Happiness is..............

• Finally getting that cat hair outta my eyeball after two days of sticking my finger in my eyeball trying to find it!
• Finally getting rid of that ' I have been sticking my finger in my eyeball for the last two days' sensation that has been driving me nuts.
• getting to sleep in for the first time in eons, I got to sleep until 9:30(!) but it was actually 10:30 because of the time change, but it was REALLY 9:30 you know?!
• if ya gotta have pms.....well isn't this just the best month to have it in! it is amazing how soothing biting the head off a chocolate witch can be!
• knowing that in 12 hours from now my babies will be at school, the hubby will be sleeping, and I will be playing in my studio.........the radio blaring, the birds squawking along with whatever song is playing......ahhhhh peace and quiet! gotta luv it! ( speaking of sleeping hubby.....gotta wake him up to get ready for work!)
• crawling into bed after the hubby has left for work, and it is already warmed up, and then opening the window for a blast of cold air....... hormones gotta luv them, too........ ?

My first demo at REDLEAD!

What an absolute blast! I use to 'teach' at the insurance company I worked for (in addition to other duties......I was one of those people working her way up the ladder so I always had to do the upper rungs work and got the pay and recognition of the lower rung. !) ok....ok....so back to what I was saying, insurance is a REALLY boring thang girlfriend and I use to have a blast finding fun ways to teach it. In the beginning it was selfishly for me, to keep me from losing what little sanity I had....then I found the more enjoyable the class was the more people retained, and the more people retained the better job they did, and the better job they did the more the big boss recognized it.......boy did I make my boss look good. She had the purtiest brown nose you ever saw! Funny thing is, she lost her magic creative abilities, after I quit 12 years ago, this month actually, she fell apart to their dismay and was no longer a member of the ________ insurance family! ha KARMA! gotta love it sometimes........oh sorry off subject again! Anyway.... I love teaching! LOVE IT! It is my dream someday to have my own store and to open it a Sunday or two a month for disabled, abused, or self esteem impaired people to come in and create. Art is such a theraputic release........for hurt, sadness, anger, frustration as much as it is a perfect way to celebrate life, emotion, occasions. I have said this before and I feel it is the truth:

• ART IS WHAT IT IS BECAUSE YOU MADE IT THAT WAY. THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO DO IT (disclaimer: except if you inhale the fumes, or stick it in your mouth,ears, nose, eyes.....he he he!)
• WHATEVER YOU CREATE IS A MASTERPIECE AND IS COMPLETLY PERFECT. DON'T FEEL OR LET ANYONE TELL YOU ANY DIFFERENT.
• YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE YOUR WORK IN A GALLERY, OR SUPPORT YOURSELF FINANCIALLY TO TELL THE WORLD YOU ARE AN ARTIST.
• NOT EVERYONE WILL APPRECIATE YOUR WORK IN THE SAME WAY YOU DO, BUT THERE IS AT LEAST ONE PERSON OUT THERE WHO DOES. BUT THAT SHOULD NOT MATTER ANY WAY BECAUSE YOUR OPINION OF YOUR WORK IS ALL THAT MATTERS!
• YOU SHOULD PLAY, AND OFTEN. USE THOSE SUPPLIES UP, THAT IS WHAT YOU BOUGHT THEM FOR, ISN'T IT?
• FROM THE MINUTE WE ARE BORN WE ARE LEARNING WHILE WE PLAY AND WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IT!
• PLAY IS JUST AN ARTISTIC WAY OF SAYING LEARN!
• AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST SHAME ON THE ART TEACHER I HAD IN GRADE SCHOOL THAT TOOK MY PAPER AWAY, WADDED IT UP, AND THREW IT AWAY AND TOLD ME IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS THAT TREES ARE SUPPOSE TO HAVE BROWN TRUNKS AND GREEN LEAVES AND THAT I DID IT ALL WRONG! POO-POO ON YOU LADY AND MAY YOU HAVE DEVELOPED A HEMROID THE SIZE OF A SCHOOL BUS......ONE I DREW MYSELF AND COLORED PRETTY PINK!!!!!! (UH, I DREW THE SCHOOL BUS PRETTY PINK, NOT THE HEMROID! JUST WANTED TO CLARIFY THAT)

