Lisa's altered book

Finished up my pages in Lisa's altered book. The background is tissue paper fused to felt and covered with gel medium and lots of little pieces of  scrapbook paper, tissue paper, pages from a book & sheet music. Stamped all over, painted and more stamping. Quotes on vellum sewn on by machine. All beads sewn by hand. The 2 collage art pictures from a sheet bought at tentwostudios.

collage sheets

I am a huge fan of collage sheets. I buy them everywhere and anywhere, but one of my favorite spots is tentwostudios. Her Sheets are rockin---and as a special holiday treat the owner is unveiling a free sheet everyday for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. How sweet is that?

Check it out    http://countdown.tentwostudios.com

marbleized paper

For this weekends challenge over at www.paperartistsonline.com I decided to do some marbling of paper.

Easy peasy but gives fantastic results. Put some water in a shallow pan, drop or 2 of dishsoap,  drop in some acrylic paint, watercolors, reinkers, pearl ex,etc what ever is on hand.  Carefully swirl a bit and lay paper face down in your water. Press very lightly and remove & let dry. You can usually get 2-3 pieces of paper from one mixture. Rinse out your container and try again. No 2 backgrounds will ever be the same.

Faux Leather with masking tape

Remember that arts & crafts project you did in grade school? Making a pencil holder for your Mom or Dad by covering a can with masking tape and using shoe polish to turn it brown.  How about upgrading it and giving a more grown up polished look. There are quite a few tutorials on the web, just google faux leather & masking tape.

For my pieces I covered my masking tape with 3 colors of Colorbox Chalk browns. The backgrounds were so versatile. I made cards, ATCs, tags and even some thrinchies for a swap.

38 days until Christmas

Yes you read that right. 38 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! Panicking yet???? We are. We will be hosting 15 people for the holidays this year (on top of the 5 of us). Have not started shopping yet, and know that between soccer,softball and all the other daily distractions it will be here before we know it. Tree to be put up, decorations to be hung, lights and baubles galore. As well as all the presents to be wrapped. AARRRGGGHHH

On the bright side I have 2 cards done. Only 40 or more to go.

I made these for the Black & White challenge on www.paperartistsonline.com (my home away from home). Who knew b&w could be so festive

Gotta Have Coffee

I LOVE coffee. Drink a pot a day and will use any excuse n the book to stop in a Starbucks. The kids all know not to talk to Mom until she has had at least one cup. It is my get up and go.  That's why when I saw this swap being hosted on www.atcsforall.com for chunky book pages I just had to jump in.

They are all 4x4" in size. Can't wait to get the swap back and make my own "Ode to Coffee" book.

Productive Day

So I have been a busy little beaver.

5 tags, 10 ATC's, and a double page spread in my friend Maritza's altered book. I was stuck with the theme of Bling, Bling, and More Bling.  Holiday season is here so I had lots of jewelry catalogs to choose from

Cardkeepers Rocks

So my friend (and owner) of cardkeepers Lucy G hooked me up with this wonderful little kit to make my own book to hold 4.25 x 5.50 cards that I have made and received.

I covered it with paper from Club Scraps Body & Soul kit and stamps from the Mother's Day Kit.

It went together super duper fast and now is holding 40 cards with room for more.

go check them out

www.cardkeepers.com

over scheduling

So today my 8 year old has a soccer tournament. They win, they keep playing, they lose they go home. My 14 year old has a 3 hour tryout for a traveling softball team. And of course they all need to be driven here and there.

You hear as a parent don't overschedule your child, make sure to give some down time. What about us poor parents who have to take them every where. Soccer, Girls on the Run, Softball (2 teams) Debate team, German, and Gymnastics for the baby (can't have here feeling left out now can we)

I joke that my car seat has the permanent imprint of my behind in it. We eat more meals in my car than at home (and dh wonders why my car is such a disaster). I think for the first year of her life the baby thought she actually lived in the car.

I'd write more but it's off to the soccer fields

    maybe I'll have some time in 2010

Do you ever wonder why some people seem to have more talent than others? Give me paper & glue, fabric & thread and I can create something wonderful. Give me a pen & paper and I stare blank all day. My 14 yr old dd doesn't seem to have this problem though (proud mom brag). Give her a pen and paper and man oh man can she create. She drew a reproduction of the National Cathedral for her Honors History class the other day (why you have to draw in history is beyond me) 18x24" done with marker & watercolors-- in just 2 days.

She truly amazes me sometimes.

Got me thinking about talents. We all have them in some shape or form. When and how you choose to use them is another story all together. 

Last night our country elected a new President. He seems to have this  raw talent that is screaming PAY ATTENTION, WAKE UP AMERICA. Will he use it to his full potential? I hope so. I am praying so, but like my dd only time will tell.

All I can say is it's a better day to because one man's talents have been recognized by so may.

VOTE

That's all I have to say for today. No matter who you choose, what party you belong to get out and VOTE

It's your right!

I'm sad today

Things as I have known them have changed.  No warning or anything. Just kind of told here you go. You're gonna LOVE it. But I don't. I don't even half love it. Club Scrap Chat just decided to up and move. I like change on MY terms. Not being told I have to change. There is too much change going on right now as it is.

I'm just going to lick my wounds in quiet now.

things are crazy

After 8 weeks of summer vacation I am looking ahead to the final 4 weeks with weary hope. I can not wait for the girls to go back to school and some sort of schedule to finally replace the chaos that has ensued the previous weeks.

On the upside I have been getting a lot of creating done. The latest was a 2 page spread in my friend's altered book with the theme Italy. All collaged and rather dark but I am happy with the end results.

I also made to a ton of ATC's and working on several small books.

inching my way through life

This is an 8x8 board book I altered. I used it to display inchies I have swapped with people over the past year. Most of the paper inside is from Club Scrap.  Acrylic paint and black permanent marker round out the supplies.

Day 1 7/9/2008

Here I am embarking on a new adventure. Art is and always has been  an important part of my life.  Now as a mom to 3 awesome girls I have been trying to impart some of that wonder into them. We'll see how I do...