VACATION!!

Things have been so hectic this summer!  Getting work done, keeping the house going the way I like it, football practice for large, and now we have been having thunderstorms that are CRAZY!!!  Monday, it actually thundered and lightninged for 6 straight hours!  Then, the power went out at 6pm and didn't come back on until the next morning!!  So, nothing could get done in the dark.  

Yesterday, I go back to getting everything caught up from the day before and start to get the packing together.  And the power goes off AGAIN!  Until this morning, so here I am trying to get my house clean (I never go away with a dirty house.  Coming home from vacation is sad, and coming home to a dirty house is depressing!) and 4 people packed today!  Luckily, I got to clean most of my house during the day but the washer and dryer went off with the power so I am behind on that, which is messing up my packing. GRRRRRRR!!

I NEED A VACATION!!

Luckily I am going tomorrow morning, and I will be back next week.  

Before I go, I want to say thank you to Eliza who won my giveaway a few weeks ago.  She sent me a beautiful card and ATC.  Thank you so much darlin'!  You didn't have to do that!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, and for the people having this awful weather, be safe!!

FEATURED!!!

I found out some wonderful news yesterday!

I got my story featured on Crescendoh's "Art Saves" section!!!

What story?  The story of how I have Multiple Sclerosis and Art saved my life.  Some of you may not know about my MS, but if you read this article, you will now!!

Just click the link HERE

The whole site is amazing, be sure to look around.  You will find something inspiring everywhere you look!

Thank you to everyone at Crescendoh for getting my story out there!!  If my story helps just one person I will be grateful!  I am so honored to have my story featured by Crescendoh.  And for those of you who know I have MS, thank you so much for your support!!!

FAT BOOK PAGE 1

Fat books are my new favorite thing.  I love the look of them, and their size is great.  Larger than a tag or ATC, but smaller than a canvas.  The usual size of a fat book page  is 4x4, but I have a bunch of Tim Holtz Grunge board blank pages that are 6x6 so I am going to use them.  When I run out, I will go back to the traditional size.

This page was made for Altered Arts Magazine.  As you know, I am designing for them now (so awesome!!)  This page was totally fun.  I used stencils, paints, gauze, glitter, miscellaneous papers, punchenella (sequin waste) and tapes.  The wise owl is a Glimmer Chip from Tattered Angels.

Thanks for visiting!   And you can follow Altered Arts Magazine on facebook.  Just click the name.  Hope you had an awesome weekend :)

WOYWW # 163

Welcome to another WOYWW!!  Julia at Stamping Ground has all the details.  Please be sure to visit her!!

And thank you for visiting me today!  I am so enjoying this party!!  I try to get to everyone, but it is impossible.  There are up to 200 people!!  So if I don't get to you, I'm sorry!!  But I appreciate your visit and promise to comment back.

OK.  Time for the desk.

I just finished a project and this is what's left.  I can't share it with you because it is a "secret" project. But you can see I used a bit of just about everything!

And my important things are easy to see.  My badge and my Hello Kitty!!

Enjoy all the desks.  You will be inspired!

QUIRKY DUTCH SUMMER WORKSHOP

A very dear friend of mine, who I met online years ago, is having a summer workshop.  Her name is Marit and she is an amazing artist!  She teaches workshops all the time and she charges a fee for them.  However this one is free!  It already started, but you can catch up!!  It is called "Quirky Dutch Summer" and is a weekly workshop, that offers a prompt, or technique or something else meant to inspire you to create.  This is my piece for week 3, "word play".  It is about using words in your art work.  Marit gives tons of examples, please visit her to read all about it.

the rattle snake hissed

the rattlesnake did attack

although it missed me

I told people yesterday that there was a story behind this page and here it is.  My large son, 15, made this snake in art class a year ago.  Yes, he enjoys art and makes wonderful things!!  And I keep all of it, of course, and put it in his memory book.  Now when my small son was 12, last year, he wrote this haiku and for some reason it tickled me!  I found it so intriguing because of all things to write about why pick a rattle snake?  When I asked him, his only reason was because he thought the words   hissed, and missed rhymed so that made him think of a rattle snake.  Now, Marit gives all these examples of word play, and one of them is haiku.  She writes them all the time.  I am no poet, but I remembered small wrote a haiku!  I went to the memory book, hoping it was one of the things I saved and luckily it was!!  Now what to do?  Yes, large made a picture of a rattlesnake a year ago!  and so, my 2 boys actually made this page.  I just used a page in my art journal that was already prepared with gesso, sprayed purple ink on it and wrote with a black sharpie.  The 12 year old wrote the words, and the 14 year old made the picture, and I love this page!!  So many people who saw this on my desk in yesterday's post said they hated it because they hate snakes.  I'm not a snake fan myself, but since the idea for this came from a snake, I think in this case, SNAKES ARE AWESOME!!!

Thanks for listening to my long story, and thanks Marit for the wonderful workshop!! 

WOYWW 161

Happy 4th of July, Independence day, to all of my fellow Americans!!!  Have a wonderful and safe day!!  Enjoy!!!

And it's also WOYWW!  Click the link to see what this is all about!!

My art journal page, some markers, glue, twine, spray ink, a jar of tools, my WOYWW badge and everything else!!  My usual desk.

I will be talking about this art journal page and for who it is for on Thursday.

So that's it for me!!  Visit all the other awesome desks!! And enjoy your 4th of July!! See the fireworks, and eat lots of hot dogs and potato salad!!

I LOVE MAKING JEWELRY!!

I don't make very much jewelry anymore, but when I finally do, I love it!!

I made this piece for Altered Arts Magazine.  It is a pendant hanging on a piece of my grandmother's vintage lace.  She has had these 3 bolts of lace since the 1930's.  Grandma passed at the age of 93 a few years ago and I got so many treasures from her!!

I used the lace as the actual necklace part.  I think this piece would look awesome as a choker with a bow in the back. 

I used a Tim Holtz Memory Frame to start.  I used alcohol ink in blue and red on the glass.  I added some book paper inside.  I like to think that whoever sees it will wonder what it says, is it from a love note? or something that the wearer finds inspiring?  Then I added a Tim Holtz Bauble to the bottom, for that final punch.

The result, I think, is beautiful!  It is inspiring me to make more jewelry and I promise to show you all when I do!