I want to thank everyone who came to me after the demo and told me how much they learned and enjoyed it and how much fun it was. It was the best feeling in the world to hear and to hear it from so many people! My demo was suppose to be an hour long, and I exceeded that time by 35 minutes I was told, but the totally cool thing is when I looked up I saw the same people there at the end as I did in the beginning........my cheering section of friends even told me that one lady left because she had an appointment, but decided to come back, and miss her appointment because she was learning so much. How awesome is that?!

I also want to thank ( and yes when I hear the music start to play I will end my speech and exit the stage, to the left! ha ha) ok I want to thank:

• MY UNBELIEVABLY WONDERFUL, SUPPORTIVE, ENCOURAGING HUSBAND, AND MY JUST AS WONDERFUL KIDS!
• DENISE, WILL, MAUREEN M., MICHEL, AND THOSE WHO CAME JUST BECAUSE IT WAS ME DOING THE DEMO!!!!
• AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST BY ANY MEANS, CHRIS AND SHARON FOR TAKING A CHANCE AND LETTING ME DO THIS DEMO!!!
• DENISE AND WILL AGAIN BECAUSE THEY WERE SO THOUGHTFUL AS TO DOCUMENT THIS ALL ON CAMERA, AND TREAT ME TO A WONDERFUL LUNCH, I AM SO GLAD YOU WERE ABLE TO JOIN US MAUREEN M, AND THE FUN TIME AFTER DINNER.
• MICHEL, FOR SEEING US STRANDED LESS THAN A MILE FROM REDLEAD 25 MINUTES BEFORE MY DEMO WITH A FLAT TIRE MY HUBBY WAS TRYING TO QUICKLY CHANGE AND GIVING ME A RIDE TO REDLEAD, AND WILL AND DENISE FOR COMING AS WELL AFTER I CALLED THEM ON THE CELL PHONE, AND TAKING MY SUPPLIES.

What an incredible memory I will have for the rest of my life, or until I lose my mind!

I will post pictures of the stuff I made in the demo, along with some how to's and a list of ingredients use to make these goodies probably Tuesday, since I remembered that silly old Halloween is Monday!

Premature Posting Syndrome - PPS

Yes, I suffer from this terrible syndrome! Premature Posting Syndrome! I have posted a couple of pieces now, only to realize at a later time that......I was quite done yet like I thought! In honor that I was inspired to make this piece, I felt it needed to be stated on the ATC itself.

Inspired ATC

Just the other day Sharon sent out a challenge of sorts to a group of us to list 5 women who inspire us, and as usual I had to break the rules and as my 5th I listed my art sisters, a group of wonderfuly talented women that exceeded the number 5, so I had to list them all! The other day, when Angelica and I were planning to get together she emailed me a pic of a piece and said she was trying to figure out a technique used. Well, when I looked over this picture I could not imagine what it was that she could not figure out, but I took a shot and thought maybe it was the 'halo' effect. So here I was inspired to create this piece to show her how this was done! Thanks for inspiring me Angelica!

A thought, or 2, from a blonde brain......

maybe i am sharing too much here, but as i was typing my thank u 2 denise below i got a serious case of the giggles, ( mind you i am not only blonde, but very sleep deprived) i thought to myself.........hmmmm why didn't they call them jill-o-lanterns. get it jack-O-lantern.......jill-O-lantern........ya know....jack and jill went up the hill, la la la la la la la la la la la la la........

this blonde brain of mine is capable of some deep thoughts now and then..... especially when i sit outside and gaze above at all of the planets and twinkling stars hoping to catch a glimpse of a shooting one and sometimes i wonder just how far does forever go on? when i pass on will i get to find out not only this, but other mysteries i have wondered about during the time my soul has occupied this body in this lifetime?

ok, i am going to go create some art........i just looked at my blog and i have been a bit chatty lately!

