the fab Luminarte Silks of course!!!

in addition the main image - an adorable stamp from the M's Place set at SCACD - is mounted on another piece of paper from the class with even more shimmer!

Now it's YOUR turn!  Head over to Color Me Creative and join in!  The challenge is open until Sept. 30th.  Not sure how to get started in the whole Mixed Media craze?  Sign up for my class!

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???

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!

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!!!

magazine fun!

hooray for weekends!

pezza and i had a slumber party in my room last night because poor hubby had to work all night (after working all day).  his boss really does not know how good they have it with him.  so we were up for awhile in the studio and then eating breakfast but now we are back in bed still in our jammies - me playing on here and her playing with my ipod (which she thinks is hers :P)  i have had us on a pretty strict schedule during the weeks so weekends are free.  at the moment we are playing "let's pretend i am a teenager talking on the phone to my boyfriend."  dear god help me.  when i was faced with raising two boys alone i thought i was going to do it RIGHT.  they weren't going to do all the gross crazy things associated with males - like pee on the toilet seat and amuse themselves with farting at each other.  after all there would be no men around to teach them such terrible behaviors.  i realized REAL quick that these things are engraved on the male dna.  i am now learning their are things engraved on the female dna too.  it starts at birth.  of course the talking on the phone to her boyfriend is cute now.  i will likely be less amused at her teen age behaviors when she actually IS a teen!

i have been getting more and more into some art journaling blogs lately and wish i could find as many mixed media challenges as i used to have card challenges to join in.  but i have found one i like at the art journal cafe.   this time around the challenge is magazines.  so i dug up a few i had lying around and looked for some inspiration.

i loved this outdoor table setting scene.  i made my background first,,,

I began by adhering a sheet from an old music book to my gesso'd page.  Next I dabbed some buff colored acrylic page around the edges to soften the stark difference between the white gesso and yellowed page.  Next I sponged on some bright Luminarte Silks around the page.  Silks are absolutely luscious and you can get them all at SCACD.

Next i did my magazines transfers using gel medium.  obviously too much gel medium as you can see by the wrinkles :P  i never quite understood why you would do image transfers as opposed to just glueing the image onto the page but it is actually really cool.  the image is more subdued and fades into and becomes part of the page.  i do wish i had done the transfers BEFORE the Silks though!  but overall a fun technique that i think i will explore more!

if you want to see some REALLY cool examples of magazine transfers head over to the art journal cafe post - can't wait to see what the next challenge is!

blog hop time for SCACD!

woohoo it's friday!

the heat is ridiculous in northern VA this week.  ridiculous for this area and ridiculous because while it may be 110 in vegas that is dry heat and YES there is a difference.  here we have stifling humidity too and it is just plain ICKY outside!  and it isn't even july!

we will be taking it easy for the weekend around here.   I will be working on an upcoming class most of the weekend and then heading to our local petsmart sunday afternoon for kitty adoptions.  twizzler was adopted last weekend.  taffy is STILL struggling with her breathing so the vet is going to check her out again saturday. poor little baby thing just can't get better but boy she sure is fiesty.  her most favorite toy is a little purple pompom from my stash.  in the mornings i go down to the basement to hang out with them while i work and she gets her pom pom and jumps up on the couch with me to play with it.  her and skittle make a good pair because she tires easily and skittle is very laid back.  twizzler was becoming a bit rough for her.

i have a great post for y'all today from Susana at SCACD.  She is releasing THREE new Susana Loves Stamps sets!  Oddly Sweet Curiosities is a fun set of adorable little monsters for year round fun.  Little Sassy Crew is a set of cute little girls.  M's Place is a set of fun and funky houses and accessories sold as a set - use them individually or mix and match the pieces to make your own little scenes!  and i get to join in on the blog hop!  you should have arrived here from Kim's blog.  if you stumbled upon this hop by accident and want to start at the beginning you can head over to the store blog.

here is the first art journal page i did which uses M's Place:

I stamped the images and colored them in using colored pencils. 

Then i drew in some hills and filled them in with some doodling that mimicked the doodling in the stamped images.

these images are so much fun to play with!

