Time Flies When You Forget You Have A Blog!

Oh My. Oh My. It has been OVER a year since I last wrote on my poor blog! I'm feeling a bit ashamed of myself. Heh Heh. My life isn't too exciting, so you haven't missed anything! :)

Another thing I haven't been doing much of is art. But I ALWAYS love to join in the yearly swap of Marion Bockelmann in Germany! She makes amazing art and so do all the participants. I always know that something wonderful will arrive in my mailbox by participating. It's something I look forward to every year and I hope she doesn't stop anytime soon!

This year, the theme was MONA AND FRIENDS. We were to take portraits made by Renaissance era artists and do artsy things to them. I chose to do my ATC's in a steampunk style. It was the first time I tried it and really liked how they came out. I hope the other participants like them too!

This card was inspired by "Vanitas" by Clara Peeters. I chose this work because it was by a female artist of the Renaissance period. Not many women were allowed to paint at that time in history, so it feels very significant to me to help elevate these women as a fellow female artist.

This card was inspired by "The Chess Game" by Sofonisba Anguissola. I absolutely LOVE this painting! It is a painting of the artists sisters playing chess. Again, I chose this work because it was by a female Renaissance artist. But I also chose it because I love the work itsself.  

Lastly, this card was inspired by the painting "St. Catherine" by Barbara Longhi. Longhi mostly painted religious works and not much is known about her except she helped her artist father paint alters for the church.

Love, Love, Love

This month I joined in a swap by the always delightful MARION BOCKELMANN in Germany. This year the theme was BEATLES SONGS. Who doesn't love a beatles song?! The swap is for 3 ATC's (2.5 x 3.5 inches) in that theme. Here are the little cards I made:

The first one is called: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand...In Strawberry Fields Forever". I was just going to do the first song, but about 2 1/2 hours in I decided it had to have strawberries in it too. So I figured it would be ok to combine the two songs. These were done digital and I added crystal embellishments to them afterwards. The sweet graphic elements (boy/girl/bird/talk bubble) were created by one of my favorite artists: MINDY MURPHY LACEFIELD and they were sold through www.scrapartist.com during the month of Feb when she was guest artist. Unfortunantly, they no longer carry them. But you should check out Mindy's etsy store! She has wonderful originals and prints of her artwork (and dolls, too!) that will make you smile!

This next card was done to the song "In My Life". As soon as I listened to the song, I had the idea to put a lot of the same man on the card and have a woman catching the eye of just one. I also put blue crystal embellishments on this one. I think this may be my favorite because it is something different for me - a new avenue. I like the edgy, quirky look of it. I may have to see if this one will translate to a larger background and print one out for our bedroom. I was going to embroider on this one, but they were just way, way too small for me to figure out how to do that with. So I may try on the larger one. :)

This last card is called "Octopus Garden". Aren't you surprised?! Heh Heh. This one has little star crystal embellishments on it and I think a copy may have to fit in my bathroom somehow. The cool octopus was found at Scrap Artist (link above) in a steampunk kit. Very cool! I changed his color and he just made the whole thing.


I know there are a still a lot of people who don't believe that digital art is "real" art (ie: paper, paint and glue). But let me tell you - I actually spend MORE time on digital pieces than glue and paper pieces! Because not only do I change/tweak/configure just about every component that goes into it, I spend a lot of time picking out just the right things to add. Not to mention cutting images out, which I'm still learning how to do with confidence. So, if you are of the naysayers, I say, buy yourself some digital scrapbooking/art elements, open up your photo shop and see just how long it takes you to put something together that sparks your soul. :)


And lastly, but certainly not least, I wanted to direct you to a really wonderful and generous jewelry artisan in New South Wales. During the One World One Heart Blog event that takes place every Feb., I won an amazing pair of earrings from CARONBC. I was allowed to choose my pair and I chose ones called The Beach, because I have a very strong connection to the ocean here in California. Here is a picture that Caron took of them:


They are one of the prizes that I knew I would keep for myself if I won because I thought it would be really special to have an ocean connection on the other side of the world! Please check out her new Etsy Jewelry store CREATIONS FROM MOTHER EARTH BY CARON CHESTER. I will surely be adding to my collection when I have some extra fun money! I know you'll find something wonderful there too! :)

Eostre Greetings & Fun Times With Colorful Thread

Happy Eostre, Easter, Bunny Day, Day to Eat Chocolate Eggs Without Guilt - whatever you call it, I hope you are enjoying this spring day! It's not too spring-ish around here though - overcast, cold and windy. But since we are staying inside all day, we really cannot complain! :)