Ohhhh! The Mail Fairy visited me again!

A big thank u 2 u Denise L ! I put your Jack-o-latern right next to Becky's Scaredy Cat!

Thank for trading with me!

I added 2 more names......

to my 5 most inspiring women. I added them under art sisters. That was impossible sticking to naming just 5!

Thanks Angelica!

What fun I had this morning!!!! Angelica and I met at an antique store just a couple of miles from my house. Besides art, hitting flea markets, garage sales and antique stores are a favorite on my list of things to do!

We anxiously waited outside for the store to open, it was a bit chilly! Once they opened the doors and let us in and we saw all of the stuff I think we forgot we had even been cold! Within minutes I found a bargain I could not pass up! Something I had been wanting ever since I found out they first existed when reading a Mary E Home Companion a couple of years ago. I found one right after reading about them in her magazine at a little shop my hubby and I visit now and then. The shop owners had just inherited it from a relative. Later I found another one at a flea market, but it was about $100 or so, at that point I figured I would never own one, unless I won the lottery.......I have a collection of several of these, they are all metal. A couple are worth a bit of money.....nothing huge trust me, some are a dime a dozen. This one is a coveted plastic one. Fancy and ornate. It is translucent, kinda green. It reminds me almost of the green after dinner mints, you know the chalky ones that look like little pillows that come in yellow and pink and green. My grandma always had these mints in her house. It was only $30.00! When I looked at the price tag it said 'firm', so I thought, ok I looked at it wrong, it must be 130.00. Just for the heck of it I looked again and it said 30!!!!! On the way home I was in 7th heaven, I kept telling myself just let him (my honey) sleep, you can tell him when he wakes up......but that will be about another 4 hours.....I don't think I can wait that long! I couldn't. I had to wake him just long enough to show him, then I felt guilty for waking him after show-n-tell was over.

So ready to smack me and say just quit rambling and tell me what it is already? Well, probably nothing that exciting to the average person. It is a bird cage. I think it is from the 40's.

Angelica and I walked from booth to booth pointing and telling each other 'look at that!'. A bit later I found an album that held 45's in it many years ago! I saw one in the Wedding book thingy by Somerset awhile back that had been altered/collaged and loved it! Can't wait to play with this one!

Next, Angelica took me to a booth that she has visited before. This booth has tons of pictures, mostly vintage, and emphemera, tons of it. I could have spent a fortune! I could have also spent days looking through all of it! Oh, and there were more buttons in this booth than at a button factory! I think we spent 45 minutes or so at just this one booth. It is probably a good thing we had only a limited amount of time to spend there since we both had other obligations, other wise we would still be there. I picked up a few large buttons, a picture at this booth. I wish I could have just taken it all home! Angelica picked up some goodies here as well. Some were mystery packs of photos, you could only see the first and last, the one's in the middle were to be a surpise.

The drive home was great, it is a beautiful fall day, perfect blue sky, big huge floofy clouds, Elton John on the radio singing Crocodile Rock and the bird cage on the seat next to me.

I had a great time, and can't wait to get together again Angelica! Thanks!

Thanks 2 U Becky!!!!!!!

I heart (as becky would say) my Scaredy Cat ATC! Thank u, thank u, thank u! I luv all of my ATC's, but this is my favorite! It made me smile when I saw that the letter fairy had brought it to me today!

oh, and p.s. I made a tag tryptich today! I will put it on my blog when it is jazzed up abit!!!!!

I have been tagged.........

Today Sharon (www.cut-up-paper.typepad.com) (one of these days I will figure out these link things!) tagged me!

What a wonderful think to do! It made me go hmmmmmmm........
I needed to think of 5 women who have inspired me........ I wrote down very quickly this morning without giving it any real thought, I just wrote down what came to me instantly. I am sure in a few days I will have some names to add.....

