Creativity Challenge Post

I created this for a challenge for a class that I'm taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I found these egg beaters at a garage sale in town. (The woman said, "That's an antique! Do you want to buy this too? It's an antique." She was trying to get me to purchase an old meat grinder. Of course I have NO place to put an antique meat grinder. So I passed.) But I love this and decided to add some antique photos and some antique seam binding.

I used copper tape to solder around a pair of glass microscope slides and filled them with antique photos of my family. This photo is my great grandma, Viola. I was touched that my kids saw the resemblance between her and I. I can see it too. I also think that my sister Kate looks like her.

This photo is of my grandpa (he's the little one in the back), Aunt Mazie, Uncle Joe, Uncle Stub (Adelbert). I think it is so great that grandma and grandpa had all of these awesome photos of their families. And I think they look great in the soldered frames!

Also-Sarah-I'm planning on taking Yesterday and Today which begins in October. The class is taught by Ali Edwards (for 3 months) and I'm really excited about it. She has some info on her blog about it too. (Just in case you miss out on those Master's classes and need something to do...ha!)

Have a great weekend! I'm hoping to fit in some creativity somewhere over the weekend!

Finished Painting

I finally finished the painting. I finished it last night and scanned it in at 11:00 pm. The painting is done on an 8x8 canvas from Dick Blick. {It has been sitting around waiting for inspiration for quite some time.} Then I hung up the original in my cube on the "wall" when I got to work this morning. It totally brightens up the area. I love it!! Happy Friday-have a great weekend!

Thursday-Playing in the Studio

Last night I decided to work on some paintings. My inspiration comes from Traci Bautista and her "Springtime" print on Etsy-her blog can be found here. I totally have to learn by copying first. Once the techniques are embedded in my brain, then I can draw on them to create my own stuff. Until then...I do a lot of pointing to other people's work :) Anyway-I am still loving her Creativity Unleashed class! I haven't been doing a lot of "finished" paintings lately, just a lot of backgrounds that I have been scrapbooking on, or creating journal pages for. So I had a GREAT time creating these pieces. The above piece is a 9x12 painting done on watercolor paper. The other inspiration for the painting is some new paint that I just ordered from Heidi city. It can be found here. The colors I bought are icee, betty, and cotton candy (under accessories)-of course I had to order a couple of other things as well. What I liked about the piece was the colors and the flowers. What I didn't like was that the background was a little bland.

That's where this piece comes in. I didn't like the flowers so much on this piece, but I LOVE the background and the stems. Tonight I am working on an 8x8 canvas piece that will hopefully take what I like from the above 2 paintings and merge them so that I can take the piece to work and brighten up the "Pod" as they are known at work (6 cubes=1 pod). Keep in mind that I don't often spend a lot of time in the pod. I also work in the lab a lot and do some running to different buildings as well.

This is the front cover of a journal that I created using a combination of techniques learned in Traci Bautista's class as well as a couple of techniques from her book which can be found here.

This is the back of the journal. I am totally loving the painted pages inside the journal too. In fact, my post from yesterday was written on one of the pages of the journal and scanned on my scanner. Gotta go-boy is it warm in here! Hubby just put the AC in the attic window. Back to creating soon. Happy Thursday!

Mini-Book

Here is a look at pages that I created for a mini-book. I started it as a way to experiment with watercolors on cotton duck canvas fabric. The photos were printed on the "wallets" setting on my computer, and the pages are 6x6. The paints I used were just plain old Crayola watercolors with water. I love the effect! I plan to sew the pages together soon, but I wanted to scan them individually first. Happy Tuesday!

In the Studio...

I realized that it's been quite a while since I posted any of my project stuff, so here is some of what I have been working on in the studio! Above is an 8.5x11 layout that I started by painting on a sheet of watercolor paper in a color combo that I was playing around with. It sort of sat around and I would add things to it as I walked by it sitting on the table. Finally, i decided it was time to just FINISH IT and put the definition sticker on it and called it DONE.

The 2 photos above were inspired by a class that I am taking online called Creativity Unleashed that is taught by Traci Bautista. I love her style and I have learned a ton of new techniques and ways of creating and "unleashing" my creativity since taking her class. There are 2 weeks remaining and I am not ready to be done with the class yet! There are several different types of acrylic paint, gesso, and spray inks, as well as marker for the drawing. I love these colors together! The paintings are done on a cotton duck fabric that I bought at JoAnn's.

This is a 12x12 canvas (cotton duck) page inspired by donna downey's kits. The kits are here. I just cut down the canvas to match the 12x12 scrapbook page size and painted it in one of my favorite blue acrylics. Then I painted the bird which is also one of donna downey's designs for Prima-I think the words are from a supply list she had on her website as well. I love this photo of Sarah and I from Elizabeth's confirmation night! I threw on some pink flowers and sewed a piece of ribbon on (both from Prima) and Voila!!

