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!

is that fall i feel coming???

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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 after the summer break goes up in 3 days on the 15th!

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GOOD GRIEF!!!!

i think september might very well kill me!!!  pezza is settling into being in big kid school but our schedule is a wreck!  i am having trouble getting it all sorted out but then I vaguely remember it being that way with the boys too.  The bus arrives at 11:20 and drops her off at 2:45 so in order to get lunch done i have to start making it at 10:45 and that is just not what's on my mind at that time of the morning!  not to mention it IS pez i am dealing with.  For example, bath time monday morning went like this

me: hollyn time to get in the bath
pez: no
me: i didn't ask if you wanted to, you just have to
pez: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
me: pez it's just a bath
pez: you can't make me
(oh. do i sense a challenge?)
so begins the death march upstairs to the tub.  she cries and wails about dieing the ENTIRE time i bathe her. 
me: ok all done - get out
pez: no
me: really?  OUT
(she dramatically pulls herself out wailing and crying about how mean i am so i can dry her)
me: i would like to point out you did not die
(eyes roll back, close and she performs a perfect slow motion collapse into a motionless heap on my lap)
me: really?  let's brush your hair
pez: NOOOOOO! i hate that
(more wailing and crying and drama fest as i comb her hair while she watches in the mirror.  suddenly she goes silent and begins looking at herself from diffferent angles.)
pez: do you see how really big my tears are?
and then right back to wailing like she has been run over by a car.

an isolated incident?  not even close.  we do this for every step of our day, all day, every day....by dinner time i am exhausted.  i swear i have never seen anything like this child!  darn good thing she is so stinkin cute!

so what all have i been up to?  besides pezza?  loads.  getting to know the ropes of elementary school again - i mentioned some time ago in a post that i had such a horrid time in school and would hyperventilate and feel nauseous when i had to do anything school related with the boys.  i am trying to overcome that and be "that" parent that is involved and knows what is going on and helps out.  so i will be volunteering in the library once a week along with a variety of other events.  i will also be taking on an after school art class activity.  monday we cooked a big dish of enchiladas for the volunteers at our city fire and rescue dept. which they loved!  i got hints for some cookies too lol!

i am also working on another mixed media class for color me creative - i am doing a project series and class 1 is mixed media techniques for cards and scrapbook pages.  here is a sample of what the class will teach:

has there been a bit of a fall crispness at your house in the morning like ours?  oh how i love love love fall!  time to get to decorating the house i do believe!

class 2 will be Art Journals and class 3 will be projects off the page.  i hope you will join in the fun over on Color Me Creative - both the classes and the challenge groups!!!

new cmc coloring challenge is up!

oh the joy of 3 day weekends right???  does anyone have fun plans?  we are hanging around the house and maybe getting some stuff done.  crazy how it adds up isn't it?  seems we can never keep up. today hubby and pezza are going to a porsche show and then running an errand so i will have the whole day to myself!  what to do what to do....i will probably spend most of it taping for my next cmc class :)  today's project is from the same class and was lots of fun!

it is also for the new coloring challenge over on cmc:

color ANY image ANY way you like

but it must have YELLOW in the image somewhere!!

We want to see you use YOUR COPICS, ProMarkers, other alcohol markers or Colored Pencils!!

OUR SPONSOR FOR THIS CHALLENGE IS:

Pattie's Creations

One Lucky Winner will win 3 Digis from Pattie's Creations!!

 i used a bit of yellow on the cute little birdhouse trio from Pattie's Creations but i didn't stop there!  i have lots of yellow on the rest of my card too along with some browns.

even busted out some yellow flowers and pezabling!  you can get a glimpse of the amount of shimmer on this card in this pick - that is thanks to luminarte silks - love that stuff!

In addition the the cmc challenge i am entering this card in several others:

• Crafty Creations - A Summer Scene
•  Paperplay - Appreciation
• Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

 and now i am off to feed the babies!

in my garden

hello!!!

i just had a moment of panic typing that because i realized i had no idea what day of the week it is BUT I'M OK!  it's friday!  holy cow.

so week 1 of pezza in big school has been a great success!  she already doesn't want any hugs or kisses getting on the bus.  she had her very first babysitter last night and loved it and her teacher says she has done quite well. last night was parents night.  it's funny starting all over again.  this time is very different though.  i shared with y'all my apprehension regarding school and how tough it was with the boys.  i was awfully young, single, always moving around and never knew anyone there.  this time around i knew half the parents in the classroom and quite a few more at the school in general.  i hope it makes it easier.

i have had a long day and a long week.  on top of starting school and having the schedule we got used to go all out of whack i picked up a teeny 4 pound momma cat and 2 teeny babies.  momma has not got enough milk so i am doing bottle feedings every 2-3 hours.  they are sick too so i am doing all i can but...think good thoughts for us :)  in addition hurricane isaac went right over my mom's house.  luckily they did not have any damage and even still have electricity.  she cannot call locally but she can call me.  my stepdad has been going through chemo so he is pretty weak and of course they both go out and try to start clearing the debris from their 4 acres of yard and now are at the ER with my stepdad.  sheesh!  old people!  i called my step sister and she went to meet them at the ER and i told her to make them quit with the crazy yard clearing!