• Grandma Pauline - Boy was she a character, not your Nestle-toll-house- cookie-bakin'-grandma-type. Grandma was 6'3", meaty, smokin', drinkin', cussin', man lovin' woman with some serious life issues, but she loved me for me, and she loved her gardens, I remember her 4 o'clocks and iris' the most. She is the reason I began gardening and continue to do so to this day! She also didn't take #$@* from NOBODY!!!! She was who she was and if you didn't like it, well that was your problem.
• Cinderella - sounds a little goofy, she hung in there in the beginning when times were rough, and then she got her happily ever after.
• Donna Dewberry - I took a couple of painting classes with my mom eleventy gazillion years ago, and I loved painting, but it did not come easy for me. Because painting required so much thought and effort I retired my brushes and figured it was not meant to be. One evening about 7 years ago in a desperate attempt to escape 3 babies, 2 of which wore diapers still, a crabby husband, a messy house, and all of the other stuff that comes with being a domestic engineer I headed off to Michaels with a 40% off coupon and a few bucks. Something in the painting isle caught my eye. I did not know it at the time, but learning disabilites kept me from being able to grasp some things. My brain requires lots of step by step pictures. Donna Dewberrys book had just that. Not only that but she was published and the first thing I noticed when I picked up one of her books is that even though I liked what I saw, her work was not perfect. I noticed that the piece on the cover actually had a couple of spots that she missed painting and I could see bare wood. At that point I gave it a try, not for the pictures taking me step by step, but the fact that if they put this 'not so perfect' piece on the cover, it was ok if I was not 'perfect' in my painting. Perfection has at times hindered me in the studio.
• This one will remain nameless - she inspired me to be the opposite of her in almost every aspect of my life. I think of her when I read a piece I have come to love from the True Colors book (I will put it on here tomorrow!) It keeps me real, honest, and a few other things!
• My art sisters - (I was kinda hoping I could count this great group of women as 1 !) Some I know very well in person, many I have come to know thanks to the wonderful world of technology!!!!! Denise M, Becky, Angelica, Chris S, Sharon W, Denise L, Carol D, Michel M, Heidi, Carla, Sarah Fishburn, got to see her in action at a demo at Redlead, Maureen, Judi, and Lisa, Nina Bagley, I just love her stuff! (there are a few more, I know, but the train went off the track so to speak) I also got inspiration from my mom to a degree, I inherited the artsy gene, and she was always doing something creative when I was growing up. She painted and I was always being shooed away while she was at the sewing machine when I was little. She sewed many a dress for me, including my wedding dress, and boy did that have to require some patience.

A bit more domino art. What wonderful wee canvasases these things are!  

This is what the picture will hang from/by. 

Queen of Angels

What a long day it has been today. I only had about 4 hours of sleep last night. Got up early to do housework so that I could play all day today. I almost broke into my adhesive drawer to find something to hold my wee wittle eyeballs open long enough to finish this piece, and it is a good thing there is a delete button on my keyboard because so far I have yet to get through a sentence without misspelling a word.

