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!!!

remember fairy cake mother???

hi all!

i am up before anyone as usual and itching for the day to hurry up and begin for everyone else because today i am spending the day with one of my MOST favorite and funnest of all people - my buddy catherine who lives in canada.  AND our hubbies finally get to meet which we think is awesome because not only are me and cat like identical twins but our hubbies are very much the same too!  i think our goal for the day is to eat crabs - somehow some way catherine will be eating crabs.  and of course i brought her presents - one of which is the Fairy Cake Mother piece i posted about awhile back.

 ta da!  now if you have been reading my blog from the beginning (ANN) you know that catherine bailed on crafts and became a MASTER cake decorator.  in celebration of her leap i made her an apron.

when i began drawing people cat wanted a cat image so of course i had to draw her in her apron!

the background contains a BUNCH of different things (truly MIXED media!)  scrapbook papers, stamped pink tissue paper, stamped luminarte paints, glitter, microbeads, wool roving and a castle i also drew for her - because if you know Cat you know she NEEDS a castle!  (right ann?)  i digitized the castle and then added it onto a brownish background and put my family red velvet cake recipe on it too.

I made this on an MDF board hubby cut for me (because he's AWESOME like that!)  then to finish it off i cut some decorative wood molding for the top and bottom edges.  I painted it with Luminarte Silks - GORGEOUS!  I put some beaded trim along the bottom before gluing the bottom piece on.  notice the pink roving cloud :)

so what do y'all think???  will she like it?  i sure hope so!  and here's hoping we spend the day eating crabs!

cake fail...

hi all!

thursday already???  who has been checking out the new goodies launching at cha?  i have been trying not to look - i need to keep myself on a strict budget and if i look i want.  and then i am sad!  busy busy around here.  i let my maid service go too so i am on my own with the cleaning now and it is quite an undertaking.  but i put me and pez on a schedule and she does her share too so she can earn some allowance - it has been working out quite well.  not only is she doing them but she is actually doing better in general being on a schedule.  with have our IEP meeting with the school in 2 weeks and i feel much better about her odds of doing well in kindergarten too now.

this weekend my funnest buddy EVER, Catherine, is coming down from canada again - i cannot wait to see her and kev gets to meet her hubby bart.  i think they may be long lost twins.  and they both have to put up with the likes of us so they should become fast friends!

i told y'all about a cake i had been asked to make last week for a guy who got a military promotion.  i was going along fine and quite proud of myself.  the entire cake making process went off without a hitch! the girl called at the last minute and wanted to pick it up much earlier than planned but i managed to finish up the last bits of it in the nick of time and her dad was knocking on my door to get it.  two solid days on my feet in the kitchen.

chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling and my yummy homemade buttercream frosting on top with dee-lish chocolate clay decorations.

i was sitting at dinner when the phone rang - right at 6 o'clock, when the party started.  it was the girl who ordered the cake and she was terribly unhappy :(  seems i mis-understood her emails and pictures for the cake.  i left off the ONE thing she wanted to be on there the most!  the party had started, they had seen the cake for the first time right at that moment, there was no way i could fix it :(  i felt HORRIBLE!  when i went back through the emails i finally realized what she had meant.  i wish i had asked more questions but i didn't think i had any.

fortunately, i am reasonably certain the cake at least tasted good even if it wasn't what she wanted.  but i doubt i will be agreeing to make any more cakes for anyone!

watercolor pencil play!

hi all!

well, my foster kittens are still here :(  no adoption yesterday for us.  don't get me wrong i love them to bits but they need good homes they can stay in forever.  the good news is that we did have alot of adoptions of other kittens.  last count i heard we the rescue i work with had 110 kittens needing adoption!  and more keep coming.  please please please if any of you want a cat or dog do not support breeders or puppy mills - adopt a cat or dog from a rescue instead.  or maybe you like kittens but can't have one - contact your local rescue and ask if they need help.  we go to petsmart every wednesday morning to take care of the kitties in the cages there and it's a great way to get a kitty "fix"!

i have also been working on a new class for the Color Me Creative online class room - it is all about Mixed Media and is going to be quite fun!  this is a basics class - so if you have been wondering what all the fuss is about regarding mixed media lately head on over and take my class!  It will be up soon!

yesterday i was a blur of total inactivity and un-productivity :P  i had a crazy hectic week.  (i will tell you all about the cake making tomorrow...it did not have a happy ending.)  in the afternoon i decided to bring down my watercolor pencils and a water brush to play with in front of the tv.  i do not have very many - a small set of derwent inktense and a small set of albrecht-durer.  these are both the very best in my opinion.  i got a set of derwent student grade water color pencils years ago and was never happy with them.  well you get what you pay for sometimes!  i doodled for awhile, colored in some stamped images and then i decided to use them to color in a page i had doodled a couple weeks ago

i love whimsical flowers and i really like these!  i drew them in ink and then added the watercolor pencil - this one uses the albrecht durer.

next I spattered them with pink azalea and sunburst luminart silks using a stencil brush and a toothpick.

i am thoroughly enjoying my pencils and waterbrush! 

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!