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i even added my own lettering!  one thing i am hoping to improve on in the future!

i also did another art journal page with two more new stamps - Little Lily and Monster Mash:

I began my background with a misting of several shimmering mists made from Luminarte Artist Pigments, gum arabic and water in shades of green, turquoise and blue - i used what was already mixed nearby on my desk.  next i used a stencil and stenciled on some Luminarte Silks in Coral Berry.  Once that was dry I added some strips of patterned paper to match the two little images (susana has tons to choose from!)  I finished up by stamping using bubble wrap and yellow Claudine Helmuth acrylic paint.  then i adhered my two images.

LOVE the little monster in her tutu!

i gave her tutu some extra sparkle with a coating of stickles after i colored it.  i think the little girl just LOOKS like she might have an imaginary friend JUST like this little monster doesn't she?

to continue along the hop head on over to Jenny's blog and see what she has come up with!

i hope you all have a great weekend!  thanks so much for stopping by to see what i am up to!

defining an artist...yet again...

oh. my. goodness!

time flies when you're having fun - is it really 3:15???  we did a trip to wegmans today - i don't know if their less expensive but considering all of the specialty stuff they have that i added to the cart i think it would still be a pricier option than good old super walmart.  you just can't beat a super walmart.

after lunch i turned on the food network - i used to watch it constantly.  paula dean was on - love her!  so pezza was watching intently and when paula added TWO sticks of butter to a rum sauce she was making pezza squealed and said it was her her kinda show! i swear she cracks me up sometimes! 

Pezza and i worked together in the studio this morning doing the challenge over on Art Journal Cafe - i am trying to do some mixed media challenges the way i used to do card challenges - i love doing challenges!  it was a color inspiration challenge and my page is something i felt i needed to get off my chest:

i hate when folks start splitting hairs over whether a person is a crafter or an artist.  but it's worse when it is your mother.  of course she is also the woman who told me i would never get to go to college after i was divorced with two very small kids - so i went anyway right on up through a masters degree with honors!  and no she is not using reverse psychology.

here is the color inspiration we were given:

 I began by using distress inks to add color to my background.  next i used some pale yellow Claudine Hellmuth acrylic paint and round sponges to stamp on the circles.

i also used this very cool rubber stamp - a silhouette of a woman - it is one of the Blank Canvas Profiles from SCACD.  I thought it was perfect - that is me thinking Really mom?

i used some sequin waste and white acrylic paint to add some flower shapes and then decided to use a part of the sequin waste itself because it is so shimmery and pretty!  i decided i needed some blue in here so i mixed a little Dutch Iris Primary Elements into my gel medium before using it to glue the piece of sequin waste on.

this is the definition of artist on the bottom of the page.  and personally i think  it fits me just fine!  but it's no wonder i didn't discover my artistic abilities until well into adulthood.  i was always told i just wasn't an artist - it was not meant to be.  now that i have a daughter i make sure to do the opposite and i encourage her in lots of different directions.  including being an artist - her page for this challenge will be posted here tomorrow - i am quite impressed with her and she did it all by herself - all i did was provide the colors and materials!

Stenciled Silks

hi folks!

last week marked a very exciting moment in my life......we got some grown up furniture in our bedroom! yep that's right.  our bedroom turned all grown up.  1. - it all matches.  2. headboard AAAANNND footboard.  3. mirror over the dresser - not completely sure i like the mirror thing but pezza on the other hand loves it.  it is directly across from the bed/stage and she prances around up there striking poses and i even caught her watching herself throwing a fit the other day when she was in trouble.  back to the bed - it is SUPER DUPER high.  like i can barely get into it high!  i am loving it!  of course after it was delivered and set up i told hubby we can't bring all our crap back in because it is so not right for the grown up furniture.  so right now it is very bare in there.  kinda like my naked mantle i have not figured out what to do with...

i have another project from class with Dion Dior today.  i have started her Silks class and playing with those.  Luminarte came out with new colors too and they are dee-LISH!  Susana has them all at SCACD and she ships super fast!

Dion included a bonus project in lesson 1 using Silks to make a modeling paste for stenciling - one of my fave things to do with stencils.  i swear it never gets old!

i began by covering my page in Harvest Sol Silks and let it dry.

 To make the modeling paste i simply added some Silks to my Liquitex extra heavy gel medium.  i began by mixing in Honey Amber and using a chicken wire stencil from crafter's workshop.  after that dried i used the large size gingko stencil and painted through it with gesso.  this lightened up the area so i could go back in with more Silks.  again i let everything dry completely.

