Artists in Blogland

Linking up to Artists in Blogland= show and tell Sat #31.   Some art journaling I did when I was at CHA in Chicago...yes, we even did some creating back in the hotel room in the evenings! lol
I am also linking to the fabulous Julie Balzers' Art journal everyday and Catered Crop challenge to use "washi tape".  

Recipe briefly:  Inktense pencils, water, gesso, sequence waste, Dyan's leaves stamps, TH inks, man stencil from lcs, CW stencil, washi tape from smash book stuff, old book pages, doodleing with a fine sharpie  and my fortunes from some chinese cookies :)

"you'll accomplish more later if you have a little fun this weekend"..great fortune message!

"The world will soon be ready to receive your talents"  lol   Another great message!    TFL!

Sat Unscripted Sketch= enjoy your coffee!

It's Saturday and time for the new sketch at the Unscripted Sketches blog.
Here is my card for the sketch...I totally love this image and cant remember where I picked it up!  I would love to join these ladies this fall! lol

The sentiment is computer generated and the dp is Bo Bunny, gosh I LOVE this dp....The little envie is from a Maya Road package of several sizes and I have been hoarding them :)  After I adjusted the sketch a tiny bit I stuck some Vintage buttons on the card, sewed a strip for the flap and put some TH rock candy stickles on the envelope circles. I plan on putting a coffee shop gift card in the envelope and writing a thank you message on the inside of the card.   Challenges:   Fussy and Fancy= Vintage/lace, Daring card makers=houses..they are sitting outside of one :) see it? Simon Says=anything goes, and the paper take weekly challenge= "make your own"..I made my own sentiment and the book print was made from a copy.
TFL!  Have a great weekend :)

Christmas in July at Unscripted Sketches

Over at the US blog the dt is celebrating Christmas in July :)  I believe I am the "caboose" lol  Each dt member is sharing a little Christmas tradition or project along with inviting you all to a place in or around their home.  My family starts Christmas eve at home after Mass with pierogies and mushroom soup!
I  come from a family of eight kids- yep!  Then we get together with our families over at one of my sisters' houses that is plenty big for all of us.  So, c'mon with me ...and I will let my oldest daughter "Jamie" lead the way......

By the way...that wine glass holds a WHOLE BOTTLE of wine! lol  Dont worry...she may not look like it.. but she is 31 yrs old!
 We all start the evening with LOTS of food and drink...then we get in to a huge circle and everyone opens a gift one at a time so we can all see what it is......It is really fun since there are so many kids between all the family members...

This past Christmas we had a little contest to see who could wear the "oddest" Christmas sweater :)

What I really like to do tho ...is take a picture of any "hand made" gift I receive.........

and make a thank you card for the person who gave it to me..

 

Thanks for joining me and the family for some Christmas spirit in July!

SDC59 Birds and Buttons and CHA Chicago

Hi there!  The lovely "Kaz" is hosting the new Stampotique dt challenge today!  She is asking for "birds and buttons" .Here is my creation using a Kira Nichols image called "tennis shoe birdie" he he he!  Yes I have used him before and isnt he cute?? lol  I have also used the sentiment "good things good thoughts" and "swirl stalks" both from the Stampotique store.  

 

I really used some painty scraps here and started by using a "gesso'ed" and Dylusions sprayed square.  I stamped the birdie in black then stamped it again and colored it with copics.  I cut his pudgy body out and glued him down. :)  I went around the card with a black fine pen and sewed down some painted strips with some odd dp.  This went to a friend of mine who is recovering from an illness.  

Next I just want to share a few photos from Chicago CHA.  :)  What a very cool experiance and loved that the artists were very "approachable" since it is a smaller show.  Forgive my not-so-good photos..had to use my phone since I forgot my camera!  arggghh!!

Above ONE of the many "dresses" designed by various artsists..very cool!!

Me and the ultra fabulous RONDA PALAZZARI!!  Eeeek!  What a sweetie! AND CAN YOU SEE JULIE FEI FAN BALZER IN BETWEEN US??  LOL  I was in HEAVEN!! I got to paint with them!!

Julie is both witty and intelligent and the most "down to earth" person I have ever met!

