An Evening of Messy Fun!

Thursday night a local artist named, Jacki Long, came to Mission Viejo to teach a portrait collage class. I couldn't resist! I love the cabana art that she created for the community center...


(*picture from jackilong.blogspot.com)

... and the Mission Viejo Library card:


(*picture from jackilong.blogspot.com )

I met Jacki, seven very nice ladies, and one sweet dog at a night of art and fun:


(*picture from jackilong.blogspot.com )

I know it looks like I'm by myself, but there were others there. They must have been picking out paint or digging through the huge tub of paper at the time the photo was taken, haha!

Here is my collaged girl. The background is painted, the face is a combination of butcher paper, sewing patterns and yellow tissue paper. The hair is torn tissue and napkins, and I used acrylic paint to finish the face.



If you want to see more art from the night, visit Jacki Long's blog.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend!

Thank-you Post Card

I created a 8.5x11" painted background and cut it up into 3 post card sized cards. Here is my first post card complete. I used one of my favorite art stamps: Puccini's Muse Wood Mounted Stamp by Lynne Perrella.



I'm entering this in the Stampington Designer Challenge SDC180: Painted Background.

You're TEA-riffic!

I created an envelope for the swap taking place on the Roc Nicholas Facebook page. I used http://www.stampotique.com/stamp/roc-nicholas/2420.html.... and a punny sentiment using letters from her Unleash Yourself stamp.



I'm also entering this in the Stampotique Punny Project Challenge.
Thanks for stopping by!

Word of the Year!

My word this year is BALANCE. I've been working a lot of hours, so I feel that I need to balance my home life and my work life better. Also the running assessment that I took at the end of last year said that I need to work on my physical balance. So, BALANCE it is!



I added some cute little birds from the Stampotiqe "Birdie Up" stamp set to jazz it up.
I'm entering this in the Stampotique New Year's Resolution Challenge.
Thanks for stopping by!

Colors colors colors!!!

Today I'm sharing an envelope that I created for the Color Splash Challenge at the Stampotique blog.



I used lots of bright spray color, collage and the cute Line Up stamp. I love those cute little critters.

Thanks for looking!

Edgar Allan Poe

I always thought of Edgar Allan Poe as a creepy author, as in "The Raven." But little did I know that Poe had a romantic, dreamy side. Here is a card that I made using a quote from Edgar Allan Poe for a challenge over at Stampotique Designers Challenge and Quoth the Raven.



I used the cute Feline stamp by Roc Nicholas.
Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

August Card Kit Reveal

Welcome to the Club Mojo August card kit reveal! We have 10 ladies in the club this year!!! These are all wonderful ladies who I've had the good fortune to meet at Scrappin' Mojo.

It's time for our Club reveal, and this month's card kit was put together by Mary!

This month I used the card kit for a little collage for the Art of Wild Abandonment class. The instructor's collage had her laundry flying away... that's not my style. I don't let my laundry fly away, I CONQUER it!



My second project is a gift bag. Beth turned us on to these super embellished bags. I decided to try it and decided that it's not my style.



That's it for me! I can't believe that summer is over already!
Have a great week, all!

Art Envie

This week I won this FABULOUS envelope from the stamp designer Roc.



She has inspired me to create my own envelope art... Here it is:



I picked a couple cute bunnies out of the LINE UP stamp by Kira Nicols as my focal image.

I'm entering this envie in the Stampotique Perfect Pairs Designer Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!
And Thanks Roc for the WONDERFUL envelope and the inspiration!

Chalkboard frame

Start with a regular wrapped canvas, cut out the middle, spray with Dilusions Ink, add a blackboard painted board in back, embellish, add a cute girl stamp from Julie Nutting and here is what you get:



I LOVE how this turned out! I'm entering this in the Off the Rails Scrapbooking Challenge.

Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you have a great weekend!

October Card Kit Time!

Welcome to the Club Mojo September card kit reveal! We have 10 ladies in the club this year... 10!!! These are all wonderful ladies who I've had the good fortune to meet at Scrappin' Mojo.