Finally i mixed some Fern Silks into the heavy gel medium and used this wonderful bamboo stencil from Crafter's Workshop - there are lots to choose from at SCACD.  i did it over the previous stenciling designs so the fence comes through - how neat is that!  Dion is such a genius!  Summer sessions of her classes will open up so be sure and check for them!

as a result of getting the grown up furniture in our room we will be turning a spare room into an actual guest room.  up until now guests slept on the sofa bed in the basement.  at first we were going to turn trev's empty room into the guest room but i thought about it and decided it didn't make sense since we had such an amazing guest bathroom in the basement and upstairs they would have to share pezza's bathroom.  then it hit me - i also don't like my craft room in the basement because i can't send pez and her friends down there to play for fear they will get into my craft room.  so i decided i will put my craft room in trev's old room and the guest room will be down in the basement.  unfortunately this will entail moving ALL of my mountains of crafty goodness up 2 flights of stairs....yikes!  if i am not on here for awhile you know where i'll be!

M's Place!

yay tuesday! got to be better than my monday was! 

at the moment my toilet is sitting in my bathtub and there is a hole in my dining room ceiling!  EGADS!  it is drying out so we can assess the amount of mold - it looks like maybe just the ceiling drywall molded and not the sub-floor of the upper bathroom.  when hubby pulled off the toilet he discovered the builder had put the wrong flange on when they installed it so it has probably been leaking since we built the house almost 8 years ago and finally for some reason really gave way all of the sudden.  the good news is - my hubby can fix absolutely everything.  saves us tons of money and ensures it is done correctly.  hollyn gets scared in bad weather and so we always tell her she doesn't have to worry, she is inside, it's a good strong house...she took one look at it and declares "well, i guess this house isn't strong at all afterall!"  she is now convinced we have to tear the whole thing down to fix the hole in the ceiling.

meanwhile i wanted to put a project back up that i had taken down so many of you may have seen it already but i wanted to get it back on here.  it is the journal page i did using the M's Place stamps at SCACD:

It is painted using Twinkling H2Os.  the whole little set combines to make up a fun little neighborhood!  really fun to play with and color so what are you waiting for?  go get yourself a set at SCACD!!!  there are 12 stamps in all which make it a heck of a deal!

new stamps!

hi folks!

summer is in full swing at our house!  what does that mean?  it means school is out :P  i DO enjoy not having a schedule and not having our day broken in half BUT it leaves very little time for me.  however, we have a bunch of fun things planned so i plan to do my best to enjoy her as much as possible.  you know barring any jackassery on her part....   she had a little pre-school graduation thing - i don't remember the boys having that but probably because they were in daycare cuz momma WORKED!  anyway it is apparently a far bigger deal than i realized.  not only was the theatre jam packed with parents and siblings but also grandparents, close relatives and the guy next to me even brought the neighbor kid.  i know because he was introducing him to everyone.  the guy knew alot of people there.  i felt fairly pathetic sitting there alone - kevin has been working out of town again.  not only was i alone but i didn't have flowers and balloons and stuff like other folks.  the first time i remember something like that for the boys was graduating to middle school.

so i sat there by myself watching the slide show and listening to the music they paired it with and i swear i felt like i was suddenly at a funeral.  i wasn't sad in any way for her to be heading to :big school" - hell i am cheering - y'all know what i have on my hands.  plus big school is FREE!!!!  and i am not one of those people who wishes their kids would stay little forever.  i love them all and i do miss the boys but i would NEVER want to be stuck with a preschooler for the rest of my life.  so i wasn't sad about this apparently momentous event in our lives.  but the slide show and music and people lamenting how they are just growing to fast and i was getting real depressed!  probably didn't help that it was raining and i think i had PMS...anyway there is a picture of her in her little hat at the end of this post.  there would also be a video of her singing but i forgot to press record...really? and i do this for a living?????

ANYWAY - this is a super super super exciting post for me.  i am joining up with a close buddy of mine, susana from SCACD, to participate in her latest new release blog hop and boy oh boy is it a good one!  susana is really bringing lots of new fun things into the store and taking things in the direction of mixed media which is so ALL OVER THE PLACE right now.    well SCACD has been "die"ing to mix things up!  So, this month they have the launch of three awesome new Collections.

First is a fantastic new line of dies.  Susana has collaborated on a collection of dies with a timeless, classic feel.  Delicate and beautiful, the diecuts from these high quality wafer thin metal dies will be starring on your projects for years to come!