AND...OMG...DINA WAKELY!  Painted with her too!!  Not to mention...who was sitting beside me??  Nathalie Kalbach from Germany!  We also literally almost ran into Donna Downey!  Her hair was 3 different colors and it looked BEAUTIFUL...  Everyone was so nice and we even got to stand and "gawk" at Dyan Reaveley creating!!

The new products to be seen were many...  inks, stencils, painty goodness! and I got to actually meet some blogger friends whom I have talked to online ...it was really alot of fun!   Chicago is a great city with great food !  Thanks for looking-  :)

Garden time!

Hey, if you have a garden  and it's doing well...you gotta be pretty happy right now!  I would love to say I work so hard in mine...but nope...my hub does!  I just enjoy the healthy goodies :)  .  Here is "cabbage Rose" from Stampotique.  To be honest, she is one of my very favorites.

She is colored with copic markers and put on an array of BG Serendipity papers.  I think she is having fun this time of year lol  (challenge: Basic Grey blog= "fun in the sun")  I also believe she qualifys for the challenge over at Crazy Amigos= "hats"... Love the cabbage hat !  Felt good to color with my copics again!  TFL and have a great week!

Art journal every day with Julie Fei Fan Balzer

There is a great post today over at Julie Balzers' blog.  If you are interested in art journaling she has posted a kind of "walk thru" with how she does it.  Here are my pages for this week .  tfl 

 

HoStInG at the Stampotique designers' challenge blog

Yay!  I am hosting the new challenge at the STAMPOTIQUE designers' challenge blog!

USE A STAMPOTIQUE SENTIMENT ON YOUR CREATION!

    So, we all know that Stampotique has many fun images....how about all the very cool sentiments??  Since I have fallen deep for art journaling I have found that my Stampotique images and sentiments/quotes go perfect in my journals.  Below I used some stencils, acrylics and magazine cut outs to create this art page.  The quote is called " Lying in bed" (by sark) and it is perfectly the way I feel!  lol   Sometimes I wonder about my addiction!  I cut it out in sentence pieces and put it on some painty scraps and then popped them on the page.  I also used "squiggle arms" by Roc Nicholas on the left side.  If you happen to be looking for art journal inspiration...look no further then some of the artists and dt members for Stampotique!  Lots here!  Hope you will join us using one of your Stampotique sentiments for this challenge and maybe be the winner of a $30.00 gift card to the Stampotique store!  

Altered Arts site and magazine

Have you checked out Altered Arts e-zine and club site?  I have found some pretty cool ideas and kits from them :)  Long ago I made a pin and atc for the magazine and since have become a fan.  Now, I am making things for their new dt!  Here is a Vintage photo assemblage I made using a jewelry box bottom , some ephemera  and a cut out vintage photo.  The box is spray painted black and the images were popped up with dimentionals.  I covered it with a square piece of glass that was adhered with clear bathroom caulking.  Fun! 

Below... I made this Vintage box at my art group.  This one was done using an old cabinet card picture frame.  You take the front off  of the frame (carefully) and adhere to a box (painted or not) that has an opening slightly bigger then the frame.  Again...various ephemera inside and buttons on the outside.

You can also if you wish, adhere the box BACK on to the back of the cabinet card frame you took the opening from so that it will stand up like a cabinet card picture frame would. :)

Thanks for looking! 

Christmas layers for US blog and journaling Saturday

Over at the Uunscripted Sketches blog they are celebrating Christmas in July a bit and so I thought it would be appropriate to make my sketch (#166)  for the week there a Christmas card.

Love Vintage images and I cut this one down small to put on a kraft tag that I had stamped and sprayed with ink.  The Vintage sheet music was a rak from out of the country and I love it.  Yikes...still cant believe I actually made a Christmas card this early!  lol   Check out the blog cuz they are giving away prizes too! Below is my post for Art journal every day at Julie Balzers' blog.....  So much awesomeness over there...seriously, you  need to check out all the journaling links!   TFL!

Happy 4th America!

Happy 4th to all in the USA :)  May God Bless the USA and everyone around the world!
Here is my tag for the swap over at Tees' tag a month swap..  Have a great day....