It's time for our Club reveal. I've had this project planned since I heard that Diane was making the kit for October. About a year and a half ago, Diane sent me some stamped images of Suzi Blu girls. I had in mind to make one of the girls up as a little witch on a halloween canvas... and Diane sent the perfect kit! It's full of Halloween goodness!!!

Here is the image that I used:



And here is my canvas:



Some close ups:





I even had some paper left over for an October birthday card:



That's it for me this month! Be sure to checkout the creations from the other ladies:

Beth - bethiejs.blogspot.com
KimP - Mojo Card Kit Reveal
Diane - mumblebeedesigns.blogspot.com
Terri - jazzyscrappertidbits.blogspot.com
Mary - justanotefrommary.blogspot.com
KimO - Mojo Card Kit Reveal
Jan - Mojo Card Kit Reveal
Niki - ellenaspaperhouse.blogspot.com
Stella - myscrapbliss.blogspot.com/

Thanks for dropping by!

Weekend update

Chris and I finished stripping the wall paper in my bedroom, then Chris decided that he wants the wallpaper in his room off too. After we finished Chris's room we had enough wallpaper remover to strip the wallpaper in the entry way... so 10 hours later, our house is completely wallpaper free. However, Cheryl is thinking of wallpapering her room. Chris said that he's not volunteering to take the wallpaper off when she gets tired of it, haha!

I took a day off from house cleaning and stripping wall paper to take an art class at the Laguna Beach Art-a-Fair with Agnes Copeland. She a collage and watercolor artist. Her collages make me smile. Here is the collage that I created in her class. The photo that I was working from was of Portofino, Italy:



I like the way it came out. I might add some pen work. I still need to think about it some more...

Jim and Cheryl are in Arizona. They should be home later this week!!!

Julie Nutting girl

I finally finished the canvas with the last Julie Nutting girl that Terri sent us in the June Mojo Club Kit:



And of course, some close ups:







Sorry, it's so late... and THANKS for looking!

Inspiration, Sketches and Family Fun!

I had a very fun week last week. First, last Sunday night, we went to Hollywood to see:


Jim got tickets for the whole family for Christmas. It was at the Kodak Theater on Hollywood Blvd. That's the same theater where they hold the Academy Awards. It's a BEAUTIFUL old theater! We had great seats, right down in the orchestra section.

It was amazing! It's so hard to describe what it was like... it was a sensory overload and made my mind open to all different kinds of possibilities. I saw things that I wouldn't have thought were possible. It was very entertaining, a wonderful show, and a great evening! I'm telling all the guys at work that they need to take their wives/girlfriends for Valentine's day.

Only a few days later, I went with my mom and dad to see Cat's at the OC Performing Arts Center. It was a GREAT show! I didn't know what it was about and was a little confused in the opening scenes. With the space ship taking off, I didn't know whether it was going to take place on another planet, or if the Cats were aliens. On top of that I thought they were saying the cats were "angelical" or "evangelical"... turns out they are just "jellical," hahaha! I still don't know what the deal was with the space ship, but they are on Earth and the Cats are cats. It was my dad's first Broadway play, and my mom's second. They both really enjoyed the show. (Not as much as Jacob's shows, of course)

From great works flows great inspiration! Here is my start on a couple of new She Art girls. This first one features Scarlett, the female lead in Iris:

This second one is inspired by Cats... Hmmm... This one needs work. The cat needs a more cat like pose. The background needs more interesting content too. BTW, did you know that the play Cats is inspired by a book by T.S. Eliot?

I hope everyone has a great week and stays dry!

BFFs

Here is my newest mixed media creation. "She knows the value of friendship." I used the two BFFs that I know as inspiration for the girls :oD

I used my favorite stamp for adding backgroud texture... the worn grid stamp from Unity Stamp Co.

Now time to plan my next project!

Merry Christmas!

From our House to Yours!

The cards are out and delivered!

The ornaments are done!

I went simple this year and attached a group shot of the kiddos to a small wooden plaque from Michael's.

While the paint was drying on the ornaments, and I had all my paints out... I started a new She Art background. I learned from looking at the backgrounds made by my friend, Mary. Her backgrounds are so much cleaner than mine... I kept the embellishment to the outside of the page and used less black. I think it came out nice.