I did the stitching with my ancient sewing machine...

Here is a close up of the words. They are applied with gel medium and then I added some Ranger ink. (Sarah-your directions for the gel medium transfers are coming. I sent the email and then realized that I forgot to send you directions. I have them typed up, just need to send them off.)Aaaaahhhhh......good times.

While I was taking photos of my projects in the studio, Tigger decided to hang out on the ledge at the top of the landing. She looked so cute that I had to add her. Happy Weekend!!!

Random Weekend Events

#1. Saw Star Trek-it was, quite possibly, the best movie I have ever seen! Seriously, it was that good. Now-keep in mind...I am a bit of a trekkie and I watch the old ones all the time, so I got all of the little inside jokes. It was still awesome. Definitely replaced First Contact as my favorite Star Trek movie. Having a hot Kirk didn't hurt any either...

#2. William is making his Birthday List-so be ready. Complete with hyperlinks that say, "Click here for the magic."

#3. Ralph is looking on. Such a cute puppy....

#4. Bryan is laying on the floor with Tigger.

#5. Playing with Dimensional paint.

#6. Playing with regular paint.

#7. Stock photo of Elizabeth. She was hanging out with friends all weekend. She was supposed to take pictures, but the camera's memory card conveniently died.

Random Stuff

So a few weeks ago I posted about my body-less painting here. I did finally give her some color and a bit of a shape, although she looks like she should work out at the gym to get some muscle on those arms. I still haven't finished the painting-still need to do something with the other side. But there is no rush to finish it. I'm sure something will come to me eventually! Happy Sunday!

Artist Trading Cards

I'm finally posting about the Artist Trading Cards! First, I absolutely LOVE the pillow box that the kit was shipped in. It's adorable! Above is the Artist Trading Card (ATC) that best defines me. The canvas and batting for the card, as well as the tiny tag were included in the kit. The rest of the stuff I dug up from my stash. I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch for the butterfly, a Making Memories canvas flower, and a Tim Holtz trinket pin. The photo was from a contact sheet that I printed out, so it isn't the best quality, but it is small and that was what I was looking for.

This is the back of the tag. I used the zig zag stitch for the stem of the flower, and the fabric is a scrap from my stash-I think it came from JoAnn's Fabrics.

This ATC is my favorite. I used the shape of a Jenni Bowlin bird and Tim Holtz Color Wash Spray ink to get the bird outline. Then I used the reverse of the bird cutout to stamp the french script stamp over the bird. Finally, I outlined the bird with a Portfolio oil pastel. The word was typed on the computer and antiqued with Tim Holtz walnut Distress ink. The ribbon is 'by the yard' from Michael's.

This is the back of the ATC. I love the messy flower! I think the ribbon is from Walmart.

I hope you enjoy the ATCs! I actually made 5 all together, but these are my very favorites. If I was going to trade them, I would definitely use the first one. Have a great end to your weekend! Happy Sunday!

Happy Friday

So I have this painting. I have a girl's head floating in the middle of an 8x8 canvas. I can't really draw clothes, so i haven't added anything to her. I am taking off early on Friday, so I might try to thing of something then. We will see...Possibilities...

ArtJournaling 102 Participation

I decided to post the part 2 page right on my blog. Here are the layers:

1. About 10 pages of last Sunday's newspaper glue-sticked together.

2. gesso

3. paint wash

4. brayer 2 colors together

5. mask-heart doiley with spray wash

6. texture tool and brown paint

7. monoprint

8. palette knife more paint

9. shelf liner print

10. sanding over the words and flower in the gesso

11. collage text with

12. collage heart shaped newspaper

13. pastels

14. Pitt pen writing

These may not be in the exact right order-I didn't write them down until after I was finished with the page. While I am not usually a patient person, I really love the time that it takes for an art journal page or a collage painting to come together. Thanks, Dina-I really LOVE your class and am looking forward to next week!!

{Taking Flight Artwork}

Okay, I am finally brave enough to post my Taking Flight artwork. At some point I may even get up the courage to post them on the new Flickr group that Kelly Rae Roberts has set up for that purpose. But I'm not quite there yet. I love making the oil faces. The Shiva paint sticks are SOOOOO easy to use! And the faces themselves came out so easy that I feel like I'm just copying Kelly's art. Which is one of the reasons that I have been afraid to post them. But here I am. Brave. And confident. Have a great Sunday!!

Artwork

Bryan has been playing in the studio. Look at those colors! He is loving using the spray color and pastels with the bird motif. I love that he enjoys painting as much as I do. Great work, Bryan!

In the Studio

I was cleaning up the harddrive on my computer and I ran across this photo of art in progress in the studio. Creating is so relaxing that I embrace every moment that I am able to spend in my space.

Soon I will give a tour of my studio and show all of the little nooks that I have carved out for myself. Have a great Thursday!