I planned to see Angelica's demo at Redlead today with one friend, Denise, and was surprised to get a call from another friend of ours that we have been trying to get to meet us at Redlead for several weeks for ATC meet up night. Our friend Denise was to meet up with us at Redlead and then back to my house for some last minute planned play time. So anyway Denise ends up not feeling well and does not make it, Maureen and I watch the demo, and shop, yeeha (!), talk with friends :), Maureen even won some embossing powder, we stopped off at the antique shop down the sidewalk from Redlead, I planned to look for old photos, and ended up finding a journal type thingy-muh-bob (did i spell that right? oh, well.....) from 1888! It was only 22 bucks, and is in much better shape than my planner that is only 2 years old! OH, I just love the handwriting from back then, everything was so ornamental, artistic, and just plain beautiful back then! So as we are leaving Denise calls and is gonna try to make it out to my house to play for a bit. This was all last minute, and we all agreed we wanted to play, just could not figure out what we wanted to do. We started off playing with the new Tim Holtz embossing powders! Love them, luv 'em! But you gotta read the directions! This is not what I would consider to be your typical embossing powder. ( i come from a long line of wait until it doesn't work right then read the @$*($*(#$&*(@#& directions gene pool!) Once we read the directions - well, cool stuff I must say! We did something else, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you what it was, brain cell in the memory area of the brain are sleepin' I think! Then we broke out the dominos again. They are great little canvases to work on! Played with my new colors of Stazon, slate gray, midnight blue, and cherry pink, I think. Love the colors, and can't wait to get the rest of them, but will have to do it a couple at a time ! In the mean time my hunny bunny brought home our bargain brand new huge bird cage he got from a garage sale and we started the process of moving birds to new cages, something that takes a bit of time, especially with the abused birdies. So we may have a rough few days while everyone gets moved and adjusts to their new homes. During all of this our neighbor, who is basically a male version of me comes over holding this bunny doll that someone (it was me, don't tell though) mysteriously left on his front porch a couple of weeks ago. It has been driving him crazy wondering who, and why this bunny was left on his porch! (that was the purpose!) We have all been giggling, because we expected to see a bomb squad over at his house, we figured he would think that someone planted a bunny bomb! It is one of those guess you had to be there and guess you gotta know him and then this would be hysterically funny kinda things, so any way tomorrow night the kids and I are gonna tie a 5' long stuffed bright yellow and orange snake around the bunny's neck. ( he has left the bunny doll on his porch on a bench) My boys are generously donating the snake for the cause. What can I say, we are a warped family, and we are easily and cheaply entertained. We ordered pizza cuz we was really hungry, and my youngest kept inflating the outdoor blowup light up scary halloween tree thing that my hubby had brought home this morning, this was being inflated in my livingroom, and it is a living room full of antiques! So we have a freaked out cat running around the house, and the puppy is not happy and thinks she needs to attack it, but thank goodness she is in the kitchen, this thing is also about 2 feet from the finch and button quail cage (button quail translates in english to ' birds with no brains', honestly rocks have more intelligence than these things!) the finches are a wee bit wigged out...... and to make a long story short, which I should have done hours ago, I worked on this. tada! ok, now i will shut up, and go to bed.........

It always amazes me........

I love watching people. Tonight we went to our oldest son's conferences for school and then went out to eat. There were lots of people out and about.

We were all given (well, most of us any way)

• 2 eyes
• 2 ears
• 2 arms
• 2 legs
• 2 hands
• 2 feet
• 2 nose holes....ok, that was gross, I was just on a roll with the 2's things
• 1 nose
• 1 mouth
• other assorted parts.....

It amazes me how we all basically got the same parts, but how we all wear those parts so differently.

This is the inside of the envelope thingy below. I saw this design in one of my many books in my studio library. I have used it many times, and recently, duh, discovered it holds 4 ATC's wonderfully. Well, now to insert the ATC's to get them ready to mail......then I gotta clean my studio from yesterdays play. I don't wanna clean though.......I wonder if my muse knows a cleaning fairy? Who do us moms whine to when we don't wanna clean up a mess? but i don't wanna cleeeeeeeaaaaaaannnnnn it upppppppppppp. it's not as fun as making it!

I LUV,LUV,LUV the new opaque cotton white stazon! It shows up a wee bit better live and in person, but I luv it. It is subtle. I used it on a piece of scrap inkjet transparency ( i can't throw very many things away!) that I burned the edges of with a candle. (if y'all would decide to do this be careful, it likes to catch fire!) Oh, it says ' just 4 u'. And who knows, this could be just for you!

LOOK AT ALL THE NEAT THINGS YOU CAN DO .....

with the sizzix paper clips die cut.
okay, i have to say i am in serious need of a sizzix patch. i am addicted to this machine. i love having the control to make what i want, when i want the color, and texture i want. last week when i ran up to redlead they had a whole bunch of new sizzix. i wanted to buy about 5 of them, but i restrained myself. i then had to run back up to redlead a few days ago and the paper clip die kept calling my name. i told myself.....okay if you come up with an original idea, not the obvious one, you can buy it. well, my muse must have really panicked thinking she was not going to get a new toy so she came up with an idea within seconds and whispered it in my ear. the next several pics are what i have been working on the last day and a half. when you lift the 'door' on this one it says she always had a secret crush on the groom'.