This is going to be the perfect background for the BFF girls that Cheryl drew out for me. I thought the girls that Cheryl made looked too old, so I changed their clothes (thanks Old Navy!). They are going to be cute, cute, cute!

This will be my last post before Christmas.
Merry Christmas to ALL!!!

She Art - Christmas Carol Angel

We went to see the play "The Christmas Carol" at the South Coast Repertory a few weeks ago, and even before we left for the play, I had this project in mind. Here she is:

The white night gown and top hat were taken from Scrooge himself. Snow is blowing in the Christmas Eve night. I broke from the typical She Art tradition and didn't start the quote with "SHE." I used my favorite quote from the book. "I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year."

I like how the girl came out, but the background... YIKES! What a mess! I wanted to make it black, because it's night. But, I didn't like it black. It was too dark. I tried to add white and colors to lighten it up, but ended up with a mess. I'm glad the girl covered up most of it... In hindsight, what I should have done was covered the background in cream instead of dark brown; and not been so afraid to cover up the play paraphernalia, keeping only what mattered most, the play ticket. Then I could add colors and have it not be so messy looking!

Here's the ticket from the play in a place of honor.

Here is another close-up of the background... I stenciled the snowflakes with modeling paste. It adds some fun dimention! I don't know why I used blue instead of green. I guess I thought it might lighten it up more.

New Flash! Our house is decorated for Christmas! I'll post some photos later. Now it's time for the annual Bunco Christmas party! Good Night All!

She Pair Drawing...

Here is a pair of girls drawn by Cheryl. Aren't they cute? I think I'll do a She Art based on these two!

Girls in Hats....

Knowing my current obsession with mixed media girls, it's no wonder that I LOVE this idea by Junelle... Girls in Hats!

I don't know if I'll actually make any, but I started drawing hat pictures just in case (all on yellow post-its of course).

Speaking of girls in hats...

They brought a photo booth to the company Christmas Party! A couple of my running friends Shanaz (left) and Paloma (middle) talked me into this little adventure. You can see that I'm starting to get into it there at the end, hahaha!

Being Sketchy

The She Art instructor, Christy, doesn't use any patterns for her She Art girls. She doesn't even draw a cutting line on her patterned paper. She just grabs the scissors and starts cutting! I can't do it! I think it's the engineer in me. I have to plan... I have to sketch it all out... I have to make a pattern... I have to trace my pattern on my paper... THEN I CUT!

I do most of my sketching at work! {gasp} Well, some people surf the Internet when they have a few free minutes... me I like to sketch. I used to carry around an engineering notebook, but gave up on that when it started looking more like a sketch book, hahaha. Now I carry around a yellow sticky post-it pad. Now when I make sketches that I want to take home, I can just take the sticky note instead of having to Xerox my engineering notebook.

Here are my last two sketches. They are made on two post-its stuck together to get the height I needed. The first you might recognize as the Pride and Prejudice girl. The other girl is going to be a Christmas Carol Angel. Right now she's wearing a top hat, red scarf, and a white night gown. I'm rethinking the night gown, she might end up wearing a Victorian era dress.

Here's a post-it sketch of Jena. What do you think? Is it a good likeness? hahaha!

This "sketch" is by Chris. A few weeks ago we had a problem with the lawn mower. When Chris plugged it in, it caused a surge that flipped off a circuit breaker. He didn't know that at the time, and he was the only one home. So, he went through the entire house testing every outlet to try and find a pattern to the outage.

This is an accurate floor plan of our house and every outlet in it. That's my boy! He's an engineer in the making!

Well, that's all I had for today!
Have a good evening everyone!

Another She Art Girl

Here is another She Art girl... I call her my Pride and Prejudice girl. Pride and Prejudice is Cheryl's all time favorite book. We also have the DVD and I just took her to see the play at the South Coast Repertory.

To make the girl's background I created a collage of all our Pride and Prejudice stuff... like the play ticket and the parking ticket from SCR.

This is a xerox copy of the title page of the book.

This is a copy of the front of the DVD box.

I looked up regency styles from the late 1800's and created a dress for my girl in that style.

She ended up too short, which kind of bugs me. I guess she could be the Bennet's little sister. hahaha! The saying is hard to see in black. It says, "She wasn't afraid to love."