i played around a bit more with my inktense pencils

i drew the flowers first and added some doodling to the stems

next i added some color with the inktense pencils - not a lot - i put in my darks and lights all at once.

then i used a water brush to blend it all.  after it dried I splattered some Luminarte Silks across the page.  i am thinking i may make a garden series or something :)  ok i am off to bottle feed teeny kittens!  check in tomorrow to see what i did for the new color me creative challenge!

fun cupcakes!

happy monday!

yep happy!  today was pezza's first day of school - BIG school!  rode the bus and everything!  oh life is bliss.  i love her to bits of course but momma needs a break!  and that's what happens with the third kid.  the first time i put one of my babies on a school bus was 16 years ago and i was a distraught WRECK!  he was fine and couldn't wait to go but i put his little self on that bus and waved as it drove away thinking "i hope I see you again..." and then i cried and cried... until i had him back home safe that afternoon.  fast forward to now - see ya kid don't let the door hit ya in the ... on the way out!  lolol!  the only twinge i feel is that i will now be held hostage by the school schedule instead of being able to take off with her to places during the week when they are less crowded.  the best part - daddy stayed home to walk to the bus with us and to pick her up - i love that she has a daddy that's so involved in her life.  i explained to her that when she came home me or daddy would be there to meet the bus and she says "really!?  one of my parents is going to be at the bus stop!?!?  UGH!  i hate that."  the teen years are going to be super fantastic :P

so what did i do with my first day of freedom?  i got my hair done!  not only did i get highlights for the first time EVER but i got purple highlights!  special treat from my hubby!  i NEVER spend money on stuff like that...pics of pez and hair at the end of this post for those curious!

i have a page from one of my art journals for you today - another sketch and inktense play page

i really had fun with this one!  i sketched in the squares and then added the cupcakes

these two are my favorites!  once i sketched them in i used my black zig pen to ink it in and add squiggles as shading - a technique i totally copied from Dion Dior - she is so fabulously talented!  her work leaves me breathless EVERY single time!

Next I colored them a bit with my Inktense Colored Pencils and then blended with my waterbrush - gorgeous colors! 

and now here is happy pezza:

and happy momma:

tie dye fun and FREE book!!!!

counting down....

last week before school starts!  of course i am thinking of all the things i wanted to accomplish/do this summer that i didn't BUT i did do quite a few things i wanted too.  got the school haircut done.  my regular girl wasn't there so i didn't get one but i am going to go back and have big plans *wink* 

one of the things we got to do this summer that was on our list from the beginning is tie dye.  pezza asked about it in the spring and then i got a call and was asked to do some to promote the new FREE eBook on favecrafts - How to Make Tie Dye Shirts, Decor & More: 18 Tie Dye Patterns. 

How lucky is that!?!?   We were so excited when our fabulous Tulip Tie Dye kit arrived


Oh just look at those luscious BRIGHT colors.  now i have not done tie dye since my boys were small - that's a long time ago!  we rushed out and got ourselves some white clothes and got started - Pezza had two shirts, I had a skirt and a pair of shorts and i also had some white fabric i wanted to dye too.  I was uncertain how many pieces of clothing I would really have enough dye to do - we could have done more with JUST the first pack of dyes and we still have the extra packs of each color to do more!

I covered the table with a plastic painter's dropcloth from when we painted the foyer.  we started by doing several different tieing configurations - this is what determines your patterns!

 The Dye is so easy to mix - just add water.  We got to work and added our dyes to our stuff

bubba thought we needed a supervisor...

 The white fabric i had to dye had this pretty white design printed on it which resisted the dye so dyeing it made the pattern really stand out which i was happy about!

After adding the dyes the items have to sit COVERED for 8 hours at least.  This was accomplished by simply folding the long edges of my drop cloth over everything

after sitting i thoroughly rinsed everything to get the excess dye out.  then we laid them out and checked our handiwork

LOVE LOVE LOVE how bright these colors are!  not washed out AT ALL!

a quick run through the washer and dryer and we were ready to model some

where DOES this kid get this stuff?

hollyn was behind the camera directing me on how to pose for mine

SO pleased with our stuff and such fun!  we will be happily making more stuff with the rest of the dye packets.  so grab that FREE eBook and make some goodies for yourself and/or the kiddos too!

the queen

monday icky monday...

hi all!
i am happy to report that my goal of tackling yard work this weekend was met and exceeded! hubby and i spent all day saturday on the back yard - both sheds and my potting shed cleaned out and organized, weeding done, vegie beds prepped.  then yesterday pezza and i planted all of our cool weather vegetables and i weeded and cut down the front gardens, including the hated box woods the builder put in.  it was difficult to resist the urge to just lower the cutter down to the bottom and whack them off at their base :P  unfortunately i am now also incredibly sick with allergies but hey!  i got it all done at once so i only have to suffer once.  totally worth it though!  i how i hope the vegies do well! 

i have another journal page to share today - once again it is one from the mixed media class on Color Me Creative - i hope some of y'all join me for some messy mixed media fun!

this page is full of great texture!

i also used some fabby stencils from creative imaginations for the crown and frame

this is our last week of vacation before pezza starts kindergarten - she is so excited :)  i know some people have posted about being sad about school starting or a kid starting kindergarten but i don't feel sad at all.  we had a great summer but i am ready for school to be back in session!