Second is a wonderful new direction for SCACD.  Susana is following her heart with a new line of Mixed Media stamps.  For those of you who are new to the concept, Mixed Media is a style that embraces creativity and experimentation. Let SCACD take you on a new creative adventure with the Blank Canvas Collection.  From the beginner to the mixed media enthusiast, these stamps will get the creative juices flowing! 

Each set in the collection comprises looks, perfect for mixing it up with different techniques.  Use the elements set to enhance the blank canvas silhouettes, or use them on their own for gorgeous effects.

In addition there is a fabulous set of word outlines, ready to be customized however you like!  Color them in, doodle, zentangle, paper piece - go wherever your creativity takes you.

Mix it up and most importantly - HAVE FUN!

so what have i been playing with in my own studio from all these new goodies?

first is the sets of seashells

OMGoodness these are must haves.  there are four altogether and they work really well separately OR together in a layered fashion like i did on this journal page.  and best of all - these stamps are done in such a way that they work really well with paint - not just ink.  so i used mine with some luscious Luminarte Silks!  

i took one of the shells and sponged on a thin layer of Sky Blue Silks and then stamped randomly around the page.  Next up i used one of the other solid ones with sunburst silks.  next i used Guatemalean green on the line art shell and stamped that on the page.  i took a sea sponge and lightly sponged more sky blue and guatemalean green across the page.  finally i took the detailed line art shell and stamped it over one of the sky blue shells using regular black ink.  let the layers dry in between stamping with the different colors!  i wrote out my journaling, ending it with one of the word art stamps - self.  i have so many more ideas for this set alone!  and the rest are just as awesome!

next i played with a couple of the dies.  i just love them!  i admit i was a little intimidated at first by the intricacy as bad memories of trying desperately to pick out all the little pieces in a spellbinders die came flooding back :P

these dies cut right through on the first try with very little fuss over the teeny pieces coming out.  i DO recommend being sure you are using good plates in your machine - thin dies like this need UN-WARPED plates to cut well.  personally, i will put just about anything through my cuttlebug and i use the thick sizzix dies quite a bit.  i keep one set of warped plates for that stuff and then i keep a super sweet pristine set for dies like these.

 

i cut my die cuts from white PTI cardstock.  i used one of the birdcages and one of the corner pieces as masks.  i began by laying down some Apple Blossom Silks randomly on the blank page.  once dry, i mixed up some gorgeous shimmering mist using forest green primary elements pigment powder, gum arabic and water in a mini mister.  i laid my die cuts down on my paper and misted from a distance then lifted them and dried them with my heat gun.  i did one with the corner and two with the birdcage.

Next i used the same birdcage die cut and laid it down again and this time i sponged on Harvest Sol Silks with a sponge dabber.  I also misted the other birdcage die cut heavily with the forest green and dried it.  Then I sponged Harvest Sol on the other two corner die cuts.  i took a natural sea sponge and dabbed a bit of harvest sol on the birdcage too.

i grabbed some gel medium and glass bead gel medium and mixed in some Mallard Green primary elements powder in both.  i used the gel medium to glue down the corners and then finished everything off with some texture by using the glass bead medium in a few areas.

your next stop on the hop is my fab friend suzanne!  if you want to start at the beginning head on over to Danni's blog.

garden of shimmer

hi all!

no chit chat today - just bizness!  i am joining the SCACD girls for the latest release - Susana Loves Stamps presents the Eye of Dreams Collection!  You should have arrived here from Lou Mac's blog. 

I got to work with this little cutie!

Her name is Garden Eyes.  I colored her with my polychromos pencils

her flower garden is done with Luminarte Primary Elements artist pigment powders and one of the newest Crafter's Workshop stencils by Julie Fei-Fen Balzer - you can get them at SCACD!

I began by mixing up some shimmering mist using Primary Elements, gum arabic and water in a mister.  I misted the paper with sunburst and summer breeze.  Next I mixed Blushing Rose Primary Elements with Dreamweaver Translucent embossing paste and scraped it over the stencil and lifted.  Gorgeous shimmering pink embossing paste flowers!

my simmering glass tile is actually a piece of chipboard from a maya road collection - i inked it, covered it in UTEE and added primary elements on top along with more UTEE - look for a video on this technique and more soon!

Be sure to mention that our International Friends can purchase these stamps at Quixotic Paperie:

now head on over to my long time buddy Sandie's blog for the next stop on the hop.