Above is the latest progress picture on my stitchery project. I'm enjoying all that I'm learning to do with this. I will definitely continue forward with stitchery in the future! I'd like to think that I could actually make even stitches and straight lines eventually, but I don't think that's going to happen! But that's ok! I'm good with the "artistic free-form" style I seem to have. Heh Heh! The big flower with the black border was a piece of fabric with a flower that I just sort of altered with stitches. It was crooked - of course - so I added the yellow rick-rack to cover the "bald spots". Snicker. The square by the birds' beak is supposed to be a garden - inspired by Maija of Maigirlz (I'm too lazy to get the link - sorry - look to the right on my list of links). My french knot flowers are all different sizes - not by design! But I always did like a messy, wild garden! I also couldn't decide on what color to use, so I put bright pink and yellow together on the needle and went to town.

I can see adding embroidery to a mixed media canvas piece. I wonder if I'll need a special needle for that? It's cool to learn new things and I hope to never stop learning on my artistic adventures! Have a wonderful day and thank you kind people for always being so supportive! I'm going to finally visit all the other stitch participants tonight. I didn't want to see too many and get discouraged at my very slow, crooked hands. But now is time to see what delights everyone else is creating. From the very few I have looked at, I know they are all going to be amazing! If you would like to check out all the delights, click on the I'M STITCHING ALONG link box near the top right! Happy Spring!

Stitchery-O-Rama

Hello Kind People!

I finally got around to doing some stitchery the other night after dealing with a very ill furry child (cat), buying new tires for the car that were so bad that I'm not sure they actually had any rubber left on them and generally wanting to hide away from the world because it's all so overwhelming!

What I did was 4 kitty cats representing my furry children Gabriel, Figaro, Leopold and Sally. And then I did a fabric heart that is a bit puffy with the stitching and I think is fun. Then I found another $1 stamp at Michael's - the bird! So I stamped the bird and then embroidered him by using big stiches that went long ways over the stamp. So he looks kinda fuzzy. Then I added the fabric hat and button, some grass stitches and some yellow ric-rac. The ric-rac, fabric and button were gifts from fellow stitcher JULIE FILLO! Thanks sweet friend!

I know none of this really goes together, but I am just learning the craft and wanted to just play. Next time - and yes, GASP I'm feeling like there will be more embroidery in my future - I'll pick a theme and go with it. :) For now though, I'm trying to be gentle on myself and not stick to any plan. :)

I'm A Big Fat Cheater!

Why? Because for my little square tonight I actually took up 4 squares! I didn't see no rules, man, so, ya know, I decided to be a bit of a rebel! LOL.

I really need to get a better picture of it, because there is orange and pink in a lot of the flowers. But my scanner is acting naughty and I'm too tired tonight to mess with it. Anyways, I found a stamp at Michael's for a buck and used that as my pattern. It takes up FOUR squares, so I figured if I cannot find time to stitch tomorrow, that would be ok. Which is good, because we will be out of town going to doc appointments and dinner, so I may be too tired to do one tomorrow. Again, I'm a rule breaker! LOL

And I have to say, you EMBROIDERERS out there are AH.MAY.ZING! I've gone through the followers and am wowed! AND, the support that this wonky-fingered stitcher has gotten from all of you been so touching!! Thank you so much! You guys ROCK! :) And even though I don't think my embroidery is ever going to be perfect or prize-worthy, I am indeed inspired to keep going from all the support! Thank you! :)

Back In The Saddle Again

After an epic failure of a day yesterday, tonight I got back on the embroidery saddle and did two squares.

The middle I just filled in with yellow, edged with pink and added a button. I needed SOMETHING to cover up my mess from yesterday! LOL. The third is supposed to be a cute little owl. It kinda looks like a ghoul though. HEH HEH HEH! Oh well, I AM TRYING! And that's what matters, right?! :) I think once the 39 days are over, I'm going to try doing a larger cupcake - maybe 4 inches or so. I think I have had the best luck with it so far. And I think the larger size will be easier for me to work with. These tiny 1" squares are pretty rough on my wonky hands and I cannot seem to do fine little stitches. But I'm going to keep going! I'm no quitter! :)

Agggghhhhhhhh.....Splat.

Day two of an embroidery journey? Epic fail. As in all 4 hours of attempting to embroider a flower. I tore it out and tried to just fill in the square and then add a button. Again, epic fail. So, I am thinking the stars are not aligned for me today and I will try again tomorrow. But the thing that saved my sanity, is the amazing comments about my cupcake! Thank you so much kind people! Because of you I am not going to throw all my embroidery supplies in a bonfire. Heh Heh.

Tomorrow is another day, right? That's what Sweet Sally McNally says, anyways. :)