this one is on a large tag. funny how the big pieces can look so much small than the small ones. i used the sizzix buckles on this one also. when you open the 'door' it says 'they dared to travel to places considered to be suited only for men. they broke the rules. often.' i used stazon on the metal charms to tone 'em down a wee bit. 

this one is on a small sqare tag. when you open the 'door' it says 'sweet baby cheeks' 

this one is on a small oval copper tag. when you open the 'door' it says 'tiny little hands' 

this one is atc size. when you open the 'door' it says 'happy feet'

this one is on a small tag. when you open the 'door' it says 'who were they'

this one is atc size. when you lift the 'door' it says ' see jane. jane is a tom-boy. jane does not like to wear dresses. jane wants to play in the dirt with Dick' 

lizzie and maggie. when you lift the 'door' it says 'best friends'. i used the vintage glass glitter i got from REDLEAD awhile back. 

i used a boo-boo photo copy of an old photo of my great-great grandma. the image copied way to light, nothing a little colored pencil can't help out. when you lift the 'door' on this one it says 'lovely little girl'. 

when you lift the little 'door' it says inside 'see jane run. see jane's baby sister, mary. mary did not run'.

i got the idea for the flowers (wowies, as i use to call them) on the crown from the girls at REDLEAD! such a cute idea.  

Happiness Is...................

• a new toe ring
• the smell of the autumn air
• wonderful friends and art sisters
• having my normal wonky nearsighted vision back
• gazing at the stars, and being able to see them again, while drinking a cup of hot cocoa
• my babies back in school after being on fall break (oh, thank goodness, i did not think we would all make it!)
• sitting at the kitchen table drinking my hot tea......relaxing in the peace and quiet ( ohhhhhh, did you hear that? nothing ! ahhhhh)
• uninterupted play time in my studio ALL DAY (i tell the kids it is hard work, no fun, just like school......if they only knew!)
• a very very very clean studio ( hey i can see the floor!)
• seeing my babies after they get home from school
• snuggling with my honey in the morning (until he starts snoring and drooling........ick.....don't tell him i told you)
• making art, of course
• bringing home another red bag filled with new artsy goodies to play with
• my new pulsating, massaging shower head ( oh, yeah baby!)

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

Yesterday was play day! It is always great to be with friends, and even better to do things that you enjoy with them. Talking, making art, sharing... everything...... stories, experiences, art supplies, support, encouragement, ideas. I love it.

We did not make much art yesterday. We got a late start, everyone ended up having some life going on.......ahhh but the play day must go on and for most of us it did. We started out the day with just two of us and decided to play with dominos while waiting for others to show up.......we never put them away. These little boogers are addicting to play with! I stamped the eyes not having a clue what exactly I will do with them later, but I know at some point they will become part of a collage. I bought the eye stamp the day I saw the neuro-opthamologist as part of my boo-b00-be-better present. Maybe I will make something Halloweeny with them.

Usually we have play time in my kitchen, but with the basement rearranged for what will be the last time we got to play in my studio downstairs. It was so nice to have whatever we needed in reach! No more hauling endless supplies up and down the stairs! Yeeha! However, DENISE (yes I am talking to you) if you are not able to make it up and down the stairs.......you know we will have playday in the kitchen.......you hear me!

Another domino, and a tag. I used Stazon to color the alphabet beads. Now to figure out what to do with these..... 

More domino art........The tin and the middle stamp are from REDLEAD.  

just playing with leftover background pieces from the pocket doll atc. 

Pocket Doll ATC

My offering for this Wednesdays ATC meet up at REDLEAD.

Show me slippers Tuesday......

here they are....my 'slippers', my cheapie, imitation crocs. they be way comfy! they require no brain power to slip them on first thing in the morning, or in the middle of the night. i have even slipped them on the wrong feet on occasion, and did not realize it for several steps. i luv my 'slippers' i do.

My offering for the ATC meet up at Redlead last night.